₦airaland Forum

The great Umbrella party is slowing showing this mugus, who really owns the PDP. Waiting for the Abuja court, to finally send these rats from nPDP to hell where they belong.

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has threatened to expose the real issues behind the industrial action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

The NANS president, Comrade Yinka Gbadebo told journalists in Abuja that the union’s demands are egocentric and has so far been largely responsible for the corruption and rot in the university system.

The student association who questioned the demands of the union warned ASUU to refrain from politicising the strike, but should embrace useful solutions like the call for a National Education Stakeholders Dialogue.

This threat is coming at the heels of the strike embarked upon by members of ASUU entering its 100th day.

Thousands of students, including those undertaking postgraduate programmes have been idling away at home since July 2.

The failure of the federal government to fulfil resolutions reached with ASUU in 2009 and non-payment of accumulated earned allowances owed the university lecturers are yet to be addressed.


www.channelstv.com/home/2013/10/09/dialogue-or-we-expose-you-nans-threatens-ASUU/

Second Republic Governor of Plateau State, Dr. Solomon Lar, has said the War Against Indiscipline (WAI) embarked upon by former Head of State and leader of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, was targeted at political leaders from the minority ethnic nationalities.

He said even when the courts found the leaders innocent of the charges of corruption levelled against them, the military authorities under Buhari refused to release them.

Lar was speaking as a guest speaker at the eighth Senator Obi Wali memorial lecture and merit award organised by the Ikwerre Development Association (IDA) in Port Harcourt.

In his lecture titled: “Perspectives on Minorities and Nation Building in Nigeria”, Lar noted that the history of Nigeria would be incomplete without the contributions made by the minorities in nation-building.

He, however, expressed regret that the majority groups had over the years tried to stall the development of the minority groups and even victimised them in the scheme of things in the country.

According to him, “From available records, the minorities, right from the colonial days, are known to be paying highly for keeping Nigeria one and making it grow.”

He noted that the minorities were the greatest victims of colonialism, as the British colonialists denied them their ways of life and autonomy by merging them with the majority ethnic groups.

“Up North where the minorities put together out-numbered the majority nationality, they were made to surrender their sovereignty to the leadership of the Hausa-Fulani rulership,” he said.


Recounting what the minorities passed through during the colonial days, Lar rhetorically asked, “Would October 1, 1960 have been a reality if the minorities had ganged up and insisted on their rights before independence was granted as scheduled?”

He stated that the political crises that consumed the First Republic was partly as a result of “crises created by the major political parties, especially their denial of peoples mandate as expressed through political parties formed by the minorities”.

He noted that even when the Second Republic failed and Buhari took over as Head of State, he targeted minorities in his crusade against corruption.

His words: “He (Buhari) embarked on War Against Corruption, and seemed to have targeted the minorities mainly. Some were sentenced to 120 years imprisonment, without proper trial. It took the grace of God for us to get off the hook.

“Justice Mohammed Bello’s review panel set most of us free. Like in my own case, the panel said, ‘Mr. Solomon Lar did not misuse one kobo of government, he did not even amass wealth for himself, he is not guilty, there is no reason for keeping him in prison’. Even with that verdict, it took the military almost two years to release me from prison. The crime was the emancipation philosophy that I championed for the minorities.”

He however expressed satisfaction that the minorities are no longer in opposition, but “gradually possessing their possessions, working hard to ensure that the Nigerian nation grows stronger and well-integrated.”

www.thisdaylive.com/articles/lar-buhari-s-war-against-indiscipline-targeted-at-minorities

What is Nigeriaintel.com

British banking group, Barclays, is planning to expand its business footprint in the African nation of Nigeria without making a large and expensive acquisition in the country.

Banking Business Review quoted Barclays Chief Executive Officer, Antony Jenkins, to have made this remark, adding that the bank would cautiously work to strengthen its operation in Nigeria.

The bank is likely to launch corporate banking in Nigeria to tap the opportunities being presented by multinational companies looking to expand into Africa, similar to that of FirstRand's Rand Merchant Bank (RMB).

Barclays Africa Group, which acquired Absa in South African in September this year, does not have much representation in Nigeria.

