oyinda.:

most pathetic youtube video i've ever seen in my life.

then u should haven't been on youtube very long

Beaf:

There doesn't seem to be anything hidden about the building; for the Lagos development it was different, I had concerns about sea encroachment and funding transparency; in this case the governor was 100% open. On this thread, SapeleGuy, Ono and a couple of others have also been forthcoming. So I have no qualms.
Maybe we can debate gov Sylva's decision to complete the building or keep its original purpose or not scale back cost or if it will ever make break even.

What? I have no idea why you are suddenly talking of things being hidden and  not hidden. I mean what exactly is the connection here? The case of the SHIP HOTEL was never really a hidden deal either. What are you talking about now?

Sincerely speaking, to be fair to Gov Slyva, he didn't build this project. Alameiyesiegha did. Gov. Sylva was faced with the task of determining what to do with this behemoth of a white elephant left to him by his predecessor.

Albeit, what a nasty presentation by the Gov. Why invite CNN?? Of what benefit is it to Bayelsa if the world sees such a project??

However, for all those critisizing the Gov, he does have some pretty good projects up his sleeve. Funnily Bayelsa state actually has the highest per capita GDP in the country. The indigenes are not at all experiencing poverty like is experiened in other parts of the country.

PapaBrowne:

Sincerely speaking, to be fair to Gov Slyva, he didn't build this project. Alameiyesiegha did. Gov. Sylva was faced with the task of determining what to do with this behemoth of a white elephant left to him by his predecessor.

Albeit, what a nasty presentation by the Gov. Why invite CNN?? Of what benefit is it to Bayelsa if the world sees such a project??

However, for all those critisizing the Gov, he does have some pretty good projects up his sleeve. Funnily Bayelsa state actually has the highest per capita GDP in the country. The indigenes are not at all experiencing poverty like is experiened in other parts of the country.

Dude, are you saying because he has some good projects, he should not be held accountable for the bad?

In essense, are you saying some like  "If Fashola does what he says he is going to do, then he will deserve credit. If he doesn't then you will be justified in your criticism. It is far too early for people to cricticize him on the FLOATING HOTEL scheme that he invested $40 million dollars in. As long as he, Fashola, delivers on other promises, then we ought to OVERLOOK the  FLOATING HOTEL scheme. Waste is OK as long as the governor delivers in other areas? "

So, are you saying that for an ND state, Bayelsa folks are doing pretty good and so the problems in the area does not really include them much? Cause that is what I expect to follow when you say that this small state has a high per capita GDP and the people are not all living in poverty.

What was the gov to do when he inherited this Elephant project? Would it have been more prudent to scrap the whole projectt considering large sum of money have been invested already?

Your argument is ridiculous.

All oil operations are owned 60% by the FG. Can Bayelsa give the FG an ultimatum?

The companies in Lagos aren't owned by the FG. You are quick to label people dumb and clueless, but you're showing little grasp of the situation on the ground.

Quit the absurdities. It is still the state's job to draft and enforce environmental laws. Obviously, you and the leaders in the delta have little or no knowledge per your enshrined legal capabilities.





New Lagos Model City Law Compounds Federal Secretariat Crisis.


While the landowners claimed that the land upon which the property is built was surrendered decades ago on the basis of its use for overriding public interest and should rightly revert to them if such use was no longer for the public, state officials argue that federal officials and the owners of the property must to go through a certain planning and development process before the intended transformation can even be considered for approval

http://happylagosian..com/2009/05/new-lagos-model-city-law-compounds.html

He inherited it sure, but he has plans to CONTINUE IT. Was I the only one who heard of the 18 hole golf course ? Does PUMPING MORE MONEY into a project like that make it more less of an elephant project? Or do we then accept that because he didn't start it, it is OK for him to continue it, with no need for us to hold him accountable in any way for his part in it?

Beaf and Sapele guys are unbelievable.

So it's not Sylva's job to clean up 'FG concerns' - the revenue Bayelsa gets - is it not from the same so called FG concerns??  

Let's even leave the issue of pollution - how many schools and hospitals can be built with 20billion? Isn't it Sylva's job to educate his people and provide medical facilities for them??

Unbelievable! Clearly this is why Nigeria is still in the state it is now - people are ok justifying things for the most ridiculous reasons.

Beaf:

@babapupa

Your argument is ridiculous.

All oil operations are owned 60% by the FG. Can Bayelsa give the FG an ultimatum?

The companies in Lagos aren't owned by the FG. You are quick to label people dumb and clueless, but you're showing little grasp of the situation on the ground.

