Without doubt Nigeria has been ruined by northern politicians, thanks to the locust years of Gowon (who told us our problem was how to spend our enormous resources, serious govts would have saved for the rainy days, the idiot who signed away bakassi, the egoistical nonentity who scrapped our regional system of govt and imposed a most unworkable unitary govt, a man who dragged us through 3 years of civil war from which the igbos are yet to recover, a man who hung on to power for 9 years and ruined oour best chance at being the giant of Africa, yes the same man who has asked us to "pray"!).

Shagari (i mean that illiterate grade 2 teacher, the one who destroyed our foreign reserve, yes the very man who was the genesis of our foreign debt, the one who's govt was a benchmark for incompetence, nepotism, financial profligacy, and corruption, yes the man who now carries himself as an "elderstatesman).

Babangida (yes o, our own dear maradona, the one who instituted corruption as a state policy, the very one who sat on our freest and fairest election, the one who stashed away over $12b belonging to the impoverished oil communities, yes you are right, the gap-toothed politician who wants to rule us again).

Abacha? (may i say more? The very devil who took us to the brink of collapse, yes o the man under whom Nigeria virtually became a pariah state and made life most difficult for poor innocent southerners. the very one who killed off our brightest minds and exiled those lucky to still be alive, the one whos state policy was indian prostitutes).

Other northern governors (the idiots who complain when states are told to assume the burden of the education of their own children, those very ones who rule their states from foreign lands, the alhajis who planned to derail democracy by instituting hand cutting, butt flogging as govt policies. Those who ban rereational activities in their states yet demand for "their share" of VAT made in "sinful" southern states.

Northern Nigerians - The most ill-educated people i have ever seen, lazier than sloths. Those who manage to escape to Lagos now galivant around the place, sadly your folk have ruined our country, it will be hard to forgive and forget that thanks to your fathers, we are now the third poorest nation in the world. I can imagine what life would have been like without you northern folks, we'd have had the likes of Obafemi Awolowo for president, those visionary leaders who gave us free education, the same education you came and bastardised with your unity schools and JAMB nonsense. We would be talking of having an okotie or Gani or Utomi for president now, instead all we are hearing from the cattle rearers up north is "gentlemans' agreement", "it is our turn", "marginalisation", "military despots were not dictators" and all other nonsense.
Thanks to Federal Character Commission,, we now have illiterates in power, Toronto certificate holders populate our hallowed chambers and those who are now advocating using hausa language in our highest seat of paliament to mask their own paucity of intellect.

I look back at my country Nigeria and i can't but pray hard that the north truly discovers oil, it will be a great relief to have these leeches off our backs for good!

England as one of the 8 best teams in the world? someone must be playing a practical joke somewhere! Of the 8 teams in the QF, only England and perhaps ukraine have failed to impress even themselves in 4 matches. Portugal, Brazil, France, Argentina, Germany and Italy have shown us moments of great football. We have seen exceptional talent unfold in this teams and truly they are the face of world class football. England have huffed and puffed their way through 4 goals relying on set pieces and own goals to get by. The attack is none existent as up to this stage of the competition they are still trying out their formation. 4-4-2 today, 4-5-1 tomorrow. The midfield with Lumpard and Gerard is a mess. Beckham wears jersey no. 7 but does not play as a right winger, Rooney is marooned up front and Crouch??? Even Robinho on the bench with one leg is better.
The defence with John Terry is a joke, Robinson has looked suspect and will be vulnerable against blistering attacks from the likes of Germany, Argentina and Brazil. Joe Cole is simply a one game wonder, a wonder strike from distance and nothing else. The whole England team is a fraud, a media creation, at best a bunch of mediocre players who have been decieved to percieve themselves as "world stars" but have failed to be convincing against soccer minnows.
The FIFA seeding system seems to protect teams like England while exposing other better but unseeded teams to early outster. It is unlikely England would have qualified from a group comprising Holland, Ghana and Spain.

