ballabriggs: I read Labaran Maku's response to Obiageli Ezekwesili's lecture at the University of Nigeria Nsukka and I find it quite foolish and unintelligent. I majored in International Capital flows and Finance and I must confess I have never in my life read such a lame defence by anyone on a nations depleting reserves. Fact is Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and Ngozi Okonjo Iweala could never have come out to give such a foolish response. If they try it, they lose their reputation as every knowledgeable Economist would have questioned their knowledge.

So it was a case of who shall we send and it had to be no other than the low life called Labaran Maku. RIP Labaran Maku, you have no life.

In Private Jets For Jesus By Sonala Olumhense

omowolewa: Maku is just too intellectually unsound for such debate.

He should just face his good governance tour and forget any debate on bad governance.

Wsdm: If a Muslim says the truth they call him boko haram , a Christian says the truth they call him anti Christ, a politician they call him opposition, a former president they call him confused man, another tribe they call him ethnic bigot and now an expert on who's eyes you squandered these unpatriotic money is talking and you think you can cover up as usual. 'Oya' fix a date for an intellectual display if you have any truth.

tete7000: Is this not the woman that crippled unity schools during her time as education m
inister? For me the woman doesn't deserve accolades she is being given. Obasanjo govt in which she served was hardly better than the present govt and as ministers in different ministies I don't know what her legacies were.

Afam4eva: Soludo and Oby Ezekwesili are wicked human beings. They always challenge people that don't measure up to debates so that they will embarrass them. Maku should better apologize, so that he'll be left alone.

CHIMCO: National Assembly needs to call them to clear the Citizens they represent . Such a big observations cannot be swept under the carpet.

Wsdm: If a Muslim says the truth they call him boko haram , a Christian says the truth they call him anti Christ, a politician they call him opposition, a former president they call him confused man, another tribe they call him ethnic bigot and now an expert on who's eyes you squandered these unpatriotic money is talking and you think you can cover up as usual. 'Oya' fix a date for an intellectual display if you have any truth.

deletrue: My first question to you is that must jona offer every nigerians ministerial and other appointments? It is all about frustrations that is pulling you and the soil of Obiageli down. You think people will just be appointed just for the fun of it. You people should go and do other things to earn a living. just mention any of her achievements during her time. Lazy and empty individuals.

jamace: Maku should just hide himself o. I dont wanna witness another mother of all battles debates, the Saddam Hussein way, only for Saddam to be dug out of a tunnel, sorry bunker, like a bush rat, without firing a shot. He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day.

berem: So because they are intelligent makes them wicked? na their fault say dem sabi book?

ocelot2006: Maku erred on this one. Why the personal attacks when he should have addressed the allegation leveled against the govt?

frodobee: Is it too much to ask for?

tete7000: And if I may ask: How many debates did her own govt honoured? Pot calling kettle black. Hypocrites.

Sincere 9gerian: It remains to be seen how low the anti-GEJ cabal will sink all in attempt to discredit this govt. The FACTS available shows conclusively that Maku was right while Oby was wrong. But I understand the desperation of the HATERS, to the extent that even if the DEVIL himself criticises GEJ today, they'll be willing to side with the DEVIL just to discredit this govt.

The facts speak for itself and the truth can never be far from those who seek the truth. Out of several reports that showed the level of our foreign reserve and excess crude account as it 2007, I reproduced some below.

This first report was on August 2007:

"Interestingly recently at his screening for ministerial appointment on the floor of the National Assembly, the new Minister of Finance, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman who was then a nominee and deputy Governor of the Central Bank was alleged by a section of the media to have disclosed that only $8.8 billion (N1.1 trillion) of the reported $43.6 billion foreign exchange reserve is available to the three tiers of government.

In his comment, which was misconstrued, Dr. Usman actually said on the foreign reserve: “There is so much confusion about this. People say we have $43 billion in cash and people think that the same amount of$43.6 billion should be spent. If you break down this $43 billion, about $31 billion or 71 per cent ofthis amount belongs to the CBN…So; all the three tiers of government have shared this $31 billion and spent the money. The $31 billion of this money is not available for spending. $2.3 billion of that also belongs to the Federal Government. The only amount available in the Federation Account for distribution, which is so-called excess crude, as at this time (July 2007), is about $9.9 billion? And there are some transactions that are in the pipeline, of about a $1 billion…So net; you are talking of about $8.8 billion. That is the amount to be distributed. If you translate that amount into Naira, that is just about N1.1 trillion.

.....Assembly, the CBN later clarified the position stating that the external reserve as at LAST MONTH (June 2007) stood at $43.6bn and not the $8.8bn reported by some sectionsof the media. The Head, CorporateAffairs, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr.Festus Odoko, said the fact that the new Minister for Finance, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman, said that only $8.8bn remained for sharing did not mean that the country’s external reserves were only $8.8bn. According to him, the $8.8bn referred to the excess crude oil account that was available for sharing.

http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/yushau-shuaib/riddles-over-foreign-reserve-and-excess-crude-account.html

How then did Ezekwesili arrive at $67billion as the total reserve left by OBJ?