The global financial crisis was a tsunami of some sort. Most economies were affected and some of them went burst as a result. As events unfolded, several people were in denial and pointed fingers elsewhere. Senator McCain said that the US economy was solid.

In quick succession, Leyman bros, Morgan Stanley, Fannie Mai, Freddie, HBOS, Northern Rock, etc gasped for breadth and fell, but some ostriches out there were quick to point at Russia and blame their (Russian) stock woes on their actions in Georgia while pretending that western economies were less affected. In no time at all, everyone was looking at China and praying that the Chinese economy did not falter. The global crisis was fully on, at full speed.

NSE was also on its knees, as many stocks became penny stocks. Bank shares took a major hit in line with the global scenario. However, it was remarkable that the banks did not go under or needed to be rescued at the height of the crises. This was mainly as a result of the consolidation exercise by Soludo and also for the fact that Nigeria has cash driven economy and the mortgage sector is almost non-existent. The banks survived.

Soludo left and when Sanusi entered the scene, he found that four banks had cooked their books and he took some decisive actions. Before we judge Sanusi, let us consider that it is his responsibility to ensure that banks operate within a set guideline, in order to protect the shareholders and depositors.

Before we vilify Soludo, let us also consider that those banks were four out of many and the fact that they never sought for bailout, met their obligations to their shareholders and depositors were enough reason for Soludo to buy the books they presented as their financial positions. It is one thing to cook books but quite another to pay dividends, salaries, depositors money, recurrent expenditure and other overhead costs.

Let us consider the position of those banks. Who are/were their debtors? Government contractors who are still owed by the govt, Business moguls, Directors or who? Did they take adequate securities or did they go the gambling way, which backfired?

My take on this issue:

1.Sanusi is acting as he best believes would ensure the stability of the banks and he has nothing to gain by consciously wrecking the economy.
2.He should have applied discretion while dealing with the situation and he would have still achieved the same result without putting the economy at more risk than was necessary, because we are in an era where even a rumour from the pepper market is enough to cause a panic in the economy, how much more when the gist comes from the horse himself.

3.He should have given the said banks the opportunity to try and consolidate their financial positions before acting in a unilateral manner.

4.He should be allowed to execute his working agenda; after all we cannot blame him for finding cooked books. The blame should be on those that cooked the books.

I am still undecided as to the direction he would eventually take the banks/economy. Everyone has his style and I believe that he is from the old school, the conservative school.

I am more or less a bullish person and believe that you need to dare to win. However, I accept that bullish ways may not always be the best approach as it is littered with risks.

I would expect that he is allowed to chart his own way forward while trying to get banks to start lending again, keeping the interest rates at affordable level, consolidating the banking industry and adopting policies to target small and medium scale industries.

With regards to the original post, there is nothing to suggest that depositors would have lost their funds if Sanusi had given the banks the opportunity to seek for funds if they were in trouble.

Katsumoto:

^^^^^^^^

Odegbami played 7.

That's correct and Adokiye played 11

Okocha is my number one pick but you gotta mention:

Amesiemaka Adokiye ( the man with the junior and senior mesmerism according to Ernest Okonkwo. Who remembers the legendary commentator Ernest Okonkwo ? The guy was a human encyclopedia. In his days, you watched footy with the TV volume off while you had your radio on, listening to his on the spot analysis of the game and his choice of words. Such a legend.) learnt a lot from Adokiye in terms of skill.

Samson Siasia : very good movement with the ball and a ball hustler.

Sam Okwaraji : flamboyant player like Jay jay, but also good. He fell where he played. A hero.

Mutiu Adepoju : Similar to Siasia in a way.

Henry Nwosu : Small but mighty, full of skill and packed some good shots

Segun Odegbami : Very good movement and if my childhood memory is correct, he was a flank master. (No 11)

Chairman Chukwu : You went nowhere near Okala with Chukwu on the pitch.

Rashidi Yekini : The most successful striker so far , but I can't forget the game against Italy and when the commentator screamed, " a goaaal for Nigeriaaaa but Rashidi Yekini said noo" He was a good finisher tho.

Emanuel Amuneke: A flank master , can't forget his diving header against Bulgaria, nor his strikes at 94 nations cup finals.


How about Oliha, Olise, Finidi etc. ?

Leave that thing, we have had some good player. The current players are still earning their dues, we shall see their greatness or not in retrospect.

mekuszyx:

^^^^^^^
Ok, you got me there ; 1996 was during Abacha's time. May be he built it under the influence of an Igbo omoge!! Hhahaha!
But glad to note that some federal presence is finally coming or being converted in AlaIgbo.