"it was the North and not the South that had legitimate claim to all the oil found in the Niger Delta region. This, according to him, is because the oil flow from North Africa and could have been prevented from reaching the south but for the magnanimity of the North. If you have knowledge of geography you’ll know that the resource they are talking about is not coming from them. It is coming from far North of Africa, it’s a flowing liquid.
If Northern Nigeria decides to be greedy, they can terminate the resource going to them, by way of cutting it and the flow will stop. So, all the resources that will be flowing to the south by way of crude would be diverted in a well in the North and from there it can be tapped and exported."
http://odili.net/news/source/2006/jun/26/213.html

It is clear that Chief Okogwu must have failed Geography in his school certificate exam. It is sad that a man of his "reputation" can claim the oil wealth in the Niger Delta "flowed" from the north. He goes further to ridicule himself by claiming the north could "terminate" the resource if they felt greedy and the flow would stop. Pray, the north has been greedy for 40yrs, why haven't they stopped the flow? How do they intend to do that? Which geography textbook told Chief Okogwu that oil flows like rivers? How can oil be diverted to a well in the north fromm where it can be tapped and exported? If this where possible why was the north insisting on wasting enormous resources searching for oil in the Chad basin? Why didn't they just redirect "their" oil? Where is the oil in the middle east flowing from?

If Chief, by his amazing wisdom has found out that oil truly flows from the north, can he please explain to us how that oil got to the north in the first place or was it flowing from somewhere else too? What about our lessons in fossils fuels, do we throw away our textbooks?
What about natural gas, coal, tin, gold, copper? Have they been "flowing" from somewhere too?

I have been spending a trememndous amount of time reading through 606 sports message boards on BBC, as usual most if not all of the talk has centered primarily on the world cup and with the board largely populated by English fans, what else do you expect?
With the world cup at the quarter final stage, the men are finally being separated from the boys, the farce that is FIFA rankings are being exposed as mere reward for playing inconsequential games.
How can you reconcile the likes of USA and Ukraine being among the top 10 teams in the world and Ghana is lying a lowly 48th? Thanks to a flash in the pan performance by the Yanks in 2002, numerous "world cup veterans" and "world class goalscorers" on ESPN took to touting the US for a semi final place. In fact most Americans were so focused on the US vs Italy game that no one gave Ghana a chance to make the round of 16. Here was a Ghana team that totally outclassed Czech Republic (world's second best team ala FIFA) 2-0, the same team that white washed the US team 3-0 including "world class players" like Landon Donovan and Brian Mcbride. The USA have ended up the 5th best team in the world thanks to constant victories over the likes of Nassau, Trinidad and Tobago and other "world class" teams.

The English media have never stopped reminding us of the fact that they have produced arguably the "finest 11 players in the world", they tell us this is the best team to come from England since 1966, a big shame to the talented bunch of English players to Italia 1990. We are told of a "world class" midfield that includes the "finest dribbler in Europe (J. Cole), the "2nd best" player in the world in Fat Frank Lumpard and other world class players including "primadonna Beckham and Steven Gerard. They have even gone as far as hinging English world cup hopes on the fragile shoulders of a tempramental 20 year old "world star" in Wayne Rooney.

Something must be wrong somewhere. After 4 games, England has huffed and puffed their way into an underserved quarter final place. John Terry was mysteriously named Man of the Match after his horrendous showing in the game against Ecuador. Lampard and Beckham have done nothing to justify their place in the present English team and of the 11 first team players, it is hard to see anyone of them who can easily break into a Brazilian squad that has the likes of Juninho, Robinho and Cicinho on the bench. Joe Cole as Europe's finest dribbler? Pleasee!
After 2 fruitless and anonymous performances, it is surprising Micheal Owen is still being regarded as a "world class" striker. The same media did not hesitate to call for the dropping of a fat but still dangerous Ronaldo from the brazilian line up.

The world cup has exposed how little the English media really knows about football. For them, soccer revolves around the English league and anyone English player who shows flashes of occassional average performances is automatically labeled a world class player. How many trophies has Rooney won? Yet he is touted as the world cup's best young player in a tourney that has the likes of Messi, Tevez, Robinho, Cesc Fabregas?
Lampard as the world's second best player? With the likes of Riquelme, Essien, Saviola, Ribery?
David Beckham claims to have "answered his critics" with a fluke free kick against Ecuador after over 300 minutes of strolling around the pitch doing nothing.

Thanks to FIFA rankings, the likes of England get an easy passage to an underserved QF place while teams like Ivory Coast, Ghana, Sweden, Spain, Holland take early showers.
At the rate things are going, the title "world class" could as well be ascribed to an Enyimba United player, depends on how loud your media can get.

