₦airaland Forum

chuose2:
Coming from a party of lies, we are worried

rockiedink:
To all those celebrating; what do you say about the actual value of the Naira in international markets w.r.t services like www.xe.com

We are being deceived!!!

nextprince:
Baba, many blessings fall on you for this bit by bit break down. Oboy, Nigerians and tricks are like 5 & 6.

And to think a former minister is involved in this act shows how greedy we can be. Something that should be made for average Nigerians, you a rich man want to displace those average Nigerians again, nawao. What kind of car can't he buy for God's sake?

Lol @ the emboldened. . It will eliminate sharp practices actually, especially of this nature.

nextprince:
Auction, it can be sold for any amount.

kunleajao:
Features……..
Automatict transmission
Automatic windows
Automatic mirrors
Air bags intact
Alloy wheel
Factory fitted a c

Mcreloaded:
Who knows maybe this exportation of our currency might just make it have more vakue .
CBN needs to start printing more of the N5 note and let's start selling . Maybe they will pay N100 naira for the N5 naira note since they have found out our made in Nigeria N5 has spiritual value to their existence

saintjoel:
Jaiz bank.

saintjoel:
We learnt 43 people have won bids.

Marotzke:
A country that is borrowing to pay salaries of workers?
Is now setting up an organisation that will duplicate functions of existing organisations?
Making a voluntary job full time with salaries and pensions?
Okay make una kontinu.
Nigerian Marshal services and Ranger services now loading.
We must copy everything America by force.
Civil defence never clear for our eyes, na peace corps we wan add.

Hate speech, fake news and national unity – Lai Mohammed


By Lai Mohammed

This theme, HATE SPEECH, FAKE NEWS AND NATIONAL UNITY, was well chosen to bring to the fore the looming danger facing our country from what has now become the scourge of our time. Though I have repeatedly called attention, at many fora, to the dangers posed by the menace of the now pervasive hate speech, disinformation and fake news, no one gave the issue the attention it deserves until it started threatening the very foundation of our national unity.


3.It was Gina Greenlee who said ‘’experience is a master teacher, even if it is not our own.’’ I am sure many here have heard or read about how hate speech and incitement to violence played a significant role in the 1994 genocide that left at least 800,000 people dead in Rwanda. Well, it is worth rehashing here for the purpose of this discourse.


4.Anti-Tutsi articles and cartoons in the Kangura newspaper, as well as hate speech and incitement to violence on the radio station called RTLMC – Radio-Television Libres des Mille Collines (Thousand Hills Free Radio and Television) helped to set the stage for that genocide.

The station was set up by hard-line Hutu extremists, and received the backing of many rich and prominent people in that country. Those who saw the danger posed by the station called for it to be shut down, but against the backdrop of freedom of speech, such calls fell on deaf ears, until it was too late. Some 23 years later, Rwanda is yet to fully recover from the impact of the genocide, triggered by hate speech and senseless incitement to violence.


5. In Nigeria today, the hate being spewed on radio stations across the country is so alarming. If you tune into many radio stations, you will be shocked by the things being said, the careless incitement to violence and the level of insensitivity to the multi-religious, multi-ethnic nature of our country. Unfortunately, even the hosts of such radio programmes do little or nothing to stop. Oftentimes, they are willing collaborators of hate speech campaigners. This must not be allowed to continue because it is detrimental to the unity and well-being of our country.


6. Disinformation and Fake News: Let me use my own personal experiences to make these more vivid. On Wednesday, 26 April 2017, after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, I briefed State House Correspondents on what transpired at the meeting. I said, among others, that President Muhammadu Buhari did not preside over the day’s meeting because he decided to work from home that day. In reporting my briefing, one of the correspondents quoted me as saying the President would work from home henceforth, rather than on that day only. The reporting generated a lot of uproar, until I issued a rebuttal. This is a clear case of disinformation – which is defined as false information deliberately spread to deceive the people.


7. The following month, after I had briefed State House Correspondents on the proceedings of another Council meeting, one newspaper’s headline went thus: ‘’We do not know who will sign the 2017 budget – Lai Mohammed.’’ This is at variance with what I said. When I was asked a question relating to the signing of the 2017 budget, my exact words were: ‘’When it is transmitted to the Presidency, a decision will be taken.’’ The reporting is another clear case of disinformation.



