₦airaland Forum

Volunteers from sofainitiative and environmental NGO arriving Ibeno Beach from their base in Uyo for a beach clean up in feb 2014. all images credits by sofa initiative.

Aerial view of Ibeno beach

akpanakwaibom:
@Atuoke my brother history repeat itself to those who can not learn from history.Udom is a viable project drop this sentiment of yours and join the winning team and if you can not join on election day vote for any party you choose to vote for

Nonsense, who are you to decide whats viable for the state? The state will determine who should led not you nor Akpabio. and by they way stop copying and reposting pictures from the internet that have already been posted.
If you want to contribute meaningfully to this thread take you camera around the state and take current pictures.

akpanakwaibom:
@atuoke my brother our governor has done the best stepping on mighty toes and shifting the governorship sit to eket senatorial district you should applaud him instead of this you are writing

The governor should not make himself out to be a dictator, He does not Own Akwa Ibom. He should let the people choose their governor in a free and fair primary,just like they choose him even against the wishes of the ex- governor then.
History might just repeat itself again.I wish that akpabio was a good student of history.

Akwa Ibom PDP is surely going to split,if the PDP does not allow free primaries in the state where candidates from all over the state are free to contest irrespective of their SD, As it has been the case from I999. Akpabio is displaying a dictatorial tendency here, Who is he Afraid of? UOU or OBA? If these other candidates are not relevant as he says then why not let them face his candidate in a free and fair primary.

ChimaAdeoye:
Why have they omitted Abia state and Aba in particular?


What about Ebonyi state that is a bread basket without any airport?

All those airport are initiated by the respective state govts. Abia And ebonyi can initiate their own airport if they consider it important to their economy, they have a template in dutse airport a nice airport that cost N15billion and was built in 2 yrs with no fuss. jigawa airport, bauchi airport, Asaba And Uyo Airports were also built by the respective governors.

The state plans their airports, budget for it, and collaborate with the the private investors and FG for approvals and technical aid to get the job done. Abia and Ebonyi can do same i know Osun is also doing same.

pendy79:
Campaign promises and tools to thrill the gullible ones. Same way second niger bridge was promised in 2010 but work started on skeletal mode in 2014. Why and how do we arrive with this kind of divisive and unfocused government.

From increasing corpers allowee in 2010 against 2011 election to giving them daily feeding allowance in 2014 against 2015 election. New airports in 2014 smack of lousy campaign slogan for 2015 election. Has he completed the second niger bridge yet? Who are the thinkers of this government ? Must you go through same path everytime?

Only fools are sold on this kind of illtimed and emergency projects that are not even captured in the year's budget or the MtEF of government for next year or the year after

what part of PPP dont you understand? read the article again but this time read slowly so you will understand. BTW jigawa state govt built this nice airport with N15bn from its states allocation http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1684814
State governors loot more than that amount in less than 15 months.

GuyFawkes:
Who gives a heck they were constructed? What purpose are they serving, and what's the air traffic like?
Because Ilorin and Akure have redundant airports Lokoja and Yenagoa too deserve the same misuse of funds.
SMH

Illorin is serving the international Aviation college thats training pilots And both Akure and Illorin Airports have cargo terminals currently being built, that the FG hopes will stimulate Agricultural production and increase the utilization of the airport.

berem:
Another paper projects looming! They should renovate and maintain the existing airports first biko!

An aerial view of the International Cargo Airport Amassoma in Bayelsa State, showing the runway under construction, being undertaken by the Gov Seriake Dickson led Restoration administration.

This pictures were taken in August the CBT has been layed and the runway is at advanced state of construction as we speak. Its not a paper project. Airports are not luxury, they are necessities. There is no reason why all the states in Nigeria Should not have at least one airport. FYI all the existing airports in Nigeria have either seen completed rehabilitation or their rehab is ongoing, dont pretend as if you are not aware of this facts.

While 5 new terminals are under construction by chinese companies and 13 cargo terminals are at various stages of construction across the nation.

nigerianvenom:
I'm not around but do visit all weekends,i'll be in eket and uyo on friday evening.i'll get some pics.eket ibeno road has bin slow diwn due to financial constraints

okay get Some. Pictures please

[size=14pt]@Nigerianvenom and akpanakwaibom is anyone of you in Akwa ibom please post pictures of whats happening in the state interms of infrastruture. whats happening in Eket- ibeno road and etinan - eket dualcarriage way thats under construction the 20th anniversary specialist hospital? etc [/size]

Aida13:
Thank you. A third world country dreaming of hosting a continental tournament; when they hardly can contain the terrorism issues. Look I can go all day talking about the lack of facilities for the common man not to talk of the visiting teams. Everything will be run on generated electricity which will triple the costs; what about security of life and what about qualified medics to handle any eventuality? Oops from what I hear they are on strike. You better sharap and pocket your opinion about ignorance. Rubbish.

