welcome

Yar’Adua to sleep in Bayelsa’s N20bn castle
By Ochereome Nnanna
Monday, June 29, 2009

LAST week Wednesday by dusk time, Governor Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa State took a group of senior journalists from Lagos on a guided tour of a controversial project within the bowels of the Government House.

It is a group of buildings and their peripherals standing on a 130 hectare expanse of land which, altogether, has gulped over N20 billion!


“This is the most beautiful house in Nigeria”, he announced, pointing at the central mansion; a two-storey, eight bedroom castle which opulence is better seen than discussed on a page with limited space such as this.


He threw a challenge to anyone who had seen a more beautiful house anywhere in Nigeria. I had not, though I have seen quite a few, starting from my own hometown, Abiriba where, despite slowdown in business, people still build to outclass one another.


It is the kind of building you see among multi-billionaires in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Monaco, complete with a Rock House, and an amphitheatre with an arena in its centre marked with the Star of David. Beside the main castle is a series of flushing fountains.


Finishing touches were being put to work in the compound in preparation for the working visit of President Umaru Yar’ Adua which, everything going as planned, will start today.


The President will have the honour of being the first person to sleep in this magnificent edifice, unless, as a ‘Servant Leader’, he declines and opts for something more sedate.


This castle’s splendour is so intimidating that Governor Sylva himself has decided not to move into it. He will instead hold certain classes of state functions in it and permit the top executives of blue chip companies willing to pay the costs to nest there from time to time.


By all standards, the mansion named Gloryland Castle (after the government house itself which did away with its old name of Creek Haven for obvious connotative reasons), is a white elephant; costly to build and equally costly to maintain.


Why did the Governor consider this a priority in a new state still hungry for development and where the poverty rate is so high? Was this not a justification of the opinion of critics of Niger Delta governors and leaders who say that funds that should have been spent to spread development are being put in wrong ventures?


Sylva agreed. “When we came in and I saw this project, I went to former Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha who started it and asked him why he went into it. He simply told me that he started the project ‘to show that it could be done’.


I looked at the amount already spent before the contractors abandoned the site and I decided to make the best of the situation by completing it. The state will gain more by completing and putting it to use than allowing the money already spent to be wasted”.


He likened this project built by Nigerian architects to the Taj Mahal of India, a magnificent mosque-like structure, which was completed in 1648 by Emperor Shah Jahan.


He built it to express his love for his late wife, Mumtaz Mahal, at Agra. Jahan’s son was so incensed at this proverbial white elephant that he overthrew his father. At his father’s request, he kept the former emperor in a house from where he could admire the Taj Mahal for the rest of his life.

“Taj Mahal remains one of the wonders of the world”, Sylva explained. “It is one of the greatest tourism sites in the world and earns India millions of dollars every year.


Our plan is to dove-tail the Gloryland Castle into the wider vision of Yenagoa of the immediate future, which will be a showpiece city for all Nigerians and the rest of the world to come and enjoy life with a lot to see,” he explained.


Perhaps in the next four years, Yenagoa will become one of the most beautiful cities in Nigeria if plans afoot are anything to go by. An international airport is being constructed, specifically for cargo operations because Bayelsa is aiming to become the largest producer of paddy rice in Africa in partnership with Thai and Vietnamese experts. It also wants to become the largest producer of fish, in league with Israeli experts.


The airport will serve as a major import and export route when plans to redesign the state’s economy from oil and gas to agriculture, commerce and tourism come to fruition.


The state is also constructing a 32-kilometre dual express from the airport into the rear of the city where the new Yenagoa is springing up. The state’s 110 kilowatt electricity supply project is expected to switch on fully next year, making it more than self-sufficient in power supply.


Right now, Bayelsans do not pay for publicly supplied electricity. That will likely change when uninterrupted power supply becomes possible from some time next year. Already, the state’s Millennium/Peace Park is alight with thousands of bulbs at night.


Another ambitious project is the 800-bed hospital which, officials say, will make Yenagoa a destination of medical tourists. Nigerians will no longer need to go abroad for any form of medical treatment.


All that Bayelsans have to do is to contribute one thousand naira per month and the contributor and four members of his family will enjoy the full services of the hospital, irrespective of the ailment they are suffering. The state plans to support every contributor with an additional 15,000 to ensure the scheme runs smoothly.


