₦airaland Forum

orisa37:
Nigeria is now "A Dog of the Fulani Arabs".

lol

Tianamen1:
When did either country get its independence. If Nigeria does not start to focus on its basic responsibilities of providing healthcare and education, 50 years from now, SA will be 100 years ahead

lol 100 yrs indeed , south africa is a good example because is ran by africans like nigeria.

Tianamen1:
There is no difference book wise. I fully agree with this but we think differently. How do we stop lawlessness without having class size to teacher ratios like in SA. El rufai boast about improving education but what is the class size to teacher ratio in Kaduna. This is why nothing works in Nigeria

South africa is 50 yrs ahead of nigeria.

Tianamen1:
There is no difference book wise. I fully agree with this but we think differently. How do we stop lawlessness without having class size to teacher ratios like in SA. El rufai boast about improving education but what is the class size to teacher ratio in Kaduna. This is why nothing works in Nigeria

lol, class size depends by number of schools and teachers govt have. in south africa they have lot of schools and teachers (some of the teachers are nigerians). nigeria is struggling to build schools and pay teachers.

Lionhearted:
The Op is obviously South African.

South African stand to gain a lot if Nigeria should sign the treaty. Nigerian companies will fold up or move to other countries, most likely South Africa.

is 50 50 boss, south africa will gain and Nigeria will gain.

OlujobaSamuel:
Including Nigeria and Ghana? Abeg no make me laff

Yes, west african countries they simply needs south africa to help them to walk by themselves.

onatisi:
nigeria is just a market for most of these countries , there virtually no country in the world that doesnt make money out of nigeria one way or the other but very few serious industrialist will think of coming to set up production factories here due to many limitating factors . nigeria is the biggest market in africa and the largest black nation in the world and also the 8th largest oil producing nation in the world , if all things are equal , we are not supposed to be looking for investors to come here rather they are the ones who shoould be begging to come .

Nigerian mentality need to change, in order for nigeria to be super power. in fact why nigeria joined opec countrires?
south africa has pipes that goes to iran for oil, it wanted to change those pipes so that they can go to nigeria. but the problem is the oil price is the same.

Tianamen1:
You realise I was being sarcastic. Of course I support the free trade deal. I was mocking the average Nigerian's mentality

thanks for supporting the free trade deal my frnd.

ba7man:
They're all targeting the Nigerian market.

why are you saying so?

googi:
With all respect, I can understand the fear of those that do not want Free Trade. Someone even defeat his own argument with the protectionist tendencies of USA and China.

Please understand that China was allowed into Rich Country Club to spite Russia. China is now a threat and it cannot get away with those protectionist policies again.

In the case of USA, they are just mad that they are no longer the only producers of finished and pricy goods people love to buy based on their popular culture that has nothing to do with their expensive products. They live on designer products. The other source of income are Ammunitions and nuclear threats like other Western and Asia countries like India and now Pakistan. Iran is developing home-made ammunition while Nigeria sleeps and spend fortune acquiring ready-made arms.

The problem with Nigeria protecting its border is nothing but mirage, bunk and foolishness. All African countries have unfair and Free Trade (against them) with Western and Asian countries. Actually, many of these countries even go beyond Free Trade, they create FREE TRADE ZONES within their countries for any foreign country outside Africa.

So please understand we are already a free trade ZONE. All we are saying right now is to open your country to fellow African countries the way we open it to foreign countries outside Africa.

Trading within Africa is less than 20% or so while we trade 70% with countries outside Africa. This is the main purpose this Agreement is suppose to change.

good information

onatisi:
it is one thing to have the resources to produce and it is another thing to have the capacity to produce things ,
yes nigeria has abundant natural and human resources to produce virtually anything in this world but as at present we only have limited capacity to produce very little , this is why government need to quickily develop all necessary infrastructures to enable Nigerians have the capacity to produce exportable goods and servoces

you don't have to wait for govt, Nigeria business should do that. make product and export them. skill is a minor thing because it could be learnt.

omohayek:
One thing I find striking about those who make arguments for protectionism is how they fail to follow through on the full implications of their position. If erecting trade barriers between countries is good for development, then surely the same must be true within countries, at the regional, state and even city level? Shouldn't the protectionists also be pleading for onerous customs checks and high tariff barriers between all 36 of Nigeria's states?

