very interesting article about the much praised Fashola, his plans for lagos and their implications for the poor of lagos who make up almost 70% of the population of lagos:

[b]LAGOS: MEGA CITY OR MEGA MADNESS


Written by Rashy
Monday, 29 October 2012 02:07

No doubt, Fashola government in Lagos state means different things to different people. To the elite, who wish to drive his car without hindrance through a well-flowered road, a road that is devoid of poor children hawking the streets, with beggars completely packed off the visible arena of passage; to him, Fashola is a hero. It is a different case to a poor woman who had lived all her life selling in one corner of the road, a condition forced down her throat by immense poverty, with her children hawking all over Lagos at the risk of being arrested by the police or even be crushed by moving vehicles. These children suppose to be in school, but public education has completely collapsed and becoming increasingly expensive. When she is ill she has to go to native doctor because public health is dead; a small apartment she stays will either soon be pulled down or is already demolished in the interest of Mega city project; to her, Lagos has never been so hellish as it is now. Of the estimated 18 million Lagosians, 11.55 million (64.2%) are living below poverty level; the question is, under genuine democracy who really own Lagos?

Overview of Mega Project

The major claim of the present ACN administration is to turn Lagos into one of the most modern mega cities of the 21st century. Light rail is said to be under development, in the form of Lagos Rail Mass Transit. The proposed light railway is expected to consist of blue-line districts on the outskirts and inner red-line destinations. The Badagry Expressway, linking Lagos to Benin Republic, is also being rehabilitated by various contractors.

A proposed Eko Atlantic City is a housing project that is aimed at accommodating the main Lagos elites, screening them away completely from poor Lagosians, who incidentally are the overwhelming majority. This is in addition to traffic lights being fixed, streetlight and flower being planted. All these are to transform Lagos from Mega slum to Mega city, but the question is, where can you hide 15 Million poor Lagosians? Drowned them in the sea or shoot them at sight? Or be completely relocated to other towns? Only time can tell the direct outcome of this war between the rich and true Lagosians who are majorly poor.

At what cost?

But a big question is - at what cost is this entire mega project been carried out? The answer to this question is obvious; this is being carried out at the cost of making life much more difficult for the already poor and impoverished Lagosians. People of Makoko community will never forget Monday, 16 July 2012. On this fateful day, the whole of Makoko community, a community largely dominated by low-income earners whose major business is fishing, was completely demolished on the order of Lagos State Government. This unjust action was carried out with just 72-hours quit notice to the inhabitants who had been living there for decades. The marine police corporal in a desperate attempt to carry out their assignment shot and killed chief Timothy Agbe and left scores of others injured. Presently, over 20,000 people have been rendered homeless by this callous action, many of whom are children and women. The pictures of pregnant women and less than 5 year old kids sleeping under bridge have been everywhere on the internet, some are now sleeping in their various shipping boat on the lagoon at night.

Lagos State is presently the most indebted state in the country. As at June 30, 2012, Lagos state is said to have accumulated an external debt profile of $517,677,672 (more than half a billion dollars), despite having a monthly revenue of about N33 billion. This debt is strangely increasing by the year and the government seems at liberty borrowing as if these debts will once again enjoy forgiveness or grow wings and fly away.

This explains the reason why the Lagos state government is getting more and more desperate by the day to squeeze as much as possible from the Lagos state workers who presently receive the worst salary in the country. Recently the Lagos state government increase the tax payable by Lagos State workers; in essence cut down their wages, all in the attempt to pay this fictitious debt the Lagos State government has incurred over the years. Recently, the tuition fee in Lagos State University (LASU) was increased by over 750%, while the official minimum wage in Lagos state is less than N17, 000.00, making education completely out of reach of ordinary Lagosians. Most of these students are presently at home, because they cannot afford the fees. All these are desperate attempt to shift the debt burden on the ordinary Lagosians.

