there are many ignoramus on this site, people that just love to play to ethnic sentiment, I ve noted this thing against Awo mostly  from people of igbo extraction. why so much sentiment against Awo. some will say he betrayed Biafra and other flimsy excuses, didn't great Zik refused to acknowledged Biafra? OR is it because the man transformed the West and empowered his own people? why do people like to pin their shortcoming on other people? didn't Richard constitution of 1946 introduced regionalism that made political structure in Nigeria coincided with ethnic boundaries and eventually politicians in post independence Nigeria find it convenient to play to ethnic sentiments to win election? with the level of dearth of knowledge I have seen on this site, am afraid the old people commonly refers to as "waste generation" may by far better than the so called new generation of Nigerians.

there are many ignoramus on this site, people that just love to play to ethnic sentiment, I ve noted this thing against Awo mostly from people of igbo extraction. why so much sentiment against Awo. some will say he betrayed Biafra and other flimsy excuses, didn't great Zik refused to acknowledged Biafra? why do people like to pin their shortcoming on other people? didn't Richard constitution of 1946 introduced regionalism that made political structure in Nigeria coincided with ethnic boundaries and eventually politicians in post independence Nigeria find it convenient to play to ethnic sentiments to win election? with the level of dearth of knowledge I have seen on this site, am afraid the old people commonly refers to as "waste generation" may by far better than the so called new generation of Nigerians.

@ St. Funmi

I think the reason for the Igbophobia on this site is because they make the loudest noise, naturally when you make noise you will be heard. Unfortunately in political and power game, tactics and strategy are critical and my brothers lacks those two game decider. That's why in the words of Prof. Omo Omoruyi Igbos have been relegated to a glorified minority. Its sad, I really look forward to see this great and industrious people becoming president of this country one day, but their calculation now is not sound. Power is a priced possession, it is easily relinguished, except perhaps in an idea society, Nigeria is a power jungle, might makes right.

@ St. Funmi

I think the reason for the Igbophobia on this site is because they make the loudest noise, naturally when you make noise you will be heard. Unfortunately in political and power game, tactics and strategy are critical and my brothers lacks those two game decider. That's why in the words of Prof. Omo Omoruyi Igbos have been relegated to a glorified minority. Its sad, I really look forward to see this great and industrious people becoming president of this country one day, but with

@ doyin
sincerely I wonder why Liyel Imoke was not picked up with the same swiftness with which Agagu was arrested. After all Imoke too lost his immunity before he was re-elected back to office and that took a few months before re-election. Again, the swiftness with which Prof. Adenike Grange was removed speaks volume, even though she did not take a dime from the so-called ministry looting, yet Yar Adua the former NNPC head admitted to the lawmakers that he used about $2 billion to bribe militant, not minding the fact that MEND and other militants denied ever collected any money from NNPC for security. It is obvious the two billion dollars was not receipted, yet EFCC did not pick him up for interrogation till now. So much for anti-corruption war.

@post
there is no intellectual input in this post, just tribal rantings

an objective analysis would have explained why most if not every musicians will want to have a Youraba mix in their songs, but most of the responses tried to defend one tribal positions or the order. quite unforfunate.

hmmmm, free thinkers are taking over Nairaland

@ tatoo boy
was Abraham under the law of Moses when he paid tithes of all to Meschisedec the King of Salem?
please don't distort the word of God.

@post

the best answer to a post like this is SILENCE, argueing the sanctity of tithing with people like this could almost put one in the same pedestal with them.  Guys like sir john may not even  believe in anything close to God. So there is no need argueing with them. It's a waste of precious time to be involved in this kind of arguement because it leads to nothing. the truth is if you don't believe in tithing why do you want to confuse those who believe or do you want to win a convert? God can not be rationalized, His ways can not appeal to rationality, because His ways are past understanding.

@ post
It pained my heart to see the latest blunder of this govt. what transpired between Madueke and Rotimi is of less importance to me, as far as am concerned it may be a personal war elevated to national and international stage. from my humble office, I read white House press release that head of govt and dignitaries from other nations were not invited becos of the crowd that may go out of control due to expected up surge in Obama inurguration attendance and as such their mission head in the US should represent the respective countries, even with this our honourable minister still went ahead with about "90" high power delegation.

Again if there is element of truth in the statement credited to Rotimi, then he has acted dishonourably, unbecoming of an Ambassador. But my contention is the fact that there other ways of handling this than hasty recall of an ambassador. Being a tribalistic country I know my Ibo brothers will applaud the Mr Yar Adua, but his decision to recall the ambassador is the height of many diplomatic blunders that have come to be associated with this administration.

