its a conc[e]pt to make thin[gs] ... easier.

Oleku,

If it was just down to the man in the marriage, of course we would have e-marriage. Who wants stress?

But where your theory falls flat is that it forgets that that women want a big, beautiful offline marriage... along with all the the hassle and stress that this entails.

So unless you can also figure out a way of excising that part of a woman's brain that is turned on by this, I'm afraid it's back to the drawing board for you...

so u mean VP(vice president) can't do stuffs in other states apart from his own?

He certainly can, Hot-angel. But y'know... charity begins in Adamawa.

Do you think that Yobe would have been a good choice, then?

The trouble with this 'what the parent wants and what the child wants' issue is that people assume that the two are mutually exclusive. In other words, they assume that either the child forgoes doing what she wants and does what the parent wants or she does what she wants and forgoes doing what the parent wants (unless there is a happy coincidence and both parent and child want the same thing).

Well, what if the parent decides that there are a range of things he would like to do and the child also decides that there are a range things that she would like to do? Then there's a greater chance of there being a happy coincidence.

But if I was a parent, I would get the child to do what I want by subtle and not-so-subtle techniques. For example, if I wanted him to be a world-class footballer, I would play audio tapes of football matches during my wife's pregnancy. Then I would play back-to-back videos of footballers when he was a baby... I'd take him for kickabouts in the nearest playground when he was a toddler... I'd hang posters of world famous footballers in the house... I'd buy football video games, etc. etc.

There has beena lot of talk about the mortage industry picking up. Its like a trillion dollar industry just wasting away. For those thiinking ahead, you better buy some houses or land now

I would wait a while. For one thing, the laws governing land titles are still a mess, and they are very weakly enforced. For another, mortgage institutions are still offering way too high rates of interest for their deals to be attractive (but perhaps this is because there is still a certain amount of risk attached to lending money in Nigeria).

So how many of these people are planning to come back to Nigeria to impart their ideas?

It's not necessarily about quantity - if the right people return and spread their ideas, that's good enough. And sometimes, you don't have to be physically present for you ideas to have an effect.

And what is to suggest that Nigerians at home will be willing to conform to these imported ideas?

Well, the ideas will have to be adapted to the Nigerian scenario. This is why it matters that those bringing the ideas are Nigerians abroad who have experience of the Nigerian environment and know how to customise any foreign idea to suit that environment.

And how do we decide which part of what you're bringing to Nigeria will move us forward and what part of it is actually just western cultural baggage

That requires a certain amount of intelligence. It certainly requires asking questions like "Why does this idea work so well there? Are the things that make this idea work there present in Nigeria? What substitutes can we use if they are not present in Nigeria?"




Joftech,

There's no point in knowing your right if you don't have the werewithal to exercise it. Even if you tell a person that it is his right to complain about this and that to his Senator, do you really think he would exercise that right when he is (quite rightly) worried that the Senator will send some people to pay him a visit?

No - economic empowerment must precede political empowerment.

The school isn't in Yobe - it's in Yola. Stands to reason - I hear VP Abubakar (who is from Adamawa) is one of the people behind the project.

I hope this marks the re-introduction of quality tertiary education in Nigeria.

The reason I'm somewhat hopeful about Nigeria is because there are enough Nigerians who are exposed to new ways of doing things abroad to ensure that there is a flow of new ideas into the country. I'm not saying that Nigerians in Nigeria have been bound and gagged so that they don't know what's happening - after all, there's the Internet to find out what you want. But really, it's much more fruitful to interact with people rather than words on a screen to really understand the new ideas that you may come across.

And it's new ideas that change the way that people think, so that they do things differently and change the societies they live in.

Interesting concept, Oleku - but I can't help thinking that it's a solution looking for a problem.

I disagree. Don't add a new forum until you can see that there are enough posts relating to the subject matter of that forum in other fora. Else you will find that the forum may be severely underused (like the 'Pets' forum which I think should be merged with the 'Travel' and 'Motoring' fora to form a new 'Leisure' forum).

Anyone who wishes to post about law and rights can do so in the Education forum.

I think the government should concentrate primarily on creating a business friendly environment if it is going to reduce the problem of unemployment. This is because the more businesses grow, the more people they can employ and the more goods and services there are for the employed people to buy as well.

