@ builder

There's no such thing as "do this before we do that" it's completely irrelevant in this case because most of these things aren't mutually exclusive. If someone wants to build an efficient transport system right now I'd welcome it. I agree that we need other things but I won't say they shouldn't build a rail after they've effectively supplied water or power to 100% efficiency, that's rubbish.

Privatize roads?? Maybe a few but not all. How will these companies make money? Privatizing roads is a recipe for disaster. I also think Lagos rail has to be overhead because ground level rail is a recipe for disaster. Everything else is pretty much on point.

Bomb? Propaganda? WTF is wrong with you people? No wonder Nigeria is so fvcked!

Obalende, oil money can be used for better things like developing a sovereign wealth fund and even saving (reserves). I'm not saying government shouldn't spend but with what Nigeria currently has ($63 billion) it's no way near enough for 140 million people. With even 10% of our population we can encourage more people to invest and in turn create more jobs for people. All these ideas about issuing visas is ridiculous and damn near laughable, we're suffering enough marginalization in the country as it is the last thing we need is to complicate the problem even more.

Out of everybody's posts it was DisGuy's post that made the most sense. I can't believe that in 2008 people are still trying to rely on government to do everything, the bottom line is that government should have a very small role to play in managing business such as transportation (someone suggested subsidized buses, WTF?). Government should make Lagos a place for investors I think we even need to privatize our transport system from buses to ferries, as for rail I think it's extremely important that a rail lines be built. Here's what I think:

1) We need to make it more attractive for citizens ditch their cars and use public transportation, that's the bottomline. If Nigerians want to do "big man" or "big madam" that's their problem but don't complain when there's traffic because everybody wants to drive. In addition to that I think very strict MOT tests need to be done and MOT certificates/stickers need to be issued because the last thing we need are dangerous and unsanitary coffins with wheels plying our roads.

2) Lagos needs to privatize public transportation. Can you imagine if there were five major bus companies running clean, efficient buses plying BRT routes? That would be Ideal and would go a long way in helping the traffic situation. In addition to buses we need ferries (water taxis) and rail all of which needs to be privatized and properly regulated.

3) Lagos also needs housing and like someone said earlier this idea that people get homes and expasive land is quite unnecessary especially in a city like Lagos. We need to start utilizing space by building vertically instead of horizontally. If you want space then move to Ogun but Lagos as a city catering to 15 million people space is something we can't afford to throw away. I suggest more row homes more multistory homes etc. I also think Lagos needs a revolutionary public housing system that would make it attractive to own a home. I've been studying the Singporean system for a while and I think we need to start looking at their model for Lagos.

Someone wake me up when they decide to build a better website. For a company that's supposed to compete with DsTV and be the best they have a website made of powerpoint, they (and alot of other nigerian companies) need to realize that in this day in age websites are important.

After reading these posts I've come to the realization that Nigerians, by and large, are idiots. There's nobody that can govern Nigeria, I mean nobody! If Fashola farts, he's stupid, if he eats he's eating with government funds, if he goes to the bathroom you'll say he's wiping his ass with embezzled toilet paper. You people are clowns that are used to just bitching like its a pasttime and Nigerians don't know good from bad anymore because we've been living in the reality of beer parlor politics forever.

It is what it is, he's expressing how he feels about the people that robbed him. Whoever said 2face was razz needs to get their head examined.

Agbada should stay! We don't have to copy other people.

that open market concept is outdated and outright bad. they should adopt a more updated, efficient and safe system. How can you keep something like that clean?

Some of us need to learn to separate State from Religion. When it comes to affairs of the state one should leave religion out of it, simple as that.

Like what? How can government keep track of its citizens? How can government "magically" put food on the table like most Nigerians seem to believe? I would like to know what some Nigerians would do if they were given the chance to serve as President. Logically, what would you do? What most Nigerians don't understand is the long term benefits of something. I don't blame the way most Nigerians think because the past leaders have made it so hard for any of us to trust any amicable and sensible policy but we need to start developing and stop dreaming for something to magically happen. We need this ID card for Nigeria.