Usually recalling ambassador happens at the height of diplomatic row between two countries and most times always followed by closure of the mission in that country. Except for us in Nigeria that heard about the personality clash between the two men, other countries would think there is a diplomatic incident btw US and Nigeria. Recalling ambassador occurs when there is a serious diplomatic incident or when the host nation declare the ambassador persona non grata due to serious crime which has to do with violating the host country's laws. Again recalling an ambassador in Rwanda may not draw international attention but recalling ambassador from washington certainly will draw more than attention, it is an incident that both scholars and students of international relations like myself we want to know what happened and why. As am typing this post, a list of such incident in history is running through my head and I can tell you how many ambassadors have been recalled in the last 100yrs. The true is that no serious nation will leave the management of their image to a gang of incompetence politicians like Madueke and Rotimi and host of others.

The last time it was IBB praising the juncta in Guinea at a time when the govt he was representing was voicing out a different tune, it is a gloomy time for Nigeria's foreign policy. Recently Gaddafi took over the AU chairmanship, even under week Shagari govt he attempted it and failed woefully but today manipulating the AU to become the chairman shows the fact that Nigerian foreign policy is in a state of coma under Yar Adua.

Rotimi could be made to resign or redeploy for another assignment at home, but recalling him shows the level of incompetency in the management of Nigerian affairs, in an attempt to disgrace him and to flex muscle Nigeria is being ridiculed world wide, it is a shame for our foreign affairs manager. I was discussing with a renowned prof. in the field of international relations three days ago, and he expressed dismay at the gross incompetency of the people managing our external relations and concluded that no professional diplomat will ever behave like that, it is high time we recognize that managing external relations is managing the national image and it is this yardstick that other nations will use to measure our strenghts and weaknesses

@all
Thanks for your comment, i did not expect us all to agree on this thread, but I expected that when we agrees or disagrees there must be a level of objectivity to support our positions. Going through the responses I saw some of the reasons that made us backward as a nation, while we re entitle to our own view and opinion, there are some factors that affect us as a people, that always coloured our perspectives on issues and these factors have become a Nigerian thing. Some of them includes religion, tribalism etc. These are value based issues, as a social scientist, one of the first thing I was taught was to separate my values when analysing any giving social phenomenon, however, this is not a simple task, as it means that I should not allow my background to colour my analysis. This means that sometimes, I arrived at a result that I don't like as a person or that is opposed to my personal sentiments. As hard as that may be, the scientific approach is a problem solving approach, we must face reality in this part of the world, we must acknowledge our shortcoming and be determine to address them or else the end to our suffering may not be insight. We must examine ourselves.

A sage said, "an unexamined life is a life that is not worth living" we shy away from reality about ourselve, we rationalize, we confuse knowledge with half truth and lie and yet we want a good outcome. It is not possible. I also realized from the responses above that some people gave us what Obasanjo did wrong of did not do at all, but none of them could dispute or refute the fact that he did all those things which the writer said he did. Now if he did those things well and others he didn't do well, shouldn't we judge him fairly? or are we ourselves perfect that we can satisfy the needs of 150 millions Nigerians at once or within 8yrs.

Again, I realized that many years of suffering by Nigerians have really change our nature and pattern of behaviour so muc, that an average Nigeria is negative minded, and didn't believe that anything good can come out of anthing that is Nigeria's, this is reflectd in so many negative confession by Nigerians about anything that has to do with this country.

History indeed will judge OBJ ,but no one living in Nigeria before and after his tenure can deny that he did those things list above, the writer is a journalist and informed on the happening and issues that has to do with Nigeria than most of us, again he is from that part of the country that is demonizing OBJ and works in a national daily that champion that demonization agenda.

Fellow N/landers, I took pain to type this article I saw in the Daily Trust as I could not find the electoronic copy on their website, also because of its importance to Nigerian history, if indeed we have all being fair in our assesment of the OBJ administration. I find this article highly instructive, most especially from a newspaper that has had an average of 3 articles on a daily basis bashing Obasanjo for close to two years now. This newspaper has called OBJ names unthinkable in many of their publication that one would think their sole mission for existence is to destroy anything Obj. This article was written by one of their Snr staff, I encourage you all to read through and let see if we can put history in their proper perspective, sentiment apart.


So Obasanjo did not do a Single Good Thing?
Article by Idang Alibi, a senior staff of Daily Trust
Daily Trust Newspaper of January 8 and 15, 2009.

