Wonders will never end in Nigeria.
Imagine FAAN  using a whopping sum of  N128M  to clear grass  at Lagos Airport alone.
How big is the area covered by grass at the airport?
Who awarded the contract and to whom?
Is EFCC hearing this?

The Story:
http://www.independentng.com/news/nndec280501.htm

''Officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) are grumbling over the award of 12 contracts at the Murtala Mohammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, by Aviation Minister, Babalola Borisade.

The total value is N56,887,935.84

Two of the contracts were awarded to two separate contractors for the clearing of bush and grass around Runway 36R at the airport.

The three grass clearing contracts amount to N128 million.


The wife of a serving minister (name withheld) was named as the person behind two of the contract awards...........''

@ cONSCIENCE

I beg let me print the news and read wellll before i comment.

Akolawole:

@ cONSCIENCE

I beg let me print the news and read wellll before i comment.

Akolawole my brother,
Please print it, read it and tell me how big the Airport is.
I will clear that grass for less than N1m, if it is the same Airport i know.
EFCC are  you there

Infantile nonsense...corruption at its highest ebb.128 milion to clear grass..even if it is igbo olodumare....believe me Nigeria is crazily blessed..why cant oil stop flowing in niger-delta to teach our leaders lesson about managing our resources.

Honestly i think our university should introduce finanacial management and prudence into the syllabus to make every aspiring public officer to learn

If oil stops flowing in the Niger Delta, the common man on the streets will suffer for many years before our leaders start suffering. Let us stop making careless statements.

Seun:

Let us stop making careless statements.

seun what careless statements are u refering to?

@Seun,

I think you are a bit hard on Rikkyjen. Deep down inside him, he is not cursing Nigeria, He thought "if we don't have Oil nko ?.

"Discovering Oil in the 70's attracts thieves into our polity".

@ Rikkyjen
No matter what, lets be positive about our country "e go better"

@ Conscience
Well, i can do that job for 800k. There is definitely going to be a reform in our aviation.

[b]NAIRALANDERS..[/b]I CRAVE YOUR INDULGENCE IN DEVIATING FROM THE TOPIC OF DISCUSSION

@ seun....i don't think the call for oil to stop flowing should  be termed careless.MR ADMIN..you will agree with me that oil has brought negativity than any other thing...oil flowing has caused endemic corruption,killings and agitations in the country[b](remember ogoni 9)[/b],this same oil has brought political instability almost making nigeria a place of lawlessness and fiefdom.

Did you go through the CIA report indicating nigerias breakup in 15 years time? then you will know what am saying about what oil is causing.why should the call for oil to stop flowing be termed careless.millions of nations don't have oil in the world and they are doing well...what am saying is this oil has brought corruption , endemic poverty into our midst

Let me refresh your mind,in the Pre 1970-s before the advent of oil,when cocoa,groundnut and other cash crops were our main source of income what was the GDP,Poverty level percentage,and GP,bet you have forgotten?Compared to now,when the oil market is booming..what has changed in our lives?DO you know malaysias source of external revenue is palm -oil and do you know the palm oil were taken from nigeria and planted in malaysia...they are no more ranked as third world nations ,why? because they harnessed their resources and managed well or do they have crude oil?

Seun:Do u mean without oil the common man will suffer ..what?Look nigerias problem is mis management,do you think even if all the lands,and our beaches turn into oil,do you think corruption and poverty will decline.HELL NO...Infact the common man will become more wretched than now.because the largesse will still be mismanaged

If oil should stop flowing this minute,nigeria will explore and harness its remaining resources and am sure everything will be better..who told you we are only blessed with oil..what about limestones in benue,coals in enugu,tins in jos...what are we saying then?.look IF oil ceasing will bring political stability,reduce corruption,improve living conditions..then my first prayer point in 2006 will be that all our oil wells should dry up!!!!! yes i repeat dry up!!!!

[b]@ seun,[/b]peoples statements should not be termed careless afterall they are opinions which we are all free to be entitled to.I REST MY CASE

rikkyjen:


[b]@ seun,[/b]peoples statements should not be termed careless afterall they are opinions which we are all free to be entitled to.I REST MY CASE

rikkyjen, You have made your point, and i am of the opinion that there is just no need joining issues with individuals here.
That is my stand QED.

Even if a herd of specially trained grass-eating armadillos had been flown over from Texas in family groups of 4 aboard individual chartered private jets for the purpose of grazing Lagos airport's expensive grass, it is unlikely the cost for their landscaping services would amount to a fractional hundredth of the 128M bill presented.

The time-honored  Nigerian tradition of creative accounting is indeed alive and well at Lagos Airport.

Jakumo:

Even if a herd of specially trained grass-eating armadillos had been flown over from Texas in family groups of 4 aboard individual chartered private jets for the purpose of grazing Lagos airport's expensive grass, it is unlikely the cost for their landscaping services would amount to a fractional hundredth of the 128M bill presented.