Good to know that too, but if the power sector could be fixed we would get back to the way we used to be, when private industries were springing up left right and centre in the east. I am venturing into that as well, but I have the power need figured out already.

The amount of moribund or dead private industries in the east is alarming and it is painful to know that erstwhile thriving industries have succumbed to superior fire power of incompetent governments. A lot of those companies should by now,  have been on the list of companies some other African/Asian/S.American countries were keeling over to attract to invest in their respective countries.

mekuszyx:

An aboki president will probably prefer the mill to rot away than hand it over to a competent state state govt. Kudo to Jonathan

But Field Marshal Mekus, "Aboki" built it in the first place or was that a pseudo aboki ?

Thats a good question
Im not an Umuahia man but I have Umuahia family and my friends  they always used to argue about nwga people coming from the Bush. No lie- thats the truth. it was all fun and games tho but that belief had to come from somewhere.

Discrimination within tribes happens everywhere.

No one invited you. No enlightened Umuahia person would call Ngwa people bush.

Their city Aba started life as a town at about the same time as Umuahia when the railway passed through around 1908. Before then, they weaved their textiles (akwete) and we did our pottery and we went to the same markets. They came to ours and we went to theirs.

Both places were doing quite well but their town grew bigger than ours, many times over so there was no basis to call them bush, eventhough Umuahia was the biggest palmoil export processing hub in Nigeria and by default , the world.

When, I am ready, I will take Chinenye on other issues and not the superiority or inferiority of his people or mine.

I remember driving all the way out from Owerri to Calabar to board a plane to Lagos, and not realizing there was an airport right in Owerri, that would have cut my journey by half, if only that information were made available to me somehow. I was visiting and there was no information centre or desk to even help.

If you lived in owerri like you claimed, how come you were relying on a phantom help desk to inform u that there was an airport in a city you lived in and then embarking on a 3-4 hours trip to Calabar when good ol' PH airport was only 40mins - 1hr away (approx 70KM or 45 miles), which is common knowledge to any person that has lived in Owerri ?

Now Old-John may not be good at spinning webs anymore, but you wont catch him entangled in its own web.

I will cut you some slack because I know that you have got the point and I also know of your need to protect legendary pride.

That is NOT TRUE. You don't have all things figured out, you know that right? My Drive from Owerri to PH took me 3 to 4 hours. Unless you can PROVE it never happened, I suggest you stick to that which you can PROVE.

Now, I am confused. What has your journey to PH have to do with your claim that you travelled all the way to Calabar to catch a flight because there was no "help desk" in Owerri and you couldn't be bothered with asking Mama Chi-Chi.

If you went to PH from Owerri, why did you not catch a flight from there rather than going to Calabar ? If you lived in Owerri like you claimed, you know that your "phantom" 3-4 hours drive to PH was not the norm but was caused by something major.

I have a spider named Old-John, he seems to have lost the ability to spin a web could you give him a hand ?

When you are in a hole, stop digging. Don't even push that travel time argument.

@ Chinenye, little things make or mar the credibility of ones position in an argument. One of these days when I have some time on my hand, I will puncture most of your postulates on the Ngwa (we share boundries with you). Just you wait.

@Abagworo, I am addressing you here since the Latest Tirade from this fellow is directed at you. If you are honest and reasonable, you would at least ask this person how he knows ANY OF THE THINGS he claims of My PERSONAL Life to be TRUE OR FALSE. I am 100% he has NO CLUE WHO I AM or where I have been from the statements above.

He has called me a liar on most every THREAD FOR POSTING a view different from his but NEVER EVER PROVIDES a reasonable counter argument. Take for instance claims 1 and 2 above. How can he know how long it took me to get to PH when he was not there on the trip with me? How can he know where I have lived, when he does not even know who I am. And to the comment on Flying to Calabar, I do stand by what I said. You can get a flight directly from Atlanta to Calabar. I don't live in Atlanta but I know I can fly from ATlanta and my final destination be Calabar. If Flying WITHOUT STOPS is not criteria for flying, then we might as well cancal more than 80% of flights out there.

Look through this thread yourself to see what I mean. Else show yourself on the same level as this @Face character, all too willing to settle for non points to WIN arguments in brownie point style/

Kobojunkie, the following statement has nothing to do with the argument but I will still make it.

“I actually like you and admire your tenacity when it comes to expressing your views but -- but--”.