This means three things in order of achievability:


1. Delivering the physical infrastructure that will enable the businesses to run their operations smoothly. This includes (a) electricity, (b) telecommunications, a good transportation network and (d) water supply. I believe that the government should concentrate on creating a regulatory framework that will enable private companies to supply (a), (b) and (d), while it should meet its obligations and repair the existing road network to provide (c). I used to be a fan of the private road idea, but I feel it would only work for major highways.


2. Ensuring that the business has good quality graduates that it is able to employ. In a way, I think this is a problem that will solve itself as Nigerian businesses begin to get exposed to best practice in business. The companies that thrive will do so because they employ good graduates; other companies will become aware of what is desirable in a good graduate and increasingly demand these kinds of graduates; the graduates themselves will either seek schools that give them these qualities or educate themselves; and the schools will begin to tailor their curriculum to match these requirements.

The one thing the government can do is to lightly regulate the provision of private education to ensure that schools are able to deliver what they claim to be able to deliver.


3. Enforcement of the rule of law. This is probably at least as important as the provision of infrastructure, but unfortunately it's very difficult to achieve for reasons I don't have the time to go into here. The government needs to overhaul the current way justice is dispensed so that cases are resolved faster and companies feel more confident that their property rights will be respected; also the law enforcement agencies need to be reformed so that they are more professional about how they go about enforcing the law.

New flag, huh?

The best thing is to have a flag that represents our true culture... so we should have a black flag (representing crude oil) with the symbol of two hands exchanging a large colourful plastic bag of money in the centre.

Review of TV Programme on Dora Akunyili

I've just finished watching a programme on BBC titled 'Bad Medicine' which essentially was a documentary on how Dora Akunyili, NAFDAC director, was tackling the problem of fake drugs in Nigeria.

The programme started by showing Akunyili addressing the traders at Kano market where she had come to make an address. She explained why their market had been shut down previously, and she exhorted them to avoid peddling fake drugs.

The programme told about how tough things were when Akunyili assumed the headship of NAFDAC four years ago. Her first action was a massive public enlightenment campaign on the dangers of fake drugs and how to recognise fake from real drugs. But when she started getting tough on fake drug traders by seizing their goods, they struck back by burning down NAFDAC labs and buildings.

The programme showed Akunyili showing the reporter on the programme the burnt the NAFDAC headquarters. It also talked about how Akunyili narrowly avoided being assassinated two years ago.

The reporter asked her why she was so passionate about stamping out fake drugs, and she said that her motivation was her late sister who died many years ago from using fake drugs.

The programme then showed the reporter on patrol with NAFDAC officials, and showed them confiscating fake drugs from petty traders. Apparently, most of the traders weren't even aware that their drugs were fake. They showed an incident where one man was arrested because fake drugs were found in his warehouse. The man claimed that he had been planning to hand the drugs into NAFDAC. Then he got all dramatic and started crying and throwing himself on the mercy of the NAFDAC official who was interviewing him.

The programme went on to talk about one big man (I've forgotten the name now) who NAFDAC caught who seemed to be at the top of the chain (and who may have had a hand in her assassination attempt). The man was given the choice either to apologise on public TV and renounce his evil ways or face court action. The man chose the TV option, but later on rejected his TV statement, so the case in now in court.

Then the programme spoke about an incident at UNTH where foreign medical professionals from an international charity visited Nigeria to perform operations on some children. In the course of performing the operations, they realised that the drugs were not having the desired effect and they believed that they might be fake, so they had to suspend the operations and turn away other patients rather than (as they said) risk lives. As a result, some children died.

However, the hospital never informed the parents of the children what happened - the only way the story blew up was when the foreign medical professionals published what they knew, and NAFDAC went into action and tested the medicines at the hospital. All/most were fake. NAFDAC traced the origin of the drugs to Onitsha market. But nobody was sacked, and the head of UNTH and the Minister of Health absolved themselves of any direct responsibility.

The programme noted that a lot of the fake drugs in Nigeria originate from India. Akunyili said that NAFDAC ran a programme where they tested drugs originating from that part of the world and as a result had banned several drugs from being imported into Nigeria. But there was not much she could do about the regulation of the drugs in India itself.

The programme showed an Indian fake-drug manufacturer who seemed to feel very comfortable with his activities. He claimed what he did was semi-legal in so far as his drugs still had the intended effect, only that they were given a different (more recognised name). But there was another Indian fake drug manufacturer who claimed to offer cheaper fake drugs by adulteration... the more the adulteration, the cheaper the drug.

Akunyili felt very frustrated at the lack of attention that the Indian government was giving the fake drug problem. She claimed that the drug regulation policy was discriminatory - there was one regulation for drugs intended for the domestic market, and one for the international market.