The recent draconian traffic law in the state is also an attempt in the same direction. The law is not intended to make the traffic better but rather to further make life much more difficult for people. For example, how can we explain the draconian law that says assault on traffic officer, attract a fine of N100,000.00 when most of these officers are liars and excessively corrupt? This is in a state that is paying less than N17,000.00 as minimum wage. Driving in a direction prohibited by the road traffic law attract one year imprisonment and forfeiture of vehicle to the state, all this in a state where there is no conspicuous sign to show the direction prohibited by the road traffic law.
All these attacks on the people is at the cost of making Lagos a mega city for the 1% rich Lagosians at the expense of 99% ordinary Lagosians.

Who is bearing the burden?

Despite the fact that this mega city project is 100% in the interest of the elites and it means enormous pain for the overwhelming majority of Lagosians, this Government is still placing huge financial burden on workers and the poor. Recently medical doctors working in Lagos state hospitals were sacked by the Lagos State Government, all because they demanded for implementation of COMMESS (minimum wage for medical doctors throughout Nigeria) which was contained in an agreement that was jointly signed by the State Government and Doctors in 2010. When the government saw that they were loosing face everywhere, they quickly recalled the doctors but up till now COMMESS has not been implemented in Lagos State. Lagos civil servants are one of the worst paid in Nigeria, all to ensure contractors and political colleagues are kept happy.

The real Lagosians are very angry and very desperate to better their lots. They have endured for too long and are already running out of patience. Though they are not yet aware how powerful they are in overthrowing this despotic and extreme minority Government of Fashola, events will clarify it to them in the coming period; they will soon be aware that Lagos belongs not to the elites, but to over 15 million ordinary people of Lagos.

Workers Alternative to Mega Project

Lagos is obviously at present a slum and must be developed into a city. Lagos requires mass rail system, good roads, industry, lighting, good qualitative education, health facilities, etc. To fix Lagos, less than ten percent of the amount presently expended is enough. Do away with political jobbers, the thieving contractors, patronizing family friends and profit first motivation. With mass public works, living wages for the workers, active incentive for the teachers and the doctors, a real ‘mega city’ will be built. A mega city that contains decent affordable accommodation for ordinary Lagosians, where poor children are not on the street because they are in the school with qualitative free public education, where a major improvement in the environment is not accompanied with pain and woe for ordinary Lagosians. That is, a Lagos of the real Lagosians, in the interest of Lagosians and for the Lagosians.

Conclusion

Does it require the wisdom of Solomon for Fashola Government to realize and pursue the alternative highlighted above? Why has it been so difficult for them to sympathize with the plight of common people of Lagos? When will they be tired of making life difficult for ordinary masses? Well, it is only us the ordinary Lagosians who are seeing this as wickedness and unjust, they cannot see it as such. We always see things from different point of views from them and therefore we can never come to the same conclusion.

Under capitalism, within which this government operates, interest of the rich must always be preserved at the expense of the ordinary people. Interest rate must be paid for loans, even if every worker dies of hunger. Therefore, it is only our government that can see things the way we see it and can do things the way we want it. The most important pre-requisite to have our own government is to have our own political party, party of ordinary Nigerians. They have their own parties, many of them. The leadership of Labour formed one, the Nigerian Labour Party, but they refused to mobilize into it, nature abhors vacuum, if we refuse to enter the party, wrong and enemy of the people will manage it for us. It is our party and we must control it in the interest of the people and for the people.
[/b]

