Independence day,wetin we dey celebrate sef?!

Congratulate Nigerians on Nigeria's 53rd anniversery as an idependent state and what you'll get as response,most often than not would be negative. The negative responses are as a result of several reasons,but,in my view,the variety of reasons behind these negativity can be traced back to a MEGA reason of THE DISBELIEF OF THE NIGERIAN PEOPLE IN THE NIGERIAN PROJECT!
Most Nigerians do not belief in Nigeria,very few Nigerians are proud of their country. This is why we experience communal clashes in Nigeria,we don't see ourselves as one. Allow me to show you how this singular factor have contributed to virtually every problem we face as a nation.

I dare say it all began with our founding fathers that were responsible for the creation of the first 3 major political parties in Nigerian history. True,they joined hands to rid the country of British rule,but,unfortunately and sadly too,they were the author of our greatest problem as a country. THEY CREATED POLITICAL PARTIES IN LINE WITH TRIBAL AND ETHNICAL DIVIDES OF THE COUNTRY.As a result,people's way of thinking was conditioned along ethnical lines and unfortunately,we are still yet to break away from this evil and viscious circle of tribalism. Over the years,several criminals have been created from this tribal bias and we have refused to bring the culprits to book,guess why...TRIBALISM! This is why Nigeria have failed to develop all this while. People commit heinous crimes and should be brought to book but we disagree and shield them from prosecution simply because they are our tribesmen.
If a hausa man is caught,the Arewa Elder's Forum would stand by and protect him,when the criminal is a Yoruba,OPC would claim that if he were to be a hausa,he would have gone scot-free! The Ibos are like that too. This has been the case in Nigeria till date.
Despite the fact that Jonathan is not performing,ex- militants from Niger Delta would threaten war if he is not elected as President the second term. The Notherners too insist on the next President being a hausa,is that democracy please???
Personally,I have no problem with anybody from any part of the country becoming president,my problem,however,is lack of accountability on the side of our elected leaders. No one complains of lack of performance (if the person in question is of our tribe),rather,we busy ourselves with verbal tribal wars. It's quiet unfortunate we,the youth,refuse to see through the smoke screen (guess its too thick for us!), we do not realize,that all these talks of National Conference,presidential candidature of Jonathan ....etc are all in the interest of the aristocratic few and not in the national interest.
Tribalism born of our lack of faith in the Nigerian project is the major problem we face in this country. My clarion call,therefore,goes to the youth of this country,guys,lets wise up and network to make things happen. Lets shun all the fake,selfish and tribalistic conflicts manufactured by the criminals created through the ethnic and tribalistic political culture of the past. Its high time we started seeing ourselves as Nigerians and not as hausas,yorubas or ibos. Let us all denounce the so called "federal character" - a curse and enemy of progressive competitiveness that's enshrined in our constitution. And remember as always that NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT HAS NEVER AND NEVER BE THROUGH POLITICS BUT THROUGH ECONOMIC ADVANCEMENT.
I,therefore,implore you all to denounce your membership to political parties and connect,mingle and communicate with one another nationwide for economic advancement. Lets do business! For this is the key to National development!!!
We may not have much to celebrate right now,but,at least,we are still together even after 53 years of independence,that is worth celebrating,so let us celebrate and at the same time reflect on our experience as a nation so as to hatch a progressive plan for the future!
One more thing,help spread this message by taking just a minute or two to share this message with your friends on facebook,twitter,google+ and any other social bookmarking site you may belong to,thanks for your time.
God Bless you,
God Bless Nigeria @ 53,
happy independence day!!!
Regards,
Abdurrahman.

2013 budget dey?