"We have a rep office there. We do some business in Nigeria and we are going to grow that business and I think quite cautiously over time, and then we will see what opportunities present themselves.

“Obviously in the medium term we would like to have a bigger presence there but we are not going to make some big inorganic play which would be very expensive,” Jenkins said was quoted to have said on bdlive.co.za.

Jenkins added that the bank had not contemplated whether to apply for a licence or acquire some business in the country, saying all options were still open.

“We have a unique footprint from the African continent and so bringing our corporate customers to Africa is going to be a very important strategic focus for us and that's the unique advantage of Barclays because we have got a global footprint and we have got the presence,” Jenkins added.


“If you put those two things together it's a very powerful combination. So a lot of this is about execution and accelerating the pace of execution within the context of our aspirations to be the Go To Bank.”

In order to operate the business smoothly, the banking group is reportedly mulling over integration of the assets of its African operations combined in one place.

MOSCOW (AP) -- A staggering 35 percent of household wealth in Russia is owned by just 110 people, the highest level of inequality in the world barring a few small Caribbean islands, a report by a major investment bank says.
By contrast, billionaires worldwide account for just 1-2 percent of total wealth, Credit Suisse said in its report published Wednesday. Russia has one billionaire for every $11 billion in wealth while in the rest of the world there is one for every $170 billion.
The fall of Communism saw Russia's most prized assets sold off to a small circle of businessmen later known as oligarchs. President Vladimir Putin allowed them to keep their wealth in exchange for their political loyalty.
Metals and banking tycoons Vladimir Potanin and Mikhail Fridman, who made their fortunes in the 90s, are still high on the list of Russia's richest men. But the past decade saw a rise of new billionaires who draw their wealth from state contracts and some of whom are known to be the presidents' friends, like Gennady Timchenko.
Credit Suisse said that there were hopes with the demise of the Soviet Union that Russia would turn into a high skilled economy with fair wealth distribution but "this is almost a parody of what happened in practice."
The 35 percent of wealth that Russian billionaires own is equivalent to $420 billion.
"Russia has the highest level of wealth inequality in the world, apart from small Caribbean nations with resident billionaires," the bank said in the report.

President Goodluck Jonathan’s acceptance of the National Conference/Dialogue on the 53rd Independence Day last week, may be a Greek Gift. He was adamantly against it just a few months ago; and so was Senator David Mark, just a few weeks ago. For them both to make such a sudden and complete U-Turn makes the whole thing suspicious. If they plan to use it to cause some confusion toward the 2015 elections, then they better make another U-Turn in the best interest of stability, as well as the existence of this country. If that is not the case, and I want to believe it is not, then they should only receive and widely publish the report of the conference committee just formed, but suspend all other actions on the conference until well after the 2015 elections. In fact, I would want such a suggestion to come from the committee members themselves. No such a conference or anything about it, besides the ad hoc committee’s work, should take place before the elections.

Better still, this government should hands off this matter, and leave it to the Nigerian people to organise their conference. I say this, not only because of the negative subterranean influence the government will certainly exert, but also because of the billions of naira that will be stolen in the name of the conference. President Jonathan should please pay more attention to the educational, health and infrastructural problems that bedevil the nation presently.

The way this conference is being conceived by its initiators, as a negotiation forum between the various nationalities (that is, the tribes) of this country, will be a very difficult, if not impossible, to organise. First, they have to define who are these nationalities, and how they would elect or nominate their representatives. They also have to define the role of the civil society in all this, who they represent and how they should be nominated. I am sure also, that the federal and state governments, youth and women organisations will need to participate, and we cannot be sure whether the criteria they will use in nominating their delegates will be the same or on an equal basis. God knows who else will demand to be represented! No one will accept to be left behind. But, we all know that certain nominations are made in order to steer meetings like this to some specific outcomes. That is where we must also be very careful.

With all these people populating the conference, you certainly need a huge indoor Stadium, to accommodate all the patriots, zealots, fanatics, terrorists, militants, anti-unity and anti-democracy groups, secessionists, fundamentalists, and whatever else you might think of among them. These are the representatives of the people, and all would demand seats and stipend and accommodation etc. That will be too expensive for the country to bear, especially at this time when the Federal Government, it is said, cannot fully pay the states their monthly allocations.; when they cannot settle with the Academic Staff Union of Universities and the students; when some doctors are planning to go on strike; and when nothing really works.

