₦airaland Forum

Ovamboland: This is the line sold to confuse and deceive people like you, don't you know USA became world power and industrial giant on the back of cheap energy prices when its fuel prices were cheaper by a factor of 3 or 4 compared to Europe.

Only ignorance will not make you not see the dislocating and poverty promoting policy been pursued by unbridled fuel importation as Nigeria is about the only large crude exporting country that cannot refine enough fuel for domestic use , what a shame. Lives too many are dependent on price of fuel, inefficient generators for small businesses, public transport dislocations that you don't remove such subsidy carelessly.

Are you not ashamed that a whole government cannot or is not willing to defend or enforce it' own economic policies and is willing to surrender to so-called cabals who happen to be it's biggest friends and financiers of it's elections. The activities of this cabal would have led to firing squad or gallows in some other countries but our government presents these economic saboteurs as untouchable while the masses can be dealt with at will. I will try and avoid the regional slant where parts of the country that always participated in agitation to maintain subsidy suddenly became champions of its removal

HiiiPower: 17. Professor Lola Young (b. 1951)
Academic
‘My motivation for participating in this kind of work is that we are not simply discussing a series of comforting or disturbing images but attempting to discover what might be read off about a particular moment in a culture of society from the way in which these (meta-) narratives are constructed and disseminated, and the impact on social relations of these representations and the cultural forms in which they appear’.

Born to Nigerian parents in the UK in 1951. Studied drama at New College of Speech and Drama in London and after acting experience in the theatre and television, attended Middlesex University. Continuing with post-graduate courses, she began teaching and cites her greatest achievement as being one of the very few black women appointed as a university professor in the UK. Lola Young is Professor of Cultural Studies at Middlesex University.
http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/about/photographs-collection/national-photographic-record/black-power-photographs-by-donald-maclellan.php

SirShymex: And Ghana has more MPs...but the mad thing about them is that they are all in the conservative party lol.

- Adam Afriyie.
- Sam Gyimah.
- Kwasi Kwarteng.

Ghanaians have been selling out black folks since 1600!

Helen Grant (born 28 September 1961)[2] is a British Conservative Party politician and solicitor. She is the current Member of Parliament for Maidstone and The Weald in Kent and the current Minister for Sport and Equalities. She was elected at the 2010 general election, replacing the constituency's previous incumbent, Ann Widdecombe, who had decided to step down as an MP. Grant was the first black woman to be selected to defend a Tory seat and her election made her the Conservatives' first female black MP.[3]

Grant received her first government appointment in September 2012, when she received the dual roles of Under-Secretary of State for Justice and Under-Secretary for Women and Equalities. Grant attracted media attention in November 2012 after it emerged she was allowed to claim the maximum expenses allowed within the IPSA rules for a London flat, despite her family home being within 20 miles of London.

Grant was born in Willesden, north London to an English mother and Nigerian father, but grew up in a single parent family after her parents separated and her father emigrated to the United States.[4][5]

Chi Onwurah[1] (born 12 April 1965)[2] is a British Labour Party politician, who was elected at the 2010 general election as the Member of Parliament for Newcastle upon Tyne Central, replacing the previous Labour MP Jim Cousins, who decided to step down and left the seat.[3] She is Newcastle's first black MP

Chuka Harrison Umunna (born 17 October 1978) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Streatham since 2010 and the Shadow Business Secretary since 2011.[1]

John Abraham Godson (né Godson Chikama Onyekwere; born 25 November 1970) is a Polish politician, a university teacher and a former Pentecostal minister. He is a Polish, independent Member of Parliament

