" Gateway Hotel Abeokuta was valued at #1.4b but was concessioned for #300m. Gateway Hotel Ijebu ode was valued at #700m, but was concessioned for #100m. Gateway Hotel Ota was valued at #630m, but again concessioned for #130m, while Gateway Hotel annex Ijebu ode was valued at #132m, but was concessioned for #20m, all of these for 25yrs respectively. we will definitely step on toes to retrieve our assets back" -Amosun

Gateway Hotel, Ijebu Ode concessioned for N20m for 25 years? Only an evil minded OGD has the capacity for such wanton looting, brigandage, sabotage. Or are people saying that hotel that hosts various conferences thru'out the year does not make up to a million in a year before being concessioned? OGD will surely rot in the hottest part of hell.

Gbawe:

I don't know you enough but I know EKt_bear enough to understand that his typical American and capitalist mentality , with the attendant dedication to materialism , 6.0 litre cars and shiny edifice,  makes him ignore welfare considerations in his argument pertaining to one of the poorest nations on earth .

Gbawe. You wrongly accused me of an ad hominem attack. I ignored that. The text above as you very well know is irrelevant to this thread and my criticisms of Ajimobi. And this is not the first time you've tried this particular tactic when defending an ACN governor. I'll ignore it once more, but please do not do it again. Let's discuss the issues only rather than bringing up what is not relevant at all.

ekt_bear:

Gbawe. You wrongly accused me of an ad hominem attack. I ignored that. The text above as you very well know is irrelevant to this thread and my criticisms of Ajimobi. And this is not the first time you've tried this particular tactic when defending an ACN governor. I'll ignore it once more, but please do not do it again. Let's discuss the issues only rather than bringing up what is not relevant at all.

Fair enough . Below the belt and perhaps irrelevant to the issue being discussed . Apologies . Nonetheless , I still think you are rather lacking in objectivity when discussing ACN governors considering what they met on the ground. We all know how some PDP Governors ran their States into the ground . No excuses will be accepted , for non-performance, even after a year but are you not a tad unrealistic expecting Amosun and Ajimobi not to embark on a period of taking stock , in less than a month on the job as incoming Governors, to help them determine how they will proceed forward?

Every time Ajimobi and Amosun speak they qualify their statement with action plans but you conveniently seem to miss that. did Amosun , in the same article you claim he is b.itching in, not state that he will review all concessions of Ogun assets ceded by the OGD Government ? What more can he do than that? Abrogate signed contracts autocratically?

;d :d ;d :d ;d :d oke olumo koni gbe daniel , omol ale ,

Gbawe:

Fair enough . Below the belt and perhaps irrelevant to the issue being discussed . Apologies .

No worries. We all want what is best for the SW zone, so passions might flare up a bit.

Nonetheless , I still think you are rather lacking in objectivity when discussing ACN governors considering what they met on the ground. We all know how some PDP Governors ran their States into the ground . No excuses will be accepted , for non-performance, even after a year but are you not a tad unrealistic expecting Amosun and Ajimobi not to embark on a period of taking stock , in less than a month on the job as incoming Governors, to help them determine how they will proceed forward?

I don't have a problem with taking stock, I have a problem with sensationalism or what might be outright lying. If OGD truly commissioned a power plant from the 70s that is somehow non-functional, then who signed off on it?

Why is he pretending as if selling off Olumo Rock or whatever is what will cause one to borrow for salaries (not the salaries of the new minimum wage mind you, the old ones)? The issues are nearly unrelated, I think. . . federal allocation is almost certainly what is funding the lion's share of recurrent expenditure, not IGR.

Anyway, we all agree that OGD didn't govern well. Fine. But I feel like he talking too much about problems (and adding fake problems on top of them) rather than offering solutions.

Every time Ajimobi and Amosun speak they qualify their statement with action plans but you conveniently seem to miss that. did Amosun , in the same article you claim he is b.itching in, not state that he will review all concessions of Ogun assets ceded by the OGD Government ? What more can he do than that? Abrogate signed contracts autocratically?

