@mrcrackles ok why dont you mention your own,which countries are the most developed in africa?? name your top 5 and mind you,we are not talking about the number of people doing 419 or flying in and out or affording return ticket as some people have said. we are talking about economic development,provision of basic social amenities like portable water and electricity.we are talking about employment opportunities and level of poverty.we are talking about the average citizen having the chance to live a dignified life like obama said.dignified meaning the ability to honestly earn a decent living where basic amenities to include access to good education,healthcare and infrastructure (no children sitting on the floor in a classroom) are made available to him by his government (responsible for it) rank african countries that enjoy the most and best of the above stated.

@igwe and charlesmund

this is supposed to be a question concerning the fate and development of the blackman,the question is a universal one that appeals to the intellectual not you wierd people.the fact is that no african country with black leadership in any part of the world has risen past third world status including haiti and other islands on the american continent,so by implication,if our inability to develop has racial dimensions as in blacks are an intellectually backward people or race incapable of sustaining or developing communities or societies then therein lies our problem,we meaning nigeria cant develop bcoz we are a black nation.simple!!!no african country seems to be meaningfully developing.even south africa that was flourishing to an extent under whites is now a retrogressing nation with corruption in all echelons of government.zimbabwe that was better off when it was rhodesia and controlled by whites is now a failed state and a refugee nation!!
these are the issues im raising and if you cant see the connection then maybe the reason we cant develop is bcoz of people like you who majority in nigeria and are intellectually backward.self critique and self examination is a good thing fyi.

@mrcrackles

what do you mean jokes? as in the coutries mentioned are not really the most developed in africa?? so why dont you mention which countries in africa are more developed than that? south africa is the most developed and advanced country in africa,even tho they have too much crime!!and its going down,how many south africans are living in nigeria as immigrants and how many nigerians are living in south africa in search of a better future?answer this pls. to the extent that the south africans started killing nigerians!!get serious

@IGWE
how is naija no 1? pls talk some sense to yourself, we dont have electricity in 2009,we dont have water,proper refuse disposal nko,we no get that one,our streets are filthy,how about our economy-not diversified,dependent on only one product(oil) what about our roads,what about crime,education,our hospitals,how about unemploymenthaba how about our universities?anything to write home about? how about endemic corruption? overall development,we no get am so how can you now have the guts to say naija is no 1.you no get shame
for a fact,botswana is better than naija in terms of human and infrastructural development, even ordinary ghana is better that naija in,atleast they can perform credible elections. pls nigerians stop deceiving yourselves,naija is not in top 20 as far as most developed countries are concerned as in where the average citizen is doing relatively well.

A Texas oilman, Mr. Kase Lawal, who is a major fundraiser for the campaign of one of the Democratic Presidential candidates in the forthcoming United States election, Senator Hilary Clinton, has been dropped from the committee over allegations of fraud for which he is being investigated in Nigeria.

Lawal, is being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the police for allegedly defrauding the Nigerian government by illegally pumping and exporting 10 million barrels of crude oil.

Lawal who is based in Houston is at least the fourth person accused or convicted of criminal wrongdoing to help finance Clinton's political ambitions since 2000 and the second in her quest for the White House. The list also includes Chinese and Pakistani fugitives and a former Miami lawyer who was convicted of defrauding Cuba.

According to information gathered from the U.S., there is no indication that Clinton's campaign was aware of Lawal's legal problems when it accepted his help in raising more than $100,000, but U.S.-based McClatchy Newspapers investigation both in the U.S. and Nigeria suggests that her campaign did little to scrutinize the background of Lawal, one of its top fundraisers.

Although Jay Carson, Hilary Clinton's campaign spokesman, brushed off such criticism, National Daily intelligence gathered that the Campaign that has suffered several setbacks recently that led to increased calls for her to concede the presidential ticket to rival, Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama, has already concluded plans to drop the Nigerian-born American who is a known philanthropist and community leader in Houston from its team. As a preliminary move, some top officials of the Campaign have advised Lawal to resign from the fundraising team pending the determination of the allegations against him.
According to sources close to the campaign, the move is to prevent the possibility of the opposition capitalising on the allegations to further deal a blow to the ambition of Clinton.

"While no vetting process is perfect, our vetting department does extensive vetting in order to catch any issues with donors," he said. "And to our knowledge, Mr. Lawal is an upstanding member of his community in Houston."