When all these plans are brought to fruition and the Federal Government completes the East/West Highway, Bayelsa will permanently leave the status of poto-poto state (muddy state) for good. It will enter the Nigerian economic and social mainstream. The opportunities for employment are being prepared for militants and other jobless youths when conflict is over.


But when will that be? That is the question.

http://odili.net/news/source/2009/jun/29/309.html

no vex sorry

Apology accepted.

i didn't see anything there about Lagos state fire service. Why u make me waste my time watching the news IDIOT!!!   

Seems not to understand your point, the subject of this thread  is about state of Federal Fire service in Lagos. I don't see any reason why u should be looking for Lagos State Fire Service in the video. The video also show the state of infrastructure in the country weather its own by state or the federal govt is not the problem of the citizen, the duty of the govt is to provide security of life and properties.

And for you calling me "IDIOT", I don't join issue with people like you.

Ten Years Of Uninterrupted Looting
By Dan Amor, danamor67@yahoo.com, 08023597734 (sms Only)


Most Nigerians are docile, complacent and timid. Why? The biggest tragedy in Nigeria - the most annoying development in the country today - is that we hardly ask questions. Ten years into civil rule, which came after almost 16 years of uninterrupted military gangsterism, rapacity and greed, Nigerians still cannot ask our rulers how the billions of dollars rolling into the nation's treasury from the sale of crude oil and other sources is spent. I am not talking about the $500 billion oil money largely stolen between 1958 and 2006, an amount six times the value of the Marshall Plan, the money put together to rebuild Western Europe after World War II. [quote]I am simply talking about the over N36 trillion generated between 1999 and 2009 under the supervision of General Olusegun Obasanjo and his political 'godson', Alhaji Umaru Yar'Adua. Where are the trillions? Instead of asking the looters to account for the money, Nigerians, in their mass hysteria and amazing capacity to suffer gross inertia, are celebrating "ten years of uninterrupted democracy". Ten years of what? Ten years of uninterrupted looting, of course![/quote]
Like a bad dream, the stream of unending revelations by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), empowered by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to "monitor the accruals to and disbursements of revenue from the Federation Account", that in the ten years since the return of civil rule to the country, Nigeria has earned more than N31 trillion, out of which the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has retained N6 trillion, is mind-boggling. Given the absence of any meaningful or visible developmental strides by the government since the past ten years of democratic dispensation, the revelation speaks volumes about the peculiar style of governance and policy initiation which the Federal Government has chosen to boldly subscribe to, and which the media have had cause to bitterly complain about.

It shows that there is indeed a curious twist of irony in the much trumpeted anti-corruption war initiated by the last Obasanjo-led Administration. The spotlight is scorching, demonstrating the obvious: that government in Nigeria constitutes a damp and dark climate in which the mushrooms of capital corruption grow. According to a paper made available recently in Abuja by the RMAFC, it listed the major sources of revenue into the Federation Account to include the NNPC, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR). The commission stated that the NNPC realized N17,597, 601, 536, 673.70 through export crude sales, domestic crude sales, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and liquefied natural gas (LNG). Yet, after deductions (and or transfers to Excess Revenue Account) of N11,050, 946, 764, 372.80, the NNPC retained the difference.

I recall vividly that in November 2005, the National Economic Intelligence Committee (NEIC). headed by Professor Ibrahim Ayagi, in its 2005 Second Quarter Report disclosed that N17.62 billion belonging to the Federation Account was not remitted to it by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the collecting banks of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). The report also disclosed that while a total sum of N6.66 billion in the CBN accounts was yet to be recorded in the books of the revenue collecting agents, the NNPC, which bought crude oil for local consumption at prevailing prices and at an exchange rate of dollar to the Naira, was unwilling to pay the sum of N122.38b due to the Federal Government. It is therefore obvious that these distortions have been cumulative and show there is no credible accounting system in application at the Federal level, which is proof of a manifest lack of transparency in the system.

