₦airaland Forum

"There are some facts that Jonathan's haters try very hard
to subdue, and they succeed to a large extent. Jonathan
has achieved some good results in some sectors of the
economy, but these achievements seem to be
suppressedor treated as unimportant."

Wot would lead to the above if not pure hatred

holy sina: 9pm

Thanks a lot

Moderators front page please...let's get the input of forum members

Please wots the time in our local time

A balanced and fair report although there are areas I beg to defer with the writer.I hope and pray GEJ gets to read this.

I think this write-up captures all set of individuals that visit and comment on this forum

It must be frustrating for President Goodluck Jonathan and
his staunch supporters that in spite of his achievements,
he continues to receive a barrage of knocks from Nigerians,
especially in the media.

There are people whose opinion on Jonathan's scorecard
should not be trusted: Those who hate everything about
him passionately and those who love everything about him
passionately. To the haters, he is clueless, spineless,
visionless, and "shoeless": nothing good can ever come
from him. Therefore, anyone who ever says anything
positive about Jonathan is an enemy who must have been paid to say so, or is simply a victim of tribalism or religious cronyism.

To his passionate admirers and supporters,
Jonathan is the best president Nigeria has ever seen or
had, and without him, Nigeria will sink into the abyss.
Therefore, anyone who criticises him is a bad loser or a
critic with links to Boko Haram. So, one can never get the
true picture about Jonathan from these two groups of
people because, just like those who suffer jaundice,
everything looks yellow to them.

But there are those who neither hate Jonathan nor love
him: those who praise him when he does something good
and criticise him when he does something bad. To a large extent, you can get some balanced and fair judgment of the President's performance from them.

There are some facts that Jonathan's haters try very hard
to subdue, and they succeed to a large extent. Jonathan
has achieved some good results in some sectors of the
economy, but these achievements seem to be suppressedor treated as unimportant.

He has done well in the aviation sector. The makeover that the Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, has brought in the airports -- which used to be dilapidated -- is soul-lifting. And all the airports were renovated at the same time to the surprise of many people, after decades of neglect.

In road construction, the Minister of Works, Mike
Onolomemen, has achieved some results. Roads that were abandoned for decades have received some attention. The Benin-Sagamu Expressway is one major one. I drove through that road this last Easter and Christmas holidays and felt some relief. In the last few years, travellers used to spend nights on that road. The state of that road was so bad that when the current Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, visited it as the Minister of Transport in 2007, she famously shed tears after seeing the depth of dilapidation that had befallen the Ore part of that road. Surprisingly, that road remained in a deplorable shape until last year when some serious attention was paid to it. In spite of the work done,however, many parts of it,especially in Ogun and Ondo states, are still dotted with potholes, but the road is no longer in a terrible state. It is comforting to know that work is still ongoing on the road.

In the transport sector, that the railway system has been
revived, even though the trains are still not modern, is
something to cheer about. It was another part of our
national life that was allowed to rot and die because of
neglect. It is hoped that modern coaches can be
introduced as quickly as possible. More importantly, it is
hoped that the rail line will soon connect the eastern part
of Nigeria to the western part, an omission which the
colonial masters made because it did not serve their
interest of transporting things from the hinterland to the
sea. The colonialists were not concerned about connecting Nigerian cities. Sadly, even after the British left in 1960,Nigerian rulers have not seen the importance of linking the East to the West. Rather, anyone who wants to travel from Lagos to the South-East by rail will have to travel to the North first before linking the East-bound rail. A very ridiculous arrangement indeed!

In agriculture, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, is also transforming
that sector. From sanitising the fertiliser distribution to
boosting agricultural produce and export, it has never
been this good in that industry since the First Republic
when the groundnut pyramids as well as the cocoa and oil palm plantations disappeared from Nigeria because
petroleum was discovered and exploited in commercial
quantities.

In the power sector, there were signs that some
improvement had been achieved in electricity supply last
year. Some blackmailing led to the resignation last year of
the minister of power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, who was the brain behind that improvement. Regrettably, that improvement seems to have been reversed in the last few months, with electricity supply returning to its unflattering state. This is a key area President Jonathan must tackle urgently.