http://www.workersalternative.com/national-issues/156-ra

What these people never do is to investigate the history of nations that has passed through this evil process we are going through and see how they ended up.
The people should try to look at the people that borrow there governors these money, try to find out the conditions on which these debts were given, and from contemporary events extrapolate the intended results.
For those majority who never wants to bother themselves with research what is going on in lagos and other nigerian states is that the international banks is buying up nigeria or in other words turning nigerian into money making machines for their profit. The lagos governors would BORROW at unreasonable interest rates and finance these contracts which MUST be given to the companies(probably owned by the LENDER) dictated by the LENDERS at an overinflated price and the same LENDERS would dictate AUSTERITY MEASURES that must be put in place as a condition for borrowing(increasing tax,tuition fees,mass layoffs etc) . It should be clear by now that judging from the kind of projects that those money was used for,the cost which was ridiculous and the net income of the state the LENDER never intended for the money to be paid so what comes next is more AUSTERITY MEASURES and CONDITIONS , one of them being that those same infrastructures(take for example eko housing estate) must be privatised which means selling it away at giveaway price to those SAME LENDERS. What happened here ? They BORROWED them money to build, the money goes back to thier purse because the project was awarded to them, the state still OWES them, the bought the infrastructure at less than 10% the real value and now run it and take all the income it brings, the state still OWES them, the state pays huge amounts just to service their loans while it has lost most of the infrastructure that could have generated income . The State still OWES them.
The LENDERS bought those infrastructures for zero dollars and the state STILL OWES THEM. More and More privatisations and the state STILL OWES THEM. More increase in tax and fees and the state STILL OWES THEM. Things would become harder, many people would suffer,die,loose their homes, jobs,loved ones, even their sanity but the State STILL OWES THEM. THE WHOLE STATE IS BOUGHT AND THE STATE STILL OWES THEM.
If Nigerians don't act now they would never have the opportunity again. Who owes somebody owes him and in all courts both international and within you either pay what you owe or subject to the Lender.

thoth: What these people never do is to investigate the history of nations that has passed through this evil process we are going through and see how they ended up.
The people should try to look at the people that borrow there governors these money, try to find out the conditions on which these debts were given, and from contemporary events extrapolate the intended results.
For those majority who never wants to bother themselves with research what is going on in lagos and other nigerian states is that the international banks is buying up nigeria or in other words turning nigerian into money making machines for their profit. The lagos governors would BORROW at unreasonable interest rates and finance these contracts which MUST be given to the companies(probably owned by the LENDER) dictated by the LENDERS at an overinflated price and the same LENDERS would dictate AUSTERITY MEASURES that must be put in place as a condition for borrowing(increasing tax,tuition fees,mass layoffs etc) . It should be clear by now that judging from the kind of projects that those money was used for,the cost which was ridiculous and the net income of the state the LENDER never intended for the money to be paid so what comes next is more AUSTERITY MEASURES and CONDITIONS , one of them being that those same infrastructures(take for example eko housing estate) must be privatised which means selling it away at giveaway price to those SAME LENDERS. What happened here ? They BORROWED them money to build, the money goes back to thier purse because the project was awarded to them, the state still OWES them, the bought the infrastructure at less than 10% the real value and now run it and take all the income it brings, the state still OWES them, the state pays huge amounts just to service their loans while it has lost most of the infrastructure that could have generated income . The State still OWES them.
The LENDERS bought those infrastructures for zero dollars and the state STILL OWES THEM. More and More privatisations and the state STILL OWES THEM. More increase in tax and fees and the state STILL OWES THEM. Things would become harder, many people would suffer,die,loose their homes, jobs,loved ones, even their sanity but the State STILL OWES THEM. THE WHOLE STATE IS BOUGHT AND THE STATE STILL OWES THEM.
If Nigerians don't act now they would never have the opportunity again. Who owes somebody owes him and in all courts both international and within you either pay what you owe or subject to the Lender.

Rubbish, go back to school and develop your mental capacity.

Are u guys saying we should continue living in poverty.. Untarred roads,street hawking,markets on the roads e.t.c
Every nations crave for development, though Nigeria leaders have turned nation building to means of enriching their pockets.
Honest leaders is what we should crave for.

hrmkz: Are u guys saying we should continue living in poverty.. Untarred roads,street hawking,markets on the roads e.t.c
Every nations crave for development, though Nigeria leaders have turned nation building to means of enriching their pockets.
Honest leaders is what we should crave for.

there are alternatives and development is procedural. The revenues of Lagos state is enough to develop Lagos state. Developmental process should be all encompassing meaning it should include all the citizens, any exercise that is just made for a small class of people or less than 50% percent of the populace is flawed and should be looked into.
What my post really tried to elucidate is the devilish intent of the LENDER , the Heartlessness of the small cabal which is the BORROWER and the impending misery of the Masses which makes up the DEBTOR.
Please answer this question: Do you see anything wrong in borrowing 10 billion Naira(@ 26% interest) to build a Mega Cultural center )

mega madness.simple

Omo_Tier1:
Rubbish, go back to school and develop your mental capacity.

instead of being petty and abusive, why not explain WHY you dont agree with him?


thoth as usual is maknig a lot of sense, i'm not getting the same vibe from you, why do you disagree with thoth?