The programme noted that the fake drug problem was even beginning to manifest itself in the UK - there was the case of a fake drug manufacturer whose premises in London were raided by the police.

The programme finished by noting that through her hardwork and determination, Akunyili had succeeded in reducing the prevalence of fake drugs in Nigeria, and Nigerians hailed her success in this regard.

More info on the programme here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/this_world/4656627.stm



My thoughts?

I felt:

moved when Akunyili had to stop showing the reporter around the burnt NAFDAC building and turned away in tears, and also when she was talking about how her sister died from taking fake drugs;

Angry when I heard the head of UNTH reacting to the news of the fake drugs in his hospital. Instead of the man to offer his abject apology, he was saying that the news should have come to him first! I won't even talk about the Minister of Health who was ducking and weaving in his attempt to escape responsibility;

Depressed when I heard the callousness with which the drug fakers talked about manufacturing their 'chalk of death'. But I guess you can afford to be callous when you're far away from the mothers that cry when their children die.

Happy that Nigerians recognise the work of this wonderful woman who could have chosen not to have anything to do with this government on all sorts of grounds. I glad that she realises that there are some issues that are too important to take a stand-by-and-watch attitude on. I'm still concerned about what will happen when she goes... but sometimes, the work that you do when you have the opportunity to do it acts as an inspiration to others who otherwise might do nothing.

If you desperately need to 'fake' it in Word, you can just apply the double strikethrough style to a capital 'N' by going 'Format' > 'Font' > 'Effects' > 'Double Strikethrough'

My last day on earth?

I'd set up a new venture - 'Ka Spirit World Communications', and for a fee, I would offer to deliver messages to people who had died from their loved ones (or even their enemies or creditors). Then with all the money I make, I would set up an NGO - 'Ka Creativity Foundation' - which would award a prize of N100,000 every year to the most creative respone to the question 'What would you do if today was your last day on earth'?

I don't think it's a case of relative but absolute wealth. In other words, it's not about whether she's richer than me, but about if I have enough wealth to contribute to support our family. If I can, then I don't care how much money she has, as long as we can truly communicate with and understand each other.

Of course, there may be other issues related to marrying a very rich person. For example, I'm pretty [b]un[/b]materialistic - you're not likely to find me chasing after the latest this or that even if I have the money to afford it, because my spending decisions are driven less by fashion and more by utility. However, it may be the case that because the woman is very rich, she may be used to a much 'higher-maintenance' lifestyle and this could cause friction between us.

Hm... this GNLD thing smells very much to me like a pyramid scheme where the main people to benefit are those who are at the top because they have joined the scheme early. A bit like the Forever Living thing that was doing the rounds in Naija at one time (don't know if it's still going strong).

For those who think Dangote is such a wonderful businessman, take a look at this from the Financial Standard. How can someone be called a good businessman if they cannot deliver value to the consumer in the form of lower prices? It's not just enough to provide jobs - heck, even criminals do that.

The Association of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria have blamed the hike in the price of bread on sugar, one of the major components in bread baking, for the domination of sugar market by Dangote Group of Companies.

The association said if keen competition were allowed in the sugar market, there would not be an arbitrary increase in the price of sugar.

The scarcity of sugar and the hike in the prices of other major raw materials for bread making have been adduced by the master bakers for their recent 50 per cent increase in the price of bread.

They said only an enabling environment, which would bring down the cost of sugar and other baking materials, would put a stop to the 50 per cent hike in the price of bread.

If this directive were implemented as directed by the association in Lagos last week, a standard loaf of bread would increase from N130 to N195. It was learnt that the price hike might not be effective in Lagos State due to the non-cooperation of bakers in the state.

Mr. Sani Abubakar, corporate affairs officer of Dangote Group, believed to be the only importer of raw sugar, said the scarcity is caused by the temporary closure of Dangote sugar refining plant in Lagos. He equally blamed distributors of the product for the price hike. Abubakar said some of the distributors who bulk- purchased sugar before the closure of the refining plant were behind the artificial scarcity. He argued that if the scarcity was genuine as portrayed by the master bakers, major bottlers of soft drinks (who also buy from the company) would have been the first to cry out. The corporate affairs manager said those calling for a liberalised sugar import market are looking for an escape route to import low quality sugar. The federal government placed a ban on import of refined sugar into the country.