When I ask some people why they hate Obasanjo so much, some tell me that during his administration Nigeria earned so much revenue from crude oil but that he did not do anything with it. Really? As far as I know the evidence on ground contradict that assertion. We will look at my own evidence. I think it will be fairer to say that according to the way each of us sees things Obasanjo may not have done much as we wish he should have, but to say that he did not anything is unfair lie. The following are some of the significant things I think that Obasanjo did with Nigeria’s petro-dollars.

Freeing Nigeria from debt enslavement: For me the single most important thing Obasanjo did for Nigeria was to free her from debt peonage. And recently, the current Minister of Finance, Dr. Mansur Mukhtar gave what to my mind is a well deserved salute to Obasanjo by saying that if we had not negotiated an exit out of our then 33 billion dollars debtat the time we did, today we would not be talking of owning 33 billions dollars. What we will talking about instead is 50 billions dollars indebtedness to foreign creditors. This would have come about for penalty payment for defaults and accumulated compound interests. See the great gain Nigeria has got from Obasanjo’s sagacity and courage. When he took that step many condemn him savagely.

Some mocked at Obasanjo calling him a man of the old school who was a living example of the biblical admonition that you should owe nothing to anyone. Some radicals even wondered how any sane man will want to pay such a huge debt. They cited the example of the USA as the most indebted nation on earth who was not even in a hurry to repay what she owe and wondered why Nigeria should seem in such a hurry to pay her own. They sounded as if owing and refusing to pay is a kind of virtue and not a vice. Mercifully. Obasanjo disregarded them all. And today, we have Obasanjo to thank for his patriotic stubbornness. At least Obasanjo is right on that score. Why do we no acknowledge and give him credit for it? Obasanjo used part of our oil revenue to free us from enslavement. That is no mean achievement.

The positive spill-over effect of our freedom from debt can not be quantified in material, monetary or even spiritual terms. Our quality of life today would have been considerably lower if we were still indebted. Some relief gained as a result of our exit from the debtors club has done much to alleviate poverty in the land.

I said at that time and I will like to say it here now that if Zik, Awo, Ahmadu Bello and other nationalists can be credited for winning for us our first independence, Obasanjo can be said to be the man who won for us our second independence when when we lost it through our foolishness and recklessness. From the confession of Dr. Mansur Mukhtar, Obasanjo has been vindicated.

Building of Foreign Reserves: What is the second important thing Obasanjo did with our oil money? He built foreign reserve of over 60 billion dollars for Nigeria. It was under Obasanjo economic management that for the first time in the history of this nation where leaders squander money like drunken sailors that we managed to save that much for a rainy day. It takes prudence not to blow away a fortune. Let us give Obasanjo some credit for frugality.

The Integrated Power Project: Obasanjo used part of our oil wealth to try provide light for Nigeria. It is unfortunate that today the story of integrated power project undertaken by Obasanjo is so mired in the politics of intrigues , manipulation of information to achieve certain objectives and blackmail that no one knows the real truth about it. Obasanjo did not deliver light to Nigerians with the IPP. But what is a greater truth is that the idea behind the building of sic gas –powered power plants was not a foolish one. The low intensity insurgency in the Niger-Delta where gas was to be sourced for the plants may make the idea foolish today but some of us are being wiser after the event. The tragedy of highly politicized probe into Obasanjo power project is that we can not just be certain about how much was actually spent and whether or not the amount spent is commensurate with the results achieved.

I think that if we were not too much in a hurry to demonize Obasanjo but had taken the time to find out exactly what he did, where he stopped and what remains to be done and taken the steps to complete what was outstanding, the IPP would not be the disaster that it is held out to be.

I would have wished that Obasanjo had completed the power project and left a legacy of stable power supply, but for whatever reasons he was unable to do so. But government is suppose to be a continuum . At any rate, it has not been decreed that it must be Obasanjo who should solve our power problem. He did his best to the best of his ability. Let us commend him for the little he did and urge the present administration to learn from his failure and give Nigeria steady power supply.
The unnecessary bad blood that has been generated over the power probe will not give us light. What will is for intelligent and patriotic persons to sit down and decide what to do and avoid distracting politicking and posturing. We spend too much time blaming the past in this country, when what we need to do is to plan our future. If I were in the medical field I won’t want to be a post-mortem surgeon. I would prefer to be a reconstructive surgeon.