If you don't adapt to progress or change, you'll get left behind. These so called "Poor" people don't mind expanding their slums and breeding like rats till Jesus comes back. Someone has to put them in situations that will force them to think. Lagos?? Used to be a real Mega Madness but the Governor's still in the process of changing all that. Its no longer "bizness as usual" to the people that throng into Lagos in the back of trailers to live under bridges,slums, ride Okadas, street trade etc. The earlier they get that, the better.

The Fact is Lagos isn't for everyone. A lot of people go there only to engage in degrading trades like street hawking, and 'touting', but then i think the poster who raised the question about borrowing rate made a lot of sense. You cannot afford to borrow at a rate you will probably struggle with its repayment. The venture which one decides to borrow to fund must be in existense and with a predictable level of profit. Borrowing, to me, should be a means of multiplying yeild of a viable and 'live' venture, and not for experimenting with the viability of a venture.

The last three lines of the last paragraph reveals that the writer is a Labour Party loyalist.

Many Nigerians want transformation from Point A to Point Z, but do not want to go through the sometimes painful process. The change will not come by a miracle, it includes a tortuous long journey to eldorado.

If you know you are poor, start with family planning and good education for the few wards you have, that way their chances of competing with the children of the rich is bright.

ba7man: If you don't adapt to progress or change, you'll get left behind. These so called "Poor" people don't mind expanding their slums and breeding like rats till Jesus comes back. Someone has to put them in situations that will force them to think. Lagos?? Used to be a real Mega Madness but the Governor's still in the process of changing all that. Its no longer "bizness as usual" to the people that throng into Lagos in the back of trailers to live under bridges,slums, ride Okadas, street trade etc. The earlier they get that, the better.

That which you call progress is actually backwardness in an economic viewpoint(since it decreases the value of the state) Backwardness in Social Science viewpoint(since it rolls back on all our struggle to build an egalitarian society where everyone shares responsibility and wealth is equally distributed and a society is a society for ALL) It is backwardness in Political viewpoint (since it destroys and goes contrary to all we hoped to achieve as a Democratic nation where the welfare of the Majority is upheld hoping to decrease class inequality,preferentialism and elitism) Backwardness in Moral viewpoint(since it does not prod us to consider the ideal rather wealth is worshipped and without wealth the CITIZEN is nothing so therefore wealth superced morals) Backwardness in every sense since the masses are BETTER OFF and more HAPPY without it therefore it can be said that such policies has decreased the peoples quality of Life and happiness.
The problem with the blackman is that of Modernism whereby anything with "modern" attached to it must be better than the former states, Modern Democracy(weak goverments without power whereby the state is actually ruled by private co-operations) Modern Global Economy( Hegemonic domination of international firms imposed on thirdworld nations) Modern Lifestyle( loose morals,sodomy, sexualization of everything imaginable, promotion of violence as a means of dispute settlement and wealth worshiping) and an endless list of other Modernities attached to any sphere of life which the world elite wants to redefine to suite there needs.
Progress in not when there are five SUVs more in your town and fifty people more stomachs hungry, Progress is fifty more people able to feed than yesterday.

emiye: The last three lines of the last paragraph reveals that the writer is a Labour Party loyalist.

Many Nigerians want transformation from Point A to Point Z, but do not want to go through the sometimes painful process. The change will not come by a miracle, it includes a tortuous long journey to eldorado.

If you know you are poor, start with family planning and good education for the few wards you have, that way their chances of competing with the children of the rich is bright.