I was watching TV one quiet morning when a news headline from the national dailies was quoted which reads thus:"2013 budget unimplementable". It wasn't quite surprising to me,really,however, it was quite amusing that the first budget failure is happening NOT DURING MILITARY RULE but a civillian rule! Especially,the supposed best tenure in Nigerian history.
Its unfortunate that things can go this bad,I mean, every Nigerian and all businesses operating within our territories always look up to the national budget for economic direction. Its the budget of the country that helps businessmen to carve out a most effective business plan which has direct and indirect effects on the on Nigerians. It helps businesses to determine whether to employ more staff or to retrench some of their present employees,it also help to know whether to increase production or even shut down production of some products. This is because THE NATONAL BUDGET IS A YEARLY FINANCIAL PLAN THAT SHOWCASES THE GOVERNMENTAL ECONOMIC POLICIES AND STRATEGIES FOR THE YEAR.
You see,without a national budget,its quite difficult to tell what direction the nation is heading to financially and economically which in turn makes it difficult to tell which business to invest into and which business  you need to stay off from. As a result,businessmen tend to be cautious and either stop production or reduce it to the bearest minimum which is the reason why the economy seems to be at a grand halt.
A nation without a budget has no plan for the year,NO PLAN on spending for the year. He who fail to plan,they say,plans to fail!
In a situation whereby the president and his ministerial cabinet with their legion of special advisers that are paid so heavily to deliver democratic dividends to Nigerians have failed to deliver the very basic instrument of national economy,one cannot but wonder what people in government are actually doing in office?
Is it that the President refused to present a budget or the members of the national assembly refused to endorse it? Or,could it be that the unnecessary and rather childish 2015 second term ambition and the PDP faceoff has pre-occupied the President so much so that he has forgotten all about the budget? I mean,no budget for the year 2013... its very ridiculous!
The fact that he is currently changing his cabinet seems to have dashed all hopes that anything is happening this year. No budget,another first from President Jonathan...abi 2013 budget dey?

Nigeria Project

The greatest hinderance to Nigeria's development and progress is non other than the Nigeria's citizens' attitudes to the Nigerian project. If you ask an average citizen who he is,the probability he would say he is Nigerian is pretty low. Most would rather answer for their tribe and ethnical sect than answer for Nigeria. Most Nigerians donnot believe in Nigerian project. To add salt to sore,this ungodly attitude has been enshrined in our constitution backed up with law and a commission setup.
Literarily,this said commission,the federal character commission,is empowered by the constitution to enforce the sharing formula as agreed by the commission and the national assembly. For instance, if an hausa man is the Inspector General,the Director General of the State Security Service must be a yoruba
man even if there is a more qualified Ibo man while the Chief of defence staff would be an Ibo!
This highly sectarian way of appointment has the GREATEST damage to our co-existence and poses the greatest treat to the spirit competition and high quality productivity. And one more thing...it doesn't adequately provide for certain ethnic groups in the country!
People in the middle belt region,for instance,are often marginalized. By middlebelt,I am referring to the peoples of Benue,Kogi,Kwara and Niger states. We do have other minority ethnic groups that are not properly covered due to their small population and the discrimination of the larger ethnic groups in the same region.
The Okun,Tiv and Ebira people of the middle belt are few examples of such minority groups.
These minority groups of people seldomly get a fair share of the federal appointments allocated to their region. The Hausa/Fulani ethnic groups of their region dominate and take the largest chunk of the federal government appointments and benefit that are allocated to the North-Central region where they belong.
This has been the basis of most of the crisis and conflicts in the region. The Jos-plateau inscessant crisis,for instance, where the crisis,over the years have developed a religious undertone is a typical example of the adverse effects of encouraging tribalism in form of federal character!
Had it been that the federal character abuna no dey and every position in the country are competed for and ONLY the best is picked IRRESPECTIVE OF HIS RELIGION AND TRIBE,Nigeria would be better for it.
This federal character thing is killing us,in fact,it should be removed so that all governmental appointments are thrown in as opportunities to be competed for by EVERY AND ANY INTERESTED NIGERIAN. This would not only rejuvinate the spirit of competion and enhance productivity,it would also give a sense of belonging to a whole lot of marginalized sects and tribesmen of this country which in turn strenghten our unifying factor - the project Nigeria.
I therefore implore all Nigerians,home and away to call for the scrap of this evil sectarian policy and law and EVERYTHING associated with it. We are all Nigerians same and equal before the law,if we all contribute to the progress of the country,then,why should we have to share the benefits and rewards of everyone's hardwork by some formula that doesn't properly cover ALL those that laboured for it???
SAY NO TO INJUSTICE,SAY NO TO PARTIALITY, SAY NO TO SECTARIAN GOVERNMENT AND TRIBALISM,SAY NO TO THE FEDERAL CHARACTER PALAVA!
God Bless Nigeria!!!
Regards,
Abdurrahman.

