Eziachi:

[s]So will go ahead to borrow money to buy a brand new BMW on a high credit interest, even as you came home and your wife told you that debt collectors had been trying to kick the door down all morning and your kids haven't ate since morning because there is nothing left i your bank account and his business is about to crumble?[/s]

That is how much some of you fools know about money management.
No wonder governors all over Nigeria today are all over the bond markets borrowing billions they have no idea how its going to be paid but as long as he uses it to dig few 7th century borehole here an there, few elephant projects everybody will dance home happy like a baboon.

civilized NIGERIANS my back foot.

Eziachi:

So will go ahead to borrow money to buy a brand new BMW on a high credit interest, even as you came home and your wife told you that debt collectors had been trying to kick the door down all morning and your kids haven't ate since morning because there is nothing left i your bank account and his business is about to crumble?

That is how much some of you fools know about money management.
No wonder governors all over Nigeria today are all over the bond markets borrowing billions they have no idea how its going to be paid but as long as he uses it to dig few 7th century borehole here an there, few elephant projects everybody will dance home happy like a baboon.

civilized NIGERIANS my back foot.

Beaf:

Fail!

You are broke, but have a business plan that can give you 1000 times the money you put in.
You convince someone about your profit margin, they buy into it and even supply a manager and the finance. . . Everything is warming up nicely for you.

. . .Big boss comes along, kicks out the builders and shuts out the finance provider, because he is shortsighted.

Not good. All anyone need do is think about how much business and explosive development the metro would have generated.

jmaine:

What the heck are you tryna prove friend . .  Because your in debt so you have to jettison a good project that would have generated much money to pay up the debt and increase the standard of living of the populace . . Guess the Trillions the US is owing will stop them from going into more debt to finance a major project that will improve the economy on the long run .

Running a profitable business and economy is a whole lot different like running a petty home . . Towing your line . .assuming your parents were owing a measurable sum of debt and they had to borrow just to send you to a good school knowing fully well that you will come good and produce the goods  . .

Would you prefer they abandon your dream of getting a quality education, improving yourself, earning good money that will pay off that debt and better the lots of your family or you prefer and will appreciate them if they tow the Buhari line and abandon your inspiring drive to succeed  while the entire family riles and sink in abject poverty, pain and regret  . .

Answer it honestly

Eziachi:

Beaf even if I am sure about nothing, I  am sure you knew nothing about creation of wealth. When someone is broke it mean that person has no money.
Having a business plan doesn't mean that you have the money to implement your plan. 9 out of every 10 business plans are thrown into the basket bin at the banks everyday, if not everyone will be business magnets now.

There had been property developers who ran out of money half way and cannot get any bank help anymore and they have no option than to send everbody home, pack up or face bankrupsy. You don't know what guaranteed is there that the Metro will even make profit because all such projects in Africa is kept alive by govt subsidies while paying over the odd for the money borrowed to build it  for years to come.

Go and talk about something else, business and money, you knew nothing about it.  Buhari is a big time farmer, he must have known the slight margin between making profit and loses. How as an employer, how difficult it is to pay your workers and still balance the book with your bank every month.
GEJ all his life just like you is a salary man. So every cash he sees, to him is profit/spend and that is why his first move as president was, taking delivery of a $51m jet for a country struggling to pay a minimum wage most people spend in a week to fuel their car.
People Like you/GEJ are like a child in a sweet shop when they first clamped eyeon public fund. Nigeria need leaders that will always count the pennies- whether its Buhari, I don't know but when it comes to money managment and prudence, Jonathan is not even in my bracket let alone running a country.

Kobojunkie:

I am sorry but that is rubbish . . . how do you conclude that someone erred when

a) You don't the details of what happened during the years we speak of

b) You still have no detail on what actually transpired??

How can rationally state Buhari erred? Do you even understand the implications of what that even means here?? I know we like the 180 of things when we hone already have our minds made up, but the fact here is, this is not just about Buhari, but also about the decision making abilities of one of the best Governor's in the history of Nigeria, yes, JAKANDE!!

Eziachi:

Am I  missing something, your're in debt to your eyeballs because you got no money.
If you work around me, you will be fired instantly as money is not safe around you and you knew liitle about money. 
Did some of you really breastfed at all? Buhari like any prudent person or govt cancelled a plan to start a project that will gulp millions in dollar when they have no money and price of oil is at the bottom of the barrel.
He did not issue any decree that says that Lagos shall never ever have a Metro line. What stopceped this metro for the 25 year since he left office with successive govts, since he is this lucifer sitting upon a Metro project for Lagos?

kalokalo:

Why do you always love to play the ostrich? I sometimes wonder how you think!!