However, a simple Google search by McClatchy produced reports of serious allegations about some of Lawal's business dealings in Nigeria and South Africa.
Clinton's campaign lists Lawal among about 250 "Hillraisers" who pledged to collect at least $100,000 in donations. Clinton attended a fundraising luncheon at Lawal's home in Houston last Aug. 11 that generated more than $100,000, and she spoke to about 250 guests gathered around Lawal's indoor swimming pool, including two former Houston mayors and Shell Oil President John Hofmeister.
Lawal, 53, who holds dual U.S.-Nigerian citizenship and whose energy company has become one of the nation's largest black-owned businesses, said in interviews that he "unequivocally and vigorously" denies the Nigerian charges.

Lawal, a commissioner of the Houston Port Authority since 1999, a community leader and a philanthropist, said he didn't know of the charges against him until McClatchy Newspapers contacted him last week. Saying he was "stunned," Lawal said he has travelled at least 70 times to Nigeria since 1999, is often greeted by police and has never been served with legal papers.

Lawal said he suspects that a now-deceased partner in a Niger Delta drilling venture "trumped up" the accusations as part of a scheme to blackmail subsidiaries of his company, CAMAC International Corp.

Back in Nigeria, Lawal, president of CAMAC International who reportedly hosted the wife of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, Turai, to a lavish party in Houston Texas is reportedly doing everything within his powers and influence to find a soft landing as he is said to have set aside some millions of dollars to mobilise all and sundry in his favour.

The game-plan, according to sources, is for a speedy investigation to be carried out and Lawal, who is warmly playing himself into the heart of the wife of President Yar'Adua, allegedly for oil blocs, be given a clean bill by the Police and Justice Ministry and same communicated to the U.S. so as to avoid being investigated by relevant security agencies.

ok,how about the most relatively successful??

I have noticed in the media and other readings that south africa is retrogressing fast.the crime rate is sky rocketing,the health crises is bad and worsening (HIV) and now there is endemic corruption from the leadership all the way down. In short,the country is going down the drain,in the last 10 years 1/5th of the white population has left the country seeking greener pastures in new zealand,australia,canada and europe and even dubai.The country's economic situation is worsening. Why is this? there are now power cuts and water shortages in most parts of SA

A discussion i had with a friend implied that its because the country has a black leadership.So, do you think that there is something in the mind of a black man that cannot allow him to develop?
Is there some sort of curse on Africans that suggest that one cannot enjoy something as simple as electricity (the dark continent jk ) provided this country is headed by black men? in short,why do we suffer backwardness in africa?

I have had this question lurking in my mind for some time, i want to see if there is a consensus among nairalanders as to which countries in the varied opinions are the most developed in terms of infrastructure, economic development, provision of basic social amenities et al. you get the idea. and if you can kindly mention in your opinion why these nations are more developed than the others,that'd be appreciated.

@kobojunkie

the people with illegal stalls that fashola is shutting down should move back to the rural areas of either their states or lagos state and build our agricultural system. if im not mistaken, its the urban-rural drift/migration that led to the over crowding of lagos to begin with.no doubt lagos is an economically attractive city but why leave the "village" to come to lagos or any other city for that matter.its because the the govt. has completely abandoned anything "local govt" as far as development is concerned.
develop the rural areas so as to make it condusive for economic growth and prosperity (no matter how limited) and then people will have the incentive to stay and farm,make it just as attractive to be a farmer as it is to be a petty trader with a stall. and then maybe we'll have a situation where individual people and whole communities are a little wealtheir.But closing the stalls is legitimate and a good idea.but fashola should know what to do with the people whose stalls he's closing.again have some sort of program that redirects them to farms or gives them some sort of skill preferably industrial job skills.

But the video only suggests two things,one, that the police force and entire justice system is not working at all.its at almost 0 functioning capacity.and the they need to overhaul the entire system maybe by creating "courts of expediency" to try criminals a.s.a.p so that the prisons and jails arent overflowing. police ineffectiveness is as some say because they are over worked and the jails are too full.they need to increase police patrol like that "opereation fire for fire" thing and better community-police relations.or better yet,have state police as opposed to national police.the states should be responsible for providing security,if that doesnt do anything,at least it will bring about healthy competition between the different state police organizations which will definitely lead to more effectiveness and efficiency. in an ordinary/functioning/civilized/progressive society,the people that burned that man alive are guilty of murder and should be charged with first degree murder. the punishment for stealing "especially when hungry" is certainly not being burnt alive by a mob of crazy yoruba people. only yoruba people do this by the way.