JTF - the Terror of the North!

About 40 guys have just been killed by soldiers in Maiduguri.According to Al-jazeera,these guys where rounded up from door to door searches and were taken to a field where they were shot dead in cold blood! Now,how come we don't hear such news on NTA?Even Amnesty International attests to this findings,yet,NONE of our media houses (private or public) have deemed it fit to report such inhuman treatment meted to Nigerians up North!Which of the other tribes in Nigeria can accept such injustice?We only hear of the resultant conflicts, no one hears of the true cause of the conflict. Imagine,soldiers that are meant to maintain peace goes out of their way to people's homes,force young men out of their houses,then,kill them,just like that!No trials,no charges.Imagine!No...you just imagine!!! If they (Hausa youths) now come out in violent protest against such injustice,what would you hear from Nigerian media?"A group of young men have come out to clash with the JTF" or even worse still,it could be reported as a clash between 'SUSPECTED BOKO HARAM members' and the JTF.That's all you hear,no mention of the crimes committed by the security officers would be made,none!This is so unfair,so unfair to the Hausas and Northerners in general. For how long would we continue to sponsor terror and cover it up with lies,even Jos crisis is no different,for how long would we continue this fruitless and highly unnecessary tribal war in this country? Be you Hausa,Ibo or Yoruba,we are all Nigerians and such 'animalistic' behavior should NOT be condoned.Perpetrators of such evil act should be brought to book! I'm using this medium to call on youths out there not to hesitate to bring such reports to facebook so that everyone can know what unjust actions are being meted to our fellow citizens up North and the reason why crisis have proved unstoppable in the North.

The Fuel Subsidy Protests - It's Ups and Downs

Considering the insults on Nigerians during the one - week protests/strike against the fuel subsidy removal and the aftermath when the FG deliberately sent soldiers to occupy OJOTA ahead of the protesters' arrival on the following Monday WITH GUNS,it's most glaring that the government that we have in this country do not bloody care how we fare,their primary concern is how to loot the more without being detected!But,for how long shall these people deny us our birthrights while we stand by and look???I say "enough is enough"! Just like any other Nigerian.But,is it enough to just say those words,wouldn't it be more meaningful if I can act on my words?
Honestly,I was surprised at the turn out for the protest,the more surprising is the fact that civil societies are now starting to live up to their responsibilities; meaning that subsequent protests/strikes shall be more interesting and dramatic than the usual 'hide and seek' games the NLC plays.Now,that is one BIG plus of the protests/strikes - it has successfully jolted our civil societies to their responsibilities.
Another rather interesting development was the free flow of information during the protests.People were suddenly aware of things that they were totally ignorant of,they got suddenly informed and things got worse for the government so much so that they have now lost so much ground with the people that PDP can not actually boast of people's support as before.I think this is good,very good for our democracy.
However,I shall implore civil societies to seize the opportunity presented by the protests/strike to step up efforts on civic education as that is where their power to win the government lies.The more informed are the people of their civic rights and responsibilities,the more in control they are and the more probable that they shall stand to fight for them!
Politicians over the years have been feeding fat on the ignorance of the general populace.The fact that most Nigerians are unaware of the kind of power they possess as citizens of this great country has made their manipulation pretty easy.I wish the civil societies both online and offline would see these loop holes and block them effectively against 2015 elections.
These societies should find a medium of communicating to Nigerians both in English and in local dialects of the people and use such mediums to awake the sense of patriotism in them so that they can stand up and fight for their own civic rights.
Talk of constitution amendments,fuel subsidy,deregulation of the oil sector and general improvement of the economy are just but a few areas where much work need to be done so as to ensure that the people knows and appreciate the present situation we find ourselves today as a country and most importantly,what can be done to improve it.
The Downs however,includes the fact that some people lost their lives during the struggle,May the Good Lord Make them rest in perfect peace.Ameen.
A second 'Down' is the fact that Labor,in the end disappointed Nigerians by calling off the strike.We understand the calling off of street protests but calling off the strike,ESPECIALLY when people had gone all out on a "panic buying fever" over the weekend in hope of and SUPPORT for the continuation of the protest/strike.It was quiet disappointing indeed.I really wish the civil society would take control of the strike next time!
Be as it may,I believe the government too have learnt a bitter lesson too - never ever to under estimate the power of the people and that,thanks to the social media outlets like the twitter and facebook,Nigerians are better informed and updated.
For the sake of emphasis,I'm imploring the civil society groups to go live and active on these social medias to pass useful information from time to time to the people as well as sponsor programs on radios and T.V.s to enlighten,educate and create awareness with the people on the need to come together as one to fight bribery,corruption and bad governance to a stand still!
God Bless Nigeria,
Long live My Fatherland!!!
Regards,
Abdurrahman,
http://www.jainx.com

