Hello all,
Abuja's bid was announced last year, and much to our amazement an old general in the person of Yakubu Gowon was appointed as bid leader (Will Nigeria ever get over its old guard?).

Well over a year has passed by, and while the Buhari committee sleeps on, both Halifax and Glasgow have finalized presentations and mobilised the saviest of people to organize their submissions.

I do hope Gowon & Co. are preparing something because the clock is ticking towards April 2007 winner announcement. Abuja 2014 campaign is absolutely nowhere to be seen apart from a FCT press release dated Sept. 2005!

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I hope Nigeria doesn't get the commonwealth bid. Thanks to the British, the real men have to spend their time creating a way to split Nigeria up and undo the madness they have created.

The British can take their commonwealth games and all other commonwealth related activities and shove it where the sun don't shine.

Afeni,

Same sentiment here,there nothing as annoying as seeing black people especially Nigerians in Commonwealth games.
Its way of reminding you they(british) were once masters.
Why Nigeria wants to host the Fu-cking games while millions are without basic health is beyond me

Nice to see I am not the only one that sees the irony in the term "Common Wealth".

Commonwealth is indeed an irony,what wealth is common or been shared?the strangest thing is that cameroun actually applied to join the british commonwealth even though it wasn't a british colony.there are french speaking african countries that are lining up to join!

Nigeria wants to host the Commonwealth games for the same reason Barcelona wanted the olympics in 1992.
Stimulated economy, image laundering, and an incentive to boost Abuja's hotel and tourism business, in addition to expanding its sports facilities!

Who cares what the games stood for in the past? Business is business, but Nigeria, it seems, still can't do business!

dont get locked up in the past or present, look to the future with enthusiasm. Some people will criticise anything even the worm for eating sand, rather than looking at positive side of things. Whats wrong with Nigeria hosting commonwealth Games? If people are not talking about coloniality, they are talking about waste of public funds, etc. Id rather want to look at these as a positive thing, given the very negative media Nigeria has at the moment.

what if they instead host Operation give Nigeria Light, health, road, water and Education 2014

I think it will sound better, don't forget Nigeria 99. where did that get us.

Abeg fix my country.

Well, it's simple, In order to meet Abuja 2014 objectives, FCT and FGN would have to ensure all of these services are up to world standards at least for the city of Abuja. So the country would hit two birds with one stone, a branded exercise if you will,

I can't be convinced a successful Abuja 2014 is bad for Nigeria's image! of Africa for that matter,

@zexyworm and bibi,

where did nigeria 99 land us? what did we achieve. even the sports facilities upgraded then, where and how are they now? abeg!!!!!

what of the african games of 2003? did u hear of all the scandal and corruption that went with it. these people(govt) just think of avenue to chop money. if we want to invest,let us invest in education, in health, in power supply, in water supply,in agriculture etc. leave all this hosting bullshit. commonwealth my foot. for ur information, the UK is more interested in investing in the EU now than it's former colonies,

and until we put our country in order, the west will never respect us and the western press will never give us good publicity. if we like let us host olympics and world cup.it wont change their perception of nigeria.

Nigeria '99: A National joke + disgrace. BADLY ORGANIZED. CORRUPTION MAGNET.

Nigeria '03: Wrong people in charge, and lots of stealing.

But that was the past. Nigeria today has EFCC and a stronger PRIVATE sector. Let the privae sector finance + organize Abuja 2014. This is the way it should be. Strong companies like NB, MTN, etc. surely have got everything to gain from a well-designed and executed Abuja 2014.

But rest assured, sports is the best positive image maker out there, if properly organized of course.

Just clarifying my vision for Abuja 2014:

Role of govt.: Provision of utilities, steady power, good roads, and a stable regulatory environment, etc.

Role of private sector: financing new sport venues, organization + PR of entire event, revenues from advertisement and sponsorshop opportunities. Abuj Airport is being concessioned as we debate this, with the bid winner surely announcing expansion projects, so a proactive private sector is already in motion,

The problem of course is with implementation, and I honestly think Nigeria is better positioned + governed now than it was in 03 and certainly '99.

zexyworm:

Nigeria '99: A National joke + disgrace. BADLY ORGANIZED. CORRUPTION MAGNET.

Nigeria '03: Wrong people in charge, and lots of stealing.

But that was the past.

what do u min by past (and present)? u think nigeria has changed much? let me remind u of some past stories. as a child i read in school about one ali must go riots. today the same ali is PDP chairman.

i read about obasanjo in history books. we know where he is today
i was a child when we used to hear of mamser/ibb/jerry gana etc. today these guys want to contest for president.

the same people, same old wine in new wine skins. that is why the use almost the same style, look for something the country doesn't need but from which profitable contracts can be won. the same style, the same people.

we are yet to change. abeg let us host health for all by 2007, free election and sound democracy 2007, good govt 2007,these are better things to host. if we are serious.

I conquer with everything you said!

But I won't take back my stance, a well organized Abuja 2014 is potentially a money spinner and a good job generator for the youths!

Remember 2014 is 8 years from now, securing hosting rights is not a bad idea, with a bit of optimism its not hard to imagine a stable political situation and the ongoing reforms continuing to yield results, albeit slowly!

last year i told a friend of mine here in cardiff that the money alami was caught with in london can be used to buy a new set of buses for lagos and have all those molues thrown away replacing them with fresh buses of european standards. the thing is most of us don't know what we loose when money is invested in bullshit.

the money invested in 3rd term can be used to convert one of those our rickety universities into something close to european standards, or upgrade some hspital somewhere into a life saving edifice.

let us invest in power supply, our economy will boost effortlessly.

Zexyworm,

Who was the president in 1999 and 2003.

If you know the answers to that then you will know that much have not changed
or rather nothing has changed.

IT is a waste of resources to even bid to host, i can guarantee you that money have been changing hands now.
Pressing buttons if you know what I mean.
Unless you have some personal interest, maybe you know someone that will give you contract then am happy for you if we host. Apart from that,

Let us fix our country, it is better than looking for a reason to develop the country, that Nigerians are there
is a good enough reason.

It appears this Government suffers from a malady i choose to call 'incorrigible misplacement of priority'.

How does this 'bullshit of a Game put food on the table of hungry Almajiris and Area boys on the street of Maiduguri and Lagos respectively?

How does it put shelter over the head of those families living under Bridges along Adeniji Adele/Cater Bridge axis in Lagos Island?

How does it 'repair' the hearts of those dying children that Kanu Nwankwo & Co has bin tryn to save even as d Organisation daily 'begs' for funds to keep these kids alive?

How does it give job(s) to the Army of unemployed University graduates,most of whom have resorted to Bank Robberies?
How does it convert our Universities from slums to 'Ivory TOWERS'

Someone pls a-n-s-w-e-r me !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

kellybaba:

It appears this Government suffers from a malady i choose to call 'incorrigible misplacement of priority'.

oyibo grammatical . BEKEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Prof dey yarn, make we listen.

kellybaba:

Someone please a-n-s-w-e-r me !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

brother, ur question has no answer. the guys interested in this games have no intention to give u answers anyway.