@Kokscity, no stress..U think if i see you in the streets of London, I will not give you a hug?..

Hey, OBJ said we should give 100% loyalty..  Jokes apart, there is nothing like too much love for ones country.. The fact that you say that I am blind to what is happenning iin nigeria means that you have not been following my posts.  The point I want to correct is the perception some Nigerians have that it is always better out there.  That, combines with others has led too the collapsse of some of our institutions.  the preference for the exotic and foreign.  Every country has its ills.  Don't say South Africa is dammed because it is rated highly in crime rate, the same way, don't say it is a lost cause in nigeria.  People like me still have hope and I am glad that I am not alone.  I rest my case..

For Kokcity and Meduba, this may be interesting for you to read these
article

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/travels/2005/aug/27/travels-27-08-2005-001.htm.

and http://www.accra-mail.com/mailnews.asp?id=15143

You will learn to appreciate another person's point of view.

ijebuman:

We don't agree with you so we're not making sense, you have your view and i have mine we don't have to agree but we do need to respect each others' opinion.

Making assumptions and generalising is not the way to put your points across. I have family in Nigeria and i visit regularly. I spent half of my life in that country (secondary and university) so i do know what i'm talking about. There are a lot of us doing a lot of work on projects in Nigeria, which i can tell you about if you're interested.

I am not sure you follow Nigeria's news more than I do.  I have lived in Nigeria for about 30 years of my life.  (Sorry, initial quote was from meduba)

I have always maintained that stories about crime in Nigeria is overblown with respect to countries like SA.  A recent report on BBC puts SA gun crime as second to Colombia

The revolution we need does start from telling people to leave Nigeria like you advocate.  Instead we should be thinking of going back home to influence things there.  I can say here that Nigerians in diaspora have not formed enough synergy to fight the ills in our society. If we can have an very strong group with good financing to put pressure on the govt.  It is a shame indeed!  Look at the ripples caused by Jonathan and sowore in the few months of operating their online journalism.Imagine that we have such a strong union in the diaspora to change things back home....

I mean we can have another sort of election like we had on June 12

My friend, with the will on our side, we can have another 'June 12' again

Attitude to people is one thing you cannot generalise in Gigeria because of one bad experience.  I have English friends here who want to go back to Nigeria.  They had enjoyed real hospitality there when they were there initially.  I had such a friend during my study in one of the universities. He had worked in the 'dreaded' Niger Delta and before we had finished our course, he told me he had already applied for a job in Nigeria. Now it was not for the money b/because he was not initially payed too well in the first job iin Naija, but he liked the people as well. So my point is, do not generalise, ther are some who ofind it good, others bad. If you stay in lagos, make do to travel round the country and come back to tell of your expereince.

In the present day Ghana, there is good mass eductaion on tourism, I think we are beginning to work in that direction too. So I am not disputing your good experience in Ghana but to put a blanket statement that Ghana is better than Nigeria is misleading.

Kokcity, it is good that companies like MTN do not have to rely on your doomsday prophecy. I can reliably tell you too that not all parts of Ghana is clean. If you want, I can refer you to some videos showing certain areas for you to know that all is not well there. They are equally struggling, I have met a number of them here in the UK

Is he not a Nigerian?

Guys, lets be wiser in the next elections to elect people who would lead and not go there to play politics. If it happened in Ukraine, Ghana, kenya, then it can happen in Nigeria. There is power in our vote. I still believe that what is obvious cannot be rigged. If there is an overwhelming support for a particular good candidate, it cannot be rigged.

C'mmon guys, to just say that Ghana is better than Nigeria is far-fetched. There is a lot more than cleanliness and electricity.  I had stayed somewhere in Wuse where we had constant power and water.  That was not enough to say the whole country was right.  There are plenty of impoverished Ghanians as far as I know.  I also know that Nigeria's economy is rated better than Ghana's in the international community.  After SA, it is Nigeria and maybe Botswana before others like Egypt, Lybia, Ghana etc.

So lets be careful about what we say and how we say it.  I can reliably tell you that in the commity of nations, Nigerians are the ones that run their country down.  There are equally clean states like Cross river, Abuja..etc that can match some of those Ghanian cities....  We seem to always use the chaos in Lagos to present what Nigeria is.

Are you talking of emmigration from Nigeria?