No country ever got rich because of protectionist policies, but despite them, and that small set of countries only includes those big enough for their internal markets to be continental-scale in their own right (e.g. the USA in the late 19th century, or China today). As for the argument that Chinese companies could set up as "domestic" manufacturers in one African country an then drive competitors everywhere else in the continent out of business, what is the difference between such a "Chinese" company, and an African like Dangote raising money on the NYSE or the Shanghai stock exchange, and then bringing in Chinese managers to do the same? And why is it that advocates of protectionism never weigh the gains in consumer welfare against the jobs potentially lost to competition? Don't ordinary Africans deserve to have their meager incomes buy more and better clothes, books, cement and whatever else? This one-sided, producer-centric view of things is as unbalanced and irrational as the common Nigerian obsession with state governments paying salaries "as at when due" [sic] for masses of under-employed "workers" at the expense of roads, hospitals, schools and everything else.

Thanks for the good information

grandstar:
Trump sadly is a protectionist and is doing damage to the American economy. Economic growth last year was 2.9% instead of the 3% + expected and the prime culprit was Trump's trade war. Nigeria should not follow that route.

The truth is free trade will force the country to sit up. There's no choice.

Also, there are areas the country has comparative advantage despite poor infrastructure. Nigerian manufactured goods are found throughout West and Central Africa. Rumour has it up to Zimbabwe. That shows things are not as despondent as they seem.

Daily, buyers from West Africa besiege the markets in Lagos Island and leave with lorry loads of goods. Same with agricultural products. They besiege the Northern states leaving with trailers loads of foodstuff.

To say the country lacks comparative advantage in some areas is therefore not entirely true.

Also,a Free Trade Agreement may encourage the setting up of industrial parks with dedicated power 24houra a day and other amenities. Companies based in these parks will therefore have a competitive edge.

Smart states or even investors can set such induatrial parks in their states. The more the better.

The biggest benefit will be that Niàgerian companies are forced to be competitive and focus on areas they have comparative advantage,. At the end if the day, it will encourage an export push outside African shores which is desperately needed. Only, when Nigeria does that, can it bring about the needed transformation from third world to first world.

Also, it will compel government to target the most expensive expense or cost which is that if credit. Credit is unnecessarily high considering fiscal deficits rarely go beyond 2% of GDP. Lending rates and inflation have always been in double digits.

The high cost of credit has scared off investments in the manufacturing sector and in the real sectors altogether. It has also led to low productivity. which makes manufacturers uncompetitive.

I can see Nigeria doing well in textile garments for instance. It can import cheap textile fabrics from other African countries and turn them into garments. These garments will not only be exported to other African countries but outside African shores as well Nigeria with it's 200m people will have an edge in labour intensive factories like these

And if the country is making headway in garments, they will be compelled to set up fabric plants in order to achieve quick turnarounds to meet targets set by their buyers based in Europe and America.

I foresee Chinese manufacturers setting up shop enmasse here and creating lots of jobs now that wages have shot through the roof in China and the easiest way for their manufacturers to remain competitive is to set up factories in low wage countries like Nigeria. Factory Asia on our doorsteps.

thanks for the good information.

rexwalters:
England wants to Brexit the EU,Nigeria doesn't need to sign that bullshit treaty,we like our chances,we stand on our own.

what are you gaining by standing at ur own. no jobs and poverty, pls wake up.

wirinet:
How will free trade agreement bring about creative destruction and force it's companies to be competitive? Also state areas where Nigeria has comparative advantage in Africa?

When countries like the US is weary of free trade agreements, you want Nigeria with poor infrastructure, poor human capital development, high levels of corruption to enter headlong?

the problem is Nigeria is struggling now, we must try something new.

wirinet:
I wonder why this basic fact is difficult to understand. Every country needs to produce before you can trade , you need to solve the issue of infrastructure and human capital development before you can produce.
Nigeria at present have huge market due to its population, but very little to trade with outside crude. We have absolutely little control on oil trading which is controlled by OPEC. So what is the benefit of entering a free trade agreement?

what are you benefiting now because you are outside the deal?, do not be comfortable in an uncomfortable zone.

rexwalters:
England wants to Brexit the EU,Nigeria doesn't need to sign that bullshit treaty,we like our chances,we stand on our own.

you are struggling by ur own, you know that.

Tianamen1:
Did you visit their primary and secondary schools. Our covetousness is as a result of being pennywise and pound foolish. Only quality basic education can correct this

I know their secondary and primary schools. average 25 learners per class while here in Nigeria there are lot of learners in a class.

Tianamen1:
You didn't understand my comment. Book wise, we are the same. The problem is they are simply more curious than we are so they investigate things we don't. We focus solely on benefits so if we can't understand the benefit, we do not carryout the research. We are book smart but not very wise. We think we are wise.

Talking about university education, about 30 percent of British people are graduates yet creativity and development flourish. Mass Quality Basic education is by far more important to growth and development than university degrees.

What I am saying is that a country will develop if majority of its people have quality primary and secondary school education. University education is important but it is very expensive to provide mass quality university education. Nigeria's focus on spending on tertiary education is also a major factor to our underdevelopment.

the diff is the objective of why you are studying. you could be studying so that you can pass and get job. or you could study so that you can know the course tharally.