It appears you need more than a slap to the back of the head. An electric shock treatment is what you brain requires to liberate it from the pit of ignorance you wallow in.
Go take you meds.

Aida13:
Ignorant what? You think it's by having stadiums? Do you know what 'hosting' means? This will cost us more than we hope to gain. That's why you never see any dividends from Nigerians hosting-----unlike other countries, we host at a LOSS I pity you. Keep blinding yourself to the truth. For your info, it is my patriotism that makes me say this. We are in no position to host even a chicken leg to a pot of soup. Rubbish.

You are really ignorant!

[size=14pt]Is there anyone living in uyo with a camera pls take pictures of the tropicana, New airport terminal, the 2000 housing estate in uruan, the hilton hotel, sharaton ikot ekpene etc and post it here. A lot is going on in the state yet no one cares to report the progress.[/size]

Aida13:
Anybody that will allow Nigeria to host even a grassroots friendly deserves to be slapped in the back of the head....lmao even Me I will personally protest against such hosting. A country with no emergency services, no healthcare, no electricity, no transportation system...corruption galore and no safety facilities...I could go on. And on.

You deserve to be slapped in the back of the head for being so ignorant about the affairs of Africa's biggest economy.

cornie11:
I want to share my testimony on how i got my BLANK ATM card which made me $200,000 USD. I was once living on the street where things were so hard for me, even to pay off my bills was very difficult for me, i have to park off my apartment and start sleeping on the street of Vegas. i tried all i could to secure a job but all went to no avail because i was from the black side of America. until i saw an advert online about Hackers advertising a Blank ATM card which can be used to hack any ATM Machine all over the world, at first i doubted if it was real but decided to give it a try. i contacted this hackers and they told me they are from Australia and they were experts on ATM Programming, they taught me tricks about breaking into an ATM Machine with a Blank ATM card and i applied for the Blank ATM card and it was delivered to me within 3 days and i did as i was instructed and i made a withdrawal of $6,000USD with it and i kept on making withdrawals, the ATM is programmed with different hacking softwares, there is no ATM MACHINES this BLANK ATM CARD CANNOT penetrate, it also has a technique that makes it impossible for the CCTVs to detect you, its a smart way of living Big. Contact this hackers for all the tips and application for the Blank atm card via this email anthonioalbert@gmail.com

[size=15pt]
This is the FBI looking for gullible Nigerians to send to jail be warned[/size]

This page lacks realtime pictures. We need some one with a camera or a phone to get pictures for this thread. This thread is becoming very boring.

All i can say is wow for gov, godswill Akpabio he is a real leader in Nigeria. his midas touch on infrastructural transformation is unmatched by any Nigerian governor, I hope he will be able to complete all the projects he started.

Cheerleading and American football practice in Uyo! American culture spreading in Akwa Ibom

model of the project under construction

A modern printing company under construction in Uyo

sept 2014 updates from skyscrapercity.com

Facts and figure about Ghana power. According to Volta river Authority which is ghana formost energy coy, http://www.vraghana.com/resources/facts.php

the total energy production in ghana is summarised below.

where as Nigeria's Mambilla 3050MW hydroelectric power plant currently under construction in Taraba state by china sinohydro http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/fg-approves-1-72-bn-counterpart-funding-for-hydro-dams/149335/ alone has more installed capacity for electricity generation than all the power plants in the whole of Ghana

facts and figure about Ghana power. According to Volta river Authority which is ghana formost energy coy, http://www.vraghana.com/resources/facts.php

the total energy production in ghana is summarised below.

where as Nigeria's Mambilla 3050MW hydroelectric power plant currently under construction in Taraba state by china sinohydro http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/fg-approves-1-72-bn-counterpart-funding-for-hydro-dams/149335/ alone has higher installed capacity for electricity generation than all the power plants in the whole of Ghana

[size=15pt]Blackout Hits Accra[/size]

RESIDENTS IN most parts of Accra were plunged into total darkness for 24 hours Wednesday night following an explosion that occurred at the Achimota sub-station located at Dzorwulu in Accra.