That said, my problem with you is that you don’t think things through and you think that the only way to give any credibility to your position is to claim to have been in a knowing situation. If you stick to non-manufactured facts, your arguments will be supreme.

I do not need to be there with you to know how long it took you to get to Calabar (I will presume that you meant Calabar since that was what you claimed in your original post otherwise I would presume that the lies are becoming too much to handle) from Owerri. That journey will not take less than 3 hrs from Owerri under any road journey condition, while you could get to Omagwa (PH) in less than one hour from Owerri. That area is my axis and I can tell you for free, how long it would take to travel from Owerri to all cities from Yenagoa to Nsukka and from Ikom to Onitsha.

If you ever lived in Owerri, you would have known that PH airport was not far from Owerri and would not have been on a lookout for an “information centre” in Owerri to advise you if there was an airport in Owerri when Mama Chi-Chi frying akara by the roadside could have given you that information.

Stop making spurious claims and you would be fine.

Yes you did not fly to ATL to Calabar, whether directly or by 10 connections. The connection bit was an effort to save face when you were nailed, but it fell flat. Your original assertion was that planes had been flying directly to Calabar from ATL in the last five years. If you had connections in mind, you would have known that people have been flying to Calabar from ATL since both airports became functional.

As for "non points" spurious claims render your points useless and non-credible.

One more thing, learn to accept your blunders with grace.

Abagworo link=topic=445416.msg6069119#msg6069119 date=1274402660
:



I didn’t just live in Aba, I also lived in a couple others places including Owerri and Onitsha. Only visited family in Enugu from time to time, and I am not certain what you are trying to get at here. Aba is not considered one of the major cities/town in the Eastern states?
What has the condition of yorubas to do with a conversation on the state of Ibo land? I have every right to worry about the Ibos here. Not sure why you seem it is YOUR place to tell anyone what people they can or cannot worry about.

apart from lagos can you please tell us the other towns in the southwest better off than @bolded?

Abagworo, Kobojunkie makes up stories as she goes along just to score points, but lies beget more lies, leading to a web of lies, which eventually snares the web designer (liar)

She has never lived in any of those areas. Go back a few pages and you would see all her contradictions.

1. She lived in Owerri and she did not know that there was an airport in Owerri (because there was no "information centre" in Owerri as if she expected Owerri to be an office with a help desk) and she had to go all the way to Calabar (3-4 hours trip) to catch a flight, when PH airport was less than an hour drive from Owerri ? Curious that someone that lived in those areas would not know the proximity of those areas to eachother.

2. Same person also claimed that there were direct flights to Calabar from ATL and when caught she claimed that she had flown to Calabar from ATL, albeit a detoured flight which is no news.

3. Could go on but it may turn out to be like an epistle.

If she were an object of trade, she would have CAVEAT EMPTOR written all over her on all visible sides.

Kobojunkie:



a) Can you book a flight from Atlanta and arrive at your finally destination, being Calabar or PortHarcourt? --- FACT !! May have numerous stop-overs -- MOST TRIPS do, but you can book your flight from Atlanta to Calabar.

Do all developed cities and towns around the world have International Airports right within their Borders?  FALSE -- Even in the United States, many more cities and towns are situated within 3 or more hours of the nearest international airport. Has that hindered development? FALSE , so the argument that development only happens when an international airport is in your backyard is based on FALLACY.

If current Airports are UNDERUTILIZED, does building additional airports and spending billions more help the situation? FALSE  demand drives these things. Owerri Airport is a good example. The airport is mostly a ghost town with only a couple of flights in and out each month. Would it make sense then to BUILD IT BIGGER?

Then again, get your facts right before going to town with your pronouncements. In terms of air traffic, Owerri is only behind the following airports in this order : MMA, Abuja, PH, Warri, Calabar , Benin, Enugu and Kano.

Most airports in Nigeria are ghost airports, but Owerri is more alive than most of them so  singling out Owerri was in bad taste.

http://www.faannigeria.org/downloads/statistics/2009-Annual-Aircraft-Movement.pdf

quote author=Katsumoto link=topic=445416.msg6062390#msg6062390 date=1274297172]
I am not sure I get this argument about airports. There are three International airports in the East; more than any other region.
Ezeagu
Are you arguing for an additional airport in the East OR for the eastern Airports to be refurbished/upgraded? The choice of flights at an airport are the result of two questions
1. Does the Airport have the infrastructure and facilities to accommodate international flights? If the airports in the east lack the infrastructure, then I support your argument.But we know that international flights land at PH, Calabar.
2. Economic viability - If the infrastructure is there, then the determining factor is demand for flights. Only easterners can increase demand. If demand increases for flights to the East, then airlines will fly more routes to the East. But I suspect that airlines may not want to cannibalize existing routes. Airlines may not want to fly multiple cities in a country if the demand is not high enough. For instance, If 1000 fly directly from london to Lagos and Abuja each week. If they decide to fly to Enugu as well, then they have increased costs without necessarily increasing revenue. They can however drop one of the other major routes (Lagos or Abuja) if there are more people bent on flying to Enugu but that is dependent on the Eastern governments providing other amenities such as Safety, good hotels for airline staff, access to parts and labour to fix airplanes, etc.

