NewStats: 3,263,955 , 8,182,082 topics. Date: Monday, 09 June 2025 at 03:34 AM 5x515

LOL!!! Of course not. Maybe in 30 years or so when a higher proportion of our voting population is educated. But for now when I think of Nigeria I am almost moved to tears. Where do we even begin with this country of ours?

To be honest with you I the two year rent in advance. The truth of the matter is that we Nigerians for the most part are different. We can't say because western countries pay rent three months in advance we should do the same. The fact is that in Nigeria most people are trying to get the upper hand and outsmart the next person that comes their way. For instance, my mother has had someone owing her huge sums for up to five years in the past (the person was meant to pay after 6 months) and its not like this person was broke for five years oh, the person in that time sent her youngest son to study in the US and built a house of her own. So tell me, why shouldn't we pay rent in advance? Until we can re adjust our attitudes, I think the two year advance system is best.

Now this is just a question, it does not neccessarily reflect my views. In Nigeria, we have the lowest people to church ratio in the world. Even the Vatican City cannot boast of such a feat. It appears on every street corner there is a church. I live in the southern part of the country and majority of the people there are christians so I'll focus on The Christian Church in Nigeria.
There seems to be three types of people who go to church in Nigeria. There are the poor people who go there because they believe if the pastor prays for them they will get out of their current condition without ever having a plan to succeed or working towards a goal and then the rich use Sundays as an opportunity to show off their expensive lace and their new jeeps and then of course there are those who genuinely believe that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.
A lot of the pastors are in it for the money, for them it is a very lucrative business. For example, my good friend attended the funeral of the Late Mrs Bimbo Odukoya (who I believe was one of the true believers) and many well known pastors from all over the country flocked into the place with limousines, luxury vehicles and even a private jet, while the vast majority their congregation suffered in poverty.
Another example I have is from my aunty's former church in Virginia, USA. It is a very famous ministry with branches all over the world. Anyway, the pastor had been collecting donations from the congregation for at least five years claiming that it was going towards building a proper location for the church rather than them having to rent a kindergatten classroom on Sundays. Eventually one of the of the congregation went to Nigeria for a holiday only to find that the pastor had been using the money to build a mansion for himself in VGC.
The point I'm trying to make is this: Do you feel we in Nigeria have developed a culture of giving what little we have to the so called Men of God to solve our problems with their special prayers? Is it time more of us start applying the principle of heaven helps those who help themselves?

OBAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES WE CAN. This is truly a historic moment, not Only in American history but in African history and Black history as well. This is someone whose father abandoned him at a very young age, he was raised by a single mother, he got into drugs at some point in his life, he lost an election for congress by a huge margin in 2000 and yet hear he is today, standing tall as the very first Black Democratic Nominee for President of The United States of America. I don't think we should expect Obama to treat blacks more favourably than whites or hispanics or asians (that would be wrong on all levels),  however what he brings to every single American is hope. Hope for the young black boy or black girl in the ghetto whose mother works three jobs to put food on the table that if they work hard, never give up (not like Hillary's madness oh. Dat one done colo) and keep believing, anything is possible in America, the American Dream is real (I wish I could say the same for Nigeria today but sadly I cannot. Anyway I believe we can change things).
I genuinely feel that Obama is the Martin Luther King Jr of the Twenty First Century. King started this journey with the civil rights movement in 1955 and was killed for it forty years ago and today in the year 2008, Barack Hussein Obama has taken that journey to another level. I also cannot forget to mention how thrilled I am with White Americans, thrilled that the vast majority of White Americans today judge a man by the content of his heart and not by the colour of his skin. That shows that we are living in very different times and although there is still a lot to be done, none of us have any excuse to not go for what we want and do what we believe in today. YES WE CAN!!!

ASU EKIYE RULES!!!!! I don't listen to gospel but this guy is a legend (maybe it's cos I'm from the Niger Delta, I dunno). His best songs I think are Woekilemo and Ebi Efiye, you can find them on youtube.

The problem of healthcare is universal but in Nigeria politicians take the mickey. I just read in todays news that our president, Umaru Yar'Adua flew out if the country yesterday for something as simple as breathlessness. I mean these politicians are willing to fly out following the slightest of symptoms. Surely they are fully aware of the crisis yet no one is willing to take any action. It's like they are saying screw the common Nigerian, as long as I can afford healthcare abroad for myself and my family I don't care. We have serious problems in Nigeria, and I wonder when we will get to a stage whereby the topic of discussion is so so and so politician called the other one "bitter". God help us.

I don't think you should be too worried. For God's sake didn't any of you do biology in secondary school. It's not guaranteed your kids will be sicklers, it's a 25% chance if I'm not mistaken. Also, I have got an uncle who happens to be AS and he married a woman who also happens to be AS. They have had 4 kids ranging from 21 years to about 10 years of age and not one of them has been SS. Luck? Well sort of, the woman always took a screen test whenever she was pregnant to determine if the children were sicklers or not, although none of them were, if she was going to have one she would have had the option of terminating the pregnancy if she wanted to. All I'm saying is that if you love your babe and you wan marry am then by all means go ahead. What is life without risks and I don't really consider this a risk.

Why is there nothing we can do about this? I'm know a lot of people back in Nigeria who have the same problem. Does the church have more rights than the other residents who also pay rent or own homes. Surely we must be able to do something about this situation in Nigeria (well at least in Port Harcourt).