But to Jonathan's haters, NOTHING is happening in this
administration. The news of these improvements is
downplayed in the media. Interestingly, the state-owned
media houses -- the Nigerian Television Authority and the
Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria -- where these
improvements are regularly showcased are snubbed by
many of those who believe that Jonathan is not doing
anything, because the two media houses are seen as
government mouth-pieces given that they are
government-owned and had a bad past of praise-singing,
especially during military dictatorships. Many people now
believe that the news from these two stations about the
Federal Government is never unbiased and therefore
cannot be trusted.

Why should a President who has achieved some visible
milestones always be dismissed as long on promises and
short on performance? There are some reasons for this.
First is that Jonathan is not a charismatic leader neither is
he blessed with the gift of the gab. He does not have the
capacity to fire up his compatriots with words. This is not a terrible minus, for one can still be hugely popular as a
leader without being charismatic or an orator.

But the biggest negative of President Jonathan is that he is his own worst image maker. Regularly, he makes
comments or takes action that his detractors use to good
advantage. He fails regularly to take advantage of golden
opportunities; he fails to turn negative situations to his
advantage. At a time the Boko Haram would bomb a
location and Nigerians are grieving, the President would
tell a shaken nation that terrorism is a global thing;
therefore, it is Nigeria's turn to be saddled with terrorism.
At a time the rot in the police college is aired on TV and
Nigerians are shocked and ashamed of the living
conditions of their police officers, the President would
make a surprise visit to the college, but rather than take
advantage of the situation to boost his popularity, he
would say that the airing of the video of the rot in the
police college was the handiwork of those who did not
wish his administration well.

Another point that works against the President is that he
always seems too eager not to hurt his party men and
friends, even to the detriment of his administration. The
President is usually too careful not to step on any big toe,
or even any toe for that matter. Whatever his
achievements, the popular belief is that President Jonathan is not serious with the fight against corruption. And with the depth of corruption in Nigeria, it is believed that any leader that treats corruption with levity cannot turn Nigeria around.

And that leads to the next point which is his lack of
showmanship. When there is flooding in a state, and the
state governor is shown in the papers and on national TV
wading through the flood with some of his top aides, it is
pure showmanship meant for the cameras. When a
governor stops by the roadside to hug a physically
disadvantaged person or carry a child about during a tour,it is pure showmanship. When a governor rejects a
chieftaincy title from a traditional ruler, or goes into a
classroom to teach, or stays by the gate of the state
secretariat to check those who are late, or arrests a traffic
offender, or decides to participate in a marathon, it is pure showmanship. But these otherwise minor things make a leader popular.Surprisingly, Jonathan does not do these little things. For a man who is not blessed with oratory, one would have thought that he would naturally have chosen to talk less and use showmanship more to his advantage.

However, the danger in all this is that the words and
action of the President seem to suggest that he has given
up on the possibility of Nigerians liking him. He seems to
believe that it is normal for the masses not to like their
President until after he has left office. This is dangerous
because it will make him not to bother winning the people to his side.In 2010 and early 2011, almost every Nigerian wanted his name or his child's name to be "Goodluck" because of President Jonathan. Today, the story is different.
However,many of those who criticise President Jonathan do not do so because of hatred, but because of a feeling of disappointment and frustration. Jonathan can become
popular again with the masses and earn their regular
commendation. Concrete achievements will help in that
regard, but the big factor will be his ability to stop using
the current unsuccessful means and adopt a new one.
Comments

Source:mobile.punchng.com/output.php?link=http://www.punchng.com/opinion/the-missing-link-in-jonathans-administration/

I don't understand this craze ƒσя 2015?...this administration is barely 2 years into office and we are already debating 2015.So ƒσя instance if APC is eventually voted in,immediately we shud start talking about 2019?