Is the issue giving an ultimatum or beginning to solve people's problems? Does Bayelsa need the FG to tell it to build schools and hospitals?  

Does Bayelsa need the FG to supply drinking water?   People dying from preventable diseases - can 20billion not do something about it?

The most insanse thing about this is that people are justifying this on the basis that other people are doing such in their states - is that supposed to be justification? Another person wasting his state's resources makes it ok for Sylva to do so?

^
When did I argue with you about schools, hospitals and such stuff? Why are you being fucking dishonest and ascribing arguments or a slant I never made to me?

I have made my grouse quite plain, and it is simply that some like you were equating that building with the wider Niger Delta issue. Simple!

If you argue that Bayelsa is negligent because they haven't started fixing oil wells or digging around flow stations to sort out pollution, its either you're being mischievious, wicked or are just plain dull. Perhaps you don't even know that the oil companies are powerful enough to pass death sentences with impunity.

Debo,
You're too smart to be delivering this type of dull response ke, han han. You normally argue with facts, why join the bandwagon of people who sit in other places, do little or no research and come over here to show us how ignorant they are about the situation of things on ground. Go and edit that your response so that we can ''talk'' sensibly. I'm waiting. Got little time though.

If you think that Bayelsa can somehow go and start fixing oil wells or digging around flow stations, its either you're being mischievious, wicked or are just plain dull. Perhaps you don't even know that the oil companies are powerful enough to pass death sentences with impunity.

Please stop the deception, that's not what they're asking them to do. It is not their job to fix oil wells but it is their job to pass and enforce anti pollution laws. They have the power to fine and or lock up offending comps and we all know the reason why they're not doing it, they are simply in the pockets of the oil comps at the expense of delta folks.


lol @ Pass death sentences, e get as e be with your thinking and sense of rationalization sometimes.

babapupa:

Please stop the deception, that's not what they're asking them to do. It is not their job to fix oil wells but it is their job to pass and enforce anti pollution laws. They have the power to fine and or lock up offending comps and we all know the reason why they're not doing it, they are simply in the pockets of the oil comps at the expense of delta folks.

lol @ Pass death sentences, e get as e be with your thinking and sense of rationalization sometimes.

How clever! They can't touch the oil wells or flow stations, but they can "enforce" anti-pollution laws. You are the one obvious person on NL that hates ND people (and it shows), so without fail you come up with all sorts of weird and madcap ideas.

Death sentences? "Shell pays out $15.5m over Saro-Wiwa killing" http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/08/nigeria-usa
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/92632

Your other comment above was too ridiculous for me to expend energy on.

9ja politicians

How clever! They can't touch the oil wells or flow stations, but they can "enforce" anti-pollution laws. You are the one obvious person on NL that hates ND people (and it shows), so without fail you come up with all sorts of weird and madcap ideas.

Death sentences? "Shell pays out $15.5m over Saro-Wiwa killing" http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/08/nigeria-usa
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/92632

Your other comment above was too ridiculous for me to expend energy on.

You're quit to jump on and criticize other states and their leaders when they do wrong (Tho' sometimes your criticisms are baseless and without foundation) but will do anything to defend obvious BS and shameful practices by elected officials and other misguided people in the delta. 


Unnecessary defensiveness and blind ethnicism  by any means necessary is dangerous and counter productive. You are not helping yourself, your are not helping your people and Nigeria in general.


Do you hate other states when you point out their shortcomings? You're making no damn sense.


Ken (RIP) was not a lawmaker, he didn't have law making and enforcement capabilities, he was not the CEO of any state so it was easy for the government and the oil comps to get to him and your local leaders didn't say or do anything to save Ken because they were all complicit, they were part of the system that killed Ken, they were all in the pockets of the oil comps.


One more time, each state in Nigeria has law making and enforcement capabilities and as pointed out, other states are doing it, Delta leaders are not doing it because they are on the take and they always have been. They just don't give a sh*t.

That's just the sad truth my friend. Deal with it!!

ono:

Debo,
You're too smart to be delivering this type of dull response ke, han han. You normally argue with facts, why join the bandwagon of people who sit in other places, do little or no research and come over here to show us how ignorant they are about the situation of things on ground. Go and edit that your response so that we can ''talk'' sensibly. I'm waiting. Got little time though.

I will only say these types of things when someone thinks the problem is ONLY in Abuja with the FG and oil companies while a governor is frittering away $30m monthly on spurious projects.

