An infrastructure deficit is making life in African cities more expensive than it should be

[TTT]

In Africa when shyt like this happens you normally get to the answer by questioning ''who benefits from the status quo''. Contrary to popular belief, many ridiculous actions of African govts are not due ignorance but perverse incentives. These people have degrees from prestigious unis in the West and often have trained economists advising them. They know good economic policy. They just put other things first like politics or personal enrichment.

I think nationalism isn't as well developed. Ethnic nationalism still has a hold. What was needed were nation builders in combination with technocrats. I have come across people complaining about how they have a Minister from their province but their roads are bad or people who even look at a Minister with a modest home and car as a fool because he failed to use his position to enrich himself and his clan. The situation is complex in multiethnic countries like Nigeria or Kenya. I read about groups making alliances which each other on nothing more than trying to keep the other group out. Its like you said even educated politicians are not immune from the politics they know that you cannot go on a podium and talk about GDP , unemployment and all that stuff.

 

[Trajan]

Its like you said even educated politicians are not immune from the politics

Multi-year plans were drawn up and investments undertaken. For example, a shoe industry was to be created. This required a leather industry and a leather industry required adequate levels of production in the cattle industry. The only problem is that the economic planning got muddled up with political decision-making. The leather production plants were located at great distance from the cattle industry of the north. The shoe production plants were not located where the supplies of leather were available.

There was to be a cattle hide-leather-shoe complex. The slaughter house was sited in the north at Bolgatanga, a not unreasonable decision since the north is the cattle-raising area of Ghana. However the market for cattle in pre-Nkrumah times were not in the north, probably for good reason. The tannery for turning the hides into leather was sited in the south at Aveyime. The plant in the north could not supply enough hides so the tannery had to import hides. The leather to be produced at Aveyime was to go to a footwear factory in Kumasi in western Ghana. The Kumasi plant was supplied with machinery from Czechoslovakia that could only produce a poor quality product. The footwear was to be shipped to the major consumer market at Accra. After the excessive transporting of the raw materials and final product around the country the government found the Ghanaian consumers were not willing to buy such a shoddy product. The government then tried to give the boots produced by the plant to the police force. The chief of police pleaded that the boots not be given to the police because they would rebel at having to wear such uncomfortable, poor quality footwear.

A tomato and mango canning plant was built at Wenchi (in western Ghana) with a capacity to process 5,000 tons of tomatoes and 7,000 tons of mangoes each year. After it was built at a cost 80 percent above budget and ready to begin operations the authorities discovered there were hardly any mango trees in the area of the plant and it would take seven years for newly planted mango trees to start bearing.

Ghana Airways chose Soviet Ilyushin planes which could only be serviced in the Soviet Union. Ghana Airways had to maintain service from North Africa to the Soviet Union to accommodate this servicing requirement. Those lines had hardly any passengers at all and most of the ones they did have were government passengers flying for free.

Just pure fukkery


All these decisions were made while they had famed economists including British consultants who obviously were . But things become clearer once you consider it in the context of local politics smh.

 

[SonnyEMC]

IN the case I previously described, the Yoruba southwest benefits, if Lagos is the only major port, in the short run. All of Nigeria loses in the long run.

Not really, some of the elites but there are a lot of people benefitting from Lagos as is and they aren't all Yoruba.

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

Not really, some of the elites but there are a lot of people benefitting from Lagos as is and they aren't all Yoruba.

The Southwest is predominantly Yoruba, as is the political class of that region. It's not a mischaracterization to describe the Yoruba as the chief benefactors from a port police which unwisely favours solely Lagos and the environs.

 

[SonnyEMC]

The Southwest is predominantly Yoruba, as is the political class of that region. It's not a mischaracterization to describe the Yoruba as the chief benefactors from a port police which unwisely favours solely Lagos and the environs.

Not really, Lagos is heavily Yoruba but it's also a mix of a bunch of different, nothing like Ibadan. I'm a bonified Lagosian and the politics within Lagos are incredibly complicated.

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

Not really, Lagos is heavily Yoruba but it's also a mix of a bunch of different, nothing like Ibadan. I'm a bonified Lagosian and the politics within Lagos are incredibly complicated.

The same Lagos where the Oba threatened to throw Igbos into the lagoon if they didn't vote for Ambode?

Sure, Lagos is cosmopolitan but the majority of its political elite are Yoruba and reflect/manifest Yoruba political aspirations in Nigeria.

 

[SonnyEMC]

The same Lagos where the Oba threatened to throw Igbos into the lagoon if they didn't vote for Ambode?

Sure, Lagos is cosmopolitan but the majority of its political elite are Yoruba and reflect/manifest Yoruba political aspirations in Nigeria.

So you are saying favouring Yoruba APC over Yoruba PDP is somehow due to a greater pan-Yoruba conspiracy in Lagos?

Your characterisation of politics within Lagos is off.

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

So you are saying favouring Yoruba APC over Yoruba PDP is somehow due to a greater pan-Yoruba conspiracy in Lagos?

Your characterisation of politics within Lagos is off.

No, your statement is misleading. Also your statement about Yoruba PDP and APC in Lagos proves my point.


I'm referring to a member of the Yoruba elite (the Oba) threatening Igbo people in the supposedly cosmopolitan city of Lagos.

Are you denying that Lagos is the political centre of Yoruba politics in Nigeria? Your statements thus far seem to support such a claim.