Moves:

Guys; the issue is being drifting to PDP excesses in the last 12yrs compared to Buhari cancelling the lagos metro project,  That is just confusing issues;
a, The Argument is did Buhari. err in cancelling the project?
For me; the answer is yes he did,  
b, Is his reason tenable?
Nope- Absolutely No; the sane thing who have been to just apologise for erring in the past;cos I believe he never envisaged a time like this when the populace would query his action as C in C.

Moves:

@ Kobo,  what more details is required; the two principal actors have spoken on the issue; buhari - said he cancelled it because he didnt want to guarantee a loan on the project because of our debt profile at the time; hence I believed he erred and that reason is not tenable IMO, are we to believe that the best gov lagos ever had was ignorant of the country's debt profile , or the financiers of the project. Have you read Jakande's interview posted above; Project cost= N700million; 10% advance and the rest is 90% is federal govt guaranteed loan. Jakande delivered on all his projects; 25 yrs down the line he still believes in the viability of the project. Furthermore are we to assume that with buhari as presido,  we are not going to borrow if needed for infrastructure; being truthful the if the cost of the project was among the debt we later had to pay off; even Buhari would agree now that it wouldnt be such a bad thing; compared to paying off debt for funds embezzled.

okunoba:

@kobojunjie, I wonder if you have ever left the shores of Nigeria. Could you imagine London without the Tube, NYC without the subway or Paris without the Metro? Buhari by cancelling the Metro project, shows he lacks the acumen to lead Nigeria in the 21 century.

Kobojunkie:

a) Where do you have Jakande himself stating the project in question cost the taxpayers $70 million dollars??

b) Why would Jakande subject the people of Lagos to such a steep penalty for cancellation of project that cost less than $150 million dollars to start with?

c) Why did Jakande TIE both the people of Lagos, and the Federal Government to such a project when
a) Lagos is not the only state in all of Nigeria ?
b) There was a global recession in 1982 and Lagos itself knew it had to cut costs in order to survive that?
c) This was not the only major contract that Lagos state itself had to cancel even in the same period?
d) even after his experience with Shagari?

Moves:

@ Kobo,  what more details is required; the two principal actors have spoken on the issue; buhari - said he cancelled it because he didnt want to guarantee a loan on the project because of our debt profile at the time; hence I believed he erred and that reason is not tenable IMO, are we to believe that the best gov lagos ever had was ignorant of the country's debt profile , or the financiers of the project. Have you read Jakande's interview posted above; Project cost= N700million; 10% advance and the rest is 90% is federal govt guaranteed loan. Jakande delivered on all his projects; 25 yrs down the line he still believes in the viability of the project. Furthermore are we to assume that with buhari as presido,  we are not going to borrow if needed for infrastructure; being truthful the if the cost of the project was among the debt we later had to pay off; even Buhari would agree now that it wouldnt be such a bad thing; compared to paying off debt for funds embezzled.

Kobojunkie:

Please do not think like one with a gap in his reasoning. I live in Chicago -- we want to fix a lot of things in our city-- we cannot. Why? Because we are debt and we need to fix our serious debt issues before we start borrowing to develop the place as we would like to have have planned for so long to.

The west is today recovering still from the global crises. . .  States are still reeling from the effects of the  recession. Many cities are cutting back big time. This is not a good time for mega projects.

We need to use our heads a bit more here. Think to the recession of the early 80's that lasted till long into the late 80's in most of Africa. I don't think any person who has a clear idea of what the country was like, back then, would even suggest that borrowing such an enormous amount, would have been good sense for us.

Think iceland, greece, ireland  . . . yes, we were near collapse and the IMF was in fact begging us to take a loan to restructure during the period we are speaking of here.

Princek12:

The presence of a recession is no excuse to stop all projects; you may prioritize and stop the less important ones.

Princek12:

When the benefits of a project substantially outweigh the burdens associated with the project, i.e., a mega railway in Lagos, then it shows prudence when a leader effectuates said project, even when the economy is in a recession. The benefits that the proposed railway would have given to Lagos, a densely populated city and the commercial nerve of Nigeria, would have outweighed any risks. Furthermore, the project, if managed properly, would have most likely enough generated sufficient revenue to pay off the debt.