8. Also in May 2017, I travelled to China on official assignment. I had just arrived in that country, after a long flight, when I started receiving calls from Nigeria, seeking my reaction to a story making the rounds in the Social Media, quoting me as saying that though President Muhammadu Buhari is in a London hospital, he is using Made-in-Nigeria drugs. I purportedly made the comment in an interview with Channels Television, after the Federal Government’s launch of the Made-in-Nigeria campaign in Abuja a few days earlier.

At first, I chose to ignore the story, saying Nigerians would easily see the folly of it. But the phone calls from Nigeria became more frequent and more intense, to such an extent that they could no longer be ignored. I had to put a call through to Mr. John Momoh, and Channels Television promptly issued a rebuttal, saying it neither interviewed me nor carried any such story. This is a clear case of fake news.


9. Many here will also recall the quantum of hate speech directed at candidate Buhari during the last electioneering campaign. Never in the history of electioneering campaign in Nigeria has such a quantum of hate speech been directed at any candidate. This did not stop even when he won the election and became President. For instance, the President had hardly left Nigeria for his vacation in London on 19 January 2017, during which he said he would have routine medical check-up, when these hate and fake news campaigners circulated the news that he has died. Between then and now, they have repeated similar fakes news times without number.


10. Let me be clear: all the instances I have cited did not happen by accident. No! They were all orchestrated. And who better to target than the President himself, or the official spokesperson of his government! The campaign is a multi-million naira project and the people behind this string of hate speech, disinformation and fake news are not about to stop. In fact, they will become more vicious in the days, weeks and months ahead. And what is the purpose of their campaign? Simply to discredit the government, destabilize the polity and make the country ungovernable. There is no doubt that the resurgent push for separatism as well as rising cases of ethnic and religious disharmony are all traceable to the growing phenomenon of hate speech, as well as the disinformation and fake news campaign.


11. The latest instance of this vicious campaign occurred last week. During my visit to the Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) House in Lagos last Saturday, I had said that any programme tagged Nigerian or local content programme, which is meant for the consumption of Nigerians, must be produced in Nigeria, rather than in foreign countries. The hate speech, disinformation and fake news campaigners quickly distorted what I said and went ahead to report that the Federal Government has decided to ban the production of music videos and films outside the countries. Gullible and malleable commentators, many of them recruited by the campaigners, went to town abusing me and the federal government, without even trying to know the truth. Such is the tragedy of our time.


12. Now, what do these phenomena of hate speech, disinformation and fake news have in common? They are all capable of destabilizing the system, inciting people to violence and weakening the people’s confidence in their government, just like I said earlier. Let me quote how a German newspaper described this phenomenon: ‘’For a society in which people are informed mainly through the media – and form their political opinions through it – this process is threatened when lies spread through the media. When it is no longer clear what is false and what is correct, people lose their confidence in the state’’.


13. Your Excellency, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, Nigeria is a country of ethnic and religious diversity. That should be a source of strength, if the fault lines are not deliberately being exposed and exploited by those who are bent on setting the people against themselves, using their new-found tools of hate speech, disinformation and fake news. These dangerous trend is threatening the very foundation of our national unity. It is daily pushing the nation close to the precipice, perhaps more than at any other time since the end of the civil war.


14. What is the way out? We all must say NO to hate speech, either on our radio and television stations, newspapers, the Social Media, on our phones or in the public space. We must be resolute in tackling the canker-worm of hate speech, disinformation and fake news. We as government information managers must embark on a relentless campaign against these evil tendencies at our various levels, whether federal or state. We must boycott any medium that engages in hate speech, incitement to violence, disinformation and fake news. The regulators must also be alive to their responsibilities by promptly sanctioning the purveyors of hate speech, disinformation and fake news. Yes, our constitution allows freedom of speech and this government believes in it, but freedom of speech must not be allowed to become freedom of irresponsibility.


15. On the part of the federal government, the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has recently undertaken a series of engagements with all stakeholders to defuse the tension cause by these tendencies, and his efforts have gone a long way in calming frayed nerves, especially in the aftermath of the attacks and counter-attacks by various groups across the country. We must replicate this kind of engagement in our various states.


16. As a follow-up to the efforts of the Acting President, the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture is planning a series of engagements with the media, to educate and sensitize them to the dangers posed to the unity of the country by hate speech, disinformation and fake news. Needless to say that we are also appealing to the media, the traditional media in particular, to show responsibility by repudiating the freewheeling and out-of-control purveyors of hate speech, disinformation and fake news.

