lol davidylan !

That is part of our problem in Nigeria, lack of planning !  That light rail initiative is going to take up a lot of power. Why not make sure the power situation is addressed first before building the rail system ? Or atleast build the rail system and its power source simulteneously.

The next thing you know, 2 years into the train operation, its no longer working because there is not enough power to operate it.

Any way sha, I just hope they have made special power provisions for the project.

@Gnature are you by any chance going to run for a political position in the future?

@ikamefa

Well, I have thought about it you know. Would you vote for me if I ran for office ?

erhm! " "

I take it means no. lol

Its interesting that you asked that question.

GNature:

lol davidylan !

That is part of our problem in Nigeria, lack of planning !  That light rail initiative is going to take up a lot of power. Why not make sure the power situation is addressed first before building the rail system ? Or atleast build the rail system and its power source simulteneously.

The next thing you know, 2 years into the train operation, its no longer working because there is not enough power to operate it.

Any way sha, I just hope they have made special power provisions for the project.

that is the beauty of Nigeria, everything is done using the firebrigade method. God is a Nigerian! That is why it is called a light rail "initiative", it is merely a white elephant project that is not expected to see the light of day. If it eventually does see the light of day, make we cut firewood dump in the train's engine. Light rail don land be that.

GNature:

I take it means no. lol

Its interesting that you asked that question.

= let me see your manifesto first, show me your political particulars

then amma decide if i am going to vote for you or not

i asked the question because you always seems so passionate about Nigerian politics geddit?

davidylan:

that is the beauty of Nigeria, everything is done using the firebrigade method. God is a Nigerian! That is why it is called a light rail "initiative", it is merely a white elephant project that is not expected to see the light of day. If it eventually does see the light of day, make we cut firewood dump in the train's engine. Light rail don land be that.

David !

You have come again ! I said you should have faith in your country. Some of our leaders actually mean well, even if they are in the minority. Baba and Tinubu actually want to ease the traffic menace in Lagos, it is how they are going about it that is questionable (go figure). It's not fair to condemn the whole light rail project all together.

ikamefa:

= let me see your manifesto first, show me your political particulars

then amma decide if i am going to vote for you or not

That's quite intelligent of you. I wish our people had a mind set like yours as far as voting is concerned. Go to hausa land, yoruba land, the east or elsewhere, they just want their kinsman in power regardless of where he stands on the issues or what he is bringing to the table.

ikamefa:


i asked the question because you always seems so passionate about Nigerian politics geddit?

Thanks oo my sister. Na out of love for the country. 

@ the lightrail issue and power.

One of the Idea is to open the door for the rail industry to take. Let us put criticism aside and be constructive.

If you had One billion dollars will invest in Rail business?

The Solution was to have set up Private transport companies.

Say 4 for Lagos state.

You sell licenses and give them tax holiday for x number of years.

Collapse the NURTW Into one of the companies that will operate under the TRANSPORT AUTHORITY IN THE STATE.

The NURTW will be public Listed company where all the Agbero Area boys will have Shares in. ( Some ask where will all the molue go? Ok I will ask when we have Power soon where will all the GENERATOR GO?)

The remaining 3 companies will pay for licenses say $100million


The companies that operate the licenses will have sole Authority

Move people
Move Goods ( I think you can use the Molue to move the Goods because that is what I think they are good for)

In future The companies will be given the RIGHT OF FIRST REFUSAL TO OPERATE UNDER GROUND SUBWAY AND TRAM OR WIRE CAR.


Spending money directly on rail is very dangerous as the middle guys will Rip you off Big time.

What you are to buy for 1million those guys will quote 50million


I wish I could talk to the governor of Lagos state directly because you will have to have a strong mind and the picture must be clear in your mind. If you sold the License for $100million you will have a cool $400 million

The banks are hungry to do business the business men are also eager but you must have the guts to fight the Area boys and their chairman.

Backslider:

@ the lightrail issue and power.

One of the Idea is to open the door for the rail industry to take. Let us put criticism aside and be constructive.