again,on a more social note,how come (no one has answered) nigerians can burn a petty market place theif like that but when they clearly know their leaders are stealing from them,they do nothing.they'll hear and read that gov. so and so has stolen this or that million dollars but they'll not form mobs to go and burn down the governors house.why is this? why burn to death a petty theif?is it cowardice in nigerians??is it stupidity? what is it?they'll kneel for a governor like he's a king and smile and act shy like little girls (to any big man not just gov) and more than likely,the big man cheated them to get rich.yorubas are known to be cowards as nigerian folklore has it.yoruba people will talk and talk and remove their shirts and beat their chests but they'll never actually throw punches.thats besides the point.i think its cowardly and ignorant to burn someone alive like that,dont they have laws?dont they know what proportionality is? if i steal something then i should be crucified abi?like Jesus.or is it that nigerians are not yet politically developed as in our human devp. and political devp. is at the medeival ages of europeans.in that case,we're not yet enlightened as a culture and shouldnt be even trying to develop. if anything,focus on human devp. education not superstition.because as you may know,in medival europe,they used to burn people alive too just like this video but only if you were accused of being a witch. any rebuttals?

this is the question, are nigerians cowardly people.if they can do this to a petty theif who stole something maybe not more that $100. why cant the same sort of inhumanity be meted on nigerian leaders who steal millions.instead they kneel down for them.nigerians are backward people.thats why we cant develop.its not corruption,its because the entire culture is backward and regressive

i dont understand why southerners are so freaking hypocritical.especially yoruba people. They say they dont like sharia law in the north,they say its too strict and they say the punishment is too severe,they say its "backward". these are only a few criticisms that come from the south against the north. If someone steals,they get their hand (one hand) cut off thats if its been established that they were well off prior to stealing someone else's property but if the person is hungry then he is to be let go unharmed or maybe a few lashes.
But the south.look at what they do to theives,their own jungle justice?so why complain about sharia being brutal when you're busy doing this stuff?
Note the content is disturbing so its not for everybody

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-198087?ref=feeds%2Flatest

but why?? nigerians are hypocrtical,no?

again,why is nigerian mentality like this.how come such severe punishment for the petty theif and nothing for the big oneanyone??

@moderator,please don't remove this post again. This is supposed to be a free forum where ideas can be exchanged in the form of debate.i have seen worse things on nairaland.if CNN and facebook can allow it on their website,then it is only fair for it to be shared on nairaland for the purpose of debate. This has been watched my many Nigerians and non-Nigerians alike. So it is necessary for us to view what is going on in our country as it can only stimulate national debate.
There is material on nairaland that involves acts of sedition and espionage and treason which is by far worse that this piece of reality being posted. thanks for understanding.allow us to debate nigerian reality.

Please be warned that the content of this video is disturbing and your discretion is strongly advised. this is for the sake of debate.

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-198087?ref=feeds%2Flatest

this is funny coz i know the mans first child.his name is idris and i went to secondary school with him in kaduna.he is my age meaning he is around 24 yrs old,so his first son is 4 yrs older than his fathers 20 yr old new bride.the wife should be for his son not him the governor.
i mean if the marriage is political, didnt you see how dangote did and sani bello did it? dangote's daughter married col. sani bello's (former kano governor) son.

The thing is most marriages in the north are purely economic and not necessarily love and understanding based.so a woman will marry a man if he can provide for her.but it makes the yar'aduas look backward,money hungry and desperate to have their 20 yr old marry a 53 yr old man.its 2008 and this is an outdated practise that is common in economically impoverished societies. this speaks alot about the family values of the yar'adua's.
what happens when she's 40 and he's 73.obviously he may die around that time and she'll be widowed with kids and where will she get a husband then??what can they possibly have in common that he wants to marry her? he cannot confide in her coz shes a child that doesnt know much, so all she is is a sex object for oga governor.thats sad!!i feel bad for her coz now she wont know what a real marriage feels like. tsk tsk tsk

@ davidlyan so are you blaming nigerian problems on gaza aid now? come on, how can you link the two.arabs have alot of oil.gaza gets its money from countries like saudi,kuwait,UAE.have you seen the per capita GDP of those countries?they are very well off and they feel they have to give palestinians money.if palestinians get money from them out of empathy,whats wrong with thatthese people dont even have a country,do you know thats the worst situation to be in? id rather be a nigerian with a country suffering than a palestinian with no country but enjoying!!