Very reasonable and valid points you made there. However, it is not upto the eastern governments to provide access to parts and labour to fix planes. A good international airport must have a good mechanical hanger, which is the responsibility of the airport authority.

No international flight goes to Calabar at the moment nor in the last 5- 10 years.  Calabar was only a hub for west and central Africa back in the days. In any case, the airport is limited in its aircraft handling capabilities. Enugu is not yet an international airport and PH airport is like the local wing of MMA.

With regards to hotels, I can tell you now that Enugu and Owerri are among the top 8 in Nigeria when it comes to good hotels.

Ezeagu, why bother with this person that argues blindly ? She is quick to use google to become a quack expert on any subject under the sun but can't use the net to obtain any information that will contradict her useless opinion.

She searched the whole internet and there was no "direct" flight to China . How about  flight Air China CA 984 and Flight CA983 to mention a few ? Yet she lied through her teeth that she was able to book a flight to Calabar from ATL.

You should have got the hint and discarded her just  like Onlytruth, after she decided that everyone east of Niger must be Igbo. What an arrogant and foolhardy Arrow. She'd rather die than accept her mistake, even when the tide is against her.

I admire her strong character though, but she has to get her facts right before embarking on an argument. Armed with fact, she would stand tall even while on the wrong side of an argument.

Credible answer? Maybe I should not have used the word DIRECTLY from Atlanta but you can fly from Atlanta to Calabar, and people have thousands have done it. I happen to have booked such a flight twice Flying out from Atlanta to arrive in Calabar.  But I guess that won't matter to you until Calabar is exactly what you need it to be instead.

Why don't you like conceding simple points ?

No airline goes to Calabar from outside Africa without first landing in Abuja, PH, Kano or Lagos before tranferring you to their domestic flight to Calabar.

No foreign airline would fly you to Calabar by touching down elsewhere outside Nigeria, unless they were airlines from Garbon and Equitorial Guinea and Cameroon and there have been no flights from those countries since God knows when.

I put it to you now that if you had any connecting flight to Calabar from Atlanta, you first landed in Nigeria and your onward flight to Calabar was not the same airline unless it was Arik (do they go to ATL ?) Belview (do they go to ATL ?) or Virgin Nigeria (do they still fly International ?)

Ofcourse you can fly to Calabar from anywhere, same as I fly from London to Owerri by connecting at Lagos (same carrier - Arik) or Via Abuja (two different carriers), but that was not your initial stand point.

Next time you go to FAA website to "quote" investment opportunies, remember to say that you got that quote from there and that they have nearly the same information with few additions and subtractions as regards investment opportunies for all their airports. Beware of Google !

Kobojunkie:



@Onlytruth, Only last year, you whined that because no Ibo has been made president in Nigeria, Ibo land cannot be expected by anyone to develop more than it has and so is reason why life remains unchanged in most areas for decades. Now you have a president, how is Ibo land doing? Let me guess, Jonathan should not be considered an Ibo man? Not until all offices in Nigeria are occupied by Ibos will Ibo land be expected to wake up? Um . . . Jonathan is not good enough because you suspect he might have non-ibo blood in him? Which excuse we go get for this one?

You complain today of not being able to fly out of Ibo land, yet you have actually had a functioning international airport in calabar for at least 5 years now. Thousands of people have flown, and continue to fly directly from Atlanta to Calabar and out for years now. So is it the case that Calabar is not part of Ibo land now? You need the airport to be right in your own backyard to stop you from whining. People who speak Ibo are not allowed to fly out of Calabar? Which is it this time?

Lagos has had an international airport for decades yet it is one of the biggest slums in the world. Are the only developed towns/cities in the world cities that have an international airport of some sort?

When does the whine-fest end and you start urging Ibos to take initiative? When do you start actually CARING about the lives of people, poor and impoverished in Iboland to start looking in to understand why it is wrong for the governments there to continue stealing from the people?