Why the hell should we tolerate them. It makes no sense whatsoever. There are millions of churches in Nigeria yet corruption is rife. Churches should not be built in residential areas or if they must be then they should make sure they have a decent building with soundproofing in place. If Health and Safety Laws were followed in Nigeria a lot of these places of worship would be forced to do something about the noise or call it quits.
While we are on the subject of churches I also feel I must say that government should focus a bit less on telling us to be Christ like (which is a good thing) and more on actions to ensure that people are more able for their actions. Nigeria is perhaps the most religious country in the world and yet one of the most corrupt. We need to focus on other solutions to our problems.

JJay1, while I see where your'e coming from the truth is that a lot of young people make the mistake of taking  a higher paying job over one they are ionate about and they end up getting too comfortable which prevents them from going back to what they are really ionate about thus leaving them depressed. Unless one is very strongwilled and determined, I advice choosing ion over pay to prevent being depressed and rich. ion always pays off.

What I understand about engineering is this: Every engineer should spend the first few years of their career gaining experience and building s in the engineering field of their choice, thereafter, if you have had your nose to the ground and your ears and eyes wide open you should be able to set up your own company and if you are good at what you do believe me the sky is your limit. With banking however, you tend to start off with a decent salary but in the long run I believe there is only so much you can achieve (based purely on my observations). Also here in the UK, engineers are the most satisfied professionals so you should give that some thought.

nigeria1. While I feel your pain I don't think your argument that in Nigeria engineering takes 5 years while in the US and Canada it takes 3 or 4 years. Also your suggestion that having a BEng or BSc is what makes one an engineer is false.
To your first point, in the UK you obtain your BEng in 3 short years and they are turning out way better engineers than Nigeria does. Why? Because they expose their students to real life experience and they curriculum is designed in a way that the students at least have an idea of where the theory fits in by having to think for themselves.
To your second point, having a degree doesn't automatically make you an engineer. It takes years and years of experience and accreditions before one can call himself/herself an engineer.

believe I have what it takes to be an engineer not a mere technician. Untill universities in Nigeria get it into their heads that pure theory is not what makes a good engineer but rather a combination of theory, experience and creativity, the home grown engineers are doomed to being glorified technicians.

I just started working as a mechanical engineer in the UK last year (one year industrial placement) and from what I have seen and done, I can tell you where the problem starts: University. The fact is that what we learn at university is hardly ever going to be used in our careers as engineers. In the UK, US etc the universities emphasise the need for experience and help by setting up mandatory design projects both individual and team which give the students a feel of what it is like in the real world. They also encourage taking up some work placement during your degree (usually three months or one year). The funny thing is with all the projects you might have done at university, when you start your placement you still feel very inadequate and are giving some sort oftraining on the job(formal or informal). you are also taught to think on your own (that is what separates engineers from technicians). I am a Nigerian Engineer to be and I

How about Limejuice Dressman

That was very helpful Seun thank you and I see your point about Delight Zone.

People, I have one more year of university in the UK and when I'm done I'd like to set up a movie theatre in Nigeria. I've not started thinking of how to fund it or anything I'm just learning about setting up and successfully running a movie theatre at a profit. I have no business experience and I am studying mechanical engineering but I still feel I can do this successfully. I just need to know where the best place to set one up in the country is. I would like to setup in Port Harcourt as that is where I am from but to be honest, the impression I get from PH peeps is that they dont like spending money in general, for instance Delight Zone, which is an arcade opened up in 2001 or so (and I thing it is a decent place), but the few times I was able to go there in 2001 it was rather empty. I dont want something like that to happen to my business and before I set up I'd like to know for sure that that there is demand.
Cheers.

I think the senate banning Big Brother Africa in Nigeria is a violation of human rights, but then again it's Nigeria so human rights of the people means nothing to them. People pay for Mnet, its not a Nigerian channel and so if you are offended by nudity then CHANGE the channel or change your cable provider. And who are those senators to say what people can and cannot watch? Are they not the same people that fight arm to arm like a bunch of school kids? Are they not the ones you see going all over the capital with university girls? I think they should focus on issues that actually matter and NOT what people watch on tv.
By the way someone earlier on in this thread said on Big Brother in Europe they don't show nudity. Well that's not true, every year I've been in this country. nudity has been shown on Big Brother in the UK.
All I'm saying is that the people should decide what they want to watch rather than taking the programme off the air completely.

Why cant Nigerians ever just their people? This guy obviously has a talent. I'm quite certain no one on this forum that is putting this guy down can even do basic sheet metal work not to mention build a helicopter. With the right financial aid and this guy can help open up a whole new industry in Nigeria so we dont have to keep depending so much on oil for everything. The Wright brothers first plane was built in 1900 and it was just a hand glider but the difference is they had a lot of from fellow Americans and not people bashing them and as a result the aeroplanes we see today being used all over the world are based on these basic principles the Wright brothers came up with. Some of you might say that this guy is not being original and that he is just copying already known technologies to build a plane but the fact remains that to build a plane with no training in aeronautic engineering (or even with) requires a hell of a lot of talent which this guy obviously has. We should all get behind this guy and him in any way we can.

Proudly Kalabari. Bakana to be more specific.

I honestly dont think your list of top ten is right without putting Engr Arumeme Johnson. The guy basically controls the Niger Delta region, all the gas turbine projects in rivers stat and not to mention Arik Air.

I personally think 24 is the best. But if we want facts then lost (which i think is crap) is watched by more people than 24 and prison break. Although heroes is more watched than all three of them by a mile.