Unlike the Social Media, the traditional media is subject to the rigours of accuracy, fact-checking and fairness, among others. Sadly, even a section of the traditional media now apes the hate campaigners by lifting their unverified or distorted news and dumping such on their readers. This is not right.


17. A section of the tradition media is also now thriving on anti-government tendency. If you pick up copies of some newspapers, you will think the government of the day is doing nothing at all to alleviate the sufferings of the people, occasioned by the economic downturn. They ignore any positive actions of government, including the massive investment in infrastructure like roads and railways, and instead focus on anything that will make the government look bad. Instead of reporting the news freely and fairly, they have constituted themselves to an opposition bloc.


18. Let me note that it is only because we have a peaceful country that we have journalists, doctors, teachers, lawyers, etc all practising their trade. If we allow our country to be plunged into crisis just because of the antics of an irresponsible few, neither the journalists nor any other professionals will be able to practice thei profession. This is the blunt truth. We all have a stake in this country, hence we must not allow hate campaigners and purveyors of fake news and disinformation to drag the country down with them.


19. Your Excellency, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I thank you most sincerely for listening. Permit me to now declare open this extra-ordinary meeting of the National Council on Information. I wish us all fruitful deliberations. •Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, delivered this speech at the extra-ordinary meeting of the National Council on Information, held in Jos.

beamtopola:
Pls educate me. Who is charge of conducting government elections in nigeria?

beamtopola:
Inec is independent, so the state has no authority over inec. If anything is weird in this aspect, I think if such happen , inec should be blame and not hoa.

femi4:
If you have light, does that make it general improvement. People should use their brain

saintjoel:
We haven't been able to get sources from jaiz bank to help with questions but I think your wallet must be recharged before you can place orders.

saintjoel:
e-AUCTION: NCS EXPLAINS DIFFICULTY IN RECHARGING E-WALLET

Following public complaints, questions and commentaries on the Nigeria Customs Service e-auction platform which was officially launched on the 3rd of July 2017 by the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (Rtd).

The Service wishes to make some clarifications especially as the inability of other commercial banks to hook up to the platform is creating inconveniences that could lead to wrong perception that pinges on the integrity of the process.

Consequently, the Nigeria Customs Service wishes to state as follows:
•That all the 23 Customs duty collecting banks were carried along, properly trained in the process.
•When the platform was developed, it was subjected to user acceptability test with all the banks including the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
•Throughout this period, no bank indicated any problem with the platform.

However, upon launch of the platform https:app.trade.gov.ng/eauction only Jaiz Bank was discovered to be ready and active on the platform.

In the light of the above, the Service immediately wrote a letter to all the designated banks requesting them to “integrate with the e-auction application for the recharging of e-wallet” same day 3rd July 2017.

On Wednesday 5th July 2017 another letter was sent to CBN expressing the need for the Apex bank to confirm the readiness of Commercial Banks under its supervision to perform their roles in the process to ensure the success of the project.

While we are being told that other banks are making frantic efforts to sort out whatever technical problem that is to hook up to the platform, this clarification is necessary to correct whatever wrong insinuation that could be generated as a result of having only one bank presently on the platform.

Despite the initial hitches, the Service is happy to announce that the first 48 hours bidding period, Monday 12 noon to Wednesday 12 noon produced 43 winners.

Items uploaded were 130 vehicles, 43 bided for and won.
While 282 people registered, 268 were enabled with 245 able to generate e-wallet assessment. Out of 177 that recharged their e-wallets, 68 bided and 43 emerged as winners.

The second round of bidding starts today Monday 10th July 2017 and will stop at 12 noon on Wednesday 12th July 2017.

While looking forward to seeing more banks hook to the platform and ease the process for bidders, we wish to assure the general public of the Service determination to ensure that the transparent and accountable e-auction process succeeds.

The Service resolve is motivated by the core benefits of generating more revenue for the Federal Government while providing equal opportunities to all Nigerians.

Joseph Attah
Deputy Comptroller of Customs
Public Relations Officer
For: Comptroller-General of Customs

maclatunji:
Be honest, how many of you posting on this thread jumping up-and-down have applied for N-Power and are hanging-on the platform for latest updates.