"You are an inconsequential rat!"

"...and you are a bigger rat, infact by Allah you are a pest!"

"It is not your fault, sebi it is because of those idiots and rascals..."

These indeed are interesting times in Nigeria's political climate. Rather than grimace at the bulfoonery being exhibited by our politicians, i have taken to laughing my head off each time they set off on each other. Last week, almighty Fani Kayode suddenly remembered he was a humble born again christian when he faced the ministerial confirmation committee in the senate. After years of abusing his elders, "loud mouth" Fani was sweating as he desperately tried to convince the senate committee that he would not abuse anyone again!

Senator Ahmadu Ali surely takes the price as the most abusive Nigerian in power. Thanks to him, we now know that rats have been gnawing for years at our foreign reserve, idiots have taken control of our legislative houses and we have entrusted the future of our nation to rascals. This indeed are interesting times. The People Decieving Party has splintered, members are being suspended and recalled at the whims and caprices of a thousand party chairmen. Africa's "largest party" does not even know who is its leader or where its real secretariat is located.
A few years ago, President Obasanjo aptly described himself and his renegade band of loyalists in his book "this animal called man". True to his words, pests and rats are scurring around our political landscape looking to sink their fangs into the national cake

Only last week, we realised an ilegal alien was Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters. Florence Ita-Giwa aka mama Bakassi has still not told us if she would apply for residency permit or risk being deported to Cameroun. No one knows where the Bakassi residents would be relocated to, it is only in Nigeria that owners of a land belong to one country and their land to another country.

Me i just dey siddon look, idiots are busy bungling our best chance at national rebuilding, rascals are ensuring we take one step forward and three backward and the rats and pests are still nibbling away at our hopes of reducing poverty soon. Someone should remind those animals at Aso Rock to keep providing us with more comedy, at least we can keep shuffering and shmiling.

http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/news/article02
In keeping with the tradition initiated by the US and UK, Nigeria has issued it's first travel warning to it's "citizens" travelling to the UK. The Nigerian government says citizens must beware of "miscreants" who employ a "great variety of tricks" to dispossess people of their property.
Since when did the federal government begin to think of ordinary Nigerians as fellow citizens? One thought our only use was to hoodwink the international community using the guile of the "peoples vote" to smuggle miscreants and rogues into political office. When did miscreants begin to issue travel warnings to other Nigerians to beware of miscreants? Most Nigerians do not need to worry about being dispossesed of their property in the UK, politicians, armed robbers, policemen at checkpoints, lecturers, and co are doing an excellent job already. By the time most Nigerians get to the UK (for the few who can even afford to do this), they have no property to lose anymore.

The Nigerian report notes that there has been an "upsurge in pickpocketing, robberies and assault against Nigerians in the UK in areas such as hotels, airports. Pickpocketing indeed has been on the decline in Nigeria, armed robbers and pickpockets now rob brazenly and in broad day light. Our politicians live in self-made prisons for fear of armed robbers. Cell phones are routinely snatched, police checkpoints have become pseudo robbery operations where live could cost as little as N20. The Niger Delta is a night mare for foreign oil workers, police armouries are being looted at random and the army keeps blowing up their own armory.

The report also advices Nigerian travellers "not to carry large amount of money on their body and ensure their air-tickets, passports, expensive wrist-watches as well as trinkets are securely hidden." Nigerians do not need this warning, they have learnt from experience in Nigeria that going out with a large amount of money is a magnet for robbers. Most Nigerians do not keep expensive watches and trinkets, most of them have been stolen by armed robbers, the few who still have prefer to keep them abroad. As for making sure passports are "securely hidden", no one knows this better than the average Nigerian.

Me thinks this must have been a travel advisory to Nigerians ABOUT NIGERIA!

The governor of Gombe State has faulted the increased revenue allocation for States because it also calls for increased obligations on the part of the States. For instance, following the increase from 24-31 percent revenue allocation, States will now be responsible for the funding and operation of public secondary schools. The governor then went further to suggest that with the increase of responsibilities on the State level, they should be given 40 percent resource allocation.