Revolution Naija!

I just read something about how much the President and his vice were going to spend on food and kitchen utensils (N992million+,almost a Billion Naira!)along with readers' comments on facebook.The majority believed the story while a few thinks it's too ridiculous a story to make the headlines.The part that seems to bother me is not the amount of money they spend on food but how my people reacted to it.
As usual,the majority ended up just praying and giving no sign of doing anything about it.The remaining few,on the other hand (as usual too),a part was dreaming of becoming an equally corrupt President one day,others think it's high time we revolt against the government just the Arabs did.The question is:You chop liver like the Arabs???
You see,I marvel at the way some people think.Revolution,REVolution,REVOLUtion,REVOLUTION!!!The majority of those screaming this word know next to nothing about how revolution works.All they know about it what they have been told it is,most really don't know what it entails.
Yes,Nigeria needs a revolution but what type of revolution do we need,what type of revolution would be most effective and least expensive to run?
Obviously,the one that the Arabs are currently running are way to expensive and much more counter productive.Take Libya for instance.
Libya got what they currently see as freedom after a protracted conflict that lasted for months and has brought a rebel group to replace a constituted government to power.
Now,let's ask ourselves:'what was the need for the revolt in the first place,is it that the man in power wasn't delivering,do they really had to take to arms to remove him?'
Irrespective of what you think about this case,you'll agree that Ghadaffi was revolted against NOT BECAUSE HE WAS NOT DELIVERING THE DIVIDENDS OF GOVERNMENT TO HIS PEOPLE BUT FOR A TRIVIAL ISSUE OF HIS LONG STAY IN OFFICE AND HIS PROPOSED PLAN TO SUCCEED HIMSELF WITH HIS SON!His only offense was that he spent 42 years in power,even his enemies could not say he wasn't delivering to his people!
According to sources available to me, Ghadaffi made housing as a matter of human right for Libyans and Power supply was FREE not to mention the fact that Libya under him owes no debts and their reserve was $150 Billion up!Now,compare that to the bankrupt U.S. (owing over $10 trillion and still counting!) and her NATO allies' economies (the Eurozone of the verge of collapse)that helped topple a constituted government replacing it with a rebel leadership.
Look at Egypt that once had a democracy but its people 'decided' to topple it for the same ridiculous reason of tenure longevity.About 5000 dead in Syria over same claims.All these going on while Queen Elizabeth still rule supreme without any disturbance what so ever;50 years on the throne and still counting!
Why is the UK not asking her to live.Some would say she's not politically involved.If she's that irrelevant in UK's government,then,why should the British continue to allow her stay up there?Do you know that she's more like the overall head of Common wealth countries???
Look,my people,I'm not saying we shouldn't revolt,in fact,I'm a vanguard advocate for a change BUT NOT A BLOODY ONE!
Nigerians,we can revolt PEACEFULLY WITHOUT THE USUAL RALLIES AND PUBLIC CAMPAIGNS THAT MOST OFTEN THAN NOT END UP VIOLENT.
We got options and it's these options we need to explore.Revolution,yes,but NOT A BLOODY REVOLUTION!
Unfortunately,I have to go,but,next time,I shall elaborate on my own idea of a bloodless revolution that can drive a striking fear into the hearts of our cold hearted politicians!REVOLUTION NAIJA!
Keep the flag flying,
Regards,
Abdurrahman,
http://www.jainx.com