Dualization of Nyanya-Keffi road and building of the National Stadium, Abuja: Still in answer to those who wonder what Obasanjo did with the oil money that accrued to him, I want to mention two projects that quzzuled some of that money. For some of us who live in Abuja and who have been here before the second coming of Obasanjo in 1999, we must be aware of how the old Nyanya-Keffi Road which was then one lane road used to consume human lives almost on daily basis. Almost on daily basis the stretch from Sanni Abacha Barracks to Nyanya used to witness horrible accidents. Trailers and other heavy duty vehicles used to be involve in multiple accidents, killing, maiming and destroying property.

Obasanjo dualised that road and today the demons that used to suck blood on that road has been contained. That road cost about 50 billion dollars. If some of us do not consider it remarkable , I do for the simple reason that people are no longer dying needless deaths on that road anymore.

The Abuja National Stadium: As with many things associated with Obasanjo, when he muted the idea of building a national stadium in the federal capital, many Nigerians kicked against it, saying that the money should be put into other projects that will have greater relevance on the lives of the average people.
Some of us said then that if the money earmarked for the stadium was used for it or not poverty will not disappear in Nigeria. Obasanjo went ahead with the stadium project. Today, it is standing as a monument executed during the Obasanjo era. And it will continue to stand as a memorial of to the stubborn nationalism of Obasanjo. Am pretty certain that when the Taj Mahal was built in India several centuries ago as a monument to love, some social critics of the era had mouthed some sentiments about the plight of the poor in India. Today India still has millions of poor people and the Taj Mahal is still standing strong, inviting millions of visitors to India year in year out.

So Obasanjo did not do a single good thing? (Concluding Part)
In the second part of this series published last week, I had mentioned some of what I consider some of Obasanjo’s concrete or solid legacy for Nigeria. In it, I forgot to mention also Obasanjo’s achievement in the gas sector. I do not have the figures but I do know that before Obasanjo left, Nigeria was earning more money from gas than she used to do before Obasanjo’s second coming.

In this concluding part of the Obasanjo story which some do not wish to hear but which I think I have a duty to tell all the same, I wish to dwell on the realm of concrete policy or paradigm shift. I believe that here too Obasanjo also left a string of achievements worth commenting on. The value of some of the policies that Obasanjo sought to institutionalize in Nigeria can not be calculated in monetary terms but those who know can attest to their value. I will mention only a few here.

Privatization Policy: Since independence, we have been confused about exactly what economic philosophy to adopt for national growth and development. We were practicing a confused and confusing model called mixed economy. This was a strange form of socialist capitalism. Under it, government owned what we call the commanding heights of the economy. Government was into almost everything. It owned hotels, airline, ports, even restaurants and telephones, just about everything as I said.

Arguments raged in the land about whether we should adopt capitalism or socialism as a national ideology for economic development instead of the mixed economic model that had truly mixed things up for us and which was at the root of why we did not get anywhere. Harry Truman once said that some questions can not be answer but that they can be decided. It took a man of decision like Obasanjo to decide that an end be put to the mixed economic nonsense. Obasanjo decided that Nigeria should become a full fledged capitalist nation.

And he decided so through a vigorous pursuit of privatizing loss making public enterprises which government had no business going into in the first place. My friends in the socialist camp have been riling against this courageous decision and since then abusing Obasanjo as a rununig dog of neo-liberal economics. I am an economic illiterates but I have the elementary knowledge that state’s involvement in business is not very good business at all for Nigeria. If it has succeeded in other countries, there is no indication that it will ever succeed here except we have a government run by angels for angels living in Nigeria. Our attitude to public property is so poor that when people talk about our common patrimony in Nigeria , I am truly puzzled whether they re actually talking about Nigeria.

They talked about NITEL which in over 40 years of our nationhood could only provide over 400,000 telephone lines to service over 140 million people. They talked about other drain-pipe enterprises that were only there for a few privileged citizens. Me, I could not understand what was going on. But I can understand what Obasanjo did. He wants Nigeria to adopt a clear cut capitalist development path.

The Bekwarra of Northern Cross River State, did go to the University of Chicago, that hatchery of Nobel laureates in Economics, but they have a proverb which shows that even as unlettered as they are they see something wrong with socialism or the public ownership of property. That is why they say inone of their numerous thoughtful proverbs that” the community’s goat dies of starvation”. The Ibo also say that “our is ours but mine is mine” We used to die of telephone starvation when when NITEL was running our common telephone patrimony.