Federal government is paying for state schools, even the toothpick used by the state governor is on the tab of the FG in a supposedly fiscal federal democracy. Indeed there must be some other name for this charade called revenue allocation.
Zamfara state and a few other northern states recently imposed separate fees for non-indigenes of their states, the sad part is the money used to fund the same schools are from the states of the poor non-indigenes. Yet thousands of northern students "demand" for unfair advantage to gain entry to southern schools (via JAMB, Unity schools etc) to "reduce the education gap".It brings to the fore the folly of state creation. While every small town is screaming to be made a state, with the exception of Lagos and many of the southern states, most other states are financially nonviable and are wholly dependent on federal allocation for sustenance. Most northern states do not generate up to N5m in monthly revenue and yet insist on increasing their share of the federal allocation generated from southern states that make 95% of the national cake. While alchohol is banned in sharia states, northern states are not averse to accepting VAT generated revenue from "sinful" southern states.
Indeed Gombe state has a university but is it viable? On what basis was the university set up? As another endless drain on the national purse and another drain pipe for corrupt officials? What is the state of the existing schools in the north?
If states where required to generate their own revenue as is done in other civilized democracies we pretend to ape, much more prudence would be excercised in the ridiculous demand for state creation and the indiscriminate projects set up by state governments most of which are out of sync with the aspirations of the people they purport to lead.
If the Goje is kicking against state governments taking financial responsibility for their own state schools, what really is the responsibility of the state besides collecting monthly revenue allocation and what really is the major reason governors are constantly agitating for more funding?

This the most irresponsible government i have ever seen! People in an area say they want to remain in Nigeria, is it so hard to insist on a referendum to determine where the people want to go? Is democracy so selective that a people have no choice over which country to remain?It is so sad that the best Obasanjo has offered is to "relocate" a people who have called Bakassi their ancestral home for centuries, why should people be plucked out of their lands unjustly over a treaty made by foreigners in 1913?
What kind of International court is this? Are these people considered humans or do they assume Bakassi is an uninhabited stretch of land? Would any European or American nation cede its land that contains people who insist on being a part of that nation simply based on a dubiuos court that bases its decisions on colonial treaties?
This is indeed a dance of the absurd. It is sad that the likes of Florence Ita Giwa no longer have a local government in Nigeria, or on what basis does she remain in the corridors of power if truly her area of birth now resides in Cameroun. We have indeed taken our big brother role a tard too far!

The Problem with Zimbabwe is a microcosm of the problem in Africa.
Zimbabwe is heading to financial ruin, with a 1000% rate of inflation, wide spread poverty, homelessness, famine, and disease, a loaf of bread and some eggs now cost Z$ 100,000.
1 US Dollar = 101,534 Zimbabwe Dollar
1 Zimbabwe Dollar (ZWD) = 0.00000985 US Dollar (USD)

Poor policies based more on sentiments and a leader's selfish ambition to cling on to power and misconstrued by naive Africans as panafricanism. Mugabe's land grab policy literarily forced "white" lands into the hands of his former war veterans, unfortunately these same "white" farms have remained the back bone of the economy that Mugabe is intent of destroying. The whole problem is not Mugabe alone however. White Zimbabweans never consider themselves Zimbabweans, most of them consider themselves British citizens first and foremost and are only using illegally acquired lands to improve their own fortunes. After Mandela came into power in SA, thousands of white South Africans literarily left the country for England. As long as Mugabe left the white farmers alone, he was the darling of the "international community" despite his dictatorial tendencies.
Unfortunately, Africa remains the only continent that is still being dictated to by foreign interests. The same foreign interests who are the reason for her backwardness in the first place. Slapping sanctions against Zimbabwe is most unfortunate as the those who will feel the pinch the most are innocent Zimbabweans who are just unfortunate to be born in that country.
Zimbabwe recently withdrew from the commonwealth to the consternation of many South African neighbours. Mugabe may have done the right thing at the wrong time, he is right that some nations are more equal than others. The commonwealth has outlived it's usefullness, it started and has remained a master servant relationship between England and her former colonies and an avenue for the British to exert undue control over the affairs of former African colonies. The commonwealth has served little or no purpose to it's African constituents and thus must be scrapped.
However, Mugabe must take some resposibility for his country's woes, for an 80yr old man who has been in power for 26 yrs and still insists on clinging on to power, it is a sad reminder of the sit-tight attitude of many an African ruler. In order to hold on to power, they end up running their nations into economic ruin. Obasanjo literarily tried to copy the Zimbabwean strongman and held the nation to ransom for over a year with dire consequences. Our economy hangs on world oil prices, social services are in dire straights and yet baba insists he is the best thing that ever happened to the nation.