Balanced and thought-evoking write up

After being dropped from a lucrative endorsement deal
with Reebok over his date rape lyrics; “Put molly all in her
champagne, she aint even know it, I took her home and I
enjoyed that, she aint even know it,", Rick Ross finally
offers a real apology...

“Before I am an artist, I am a father, a son, and a
brother to some of the most cherished women in the
world. So for me to suggest in any way that harm and
violation be brought to a woman is one of my biggest
mistakes and regrets. As an artist, one of the most
liberating things is being able to paint pictures with my
words. But with that comes a great responsibility. And
most recently, my choice of words was not only
offensive, it does not reflect my true heart. And for this,
I apologize. To every woman that has felt the sting of
abuse, I apologize. I recognize that as an artist I have a
voice and with that, the power of influence. To the
young men who listen to my music, please know that
using a substance to rob a woman of her right to make
a choice is not only a crime, it’s wrong and I do not
encourage it. To my fans, I also apologize if I have
disappointed you. I can only hope that this sparks a
healthy dialogue and that I can contribute to it.”

–William Roberts (a.k.a “Rick Ross”)

SURE-P INVESTS N572bn ON INFRASTRUCTURE IN 2012

April
11,2013

The Federal Government Subsidy Reinvestment and
Empowerment Programme, SURE-P, has intervened in
the various sectors of the economy with about
N572billion in the one year of its operation.

The interventions Vanguard gathered were targeted
towards improving the country’s infrastructure
significantly as well as help to create millions of jobs for
Nigerians.

The SURE-P budgeted N21.7 billion to cover the
dualisation of the East-West roads.
According to documents sighted by Vanguard, SURE-P
has intervened in the Benin-Ore -Sagamu road with
N16.5 billion. The project is ongoing.
In the same vein, SURE-P has put a total of N14billion in
the ongoing Abuja-Lokoja road. Also the sum of N5billion
has been put on the Port Harcourt-Onitsha road from the
savings made from the partial withdrawal of subsidy
being warehoused by SUR-P .

The Kano-Maiduguri road to which the Federal
Government had previously allocated N18.5 billion has
also benefited from the savings from subsidy withdrawal
to the tune of N1.5 billion. Work on the projects
stakeholders say has a long way to go.
Another project that has benefited from the savings
according to SURE-P records is the second Niger Bridge
to which the sum of N5.5 billion has been allocated by
SURE-P but the project is yet to take off.
Oweto bridge is yet another project that has benefited
from the subsidy removal savings. It has so far been
allocated the sum of N4 billion.

According to SURE-P record, maintenance of roads and
bridges across the country take N23.5billion from the
savings gathered from subsidy withdrawal. Power
projects from 2012 to 2015 (Mambilla power plant, Coal
Power Plant and Small Hydro power plants) will gulp a
total of N155 billion. Other projects are Abuja-Kaduna rail
line N11.6 billion; Lagos-Ibadan rail line though yet to
start N9.3 billion.

The National Teachers Institute for the retraining of
teachers and Vocational Training Centres has N24.6
billion allocation from the Subsidy Reinvestment and
Empowerment Programme. Maternal and Child heath
draws N78.3 billion from the fund. Rural water scheme,
water supply scheme, irrigation scheme and other water
related projects the programme which is yet to start has
a budget of N205.5 billion.

According to SURE-P reports on railways, contracts have
been awarded for Jebba- Kano railway rehabilitation
project with a commitment of N8 billion from SURE-P ; PH
– Makurdi Railway Rehabilitation Project; Makurdi –
Kanfanchan – Kuru – Jos & Kanfanchan -Kaduna Junction
Railway Rehabilitation Project; Kuru – Maiduguri Railway
Rehabilitation Project with a commitment of N15 billion
from SURE-P; and Abuja (Idu) – Kaduna Railway
Modernisation Project with a commitment of N10.29
billion from SURE-P.