Beaf:

^
When did I argue with you about schools, hospitals and such stuff? Why are you being fucking dishonest and ascribing arguments or a slant I never made to me?

I have made my grouse quite plain, and it is simply that some like you were equating that building with the wider Niger Delta issue. Simple!

If you argue that Bayelsa is negligent because they haven't started fixing oil wells or digging around flow stations to sort out pollution, its either you're being mischievious, wicked or are just plain dull. Perhaps you don't even know that the oil companies are powerful enough to pass death sentences with impunity.

The building is highly SYMPTOMATIC of the wider ND issue whether you like it or not - State governors are stakeholders of the public commonwealth - they are just as culpable as the FG if they waste hard earned resources on frivolous projects instead of doing things to improve the lot of the people. They collect 30% of oil revenue - if that cannot make a difference, what will??  

It is very 'narrow minded' of you to talk as if pollution is the ONLY problem of the ND when other useful alternatives to a pointless glory land misadventure exist.

My point still stands - if the state governments properly manage their income (in the case of Bayelsa $30m) the lot of the ND indigenes will be far better than it is now.

That is the comment I made, which led you to go on a tangent talking about the FG. The FG is not telling Sylva to waste his state's income. Unless you are saying $30m or 20billion cannot make a difference, then you have no point.

@babapupa and debosky

I am not defending gov Sylva, you can critisise him till kingdom come. I have not for once said in any argument on this thread that Graceland is not controversial, so go on and criticise it, but lets keep to honest arguments.

I truly pity babapupa for not realising that Saro Wiwa was the most powerful leader in the ND when he was executed by the FG in collussion with big oil. I really pity such ignorance. Nobody was more peaceful or intellectual than Saro Wiwa, there was no greater respecter of life. Nigeria got kicked out of the Common Wealth for that crime.

I have kept harping on one thing throughout; keep gov Sylva's issues to him and stop insinuating that ND people's plight is due to him; the wider Niger Delta issue is recognised the World over as a shameful humanitarian crisis perpetrated on the inhabitants of the ND by their own FG. Only daft people blame the ND for its problems; hear a powerful US voice:

All this serves to confirm the assessment of U.S. military officers, who increasingly have come to believe that the principal obstacle to a resolution of Nigeria's continuing crisis is the Nigerian government itself and that the Nigerian elite is bent on committing suicide by continuing its efforts to hold on to power by military force.

Daniel Volman is the Director of the African Security Research Project in Washington, DC. He is the author of numerous articles and reports and has been studying U.S. security policy toward Africa and African security issues for more than 30 years.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200909140002.html

Beaf:


I have kept harping on one thing throughout; keep gov Sylva's issues to him and stop insinuating that ND people's plight is due to him; the wider Niger Delta issue is recognised the World over as a shameful humanitarian crisis perpetrated on the inhabitants of the ND by their own FG. Only daft people blame the ND for its problems; hear a powerful US voice:

Any analysis that fails to recognise the abject FAILURE in a DECADE (10 years) of earning 30% of oil revenues by the STATE GOVERNMENTS with little impact is ridiculous and cannot hold any substance. If 10 years of resources have been wasted, it is foolishness of the highest order to blame the FG alone when the states have done little if anything to improve the situation except stealing ridiculous sums of money (Ibori, Alams and others) and building wasteful buildings.

In case you missed it, the 'Nigerian government' and 'Nigerian elite' inextricably includes the STATE GOVERNMENTS. Again, no one is blaming the 'ND people' (whatever that means) for their problems - the fact remains that if you cannot call people who control 30% of oil receipts to account, you have to accept some responsibility for that failure.

I CANNOT keep Sylva's issue to him - he is not a private individual, he is the governor of the poorest and least developed ND state who is spending ridiculous amounts on pointless projects instead of lifting his people out of poverty. He is as culpable as anyone else and very much a part of the ND problem by his actions.

debosky:

I CANNOT keep Sylva's issue to him - he is not a private individual, he is the governor of the poorest and least developed ND state who is spending ridiculous amounts on pointless projects instead of lifting his people out of poverty. He is as culpable as anyone else and very much a part of the ND problem by his actions.

Poorest ,how? Please define,thanks

illusion2:

Poorest ,how? Please define,thanks

Poorest in terms of quality of life - low educational attainment, low medical penetration, lack of infrastructure and so much more - compared to any of the other ND states, it is clearly behind.

^Do you know that up till today that state is not connected to the national eletricity power grid? Does that hint at something?

Beaf:

^Do you know that up till today that state is not connected to the national eletricity power grid? Does that hint at something?