No doubt, Nigerians welcomed the RMAFC report with cautious indignation given the wayward rascality and unbridled exuberance with which the commission had supported the astronomical hike of salaries and entitlements of political office holders in the country after a similar alarm over distortions in the Federation Account. It is hoped that the commission itself is not entangled in the mess while fuelling frivolous speculations in the system. But the report by itself is an indictment of the Federal Government vis-a-vis the NNPC, and evidence of a terrible flaw in the management of the national economy. There is a staggering contradiction between what the government earns and monies accounted for. It is most unfortunate that Nigeria has once again found itself in such a sorry pass, which can only be blamed on what is clearly a failure of leadership on the part of the Obasanjo and Yar'Adua Administrations.

What is even more painful and regrettable is that in spite of the unabashed deception which the government infused into its war on corruption, the Obasanjo Administration is the most corrupt in the annals of this country. Most reprehensible and callous is the painful fact that budgets were not implemented. In several cases, the necessary feasibility and viability studies which government requires before financing any projects are perfunctorily done and this implies that it deliberately budgets for some white elephant projects. While it is conceded, and conceded it must be, that the capitalist option to national development is an incentive to corruption; yet the view must be maintained that the incompetent and misguided attempts at importing economic policies that have proven to be failures elsewhere have been an additional impetus to the rogue instinct of our governing elite. Of late, the media have been inundated with fresh revelations of graft in high places. The tales are not only overwhelming; they are intimidating. Stealing of public funds is now a daily routine.

It is my submission that all efforts to resolve the expanding problem of immorality and corruption in the land will come to naught if crass materialism continues to hold sway. I am not here repeating the well-known implications of unearned wealth for the society. Apart from sending the wrong signals to the economy, it also devalues the essence of hard work. While a break with the tardiness of the past must be seen to be the goal of the Yar'Adua Administration, it has to be pointed out that equally important is the removal of the time lag between policy pronouncement and its implementation. One of the crucial destabilizing factors in this game is the refusal of government to release capital votes on time. But the only thing that can stop corruption is a return to fiscal federalism, whereby people only 'eat what they kill'.

He also called for unity among the Christian denominations to ensure the progress and expansion of God's kingdom in Nigeria

We have enough of expansion  of God kingdom. Can this pastors just please do something for Nigeria poor by preaching against corruption instead of expansion that we have not benefited from.

Religious Leaders Charged To Preach Against Graft

By Chibuzor Emejor Correspondent, Abuja
National President of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), John Onaiyekan, has challenged religious leaders to rise up and preach against corruption and other vices in the society.

Onaiyekan gave the challenge at the weekend during "Abuja Night of Power" programme presided over by the General Superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Williams Kumuyi, at the Eagle Square, Abuja.

[s]He also called for unity among the Christian denominations to ensure the progress and expansion of God's kingdom in Nigeria.[/s]

He said Christian leaders should desist from abusing and insulting one another in the course of preaching the gospel
http://www.independentngonline.com/news/head/article07

http://allafrica.com/stories/200906220503.html

Even in some family, racism exist.

Nigerians are the most racist people in the world!” Yeah, I was as shocked as I am sure you are now when I first saw that comment online, allegedly made by a foreigner. According to him, he had visited most of the major countries of the world, 25 of which were in Africa alone; but never was he treated like he was when he came to Nigeria. He claimed that people taunted him and always felt he could be taken advantage of simply because he was white. The worst of it all was the fact that he had a Nigerian girlfriend; and whenever he walked on the streets with her, people screamed out telling the girl to make sure he ate his money well before leaving him. He claimed he was being mugged on the street once and no one stopped to help because he was white. He has promised never to return here again.

When I saw that story online, I thought it was a total joke and a silly attempt at making Nigerians look bad. For all I know, foreigners are the actual first class citizens in Nigeria. It does help a lot more if you are white too because then, everyone feels like they need to do you a favour so that maybe somehow, you would help them with some foreign currency or better still, a trip outside the country. Just be anything but black. In fact even if the foreigner were dark skinned but had curly hair like some Indians or Australian aborigine, it would still be an advantage. So, where on earth does anyone come up with the thought that Nigerians are very racist? Unless he meant that we are racist against Nigerians!