You people always start with family planning and all that nonsense where it has no relation whatsoever with topic if observed carefully.
Assuming i have two children which is moderate enough and i am a civil servant earning minimum wage how can pay for the university tuition of my two children to get that elusive education that you preach ? Is it even possible with one child ? What kind of education is it that the rich kids are getting ? Do you know how many graduates that nigeria produce each year and what happened to them with there education ?
The black man always tries to talk as if he is wiser,special and more intelligent , excluding himself from the masses while he dies slowly and having only the good feeling of lieing to himself as consolation. Think before you talk.

Quick example. Quite a while ago, whenever i looked outside my office window located along Ikorodu rd, there was a thriving Chicken market right by the service lanes,crowded and smelling of Chicken sh*t. There was an open space across that Hausa muslims used as a prayer ground and thugs defeacated in that area too. People crossed the 10lane xpress randomly and yellow buses caused traffic along that stretch. Fast forward to today....The Chicken market has been cleared and there's a sidewalk that makes walking safer, the dirty open ground has been replaced with a garden, the pedestrian bridge close by has been refurbished so no need to dash across the express. B'cos you're supporting the poor doesn't mean you should tolerate madness. A sane looking environment uplifts the spirit.

Another example, Back then on Lagos Island, shop lined roads had traders display wares in their shops, later they started displaying them in front of their shops, then they moved to the road sides, they later blocked the roads and turned them to markets no car can navigate. So they should be left there to support the poor??

Seeing people living under bridges used to be the norm. They used to say Lagos is 4 everybody and if u don't have an accomodation, u pick a spot under a bridge and make it your home. Now, you dare not try that else u'd get arrested. Its not compulsory you stay in Lagos and if you can't stand d heat, stay out of the kitchen.

Front page pls

ba7man: Quick example. Quite a while ago, whenever i looked outside my office window located along Ikorodu rd, there was a thriving Chicken market right by the service lanes,crowded and smelling of Chicken sh*t. There was an open space across that Hausa muslims used as a prayer ground and thugs defeacated in that area too. People crossed the 10lane xpress randomly and yellow buses caused traffic along that stretch. Fast forward to today....The Chicken market has been cleared and there's a sidewalk that makes walking safer, the dirty open ground has been replaced with a garden, the pedestrian bridge close by has been refurbished so no need to dash across the express. B'cos you're supporting the poor doesn't mean you should tolerate madness. A sane looking environment uplifts the spirit.

I lived in china for several years and one of the town planning doctrines was the goverment always provides a piece of land that serves as a market for each community, each community is a walkable distance from the next. If the goverment has provided goverment owned space for community markets you will not see the chicken sellers there. I would like to enquire further as those traders were chased away were they provided alternative space ? Ofcourse Not,and what do you expect them to do with their chickens ? And where would the residents buy their chickens ? Probably out of town where the chicken traders ran to OR to the big superstores like Shoprite(no bargaining allowed) etc which is probably owned by those elites. Think very well each community always have a small market that services its residents,no one put it there but it starts up naturally cus that is what it should be and town planners(professional ones) put that into their calculation but just like a socialist i use to know once said " Elitist could not be reasonable, it ceases to exist once it does".
The thugs that deficate will always deficate whether it is an open space or a garden and that is a matter civility and discipline and not necessarily as a result of the presence of the traders.

ba7man: Another example, Back then on Lagos Island, shop lined roads had traders display wares in their shops, later they started displaying them in front of their shops, then they moved to the road sides, they later blocked the roads and turned them to markets no car can navigate. So they should be left there to support the poor??

You are confusing issues, if there is a market then the market should have its borders and the borders should be enforced. The purpose of Laws is to hold people back from abusing their Freedoms. What i am against is not setting the limits of peoples rights (like enforcing market borders) but eliminating Peoples Rights (like bulldozing the whole market and replacing it with mega housing estates,ponds,gardens etc that ordinary citizens cannot afford and not providing alternative space for decent people to carry on their businesses). Please don't confuse the two.

ba7man: Seeing people living under bridges used to be the norm. They used to say Lagos is 4 everybody and if u don't have an accomodation, u pick a spot under a bridge and make it your home. Now, you dare not try that else u'd get arrested. Its not compulsory you stay in Lagos and if you can't stand d heat, stay out of the kitchen.