Western nations may be the reason the likes of Zimbabwe is in a spot today but the intransigence of African leaders is also to blame for the ruin the continent is in today. Thanks to the vigilance of the Nigerian people, we would have been on the road to Zimbabwe long long ago.

Nigerians both home and in diaspora are in a dilemma as to whom to vote as the worst performing Governor in Nigeria. This race is extremely close, most people tend to agree all 36 state governors would be proud nominees for this award. Criteria for the award would include sycophancy, corruption, incompetence, illiteracy and negligence of duty.

The most prominent nominees would include;
1. Gov Bola Ahmed Tinubu 0f Lagos - Keep decieving the people, they are probably blinded to the poor state of affairs in Lagos by your Jiggi Bola.
2. Gov Ibrahim Saminu Turaki of Jigawa - The only governor ever to "successfully" govern his state from abroad.
3. Gov Gbenga Akala of Oyo - An area boy in power.
4. Gov Ibrahim Shekarau of Kano - Thanks to him, Nigeria now boasts 79% of the world's polio cases.
5. Gov Boni Haruna of Adamawa - Truly Adamawa is a land of unparalled "beauty", and a symbol of the dividends of democracy; corruption!

It is most unfortunate that the award can only go to one person, 36 separate awards would have been more appropriate.

"We suport third term!"
"It is our turn!"
"No this time it should be zoned to the South South!"
"We had a gentleman's agreement!"
"Only retired Army Generals can rule Nigeria!"
"The north must rule for peace to exist!"
"You are not loyal!"

The president and VP are abusing each other, Sen Ahmadu Ali is abusing the senators, honorables and representatives are abusing each other, the South-south leaders are abusing Gov. Kure, Gov Kure is abusing the South South and blaming it on being misquoted. Indeed at the seat of "Africa's largest political party", everyone is abusing the other.Obasanjo does not respect the constitution, El Rufai does not respect his elders, Atiku has pocketed all our public establishments in the name of BPE, honorables are busy stealing our foreign reserves, ministers have ruined their portfolios and left us worse off than when they came in. Ineptitude, corruption, nepotism and incompetence have become the hallmark of Nigeria's ruining (er ruling) party.
We are not bothered about the split in the ranks of the PDP. No one is talking about the lack of motorable roads, there is no mention of the mortuaries our hospitals have become, no one is disturbed that 7 years after and with over $100m down the drain, we are as far away from stable power supply as the north pole is from the south. Our "leaders" do not care about our worsening crime rate, none of them is concerned that our educational system has collapsed, no one is talking about our mono-economy wholly dependent on oil, none of them is interested in genuine leadership that ordinary Nigerians are yearning for.
Instead we are daily assaulted by the idiotic antics of geriatric men whose sole aim in power is to accumulate as much ill-gotten wealth. They do not care about us neither do we care about them. We did not vote them into power, we do not know them. Many of them have threatened us with a break down of law and order if they do not get the presidency, others have told those of us unfortunate not to have served in the army that we can never aspire to the highest post in the land.

We also are not bothered about the split in their party, it is not our own neither do we recognise it. It is alien to our hopes and aspirations as a nation. We do not care for what they have to say, it is further proof that money and fame do not automatically confer intellectual competence.

What does Puma, Pilot Inspector, Moon unit, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily, Audio Science, scout and sailor have in common? No they are not names of animals or things! They are the names of babies born to American “celebrities”. The latest additions to the celebrity baby names include Suri Cruise born to Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes and Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt (what a mouthful!) to Brangelina.

One is left wondering what happened to names like James, Jack, Jane and Jill. In this era of celebrity spawning, many are feverishly trying to outdo themselves in who can punish his/her blameless baby with the most incredulous of names all in the name of money and fame. Demi Moore and Bruce Willis are proud parents of Rummer, Scout and Tallulah, Sylvester Stallone sired Sage Moonblood, Rob Morrow has quite innovatively named his son Tu Morrow, John Mellencamp will be driving Speck Wildhorse to school and Geri Halliwel’s home will play host to Bluebell Madonna.