If you had One billion dollars will invest in Rail business?

The Solution was to have set up Private transport companies.

These transporrt companies that you are referring to, are they going to be using the roads ? In other words, are you referring to taxis, buses etc ? I am asking this because one of the goals of the light rail project is to de-congest the roads.

The way people talk on this forum shows how stupid and silly their mind is - the haters of Nigeria and stuff - thinking they know more than the leaders and the policy makers, imagine someone in his right mind saying Baba will be thinking of running the light rail with firewood? That is not funny if it was supposed to be, rather it is a stupid thing to say.

Bookside critics who cant even rule their own homes come here and tell us nonsence. I pray when all works well in Nigeria, all these people who thinks things will not work and will never work in Nigeria should all be lined up and shot one by one with a sinlge bullet through their stinking dirty mouths.

Calm down closetpervert. Arm chair critics have existed as long as we can remember. It's also not a secret that most are clueless and cannot even manage their own life talkless that of over 100 million people.

The country is progressing regardless of what they type out in pixels.

AHEM    _{clears throat while pushing left sleeve up left arm with right hand and then pushing right sleeve up right arm with left hand}

I wonder if you ppl noticed the title of this thread - GOOD THINGS HAPPENING IN NIGERIA ?

Ppl have come here to express stuff they think is BECOMING better in Naij and some armchair action men have decided to come here and do their devil sent deeds.

FYI if you think there is nothing good happening in Naij start your own thread - BAD THINGS HAPPENING IN NIGERIA and you will see that intelligent people here will post issues there too. We all know that Naij is not as we want it to be, so even I appreciate that there are bad things happening in Naij. But as they say 'If you sit down you are not going to STUMBLE over any solutions' or is it 'Nobody ever stumbled upon anything great while sitting down', mmmmm.

To use the example of one of my most loved and revered Intellectuals in Nigeria, who said
", while my fellow Men where 'enjoying' the company of women of easy virtue and men of questionable character, I was bent over in the faint glow of my desk lamp agonising over the solution to these problems we have in Nigeria, '
This man planted the J4 forest reserve about 40 years ago when the dividends were neither relevant nor in anyway immediately realisable. That forest reserve now spans Ogun and Ondo states and is the only thing one can see in Africa from space. It also provides 100's of people a decent livelyhood now. But I digress.

Ppl who see no good in Naij please you can hold your opinion. But this is not the thread (nor I imagine the forum) for pessimists. We desire optimists, realists, pragmatists and strategists.

Start your thread on the Bad things happening and you will see me there posting too because I gat sense. I am discerning. I know where to and how to put an argument across.

Please visit:

We want to know WHAT YOU think is happening in Nigeria and YOU think is good !!!!!!!! YOU think is GOOD. Or is there nothing that is happening in Naij you think is good,,,,,anything?

_{clicks heel and does a short bow}

I beg your pardon good ladies and gentlemen. I meant to say

Please Visit: https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-53642.0.html

I thought this might be inspiring to some people. It is a quote from some emagazine I subscribe to.
It is by a gentleman named Chris Cardell.

A couple of weeks ago, The Sunday Times published its Rich List of the thousand wealthiest people in Britain.

To get onto the list - in other words, to make it to position one thousand - you had to be worth at least £80 million .

Many on the list are Entrepreneurs. They own their own business.

Here's the interesting thing,

You have something in common with every single Entrepreneur on that list.

Here's what you have in common with them.

At some point, they were exactly where you are now.

Whether you're comfortably running a growing business or ignoring the overdraft letters from the bank - every single Entrepreneur (apart from inherited wealth) starts from zero.

So at some point, they were all where you are now.

What interests me (and I hope strongly interests you) is what they do in those early stages that create such apparently stunning success.

How do they end up worth £80 million plus, while most business owners struggle.

Now thats what I want to know too !!!!! Not the myriad of problem besieging the UK economy or sociocultural wellbeing.
You can choose to watch Trisha or Bloomberg, same country, different views.