But the association wants the government to lift the ban to enable bakers have access to sugar at affordable prices.

Chief Bayo Folarin, national president of the association who directed all zonal, state and local chapters of the association to mobilise members to implement the directive on new bread price, said this was the only way to protect the baking industry from economic strangulation.

He enjoined the federal government to revive the local sugar industry to augment the quantity of sugar being imported into the country.

Folarin said there has been a steady rise in the price of flour, sugar and other major materials since February. A 50kg bag of sugar, which formerly sold for N3, 000 has risen by about 200 per cent to N9, 000 while 50kg of flour rose by about 50 per cent from N2,890 to N3,300. Folarin said it was possible that the prices could increase further. A carton of yeast also rose from N4, 300 to N6, 500. A 16kg carton of bakery fat increased by 0.68 per cent from N1, 600 to N2, 700 while a 20kg bag of salt jumped by 100 per cent from N300 to N600. Twenty litres of vegetable oil went up by 0.23 per cent from N2, 200 to N2, 720.

Mr. Daniel Wilson, executive chairman of Wilson Foods and Confectioneries, decried the current hardship in the baking industry, saying that a good number of workers would lose their jobs if bakers close shop due to the high production cost. "We are responsible people. The price hike is necessary because the privileges of free market economy have been taken for granted. We are increasing the price of bread to forestall the temptation of people producing substandard bread".

Ban the first person who started yet another thread on virginity.

Say you're walking down the street, minding your own business. What would you do if someone stopped, looked at you and burst out into uncontrollable laughter while rolling on the floor and pointing at you?

IAH:

Yes, introduction of N1000 note will cause inflation definitely! Go and dust your Economics textbook or do a research on the internet before starting at all. First off, Can you define Inflation?

Inflation occurs when there is a continuous rise of prices of goods and services across the board.

One cause of inflation is where there is too much money 'chasing' too few goods, which leads the to the holders of the money being willing to pay higher prices. The increase in the amount of money in circulation can be caused when the government decides to spend money like there's no tomorrow either by borrowing the money from elsewhere or printing the money it needs.

Now if the introduction of the N1,000 note was guaranteed to lead to an increase in the amount of money in circulation, I would have agreed that it might cause inflation. But I cannot see how this is the case.

I mean, all the government has to do is to spend the money it has already budgeted (without going overboard), but instead of issuing say 2 million N500 notes for a project, it could simply issue 1 million N1,000 notes so that the same amount of money is being spent and no extra amount of money is released into circulation.

So those who say that the introduction of the N1,000 note will lead to inflation will have to do better to explain why.

Obong: You think Ricahrd Branson isnt bribing his way to make his billions? You think President Bush and Cheney didnt bribe thier way through Halliburton?

This is all unsubstantiated.

I'm not saying its an ideal situation, but without realistically knowing how business works at this level, we decieve ourselves into thinking corruption is purely a nigerian phenomenon.

I wasn't talking about corruption - I was making the point that Dangote is not an innovative businessman - simple. I can understand that it is necessary for a businessman to cultivate contacts or bribe officials in order to carry on his business, but it seems that someone like Dangote relies too heavily on his contacts to make his business succeed.

The fact is Dangote has invest heavily in the country, something the chinese, indians, malaysians, etc have done in thier countries despite dealing in dirty money. Ultimately thats a model to follow.

Yes, I'm prepared to concede that it is better for him to invest his money in Nigeria rather than spiriting it abroad and stashing it in foreign accounts.

Mosiate,

I wouldn't go as far as Seun's 'if-he-gets-you-to-have-sex-before-marriage-he's-a-player defintion. It's important to remember that a player is just that - someone (man or woman) who plays around and isn't serious about settling down with you because they are only interested in sex/money/whatever. And there's no reason why someone who is serious about their intentions towards you can't still have sex before marriage with you.

To determine whether someone is a player, I would listen to whether their talk is more oriented towards the future than the present. Do they talk more about what's happening tonight, which club or restaurant you will be going to? Or do they talk more about where you will live when you are married, how your family life will be, what paths your careers will take, how your children will be raised (if you choose to have any)? And if they do, how detailed and realistic are these plans? (A player can make up superficial plans in the blink of an eye if it will get them what they want.)

But you still need to do your own work - as I'm typing this out, the players have already revised their strategies to take my words into account!

Seun,

The point I was making is that Dangote relies primarily on his connections for his business to do well. For me, this isn't the hallmark of a good businessman. I would have much more respect for him if he innovated in his business, i.e. he introduced new ways of supplying or producing goods that lowered the cost or delivered extra satisfaction to the consumer.