The time-honored Nigerian tradition of creative accounting is indeed alive and well at Lagos Airport.

Very funny but TRUE TRUE TRUE. Imagine!some things can only happen in Nigeria. 128M and some people will say obj is trying.

well we are surely winning the anti corruption war; and let me again say that i am also of the opinion that crude oil and gas should cease to flow in Nigeria. Yes Seun is right in a way, the poor will suffer as they have always done but in the long run we all will be delivered.

yes oh otokx we are surely winning the war against corruption. Afterall we are using millions to clear grass

it could have been million of dollars; perharps the due process committee made sure it was in Naira

Otokx..what's the diffrence between money in dollars and Naira?O'l boy my gateman go clear the whole airport plus half of Ikeja for 300,000 Naira

If at all this headline is true, I think we need to know the details of the contract before people start to say negative things and looking for who to crucify. For instance, is it just a one-off contract or is it to run for many years?

I work abroad, in an industry where several miilions of dollars is spent annually on vegetation maintenance around infrastructures. This maitenance involves constant clearing and weed-killing as the need arises and ensures that a company is always taking care of that aspect of things, instead of awarding another contract every year - fire fighting approach.

I am sure the vegetation around the airport(s) needs maintaning, for as long as the airport(s) is/are functional. If this contract is for the long-term maintenace of vegetation, then it is a good thing (as it eliminates the fire fighting approach we are all used to) and it is better to look at it in terms of overall value-for-money rather than just looking at the total contract sum.

Guys stealing is stealing which ever way we look at it big or small, Naira or Dollar, decreased or increased. Our leaders are still drunk with stealing, obsessed with embezzling and knock out with corruption and it will take our collective effort to change that and this must, can only be done if we are all sincere in Nigeria at least to our individual selves.

For instance, We have our prisons overpopulated, chocked to the brim with criminals sentenced with hard labour, the only thing hard is their rough life against one another in their cell rooms. They eat, drink and humiliate each other which is their hard labor, can't we at least use them free of charge to do these jobs? They can clear the grass, plough our farms that can feed this nation, even build schools and hospitals and at the end of it all they have learnt a means to livelihood.

Our leaders are just toying around with us because that is parallel hierarchy, that is what we are suposed to be their toys!!!!

Believe me our problem is that the system is designed to engage us instead of allowing us to think. We cannot think but play the game of follow the leader, simple.

@babagana. Abi oh my brother. Have you heard about the Marwa issue again? EFCC has detained him too. I say its because of his presidential ambition. Like you said they are just toying with us.

http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=36802


Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, said yesterday that the detention and investigation of former Military Administrator of Lagos State, Brigadier-General Buba Marwa (rtd), was triggered by what he described as an "international jurisdiction" which was referred to his agency from abroad.
Ribadu, who stated that Marwa was under what he called 'legal custody', told newsmen at the Presidential Wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos that the case against the Albarka Airlines chairman was the first serious one in connection with money looted and stashed abroad by the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha.
Asked why it took the EFCC such a long time to uncover the alleged connection of Marwa, Ribadu retorted: "Which Abacha case has happened before? Which one? This is the first serious case we are taking in respect of Abacha.
"Look, Nigerians will see what we are going to do soon, and this case is not even here. It was something that came from abroad. It was referred to EFCC by an international jurisdiction. The issue is, we know what we are doing. When we are ready, you will see us. We are going to go public. He is in legal custody", he said.
On whether the EFCC is at a crossroad over Marwa, Ribadu said: "We are never at a crossroads with anything in whatever we are doing; we are professionals. We work hard until we establish a case, and the day we are comfortable with our case, you see us going to court like all the other cases we have handled before. So, this one is not going to be different."
Marwa has been in the EFCC custody since last Friday over alleged link with the Abacha loot.
His ordeal, his lawyers from the chambers of Chief Afe Babalola claimed, might have political undertone since, according to them, nothing had so far linked him with the account-holding part of the Abacha loot.
The EFCC is holding Marwa on the allegation that he is in possession of some of the funds looted by Abacha, an allegation he had denied 2001 when it was first investigated and dropped for lack of evidence.
Marwa was the last Military Administrator of Lagos State before the advent of democratic rule in 1999. He is a member of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and has since declared his presidential ambition for 2007.


In a related development, Ribadu who also fielded questions on the alleged corruption in the aviation industry, particularly yesterday's report that about N128 million was spent on grass cutting by the management of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), said the organisation would come under EFCC searchlight.
"We are going to FAAN to unearth the allegation of corruption. It is a sector that is vital. Some of the corruption is responsible for the accidents and crashes we have had in some weeks. I can confirm to you, we will invite some of the CEOs for interrogation", he stated.