Tianamen1:
Blacks and whites have the same ability to succeed academically. The main difference between the two is that white people study "Black Boxes" even when they cannot see any direct benefit, whereas black people only care about "black boxes" if they can readily see a benefit. A black box is an unexplainable event or occurrence or something in nature.

This small difference is what has led us to poverty and them to success.

Take education and healthcare for example. Studies have shown that increases in spending on these two sectors correlates with improvements in productivity and GDP growth. In fact, the Human Development Index is primarily based on education and health spending, and GDP per capita. From the white mans perspective, 25 percent of his budget should go into education and another 25 into healthcare. From the black mans perspective, why should he educate and provide healthcare for another man's child, so his focus is on "operational vehicles", " operational Jets", "operational security votes", and "operational babes".

If you pick any 10 Nigerians at random, 8 will argue that they prefer spending on infrastructure such as Electricity than quality free basic education. Don't get me wrong, electricity is important, but without quality basic education, there will be mass poverty in the land. The majority will not be able to pay the market rates for electricity, so the government will have to pay subsidies and investments in power will be low.

In 2005, Obasanjo instructed PHCN to start distributing prepaid meters to all Nigerians. The officials at PHCN quickly found out that once a prepaid meter is installed, a customer reduces his/her consumption, leading PHCN to have a fall in revenue collections. So the officials stop distributing meters. 10 years later, PHCN was privatised. The new owners also discovered the fall in revenues with increased installations, so they also stopped distributing meters.

The Federal government has raised electricity tariffs on many occasions (just like with petroleum) but because the Nigerian masses do not have quality basic education, our productivity remains low, so any fluctuation in the price of oil leads to a fall in the naira, thus making energy prices go up, forcing the government to bridge the gap by paying subsidies.

Education is a "Black Box" the average black person does not understand.
Some may wonder, don't we have many good private schools? The question is, what percentage of Nigerians go to such schools? Most economies are run by small businesses. Small businesses require affordable quality basic educated workers. You cannot find such workers in Nigeria. Getting a good shop keeper is like finding a needle in a hay stack. In other countries, such workers are too numerous that once a person messes up, the boss can fire the person and employ another person. In Nigeria, we are forced to stay with our bad shop keeper because we know that the devil we know is better than the one we don't know.
This is the fundamental reason why there is joblessness and poverty in Nigeria. A lack of quality basic educated people.

Thanks for this information. there is no diff btw a white and black person in terms of study. what nigeria needs to do is to stop lawlessness.

UzomaFC:
Am just coming back from Maputo in Mozambique, I also stayed at SA for a week b4 going to Mozambique.
I felt so bad for Nigeria my country for the things I saw in SA. I asked my self is this really africa?
OR Tambo airport was something else.
The streets, structures I saw at Rosbank. I was confused how to go about way in the mall cos the hall is very very massive.

Now to Mozambique,I stayed at maracuene cos of the project I was handling.
I did not see any thing like well or borehole.
I never for a day noticed that it was power from the government is what am using. for the 1st time in my life I saw that light can be steady.

Life was less stressful for me there, they are also sincere in there dealings.
I found out the simple way of life both SA n Mozambique ppl leave and I came to this conclusion that "COVETOUSNESS "is what is killing us in this part of the country.
Since I came bk, I hv not been my self.

Their president came to lunch the place I was working n I didn't knw that it was their president cos I did not see heavy security, I didn't hear sirens here n there.
it until I asked where's the president na, that was when they told me that the person that walked past us now is the president.

I saw a traffic police giving a police vehicle fine for breaking traffic in Maputo city.

Mozambique is not that too fantastic, however the basic things of life (power n water n also good road).

They re also disciplined in their driving.

God pls help nigeria, I don't knw what is really wrong with this nation with all the potentials.
Am just waiting for a day in which I ll leave this world cos what I saw in this past months makes feel so bad.

Thanks very much for this information.

kindly remember the first heart transplant and ear transplant(2019) in the world were done in south africa by africans.

CodeTemplar:
Nigerians hardly do something, it is something that's always doing Nigerians. So sad.

lol, how can you say so.

WinningEleven:
we do. Its just that the environment doesn't support it

lol, what is wrong with the environment?

grandstar:
I agree totally with you. Nigeria must continue following regressive policies that has kept her languishing in third world poverty. Why must Nigeria sign a free trade agreement that will bring about creative destruction and force it's companies to be competitive and focus on where it has comparative advantage? Why,why, why?

What has crude oil or our commodities ever done for the country sef?