Thats what I want to know about Naij, how to take advantage of the Nigerian stock market which is higher returning than the NYSE and NasDAQ both and turn my OVERDRAFT notices into 80 f**king Million GBP and SOON.
lol.

closetpervert:

The way people talk on this forum shows how stupid and silly their mind is - the haters of Nigeria and stuff - thinking they know more than the leaders and the policy makers, imagine someone in his right mind saying Baba will be thinking of running the light rail with firewood? That is not funny if it was supposed to be, rather it is a stupid thing to say.

Bookside critics who can't even rule their own homes come here and tell us nonsence. I pray when all works well in Nigeria, all these people who thinks things will not work and will never work in Nigeria should all be lined up and shot one by one with a sinlge bullet through their stinking dirty mouths.

Your very post is symptomatic of the very thing you accuse others of being. Please read other posts, maturity is knowing when and how to relate to others. You dont push your oppinions down people's throats by being unecessarily insultive. Calling others silly and stupid for voicing their oppinions is an emblem of one who needs a bit more growing up to do.
You evince so much "patriotism" and yet declare your location as NY, does that not reek of hypocrisy?

Back to debating with real adults:

GNature:

David !

You have come again ! I said you should have faith in your country. Some of our leaders actually mean well, even if they are in the minority. Baba and Tinubu actually want to ease the traffic menace in Lagos, it is how they are going about it that is questionable (go figure). It's not fair to condemn the whole light rail project all together.

There is no question that many of our leaders mean well for our country. The problem is everything from ministerial appointments to selling toothpicks on the streets is highly politicised. There is one reason why i am skeptical of the light rail project, as soon as it suceeds in Lagos, every "geopolitical zone" starts agitating for a light rail project WITHOUT considering the economic benefits beyond "the west has a rail project, the east and north must have one too"!

When Lagos mooted the idea of the Independent power project, it was shot down at the national assembly on political grounds! When they mooted a permanent solution to the bar beach problem, the senators reminded us that the barbeach as well belonged to the man in Kebbi state too and should be treated as national and NOT lagos property. Forgeting that Lagos takes the brunt of any sea surge!

When we start treating policies as more than "we deserve federal presence too", then maybe things may improve.

Shango said:

So competition for the cellphone market benefits nigerians how? Okada drivers with cellphones that cannot send their children to school and are barely scraping buy at least can buy cellphones on the Cheap. WONDERFULL. THAT IS THE TYPE OF PROGRESS WE NEED. NEVERMIND IMPROVING SCHOOLS OR PROVIDING A DECENT MEANS OF LIVING. AT LEAST OUR POOR PEOPLE CAN AFFORD GSM CELLPHONE TO CHAT WITH THEIR NEIGHBORS ABOUT THEIR WONDERFULL LIVES IN THE GREAT NAIJA.

You sound ignorant. A healthy telecoms sector is vital to the development of any economy. It makes businesses more efficient, and reduces the need to travel for the most basic tasks, thus saving on energy costs as well as time costs. The GSM revolution has also provided gainful employment to not less than 200,000 Nigerians.

Or maybe you, Shango, have the jobs to offer them instead?

@ David
Or water? Baba intends to power the metro with Generator abi ?

Bookside critics are those who have built the economies of developed countries through sound, intelligent advice based on objective analysis.

@jen
who do u work 4?

@ijogbon
well said! we r definitely thinking on d same wave length,i second ur opinions all d way!

Oga Donzman,

I forgot to ask, how school dey go ? I noticed your absence for a while, does that mean say this semester na 3.9 gpa or 4.0 gpa ?

davidylan:


Back to debating with real adults:

There is no question that many of our leaders mean well for our country. The problem is everything from ministerial appointments to selling toothpicks on the streets is highly politicised. There is one reason why i am skeptical of the light rail project, as soon as it suceeds in Lagos, every "geopolitical zone" starts agitating for a light rail project WITHOUT considering the economic benefits beyond "the west has a rail project, the east and north must have one too"!


When we start treating policies as more than "we deserve federal presence too", then maybe things may improve.