It is not likely that these (un)fortunate children will ever face the taunts of other children with “normal” names. Afterall, Puma, Jermajesty, Phinnaeus and Apple are likely to attend the same school as Fifi Trixabelle, Rocco, Coco and Kal-el.
It might be these names are a pointer to the fact that money and fame do not equal mental stability and intellectual competence.

It is only here that we consider a nation that has a high inflation rate, collapsed energy sector, no infrastructure, bad roads, no rail system, dilapidated water transportation system, wholesale dependence on refined crude oil even when we produce and our consumerist economy and claim that we are improving or have a low unemployment rate.
I will ask three questions:
1. What do we really define as employment? Hawking groundnuts, roadside pepper sellers, pure water "industry", selling recharge cards, phone booth operators, checkpoint toll collectors, wharf rats, taxi drivers, molue conductors, grave diggers, area boys, armed robbers, yahoo yahoo, cattle rearers, generator sellers and local government motor park tax collectors?
2. Is it possible for private individuals to "create their own jobs" independent of the government?
3. Where would we be today if oil prices had crashed to less than $5 per barrel?

I have read countless number of posts advocating Nigerians to stop depending on govt and "create their own jobs" and i wonder if those people have ever been to other countries to see what obtains there and why things are so different in Nigeria. Nigeria has no economy, all the government does is sell oil blocs to oil companies who then destroy our environment in the name of oil exploration. We are a consumerist nation, everything from toothpicks to matches is imported from everywhere but Nigeria. In more developed countries, government creates the enabling environment to allow private enterpreneurs generate their own income by:
a. providing stable power - Without power, no serious manufacturing can take place. It is inimical to business for large scale enterprenuers to run their businesses on huge electricity generating plants. The result is either high cost of goods produced which is transfered to the common man or low level of productivity if any at all.
b. stable political climate - A situation where government can shut down TV and radio stations simply because they broadcast live Senate proceedings does not augur well for inviting foreign investors. When oil exploration licenses are given on the basis of rewarding the "boys" and are withdrawn arbitrarily on trumped up charges (ala Danjuma), then such a nation is not really serious about progress. If a successful local airline that has now become the national carrier in Gambia could be banned simply by the utterance of its owner then we are firmly on the road to economic doom!
c. stable economic policies - policies in nigeria, rather than emanate from well-planned agendas in which the people as stakeholders are involved, are as eratic as NEPA itself. Spurius policies suddenly pop up as a result of a minister's "brain" wave without consulting with the relevant experts. It is one reason Nigeria as at present has no well defined policy on education, economy, politics e.t.c.

Selling off ALL government property is not the way to improve the economy, even in the largest capitalist economy in the world, the USA, government is still actively involved in the area of education, transportation and energy!

The truth is less than 2.9% of Nigerians are truly employed, the others are either unemployed or underemployed. Between the two there is very little difference.

A recent post on Nairaland quotes a CIA factbook source on Nigeria's unemployment rate put at 2.9%, supposedly lower than that of the USA and UK.

If the unemployment rate in Nigeria is that low i wonder why thousands of nigerians are leaving the country at such an alarming rate even to so-called countries with higher unemployment rates ala SA.
Since our unemployment rate is just a "meagre 2.90%, why are graduates still out of work 5 years after graduation?
Since unemployment rate is that low why do we have such pervasive poverty and massive social unrest?
Is it likely that the large bulk of the "so-called unemployed 2.9%" are from the nigerdelta which may be a reason for the bombings and kidnappings?
Since when did we as a nation start keeping "accurate" statistics?CIA factbook?
Since when did they become accurate curators of our economic data?More lies and half-truths!

Our brightest minds are holed up in foreign countries and our unemployment rate is so low, could it be because most of the employable population have emigrated to other countries?

Yet more lies! What sort of emplyment exists in Nigeria? This consumerist farce we call jobs? Drivers, traders, pure water sellers, recharge card sellers, phone booth operators, street hawkers, professional beggars, wharf rats, molue conductors, checkpoint toll collectors, e.t.c. Since when did those become classified as bonafide employment in serious countries? Since when did subsistence farming begin to feed an entire nation?

Yet more lies! Do we even know how many Nigerians and foreigners live within our shores? How then could we have accurately determined our rate of unemployment? When did the CIA conduct their census?

Still more lies and half truths!