jnizzle: I knw its gonna be a lil xpensive bt I do knw for a fact dat our military enginers can do it lyk dey recenty did to some alfa jets
You are still missing the point. It is not about how ABSOLUTELY expensive the conversion will be. No. It is about how COMPARATIVELY expensive the conversion will be relative to usage for the PROMISED revival of Nigerian Airways that our president will be flying in like any other regular Nigerian who EMPLOYED him to his job through their votes. Understand
Luizkid: that's where the Government comes in with support and improved processing and storage facilities but unfortunately our Agriculture ministry is not thinking that direction
I thought the government is made up of all of us and our VALUES. Not so If we do not actively cherish our own food items, why should the government that we allow to rule us support such since we have clearly indicated that is not our priority?
And let's pretend its true, then it won't be for long! Not in this climate! And i know you think it is funny but believe me, tinubu isn't laughing right now! And neither should you!
Thanks, bro! Yoruba LED (past tense) when we had real progressives like Awo and the UPN governors such as Jakande in charge. We have regressed in the hands of the Jandukus and Gbewiris who pretended to be progreTHIEVES in order to steal, loot and kill us for the past 17 years. Anyone in doubt should compare WAEC/JAMB results for Yorubas with those of other regions. Abi, is EDUCATION no longer the cornerstone of sustainable development ni? For how much longer should we condone these JagaBandits
The Awolowo rebirth in the Southwest has inspired gongs, songs and rhetoric of sorts. But they have missed one point.
It occurred to me in Abeokuta last week amidst the big crowds and euphoria of the swearing-in of Senator Ibikunle Amosun as governor. In all the states from Lagos to Edo, where Awo has witnessed ideological resurgence, hardly a single family member has played a role.
So we have an Awo family without an Awo. That is an irony. But history overwhelms us with this sort of twist. Obafemi Awolowo toiled for his reputation. His roots were lowly, he toiled to school both home and abroad, launched into careers in law, business, journalism and eventually politics. He carved a niche for himself, and became the first methodical and charismatic leftist in our history. Other leftists abounded but they did not inspire comparable drama and following.
He faced tribulations, went to jail, failed in elections, won a few, but he imprinted his ideas and legacy in the country, and no single mortal has beaten him in the history of this country. His greatest achievement was in the area of ideas, and that was how he fashioned a family. Most families are born of biology but his issued from ideology. That family suffered with him.
In a spoof of Jesus Christ, these were the men who followed him in his teachings, and endured with him in his temptations. So he formed a kingdom for them in the Southwest, in the old Western Region, presiding over his projects, his legacies and people.
In all of these, the family he had was not his flesh and blood. In another spoof of Christ, who were his family anyway? Those who were with him must be counted as his family. So, I combed in the ambience of Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), and I found none. I went to Ogun, I frisked the crowd under Amosun’s bower, hardly any. Around Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola in Osun, I could not lay a finger. With Governor Kayode Fayemi in Ekiti, where are the forbears of Awo? Yet, I can hear the chants of Awo. Hardly in any of the inaugural speeches or any of their other public intervention would you miss the philtre and filter of Awo from these gentlemen. To parody Novelist Joseph Conrad, they are the sparks from Awo’s sacred fire, the messengers of the might within the man.
Already all of them are pursuing the legacy ideas of Awo: free education, free health services, infrastructural development, urban renewal and economic engineering.
Lagos has posted itself as the John the Baptist. The others are putting up valiant efforts, and the world of course is watching to see how well they will perform. It will call for great work, resourcefulness and cooperation. They are the real Awoists, and Awo was a man of rigour and vigour.
The Awo son that many expected to take after the father was Olusegun, who unfortunately died in a car crash. We shall never know if he could have pulled it off. But the others have not shown much of the paterfamilias’ brio and depth. In the past decade, under this republic, they have blended with the wrong crowd. Even H.I.D, hobnobbed with Alao-Akala, who brought illiteracy to governance; with Oyinlola who turned the grace of office into a hell-hole of despots; with Daniel who could not arrest his quick fall into megalomania.
I wrote once that this woman whom Awo once described as the jewel of inestimable value has lost value to his cause. If he came back to life, he would have committed the extraordinary act of divorce after death. Even his newspaper, The Tribune, has so stumbled and fallen that it swims in Awo’s vomit.