Monetization Policy: No recounting of the monumental achievements of Obasanjo would be complete without mentioning of monetization policy in which efforts were made to stop the practice whereby public servants become fat parasites on government. In fact in the past, public servants of a certain cadre become government pikins . They live in government houses, ride government cars fueled for them by government, fly first class at government expense and even feed themselves and family at government expense. Some had fleet of cars at their disposal to run all manners of errands for them at the expense of the public they were suppose to be serving.

If an electric bulb costing about 60 Naira in their government quarter needed replacement, government would be called upon to do so. Some times at ten times the price of the bulb! Yet some Nigerians who have not bothered to find out the wisdom in Obasanjo’s monetization policy condemn as a heartless man who sold government houses and took other steps to deny public servants enjoyment!

With the level of corruption and malfeasance in our system, if Obasanjo had not instituted monetization, there may have come a time that this nation will exist for the sole purpose of providing for a few public officers.

In an interview he granted to a Nigerian newspaper during the run up to the 2007 presidential election, a presidential aspirant Mohammed Buba Marwa, once said that the president that will succeed Obasanjo will not have much problem because Obasanjo had already taken some of the courageous decision that needed to be taken. Some of them are privatization, debt payment, monetization, etc which can be very very controversial indeed. No two persons can agreed on some of these issues. Which some will praise them to high heavens, some will condemn them with every atom of vehemence at their disposal. It needs a man of decision to decide one way or another and to vigorously defend his stance as the direction the nation should go. Obasanjo did that for Nigeria.

I admired and respect Obasanjo for restoring fuel supply to power the economy and the social life of this nation. I also ask God to note that Obasanjo tackled the shameful issue of retired pensioners who were starving and dying because the system could not cater for them. He may not have solved the problem completely but he tried very much. The National Health Insurance Scheme which Obasanjo introduced is not working very well. But let us commend that initiative and build on it. Obasanjo did bank consolidation. It is partly why they Nigeria economy is ot as troubled by the world’s economic recession as is the case with other nations. Let us praise him for this. Obasanjo undertook a reform in the insurance sector. He left that sector better than he met it. Let us acknowledge the little effort he made in that direction too.

There are three special Nigerians my family and I pray for every day during our devotion. Obasanjo is number one. The other two are Mallam Nasir El-Rufai and Nuhu Ribadu. I admire them for some great qualities they posses which are critical for leadership: courage, passion, conviction, commitment and patriotism. I keep praying to God to forgive Obasanjo, his sins and show him mercy for saving Nigeria from creditors. I also ask God to note it that it was Obasanjo and el-Rufai who made Abuja the most beautiful city in Nigeria that it was intended to be before some rapacious and thoughtless person were bent on turning it into slum.

I tell God to reward Obasanjo and his economic team for building our foreign reserves to about 64 billion dollars when he left. Some uncharitable folks say he was able build that not through any economic management wizardry on his part. That it was achieved on the basis of an oil windfall. But let us realize that Obasanjo had the sense of frugality not to have blown the windfall in a typical Nigerian manner. Economists have said that it was because of the healthy foreign reserves that we witnessed a measure of stability throughout Obasanjo ‘s tenure well into today. We need to be fair to Obasanjo for this.

I know a lot of Nigerians will descend on me for saying it but let me say it all the same: those who once described Obasanjo as the architect of modern Nigeria were not being sycophantic. He deserves that accolade. He laid the foundation or pillars upon which a modern nation should stand. The new pension scheme, the new integrated power project, bank consolidation, monetization policy, and many more are sure foundation Obasanjo erected upon which a modern industrialized Nigeria should be built. As I said in the first part of this write- up, Obasanjo left a legacy that if others build on Nigeira will be the better for it.

As a people we tend to react with emotion or hysteria to issues. Very few are given to cold or sober reflection or dispassionate look at the issues of the day. Our power wielders know this weakness of ours and that is why they have become so adept at manipulating and mobilizing popular mood against their political enemies or any one they want to destroy. They reach out to some corrupt elements in the media with half truths, untruths or outright lies and trust that the persons they want to demonize will become demons in the eyes of some gullible Nigerians in the next few days. Today the game in town is to bash Obasanjo and in atypically Nigerian bandwagon fashion every one is desperately struggling to add his own voice to the condemnation of Obasanjo. How sad.

many Nigerians left for uk or US not because they could not endured problems at home or because Nigeria has the worst standard of living in the world rather becos of the colonial mentality that going to UK or US means you re going to paradise. Travelling abroad from social point of view means different things to different people, average Nigerians believe travelling abroad boosts your status in life, that your well being is secured and that the mere fact that you re from london or US means you can have anything in Nigeria. That is why many of you guys abroad have robbed many poor guys of their hearthrob in Nigeria, becos an average girl in Nigeria can not say NO to Nigerian guy living abroad, infact most parents prefer ththe Londoner or the Americana to home boys. I think it is a general assumption that being in UK or US is automatic wealth or you assured of all the goodies of life and considering the level of poverty almost every Nigerian want to travel for a lift in their status.