I couldn't agree with you more !

The point you raised reminds me of the airport issue in Nigeria. We currently have around 21 airports (perhaps more) in Nigeria. According to the FAAN, only 4 airports, the MM airport in Lagos, PH airport, Kano and Abuja airports are economically viable. Millions of naira is spent on building airports across Nigeria and some of these airports are used only 3-5 times a month !

Mind you, each airport is manned by atleast 5-10 staff ranging from manager, engineers, maintenance folks, security folks etc whose salaries have to be paid monthly. Why build airports if they are just going to lay dormant ? Simple ! Since Rivers State has an airport, Ondo, Gombe and Akwa Ibom must have theirs too regardless of their economic viability.

The funniest thing is, some of the governors are pleading for their airports to be upgraded to international status by the federal government ! Why ? Again, their logic is just based on the geo-political structure, not economic viability. The south west has one, the south south has one, the north has two, so we must also have our own international airport at all costs !!!


_{thread members, please forgive me for going a little bit off topic}

@GNature

3.9 is more like it, true talk!

Ondo have an airport when Anambra has none? . . .I do know that Enugu airport is relatively busy though, it services Anambra/Enugu/Ebonyi while PH airport services Rivers/Imo/Abia/Bayela (Owerri Airport is a cargo airport I believe). In the same vein MM Airport domestic wing should service areas around Lagos State (Ogun, Oyo and co.) while Benin airport should service Edo/Delta/Ondo. This is the way things should be set up, what are we doing with 21 airports?. . .Use the funds to upgrade the highways if possible.

Can you differentiate between this and Saddams teatment of Kurds that led to his trial and execution.

1. On 19 November 1999 the Federal Government of Nigeria declared a full-scale war against the Ijaw ethnic tribe on the orders of General Olusegun Obasanjo. A combat battalion invaded Odi - a town that lies on the eastern verge of the upper part of the Nun River. The unprovoked attack was aimed at arresting Ijaw youths who demonstrated against the Yorubas who massacred Ijaws in Lagos.

STRENGTH

2. A full combat battalion was used to invade Odi in Bayelsa State. Details are as follows:
a) 22 five ton vehicles loaded with about 1,500 troops
b) 4 armored personnel carriers i.e. APCs mounted with machine guns
c) 3 eighty-one millimeter mortar guns have been used in bombing Odi from 2:00pm to 6:00pm Nov. 20 1999
d) 2 pieces of 105 mm Howitzer Artillery guns were also used on November 20, 1999 in bombing Odi.
e) 2 naval patrol sea crafts mounted with machine guns
f) Conventionally equipped machine guns of a combat battalion

DISPOSITION

3. The operational combat force of the Federal Government of Nigeria has been positioned as follows:

a) Blocking the only road leading to the Bayelsa State capital (Yenagoa) and terrorizing innocent civilians.
b) Heavily armed roadblocks have been mounted at Patani on the road linking Lagos, Warri and Port Harcourt with the Nigerian army terrorizing innocent travelers and civilians along the road.
c) The main fighting troops are concentrated at Kaiama and the Kaiama and Odi junction.
d) One naval patrol craft is positioned in Patani and another is positioned in Kaiama.
e) The APCs and the 81 mm mortar guns are positioned on Okoso Bridge in Sampou East - West Road.

INTENTION

4. The likely intention of the Federal Government of Obasanjo is to create a military build up in Bayelsa State and prepare invasion of Odi and other Communities for the following agenda amongst others:

a) To whip up sentiments in the International community and the national assembly and declare a state of emergency in Bayelsa State by all means.
b) Suspend the governor of Bayelsa State. To this end, the invading army has cordoned of the whole state.
c) To destroy the Niger Delta struggle using this invasion as a diversionary measure.
d) Obasanjo to continue the agenda of unprovoked aggression against the Ijaws as a Yoruba man who is the President with enormous powers.
e) It is likely that the Nigerian Navy is being used to block the Coastal waterways to silence the Niger Delta struggle.

over 5, 000 soldiers were moved into the Niger Delta state last week ostensibly to arrest some elements suspected to be responsible for the alleged murder of about 12 policemen in Odi. From the evening of Friday, soldiers commenced the indiscriminate shelling of Odi and nearby communities from locations near Kaiama and Mbiama. Several people in the communities were killed during the process.