2012 Budget:Anti People Policies

In less than a year after being elected to power,President Jonathan presented 2012 budget to the house of assembly,Abuja.
The budget,by the President was tagged with so many names like,budget of consolidation...bla,blab,blah!
The 'koko' of the matter is that all in all,this dude call 'Goodluck' had presented an anti - people budget for the year 2012.The GREATEST being the oil subsidy removal.
You know,it's funny to see that those guys up there in power never get to find an easy ways to resolve national issues,all they ever see is the hard way out.Unfortunately,when they come up with these hard policies,they seal their ears and minds to any other form of suggestion that says otherwise.They don't know and DO NOT KNOW that they don't know!A very BIG problem,right?
I mean,how can a President of a country that have bagged his Doctorate degree come up with such nonsense as removal of oil subsidy and had gone on to implement it despite the fact that ALL people in NAIJA says otherwise?No matter how brilliant his idea might be,he's NOT expected to do ANYTHING against the wishes of those that elected him to office.I don't know how he thinks,but his budget proposition to the Assembly,in my opinion signifies disappointing...more like embarrassing.As a graduate,I'm highly disappointed and as a Nigerian,I'm very embarrassed and upset!
WITHOUT paying the minimum wage despite signing it into law,Jonathan went ahead to add salt to sore by proposing to remove oil subsidy.
Even my illiterate aunt in the village knows what catastrophic evil effect that increase of fuel can cause on the economy.For God's sake we are talking of the lifeline of our transport system!No transport no commerce,no commerce,poverty looms!!!
Oil subsidy removal would cause automatic increase in prices of EVERYTHING and ANYTHING and cushioning effect.In my area Garri presently (when fuel is still N65) cost N70,now imagine what it will cost when you now shoot the price of fuel up to N150/liter!
Many have commented in different ways from different angles.But I'm happy that all Nigerians are still standing their grounds and insisting on their rights!
Fellow patriots,I don''t have much to say on the budget or subsidy removal,my concern,however, is share and help Nigerians in cushioning the effect of the economic crisis that may follow the subsidy removal and the implementation of the anti-people policies contained in the budget.
They chose to remove the subsidy by all means,no problem,let them remove it but NOT BEFORE THEY FIX OUR 3 REFINERIES;they chose to increase the cost of wheat and rice (our staple food in Nigeria),fine!Let them remove it and Nigerian farmers should increase the production of rice and wheat.
Fellow Nigerians,there are ways we can turn things round and make our economy work WITHOUT the government's intervention!Nigerian youths need to know how to and start creating wealth by themselves!
So,my submission is that the NLC should agree with the FG subsidy removal PROVIDED the FG agrees to put our refineries back to work.Let the refineries work and they can remove all subsidy.As for the high crime rate and youth unemployment,let the youths stop craving for the white collar jobs and start looking inwards for things they can do to make our economy work!
In my own little contribution,I have created the F.I.A. to help create wealth for all that cares to know.You can click here for more info.
Regards,
Abdurrahman,
http://www.jainx.com