And, if you deny any of these groups and go for nomination of participants by some other means using other criteria, then the conference will not be properly representative, and will be dead on arrival. And, if you gather all those people listed above by whatever means, the confusion will be endless, and may even precipitate the unthinkable.

And then, how do you protect the conference from a terrorist attack?

Or, may be the other alternative is to elect a new Constituent Assembly to debate the Constitution and make the necessary amendments in the vital areas that concern most Nigerians. But then, some will say, “That is what the National Assembly is doing right now”. Or, they will say, “The National Assembly should convert itself into a Constituent Assembly, and do the job. Some nominated members from the civil society may be added to it to bridge some of the gaps of representation, and to allow some advocates to participate. And, they will add that, whatever they produce should then be put to a national referendum; and the new constitution will then be a truly people’s constitution. Even these suggestions, I am sure will be objectionable to the agitators of the Sovereign National Conference, whose real agenda are unknown.

Many people have in the past said the question to be asked is, “Do we want to remain as one country? If so, under what conditions?” What if this question when asked, the resounding answer is, “No! We do not want to remain as one country?”

Whether these type of risky questions will be asked and negative answers be given, it has to be warned that separating this country is not going to be an easy task. Any such attempt may land us into another war, in which the country will end up completely destroyed and millions killed. And, we must not forget, we are in an era of war throughout the world. We certainly cannot escape it. Separation can only come by itself, if for example, a section, on its own, decides to leave the union. In that case, the proponents should be allowed to do so, completely with their people. Another war to keep the country one will result in the same destruction and loss of lives and, therefore, defeat its purpose.

Many people will not like anyone to die, or even to spill a drop of blood to keep this country one. It cannot be kept one if a war happens between these “nationalities”; it will be destroyed. So, the best thing to do, is for the National Assembly and any other groups to continue debating on what is really wrong with us. How do we make the necessary adjustments, structurally and politically, that will ensure we remain one in whatever form?

If the truth is to be told, we all know of a few matters that truly disturb and distort the minds of Nigerians, about the country and its remaining united.

1. Many people feel completely dominated in their own states, by people from “other” places. We do not like to say this, but it is now important to say it. It is natural for people to feel this and resent it, and even become violent because of it. Even in Europe, we’ve just been hearing David Cameron of the United Kingdom and Angela Markel of Germany say openly that multi-culturism is not working; that it is dead. This is mostly because “foreigners” are beginning to dominate them and take away their jobs and their livelihoods. In the UK, for example, the Asians, Middle Easterners and East Europeans are the new middle-class. Almost all of the corner shops -dry cleaning, news agencies, green groceries, restaurants, food halls, even the traditional fish & chip shops are being taken by foreigners. Building works, house refurbishing, repairs and decorating by East Europeans. Even the pimps and their commodities are foreigners!

We have also seen what is happening in other countries that were once peaceful, but now almost on the verge of violence, or already doing it against new comers. In Italy, Russia, Burma, even Britain and Australia, nationalist parties are spring up to challenge immigration and beat up or even kill immigrants! The world is becoming smaller, population growing at an incredibly fast rate, and resources getting meaner! The same thing is happening to us in Nigeria, because we still regard ourselves as foreigners to one another in our own country. This is a contradiction, but we cause and encourage it. We senselessly say bad things against each other, without thinking of the consequences to our national unity. For example, “northerners are useless, they are parasites etc. Or, the Igbo have dominated us. Or, the Yoruba alone don’t own Lagos, we built it. Or, it is our oil, or, it is our land, get out of it and so on.” Clearly, some Nigerians do not have the freedoms they ought to have in other parts of their country. Everybody is on every other body’s nerves. Everybody believes that their problems are caused by someone else, especially if that someone else is doing much better.