The reason is that most of these uniformed men are illiterates..that is why they have no known courtesy.

Don't worry..we will get there.. I hear some states like Bauchi and Cross River are already leading the way.  Well, myy guess and hope is by the end of the yr, power will be relatively stable. Please do not mind those illiterate immigration officers. The truth is if I see a white guy who tells me he is from Ghana, I will not question, but as for being a Nigerian, I might ask questions as per your birth, etc..for being a Nigerian.

It is just like somebdoy going through Abuja and saying the whole Nigeria must be like that.

Why are you nervous? Nigeria is big enough the absorb another 20 Transcorp and more mega banks.

Wait for the public offer to buy shares. The public offer will be open later in the first quarter of the yr

What is wrong with these people?  When will they ever change.  It just makes my heart to bleed reading Kbstar's ecounter

Nigerians! pls learn to support your own. I hail Zinox, Omatek and others who have taken this initiative.

I think the govt should stop spending money on christian and islamic pilgrimages

Layi, first of all, I did not conclude that you have not been there. That is quite immaterial now. Zinox as well as other computer assmblers/manufacturers should be encouraged and not made ridicule of. I am sure there are certain parts of the PC that are made in Nigeria.

@Layi. have you been to their factory to see what they have and are doing? Stop running down people who simply make efforst to make things work

You will see more of Lagos beaches here...http://www.alakija.com/site/flash.php

Also visit http://www.lagoslive.com/

Nigerians have a way of running down their country

Here is a bloggers pix of Abuja skyline. Try to expand the pix, it is very beautiful.

http://www.caboose.org.uk/archives/2005/08/

Kokscity,, i will rest my arguement here... The reason people from New Zealand won't come to Nigeria is when they read comments that come from people like you on the internet. I gave you an example of Trinidad, I am msure you never bothered to check it out. Pls search for Trinidad newspaper on the internet and in a week come back and tell me if the security there is better than what we have in Naija. There are basically at least, one murder everyday.

There is an aiport in calabar and an air strip in Bebi, close to Obudu for tourists who wish to go there by air, so they don't need to go into Lagos. The reason, people have not been coming to Nigeria is because Nigeria has not fashioned out a tourism masterplan, so they are only building those blocks now. Ghana has been in the forefront of tourism, that is why it is better there, and Ghanians don't run their country down even when things are equally tough there. You only went to Accra and claim to have gone thru Ghana...they have their very vivi problems too.

And if you don't know, I love my country and will continue to love it. There is hope and I am seeing it..

Hey, lots of things are being done towards tourism awareness in Nigeria now. It was neglected in favour of oil, but many are now seeing the advantages of building a strong tourism culture. There is an agressive campaign in places like Cross river, Osun and Bauchi states. Another problem has been that of perception- I am glad you came yourself, and your experience was not too bad apart from the name calling. I guess that may have come from the culture and I am sure they will learn to change. Be assured however that when you were called 'akata', it did not correlate to any deregatory sacarsm. Nigerians have a name for everything, pls forgive us.

You will be hearing more of the tourist sites they are trying to build in Nigeria very soon.

First it was OMPADEC, then, PTF and now NDDC plus the 13% derivation....why have you not asked why these programmes have not worked. Why have the state governors not questioned contracts and their non-completion? Imagine where a road is to constructed for a local lcommunity, the locals will want settlement (compensation) first. How do you hope to grow in that regard?

Thank you Ijebuman.  I think the major problem we have as Nigerians is that we the exotic and never the indeginous.  If someone goes to Sudan 2morrow and comes back to say it is the best place to live, you will see people flying over there.  There is a lot more to Nigeria than the madness in lagos.oi

If we focus on the good aspects of our society, others we learn to respect us. Like Ijebuman said, the media and people of south africa, egypt, even iraq decided to focus on the good in the land (even the blacks in south africa are not crying out loud in their country), that is why they have earned the respect of others.

Kokscity, perhaps it should start with you visiting calabar and informing your American colleagues rather than going to Ghana. Ghana's airspace is not fantastic. They are equally trying to raise up their moribund airline by going into partnership with a foreign airline. It seems they are copying Nigeria on that. That said, if Nigerians (or should I say Americans) like your come back to their homeland for holidays and give it some respect in your discourse, perhaps, the perception others have might change.

Nigeria is large enough to accommodate another 100,000 Dangotes.