Truth!! but what can the president do? We may have to alter the way we think about politics and the expectation placed on the shoulder of one person. The problem with this country is structural and institutional; its not what one guy would magically solve overnight especially not Jonathan who has to return favours to so many after the zoning saga. Nigerians have to get real. I have no doubt in my mind that Jonathan has the good of this country at heart, as did his predecessor, but he is virtually powerless. He cannot change anything most especially because of the process he applied to get there.. He should resign- my take.

all4naija:

To me human skin color has nothing important to do with superiority in the rightful sense but actions have proven time again and again one is better that the other in many regards. So, it is no longer a thing of science but of psychology. And, that may extend to the future with little importance as we all come to term with the way to move humanity forward(by one carrying the other along). On the sideline, as to what you are alluding to my question is. How many blacks can you point to are making milestones in the area of sciences?

How do you mean by "actions has proven that one race is better than the other?" what is the benchmark to measure what is better?? Is there a natural standard? AND how do you define the term 'better'? Is this definition value neutral or devoid of [b]power [/b]in its formation? You need to learn how knowledge is shaped by power - and you cannot have the former without the latter... Knowledge is power in the sense that what you think you know serve to reinforce a power statement/relations. Aristotle thought Athenians were more superior to non-Antenians ; John Locke thought Africans were "beasts who have no houses without heads, having their mouth and eyes in their breasts" - these were knowledge (facts) in their time. It is common practice for THE POWERFUL to create his image by labelling others -- Men labelled women as weak and irrational ; most women believed this was the case throughout the ages. You have bought into the notion that blacks are inferior - it is loaded in every word of your comment.

Your submission that blacks are not making milestones in science therefore they are inferior is too silly for words . . too eurocentric for a debate. On a practical note; you must be very simple minded to think that the accented cases of inventions are all there is. I am not a scientist - i can only speak of what i know; the America and French revolutions are often held up as the beacon of freedom through out the ages but the Haitian Revolution (1791–1804) is far more interesting in that light. A General Toussaint L'Ouverture led an army of slaves and overcame an empire - declared the rights of men; what can be more inspiring? overthrowing your king or fighting a colonial power??. The Haitian Revolution was consigned to the dustbin of history; and even our universities in Nigeria teach about the French revolution more than anything else (power-knowledge relationship).This is very deep and you only touch the surface of it . .

Your last comment, in its entirety, was more revealing than it was intended to be; we are obviously coming from different angles - you are only touching the surface, its too light for me to follow, try other layers of analysis. White/black are meaningless terms (fill them up with something); on some level its like Yoruba and Igbo. There is nothing a white man can do that a black man cannot do (and vice versa) if there is any difference in level of performance, it can, and should be explained with something other than colour of skin. The statement 'whites are sustaining the SA economy' is a lazy statement; it focuses on colour as the unit of analysis which suggest that colour is the reason for this. Why would race be the unit of analysis when it reveals nothing other than genetic features? Applying it means genetic differences explains why whites are sustaining the SA economy . . and it doesn't.

@all4naija

A point of information; I have never been to South Africa. YES, I'm Nigerian and i could hardly recognise myself from your description. You made some valid points but you did your best to sidestep the crux of our argument.

How do you define 'whites' and ' blacks' in this context? assuming they were empty words, what would you fill them up with? ( Genetic or historical?) if you take it simply as colour of skin then the logical extension is clear and simple. Please give me a simple definition of the 'whites' sustaining the development of SA and the lazy 'blacks'. I don't think you can afford to provide a genetic definition - the more you think about it, the more you realise it has to be historic. The whites in SA could easily be a class of blacks who ran the apartheid system. I dare suggest that there is something close to a class apartheid system in Britain that extended right from the empire; they receive so many privileges by virtue of their "noble birth" for example house of Lord membership e.t.c. Such cannot be defined in race terms but on some other ground.

So, I repeat, the meaning attached to whites and blacks in this thread is ahistorical and racist.

I must say this is , by far, the most thought-provoking thread in NL because it is more stimulating that it was intended to me.

To answer the question; first, how does one define wealth? Those subscribing to the view that Nigeria's wealth is underrated should, perhaps, put forward a definition of wealth. The more you think about it the more you realise that what that are referring is potential wealth. Nigeria's wealth is obviously grossly overrated but its potential wealth is grossly underrated in a related way. The use of oil as a source of wealth is, by definition, underrating other areas where we can make advances and overrating oil as the nations main export.