The explosion curtailed over 186 megawatts of power from the 240 megawatts capacity required to supply power to Accra, and left only 54 megawatts for Accra East.

The Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) has explained that a technical problem with one of the power lines feeding into the substation at Dzorwulu was the cause of Wednesday evening's explosion.

The situation got exacerbated by another fault on one of its lines at East Legon the same day, while the outage also affected Tema and parts of the Akwapim range.

Albert Quainoo, Head of Public Relations at GRIDCo, explaining the situation to journalists in Accra yesterday, said the country still had a power deficit problem which had to be fixed, adding that it was an issue of demand and supply.

Meanwhile, GRIDCo has indicated that 'all parts of Accra have received light except areas that have been scheduled for load shedding.'

Following the incident, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, Minister of Energy and Petroluem, has given assurance that government would build a new substation to contain the power cuts in Accra.

Meanwhile, GRIDCo maintains it has now restored power to the affected places.

Achimota, Dzorwulu, Osu, Teshie, La, Adenta, Madina, parts of Kasoa, Abeka and Tema, were the most affected areas.

The situation made power distributors, Electricity Company of Ghana, unable to service its clients.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.modernghana.com/news/541629/1/blackout-hits-accra.html

[size=15pt]Investigating Ghana's energy crisis[/size]

Ghana's energy crisis began last August - and continues today, with estimates that it could cost the country's economy millions of dollars.

As the winner of the BBC's NewsMaker competition - I am more usually a teaching assistant at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology - I wanted to investigate the cause and effect of the energy problem.

It has been attributed mainly to the dwindling water levels in the Volta Lake at Ghana's only hydroelectric plant, Akosombo Hydro.

However, the obsolete and poorly-maintained equipment, used for generations, and the distribution of electrical power in the country, could also be blamed. The country continues to suffer from frequent power cuts.

Recent research by Data Bank, one of Ghana's leading financial providers, suggests the country could lose up to $1.4 billion by the end of the year if the situation does not improve soon.

And Ghana's National Labour Department statistics show that about 33 companies filed for insolvency between September 2006 and March 2007 and over 2,300 workers have lost their jobs.

Bitter complaints

While the power crisis cannot be directly accountable for these figures, no-one would argue that it is not a contributing factor.

Families are also feeling the impact - going through financial crisis due to the laying off of workers. Some told me they are being torn apart, the education of their children being affected as they struggle to pay school fees.

new mother Tonye Amedume and baby Seshie
Families say the energy crisis is making their lives uncomfortable
The people I spoke to in the capital Accra are fed up with the situation, and the youth in particular are losing confidence in the government's ability to solve the problem.

They say nobody knows who and what to believe anymore.

On the streets, they complain bitterly. I was told quite simply that life was uncomfortable with the unreliable power supply.

Desperation and confusion can be felt among people and businesses in Ghana - which is really bad news for the country which is seen to be the beacon of Africa.

Ghana's Deputy Energy Minister KT Hammond told me he sympathised, and assured the public that the government had the situation firmly under control. He said it had put in ardent measures to solve the problem.

And Deputy Information Minister Oboshie Sai recently told Ghanaians that the energy crisis would be over by 30 September this year.

But this is not the first time a government official has put out a date by which the power crisis should cease. The government continues to do its best to allay fears and offers assurances that it is trying its hardest.

But many question whether its best enough to end the discomfort of the people of Ghana?

Listen to Barbara's and others reports

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6692605.stm

[size=15pt]Current energy crisis is the most badly handled in Ghana's history- Minority[/size]

The Minority in Parliament says President John Dramani Mahama and his NDC government must be blamed for the current energy crisis being experienced by Ghanaians, describing it as the most badly handled in the country’s history.

According to the group, the crisis was not caused by low levels of water in the Akosombo Dam which has been the usual cause of energy crisis, but that it was caused by shortage of gas and financial difficulties of the VRA which makes it difficult to procure the right quantities of crude oil and diesel to bring all their Plants into operation.

The Minority asserted that these factors are within the government’s control and we should not allowed to bring the level of energy crisis ongoing now.

Addressing the Press on the Minority’s version of the State of Nation, the Minority Leader Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu noted that gas is cheaper than light crude but if ones source of gas applied is not secure what is important is to improve on the liquidity of VRA to produce the alternative light crude oil.