See above.

ekt_bear:


Why is he pretending as if selling off Olumo Rock or whatever is what will cause one to borrow for salaries (not the salaries of the new minimum wage mind you, the old ones)? The issues are nearly unrelated, I think. . . federal allocation is almost certainly what is funding the lion's share of recurrent expenditure, not IGR.

Did you realise that due to the Indebtedness of the state, A whooping sum of N1.9 Billion Naira is being deducted from the Federal allocation through ISPO?
Can you guess the amount this whooping sum is being deducted from?
Put your Google bar to work

How much are the other states in Nigeria paying monthly in servicing debt?

Someone should post a full table for us to see and compare.

As I said earlier, I don't think Ogun is anywhere near one of the most indebted states in Nigeria. See this, for example:

http://www.dmo.gov.ng/oci/subn/docs/Federal%20and%20States%20Debt%20Stock%20as%20at%20Dec%2031%202010.pdf

So I'd really like to see a full list of how much each state has deducted per month.

The previous AD governors like Bisi Akande Lam Adesina, Adefarati etc left very little debt for their states when leaving office even Akande was commended by all including his predecessors and OBJ himself

Imagine a sum of N1.9 Billion being deducted from N2.2 Billion Naira every Month Through ISPO and Wage bills already above N3.1 Billion, Ekt how do you expect him not to shout out?

My friends here I have tried my hands at re-floating a dead business and believe me from every angle it looks easier than it is. I don't blame him at all. What has led Ogun state to where it is goes beyond OGD and naira and kobo. When I started I had to contend with everything from staff attitude to wrong products, no forward planning. Ogun state is like an aircraft that has stalled and fallen from the sky. What Amosun is doing is increasing the dive and applying power to come out of it as soon as possible. It will get worse, much worse before it can get better and by then we all together with the concessionaires, ghost workers, banks, et al will know what hit them.

How can and why should a state earning 1 billion naira be paying salaries or 4 billion, paying its staff a quarter of what it earns. I saw similar things and I just refused. Popular or not popular, votes or no votes he much shave that work force by 90% or ask them to work for free. Afterall they contributed to the dire situation the state is facing as I scolded the staff. They must work for their salaries or have none, period. If you have bought government assets I would not take them back but simply increase the taxes and the rates of your statutory obligations until you have had enough and voluntarily leave.

Amosun is simply a head, the problem is not his only, it belongs to the people as well. So he is merely whining on their behalf.

Thanks ekt-bear for being so objective

IMO, while a lot might have been left behind, I would imagine that the Gov. performs an internal audit on the states finances and see how indebted it is, and have as much information as he can. When he has all this info, he can then spill the info publicly and at the same time offer solutions to the problems. Rather than continually saying "we don't have money for salaries" how about make solutions to actually paying those salaries. As far as I'm concerned, he's just complaining a whole lot. If I were him, I will seek out solutions on how to address the problem rather than spill every bean out in public.

Enough about all these ACN governors ranting. WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE!! it's the reality. When Tinubu finished his 8 years as governor of Lagos. What did he leave in the state coffers? (Empty!! ) nobody mentioned the huge debt profile of Lagos when he handed over to Fash , but because it was AC to AC /god father to god son no witch hunting not go around d state or country exposing Tinubu fleecing of the coffers of the state but the genius tinubu who continues to fleece lagos on the hand over day outlines to Fash how he can generate money - TAX!! he outlines it clearly and also noted areas where the Federal government owed Lagos. So let the ACN governors who have given the PDP governors excuses too not to want to pay the minimum wage to rise up to the challenge and begin to work instead of complaing. The governors still get their security vote and fat allowances yet they dont remember they state is indebted . Pay the minimum wage!!! Rubbish, our politicians are just greedy!!