Under the roads and bridges project, SURE-P report
claims that she is committing the total sum of N21.7
billion for the Warri – Kaiama; Port Harcourt – Kaiama;
Port Harcourt – Eket; Eket – Oron sections of the East-
West Road in 2012. Also commitment to the tune of
N85.5 billion have been made to Abuja – Abaji – Lokoja
Dual Carriageway (Four Sections); Benin – Ore – Sagamu
Dual Carriageway (Three Sections); Onitsha – Enugu –
Port Harcourt Dual Carriageway (Three Sections); Kano –
Maiduguri Dual Carriageway (Five Sections); Construction
of Oju/Loko – Oweto Bridge; and Construction of 2nd
Niger Bridge at Onitsha in 2102.
SURE-P report on infrastructural development projects
(roads) also claimed the programme has developed a
robust structure to ensure adequate oversight,
accountability and implementation of its various
programmes.

Sub-committees have been constituted to be in charge of
the various work streams. Two subcommittees are
responsible to ensure adequate oversight, accountability
and implementation of the road projects under the
Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and the Federal Ministry of
Works.

The subcommittees are supported by qualified
professional staff based in the Performance and Results
Unit at the SURE-P secretariat. The subcommittees are
responsible for certifying work done for payment based
on the recommendation of the performance and results
unit.
Source:www.vanguardngr.com/2013/04/sure-p-invests-n572bn-on-infrastructure-in-2012/

Was in desperate search for a one stop site ωнεяε I can get info on almost every issue that touches life.In the course of my search a friend referred me here.I checked it out and liked the site.Politics section became my favourite.Initially I refused commenting,but seeing a lot of wrong facts been bandied around in issues am quite sure am knowledgeable in,I decided to start commenting despite the name calling,backlash and abuses

This sounds like something out of a movie, but it's real life.
Let me tell you guys the story. Nollywood actor, Solomon
Akiyesi married Lilian Akiyesi seven years ago, after the
two dated for six years. (Pictured above on their wedding
day). So they've been together for thirteen years. After
trying for years to conceive, Lilian finally got pregnant last
year...but unknown to her, her husband was having an
affair with a Lagos based lady. (Lilian and Solomon are
based in Port Harcourt).

Solomon's Lagos based girlfriend got pregnant and the two
started planning a wedding that was supposed to take
place today April 13th. Fortunately for Lilian, she got wind
of the wedding plans just days ago. And according to what
her friend told me, Solomon sent money to Lilian just
yesterday Friday April 12th and promised to return home
next week. He told Lilian that he was in Lagos to shoot a
movie.
When Lilian confirmed the wedding was really going to
happen today, she contacted the police, took some family
members and friends and stormed the wedding venue -
Overcomers World Outreach located at Overcomers Close,
off Ramlat Timson str, in Aguda, Surulere. Fortunately
someone from her entourage deemed it fit to invite me to
the party...lol

Lilian, who is eight months pregnant, stormed the church
and managed to stop the wedding before the pastor could
pronounce her husband and his mistress 'husband and
wife'. The police were later called to return sanity to the
place
I sent someone to the church to take photos...will upload in
a bit. Oh, and the mistress is also pregnant. Men!!!

Source:lindaikeji..com/2013/04/married-nollywood-actor-solomon.html?utm_source=&utm_medium=twitter&m=1

"The Presidency has launched a desperate mission to
salvage
its shattered amnesty-for-Boko Haram programme."

No further facts ωнεяε given to back this ambiguos and laughable statement.

Smh ƒσя this naija journalists

I don't know when PUNCH wrote this news,but if its I̶̲̥̅̊n̶̲̥̅ todays paper then it seems that maybe they are on a hidden agenda to discredit whatever the efforts of this adminstration might be.Just yesterday this piece of news was reported by all most all dailies

awodman: The Hon Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs.
Omobola Johnson will on Tuesday 16th of April launch
the Federal Government Service Portal in Abuja as part of
the initiatives for ‘Getting Government Online’’ to
improve service delivery to citizens and other
stakeholders.