I agreed with the post, people should critically weight their options, consider their life goals before venturing abroad, otherwise they may face unintended outcome. I think its high time those that have no businessbeing abroad should come back home and do something for their life.

I HAVE SAID THIS AGAIN AND AGAIN, WHOEVER SUCCEEDS IN UK OR US WILL SUCCEED IN NIGERIA. A FAILURE AT HOME CANNOT TRANSFORM TO AUTOMATIC SUCCESS ABROAD, SOMETHING ABOUT HIM MUST CHANGE.

It is true that circumstances, environmental and other factors changes people but then if most Nigerians abroad can do half of what they do in UK, US, France etc to succeed, I bet they will live a successful life in Nigeria.

My advise to those that re not finding things easy in abroad most especially because of the current economic crisis is to come back home, with their exposure, education, skills etc ,I have no doubt that they will get something to do or even creates jobs for the population of unemployed youths. There is no place like home, please come back home. WE LOVE YOU ALL.

Though I share the views of people-centred-change approach or down top approach, but I still believe that top down is more effective in bringing about change in Nigeria or any society for that matter, because "everthing rises and falls with the leadership" I know we can do a lot in our own little spheres of influence and essentially, change must start with the individual. I discovered that Nigeria has high percentage of youth population, and I think that's the right place to start. I am planning to start a nationwide forum that will educate the youths on national issues such as governance, accountability, public service, leadership, electoral issues. A society that is well informed will not sell their vote to the highest bidder, they will vote by informed choice. I keep asking myslef, why do Nigerians vote for bad leaders when we have opportunities to choose the right people, Nigerians electorate are not informed, we don't vote for issues, we vote for the wrong reasons, ethnic and religious issues affect our choices. As a matter of facts National Orientation Agency has failed us, this forum will have chapters in all tertiary and secondary schools. We need an enlightened society to make an informed choice, to elect good leaders and not thugs and we can start from the youth of this nation whose future is being mortgaged and sacrificed on the alter of today. However, we can find a reconciliatory approach to solving our problems in Nigeria, both leaders and the led must start with themselves, we must all start somewhere.

@ post
Every nationa has its social ills, but Nigeria is the best country I can ever think of in the world. A country so rich in everything, think about the people, different cultures, beautiful countryside, the unwavering spirit, compassionate people, happy and joyful inspite of their condition and above all believing in hope against hope and undying faith that one day, Naija go better.

I love Nigeria so much, not because anything is working here, but because it offers a lot of opportunity to those that dare to dream, things are bad generally, but those who want to start new things and make impact in life, Nigeria offers the greatest opportunities.

With hard work, creative imagination, enterprise and industriousness, you can make a success of anything in Nigeria. Most people that travel abroad come back to start business and become their own boss and they re doing fine. The only difference between those that travel abroad and those of us here in Nigeria is perception. If you think you can make it better out there in the uk or US fine and good, its just a matter of faith. Travel is part of education, new skills, creative imagination gained could be put to good use to develop Nigeria. The truth is, a failure at home can not be transform to automatic success abroad, something about him must change. So, opportunity abound in Naija, it depends on your creative imaginations or ideas.

However, formal education is not enough in Nigeria just like any country, you must do more to make it. Above all, Nigerian are happy people, little wonder a research result said Nigerian are among the "Most Happiest People on Earth"

Thank you texezzpete my friend, I quite appreciate your insight on this topic, however, I want to say that sometimes frustration can leads to despair and hopelessness. I like to quote a Prussian strategist who says "frictions of war frightens troops, confuses commanders and distorts plans". Nigeria is in a state of friction, the citizenry who 're the troop in this matter are battle weary and frightened. If you see my point here, this country has not witnessed social harmony since our birth as a nation, its been one ethnic or elites competition and struggle for power, in this case, the Nigerian masses have been mobilized, recruited, indoctrinated and instigated to fight many sectional, ethnic and selfish battles. Even the labour unions are battle shy and tired, the cumulative impact of this is economic hardship which has reduced Nigerians to second class citizens in their own country.