Homelessness is always in most instances a product of the policies of the government, that would be the result of the direction the government of Lagos and other states are moving. Nations whom has swallowed the bitter Austerity measures and destructive advice of the World Money Lenders( IMF/World Bank).
It is a common phenomenon in those nations that have "MODERN ECONOMY" . Do you know that there are more than eight times more homeless people in the USA than nigeria ? About thrice in England than Nigeria ? And most western european nations as well . Read up on the net to see what caused that number of people to be homeless, information is everywhere online and opensource as well. The tactics might be different from USA to Greece but it is the same Con men. If you can't find articles i can provide you with a few.
When you read articles you hear about goverments providing affordable accomodation etc which one has Fashola(and the goverments before him) provided ? Even if it was for the middle class.
People don't survive on beautiful gardens and sidewalks and i don't support giving handouts rather they can support themselves if the facilities which are meant for their subsistence were provided.

thoth:
You are confusing issues, if there is a market then the market should have its borders and the borders should be enforced. The purpose of Laws is to hold people back from abusing their Freedoms. What i am against is not setting the limits of peoples rights (like enforcing market borders) but eliminating Peoples Rights (like bulldozing the whole market and replacing it with mega housing estates,ponds,gardens etc that ordinary citizens cannot afford and not providing alternative space for decent people to carry on their businesses). Please don't confuse the two.

Point noted.

Thot one bottle of red wine for u abeg!

I'VE TOLD YOU BEFORE THE PEOPLE CAN ALWAYS RECALL THEIR LEADERS IF THEY NOT HAPPY

Highly sentimental article, devoid of rational and logical reasoning.

The obvious lack of objectivity in the write-up is appalling....

Talking about Government providing houses, i don't exactly agree with that idea, what i expect the Lagos state government to do is provide low interest, long term Loans targeted at estate developers. This should reduce the cost burden developers usually try to offload to their clients within short periods and make housing lucrative for developer and affordable to clients as well.

Lagos just need to tax the rich more and more..

17kmin wage is the shame of Nigeria not that of Lagos state alone. All Nigerians are involved.

Already, buying land in Lagos attracts almost 50% tax through many stupid fees you pay to state.

Development is not easy at all but at the same time, as a Lagos indigene, Fashola is number 1 on the list of achievers.

Lagos debt profile just need to be paid off through projects tied to the loan. The rail project will definitely pay itself off no doubt.

Lagos is actually not favouring the elites though. The only road tolled in Lagos right now is the Lekki one and last time I checked, that hood got elites crawling all over it. How many poor man dey stay Lekki?

Water project is my main concern. The water supply in places like Ebuta Meta, Ikeja, Ikorodu and enitre badagry area is erratic. If Lagos borrow money to fund water projects, I think it's only right for the citizens to pay for water supply.

Lagos is only owing 120b naira or so.. Trust me, it's not a "huuuge" debt profile that a state like Lagos can't pay off through internally generated revenue alone.

Let's not use scare tactics to make people be afraid of borrowing money. The projects are never handed to any international rubbish. The projects that Lagos state used the loans for are funded by both public and private. That is why Lagos debt is not more than 124b naira. If Lagos were to go at those projects alone, Lagos debt will be in the 2tr naira by now.


I had to go and read up on Lagos debt profile and I'm surprised Lagos is not owing up to $1billion!! People, this is what I call management. All the projects Lagos borrowed money for? Less than a billion dollars? And FG is owing 51b naira to Lagos state? People, I think Lagos is on it's own in terms of economics.

Lagos is doing better than Nigeria in general. Let's be honest.

156billion naira. Is that what a state like Lagos should be scared of after almost 13years of Tinubu/Fashola? With so many projects ongoing through public/private enterprise? I think Abuja needs Lagos state's economic team. Let's be honest here.

And the op is sitting traffic laws and Lagos state sanitation? hahahaha.. I think PDP dogs are at it again.