He said the NPP government use to support the VRA to procure light crude oil about 40 million dollars every month, but this support was withdrawn by the NDC government, adding that this in addition to about 400 million dollars of governments indebtedness to VRA has crippled the company and made it difficult to procure these fuels for power generation.

“The President has failed to solve this problem and is rather promising additional new generation capacity. The new generation capacity they are promising were started by the NPP government namely Takoradi-3 Thermal Plant and Bui- Hydro project which together will add about 532 MW of generation capacity” he said.

The Minority Leader, Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu noted that before the NPP left government in 2008, three other generation projects were either completed or advanced – the Tema 1 Thermaol Plant (126 MW), Tema 2 Thermal Plant (50 MW) and Kpone Thermal Plant (230 MW) which was 20% completed.
Other private initiatives were supported by the NPP government –Asogli (200MW), Osonor (cent 126 MW) and TEN power (330 MW) Thermal Project.

He asserted that but for these initiatives the prices would have been worse, and challenge to the NDC to tell Ghanaians what new investments they have initiated since they came to power in 2009, adding that what is known to Ghanaians is the 2 Megawatts solar power plant in Navrongo
http://www.ghanamps.gov.gh/news-events/details.php?id=2867

[size=15pt]Current energy crisis is the most badly handled in Ghana's history- Minority[/size]

The Minority in Parliament says President John Dramani Mahama and his NDC government must be blamed for the current energy crisis being experienced by Ghanaians, describing it as the most badly handled in the country’s history.

According to the group, the crisis was not caused by low levels of water in the Akosombo Dam which has been the usual cause of energy crisis, but that it was caused by shortage of gas and financial difficulties of the VRA which makes it difficult to procure the right quantities of crude oil and diesel to bring all their Plants into operation.

The Minority asserted that these factors are within the government’s control and we should not allowed to bring the level of energy crisis ongoing now.

Addressing the Press on the Minority’s version of the State of Nation, the Minority Leader Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu noted that gas is cheaper than light crude but if ones source of gas applied is not secure what is important is to improve on the liquidity of VRA to produce the alternative light crude oil.

He said the NPP government use to support the VRA to procure light crude oil about 40 million dollars every month, but this support was withdrawn by the NDC government, adding that this in addition to about 400 million dollars of governments indebtedness to VRA has crippled the company and made it difficult to procure these fuels for power generation.

“The President has failed to solve this problem and is rather promising additional new generation capacity. The new generation capacity they are promising were started by the NPP government namely Takoradi-3 Thermal Plant and Bui- Hydro project which together will add about 532 MW of generation capacity” he said.

The Minority Leader, Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu noted that before the NPP left government in 2008, three other generation projects were either completed or advanced – the Tema 1 Thermaol Plant (126 MW), Tema 2 Thermal Plant (50 MW) and Kpone Thermal Plant (230 MW) which was 20% completed.
Other private initiatives were supported by the NPP government –Asogli (200MW), Osonor (cent 126 MW) and TEN power (330 MW) Thermal Project.

He asserted that but for these initiatives the prices would have been worse, and challenge to the NDC to tell Ghanaians what new investments they have initiated since they came to power in 2009, adding that what is known to Ghanaians is the 2 Megawatts solar power plant in Navrongo

http://www.ghanamps.gov.gh/news-events/details.php?id=2867

[size=15pt]Investigating Ghana's energy crisis --BBC[/size]
Ghana's energy crisis began last August - and continues today, with estimates that it could cost the country's economy millions of dollars.

As the winner of the BBC's NewsMaker competition - I am more usually a teaching assistant at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology - I wanted to investigate the cause and effect of the energy problem.

It has been attributed mainly to the dwindling water levels in the Volta Lake at Ghana's only hydroelectric plant, Akosombo Hydro.

However, the obsolete and poorly-maintained equipment, used for generations, and the distribution of electrical power in the country, could also be blamed. The country continues to suffer from frequent power cuts.

Recent research by Data Bank, one of Ghana's leading financial providers, suggests the country could lose up to $1.4 billion by the end of the year if the situation does not improve soon.

And Ghana's National Labour Department statistics show that about 33 companies filed for insolvency between September 2006 and March 2007 and over 2,300 workers have lost their jobs.

Bitter complaints

While the power crisis cannot be directly accountable for these figures, no-one would argue that it is not a contributing factor.