Residents of communities in the area have started fleeing the area. Some of the communities affected include Kaiama, Odi, Kalama, Okordia, Zarama, Sampou, Olobiri, Trofani, and Agbere-Odoni.

One of the GOOD things that happened in Nigeria under the OBJ administration

On the pretense of smoking out the alleged assailants of 12 policemen in Odi, Bayelsa State, President Olusegun Obasanjo, ordered the Nigerian Army to embark upon ethnic cleansing with the singular purpose of teaching the Ijaws a lesson. The army totally destroyed Odi, killing, maiming and raping over three thousand innocent and defenseless women, children and men. President Olusegun Obasanjo bears responsibility for these crimes against humanity committed on his orders during this invation.

@Sleekdot

Please start the story from the beginning.

How come the 12 policemen were killed? Who were they there protecting in the first place?

I sincerely beg to differ on this issue. I was in the Niger Delta at that time and regularly travelled the road between PH and Warri on which Odi is and I totally observed what happened. I do not condone it neither can I judge it. The youths of Odi (Or somebody in Odi) killed those 12 men - who have families, and homesteads and villages. Did you expect the Federal Government to stand by while the sovereignty of the Nation is assailed by a few incompetent 'nincompoops' ?

Moreover there have been precedence in other parts of Nigeria and indeed the world. No NATION will stand by held hostage by a few ignorant peasants (Not the entire Niger delta obviously !!!! Just the ones who think they can kill other people and then flee into the bushes while their entire kindred is decimated). That is what is called WAR.
Odi was a WAR zone. Now any arguments? Is there anything that happened in Odi we have not seen in other war zones around the world? Iraq, Afganistan, Kosovo etc. I do not condone it, but when you scratch your nose with the head of a cobra you should have the venom antidote at hand.

Obasanjo did not start it. He finished it.

Stop whipping up unnecessary sentiments.

@Sleekdot

You dont Kill a Soldier or a Police for No Reason at all Your area will be treated as a different nation or a Secessionist nation.

This was done in other places also not only in Odi. NEVER KILL A SOLDIER OR POLICE NEVER DO IT YOU PUT THE PEOPLE IN THE AREA AT RISK. GO AND ASK THE PEOPLE IN BENUE. A FRIEND OF MINE WAS VERY ANGRY THAT ASOLDIER COULD BE KILLED THAT WAY AND THEIR BODIES DRAGGED.

I have friends in the Military in Naija and they are very angry to die at the hands of a Civilian.

personally if you kill a soldier in a given locaton and i live there I will move away from that place immediately because i know true Soldier always protect their own irrespective of the tribe they come from.

Ok

@Gnature

The License will Authorise you to Operate Taxi and Buses

You can divide the buses into 2 Aircondition buses and Non Aircondition

You will put a TAX ON Car user this will reduce cars on the road.

Mass transit reduces CAR USAGE

100 people in an air condition bus or hundred people driving hundred cars using the same roads.

People will use The transport because it will be Neat and clean we wil not have people waiting for hours at the bus stop because the buses will be alot.

As Ijogbon Observed

The Millionaires will be made from this people because the transport company will make alot of money and look for other cities.


I have written about this issue and i think it is in the travel section.

The Federal Executive Council in its meeting on Wednesday barred the implementation of unfavourable Overseas Development Assistance grants for the country.
Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mr. Frank Nweke Jnr

The council also banned unauthorised salaries in some government agencies.

The Minister of Information and Communication, Mr. Frank Nweke (Jnr), said this after the meeting of the council.

Nweke explained that most of the grants awarded to the country by global institutions and foreign nations were of no benefit.

He noted that most times, about 95 per cent of the funds in the grants were spent on expatriates from the donor organisations and countries.