The problem with oil is the passivity involved in its make up- as an economic activities. A country focusing on oil does not need to think of how to encouraging new productive activities, tax for revenue, look for market etc - just take the rent money and lay back. The process of creating new products, markets, innovation, is what development is all about; because it taps into the ingenuity of men and link sectors and communities together in the development process. The need for this social capital is not because it is fun BUT rather it has to emplyed for the creation of wealth. Getting a living through oil, kills the potential for the social capital needed for development.

ayox2003: Op, we cannot delve into topical issues like this without an understanding of Nigeria's wealth. If I'm not wrong, the wealth of the country is what you are talking about - national wealth. By definition, total national wealth is the total sum value of monetary assets minus liabilities of a given nation. It refers to the total value of wealth possessed by the citizens of a nation at a set point in time.
Alas! The definition is self-explanatory. The keywords are assets and liabilities.

Straight to the point: our assets include both human and natural resources. Liabilities: monetary debts, wars and natural disasters that could wipe out a both natural and human resources. Do the math, Nigeria's wealth is not overrated. Infact, it is underrated. Listen closely, we are rich!

From the Late Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka - the great names in literature, to Philip Emeagwili, Prof Akinwande, Ndibuisi Ekekwe - the great inventors, the entertainment kings like Fela, Victor Uwaifo, 2face, Omotola Jalade, or entrepreneurs like Seun Osewa, Tunde Olabenjo or artists like Yusuf Grillo. In any field you randomly pick, there is an outstanding nigerian present. Plus all the unknown nigerians starting businesses and innovations everyday. OP, our human resources is an asset. I wanna add that the fact that the FG doesn't help millions of nigerians in any way makes us an asset too. We create our own electricity, water and shelter. Oh yes, we don't receive a dime/support from the government. Since we are not a burden on the government, then we are not liabilities. It means more than 60% of nigerians are 'virtual assets'. Abi now?

Natural resources: bitumen, oil, zinc, bauxite, gold, lead, tin, cocoa, cotton, groundnut, sesame, coffee, oil palm, livestock, rivers, solar, good weather etc. These are assets. Even Congo that has Cobalt worth $54 trillion cannot stand at par with Nigeria if all these resources are converted into raw cash. Our liabilities cannot match our assets even if its being doubled. How much is our debt? How often do we have natural disasters that create a whole lotta mess? How many times have we gone to war? Almost zilch.

Without going into why there's little development vis-a-vis our wealth, which I believe Mayowaak has trashed quite well, Nigeria's wealth is not overrated at all.


Frawzey

The bolder part represent a very serious error which people, even economist make, in measuring national wealth. By your definition of national wealth, assets minus liabilities, Nigeria will come up as a wealthier nation when compared to the United States and Great Britain. Assets minus liabilities is how you measure individual, and in some cases company, wealth- not national wealth. There is no qualitative way of measuring national wealth - not even GDP it is more complicated than that.

One million Nigerians in London? This is simply not possible. For a start the entire population of United Kingdom is 63 million and there are less than 500,000 black Africans in the entire United Kingdom.

all4naija: There is no credence to what you are alluding to here whatsoever. Given commendations to those who are the rightful people is nothing to be depressing about. It is stating things the way they are. Not until we learn to say the truth we are just another elements of lies. That being said, there is arguably anything that surrounds the development of SA that is not from the whites. That is a complete fact!

What is truth if devoid of historical content? How does one state things as they are when you cannot engage with how they came to be? Indeed, in social discourses 'the way things are,' are nothing other than 'the way they came to be' because it is ever changing. Reminds me of a vintage TV program i saw recently where whites in the US were complaining bitterly about affirmative action; " we are being discriminated against" they correctly chanted because they saw it from the NOW.. You can only see things the way they are when observing the natural world-- or perhaps something abstract. Your problem, all4naija, is that you speak of South Africa like it is something you can observe and report on, only from the NOW.

The truth is, South Africa was locked into a Dual System that ran out of steam in 1994 . Those you referred to as 'blacks' were systematically locked into a circle of diminishing returns, poverty passivity and psychological exploitation. They were pushed into the lower end of the dual system- while part of the extracted wealth was used to create capital for those you referred to as "whites". If you see it this way you'd have a different definition of whites and blacks that doesn't involve genetic qualities but empty words that could be properly filled up with historical events which created the contemporary world. Except, you are arguing that the white man is different from the black man- in terms of mental capacity- if not, then what do you mean by whites and blacks?