In "America", speeding tickets can go upt to $2000 (312 thousand naira) The average speeding ticket is about $800 (120K) and guess what. Seriously.

You have to become unpopular in order to sanitize Lagos. The truth is, many people will have to move back further east of Lagos. Lagos can't not sustain the present population for long really.

Allocation is a cheat. Lagos needs more than it gets. Real Lagosians(People who call Lagos home and love Lagos not just for economic benefit) are suffering from being too enterprising. Because if not for the enterprising nature of Lagosians, fresh graduates from all over Nigeria won't be trooping in millions to Lagos yearly for better paying jobs. Lagos is tired and over crowded. We need to make it unattractive for a while. Many people will have to move back East of Lagos until Lagos expands into Ogun, etc.. But that will take a lot of transportation network to achieve.

I believe Lagos to Ibadan should have an ultra modern light rail. This way, people can live in Ibadan and work in Lagos.

thoth: What these people never do is to investigate the history of nations that has passed through this evil process we are going through and see how they ended up.
The people should try to look at the people that borrow there governors these money, try to find out the conditions on which these debts were given, and from contemporary events extrapolate the intended results.
For those majority who never wants to bother themselves with research what is going on in lagos and other nigerian states is that the international banks is buying up nigeria or in other words turning nigerian into money making machines for their profit. The lagos governors would BORROW at unreasonable interest rates and finance these contracts which MUST be given to the companies(probably owned by the LENDER) dictated by the LENDERS at an overinflated price and the same LENDERS would dictate AUSTERITY MEASURES that must be put in place as a condition for borrowing(increasing tax,tuition fees,mass layoffs etc) . It should be clear by now that judging from the kind of projects that those money was used for,the cost which was ridiculous and the net income of the state the LENDER never intended for the money to be paid so what comes next is more AUSTERITY MEASURES and CONDITIONS , one of them being that those same infrastructures(take for example eko housing estate) must be privatised which means selling it away at giveaway price to those SAME LENDERS. What happened here ? They BORROWED them money to build, the money goes back to thier purse because the project was awarded to them, the state still OWES them, the bought the infrastructure at less than 10% the real value and now run it and take all the income it brings, the state still OWES them, the state pays huge amounts just to service their loans while it has lost most of the infrastructure that could have generated income . The State still OWES them.
The LENDERS bought those infrastructures for zero dollars and the state STILL OWES THEM. More and More privatisations and the state STILL OWES THEM. More increase in tax and fees and the state STILL OWES THEM. Things would become harder, many people would suffer,die,loose their homes, jobs,loved ones, even their sanity but the State STILL OWES THEM. THE WHOLE STATE IS BOUGHT AND THE STATE STILL OWES THEM.
If Nigerians don't act now they would never have the opportunity again. Who owes somebody owes him and in all courts both international and within you either pay what you owe or subject to the Lender.

Thoth you've totally analysed it accurately, and yet many nigerians on this forum continue to clamour for privatisation without understanding what it is doing to them, try having a debate with the majority of people on this forum explaining to them that privatisation is slowly burying them alive and making them destitutes and beggars in their own country and they will start to spout garbage they read in textbooks written by the same people who are burying them alive with debt and poverty.

thoth:
Homelessness is always in most instances a product of the policies of the government, that would be the result of the direction the government of Lagos and other states are moving. Nations whom has swallowed the bitter Austerity measures and destructive advice of the World Money Lenders( IMF/World Bank).
It is common phenomenon in those nation that have "MODERN ECONOMY" . Do you know that there are more than eight times more homeless people in the USA than nigeria ? About thrice in England than Nigeria ? And most western european nations as well . Read up on the net to see what caused that number of people to be homeless, information is everywhere online and opensource as well. The tactics might be different from USA to Greece but it is the same Con men. If you can't find articles i can provide you with a few.
When you read articles you hear about goverments providing affordable accomodation etc which one has Fashola(and the goverments before him) provided ? Even if it was for the middle class.
People don't survive on beautiful gardens and sidewalks and i don't support given handouts rather they than support themselves if the facilities which are meant for their subsistence were provided.