Nigeria companies need competition in order for them to be world class competitive. you are not even gaining anything from this companies that you are protecting.

onatisi:
This is probably the only good thing buhari has done so far. Even Donald Trump is reversing and canceling many trade treaties which the USA has been party of and which has affected the local industry in USA ,eg aluminum . If care isn't taken , even many Nigerian enterprenuers will find it cheaper taking their capital to other countries and setting up their companies and factories there and only exporting to Nigeria if this treaty was signed .
With the epileptic power supply and infrastructural decay in Nigeria,it will be a national suicide for Nigeria to be part of any free trade treaty for now at least until we fix our infrastructure

do not look at it in one angle, maybe south african companies will set up factories in nigeria and hire more nigerians. because nigerians labour is cheap, maybe it will be easy for nigerains to get work at south africa.

onatisi:
many

many, denel in south africa is producing aircraft, bombela is producing bullet trains,

OlujobaSamuel:
SA rules affect companies operating in SA, it has no effect the rules of other nations. Also the free trade isn't just about SA and NG, so I don't know why you limit it to those two nations.

Kindly note South Africa is going to run the free trade deal. currently south africa is running SADC countries. south africa's plan is to run subsahara africa in future.

Intellectual201:
Leadership is about influence. You can't lead the masses if you are not popular with the people no matter how competent you are. What successful leaders have done is to surround themselves with smart people.

My dear you must watch south africa politics, you can wake up from no where and became great leader. check mmusi maimane and julius malema.

Tianamen1:
It is like you are not Nigerian. Our problems revolve around which tribe is the richest and which tribe commits the most crimes. This your talk is not a major issue in Nigeria.

When it is time, god will give Nigerians a leader that would build all the infrastructure, would stop corruption and allow us to worship in peace.

As for now, we would fold our arms in hope and prayer that the South-westerner, who takes over from Buhari, will move the country from 7 point agenda, transformation agenda, change agenda, next level agenda to transfiguration agenda.

Now leave us let us have peace. We don't want free trade agreement. You think you are wiser than us. We are the smartest people on earth.

We don't want more foreign direct investments due to a larger market size and also more stable pan African economy

We don't want foreign technology as we have many universities producing TOP engineers who can develop anything imaginable

We don't cheaper higher quality goods as a result of market efficiency.

The rest of Africa should first wait for Nigeria to catch up just like the southern protectorate had to wait for the north to be ready for independence.

Will African nations give us national character forcing all African nations to buy our Garri? how can be compete if such favors are not granted. Just as northern Nigeria has benefitted from low requirements performance for the last 40 years and have still not caught up, will Nigeria be given such preferences for 40 years?

My fellow Nigerians no dey carry last. We may be the country with the highest number of people living in extreme poverty. we may have the highest number of out of school children. We may be the sixth unhappiest nation on earth, but we will not fall Mugu for the rest of Africa. We are big giant of Africa and Africans must respect us.

Thanks for the response. I really agree Nigerians are one of the smartest people on earth. they are professors in most South African universities. countries will have diff tribes and tribes will never have same status. some tribes will be richer than other tribes. is the internal of each and every country, even South africa has internal problem such tribe issue, lot of foreigners. internal issue are not supposed to stop nigeria to progress. internal issue will alws be there. that is why nigeria should join this deal, it will be easy for SA companies to come and assist nigeria with security issues, enerygy issues and processing oils.

If you are poor you must work towards been well.

pode:
You just ended up saying nothing here, details you did not give

below is the link:

https://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/news/kwazulu-natal/kzn-professor-ncoza-dlova-makes-biggest-breakthrough-in-hair-loss-among-african-women-20071019

the question is that south african universities are doing more research, what about nigeria.

Do Nigerian university do research?, did they ever discover something?

Tianamen1:
Litmus
Isn't our own survival based on crude oil? Is this something to be proud of. 198 million people with little to know productivity. We even import palm oil.

Zhike, I am sure in SA the basic education is quite standard, that is why people like Julius Malema can rise from obscurity and make a "difference". In Nigeria, people are generally hungry, so they will always follow the stomachs before logic.

I think Nigeria must be able to process crude oil. it will be creating more employment in Nigeria. big petrolem corporates like shell and sasol must be created in nigeria.

std of education in south Africa is well, the reason education is well in south africa is because they keep improving it based with criticism from opposition parties and academics. Education takes large portion of the budget of SA. to confirm that the education is well you can see by the number of researches that their universities are doing. first ear transplant in the world done by university of pretoria. university of ukzn researchers this year found what is causing hair loss to african people.

Nigerians are quite intelligent people, most of them are professors in South african universities, I think they just need a platform in the politics. and if they get a chance they will change things. note: do not elect poor people in the big positions because they will enrich themselves first. they will make bad deals for govt in order to enrich themselves.