This is in furtherance of one of the key mandates of the
Ministry centred on deploying information and
communication technology to drive transparency in
governance and improve the quality of public service
delivery

The primary objective of deploying the Government
Service Portal, an initiative of the Ministry of
Communication Technology according to a statement
made available by the special Adviser on Media to the
Minister, Efem Nkanga is to create an easy and single
point of entry for Nigerians and other stakeholders to
access government services online.

The Services Portal which is built using the latest web
technology brings together a directory of existing online
government services, as well as newly automated
services from the ministries of Industry, Trade and
Investment, Agriculture, Education, Health and
Communication Technology.

Some of the newly automated processes and services on
the portal are patent and trademark registration,
evaluation and accreditation of academic certificates,
farmer’s registration, registration and accreditation of
seed companies, seed import and export permit,
application for spectrum license, License Procedure for
Class type license and License procedure for individual
type license.

The Services Portal has several key benefits which
include improved access to government information for
citizens and improved efficiency in the delivery of
government services to the citizenry.

The Portal is a pilot project that will evolve over-time to
enhance service delivery and impact positively on the
ability of government to drive the use of ICT in
governance, as well as promote the development of
institutional ICT framework and tools that will enhance
citizens’ engagement and online delivery of government
services.

In addition the portal and the related web services will
enable citizens and businesses better interact with
government
Source : www.vanguardngr.com/2013/04/fg-to-launch-govt-services-portal/

In a related development

awodman: Stakeholders in the aviation industry have commended the
Federal Government and the Nigerian Airspace
Management Agency (NAMA) for the establishment of Total
Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON), which together with
effective communication has significantly improved safety
in Nigeria’s airspace.

The Secretary of the Aviation Round Table (ART), Samuel
Akerele, who spoke to newsmen shortly after inspecting
the TRACON facility at the Murtala Muhammed
International Airport, Lagos berated those misinforming
Nigerians about the project, noting that the equipment was
working very well.

“I think the equipment is fantastic and the staff are
dedicated and we thank the Managing Director of NAMA,
Nnamdi Udoh for giving ART the privilege to come and see
the system working. The purpose is for educational
purpose because some of our members don't really know
what is called radar and they have been passing comments
that are basically misinformation. I was there for 30 years
in NAMA, we designed the system, we know it is operating
and we know it covers the whole country, but when I say
that in a meeting others will say, no; we don't agree so I
said, ok, MD of NAMA, please give us the opportunity let
them come and see; so next time we are talking in a
meeting, other members will say we saw it with our own
eyes and it is working”, he said.

He expressed regrets that the power situation in the
country is still bad and called on NAMA to boost power
supply to the facility, noting that for optimum performance,
the radar should rely less on public power supply.
On communication in the airspace, Akerele explained that
NAMA has sectorised the communication system and that it
has boosted the radio frequencies. He noted that the
agency is also redesigning the airspace to further improve
communication.

He said: “If you listen to NAMA they have told you that they
have sectorised radio communication in the airspace. That
is, you divide it into two radios to different sectors because
these radio that you are talking about they are different
frequencies at the control tower, you have decimal one,
mega X, approach 143 or 127 so they are different just like
your radio in the house; you know when to put on Eko FM,
you know the other one Rhythm so they have different
frequencies and so with the sectorisation, the
communication system will improve and they are also
redesigning the airspace so that when you have incoming
route different from departure route then the congestion
will reduce.”

Akerele who retired as a general manager in NAMA
cautioned air traffic controllers to refrain from talking too
long to a pilot in the airspace, saying it contributes to
congestion. He also advised them to avoid repeating
questions when they can download such facts already got
in the system.

“NAMA had an outing at Sheraton Hotel, Lagos and I
remember saying that there are two things that you must
cut off from: what you are asking the pilot to do; for
instance, if the pilot is departing Lagos you will like to
know the number of persons on board and the amount of
fuel, now once he gives the information to the man in
Lagos, the man in Abuja doesn't need to ask him when he
gets to Abuja because the data are already in the system.
When you cut down all those questions the congestion will
just go down by almost half”, he added.