[size=14pt]Buhari criticised for comments on Lagos Metroline project[/size]
Olukorede Yishau,Sanni Ologun, Abuja and Sunday Ogudugba08/04/2011 01:44:00

The presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday came under attack for defending the stoppage of the Metroline Project.

At a Town Hall meeting in City Hall, Lagos Island, Gen Buhari described the allegation that he deliberately cancelled the project as "mischievous."

He said the project was cancelled because with the regime’s large debt profile, it made no sense to incur more debts.

The initiator of the project, former Lagos State Governor Alhaji Lateef Jakande, the President Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation, a coalition of Lagos State Youth Organisations and the Southwest Think Tank said Buhari’s explanations were not tenable.

Jakande yesterday said Gen. Buhari has no justification for cancelling the metro line project initiated by his administration in Lagos.

The metro rail line was introduced by the Jakande administration to facilitate transportation within Lagos and its surroundings but it was terminated when Buhari’s military regime took over in December,1983.

Jakande, who spoke with The Nation on phone, described the cancellation as an ‘irresponsible action". He insisted that the metro line project is the answer to transportation problem in Lagos.

"Today, metro line still remains the answer to transportation hurdles in Lagos because of its objectives and purposes. It is a relevant strategy to improve the problems of transportation in Lagos.

"By now transportation in Lagos would have been much better if it had been allowed to stay. We understood the predicament of ordinary citizens in Lagos and we felt we needed a change from the usual way of doing things," he said.

Jonathan, in a statement by the Media and Publicity Committee of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, said that singular act of Buhari "compounded the traffic problems of Lagos" today.

The statement reads: "After almost 30 years of silence, General Muhammadu Buhari has finally found his voice and provided a specious political excuse for his disastrous cancellation of the Lagos metro line project.

"While speaking to his political associates in Lagos, General Buhari explained that the project was cancelled because his government did not want to take more loans nor devalue the naira.

"It is interesting that General Buhari has found his voice now when the Presidential election is days away after showing contempt and disdain for the people of Lagos and indeed Nigerians by refusing to provide any explanation for the numerous acts of wickedness and high-handedness of the military dictatorship he led.

"Firstly, the project which was initiated by the administration of Alhaji Lateef Jakande, was going on smoothly and on schedule before the coup-d’état by General Buhari.

"The project would no doubt have been completed on time if not for General Buhari’s coup and the transportation nightmare Lagosians face today would not have existed.

"The visionary Jakande administration had concluded all the plans to finance the project, putting everything in place for its successful execution.

"The government had secured a $450 million loan at six percent fixed interest rate for 25 years. As at the time the project was cancelled the government had paid parts of the loan and therefore had no worry about financing the project.

"The cancellation of the Lagos metro line project by Buhari was shortsighted and immoral. The attempt at revisionism by the General and his handlers is laughable.

"The people of Lagos and Nigerians in general will not be fooled by cheap political moves to win votes."

The Southwest Think Tank on Democratic Governance also condemned Buhari over his statement on the metroline project.

The coalition of Lagos youth groups said: "Many Nigerians today would still recall that Buhari deliberately killed the Metroline project, initiated by the Alhaji Lateef Jakande administration in Lagos State despite sizeable amount of resources being committed to the project.

‘’It didn’t matter to General Buhari that Lagos was and still the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria."

In a statement by its Coordinator, Babalola Medayedopin, the coalition, comprising 29 youth groups, said Buhari’s explanation was not tenable.

He said it was a deliberate attempt to destroy a laudable project without a tangible reason.

The statement reads: "The fiat with which Buhari cancelled such a project with far-reaching and positive impact on the people shows his mindset as a leader.

‘’It was the same manner that he handled the Metroline that he also ignored the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway when he was heading PTF despite the social, economic and strategic importance of this major national dual-carriage way.

‘’We wonder how he will pilot the affairs of this nation equitably if he is elected as president. The Metroline Project would have made the chaotic traffic situation that Lagosians are suffering today a thing of the past. Rather than apologise, he still maintains a hardliine posture."

The group urged the electorate to scruitinise the actions of candidates to public office before casting their votes.

aletheia:

“The grounds on which Buhari is being promoted as the alternative choice are not only shaky, but pitifully naive. History matters, records are not kept simply to assist the weakness of memory, but to operate as guides to the future.” - Wole Soyinka