Big fat lie, but I am not shocked at the deceitful attempt to score a cheap point. Planes do not fly beyond west and central Africa from Calabar airport and you can't even get a flight to Douala from calabar these days.

chosen04:

Who would the generals and their cohorts USE if the almajiris were cut-off? Nobody. In other words Orkar was right in wanting to solve the problem from the ROOT rather than cutting branches that will still grow back.

The guy has silent points

Do you think that the other northern states lack their own portion of almajiri ? You can argue that the "educated" elite use alamajiri to perpertuate mayhem when it suits them, but they don't include almajiri in their money stealing/ dragging-back-the-nation exercise.

The almajiris are only tools to be used and dumped at will and their blood thirst make them  perfect tools for mayhem.

The almajiri are in no position to provide basic infrastructure and education to their locality and as such, have also been dragged back and are also victims of greed and corruption like you and I.

Orkah was cutting nothing from the roots. If his beloved Sultan was restored to his throne, he was happy as larry. By the way, Babangida is a middle belter from Niger and was firmly in charge and therefore the responsible person with regards to Orkah's charges, why did he not excise Niger state as well?

edoyad:

This was the coup that showed IBB and his Almajiri friends how much they were hated  by all and sundry. If that coup had been successful the carved out Nigeria would have been the most developed country in Africa without a doubt. The illiteracy and backwardness of the people Orkar cut off is one of the main things still dragging this country backwards 20 years after. Well they say if at first you don't succeed . . . .

While the almajiris in those areas have continued to fuel hatred and instability due to their blood thirst, the main people dragging us back are reasonably educated (at least to secondary education).

They are the generals, some PHDs who have stolen with the pen at every twist and turn. If they had provided sound education and good environment for businesses to flourish, almajiris would be too tired after work to embark on any blood spilling adventure (maybe not entirely but very much so).

Yes, the nation has been dragged back, but the almajiris are also victims and have also been dragged back like you and I.

edoyad:

This was the coup that showed IBB and his Almajiri friends how much they were hated  by all and sundry. If that coup had been successful the carved out Nigeria would have been the most developed country in Africa without a doubt. The illiteracy and backwardness of the people Orkar cut off is one of the main things still dragging this country backwards 20 years after.
Well they say if at first you don't succeed . . . .

Edoyad, if those guys were more enlightened than the Almajiris, it did not show in their coup manifesto/agenda.

Did you read the conditions for letting those states back into the federation ? What they said, in effect was that without their choice of Sultan (rightly or wrongly) that the affected states were not part of Nigeria. In other words, the faith of the entity hinged on the enthronement of an individual to an inconsequential throne/caliphate. Clutching at straws in my opinion.

I have only addressed the part of the coup you highlighted. I could take the whole speech apart but it would be a waste of my time. Of-course, they had a few good points but they lacked substance.

Failure was well earned.

Ibime:


lol. . . at least they weren't[b] "homosexually-centred"[/b]

Ol' boy see reasons. I'm suspecting that Becomerich came up with the coup agenda while Kosovo wrote the speech.

O.K Kosovo and Become, sorry for the jab, but can't resist.

Incoherent and childish. They deserved to fail ! Nigeria had a narrow escape because those rascals had nothing to offer. The speech was replete with rubbish and had little or no substance.

Now, I'd like a good ol' revolution by intelligent fellas but I'm not keen on a revolution that was put together by dimwits.

Well deserved ban. I can't understand why some people think it is OK for kids to be exposed to such music. Anyone who feels the need to listen to the music should go get the CD for private use. (by the way I listen to worse in my car, but would switch to radio if my kids were in the car)

Also, although I think that the "Ekaete/Calabar girls" stereotype is wrong and disrespectful, it should not be a reason for the ban since we all have the rights to say what we we want as long as it doesn't involve direct/personal slander.

Can I also say that "Calabar people" have been at the receiving end of insults from very ignorant people from all corners of Nigeria and it is not fair. Be it known to all that they are among the best people on earth. Very easy going and accommodating set of people. Very hardworking, social and keen on education. People should not take their humility for stupidity. Maybe, they need to assert themselves more, because it is war zone out there !

To all those that love to stereotype and make jokes at the expence of others, please note that "although young men throw stones at frogs is sports, the frogs do not die in sports, but in earnest"

006:

Absolutely meaningless. What is your point?
You definitely have no capacity for rational discussion. You just rambled with no apparent coherence.
Sorry, you're still a kid.