My point here is that Nigerians are weary and tired, hence they need someone who can inspire, a leader who can lead courageously, a government who can create enabling environment, that is why the likes of Ribadu becomes the symbol of hope and the struggle, it is when we have such men that the fighting spirit in all of us is ignited. Again, the kind of treatment meted out to the young man is a signal to the citizens that such a course of action may signal the begining of the end for whoever that dares the power that be and their cronies at all levels. In a society where your family and community rejects you for not being corrupt or trying to be different, and the machinery of the state is in the hands of evil men, the possibility is better imagine than real. I will say that it is far much more risky now to challenge the status quo than before. Because the action of government today shows that you re on your own if you dare challenge the rot in the system.

@post

Sick people in a Sick Nation with a Sick President !

@post
If most of you guys presiding over the division of Nigeria disagrees like this, then I know that dividing Nigeria or keeping her as one nation is not the problem rather our problem as nation has more to do with greed, lack of vision, poor leadership, hopelessness and lack of faith .

@post
I have observed that majority of people that keep bashing OBJ , atleast 60% of them are based abroad. It seems to me that, its either they ve lost touch with the reality and complexity of the Nigerian State or they re simply not getting firsthand information or they re just bitter or both.

OBJ did not score A+ but I challenge anyone on this forum to tell me any Nigerian leader in recent time that achieved as much as OBJ  giving the prevailing circumstances of the country when he was president.

Talk is very cheap on this forum, but the truth is, Government is a continuity project. Successive govt must builds on the successes of their predecessors for us to arrive at our destination. OBJ took over at a time when we were at our lowest ebb and it took him almost 4yrs to stabilized the polity from the brink of disintegration. Prior to that time succession and pathing of ways  were issues being discussed in Nigeria. He fought so many battles to calm nerves and other centrifugal forces in Nigeria, today, we re now talking of one Nigeria again. He went ahead to lay foundations in every sector of the economy, its like rebuilding the country Nigeria from the scratch, He has gut and confronted long standing developmental issues that past leaders left unattended to.

Our challenges as a nation are great, so much that before we can get to our desired destination it takes time and sacrifice. I conceded that supervision and monitoring in some sectors were very poor, but in other sectors his govt did well. Laying foundation for sustainable development in a complex state like ours is not a simple task ,but if successive govt had done something as small as what he did, we won't be here today.

If OBJ's statement is analyzed on its merit, just like somebody said if Gani had made the same statement, would people have responded the way they did? I think we should all take responsibilty for our problem as a nation.

I followed Ghana election and I was wondering if Nigeria system can produce two professors or intellectually inclined people as main candidates for presidential election, Prof Pat Utomi did not score 1% of the total votes cast in the 2007 presidential election. The truth is, as a people we prefer dummies to rule us, as in somebody that reflects our collective moral bankruptcy and dilema. Today, if Prof Soludo, Ndidi Okeke, Dora, Ngozi, Ribadu, El-rufai and a grade two teacher were to contest for Nigeria presidency, it would not be a suprise if a grade two teacher emerge as the winner. A leader is a reflection of his people, if as a people we detest anything that is good and orderly, then we don't deserve the kind of leaders that some minority among us are clamouring for. Except we make Nigeria work, nobody can make it work for us. It is not about bashing others, it is about putting aside bitterness and make our country a place all of us will be proud be.

@post
My fear is that this kind of regulation is hardly enforced in the northern part of the country, only Lagos and Abuja. The same apply to Film Censor regulations.

@post
Half-education is a serious threat to our advancement as a nation, many have passed instant judgement on this woman yet its just a petition. Well, considering how some powerful forces fought her re-appointment to that office, am not suprised that evrything will be done to tarnish her image, as I said early on, it is still an allegation, let's wait and see.

@post
did anyone here remember that Fayose was once declared as the best governor by the same newspaper, and about 3months later the guy went underground as he was been chased by efcc for looting money meant for poultry farm project in the state.

Thisday's owner is a business man, a showbiz man who is exploiting vainglory corrupt politician to make money in Nigera. Those awards did not come with any evidenced based criteria rather by how much the benefactor can offer, I was told by a journalist friend that some of them offered as much as 50m to 100m for various categories of these awards.

Why can't we have such awards as best student in Nigeria, best school, best police officer, best entreprenural, etc that can not pay millions to get this award.

Men, thisday is in this for the pay, I think all this spurioous awards need to be regulated one way or the other, they insult our sensibility and common intelligence.