thant being said,population plays a huge role.if gaza or plaestinian territories had nigerias population,do you think they would get the same aid they enjoy today.if they get 2 billion with a pop. of 1.5 million,do you think if they had 140 mil pop.they'll get a trillion dollars or so or how ever the math is equal to.absolutely not.

nigerias problem is leadership.if you become a governor and decide to steal and siphone millions of dollars so that only you can enjoy instead of investing in human and capital development projects for the benefit of your people,how can you connect that to gaza in anyway?if youre stealing from your own people,how can i,an arab or a westerner say i want to come and help you

again the west is waging a war on islam by bombing muslim majority countries that dont have puppet leaders.they support israel unconditionally for religious reasons.or you dont think bush and them are religious fanatics.
the fact is the west wont allow countries to be run islamically.if people want an islamic code to govern their lives then they must be westernized at all costs unless there is something to gain from them through the leaders then we can let them be for a while.thats the picture i see.

again 4play and davidlyan.

i know what you guys are getting at.that the response to darfur has been considerably less than the response to gaza.and i agree but the situations are not the same in anyway.there were muslims who stood up against the darfur issues.babagana kingibe,a muslim mediated between the darfur rebels and sudanese govt.
again,pls dont beleive everything put out by the western media.the west wants them to look bad.but the same west caused and even helped the rwandan genoide.france was supplying the hutus with weapons and they enjoyed their support.no one said anything.they killed a million tutsis in a few days.what did the west do?it wasnt until later on that they said genocide when the world found out.who condemned it? while it was happening.so you can also say the west is always eager to accuse muslims of terrorism and ethnic cleansing.why?why are americans all over the middle east?why are they waging a war on islam? global war on terror,you mean global war on islam?

again this darfur issue is a political one and not a religious one.rebels fighing the govt. and people being killed in the process.and many muslims were against the darfur killings but in all honesty its not the same as the gaza issue coz the gaza issue involves land theft and coz israel is stronger,its ok but this is uncivilized jungle justice way of thinking!!
its a big shame that innocents are being killed in darfur.a big shame and i strongly oppose it. but i dont think its genocide nor ethnic cleansing like the west asserts.those are simply moves by the west to tarnish the not so friendly sudanese govt. its a random militia who arent even arabs called supporter of APC that have had tribal issues with a certain tribe from darfur that are going at each other and the govt. is busy fighting rebels.so dont say what you dont know.i have been to sudan.

@4play

contrary to your false beleifs.this is not something about narrow world views,its not about religion or sentiments related to it.its about humanity,about human compassion,about fairness and sense of justice.its about reason and rationale.how can you go and just bomb civilians,that makes sense to you?

if muslims were bombing christians,i would be equally against it.if any sort of killing and murder of innocent people was taking place anywhere in the world,i'd be very much against it so dont sit there and just assume you know my position or my state of mind.that amounts to ignorance on your part.

again this is not about religion. its about fairness.

@davidlyan.if i hear you say darfur again.i will slap you.what do you mean darfur.or do you not know that the people from darfur are bonafide muslims.you didnt know this.they're not christian, oya start hating them now that you know theyre muslims.the sudanese army and govt. is muslim so are the darfur rebels and people of darfur.they are also arabic speakers.thats their primary language although theyre ethnically african.
you're here spewing nonsense.what an idiot. darfur my foot.dont bring darfur into this.its not even comparable.
gaza is a victim of zionist agenda and israeli inhumane aggression.if you want them to stop attacking you with rockets then dont suffocate them,dont put a blockade and make them a prison,dont make it impossible for economic activity to take place.dont do that and im sure they wont fire rockets

@4play.youre a hopeless idiot,a bafoon.he is one man.this shows you dont know anything about politics.you think he can just say something like that without consensus with his colleagues and his boss.dont be silly.his statement is viewed as the vatican position on the matter not just his so he cant go and say something like that. they spent the 40's stoping israel from being a state.give me proof.dont just create things from your crusty malfunctioning brain.
That israel is wrong is unquestionable.the wole pope sees this and he represents the catholic world.that all countries in the u.n security council were against israel but the u.s doesnt say something to your limited brain.that even india that was attacked by pakistani terrorists has come out to say that what israel is doing is wrong doesnt 'faze' you.everybody is against israel regardless of religion but you and you fellow idiotic frienss like davidlyan.are you a jew? why are you supporting them like this? you cant even admit that a war of aggression on civilians is wrong makes you an animal.that youre finding ways to justify collateral damage and mass murder of innocent civilians truely means that you have been consumed by the devil's philosophy.go and check your motives and wicked thoughts.check the state of your soul.idiot.