The minister said the council resolved that the country had endured enough exploitation from the arrangement.

The council subsequently approved a Policy on Official Development Assistance for Nigeria.

The policy stipulates that the FEC will henceforth be briefed on how funds involved in the ODAs are being implemented.

The council will also clear the consultants employed under the concerned projects before they can be implemented.

Explaining the council‘s position on the issue, Nweke said, ”The council is concerned about the proliferation of grants in the country, especially the way and manner the ODAs are managed.

“You find out that most times when the money from the grant is made available, about 95 per cent is used to pay experts from these countries.

”Government is saying, ‘Enough of these grants‘. We are not saying that we don‘t want development assistance, but we are not taking development assistance that will be used to pay foreigners.

“Somebody tells you that he is an expert and he gets the job, but somebody else does it and he gets paid in dollars. They are not even smarter than those of us here.”

The council also stopped the implementation of what it termed ”payment of unauthorised salaries” in some establishments.

Nweke listed the agencies to include the Nigerian Communications Commission, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The council frowned at the prevailing situation whereby the boards of these establishments approved and implemented salary schemes for staff without following the guidelines of the National Salaries and Wages Commission.

The council rejected the huge gap the development had created in salaries within the public service.



THIS IS GOOD NEWS THIS IS WHAT I CALL THE LITTLE FOXES THIS 419 HAS CRIPPLED SOME NATIONS OF THE WORLD NWEKE MAKES ME HAPPY

good stuff!

@donzman

I belive this article from BusinessDay is in order . . .

Nigeria’s per capita income crosses thousand-dollar mark
E-MAIL THIS PRINT THIS Most Viewed



For the first time since 1990, Nigeria’s per capita income crossed the one-thousand-dollar mark in 2006, says Chukwuma Soludo, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
BADEJO ADEMUYIWA, Abuja
Soludo disclosed this last weekend in an address to stakeholders, while presenting a chronicle of Obasanjo administration’s economic achievements. He said Nigeria’s per capita income, which stood at $2,262.68 in 1980, slid to $699.59 in 1990, and declined further to $463.23 in 1999, the point at which the present administration came to power.

From the 1999 point, this monetary value of goods and services produced within the economy in a particular year, grew steadily, reaching $621.15 in 2003; $673.01 in 2004, and crossing the thousand dollar mark to $1,011.73 in 2006.

On the road to achieving the mark, the economy grew from a total domestic output of N4.799-trillion or $51.783-billion mark in 1999, through N14,894-trillion or $112.789-billion in 2005 to N18.222-trillion or $141.646-billion in 2006.

Tracing the decline and resurgence of the economy, Soludo said that between 1980 and 1983, the economy witnessed a negative average yearly Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of –4.17 percent; from 1984 to 1985, the tide changed with a positive average growth rate of 4.99 percent, and between 1986 and 1993, the GDP grew at an average yearly rate of 6.23 percent. From 1994 to 1999, the average yearly GDP growth rate slowed to 2.33; picked up again at an average yearly rate of 4.75 percent; and then galloped at a rate of 7.07 percent between 2003 and 2006.

The resurgence of domestic economic growth has triggered a simultaneous rise in the nation’s foreign reserves. From a level of $5.488-billion in 1975, Soludo said, foreign reserves grew to $9.967-billion in 1980. Thereafter, it declined to $4.348-billion in 1990 and averaged $3.548-billion between 1991 and 1998.

It then picked up, clocking $5.450-billion in 1999, and $7.47-billion in 2003. Between 2004 and 2006, however, there was a leap in reserve growth to $16.9- billion in 2004 and a phenomenal $42.30-billion in 2006.

Soludo chronicled the steps taken to achieve that result to include the liberalisation and privatisation programmes as well as macroeconomic reforms. In details, he pointed at the tax reforms, ports and customs reforms, banking and financial sector reforms, exchange rate and forex management reforms as the elements of the policy mix that brought about the improved fortunes.