As far as I can tell, this is not the case, and I'm sure that if an innovative businessman came into Dangote's area of industry, he would be in real trouble. I remember that nearly two years ago the government granted his cement companies special privileges so that he could do well - if he was so good a businessman, why should he rely on these privileges?

There are businessmen who rely primarily on their creativity and management skills to build successful businesses, and there are businessmen who rely on contacts and special privileges bestowed on them by friends in high places. I respect the former, but I believe that Dangote is more of the latter. I doubt he would fare as well if he was exposed to fierce competition.

OK, I mostly take back what I said.

While I still believe that there is a limit beyond which there is nothing that a person can do for another person, I believe that in this case there is possibly more that could be done to try to get the room mate in this instance to let go of the man, including really listening to the room mate to try and determine the emotional issues at play here, and offer suggestions that address these issues.[1]

[1] Copyright, Seun Osewa

seun:

.. fainted but I came to nairaland for a little relaxation where I saw that legry's 'continue the story' thread has refused to die!  So ...

... I kept on reading, but unfortunately, not even Nairaland could dull the pain that I was feeling in my heart. My dear, darling Rasheeda engaged to someone else! I wanted to die, be resurrected and die all over again. But I resolved that I should confirm what I heard, so I...

hotpikin:

Ka:
Surely in this day and age of female empowerment, you don't need to get married to satisfy the biological urge to have a child?
Or maybe I blinked and the rules changed all over again.

and I thot I was d only person thot this way

The opinion expressed above isn't personally mine o! I'm actually more like Ra in believing that it's better for a woman to have a child with a husband (or partner, at least).

However, leaving aside my personal opinion, there is still the option of a woman having a child without a partner/husband sticking around these days - that's the point I was trying to make.

seun:

Ka,

The conclusion that there's nothing Ezinne can do to help is premature.

Well, you've heard the story - the roommate knows what to do, she's just in deep denial. Perhaps one day you'll realise that sometimes, the only person that can save a person is the person him/herself.

What would you suggest?

I don't not like your line of thought at all.

Fair enough - you don't have to.

I do not like callous friends, and I don't like those who encourage others to be callous.  There are better ways to help a friend than abandonment.

You call it being callous - I call it being realistic. Perhaps the difference is that I've experienced a few of these scenarios myself, and so I know when to not to expend my energy on a lost cause.

Anyhow, Ezinne just said that the friend was a roommate and not a friend. If she was a friend, I would add that Ezinne should tell her that she will support her and help her get over her lost love when she decided to do so, but for now she was helpless as only the friend could make that all important decision.

I have experienced friends who follow the principles you seem to be promoting, and if I meet them tommorrow I will happily throw hot sand on their smug, all-knowing faces.

Why? Do you expect someone to continue to be there for you even though you aren't taking their advice?

My answers are all 'largely false' (which means I can't vote, because the poll won't let me vote without selecting an option).

What at all do they gain from it?

Tayotina, I think it's mostly a power thing - a way of the rapist saying "I want to show you that I am more powerful than you, and one way I can do this is by doing something to you that you wouldn't ordinarily allow me to do". So I guess a rapist would typically be someone who felt inadequate and needed to validate his authority.

It could also be a way of one group asserting its dominance over another, which is why you hear of rape during wars where soldiers in one army will rape women in an enemy community.

I'm afraid there's not a lot you can do in the way of talking to her to get her to take action, especially as she already knows what she should do. Sometimes, it's up to Madam Experience to open people's eyes to the wisdom of previously offered advice.

As for you, well I guess you just have to detach yourself from the whole mess and practice tough love to preserve your sanity. If she goes on and on about how things are, etc. calmly and patiently repeat that you've discussed this issue to death and there's nothing left to say, then go about your own business.

The 'calm' and 'patient' bit is very important - you may not want to talk to your room mate on this matter, but you don't want to completely shut her out by shouting at her in frustration. If you don't think you can do this, then leave the room or don't say anything.

She'll may end up calling you callous, etc. but the reality is that being receptive to her talk about this issue is just validating her behaviour and encouraging her to keep on believing that she has a future with the man.

Ra:

Erm....... Solo2, ever heard of the biological clock? Just checking.......

Surely in this day and age of female empowerment, you don't need to get married to satisfy the biological urge to have a child?

Or maybe I blinked and the rules changed all over again.