Groucho Max, one of the funniest satirists in American history, said of a man that he got his looks from his father. Then he quipped, “He was a plastic surgeon.” That means the son is not his real son, or he did not inherit his natural looks. Ideologically, when we talk of Awo’s family, the chief inheritor is Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as the leader of all the others. He was the one who stuck his neck out. He could have lost his life or ended his career in politics. The so-called real Awolowos who bear his surname cannot come up for mention. They are Awolowos but not Awoists. They stabbed their father in the back. They have committed ideological parricide.
The only person that made a real try was Awolowo-Dosunmu in the early 1990s and she lost roundly. She was accused of trying to ride her father’s coattail. Political families are good for democracies. They can exemplify the high ideals of diligence, dignity, ideas, character. We have seen these in such families as the Kennedys, the Adamses, the Roosevelts, the Ghandis. They just don’t claim family. They appeal to the high ideals that endeared the families to their societies.
It’s also an irony that these families are falling into twilight. Some of them have vanished. Enoch Powell, a British MP, once gave us the famous line: “All political lives, unless they are cut off midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure because that is the nature of politics and human affairs.”
Columnist Ambassador Dapo Fafowora adverted to this idea in a recent outing, and I debated it with him afterwards. I don’t believe that a political life should be judged by how it ends but what it means. The quote is often missed by many who mistake “careers” for “lives.” A political life should be judged by its legacies. If we judged Awo by how he ended, we would look at him only as the loser to Shagari. That is why I see an intrinsic mischief in Enoch’s quote. But I would agree that political families end also in failure if you judge how they peter out and not the legacy.
Awo’s legacy is alive and well. Members of other families in flesh and blood can carry on. Immediate families tend to suffer from what an author, Noemie Emery, describes as dynastic curse. The children tend to be intimidated by the standards set by the fathers. So they just don’t want to try. They feel they cannot match them or come even close. The problem probably comes from the fathers themselves. The Adams, who produced important presidents, later gave birth to moral vagrants and drunks. The Bush daughters showed themselves as party girls when their father was contesting the political battle of his life.
But Joe Kennedy groomed his sons assiduously, and they excelled in politics. They also had a fair share of tragedies. Ted Kennedy regained his sobriety and voice in America after a season of debauchery. In Nigeria, we are seeing the Sarakis fade. A Saraki – Bukola - is wiping out the Sarakis from politics. It is a classic case of oedipal tragedy, something I predicted earlier this year on this page.
It is not late though for the flesh-and-blood Awolowos to join their father’s fold. But they must be genuine. Awo was the most important Yoruba personage in history after Oduduwa. They had stellar men like Oranmiyan, Balogun Latosa, Lisabi, Sodeke, et al. None of them had the unifying vision and organisational acumen that Awolowo gave the race. The wife, children and grandchildren should not watch others glow in his jewel without them.
DesChyko: It's not an issue of supporting corrupt individuals.
It's a matter of 'If a person sees a fowl scratching at sh¡t, it is best to chase it away because no one knows who will eat the leg'.
The law has a way of dealing with such cases. Let that process be followed.
Tomorrow, a judge that doesn't dance to the tune of the government can be framed and victimised without due process. Why must the law be made for only specific individuals?
And no one will ever know the truth because we are simply supporting the government for pointing out a fraudster.
Let the government prove its case against offenders in the legal way. If it is not provable, they shouldn't bring up the matter. Riding on ignorance to achieve their aims is crazy.
Thank you oh, bros. May your tribe never diminish. Amen!
jnizzle: Can be modified for training purposes, it doesn't av to be for combat, it could be for Surveillance purposes....
Of course, there is no question about whether it can be converted or not into whatever purpose. The question is at what COST compared to other possibilities
mycar: Working very hard to rebuild Tinubu's battered image, I supposed? No matter what you all do, there will never be any peace for the wicked.
The brain-dead zombies won't understand. They are already salivating over the mention of their Amunisin aka JagaBandit. Surely there will be no peace for the wicked.