The Financial Times is doing what it does best, general analysis without breaking down the issues. The same publication will describe Nigeria's economy recovery as 'unexpected' when it happens.

You are not worth debating with if you are in Nigeria and need a foreign paper to tell you the fundamentals of the economy, why it ran aground and how and why it should recover.

NIGERIA HAS LET A CRISIS GO TO WASTE

Economic collapse was meant to spur diversification — that has not happened

David Pilling




The term “dead cat bounce” derives from the fact that even a dead cat will bounce if it falls from a great height. If you imagine a dead cat soaked in crude oil and dropped from a 50-storey building, you get a rough picture of how Nigeria’s economy is performing these days.

Nigeria is expected to grow 2.5 per cent this year after contracting 1.6 per cent in 2016. But the population is also growing at 2.5 per cent. So in per capita terms, things are going nowhere.

The reasons for the “recovery” are twofold. First, last year’s performance was so dismal it would have been difficult for the economy to fall further. Without doing anything at all — a reasonable description of policy under Muhammadu Buhari, the country’s ailing leader and frequent London resident — the baseline effect has worked its magic. Second, the oil that makes up so much of government revenues is flowing faster. In June, production was 1.7m barrels a day, 10 per cent higher than a year ago.

Like weeds shorn of their leaves, graft will doubtless spring back as lush as ever once the Buhari strimmer is back in its box

One should, they say, never let a crisis go to waste. That advice has clearly not reached Abuja, where the economic collapse brought on by swooning oil prices was supposed to spur diversification. It has not happened. The danger now is that, having apparently come through the worst, Nigeria will simply go back to business as usual. If oil prices recover, so will headline growth. But the structure and basic dynamics of Africa’s largest economy will remain unchanged.

Nigeria frustrates because of its vast potential. It has 190m people, among the sharpest, most driven and entrepreneurial on the continent. But perverse incentives have diverted the energy of the best and the brightest to mostly unproductive activities: making money through political connections, speculation, round-tripping and arbitrage.

When President Buhari was elected three years ago, he promised to end all this. The economy would be transformed. Manufacturing would be re-energised. So would agriculture, which employs three-quarters of the population but contributes only a fifth of output. The government would wean itself off oil revenue. Mr Buhari — stern, principled, incorruptible — was said to be the man to see this through.

Little has come to pass. Mr Buhari took six months to name a cabinet and became embroiled in a necessary but distracting fight with Boko Haram. He has spent much of the past year convalescing from a mystery illness that has sapped his presidency of vigour and set off a merry-go-round of political jockeying to succeed him. There has been practically nothing in the way of coherent economic policy.

True, there have been attempts to punish individuals for corruption. Yet, like weeds shorn of their leaves, graft will doubtless spring back as lush as ever once the Buhari strimmer is back in its box. An example of failure to cut corruption at the roots is the foreign exchange policy. Mr Buhari was determined to defend the phoney official rate. But the only way to do so was to ration dollars. Given the yawning gap with the black market, this has delivered a delicious arbitrage opportunity to anyone lucky — or connected — enough to get their hands on precious foreign exchange at the official window.

Sadly for hopes of economic diversification, the lucky beneficiaries of dollars did not include manufacturers. Most were actually banned from receiving the foreign exchange they needed to buy inputs or capital equipment. Far from expanding, manufacturing actually shrank last year. The economy is back to square one, gasping for a recovery in oil prices to breathe life back into the system.

There are some promising signs. Agriculture is getting more attention, and there are tentative improvements in rice and other crops. If all goes to plan, by 2019, the country will have a $12bn oil refinery courtesy of Aliko Dangote, Nigeria’s richest man. This is an installation that could save billions in unnecessary imports of refined products.

Related article
‘Big oil’ dismisses predictions of collapse in demand
Saudi Aramco and Shell play down impact of electric vehicles









Nigeria’s constitution is working. In Mr Buhari’s extended absence with illness, the competent and dynamic Yemi Osinbajo has been running the show. Foreign exchange policy has improved. In April, a “growth and recovery plan” was published, laying out plans to cut red tape, improve the tax take, reform state-owned enterprises and move towards a market-determined exchange rate. Such policy prescriptions have been discussed for 20 years. The danger is Nigeria will still be talking about them 20 years hence.