@ FG probe panel is encrochment on the spheres of the state Governor, if there Jos crisis threatens national security as they would want us to believe, then such a panel should be set up in collaboration with the state government. But am sure FG just constituted the panel to slight the state authority. I saw another probe panel by the Nigerian Army on the same Jos issues yesterday. This kind of practices endanger the spirit of a true federation btw the centre and the federating units. It is an abuse of presidential priviledges and powers.

@ FG probe panel is encrochment on the spheres of the state Governor, if there Jos crisis threatens national security as they would want us to believe, then such a panel should be set up in collaboration with the state government. But am sure FG just constituted the panel to slight the state authority. I saw another probe panel by the Nigerian Army on the same Jos issues yesterday. This kind of practices engender the spirit of a true federation btw the centre and the federating units. It is an abuse of presidential priviledges and powers.

@Landis
You can do better by hiding your hatred for OBJ, because you re not making any sense talking like a tribal bigot

@Muza & Cre8tivity

We ve heard you guys enough, atleast you people can hold your peace and let other reasonable Nigerians talk, afterall you ve been waiting for this and it has come, must you follow Ribadu to the grave. You People are example Nigerians that favour  the status quo or you vested interest in Ribadu case, am sure you people want El- Rufai jailed too. I wish you all the best.

@post
most prominent Ilorin indigene are muslim but there wives are christain, for instance Saraki's wife is a christain, Idiagbon's is a deaconess in Redeemed Christian chirch of God, Gen Mohammed former Chief of staff to OBJ, his wife is also a christain, Also, Bukola Saraki religion is controversial because I learnt he got married in a church but political reality has made him a practising muslim, even Adisa's wife was going to Redeemed at a time but didn't know her status again, But above all Islam is a serious issue in Ilrorin so most people don't want to put themselves in unnecessary risk by sticking out their neck as christain

@ dayokanu

your comment on this post shows your ignorance about God and His servants. However, it will do you a lot of good exercise a bit of discreation when you re dealing with God related issues. Because God is not a man, He kills and make alive. For your information, God is jealous God and He doesn't take it easy with people who abuses His servants, it may be fun here on nairaland potraying yourself as a free thinker but ist not funny because God is a jealous God

@ ow11,
God says who are you to acuse another man's servant, unto his servant he rises and unto his master he falls. Some people exercise the freedom of speech and abused God's servant Moses and the land swallowed them up together with their families. That is why some of us are disturbed at the way dayokanu talks about God. Though we re not religious fanatic but sometimes, obstinacy affects sensibilities. The guy needs to beware, most especially when he didn't know what he's talking about.

@poster
I think sensible people on this forum should first and foremost ask themselves why is it that the only people being hounded by AGF, Okiri, EFCC and the Ibori of this world are the people that tried in their own little way to savage our decayed society. Out of about 40 ministers that served OBJ, why do we keep hearing the name of Ribadu, Soludo, El-Rufai? why are these people being subjected with all maners of frivolous allegations? Or is that to avoid wahala, all you need is to go to government, steal the money cool, don't disturb anybody and just go your way jeje. Is there no conscience in this nation again? Yet some people like Muza and cre8tivity are always ready to defend this insanity.

The point is this, if these evil men think they have clout and influence in Yar Adua govt, why can't they just go after OBJ, atleast he's still alive, why runinnig after people that served their country well. Can you imagine the committee that probed El-Rufai was chaired by a man who's building was demolished and one of his land revoked? The deputy of the probe panel's land was also revoked, yet they sat in council to probe El-Rufai and made their recommendations, all appeal to make them resign on allegation of conflict of interest in the probe was rejected by the two gentlemen. How many criminals living in Nigeria have they declare wanted? My fear is not even for those of us adult, but for the coming generation that will think selfless service to the nation is a taboo. Nigeria is setting an unprecedented path to self destruction.

@post,

To all the athiest on this forum, here is your answer:

A FOOL HATH SAID IN HIS HEART, THERE IS NO GOD PSALM 14:1

Am sure God envisaged there would be such people, so He already had an answer for them before their great great grand father was born. God did not need even a saint to confirm His existence talkless people that denied His existence, na today!

@post
She should just resign and go back to the university. There will always be another opportuity to serve, this government is less than 3yrs away, she should not go down with such a discredited government. Very soon, another administration will be here, am sure they will be looking for her to serve again. This information ministry is not compactible with her personality, she will have to do many things she would not want to do. Am covinced Yar Adua is not in charge.