I do not doubt the fact that some Nigerians may be anti-white, but it is also true that those who are, are very discreet and civil about it and do not rub it in any visitor's face like it is done us when we visit their own countries. From the airport, to office appointments to even bars, it is always evident who gets treated preferentially! Just look and act in any way that makes you appear foreign, and it will most likely work. In fact, a Nigerian friend of mine who lives in Canada, had being trying to get a contract with a Federal Parastatal here in Nigeria but never got it. He then decided to come back a couple of years ago, change his very 'Bini' surname to an English one, and put on his best Canadian accent. At the end of the day, he went back to Canada $65,000 richer.

No doubt though, there are a couple of Nigerians who would do anything to see all the Indians, Chinese and Lebanese go back to their country. After all, it is natural with every country as even Nigerians who visit these Asian countries, would tell you clearly that Nigerians are not the most welcome set of people in those parts.

In fact, you and I may have harbored those thoughts at one time or the other. Same way some of us had wished when we were growing up that we were mixed race (or half caste like we say here) just so that our teachers would like us more or our hair would grow longer; since it strangely seemed like the foreigners or mixed race kids always had all the fun back then (and probably still).

What I found out from speaking with a couple of people who actually agreed that once in a while, they do have racist thoughts, is that they are racist not because they were born that way but because these very subtle acts of preference for the 'oyinbo' has made them that way and so they sometimes feel the need to be racist even if they agree that it is a sad way to go about things! The acts of preference gradually turns to jealousy and then hatred overtime, which eventually fuels racism.

But in spite of that fact, not a lot of people have spoken up about it here. At least, not so publicly; until I visited Nigeria's foremost fashion, entertainment and lifestyle website; bellanaija.com a couple of weeks ago and witnessed one of the most intense and controversial conversations ever, by Nigerians.

The website usually runs stories on social events, celebrities, the Diaspora, music, magazines and the youth. Most stories usually break first there and it mostly helps Nigerians both here and abroad, stay in touch with happenings across Nigeria. One of their preferred segments is the one where magazine covers are profiled. When a popular magazine hits the newsstand, its cover is usually put up on the website for people to comment. Most comments are usually about the design of the cover or what the person on the cover is wearing or whether the photographer did a good job. But all that changed when the 13th edition of a popular tourist guide/lifestyle magazine 'What's New' was put up on the website on the 10th of May, 2009.

'What's New Magazine' has been around for a while now and started off as a Lagos tourist guide. It has now grown to the must have magazine for knowing where to go to around Nigeria as well as keeping up to date with whatever is new in the country. They also serve as an inspiration for the younger generation as it is run by a team of very young Nigerians. Their profiling of 30 most inspiring Young Nigerians in that same May, 2009 edition was commendable. But it was the picture on that cover that caused a stir.

The magazine decided to do a feature on the owners of two of the most successful night clubs in Lagos today. Coincidentally, both clubs are owned by women so it was a good way to celebrate entrepreneurial skills as well as women who are holding their own in what should be a man's world. Louis Priddy owns Bacchus Night Club, Six Degrees North and Posh Café while Ruby Dabbour owns the popular Caliente Night Club. The former has a Nigerian father and a British mother while the latter is Indian but has lived here for a long time. They are both now running successful businesses and as a result, were put on the magazine cover for that month. It all seemed like a good, harmless move by the magazine until comments from the Bella Naija website suggested otherwise. Those comments thankfully, do not reflect the opinions of bellanaija.com. They are just readers' comments.

The first comment on the website by someone named 'chi', read; “(I) love how the cover features two foreigners. They should have at least had one FULL Naija person. When are we going to start celebrating our people?” I thought it was a joke to see someone lose the essence of the cover and go straight into marginalization talk; and the comment that followed made some sense to me with the person countering chi's point by saying; “It's like saying Obama isn't American because his father was Kenyan; or that he's not black because his mother is Caucasian. Louis Priddy is half-caste. But she is (still) Nigerian isn't it?” But that statement seemed to fuel everything. People started talking about the stupidity of trying to compare Nigeria to America, saying that America is built on different races as against Nigeria which is a country, mostly made up of indigenous tribes. Besides even in places like Britain, immigration has become a

serious issue because most Britons do not want foreigners coming in to take their jobs anymore. The parting shot for most people was that we Nigerians should stop glorifying foreigners here when they actually treat us like dirt in their own countries.