HiiiPower: Name: Baroness Margaret Omolola Young.
Ethnicity: British Nigerian
Party: Crossbench
Lola Young, Baroness Young of Hornsey
https://www.totalpolitics.com/article_images/articledir_324/162097/1_articleimage.jpg
Lola Young, Baroness Young of Hornsey, OBE (born Margaret Omolola Young, 1 June 1951) is a British actress, author, and Crossbench peer.
Young was educated at the Parliament Hill School for Girls in London and went then to the New College of Speech and Drama, where she received a diploma in dramatic art in 1975, and a teaching certificate one year later. In 1988 she graduated from Middlesex Polytechnic with a Bachelor of Arts in Contemporary Cultural Studies.
Young worked as a professional actress from 1976 to 1984, and had been a residential social worker in the London Borough of Islington from 1971 to 1973. Her most prominent role as an actress was in children's sitcom Metal Mickey which ran from 1980 to 1983. In 1985, she became co-director and training and development manager at the Haringey Arts Council, a post she held until 1989.
From 1990 to 1992, Young was lecturer in media studies at the Polytechnic of West London. In the following she was lecturer, senior lecturer, principal lecturer, Professor of cultural studies and in the end Emeritus professor at the Middlesex University. In 1995 she published Fear of the Dark: Race, Gender and Sexuality in Cinema.
Young became Project director of the Archives and Museum of Black Heritage in 1997, she was Commissioner in the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts in the years 2000 and 2001, and Chair at Nitro Theatre Company in 2004.
Young was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2001 New Year Honours.
From 2001 to 2004 she was head of culture at the Greater London Authority, following which she was created a life peer on 22 June 2004 taking the title Baroness Young of Hornsey of Hornsey in the London Borough of Haringey.
Other public appointments have included English Heritage’s Blue Plaques Committee, membership of the board of the Royal National Theatre, the South Bank Centre, and the board of Governors of Middlesex University, chairing the Arts Council’s Cultural Diversity Panel, and membership of the board of Resource, the Council of Museums, Archives and Libraries, and a commissioner on the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts. She has also chaired the judging panel of the Orange Prize for Fiction.
She takes an active interest in ethical issues in international trade, particularly the garment industry , is a Trustee of the Aid by Trade Foundation and is an honorary associate of the National Secular Society

soroptimist: You are not getting it at all.......and i am afraid you opinion is exactly the way the government want Nigerins to think
Cutting off the head is not the cure to a nagging headache
The Corruption in the downstream sector is self inflicted and sanctioned from the table of the person that is supposed to right the wrongs and that is why it seems to be a problem that has defied solutions
The fact is that Products importation rights by way of allocation are not awarded or given directly to the downstreams sector players this i know for a fact!

dekronik: From what you are saying, Nigerian Army should show pictures of Maiduguri, Sudan, CAR, Mali and all other places where they are operating right?
I seriosly believe we have boko haram apologists on Nairaland.

barcanista: You are the liar and myopic poster not the poster you quoted. WHy not post your own fact and let him post his? Go to Ministry of Finance and CBN websites to find your info while do source ours. If you agree... Then We av a deal. Other than that, no one will argue blindly with yu

omenka: Trade "surplus"?? Op are you alright??

A country is sad to have trade surplus when it exports more than it imports!! The last time we had trade surplus in this country was in the 60s!!

I suggest you fix your title to say trade deficit.

That aside, all our lofty economic indices since Jonathan became the president seem to begin and end on the pages of papers!! On ground, things seem to heading the opposite direction!!

#Fact!

VirginFinder: Most Nigerians are cowards - both officers and men of the Nigerian army and civilians.
Nobody wants to die.
But come o, how was JTF (Nigerian military) able to crush MEND in weeks without needing the declaration of state of emergency in the affected states?
How come now they can't handle Boko Haram despite the declaration of emergency rule?

The source continues: “The Nigerian forces lack training and kit, so they simply don’t have the capability to carry out even basic military manoeuvres. They have poor discipline and support. They are more likely to play a behind-the-scenes role in logistics and providing security.

”Meanwhile, the Nigerian military is being relied upon by ECOWAS to lead the onslaught to oust Islamist fighters affiliated to Al-Qaeda who are in control of northern Mali. But an assessment by military experts from the US and EU shows that Nigerian forces lack the basic know-how and discipline to lead the operation.

The RAF is sending three warplanes to help locate the Nigerian schoolgirls taken by an Islamist terror group, it has been reported.

Four months ago Boko Haram, which is fighting to reinstate a medieval Islamic caliphate in religiously mixed Nigeria, abducted more than 200 schoolgirls from the village of Chibok and they remain missing.