To be continued on Thursday


www.punchng.com/opinion/be-careful-with-that-conference

Abuja, Nigeria. October 8th, 2013
Governance poll results released by NOIPolls Limited for the month of September have revealed that almost half of Nigerians (49%) approve of the President’s performance over the past month. This rating represents an 8-point decline in the President’s approval rating fromAugust (57%) to September (49%). More findings showed that majority (50%) are of the opinion that the present administration performed averagely. In addition, there is a 5-point increase in those who have seen improvements in their power supply for the month of September (from 36% in August to 41% in September). These were the key findings from the Governance Snap Poll conducted in the week of September 23rd 2013.
The result presented is the ninth of the monthly series of governance polls conducted by NOIPolls to gauge the opinions and perceptions of Nigerians regarding three crucial elements– the approval rating of the president, the performance of the current administration, and the situation of power supply in the country.

Respondents to the poll were asked three specific questions. One, with the aim of gauging the job approval rating of President Goodluck Jonathan over the past month (September)respondents were asked: Do you approve or disapprove of the performance of President Jonathan in the past 1 month? results revealed that overall, majority 49% (42% +7%) are in support of the President’s performance over the past month, with 42% approving and 7%strongly approving of the performance of the President. Relatively, 24% (19%+5%) of respondents disapproved of the President’s performance, with 19% disapproving and 5%strongly disapproving, while, 27% of the respondents were neutral in rating his performance. These figures represent a significant 8-point decrease in the President’s approval rating from August (57%) to September (49%), and a 5-point increase in the proportion that disapproved of the president’s performance from August (19%) to September (24%).

Analyses by geo-political zones reveal that the South East with 74% (61%+13%) down from76% in the month of August, has the highest proportion of respondents that approve of the President’s performance. This is followed by the South South with 61% (55%+6%) down from66% in the month of August. In addition, the South West with 42% (38%+4%) up from 23%, has the highest proportion of respondents that disapprove of the President’s performance while the North West with 42% up from 32%, has highest number of neutrals.

Evaluating the President’s rating in a nine months series show that the highest approval ratings of the President’s performance were obtained in August (57%), February (54%) and July(53%). Similarly the lowest approval ratings received by the President were in the months of May (44%), June (44%) and April (42%).

Subsequently, with the aim of assessing the performance of the current administration respondents were asked: How would you rate the performance of this current administration in the past 1 month? Findings reveal that half of Nigerians (50%) believe that the current administration has performed averagely well, others, 23% (20%+3%) affirmed they performed well, while 27% (21%+6%) say they performed poorly.



An assessment of the current administration’s performance by the geo-political zones reveal that the North Central (61%) and North West (59%) zones have the highest proportion of respondents that rate the performance of the current administration as average; while the South West has the highest proportion of respondents (47%: 38%+9%) that rate the performance of the current administration poorly.

Trending the performance of the current administration over a nine month period, the analysis below reveal that the job approval rating of the current administration (executive cabinet- governors and ministers) ministers experienced a surge in February (24%) but declined consecutively till April (16%). A second surge of approval was witnessed in July (28%) and peaked in August (35%). After which we have observed a 12-point declinein the month of September (23%).

Lastly, in order to gauge the quality of power supply in Nigeria within the past month, respondents were asked: How would you describe power in your area in the past 1 month? Reactions to this question revealed that the general situation of power improved over the past month as majority 41% (33%+8%) of Nigerians experienced an improvement in their power supply. From these figures, we see a 5-point increase in the proportion of Nigerians that experienced an improvement in the power situation from August (36%) to September (41%).

Further analysis by geo-political zones reveal that the power situation has improved in theSouth South (49%: 41%+8%) and the South East (47%: 7%+40%) but has remained poor/gone worse in the South West (54%: 32%+22%) North West (53%: 44%+9%), these figures are relatively the same when compared to results in August 2013.

Evaluating the situation of Power across Nigeria in nine months depicts a general fluctuation in the improvement experienced by Nigerians. January, February and September recorded the best power ratings so far with 47%, 44% and 41% respectively while March, April and June with 31%, 31% and 32% respectively recorded the lowest ratings.