The ART Secretary also recommended that NAMA should
establish another control centre in Warri to attend to
aircraft flying in the south, south region and along the
waterways to enhance radio communication in the airspace
around the area.
“I have also recommended that they (NAMA) should have a
third control centre maybe in the Warri area to take care of
the flights over the oceans and then they will make more
money. Now we only have only two area control centres
Lagos and Kano but with this great traffic and the Niger
Delta helicopter operations, we need to put one around
Warri to handle the traffic so that they don't leave Calabar
and start calling Lagos; that is quite a long distance and
the radio range, they have their range, so put an area
control centre in Warri and then it will control that traffic
and transfer to Lagos,” Akerele said.

Source:www.thisdaylive.com/articles/aviation-stakeholders-laud-fg-over-total-radar-coverage-of-nigeria/144687/

....

Maxymilliano: Not only in the aviation industry but virtually every facet of the economy, some individuals or group of individuals are just permanently blind to anything good, so long as it from the present administration.

The aviation industry never got the much needed attention from successive governments, N19.5bn intervention fund provided by Obasanjo couldn't light up the runways, yet, little stride taking by current administration to revamp critical sectors is being condemned by 'naysayers' masquerading as 'stakeholders' .

Some of the developmental steps are just "one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind", there is every need to increase the drive.

The deliverable is what really matters ...

You just said it all..

ewet: Did anybody hear him giv us a time frame for the problems to be resolved?hell no.Please how do countries tht enjoy uninterrupted power all year round do it?Is it tht they generate power from out of space or there generating plants neva breaks down for there to be power disruption.
Prof Nebo we dont trust the govt handling our power anymore please hand over to the guys who won the bids and lets hav the transformation as it was with telecoms.If it remains with this inefficient govt all we will keep getting are excuses upon excuses.

Addressing a news conference in Abuja, Professor Nebo
said power transmission infrastructure is also being
strengthened and that the POWER GENERATION WILL
PEAK
AGAIN BY THURSDAY.

SOURCE:www.channelstv.com/home/2013/04/10/fall-in-
power-generation-due-to-routine-maintenance/?
utm_source=&utm_medium=twitter

otokx: How come it does not take time in other countries? You are just content to be sending your prayers to the clouds. Let us wake up and throw off the garment of mediocrity and wickedness.

Bros, if notin @ all is happening then I will definitely have been on the same page with you.But in this case something is clearly going on @ the moment,why not wait and see how it turns out.I don't understand whr and how your definition of mediocrity and wickedness comes in

Gbawe: Stop deceiving yourself. It is not about my "choice people" being in control. For winners and ambitious people , life is about results and not excuses or whining. Simple.

Do your investigation and you will see there is absolutely nothing new in the so-called "Power sector reform". It is the same thing , with minor tweaks, as precisely touted from the days of OBJ. Do you know that vast sums has been approved for "power projects" by the FEC under GEJ when we are supposed to be following a holistic privatisation plan? Dude, wake up and smell the Coffee.

It has never been about the dearth of good plans but about lack of political will. Already, what is the privatisation scheme in reality if not an 'old boys and insider chopulation Party'? I am certainly happy to be proven wrong but we will review this thread in 2014 and even 2015. I am sure it will be you and others like you giving excuses same as Insincere9gerian is trying to launder the failure of the GEJ administration, in 2013, to keep it promise regarding "stable power by 2011".

As for streamlining of MDA's what has that led to in terms of tangible reality and financially quantifiable gains? You lot never fail to amaze. Which Nigerian government do you know that has not pretended to be doing something? You are always 419ned with acronyms you run around with. If Acronyms and soundbites were to be currency then Nigeria would, by far, be the richest nation on earth.

Profligacy and waste is still the order of the day while pretence and deceit takes care of everything else. The sad thing for folks like you is that , factually and in comparison to how things get done elsewhere, the lack of confidence we showed in GEJ in 2010 is validated today while the misplaced belief you had in a man placed far above his level of competence is now discredited by how very little real progress is being made by Nigeria today, three years into the Presidency of GEJ, despite all the lies and rhetoric.