Dutchboy: "The real enemy is the man that stole the city hall. The enemy is the Iragbiji upstart who seized the local government Secretariat at Glover street in Ikoyi. Our collective enemy is the greedy man who bought the old Nurses House, the Falomo shopping complex, the Lagos state Polytechnic property at Ojota, the stretches of acres at Lekki, the old Strabag yard at Alausa, the innumerable beach front properties long owned by the people of Lagos state, the billion naira Queen’s Drive mansion, the illegal Lekki Toll Gate, the First Nation Airline, the strings of media conglomerates, the Vault and Garden Cemetery, the vast Estates on the shores of Oniru beach , the endless choice hotels and high-rises, the shopping Mall in Ikeja and Lekki, and many great assets of our people this Iragbiji man has stolen with manic desperation. That is the real enemy we must chase back to Iraghiji.
With all these crazy and bewildering acquisitions , it is obvious that this Iragbiji upstart suffers from a disease called AFFLUENZA. It is an incurable malady which makes the pathetic sufferer to pursue blind, greedy, desperate and infectious craving for acquisition after acquisition. Here , the demented sufferer can never stop the craving for unnecessary endless accumulation of wealth. He does not know what is enough. Here wealth is glorified in place of the Almighty God. This is the dreadful disease Tinubu is suffering from.
Let us remove and dismantle the greedy contraption of Bola Tinubu from Lagos and the whole South West before the madness of the Iragbiji man corrupts the whole nation."
Modified to COMBAT usage at what cost compared to selling or converting to commercial flight use as Buhari promised? Why do we make it easy for our leaders looters to steal us blind
Luizkid: Simply by improving the quality of Locally produced rice and watch as it freely competes with the foreign rice. You know the local rice is naturally sweet but just for the stones n chaff
How will the quality improve if we don't buy and provide motivation for such improvements? Do you know how that would happen without motivation?
obiageIi: Does it mean that the airforce can fly any of the PAF jets for its our mission?
What kind of military mission can NAF use presidential jets for, please? Maybe for bombing Boko haram in sambisa forest? Do you mind telling us? Thanks.
This is the SAME as keeping them in the presidential fleet, which has always been managed by the NAF. So.......... The promise Buhari made is to use them for the revival of the Nigerian Airways and fly our commercial flights like the citizens of the nation that he SERVES. Has the promise CHANGED
GMB Speech While Addressing Nigeria Community In The United Kingdom.
I Will Maintain a modest lifestyle as President -Muhammadu Buhari.
“One of the major killers of our economy apart from corruption is waste. Our scarce resources are being plundered away very carelessly and unnecessarily wasted. Let me give an instance, presently, there are more than 6 aircraft in the presidential fleet. What do you call that? Billions of naira is budgeted every year for the maintenance of these aircraft not to talk of operational cost and other expenses.
You may want to ask what a Nigerian President is doing with so many aircraft when a Prime Minister of Britain fly around using the same public aircraft like an ordinary Briton.
Go and check and compare with that of any developed country in the world, the office of the Nigerian President is a very expensive one inspite our high level of poverty, lack and joblessness. Despite all these, you still find a Nigerian Minister spending about N10billion to charter an aircraft for just one year. Now, for me, when we come into office, all these waste will be blocked and properly channelled into our economy. We intend for instance, to bring back our National carrier, the Nigerian airways. [size=14pt]We shall do this by bringing all the aircraft in the presidential fleet into the Nigerian airways[/size] and within a year increase the fleet into about 20.
Firefire: ‘A budget that moves domestic spending in Aso Villa from N580m to N1.7bn cannot be a budget of change’
Abuja – Sen. Eyinnaya Abaribe (PDP Abia South) on Wednesday in Abuja, berated the 2016 budget and called on President Muhammaduu Buhari to withdraw it and go back to the drawing board.
Abaribe while making contributions during the consideration of the budget, said the proposal was faulty on many grounds and could not be implemented at it was.
He said that predication of oil benchmark at 38 dollars per barrel when the crude oil price had fallen below 30 dollars per barrel made the budget unrealistic.
Abaribe faulted the government for increasing spending by 30 per cent based on borrowing.
“Mr President, my colleagues, this budget is indeed unique. After the budget presentation, the finance minister has never come to explain the details of the budget as it is normally done.