Vigilantes should never be seen as the solution...NEVER! kamakula is right, today they are "vigilante" and tomorrow they become armed robbers or gangs or even warlords (God Forbid!). I think steps should be put in place to completely overhaul the police in Nigeria. We should fix what we have rather than add more problems, the level of education of the police should be highered and they should be well trained in areas such as hostage crisis, forensics (that's were the ID card comes to play), ethic (so to be on peoples good side) etc. Police uniforms need to change and they should be trained with more modern weapons and paid better salaries on time. Police academies across the nation need to be rebuilt with modern and standard equipment and facilities. Once these things are put in place we won't need vigilantes.

I think it should be left as Nigeria. There's nothing wrong with Nigeria besides the fact that it was made up by a colonialist. I like the name WAZOBIA though, even though I wouldn't adopt it as the official name it should be the unofficial name of Nigeria. It could be used to promote tourism, can you imagine a commercial advertising Nigeria as a haven for blacks to live and do business and using that name? That would be nice. Nigeria should be the official name and Wazobia should be the tourism name. My 2 Cents.

The Nigerian flag doesn't really represent us at all. Green is for "fertility" and white is for "peace"  ...please. Being a nation of 250 ethnic groups and the cradle of 1/5 of the worlds black population I think our flag should mean alot more than "fertility" and "peace". The colors I propose are black, crimson red, white, and green. Black representing the people, green representing the land of the black people, red representing the power of the black people, and white representing the peaceful co-existense of the black people. There should be seven stars, each one representing 1) the six geo-political regions and the FCT 2)representing the diversity of the ethnicities of Nigeria. I think Nigeria should not only be the home of native Nigerians but also the black race, we should make it easier for blacks from all over the world to come and build homes and open businesses. My 2 cents.

Mr Greatpeter, do you think most of what you wrote is easy to do without an id card? It's about time we create a citizen's database because it's going to be easier to keep track of a population, create jobs, improve security, help keep track of citizens in time of elections etc. Nigerians need to understand that things are hard and without a national id card some of the things you mentioned are almost impossible especially with our growing population. I'm all for the national ID card scheme provided there's no corruption with it and it's honest. I understand most Nigerians, especially those living in Nigeria, are frustrated but development is one day at a time.

Imnakoya, I couldn't have said it any better. Nigerians need to start realizing that our Pidgin is a good thing because it's one of the few things that unites us all despite our ethnic differences. English, French, Italian and all the other languages came from latin now look how far it has developed. Nigerian Pidgin will develop after many generations.

A national ID card scheme is very important, any civilized country has it. It's a good way to keep track of the citizenry.

i think that one should become governor of a state that he/she was born and or raised in or have been resident for quite some time. This is one major way to reduce "tribalism" (hate that word).

hot-angel, why would u hate to hear your kids speak pidgin provided they know how to speak standard english? Is it because it sounds bad or "bush" or what? It doesn't make any sense. I bet if some european country formulated pidgin people will see it differently. I don't get why African's can't make up thier own language out of something and be happy and proud of it.

Monkey dey work, Baboon dey chop- my personal favorite.

I think english should be the official language of Nigeria. The reason I think so is because Nigeria is made up of many ethnic groups (I hate the word "tribe") and if we make yoruba, igbo, and hausa our main languages then it will cause problems for other ethnic groups because they'll want thier languages to be official too. I think a majority of Nigerians speak english whether Queens english or our national Creole (Pidgin english) so its best to leave it like it is. Besides english is the universal business language we should be lucky.

It's funny when people say pidgin is an abuse of english, that's like saying french, english, and most of the major world languages are abuses to latin because that's where most of them originated from. Why can't Africans make thier own language without it being an abuse to a white man's language. Nigerian pidgin is a good form of communication even other Africans like the way we speak and I don't see any reason why Nigeria shouldn't consider putting our pidgin as a lingua franca of our country. If a lot of people communicate like that there's no such thing as bad english its just thier version of it. Nigerian pidgin is now more of like a creole than anything.