Families are also feeling the impact - going through financial crisis due to the laying off of workers. Some told me they are being torn apart, the education of their children being affected as they struggle to pay school fees.

new mother Tonye Amedume and baby Seshie
Families say the energy crisis is making their lives uncomfortable
The people I spoke to in the capital Accra are fed up with the situation, and the youth in particular are losing confidence in the government's ability to solve the problem.

They say nobody knows who and what to believe anymore.

On the streets, they complain bitterly. I was told quite simply that life was uncomfortable with the unreliable power supply.

Desperation and confusion can be felt among people and businesses in Ghana - which is really bad news for the country which is seen to be the beacon of Africa.

Ghana's Deputy Energy Minister KT Hammond told me he sympathised, and assured the public that the government had the situation firmly under control. He said it had put in ardent measures to solve the problem.

And Deputy Information Minister Oboshie Sai recently told Ghanaians that the energy crisis would be over by 30 September this year.

But this is not the first time a government official has put out a date by which the power crisis should cease. The government continues to do its best to allay fears and offers assurances that it is trying its hardest.

But many question whether its best enough to end the discomfort of the people of Ghana?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6692605.stm

[size=15pt]Ghana Faces Blackout[/size]

If you think that the energy crisis the country is going through will soon come to an end, you must be living in dream land. The situation is rather exacerbating day in and out, due to the drastic fall in power generation, which has already been outstripped by supply.

The development has resulted in the constant shedding of power across the country by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).

Though the ECG published schedules for the load shedding for consumers to know when their power would go off, and the time to expect supply, this was hardly followed due to tenacious orders to the ECG by the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) to shed more power than earlier agreed.

The Chronicle gathered that earlier this week, GRIDCo ordered the ECG to shed 220 megawatts of power per day, which the power distribution company complied with, even though it fell outside its published schedules.

In the afternoon of yesterday, The Chronicle again, gathered that GRIDCo had instructed the ECG to shed, this time, as much as 400 megawatts, which is more than the entire power consumption of the Central, Volta, Eastern and Ashanti Regions, due to power generation shortfall at both Tema and Aboadze.

Charts obtained by The Chronicle indicate that Eastern Region consumes between 70-80 megawatts per day, whilst that of the Ashanti Region hovers around 180-200 within the same period. Central Region also consumes between 50-60mw, with the Volta Region guzzling 50-60 megawatts each day.

The Public Relations Manager of the ECG, Mr. William Boafo, told The Chronicle in a telephone interview yesterday, that there was already a suggestion that they should spare the Greater Accra Region of the emergency load shedding exercise, but looking at the magnitude of power (400mg) they are being asked to shed, any attempt to protect Greater Accra would lead to a total collapse of the system.


According to William Boafo, they had already started shedding the 400 megawatts as requested by GRIDCO, mainly for the residential consumers, who are bearing the brunt of the power crisis, because of the decision to spare industries of the Gordian Knot the Volta River Authority is struggling to untie.

Parts of the country that went off last night (7:00 p.m.) are expecting to get back power this morning (8:00 a.m.), which is almost 15 hours of power cut.

The ECG PRO told The Chronicle that his outfit could not be blamed for the erratic power supply, because they only distribute what has been made available to them by GRIDCo. He, nevertheless, blamed the current situation on the destruction caused to the West African Gas Pipeline, which has cut off gas supply to the country.

According to him, the Asogli Plant alone produces about 180 megawatts of power per day, but is currently sitting idle, because there is no gas to power it, as the plant is fired with only gas.

Some industry players who spoke to The Chronicle as at press time last night, blamed engineers at the VRA for failing to do proper forecasting resulting in the current situation, where demand for electric power has completely outstripped what the VRA could produce.

Ghana was last year described as one of the fast growing economies in the world, with an annual growth rate of 14% of the Gross Domestic Products (GDP). Unfortunately, there has not been the corresponding increase in the supply of power to meet the new status of the economy.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201302191362.html

13 June 2014 Last updated at 12:00 BST
Ghana is experiencing an energy crisis.
Daily blackouts and the rising cost of electricity have had a damaging effect on business and on the economy as a whole.
Suzanne Vanhooymissen reports from the oil city of Takoradi, in western Ghana.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-27831040

BBC:Blackouts and rising energy costs hit Ghanaian business[size=14pt][/size]

13 June 2014 Last updated at 12:00 BST
Ghana is experiencing an energy crisis.
Daily blackouts and the rising cost of electricity have had a damaging effect on business and on the economy as a whole.
Suzanne Vanhooymissen reports from the oil city of Takoradi, in western Ghana.
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-27831040