“It is a budget of change I agree, but it is a change in the wrong direction. I say it is a change in the wrong direction because it says that it is based on zero budgeting requiring all expenses to be fully justified.
“Mr President, a budget that increases spending up to 30 per cent based solely on borrowing, in what way are we justified? That is the question we want to ask the people who brought this budget.
“We know what is going on in the global economy: this budget is predicated on an oil benchmark of 38 dollars per barrel and I can now say that with oil being 28 dollars today, this budget is dead on arrival.
“The job of the opposition is to help the government to get its priorities right, so I want to please urge this government to withdraw this budget and go back to the drawing board,” he said.
The senator also faulted the adjustments made in the budget as well as allocation for spending in the Aso Rock Villa, saying that it was too exorbitant.
He said that the adjustments rather than reduce spending in areas where they were not necessary only spread it into different offices. “Mr President, a budget that moves domestic spending within Aso Villa from N580 million to N1.7 billion cannot be a budget of change.
“We were told that in the revised budget there was an adjustment due to error, we agree but what has happened is that up to N7 billion were moved from buying vehicles and spread to offices.
“It also increased the spending that is due to renovations within the Villa.
“They are going to renovate the Villa with N3.9 billion: what else do you want to renovate there that Nigerians will see in the Year 2016?” he asked.
However, in his contribution, Sen. Ahmed Lawan (APC Yobe North) blamed the previous administration for the lack of funds due to the embezzlement witnessed in previous governments.
He said that this was the 17th budget he would be debating as a legislator and noted that not more than 40 per cent implementation was achieved in the last 16 years.
“The proposal before us is the first budget where the executive has deemed it necessary to give ordinary Nigerians genuine hope.
“N500 billion allocated for school feeding and social SAFTEY NET is commendable.
“It is time to say oil should not continue to play dominant role as we have suffered economically and politically: it is time to diversify this economy.
“The direction of the executive is the way to go. `That is, we should make every effort to have the real sector-agric mining and manufacturing.
“The budget deserves the support of everyone, including my colleagues on the other side. When we were in the opposition we supported the PDP, they should support us,” he said.
pinky21: KORECCCT, U JUST SAID NO TO SLAVERY. NOW U ARE YOUR OWN BOSS,"OHHHH SOMETIMES I GAT THE FEELING" YEAH
Very correct, I tell you. Except for WASTING his time, talent and efforts as well as his parents' money going to university campus for four years or more. He could have done six months or more in a vocational school/technical college to be a certified modern plumber. What a waste of time.
Melonny: Well, the short term effects of this is the price per bag will reduce thus making per bag cheap and affordable but the local producers will suffer.. lifting the ban will encourage dumping which will give the local producers no chance (reduced market share) We all understand the law of demand and supply..Not buying from local producers will lessen the demand for Naira and buying imported rice will demand more supply of Naira in exchange for the exporters home currency(hedging technique). More demand- high price while more supply- low price Conclusion- Naira's value will weaken the more at the long run.
Apart from the weakened Naira value there is also the effect of greater UNEMPLOYMENT because we are simply buying food that we do not grow by ourselves and shipping out to oyinbo people the money we get from Niger Delta oil shared monthly. Stupid is what WE are. No doubt!!! Anyway, at least Bubu will fulfill one promise in REVERSE order.
Luizkid: the ban shouldn't have been in the first place cos we ain't ready, if u're familiar with seme border u'll know those customs men are just enriching themselves and intimidating poor market women yet d rice keeps coming in. This decision can never affect local production because if the quality is improved i see no reason to buy a bag of foreign rice for 15k wen i can get local rice for 7k
WHEN will we be ready? HOW can we get ourselves ready? Or should we remain unready for ever ni?
SnowJay92: Firstly the ban on rice importation was rash, uncalculated and very ill-timed. You have a country of over a hundred and fifty million hungry people and you just ban importation without even as much as any plans to set up the farms, talk less of actually cultivating the farms,
Even after the banning has there being any bold move by the FG to stimulate local production? Or you believe just banning rice would do the magic?
Forgive me if I don't share your optimism, but have you been to any of the the states you mentioned above to see things for yourself or you're letting all these media imagemaking deceive you?