@Alheri
I couldn't agree more with you. This EFCC is beginning to look like the joke of the century to me.
WTF do FAAN mean by awarding this kind of contract for N128Million? And the EFCC are turning a blind eye!
Nigeria is a very strange place, I tell you.

@skyjuice
Sorry, I didn't notice your response(bout efcc and faan), but the fact remains that most of their "interrogations" have a political undertone.

Hey guys,
Lets look at Sesan2's post.
It is better to look at things from all angles.
Lets know the details of the contract.
But if it is one_off, this not even WhiteElephant Project, it is Yellow Lion's project.


For you guys who don't believe in this administration's Anti-corruption campaign, Congratulations, afterall thias is the only regime that EXPOSE quite a lot of Corrupt practises.


For people that says OBJ picks on his Political enemies as a sacrifice for 3rd term bid, fine !, Are those political enemies is or have been involved with Loot ?


Mr CIA Report,
To hell with Yankee and their Report. God owns us NOT Americans.

Is OBJ himself not invovled in looting? Wasnt his late wife a looter? are all his children and in-laws not enjoying in the loot? Look Akolawole, nobody is saying those people havent looted. All we're saying is why the selective prosecution? It is always people who are against him or people who have fallen out of favour with him that EFCC is persecuting. That is why we said they are trying to toy with us.

OPEN LETTER TO OBJ/Minister of Aviation.

Please re-evaluate contracts to a panel and let us have some kind of bidding system for these contracts. The best bang for or Tax payer money, is in our national interest. Using nearly $1million to cut grass even for a long period of time is absolutely ridiculos. I am sure they can also throw in filling the potholes on the runway as a bonus for that amount.

OBJ is a criminal and i am glad i can say that without fear of prosecution.
Kokscity will love to see some of these our " so called leaders" flogged in public.

Miss Alheri.

It will be better  if you tell us what OBJ steal and what Stella steal.



Your name will be written in gold in this country if you can unveil this

e fit be say the 'grass' na 'elephant grass' .

We have to really take a look at the type of grass in question. Y'know, there's are some type of grass wey be say them fit kill person when you cut am with matchette....kind of forbidden grass. Maybe na dat kind of grass wey dem go cut. Na im make wey the money take plenty like that.

Em, that na my own view on this matter!

@ono, we should not joke about such matters you know, these people have taken us for a ride for a long time now. $1m for grass cutting in Nigeria, very ridiculous.

It is funny though how @MMK is defending OBJ on such matters, I wish @conscience will be in this forum anyway.
Must @alheri give facts before we all believe what we have read in the papers already about OBJ's son, wife and so on?

sometimes it is not everything you read in the papers you should believe. The much rated www.elendureports.com made a fool of themselves when they tried to pin Dr Okonjo-Iweala with corruption and a lot of people were poised to believe that crap too.

The fact of the matter is that The President has luadable plans but his men are all coprrupt and bad thus his plans may not work cos the people to impliment them are bad. Take example the porverty eradication program under Mr Fix it.........

Yes @whiteshark I know but you see we should not let sentiments delude our sense of judgements we must call a spade by its name. But check out this response

MMK:

Miss Alheri.

It will be better if you tell us what OBJ steal and what Stella steal.

This is not how we should focus by creating issues out of nothing. Well I guess I better leave @alheri to make her own case. As for me OBJ sorrounded by bad LT's doesn't make him a good leader anyway. After all, if the rest of them are good and he is bad they will remove him so it is only logical to expect same from him and not chasing shadows and interests.

We are waiting for Miss Alheri o.

Waaaaasup! am back. Now back to the OBJ family loot issue. I lost my sister in August this year and before she died she was an accountant with the office of the accountant general posted to the protocol dept. of the Aso rock. She was working right inside the villa and was in a position to notice all the happenings and going ons in that place. She used to work late alot of times and that was because they some times had to stay late to do the account books. According to her, in their very own eyes some times 3 truck loads of money(cash) were conveyed to unknown destinations. Some times they were asked to change figures in the books and told not to ask questions.

One of the Abebes was my neighbour in Abuja in the Legislative quaters where i used to stay with my family before i got married and moved to lagos. She now leaves in High brow maitama area near the Hilton hotel in Abuja, a house she built by looted money given to her by her in-law stella. Her daughter told us this, so this is not hearsay. The contract of the Asokoro-Nyanya-Nasarawa road was given to stella's brother since OBJ'S first term. It is yet to be completed(at least as at the last time i was in Abuja,.which was in august ) and we dont see EFCC chasing him,do we?

There are so many other issues but let me just talk about the ones i can defend for now. OBJ and his people are all chopping, anyone who says it not true is only deceiving himself/herself and suffering from some kind of denial syndrome.

I rest my case.......For now!

well my dear, you know say them nor dey know finish. Even your sources can still be wrong in as much as there were right insdie the cooking pot.