thank you - most of these Fashola supporters who live abroad would have been destititutes if the govts of the countries they reside in were to adopt the kind of draconian economic development policies that fashola is implementing in lagos - where is the low cost housing for the poor of lagos who make up 70% of the population of lagos? why are the poor kicked out of their homes and forced to live under bridges and why do the poor of lagos tolerate this type of treatment? look at what is happening all over europe in response to the austerity measures that are being implemented- people here are rallying to confront and put a stop to unecessary hardship that is being imposed on them through no fault of their own. why are lagosians praising a man who is responsible for reducing many of them to beggars in their own country?

Sibrah: Talking about Government providing houses, i don't exactly agree with that idea, what i expect the Lagos state government to do is provide low interest, long term Loans targeted at estate developers. This should reduce the cost burden developers usually try to offload to their clients within short periods and make housing lucrative for developer and affordable to clients as well.

That is exactly Government providing Affordable housing, there are many ways Governments of different nations tackle housing problems, they provide low rent housing built by the government, provide long term low interest loans for people to buy houses, give incentives to house buyers like tax exemption for a long period of time which makes the purchase and overall savings attractive. You just mentioned one alternative and most of the far east asian countries like china and korea are doing exactly what you suggested. Ours had done nothing yet. My friend bought a scanty looking bungalow in Abuja for several million Naira and believe me that is not affordable.

Don't get it wrong though, privatization is the worst thing that could happen in an emerging economy.

We need more public enterprise if not our government will be back to borrowing. Government need to start taking management serious.

We need government hand in resources. it belongs to the ppl not government so they have no right to auction licenses.

We want full control of resources by government not private companies.

Privatization put control of Labour, and wealth in hands of rich.

You can not auction off resources in an attempt to escape your responsibility to the people. `

Telecom, power other man made enterprises should be for free market but resources and whatever is gotten from it belong to the people 100% You can auction off management contracts but not the entire company!!

IMF is dictating policies to PDP. 2015, IMF will lose Nigeria because power will change!

@ Olumide.
Keep in mind that the kind of democracy we are practicing makes the system susceptible to rigging. With the western style of Democracy the person with the richest supporter usually wins the election. Believe me the IMF/World Bank is an extremely Rich and powerful supporter.

0lumide: Don't get it wrong though, privatization is the worst thing that could happen in an emerging economy.

We need more public enterprise if not our government will be back to borrowing. Government need to start taking management serious.

We need government hand in resources. it belongs to the ppl not government so they have no right to auction licenses.

We want full control of resources by government not private companies.

Privatization put control of Labour, and wealth in hands of rich.

You can not auction off resources in an attempt to escape your responsibility to the people. `

Telecom, power other man made enterprises should be for free market but resources and whatever is gotten from it belong to the people 100% You can auction off management contracts but not the entire company!!

IMF is dictating policies to PDP. 2015, IMF will lose Nigeria because power will change!

Unless power is taken away from the nigerian elite who are workign hand in hand with the IMF and the world bank it doesnt matter who wins the next election.

the only solution is for a political party that represents the interests of the majority ie the poor in nigeria to seize power - what are the chances of that happening now that the african govts have already allowed US and european troops to occupy the entire continent ? i would say very slim, although never say never.

cap28:


Unless power is taken away from the nigerian elite who are workign hand in hand with the IMF and the world bank it doesnt matter who wins the next election.

the only solution is for a political party that represents the interests of the majority ie the poor in nigeria to seize power - what are the chances of that happening now that the african govts have already allowed US and european troops to occupy the entire continent ? i would say very slim, although never say never.

Bro, from what I know, Baboons and dogs will be soaked in blood really this time.

Many people will die, just don't pity anyone bro.

Nigeria just need a truly independent and patriotic economic team like Lagos does (Although Lagos could use some changes in economic policies, the faults doesn't amount to disaster).

Africans are weak in throwing their sovereignty in imperialists' faces. They need to start doing that right.

I see nothing going on in Mali that OAU (I will never call it AU) can not solve both through diplomacy and guns