Did you ever hear that NECESSITY is the mother of invention? I hope that I don't need to explain how that applies in this context, although I can try if you confess that you don't understand. Meanwhile you may wish to take note of the below news items.
Maybe I am the only one seeing this in another angle.
1. Nigerians so much love "IMPORTED GOODS".
2. FG banned the importation of rice.
As a result of 2, many people invested in rice businesses ( cultivation of local rice in large quantity and milling in local industries)
3. Many people started investing in rice cultivation and so on, so as to take the advantage to make more money, create employment, and even ease up a bit the demand for fx (fx being sourced for the importations of this very goods).
4. Investors have invested, purchase of lands, setting up machineries and are patiently waiting for cultivation time (many who invested in rice are saying that their produce will be ready by December).
5.all of a sudden, FG, just lifts ban on importation of same rice.
IMPLICATIONS.
1. What will be the fate of all those that ventured into rice farming and all that? I guess the market will no longer be favourable to them ( Nigerians love anything FOREIGN).
2. From what I read up there. It says that restrictions are on land/boarders" which means, it is allowed for Nigerians to import rice into countries like Benin republic, chad and even Niger, pay customs duty to their ports, pay all tax associated with importation in their country, clear the goods,(all these money is going into the coffers of the respective countries). And then brings it into Nigeria via the boarders and then still pay (who will bear the cost of all these spendings? I guess, the final consumers). Now who is cheating who and who is fooling who?
3. What if the market is not favourable to those who invested in rice farming, thereby making them loose or unable to recover the money spent. Do we still think these people will remain in business or fold up? ( govt is meant to create an enabling environment to investors who are investing en mass for the 1st timeM at least to boost their confidence in the govt).
To me, I think this is lack of govt policy( make a strong policy and stand my it.
To me, many people will not want to invest in Naija because of their lack of strong and firm policies,( they can twist and change anytime) what investors need is being steady with your policies. I think this will affect Naija in other sectors or areas.
In as much as it will ease some pains on the immediate , but what about long run?
It does not make sense to me, u told me to stand in the rain for some time to enable u fix the roof of my house properly, I accepted to, having in mind that it will be fixed properly so that it will last me a long time, but half way into the repairs, u asked me to come that u will fix it anyhow for me to stay for the mean time( u didn't do it properly, which means it will still spoil soon).
Anyways, I might be very wrong, but this is what I thought.
We have been enduring for some time, why not beg us to remain steadfast? As there is light at the end of the tunnel? It shows that they lacked the will power to stand to their words. No economy survives with policy and counter policies.
You are two much, damn it. In fact you are three much. Beautiful post. Thanks.
donphilopus: You're the dull@rd here Mr Man. Buhari didn't tighten security at the borders because imported rice were harmful for consumption. What they said was that, as a result of the ban of rice, importers were importing rice with coffins and [b]mixing rice with other harmful substance[/b]s so they could evade arrest at the border.
Try and use your brain next time. You don't just rush to term the President a dull@rd at any given opportunity.
When you MIX rice with other HARMFUL substance does the rice not become harmful for consumption It looks like dull, dumb & deaf leaders attract equally handicapped followers!
idesylvester: So wat do u think... get married while leaving under d bridge... or plan ur wedin wen u mum n dad still feeds u.. bro r u thinkin wit ur d*ck.. mind u,car is nt compulsory
So anyone who does not own a house is living under the bridge? Anyone who does not earn a six-figure salary is being fed by mum and dad, right? I thought you were redeemable. My mistake.
idesylvester: Let me en lighting my friends here... u can't ban rice wen u v not fixed things that can make rice cheaper and competitive, such as road and and other famin infrastructure.
agabusta: Abeg keep quiet. You people were the one screaming that his policies drove up the price of rice, now he has agreed to the pampering that the consumerist nation Nigeria wants and you are still wailing
You are the one who should keep quiet! Sai Bubu promised CHANGE as a strong man, was that not why he was elected? Why should the strong man agree "to the pampering that the consumerist nation Nigeria wants." Are you saying that he is:
Politics › Re: Buhari To Hand Over Presidential Jets To NAF by anonimi: 1:28pm On Oct 09, 2016