What did you think ? You have patience tho. Some posts go straight into my waste basket.

UcheUwadi_:

Well I did my part and put Igbo on the U.S. Census without forgetting my Black American roots as well. As the saying goes, "I killed two birds with one stone." Nothing wrong for wanted to be counted in the United States. It brings more knowledge about the diversity of the nation.

I think all African ethnic groups in America should fill out their ethnicity on the U.S. census. I know the Caribbean Americans are doing something similar to this. They want to distance themselves from 'regular' Black Americans.

Since most whites in the United States see blacks as one people, this is further from the truth in which there are many layers to the black 'race.'

Too complex for simple minds, why bother ?

Afam:

Taxi drivers in the US make a lot of money and mind you they have access to real cash most of the time not credit card payments and lazy people of course cannot do that. There are people I know that work for at least 18 hours in a day and they are very comfortable.

Even in Nigeria, taxi drivers and bus drivers make so much money that most of them own their own houses and send their kids to good schools.

It is not about perception, it is about reality.

The funny thing is that human beings are usually looking for money where the competition is stiff while overlooking good money making opportunities around them.

They are not fabricating anything, a lot of them make a lot of money.

Very good points. In addition to those, they get to keep most of their money as they only pay tax on what they declare.

As for owning 3 houses in the US, all they need is a good credit profile, focus and good deposits and boom ------- Bob is their uncle. I know a few people who have built a portfolio worth a few milion pounds that way.

jamace:

When the wood insect gathers sticks on its own back, it carries them.

Classic. I like that saying.

I thought I knew you once I saw your user name, but your post about your waka convinced me. If na espionage you go, na so dem for catch you.

Na so I take identify one of my tenants for here and he was shocked when I told him in real life.

Howz life tho ?

Ok, check your facebook

Ok then, Now I can say that I know you very well . How's madam ? Are you on my book ,[b]face[/b]book ?

haha, olodo one kobo- go and check the definition of race. Igbo is at most an thnic group- a pseudoethnic group for that matter

oloshi igbo, its people like you all that make white people think blacks have low IQs. Before you know it, the US will release a report on the difficulty of Nigerians in following simple bleeping instructions.

Goodnite, I have to get ready for church tomorrow.

SEFAGO:

Igbo is not a race period. Anyone with the most minimal of IQs knows this 

ssuming these people read up to JSS 3

There are approximatelt over 200 races in Nigeria. God knows how many races there are in tribal africa

SEFAGO:

LOL a buncha low IQ retards 

Race interchangeable with ethnic group  , that what happens when European political correctness on discussing begins to mix s.h.it up and make semantics difficult.

One low IQ retard brought definitions of race from the dictionary, not considering the overwhelming importance of context. Race as it is used in the census has nothing to do with the definitions most of you are pointing too.

Anyways goodluck to y'all guys wallow in ignorance forever, its your prerogative

I have seen your previous post here, which are full of infantile rants and I am going to descend to your level just this once.

Take a look at your posts above and if you had any IQ at all, you would recoil back in shame for your statements were stand-alone, absolute and without any reference to context.

You talk about context, a lifeline, which I gave you when I provided the various definitions of "race"  in a bid to educate you and your cohorts. If you are so thickheaded that you cannot accept definitions from a dictionary, then I 'm afraid that you will come out of college/university still an empty barrel.

irohadis:

This is called privilege. Being able to do what you love, live where you love and hang out in bohemian circles without worrying about money or supporting any one but yourself? This is called privilege. I am also an artist who 11 years ago made a splash in Lagos. Got my first ticket out of the country to Europe and took it and ran. I so badly wanted to go globetrotting, meeting other artists around the world and showing my work along the way. But, one look at the waiting hands in Nigerian changed my course. I stayed back in a country I didn't love, under less free conditions, and significantly changed my career trajectory. Yes I got a PhD to show for my time there, yes I have money in the bank, but I barely know who I am and still trying to retrace my steps back to before I left. Reading your article reminded me that there are lots of Nigerians who would like such freedom but can't afford it. That is, I am not talking about those who can't leave the country because of no money; I am talking about people who would move to America or Europe when they can be happier in Namibia or Ghana or India because they are moving to make cash.

I think I know who you are. Did u go to UNN ? Lived in Ireland and enjoyed bell ringing ?

Na today ? Nigerian taken Amerika as a home, nigerian taken russia as a home, nigerian taken the moon as a home. Who cares where you "taken" as home ?

O.k I "taken" Jerico as a home and my parents no sabi say I dey go Jerico until the morning of my departure.