While that may be a fair way to look at things, it is not necessarily right. An eye for an eye is a fair way to judge but does it not leave the whole world blind after it all? Yes, no Nigerian might ever be celebrated on the cover of an Indian magazine but that does not mean that Indians who have achieved in Nigeria, while also investing both their money and lives here, should be looked down on as a result. Of course, I would rather have loved to see a Nigerian on the cover instead of an Indian. But when the achiever is Indian and there are no Nigerian female owners of clubs in Nigeria, should one be manufactured as a result?

Okay, let us even assume that there is a valid reason for not wanting the Indian, Ruby Dabbour on the cover, what has a Lagosian like Louise Priddy, with a purely Nigerian father done wrong? Is she supposed to hang herself because her mother is white? Or should that be a reason for her not to succeed in her business as a Nigerian and be celebrated as a result?

Some of the comments to that effect, were interesting. One of them said they were worried that their dark skinned daughter or little sister would grow up with a low self esteem if they kept seeing covers like this. They believe that celebrating women, who are light skinned in a country filled with dark skinned girls, would gradually breed a mass inferiority complex as everyone would then strive by hook or crook, to be light skinned or 'yellow' like we say here.

What I found really strange about the comments was that almost no one cared whether the people being profiled were actually successful in what they were doing. Were they put on the cover because they were light skinned or because they were running successful businesses as women in Nigeria? Is it not true that the magazine had featured other people on its cover in the past, who were full blooded Nigerians, or preferably dark skinned? Is it right to blame magazines for a child's self esteem, when probably many other factors (like sending them to schools outside Nigeria, thereby making them believe that Nigeria is not good enough) would already make him/her feel inadequate about her country?

One of the comments by someone named 'Kies', summed it up for me; ”To finally realise that we are actually like South Africans and other xenophobic countries, is actually very frightening. In a million years, I would never have thought that Nigerians think this way. To see that majority of the bloggers wrote against supposed foreigners, is just a disaster.”

I and most of you, know that foreigners have helped Nigerians immensely to drive the economy. Things as elementary as departmental stores could not even be set up by Nigerians until foreigners came in. I also believe that living in Nigeria over a period of time, ends up making anyone as Nigerian as they come. Some of these so called foreigners are even more Nigerian than we are.

The name Engr. Abbas Hajaig may not ring a bell, but it should for the people of Jigawa Central Senatorial District. He was born in Nigeria, attended Birninkudu Central Primary School, Government Secondary School Birninkudu, Kaduna Polytechnic and then ABU Zaria before doing his NYSC in Calabar. Based on all of that, he deservedly felt very Nigerian and decided to run for Senate in 2007 under a PDP ticket. I do not know many people who can be more Nigerian than him but his white skin and Lebanese roots was sadly an instant minus for him.

While a lot of the points against the magazine cover might seem justifiable, the truth remains that success was celebrated by the magazine and rightly so. The fact that they were not indigenous Nigerians or even more strangely, mixed race Nigerians, is no reason to bash it.

But the biggest lesson for me from all of that is that Nigerians can be innately racist. We might not be violent (yet) about it because the foreign community here is very small but it does become evident when issues like this arise. Thankfully though, the racists are in the minority…

So are you racist too? Honestly now, what was the first thought that got into your head immediately you saw the magazine cover?

ANSWERS ANYONE?

Is Ateke Tom's offer, really a sign of a turnaround in the Niger Delta?



http://odili.net/news/source/2009/jun/21/207.html

They are fueling the riot by encouraging the defeated candidate

How come people like you always looking for someone to blame for your failure, Give me just one statement from the US and UK that fuel riot in Iran. The opposition party in the US are bashing Obama for keeping silence for not speaking out against the Iranian government and you are here saying jargon's.

Your signature read that you are a proud Muslim, does that mean being a Muslim meant you should not be objective in your judgement of the situation in Iran.

I think we don't value life in Nigeria if we do, Fire service is a critical part of saving and preserving life. Fire service duty go beyond putting out fire, they are responsible for rescue of life if there is any accident on the road or at home.
One wonders, how we can still be living like these in the 21st century?