By extension South Africa is a perfect model to measure the wealth that was taken away from the continent, only because in its case part of the wealth was left behind. I mean physical and mental wealth. The way we easily forget about the past, and how we got to this place, and quickly moved on into creating a world from the NOW is the reason Africa is stagnated or perhaps regressing. This is because the power relations that characterised colonisation is ever present and more secured.

The meaning attached to 'white' and 'black' here is very depressing: it is ahistorical, racist and lend a genetic superiority to whites. It is depressing because this is coming from the 'educated' strand of the masses.

Is this real? What's wrong with this Patience! Serves us right. We have a good and quiet first lady but she was made the don of a mafia movie by news men..... Now we have the real don... The worst firstlady from the inception of this union---my opinion.

Bad they got caught!

@Dudu_Negro:

Your argument is for state governments to have the right to deport indigenes of other states = immigration control/ boards /laws. (What else? Interstate trade controls/work permit. . ) But you carelessly based your position on “customary laws" interpreted by "traditional Chiefs ...the Obas and the title holders." Why restrict customary law to state government? Why not apply your argument to any “customary” bracket since we do have more than one traditional head within some states?

But also, in your language Lagos state should have the right to deport people from Osun, Ogun and Oyo states. . surely you wouldn’t agree with that YET that is the principle of your argument.

I think you have a personal prejudice against the Igbos, so, your comments only serve to accent that partiality. I am sure your contribution would have taken a different character if the deportees were of Ogun origin - deported to Abeokuta

ignis: He is right and he is wrong depending on perspective one look at it from.

The prof is right from on his analysis- sorry that's not up for debate. We can debate his recommendation though.

And for those who think Islam is the problem as opposed to religion, i say you are incorrect. On principle, there is no difference between an Islamic terrorist who adheres to the book and an American /christian supporter of Israel based of the book also. The evils of religion cannot be explained in written form -YES religion is against humanity.

This is the wrongest time for foreign investment !

Obama doesn't receive that in a year . .

Nigerians are simply fools, me included, there is no other way of putting it. Not until a new breed of men emerge from the dark WE are keeping the order intact. Whatever system or kind of government you have in any given context is exactly what the people bargained for. The statement 'government is the reflection of the people' cannot be more accurate in the Nigeria experience. Just take a look at the civil society, pastors have changed the bible into a money making tool - Educators, civil servants and what have you, NO it is the people not the government. Even in practice, the "leaders" are people like me and you.

The naked wrestlers ..wow!!

Does the world look to Rick Ross to get a picture of Nigeria? Nobody knows Rick Ross but teenagers..... The notion that an investor would turn to Rick Ross's video to get any idea of Nigeria is just silly

recipe for inflation.

Save easy transaction, it is hard to see the reason for this measure.. . . This is a recipe for inflation.

educate yourself

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmqoCHR14n8

Its just seven minutes . .



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmqoCHR14n8

^^^^^^^^^^^

Perhaps I went extreme to make my point.

Companies don't pay tax? Yes. If you take out the people involved there is no company left- that's the economics of it. Buildings and equipments don't pay tax only people do. When you impose a tax on company it is a roundabout (I used the word direct to accent my point) tax on the people involved in the company. It's either it comes from the shareholders pay, workers salary or a slight increase in what the prices of goods/services would otherwise be - hence consumers. Its just like VAT. Maybe you can't see that because you only understand specious theories.

You can then see why "You cannot impose a fine on MTN because it does not exist". If you place a direct payment fine on GSM companies it would be an indirect-one on the subscribers - just like VAT. The distinction you have to draw is between who write the cheque and who fundamentally bears the cost.

I will take the liberty of posting a lecture on this shortly.

tiwola: I believe they should be shut down. And here is why. First things first, I'm an MTN subscriber who has had his credit vanish periodically not less than 10 times since the last major 'vanishing series' that raised such hue and cry the last time.
Can't toss the line because it's the soul of my business. Can't complain because 180 doesn't work- it's purely a radio station now.
There's no mass action or subscriber protest like the last time, so the network continues to rob me of my credit with impunity.
Is it feasible that they return all monies subscribers lose on a day to day basis? No. They'd have to give away all the cash they make per day.
Can they pay these fines? Yes cos its simply a slap on the wrist for them.
Should they be fined at all? Yes. Their terrible services demand that they pay for duping Nigerians.
So why won't they pay? Simple. Because this is the first time they're being asked to do such. If they pay this, then a precedent would have been set and since their services won't improve anytime soon, they'll have to pay more fines soon enough.