The Pope's justice minister, Cardinal Renato Martino, has sharply criticised Israel's actions and likened the Gaza Strip to a "big concentration camp".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7817019.stm

so davidlyan, you should change your mind on the issue since even the pope dislikes and thinks israeli action is wrong.better hurry before they ex-communicate you.then you can be a jew since you have so much undying love for them.

jews are the most powerful bloc of minorities in america.they own most businesses and are all over the govt. in powerful positions.sentor joe leiberman is jewish fyi.they are very powerful in america which is why america is supporting israel unconditionally.how can you go to the u.n security council and be outvoted 13-1.all other countries in the security council wanted a resolution comdemning the israeli aggression and calling for a cease fire but the u.s used veto power to block that resolution.all the countries for God's sake but america and you're saying powerful american jews are not behind this.get smart.what the u.s needs is even handedness in the matter.dont just support israel even if they kill and murder mindlessly.the need to be a fair broker not a partial interloper.this is the issue.israel is wrong and davidlyan and the other idiot are sitting here justifying murder of innocent people.

davidlyan is a muslim hater, a religious bigot.you love jews and hate muslims and this is the only reason you support blind murder.you are lacking in basic human compassion.you are justifying murder when the entire world is frowning on what israel is doing,the whole world.hamas are terrorists but didnt israel and the US say they wouldnt deal with anybody until palestine became a democracy?hamas is now a political party that was elected by palestinians.double standard!!!you have to deal with them

how can you even assume that you can deal with the situation militarily,this whole issue needs a political solution and not military.this will acheive nothing.absolutely nothing!!hezbollah is still around and stronger.hamas is going to be around,you cant crush an ideology with military power,you cant crush a movement with bombs alone.davidlyan,youre a wicked person.

so if as davidlyan suggests that there was no such thing as palestine, that it was all jordan or transjordan (from jordan river) why did the declaration mention palestine (1917) and refer to the people living there.clearly as you can see in the map,the area called israel today was inhabited by palestinian arabs both muslim and christian.it was not desolate!i wonder where you even got that from.desolate!you're funny.this proves you dont know anything!the entire area was palestinian meaning controled and inhabited by arabs.if no such thing existed then why are there 3 million palestinian refugees living in jordan,syria and lebanon.they live in refugee camps and carry refugee documents as opposed to a passport.
where did these refugees come from?they are refered to as palestinian refugees even by the UN.they came from the area that is known today as israel.the land israel is on today was inhabited by these refugees
Jordan 1,827,877 refugees
Syria 432,048 refugees
Lebanon 804,170 refugees
Egypt 70,245 refugees

yasser arafat was also a refugee,a palestinian refugee born in egypt. so all this proves you have no consideration and you dont know what you're talking about.please dont let your muslim hatred blind you.you refered to me as a dilluded muslim.fine.but palestinians are 40% christian so if you dont care for the muslims at least you can care for the christians among them.the nakba was as a result of israeli zionists armies forcing palestinians out of their land at bayonet point.

In November 1917, as General Allenby was preparing to conquer Palestine, the British Foreign office issued the Balfour Declaration of 1917, a letter from the Foreign Secretary, Lord Balfour, to Lord Rothschild, head of the British Zionist movement. The declaration stated:

"His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."

again

@davidlyan take a look yourself

47 partition plan

In the mid-1200's, Mamelukes, originally soldier-slaves of the Arabs based in Egypt, established an empire that in time included the area of Palestine. Arab-speaking Muslims made up most of the population of the area once called Palestine. Beginning in the late 1300's, Jews from Spain and other Mediterranean lands settled in Jerusalem and other parts of the land. The Ottoman Empire defeated the Mamelukes in 1517, and Palestine became part of the Ottoman Empire. The Turkish Sultan invited Jews fleeing the Spanish Catholic inquisition to settle in the Turkish empire, including several cities in Palestine.