In conclusion, the results from the current poll have shown that almost half of Nigerians (49%: 42%+7%) approve of the President’s performance over in the month of September. This rating represents a significant 8-point decrease in the President’s approval rating from August (57%)to September (49%). Although, the power situation in Nigeria saw a general improvement as the proportion of Nigerians that experienced an improvement in their power supply increased by 5-points from August (36%) to September (41%), the 8-point decline is attributed to the negative approval ratings in the regions that experienced bad power supply (South West and North West). More findings showed that majority (50%) are of the opinion that the present administration performed averagely. Also indicative in this our 9 month series is that several other factors apart from power and the current on-going reforms may have affected the way Nigerians perceive the performance of the President.
Survey Methods
The opinion poll was conducted on September 23rd to 25th 2013. It involved telephone interviews of a random nationwide sample. 1,017 randomly selected phone-owning Nigerians aged 18 years and above, representing the six geopolitical zones in the country, were interviewed. With a sample of this size, we can say with 95% confidence that the results obtained are statistically precise – within a range of plus or minus 3%. NOIPolls Limited is theNo.1 for country specific polling services in West Africa, which works in technical partnership with the Gallup Organisation (USA), to conduct periodic opinion polls and studies on various socio-economic and political issues in Nigeria. More information is available at www.noi-polls.com

http://businessdayonline.com/2013/10/presidents-job-approval-ratings-decline/

This man too much. He also knows how to play the publicity game.

LAGOS (AFP) – There are far more African billionaires than previously thought, Ventures magazine said Monday in a report on the continent’s mega-rich, but the number of Africans living in extreme poverty has also shot up.

Previous Africa-rich-lists named as few as 16 billionaires, but Ventures said its exhaustive research had identified at least 55 on a continent where the wealthy often fiercely protect details about their fortunes.

The pan-African business magazine said it was able to uncover dozens of new billionaires by using “on-the-ground knowledge” to overcome hurdles that may have “hampered” other researchers.

Of the 55, 20 are Nigerian, including several oil barons, while South Africa and Egypt boast nine and eight respectively.

Ventures’ supported reports by Forbes which listed Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote as Africa’s richest man with a fortune of $20.2 billion (15 billion euros).

Dangote, who made his fortune in cement, heads a multi-interest empire, profiting from products including flour and sugar, while eyeing a massive investment in oil refining.

The continent’s richest woman is Nigeria’s Folorunsho Alakija, whose Fama Oil owns an offshore oil block, which she acquired in 1993 “at a relatively inexpensive price”, likely through a helpful connection, the magazine said.

Alakija studied fashion in London, then made dresses for Maryam Babaginda, the late wife of Nigerian military dictator Ibrahim Babaginda.

The former designer “is believed to have ridden on the crest of this relationship to acquire an oil block,” off the Niger Delta in southern Nigeria, said Ventures.



The most prominent South African named is Nicky Oppenheimer, worth an estimated $6.5 billion, whose fortune came largely from the diamond mines his family controlled for decades, which were operated by De Beers. Oppenheimer sold his family’s stake in De Beers two years ago.

The figure of 55 is “actually an under-estimate” of Africa’s billionaires, Chi-Chi Okonjo, the founder of Ventures, told AFP.

“People are not comfortable disclosing their wealth,” he said.

Corruption is rife on the continent and the rule of law still unevenly applied. African business moguls often face accusations that their fortunes were illegitimately earned, including with extra-legal help from political patrons.

The apparently rising number of ultra-rich Africans has come amid broader economic growth on the continent, which has seen an average of five percent GDP expansion since 2010.

But economic growth has not kept up with a rising population.

“There are more than twice as many extremely poor people living in sub-Saharan Africa today (414 million) than there were three decades ago (205 million),” the World Bank said in April.

It is the only region where “the number of poor people individuals has risen steadily and dramatically,” over the last 30 years, the bank said.

www.vanguardngr.com/2013/10/20-billionaires-nigeria-tops-africa-billionaires-list

ijaw citizen: This article is simply the thoughts of an insecure & deluded fool.

You should be happy

otokx: ALUU and UNIPORT has light as it was restored today, ALUU is not cursed, we are blessed with crude oil from which Nigeria feeds fat. We are also blessed in so many other ways. Keep running your mouth but remember there is a day of reckoning.

This calls for thanksgiving

It shall be well

Desric: you re very naïve. Among all these, which one of the factories is owned by Govt or which one started operations from 2011?

Did you really ask that question