Others include the breaking of state monopolies, the public service reforms, pension reforms, deregulation and liberalisation of the petroleum sector, and the debt relief.

The Soludo magic revamps banks, raises investors' hopes in economy
By Enitar Ugwu

IN the Nigerian banking industry, the out-going Obasanjo administration will be remembered for the banking consolidation programme as well as the management of the external reserves.

This includes the whittling down of the external debt overhaul. As regards the banking consolidation which was kick-started by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under the leadership of Professor Chukwuma Soludo, on July 6, 2004, it led to the pruning down of the number of banks in the country from 89 to 25 in 18 months.

In the words of Euromoney Investor Guides of April, 2006, "when the CBN Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo announced in July 2004 that the minimum capital requirement would rise to N25 billion from the then minimum of N2 billion by the end of 2005, many observers thought he was over ambitious, if not foolhardy.

"Yet just 20 months later, his action - and the chain of recapitalisations and mergers it heralded - has transformed Nigeria's banking sector for the better and strengthened the country's overall economic stability."

It recalled that prior to the banking reform agenda in 2004, the Nigerian banking system was in poor state, stressing that, although the country has the largest population of any black nation, and in the thirteenth largest oil producing country in the world, its banking infrastructure was weak and had failed to become more sophisticated.

Specifically, the banking sector was highly fragmented and had concentrated its efforts on the easy pickings of import business related activity.

One of the chief reason for this, it said, was the small size of most banks, explaining that when the reform programme was announced, Nigeria had 89 banks, most of which were tiny, which restricted their lending ability as one single borrower limit for bank lending is 35 per cent of the shareholders' funds for commercial banks.

Before the reform, it would be recalled that, the earned minimum of shareholders' funds was just N2 billion. And while banks had shareholders' funds of N10 billion, the implication being that maximum loans could be just N3.5 billion, which is far too small to finance a typical project either in the oil and gas industry or in other industries vital to Nigeria's development such as telecommunications, construction and power, the magazine pointed out.

Meanwhile, it stressed that many of the banks were dependent on cheap public sector funds for their own financing with an average of 20 per cent of funds, and in some cases 50 per cent, coming from various government-related deposits.

Interestingly, bearing his mind on the lessons learnt from the consolidation experience, one of the actors, the Group Managing Director of Intercontinental Bank Plc, Erastus Akingbola spoke to The Guardian on the issue recently.

According to him, the greatest lesson in the exercise was not the fact that the 25 Nigerian banks achieved the seemingly impossible by raising their capitalisation to N25 billion and above but rather, it demonstrated a level of resilience, tenacity and 'never say die' spirit that typifies Nigerians, adding that, that was not even the most salient point.

The greatest revelation, he said, was the demonstration of a level of change management capacity that was hitherto imaginable in Nigeria.

"From the monetary authorities led by the CBN, to each of the 25 banks that emerged, the successful conclusion of the first phase of the 13 point agenda of the CBN offered a priceless lesson on change management that is worth telling to every person interested in successful corporate transformation, particularly on an industry-wide scale.

He also noted that the concluded reform brought to fore some other critical points, explaining that these include the need for strategic management.

Based on this, he pointed out that, the fact that the recapitalisation announcement came as a rude shock to most Nigerian banks revealed a void in strategic management deserves critical attention.

The recapitalisation, he pointed out, was something operators in the industry should have probably envisaged earlier, and prepared for, if only they had been benchmarking banks outside Africa.

The reforms, he said, exposed the need for Nigerian banks to pay closer attention to strategic management as a critical tool for long term success.

Akingbola pointed out that there is also the issue of inevitability of change, noting that to appreciate the magnitude of change brought about by the reforms in the banking sector, we should recall that before July 2004, mergers appeared anathema in the Nigeria corporate world.

A range of factors, most of which are cultural, he said, made mergers and acquisition a very unattractive option in Nigeria.

However, he pointed out that the zeal and commitment, with which this was pursued and achieved brought to the fore the inevitability of change and threw overboard a lot of established thinking about what was possible and what was not.