And what has the state done in the meantime? I mean with 30 million a month in revenue, you could do much in the way of providing electricity.

debosky:

Any analysis that fails to recognise the abject FAILURE in a DECADE (10 years) of earning 30% of oil revenues by the STATE GOVERNMENTS with little impact is ridiculous and cannot hold any substance.

That is false. Abi na ignorance?

Kobojunkie:

And what has the state done in the meantime? I mean with 30 million a month in revenue, you could do much in the way of providing electricity.

Of course Bayelsa generated its own electricity up till 2006 (correction to my previous statement). Since 2006 till January, residents got free electricity, paid for by the state.

Does a 30 million monthly revenue (in the past few years) absolve the FG from connecting a region that is its breadbasket with a basic thing like electricity, at the very least and after 46 years of independence?

Beaf:

Of course Bayelsa generates its own electricity.
Does a 30 million monthly revenue (in the past few years) absolve the FG from connecting a region that is its breadbasket with a basic thing like electricity, at the very least and after 49 years of independence?

Who here is talking of absolving the Federal government? Mind you, the same FG denies other states access to electricity as well, so can we please stop playing the “WE ARE THE ULTIMATE VICTIMS HERE” card and deal with things as they are. Any state that has access to 30 million a month ought to be spending that amount on developing itself. Even states with less ought to do the same with what little they get each month, so I don’t know what exactly your argument here is.

^Note: the statement you've quoted has been edited.

What makes you think Bayelsa isn't developing

I truly pity babapupa for not realising that Saro Wiwa was the most powerful leader in the ND when he was executed by the FG in collussion with big oil. I really pity such ignorance. Nobody was more peaceful or intellectual than Saro Wiwa, there was no greater respecter of life. Nigeria got kicked out of the Common Wealth for that crime.

The Ignorance is obviously the other way around. Sounds like you're hallucinating too.

Are we debating Ken's peaceful  nature or the fact that delta region leaders didn't raise a finger when he was getting railroaded, instead, they colluded to have him killed. He got killed because his justified and rightful activism was disrupting environmental desegregation, your leaders and the fed's free flow of stolen crude and money."

We all know the wider Niger Delta issue is recognized as a shameful humanitarian crisis, it is also recognized as a mismanaged region full of corrupt elected officials and sons of the soil. That; you can not run away from or sweep under the carpet.

The feds are not gonna tie your shoes for you or tell you how to build roads, clinics, schools and hospitals with your money, that's the responsibility of your elected officials.

Delta region leaders are the most prolific looters in Nigeria,


Ibori is from the same region right?

Alamco is from the same region right?

Odili is from the same region right?

And Timipreye Silva is equally corrupt,


You really don't sound to me like an honest person, you've brainwashed your self into thinking and believing that all the ills in the delta leads to Abuja and the delta region is leaderless. Also that money/resources stolen by the likes of Ibori and Alams doesn't belong to the people of the delta and they don't have to account for it. They don't have to lift a finger to protect their people and environment, they don't have to build schools and hospitals, it's all the evil federal government's fault/Job.

Yeah, only daft, disingenuous and dangerous people blames just the feds for the problems in the delta.

debosky:

Poorest in terms of quality of life - low educational attainment, low medical penetration, lack of infrastructure and so much more - compared to any of the other ND states, it is clearly behind.

These have to do with development. . .so they're arguably the LEAST DEVELOPED not poorest. Like someone posted earlier ,they have one of the highest per capita income(if not the highest) in Nigeria. . .  .so the state isn't 'poor'. It may be a matter of semantics,but you need to make your points clearer  

How is it false?

ND states collect 13% derivation - add to that statutory allocations and local government funds and you get a figure close to 30%.

@babapupa

So ND people killed Saro Wiwa too? Jesus!

Did you drink your quota of milk as a child?

debosky:

How is it false?
ND states collect 13% derivation - add to that statutory allocations and local government funds and you get a figure close to 30%.

Debo ,your maths may not be entirely accurate

debosky:

How is it false?

ND states collect 13% derivation - add to that statutory allocations and local government funds and you get a figure close to 30%.

This link will put an end to your mathmatical dilemma and fix the figure firmly at 13% http://www.dawodu.com/aluko10.htm

So ND people killed Saro Wiwa too? Jesus!

Feel free to spin as much as you want, what ever makes you snore louder at night.

Tell me precisely what your elected officials did to save his life.  


I wrote more than that, but as usual, deception and  factual fraud dey bother you,