How can investor put their money into a country with this type of infrastructure? A country with the security of life and properties are not safe and someone is telling Nigerians about rebranding.

http://www.channelstv.com/video1.html

What a country? Commercial capital of Nigeria with this type of fire service? And Yaradua is talking about 7 point agenda, I am so sad.

where? in 9ja.

a 9ja man that sees a dog on the road and starts running for dear life.

it can never happen here cuz they're all sissies. you need men for such action.

a 9ja man is only brave when he crosses the street with out looking left or right.

"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion"
Albert Campus
French Novelist

I

feel for Mr. President, and I don't blame him I blame those those who interpreted the law for him before going to court.

Aandoaka or Anancoda the most corrupt AGF in living memory.

I just think Yaradua is clueless about governance. So Nigerian can't sue you b/c of the stupid immunity but you want to drag us to court. Rule of law indeed.

Assassinating the corrupt leaders? What would that do to the country and its people? Simply destabilize it, right?   

 

Thats call Revolution, so that we can start a new journey to better things in Nigeria.

"

As a lawmaker, you receive different phone calls and the person calling you would say, Honourable, I rejoice with you; your wife just put to bed. And you begin to wonder, the wife, who you left at home in the morning that was not pregnant, how come she has put to bed?


"But it is not your wife, the person is only speaking on her wife's behalf and all he wanted is money for naming

Naija

At Lagos Assembly, Ghana Must Go doesn't exist -Ikuforiji
By Akinwunmi King, Reporter, Lagos

Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, has said that the issue of Ghana Must Go sharing which is peculiar to the National and other Houses of Assembly does not exist in Lagos.


According to the Speaker, Lagos Assembly is committed to making laws and resolutions that would benefit every Lagosian.


"In just two years, we in the Lagos State House of Assembly have been able to pass 35 bills into law and a total of 84 resolutions have been made to ensure that our people live a better life.


"When you look at other Houses of Assembly, they have not been able to meet this achievement. Even the National Assembly in Abuja has not been able to pass this number of bills.


"All they care about over there is sharing of Ghana Must Go. And this exists nearly in all the Houses of Assembly in the country," said Ikuforiji.


He explained that the lawmakers in the state do not get constituency allowance as enjoyed by other lawmakers in other states.


"Here in Lagos, we are only committed to making laws and resolutions. We have been able to achieve this because we are not like the others that their concentration is only on ***Ghana Must Go*** sharing.


"But some of our constituents don't have knowledge of this, they believe that we must always come back to them and give them from what they believe we are getting, which is not.


"As a lawmaker, you receive different phone calls and the person calling you would say, Honourable, I rejoice with you; your wife just put to bed. And you begin to wonder, the wife, who you left at home in the morning that was not pregnant, how come she has put to bed?


"But it is not your wife, the person is only speaking on her wife's behalf and all he wanted is money for naming.


"So, any Lagos lawmaker that is doing any little thing to help his constituency is doing it from his pocket and such lawmaker is using his salary to do such, we are not getting any constituency allowance in the state," he stated.

http://odili.net/news/source/2009/jun/19/610.html

By Leo Igwe
Friday, June 19, 2009
One of the contentious issues in the debate over homosexuality and same sex marriage is whether a marriage between persons of the same gender is totally alien to African culture and tradition. Those opposing same sex marriage have continued to argue that same gender union is foreign to Africa. On the contrary, I have tried to draw their attention to the fact that there is a strain of the same gender marriage in African tradition particularly in Igboland.

And that we should not rush to deny this, or pretend it does not exist or just sweep it under the carpet in the quest to establish that same gender marriage is alien to the African continent, and must be banned.


I hail from Mbaise in Imo State in Southern Nigeria. Traditionally, in my community, marriage is taken to be a union between a man and a woman as the case may be. But there are circumstances where a marriage between a woman and a woman is permissible.


In a situation where a woman has no son or no child, if the husband dies, it is culturally allowed for her to marry a wife. And in this case, she becomes the husband. Like in every case of marriage, this woman goes out, inquires and gets a wife of her choice. She pays her dowry and fulfills other traditional rites as it is done when a man is marrying a woman.