@blackboy
were you the accountant-general of lagos under tinubu or the commisioner of finance?a lot of people keep painting tinubu as the devil without critically assessing the situation he was in.the large debt profile of lagos didnt start with tinubu.lagos has almost always been in debt.even olagunsoye oyinlola who said there was no laterite to build roads took loans on behalf of lagos state.by 2003,tinubu was the only AD governor in nigeria.it was the personal vendetta of obasanjo to win lagos in that election but after loosing it,it became his mission to frustrate tinubu's government.do many of you people who call tinubu unprintable names actually realise that the allocation of lagos was withheld for more than two years because tinubu created more local governments in-line with constituitionl procedure?have you given a thought to how tinubu was able to keep the government running during that time while still been able to keep working in capital projects?do you realise those funds were eventually released to fashola?this means tinubu had no access to federal allocation for almost three years but he still kept paying salaries(albeit late) to the largest state workforce in nigeria.i do agree that his second term wasnt as eventful as the first but we all know he was handicapped by lack of funds which resulted from the illegal witholding of the federal allocation by obasanjo.but it was during thaty second term he created the blueprint fashola spent his first term implementing.it was during that second term he increased IGR to lmost 7billion monthly which of course has allowed fashola work effectively.many people donot realise the BRT,light rail concept was started by tinubu.it was the priority of the tinubu administration to decongest traffic hotspots like oshodi,ketu etc for smooth operations of the BRT.during fashola's inauguration in 2007,tinubu made the symbolic action of handing over the blueprint as a sign of the new face of lagos which fashola has been able to successfully implement.i am not saying tinubu is a saint,but he definitely has proven that he has the willpower to make a difference and he is doing that.if he gains politically and financially from his actions,good for him.the most important thing is that his actions have given us better alternative than the PDP hegemony.
In my uninformed opinion,tinubu was the best governor in nigeria from 1999-2007 and he became the devil for fashola to become the saint.if the IGR still remined at a paltry 2billion,where will fashola get the funds?tinubu ensured that lgos had a healthy debt ratio which is why lagos is a good loan/grant candidate even within international cycles.if you want to criticize tinubu,please do so with sincerity

@blackboy
were you the accountant-general of lagos under tinubu or the commisioner of finance?a lot of people keep painting tinubu as the devil without critically assessing the situation he was in.the large debt profile of lagos didnt start with tinubu.lagos has almost always been in debt.even olagunsoye oyinlola who said there was no laterite to build roads took loans on behalf of lagos state.by 2003,tinubu was the only AD governor in nigeria.it was the personal vendetta of obasanjo to win lagos in that election but after loosing it,it became his mission to frustrate tinubu's government.do many of you people who call tinubu unprintable names actually realise that the allocation of lagos was withheld for more than two years because tinubu created more local governments in-line with constituitionl procedure?have you given a thought to how tinubu was able to keep the government running during that time while still been able to keep working in capital projects?do you realise those funds were eventually released to fashola?this means tinubu had no access to federal allocation for almost three years but he still kept paying salaries(albeit late) to the largest state workforce in nigeria.i do agree that his second term wasnt as eventful as the first but we all know he was handicapped by lack of funds which resulted from the illegal witholding of the federal allocation by obasanjo.but it was during thaty second term he created the blueprint fashola spent his first term implementing.it was during that second term he increased IGR to lmost 7billion monthly which of course has allowed fashola work effectively.many people donot realise the BRT,light rail concept was started by tinubu.it was the priority of the tinubu administration to decongest traffic hotspots like oshodi,ketu etc for smooth operations of the BRT.during fashola's inauguration in 2007,tinubu made the symbolic action of handing over the blueprint as a sign of the new face of lagos which fashola has been able to successfully implement.i am not saying tinubu is a saint,but he definitely has proven that he has the willpower to make a difference and he is doing that.if he gains politically and financially from his actions,good for him.the most important thing is that his actions have given us better alternative than the PDP hegemony.
In my uninformed opinion,tinubu was the best governor in nigeria from 1999-2007 and he became the devil for fashola to become the saint.if the IGR still remined at a paltry 2billion,where will fashola get the funds?tinubu ensured that lgos had a healthy debt ratio which is why lagos is a good loan/grant candidate even within international cycles.if you want to criticize tinubu,please do so with sincerity

Delafruita:

In my uninformed opinion,tinubu was the best governor in nigeria from 1999-2007 and he became the devil for fashola to become the saint.

I am starting to believe this myself. I don't think Lagos State was the 5th largest economy in sub-Saharan Africa in 1999, for example. Yet it probably was by the time Tinubu left office. . . highly unlikely that all of the progress happened under Fashola's tenure.

Tinubu has a very bad rap for some reason, and I think a lot of it might be undeserved.