Now, three RAF Tornado GR4s outfitted with surveillance equipment are being deployed to the African nation to fly reconnaissance missions over the region the group is known to operate in.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2729776/Britain-send-three-Tornado-reconnaissance-jets-Nigeria-join-hunt-kidnapped-schoolgirls.html#ixzz3AxgqqKEZ
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

barcanista: So what is your point?

barcanista: And I am telling you that average Nigerian DON'T earn N495,000 per year. That will tell you that the so called GDP is "BOGUS". The Gross National Income of Nigeria is laughable. The Gross National Product is abysmal. My Friend both our GNI and GNP that forms integral part of a country's development is nothing to write home about. It is not about "paper" GDP figures my friend.

anonimi: Very good points but I would rather say POLITICAL Office holders & appointees wages.

onatisi: Just like I have been saying , this is no longer just a terrorist group but boko haram has transformed into a full fledged rebel army with soldiers,arms and logistics enough to withstand the might of the nigerian army. Their main aim is to take over borno ,this issue is no longer about apc or pdp but a real war against a rebel movement

Nihilist: You mean nobody has actually questioned this photo over 4 pages of comments?

How do we know that that is Damboa?

I see a burnt out truck, a road, a hole in the road, and some men with guns...and nothing to indicate anything at all.

Not even a single house?

9TH/10TH August Nigeria SITREP (Boko Haram)

Fighting In Damboa

On 5th August 2014, elements of the 7th Infantry Division, Nigerian Army, backed by light attack jets of the Nigerian Airforce, commenced an assault to dislodge combined Boko Haram forces in control of Damboa Town and surrounding areas in Damboa Local Government Area (LGA), of Borno State, that the insurgents captured earlier in July.

At the same time, the insurgents captured their second local government seat and urban settlement in WarZone South, when they seized Gwoza Town (population 72,000) the headquarters of the LGA of the same name and some 30-40km from the Cameroonian border.

Damboa Town

The military assault on Damboa followed the Damboa-Maiduguri Highway. Sources estimated that the military force was around 850 soldiers including 160 Special Forces operators (trained by US Special Forces- 10th Special Forces Group, and American Private Military Contractors paid for by the Pentagon, State Department, CIA, and interestingly, Homeland Security.

The insurgents on the other hand, had an estimated 1,000 fighters inside Damboa Town and some 3,000 men, in the other parts of the LGA. Insurgent forces were drawn strictly from Ansorul-Muslimiin and Harakatul-Muhajiriin.

In a sign of the insurgents
adaptability and symbiosis, sources tell me that the fighters originally in charge of defending Damboa were from the Jamaa’atu Ahlis-Sunnah of Sheikh Bukar, but they were pulled out on Friday 1st August and deployed to fight in the Gwoza battlefield, while the bulk of Ansorul-Muslimiin and Harakatul-Muhajiriin forces ( probably 10,000 or 12,000 men combined total) were pulled out of the Cameroon Front, the Mandara Mountains and other areas of Northeast Nigeria, to hold, defend and consolidate insurgent controlled territory i.e WarZone South

The strategic reasoning behind the current offensive of the Boko Haram/Yusufiyya in Northern Cameroon and WarZone South is simple. The insurgents are creating ’liberated’ territory inside Nigeria, and establishing their authority on the ground. And after realizing that their policy of not antagonizing Yauonde was not paying off (since Cameroon under intense French, American and Nigerian pressure has been preparing to flush out the rear bases of Ansorul-Muslimiin and Harakatul-Muhajiriin from its territory), the insurgents have opened a second front in Cameroon and are carrying out a long prepared contingency plan to destabilize Northern Cameroon and secure their rear bases.

Calculating that Cameroon cannot withstand the pressure of fighting a sophisticated and rapidly growing insurgency, they are turning up the heat in Northern Cameroon gradually. Some sources say if Paul Biya (Cameroon’s President) does not take the not-so-subtle hint, Harakatul-Muhajiriin (undoubtedly the elite of the four Yusufiyya groups) may create a proxy Cameroonian militancy out of its several hundred Cameroonian operatives it has recruited and trained for fighting in Nigeria, and unleash it on Yaoude.

To be able to transition from insurgent forces to parallel states (like Chairman Mao and the Chinese Communists did in Yunnan during the Chinese Civil War and World War II), the rebels need to be able to move their camps and forces from Cameroon back cross the border to Nigeria (WarZone South), and they also need to be able to draw supplies and have a line of retreat/safe zone where they can always move back into inside Cameroon if their ‘liberated’ territories are ever in danger of being overrun by Nigerian forces.