After that, the woman brings her “wife” home and they start living together as “husband” and “wife”. Nobody frowns at it. To have children -both the “woman- husband” and “woman- wife”- will agree to allow a man from the same village or neighbouring town to sleep with the wife.


And the children born by the wife bears the family name of the woman- husband, not that of the man responsible for the pregnancy. I want to add here that the man who sleeps with such wife in most cases are married men. And normally it is regarded as immoral, in fact it is a taboo for a married man to sleep with or “father” children from another woman. But in this case an act normally taken to be immoral is allowed.


This is a situation where people are permitted to break taboos and deviate from traditions. This marriage practice pre- dates Christianity and the so- called western culture which most people today blame for all the moral and cultural wrongs in Africa. The same gender marriage is still practised till date. In other words, there are some families today in Igboland where women are both husbands and wives, fathers and mothers.


There are some homes where woman- husbands are living happily with their woman- wives. Though there are not many of such families or marriages. Such unconventional marriages and families are in the minority. The fact is that they exist. The fact is that they are part of the local tradition and culture. They are not imports from the West. And this has in no way undermined social cohesion, public order and morality or family values.


Some people have tried to argue that this is not really a case of gender marriage because a man comes in to impregnate the wife. But, traditionally, it is the case and it is known as such. It is a case where a woman marries a woman.


The man who impregnates the wife does not come into the picture at all. He has no family responsibility. His duty is only to supply sperm. The family is responsible for the woman- husband and wife.Some say that same gender unions destroy family values and undermine the upbringing of children.


It should be emphasised that children in this case are brought up in an environment where both “parents” are females. And they grow up to be normal children. Some say because child bearing is involved, then it is not same gender marriage. But my response is this: whether for procreation or for pleasure, it is same gender marriage. And it is the couples, not the state that decides whether to marry for procreation and or for pleasure or for any other purpose they deem fit.


Unfortunately, most Nigerians think that same gender marriage is antithetical to procreation. It is not. In fact same gender unions as in this case enrich family values. There have been instances where a partner in a same gender relationship wants children, and goes ahead to have them.


Because of the secrecy, privacy and hypocrisy that go with sexual expression, no one can really say, if these female partners have or do not have sex with each other. But like all couples they live together and run their families. But today, things are changing.


Individuals are becoming more open, more assertive and expressive with their sexual and marriage choices, desires, orientations and identities. The sexual and marriage dynamics are changing rapidly. And Africans must make the necessary social, cultural and legal adjustments in response to- and to accommodate- these changes.


Igwe is the executive secretary of the Nigerian Humanist Movement.

Have u got a list, OneNaija?

Send ur cars to cotonou and get cleared at idiroko border with registered agents that will assist u with ur customs paper. It will saves you alot. I can help you in getting up to 5 to 10 agent you can meet to compare nd contr, 08028612851 is my number. Am not the agent oo but i can be of assistance cos i deal with dere papers everyday at my shop.

You might be genuine and honest but how can anyone here trust someone you meet on the internet? and if I were you I will never give out my number on the internet, best is to give out ur email address.

How about this? Quiet revolution by assasination of corrupt politician and ex corrupt military men in Nigeria.

-Will you provide information of their location?
-Will you join them in this type of struggle?

And may be we can warn each and everyone of the target that if they stop being corrupt their life will be spare.

Please give a list of corrupt Nigeria leader whom you think deserve this type of peoples justice.

I don't know why people can not be patient with this man? people compare him to Fasola in Lagos but the truth is that, you can not compare the amount of revenue generated from both state.

but why are so many people against pst Adeboye
leave the man alone jor
many are called, but few are chosen
hope you are chosen one day
and stop being jealous haba
SAD PEOPLE

No one is jealous of him, people are asking genuine question about what define a true legend. For Adeboye to win a living legend says everything that is wrong in our society, I weep for Nigeria.

People like Gani, Enarhoro, Wole soyinka deserves this award more than this man that refuse to speak about injustice in Nigeria.

but why are so many people against pst Adeboye
leave the man alone jor
many are called, but few are chosen
hope you are chosen one day
and stop being jealous haba
SAD PEOPLE

No one is jealous of him, people are asking genuine question about what define a true legend. For Adeboye to win a living legend says everything that is wrong in our society, I weep for Nigeria.