The immediate prospect is for a vicious and enervating power struggle to succeed Mr Buhari, whom few expect to contest the 2019 election. Whoever emerges victorious will doubtless promise to stamp out corruption, diversify the economy and rationalise the oil sector. Cats not only bounce. They also have nine lives.

david.pilling@ft.com

https://www.ft.com/content/2f7d3a24-66eb-11e7-8526-7b38dcaef614

Amoyinoluwa24:
Governor Fayose's Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka and his friends have begun drinking and popping Hennessy bottles to celebrate the victory of Ahmed Markarfi at the supreme court today.

Makarfi was declared the authentic chairman at the apex court after being sacked by the Port Harcourt Division of the Court of Appeal.

"Drinking on the heads of Sheriff and his gang. Our Osokomole, Oko Iyaa Won vindicated again!" read the caption of the photos shared by the governor's aide.

Source: http://www.cambellsblog.com/2017/07/governor-fayoses-aide-celebrates.html

Ermacc:
they have killed so many, now they claim to have surrendered. Fg is housing and feeding them, next they will be sent out of the country on scholarship and we the good ones are still enduring this hardship. This country is a pot of beans. ewooooo! they are even drinking bottled water.

PaChukwudi44:
The Court ordered a status quo be maintained, if INEC goes ahead,the Senate will disregard this exercise irrespective of the outcome and Dino will continue to sit tight in the Senate

BTW Dino has not been silenced like you think. He was even the one who called Magu a mere DPO on Tuesday and called on the Senate not to confirm any new nominees until magu is removed from office

Ilaje44:
Lo jẹ wá l'ógún

Ọlọ́run, ṣ'àánú fún wa. Kíni wọ́n nkọ́ àwọn ọ̀dọ́ ìwòyí? Báwo lẹ ṣe ma kọ gbólóhùn bi ọ̀rọ̀ kan?

Bsmartt:
Good to ensure the safety of lives and properties. I am seeing Lagos as the New York City of Naija in few years. Itesiwaju Eko logewalogun. Lagos is working........

PaChukwudi44:
Abeg what is status quo? Status quo is that senator Dino is a senator of the federal republic of Nigeria

pauljumbo:
you only exposing the weaknesses of the president

as slow as you think Jonathan his he always in good standing with the legislature

if the executive can not influence its way in the legislature that's an indication that the president is weak

NIGERIA CUSTOMS SERVICE NEWS


July 3rd, 2017

E-Auction Advert (Terms and Conditions)

Nigeria Customs Service wishes to inform the general public about its readiness to deploy the e-auction platform via https://app.trade.gov.ng/eauction as from 1st July, 2017.
Consequently, all those who want to participate in the e-auction process are advised to note the following terms and conditions:

• Applicant must have a valid TIN issued by the FIRS with an active e-mail account.

• An applicant shall pay a non refundable fee of One Thousand Naira (N1,000.00) as administrative charge.

• An Item is auctioned “as is” as such request for replacement or refund shall not be entertained.

• The successful bidder shall make payment within five (5) working days.

• Failure to pay within five (5) working days the item reverts to the second (2nd) highest bidder.

• The successful bidder has two (2) weeks from the date of payment to remove the item bidded for or forfeit same at the expiration of the two (2) weeks.

• Any auction item not removed from the warehouse within fourteen (14) days from the date of payment shall revert to its pre-bidding status.

• Take note for overtime cargo, that the successful bidder shall in addition pay 25% charges for Shipping line and Terminal operator respectively.

• Bidders shall be allowed to bid for more than 2 items per bidding window.

• For claiming items, the winner shall present;

i. A valid copy of paid assessment and bank receipt (optional in case of e-payment);

ii. E-mailed code to identify owner after payment;

iii. A notarized letter in case owner sends representative. (Where owner is present uploaded photo on registration will do.)

iv. Provide proper identification with the notarized letter such as International passport, Driver’s licence, Voters card or National I.D.

• The dwell time for this Online Auction Sale shall be Twenty-Eight (28) days.

• Third party claims shall not be entertained.

• Officers of the Nigeria Customs Service are excluded from participating in this Auction.

• Owner of seized item is excluded from bidding for same.

• Conditions and terms of this auction are to be carefully considered by an interested person before acceptance.

• Applicant undertakes to abide by the conditions and terms of this auction

https://www.customs.gov.ng/Publications/news_results.php?NewsID=280

Keneking:
Jonathan's government has done very well by re-positioning the NCS to think creatively