He stressed that, the message here is simple, if we do not prepare ourselves for this change, and embrace them, soon, globalisation would still tear down the artificial barriers we have erected to block change and leave us dangerously exposed or consigned to oblivion.

He equally stressed that the consolidation programme has also achieved another significant feat by reining in a sizeable proportion of funds hitherto circulating in the informal sector and bringing to fore the amazing depth of this sector in Nigeria.

It would be recalled that, the reforms began with the phased withdrawal of public funds from the bank system in July 2004 with the intention of forcing banks to find alternative deposit bases from which to find funds, an estimated 83.9 per cent of money in circulation in Nigeria before the banking reforms was outside the banking system and the reforms aimed at encouraging banks to chase these funds so that they could be used for lending.

On the external reserve, it can be said that its importance to any country can never be over-emphasised. It can be said to be the official public sector foreign assets, which is controlled by the central bank of a country.

The manual of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Balance of Payments defines external reserves as "those eternal assets that are readily available to and controlled by monetary authorities for direct financing of payments imbalances, for directly regulating the magnitude of such imbalances through intervention in exchange markets, to affect the currency exchange rate and/or for other purposes."

High accumulation of external reserves could be the most appealing scheme in developing an economy. This is because it serves as a formal backing for the domestic currency.

Building up of external reserves can also limit external vulnerabilities and can give a country a bill of credit worthiness. Nigeria's level of external reserves has allowed it a place in the global market where it can issue bonds.

Also, while a high level of reserves indicate a robust economy, it is also a strong macro-economic mechanisms for working at long-term growth rates.

Nigeria's reserves increased from $5.4 billion in 1999 to $43.2 billion in April 2006 and sources of this are: Sale of Nigeria's crude oil equity, royalties, petroleum profits tax and penalty for gas flaring, rentals and signature bonuses.

Other sources of foreign reserves inflows include: Withholding tax, Value Added Tax (VAT) and rent or interest received from investment abroad and personal home remittances.

Yet, other sources are: Export proceeds from non-oil sources-agricultural produce, processed and semi processed products, grant and other miscellaneous receipts as well as oil sector, which accounts for over 85 per cent of the foreign exchange reserves.

However, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has some core mandates, which are derived from the CBN Act of 1991 and this includes among others, the maintenance and promotion of monetary stability and a sound and efficient financial system in Nigeria.

It is in the light of this that the CBN also print and issue currency notes, purchases and sell foreign currencies, discount and rediscount bills exchange and treasury bills which may lead to monetisation.

The CBN carries out monetisation of foreign currencies and while this falls within powers conferred on it, it entails the creation of money by the CBN into the financial system.

Monetisation is the process of converting or establishing something into legal tender. Usually referred to the printing of bank notes by central banks, monetisation could also refer to exchange securities for currency and selling a possession.

The extent of the importance of external reserves and the general comment on the fact that external reserves should have been used for the country's infrastructure instead of being kept and seen this as a misconception because the figure has already been monetised became the central discussion at the 10th seminar for Finance Correspondents and Business Editors organised by the CBN, which took place at Ilorin with the theme "Building and Managing External Reserve for Economic Development".

The Deputy Director in the Department of Foreign Exchange, CBN, Mr. Joseph Aluko, broke down Nigeria's external reserves into three distinct components depending on the ownership, namely, CBN reserves, Federation reserves and the Federal Government reserves.

According to him, the CBN reserves comprise all foreign exchange inflows that have been monetised by the CBN and released to the beneficiaries for their use. Hence, once the foreign exchange inflow has been monetised and the naira equivalent released to the customers by the CBN, the foreign exchange no longer belongs to the customers but to the CBN.

In that respect, he explained a greater portion of Nigeria's external reserves having been monetised belongs to the CBN and is called "CBN reserves, and this component of external reserves can only be available to an applicant (customer) where its equivalent amount in the local currency is provided by the customer.

On these two fronts, i.e. banking sector consolidation and the external reserves, it can be rightly said that the out-going administration proved its mettle.