People like Gani, Enarhoro, Wole soyinka deserves this award more than this man that refuse to speak about injustice in Nigeria.

but why are so many people against pst Adeboye
leave the man alone jor
many are called, but few are chosen
hope you are chosen one day
and stop being jealous haba
SAD PEOPLE

No one is jealous of him, people are asking genuine question about what define a true legend. For Adeboye to win a living legend says everything that is wrong in our society, I weep for Nigeria.

People like Gani, Enarhoro, Wole soyinka deserves this award more than this man that refuse to speak about injustice in Nigeria.

Is it Nigeria made?

He bought the plane with his own money. should he then use his dough to fix roads for you?

Surely you are suffering from foot and mouth disease.

Senators, Reps defy National Assembly management, share N1bn fund
By Adetutu Folasade-Koyi and Sule Lazarus (Abuja)

Despite denials last week, it emerged on Tuesday that both Chambers of the federal legislature have shared, at N500 million each, the N1 billion ring-fenced in the 2009 budget for the review of the Constitution, now in limbo.

There are 88 members on the Joint Constitution Review Committee (JCCR), comprising 44 Senators and 44 House of Representatives members; but the JCCR has since split up, with each Chamber going solo on the exercise.


Senators and House members brushed aside opposition from the National Assembly (NASS) management and have started spending the money, which translates into N11.36 million for every one of the 88 reviewers.


A similar amount was allocated and shared in the 2008 budget, divided into N500 million for each Chamber.


It was learnt that the Senate has fixed July to begin its own review, after resumption of the third legislative session on June 23.


The money was accessed after the NASS management, custodians of the N1 billion, caved in under pressure from the JCCR.


Deputy Senate President and JCCR Chairman, Ike Ekweremadu, requested the fund on behalf of Senators; House Deputy Speaker and JCCR Vice-chairman, Usman Nafada, did on behalf of House members.


They routed the request to the Clerk of the National Assembly (CNA), Nasiru Arab, who demanded due process and all documents through proper administrative checks before the release.


A NASS source reiterated on Tuesday that "although the funds are being managed by the management of the National Assembly, there is nothing like joint exercise anymore.


"Legislators now make requests for the release of their share through (Arab) who is the accounting officer of the Assembly and head of its bureaucracy.


"(Arab) is in the twilight of his career, so he has asked his officers to scrutinise the applications properly."


The fund was originally meant to be accessed by the JCCR.


But, as it was learnt, the agitation by House members to do their own Constitution review, which led to the collapse of the JCCR, informed the decision of the NASS management to release the money separately to each Chamber.


Another source explained that "following the collapse of the joint review exercise, the legislators have now resolved to spend the N1 billion meant for the exercise on the passage of the seven Bills sent to the National Assembly by President Umaru Yar'Adua.

"It is no longer an intention, the money is now being spent by the separate Chambers."


Last week, Senate Spokesman, Ayogu Eze, distanced the Upper House from any plan to split the N1 billion in half and share it.


"There was no joint appropriation so there is no reason to ask for sharing of the N1 billion fund. The issue of somebody sharing doesn't arise. The request never happened," he stressed.


Also on Tuesday, lawmakers rejected the explanation of House Leader, Tunde Akogun, on how N270 million was spent on the recent retreat in Kano and Uyo.


House Information Committee Chairman, Dino Melaye, insisted on behalf of his colleagues from his hideout that there is no going back on the move to remove Akogun and Chief Whip, Emeka Ihedioha.


Melaye alleged in a telephone interview that the hands of Akogun are not clean as less than 300 members attended the retreat at both centres, and as the events were sponsored by the Kano and Akwa Ibom State Governments.


"For argument sake, lets assume 328 members attended the retreat as claimed by (Akogun) and each member was given N200,000 as honourarium, that means less than N66 million was spent, where is the balance?'', he queried.


Ihedioha is accused of misappropriating part of the N150 million meant for the celebration of 10 years of democracy.


https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?action=post;board=20.0

@ Dayo

You are a sell out to your conscience for doing the bidding of Dangote. We have already been warned against people like you .

Good riddance, he should have used his PDP connection to tell Tony Anenih former minister of works to fix the road.