So please, much as I despise this government, I'm with them on this. These conmen have to pay someone, even if its not me.

My only wish is that the money should be directed by GEJ into his electricity projects to help the telcos too. The use of generators at their base stations is one of the reasons we pay such high tarriffs afterall.

You are the definition of an economic illiterate. The fine you are pushing on about is on you - the subscribers, GSM companies don't pay tax or fines. The taxes and fines are paid by the subscribers. Its a roundabout cost.The only way you can fine them is through reduction of tariff - even at that you'd pay for it on a later day. The notion that MTN will pay a fine from its shareholders pulse or workers salaries is laughable. It is the subscribers that would end up paying these fines.

You see, MTN (and by extension all companies) are made up of three group of people. The share holders, workers and customers. A tax or fine on them is a tax or fine on one of the group. To test this theory you only have to look at the increase in tariff when there is an increase in tax . . .

braine:

Thats the question you should ask yourself. How does unnecessary renaming of a good brand affect its products?

You are either trying to deceive - or you've deceived.

Are you really bothered that consumers of the product, in this case prospective student, will look elsewhere for education because of the name change?? I think not. Even at that the school is federal owned - hence the C-in-C save the right to change its brand name.

The "students" that took to the street don't deserve to be called students.

What interrupted academic activities in the first place? Silly students ! ! How does name changing affect the quality? Triviality that is Nigeria !

Let me give a practical bend to this report :

There is no such thing as MTN or Glo - GSM companies are brand names. Brand names or companies don't pay tax. You cannot impose a fine MTN because it (MTN) doesn't exist. Only people pay tax or fines. When you speak of a fine on GSM companies what you are actually saying is a fine on the share holders, on the staff , or, on the [b]subscribers[/b]. These are the three strands that make up any company on earth.

It takes no Phd, then, to deduce that a fine on any company is on the consumers - directly. And so is taxes. That is the stupidity of NCC's claim - They supposedly penalized the GSM companies for poor quality of service rendered to subscribers and impose a penalty on the subscribers.

Is there any such thing as witch? does anyone need deliverance?

"My questions are;
1. Why do we have less poor people in England compared to America.
2. Without a huge manufacturing base like in America, China, Germany or Japan. How do the British manage to sustain a vibrant economy and at the same time avoid the recession ravaging Europe and America?
3. We have many blacks in England, they hardy made their presence known globally except in the EPL. Most noticeable black personalities in the world are from America, in music, movies, sport and what have you. Are the blacks in England marginalized or what? why are they not making waves as their counterparts in America?"

My take on the first question is simple and direct. England - and by extension Europe - runs a welfare system while America, although have numerous welfare program, is still relatively a capitalist society. Healthcare, housing and even education is almost free (not really free but lets say free) in the UK. It is then natural to have less poor people in England than the United States.

How does one define riches? Is it by GDP per capital? manufacturing might or the general well-being of the people.

To your last question it is worth mentioning that English men are covert racists - but that's not the whole story.

There is no such thing as [true] 'federalism' if devoid of context. You cannot address any social concept as a context-free idea - Human right, poverty as social discourses can be best understood within a language unit that helps to determine its interpretation. So the concept of true federalism implies (by definition) that there is a social arrangement that exist independent of the people in question. This cannot be the case. The law/constitution were created in a somewhat abstract sense- but as time goes by it become necessary to update them (constitution or law) because PEOPLE guild the LAW- its not the other way round.

My point is that true federalism cannot be context-free. I.e Nigeria is currently practicing true federalism not as it says in the textbook but as it says on ground.

John Terry is so stupid.

This is simply information warfare. I have always thought that fear is the wrong way to combat terrorism - People die more from dog bite than they do from terrorism . . Let us stop propping up these guys; don't give them media airtime - take them off you tube, take them off prints, off radio and television, the police can combat them underground. These guys are not as powerful as it seems, they only look powerful because of the airtime . . . Remember MEND? they are still about active but no airtime so they look irrelevant . . . We should act like it is not important and it will simply go away.

Related:

It is western attitude towards terrorism that created this mess.