I argued that Lagos, despite being more cosmopolitan than most cities in Nigeria, manifests and represents Yoruba power in Nigeria. Why do you resist that claim? It is true.

 

[SonnyEMC]

No, your statement is misleading. Also your statement about Yoruba PDP and APC in Lagos proves my point.


I'm referring to a member of the Yoruba elite (the Oba) threatening Igbo people in the supposedly cosmopolitan city of Lagos.

Are you denying that Lagos is the political centre of Yoruba politics in Nigeria? Your statements thus far seem to support such a claim.

I argued that Lagos, despite being more cosmopolitan than most cities in Nigeria, manifests and represents Yoruba power in Nigeria. Why do you resist that claim? It is true.

No it doesn't LOL, it's heavily Yoruba like I said so that's no surprise at all.

The power struggle between PDP and APC in Lagos supports that the politics there weren't Yoruba-centric.

Again, I'm not denying that there aren't a bunch of Yoruba elites in Lagos but it's not characterised by Pan-Yoruba ideals at all, that's such a ridiculous claim.

Please show me the evidence the Yoruba elite are the ones stopping development of other ports in order to benefit the southwest.

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

No it doesn't LOL, it's heavily Yoruba like I said so that's no surprise at all.

The power struggle between PDP and APC in Lagos supports that the politics there weren't Yoruba-centric.

Again, I'm not denying that there aren't a bunch of Yoruba elites in Lagos but it's not characterised by Pan-Yoruba ideals at all, that's such a ridiculous claim.

Please show me the evidence the Yoruba elite are the ones stopping development of other ports in order to benefit the southwest.

It's no surprise that Southwest politics revolves between two sets of Yoruba elites. It was 2 Yoruba candidates....That cements my point that southwest politics is Yoruba-centric.

Once again, you misunderstood my point. There doesn't have to be a pan-Yoruba political party for Yoruba chauvinists to have office in Lagos.

Yoruba elites are the current 'kingmakers' in Nigerian politics. Also, Nigerian news media is increasingly Yoruba due to it existed in Lagos. Yoruba elites would lose out if other ports in Nigeria further developed. That's why ports outside of Lagos and Lekki lie abandoned.

Nigeria's politics are an ethnic struggle.

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

@SonnyEMC - Are you Yoruba by chance? If you are, it may be possible to recognize that your own biases in favour of the Yoruba may cloud your ability to perceive prejudice towards people who are not in Lagos. Similar to how a white person in North America may not perceive prejudice against non-white people in their country.

 

[SonnyEMC]

It's no surprise that Southwest politics revolves between two sets of Yoruba elites. It was 2 Yoruba candidates....That cements my point that southwest politics is Yoruba-centric.

Once again, you misunderstood my point. There doesn't have to be a pan-Yoruba political party for Yoruba chauvinists to have office in Lagos.

Yoruba elites are the current 'kingmakers' in Nigerian politics. Also, Nigerian news media is increasingly Yoruba due to it existed in Lagos. Yoruba elites would lose out if other ports in Nigeria further developed. That's why ports outside of Lagos and Lekki lie abandoned.

Nigeria's politics are an ethnic struggle.

Lagos politics is mostly about benefitting people in Lagos, who happen to mostly be Yoruba nothing to do with benefitting Yorubaland as a whole.

Nigerian politics are more than just an ethnic struggle, it's a lot more complicated than that, the PDP and APC in general are proof of this.

 

[SonnyEMC]

@SonnyEMC - Are you Yoruba by chance? If you are, it may be possible to recognize that your own biases in favour of the Yoruba may cloud your ability to perceive prejudice towards people who are not in Lagos. Similar to how a white person in North America may not perceive prejudice against non-white people in their country.

I am Yoruba as I said I am Lagosian, I've never claimed that Yoruba don't favor their own as all ethnic groups do in Nigeria, I'm disagreeing with your characterisation of Lagos.

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

Lagos politics is mostly about benefitting people in Lagos, who happen to mostly be Yoruba nothing to do with benefitting Yorubaland as a whole.

Nigerian politics are more than just an ethnic struggle, it's a lot more complicated than that, the PDP and APC in general are proof of this.

If you grew up in Lagos, then I think there's a tendency to have a primrose view of Nigeria and its politics. Out in the hinterland, it's far different. That's probably why Lagos media elites trumpeted Buhari as a saviour, not knowing that he was a vehicle for the North to take back control of the country. Despite the Naira being 500 Naira to 1 USD, Fulani attacks gone unabated and various comments (Buhari's 97 to 5 per cent comment) here is his approval ratings across Nigeria's regions:



Hmm, majority support in majority Hausa and Kanuri areas...I wonder why?

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

Lagos politics is mostly about benefitting people in Lagos, who happen to mostly be Yoruba nothing to do with benefitting Yorubaland as a whole.

Nigerian politics are more than just an ethnic struggle, it's a lot more complicated than that, the PDP and APC in general are proof of this.

If Lagosian politics are about benefiting the people of Lagos - why are Lagosians (like the Oba) threatening to throw Igbo Lagosians into the lagoon? Moreover, if Lagos is the main port of Nigeria (to the detriment of all others) goods being moved across Nigeria have to travel through Yoruba-populated areas. Infrastructure and support services will have to be built up within and outside of Lagos to facilitate this. Those measures primarily help Yoruba people. Again, to the detriment of all others.