To establish facts-on-the-ground or de facto sovereign territory, which from all indications is Southern Borno and South Yobe (while their fellow Yusufis-whom they are wary of- Jamaa’atu Ahlis-Sunnah of Abubakar Shekau replicate the same strategy in North Yobe and parts of Northern Borno), the trio of Ansorul-Muslimiin, Harakatul-Muhajiriin and Jamaa’atu Ahlis-Sunnah (Sheikh Bukar Al-Barnawi) need to hold on to Damboa (which cuts off Maiduguri from South Borno), and Gwoza (which provides the most hardened and secure route –from a military perspective- into Cameroon, as the Nigerian Military is non-existent in these areas save some few outposts, while the terrain is mountainous and easily held).

The Nigerian Army assault on Damboa Town began before daylight on Tuesday 5th August 2014, with Special Forces (Nigerian Army) raids on insurgent outposts at the approaches of the town. Forewarned about the military’s battle plan, the Joint Yusufiyya commander of the town’s defenders, said by my sources to be Abu Musa Al-Jaali As-Sudani (real names unknown) a Sudanese commander in Harakatul-Muhajiriin, ordered a retreat from the indefensible outposts to the more defendable , while he and his men prepared to engage the attacking soldiers.

The Special Forces raids were followed by aerial bombardment of rebel-held positions inside the town and surrounding areas by the 79th Composite Group and the 75th Strike Group of the Nigerian Airforce based in Maiduguri, which lasted thirty minutes.

The initial ground assault by the infantrymen of 7th Infantry Division backed by AFVs (Armoured Fighting Vehicles) and half a dozen T-55s/T-64s was engaged by the insurgents at Duniyari, and after several hours of fighting in which the insurgents employed RPG-7s (according to an Army source) and a few 9K11 Malyutka (NATO reporting name AT-3 Sagger) anti-tank missiles, the Army’s attack was repulsed.
However this was a feint attack.

A simultaneous prong (containing the main force) was also launched at the time the Duniyari engagement began. Under aerial, gunship and artillery fire the advancing soldiers succeeded in entering Damboa Town, but met stiff resistance from the insurgents who used booby traps, RPGs, snipers and IEDs to slow the soldiers before fighters opened fire on them from inside houses (abandoned by their residents) and courtyard, and also from heavily entrenched positions. Using 12.5mm and 57mm Anti-Aircraft Artillery guns, rebels rendered impotent the air cover the Nigerian Airforce was providing to the Army (the NAF uses mostly Dornier Alpha Jets, MEB-339s, L-39s and F-7s, a few of the MEB-339s and Alpha Jets were the air cover for the battle, two were reportedly damaged by ground Triple A fire).

Despite Nigerian Government sponsored disinformation, sources on both sides confirm that 70% of Damboa Town is under rebel control, 10% is held by the Army, while 20% is contested.

However the situation is still very fluid and can change at any time. But as now, the whole of Damboa Town and surrounding areas are controlled by the rebels except the highway to Maiduguri.

NB: On the evening of Friday 8th and the morning of Saturday 9th insurgent counter-attacks pushed the Army out of Damboa totally and resulted in a retreat by the soldiers to Government-held positions along the highway to Maiduguri the state capital. Two US Army advisors were reportedly present at during the Nigerian Army’s assault, along with an unidentified American ‘civilian’ who was introduced as ‘William Reid’.

Despite Nigerian Government sponsored disinformation, sources on both sides confirm that 70% of Damboa Town is under rebel control, 10% is held by the Army, while 20% is contested.

However the situation is still very fluid and can change at any time. But as now, the whole of Damboa Town and surrounding areas are controlled by the rebels except the highway to Maiduguri.

NB: on the evening of Friday 8th and the morning of Saturday 9th insurgent counter-attacks pushed the Army out of Damboa totally and resulted in a retreat by the soldiers to Government-held positions along the highway to Maiduguri the state capital. Two US Army advisors were reportedly present at during the Nigerian Army’s assault, along with an unidentified American ‘civilian’ who was introduced as ‘William Reid’.

egbaguy: dnt NA knw dat Violence beget Violence We are still battling BH,what happens if these shiite too take up arms? Why does d NA love flexing it muscles against defenceless civilians? Aint we partners in curbing crimes? Are we civilians second class citizens? Is it a crime nt to belong to d military? Shud we all run away at ur sight? NA keeps making some of us dat still av respect for dem to doubt if dey worth it.

shymexx: According to the UN charter, all defence contracts for heavy weapons must be made public.
And I just checked the website for military helicopter news, and this news isn't there. This is the website: http://helihub.com/tag/news+military/
So, the question is: have they signed the contract, or is it still a proposal?