No misplaced belief man.He promised free and fair elections and he delivered.He said our rails would be back on track and yes they are steadily coming bck with the Lagos-Kano line as the pioneer.

I accept your challenge that we would review this thread in 2014.Then let's see who will eat his words.

But even if you wanna argue that the power reforms is still same with Obj's,thank God you accepted there are TWEAKS to it.One thing you can't deny is that never have appreciable progress been made on this reforms than now

otokx: @awodman

If there is an improvement id be one of the first to shout it from the roof tops, we the people are suffering and suffering terribly, check out small business owners and how much they spend on petrol just to generate electricity.

Yes, there is some on going work at our airports but is that really what we need now? how long will those structures last? Is that of any benefit to the masses?

Sorry Mr,power supply is not like buying foodstuffs from the market.It takes time to get this things up and running.I know you might remind me about PDP having spent 13 years on this same issue without results but remember that this adminstration has not ended and is barely 2 years old.Why not hold them accountable at the end of their tenure if they fail.
One undeniable fact is that the power sector reforms is on course.The PHCN union,the international community all recognize this.its an undisputed fact

Gbawe: Come on dude. GEJ was sworn in as substantive President in May 2010. He would have been in power for 3 years next months. Our greatest and most damaging fundamental problems remains the same or even worse !!!!

Why do you people worship mediocrity so much only to round on ambitious and exposed people, who see what is happening elsewhere, as "negative"? You never look at our fundamental problems , and how they are blatantly being ignored, before you come here calling others "negative" when it is you who is unambitious and happy to worship mediocrity and gradualism that is ruining your life and will surely position your children as a generation no one will respect because they come from a nation everyone has disdain for. If we don't begin to work aggressively to get the right leaders in, and as long as folks like you continue to hold brief for mediocrities, then my prediction will happen i.e Nigeria will become a 'pit' nation.


Search academically and you will find that many respected economic analysts posit we are going nowhere if we don't drastically reduce recurrent expenditure (at around 70%) to free up funds for capital spending. This , despite all the lies to the contrary, can be done if a President is genuinely committed to tackling the fundamental problems keeping the nation down.

What did OBJ do in that regard? Yar Adua nko? How about GEJ who even went as far as saying "leaner government not possible"? I.e a direct taunt telling Nigerians he was going to maintain one of our biggest stumbling block against the nation's progress.

In contrast, do you know how low the UK's recurrent expenditure is in comparison to Nigeria? Still, Cameron and Osborne predicated economic recovery of the UK on aggressive cost-cutting and reduction of waste. Tell me who or what stopped them from coming in and delivering the cost-cutting they propagated. Instead, every Nigerian President deliberately and freely props up the profligate system of patronage rewarding a few with the wealth of Nigeria.

GEJ is doing nothing but being deliberately gradualist with our greatest problems - precisely same as others before him since 1999. This will not change as long as we keep foolishly voting their kind into power and then making excuses for their mediocre leadership while they do whatever it take to maintain the patronage system that robs the majority and rewards the very small minority in the elite/ruling class.

Mr Gbawe I know you can never see anything good in this administration execpt your choice people are I̶̲̥̅̊n̶̲̥̅ control.

Let me ask you two quick questions
1) Have you ever heard of the power sector reforms?..
Is it on course?

2)have u heard about the Orosanye committee ƒσя streamlining of MDAs?
Is it been implemented?

Let your conscience guide you in answering the above questions

I tot I was the only one seeing this..IG abeg tk the necessary action

Am pretty sure that most of you commenting on this thread never actually read through Abati's statement..instead you jumped into your usual rehearsed lines.

If you did bother @ all to read through you will see that without prejudice abati made a whole lot of sense..the press has the freedom it deserves which was even made more free by this administration through the signing of the freedom of information bill.However,with this freedom comes a high level of responsibility.This is what the write-up pointed out.

Anyway I don't expect ya all to agree with me

phantom: This power issue needs a lot of patience and understanding from nigerians.But lets be honest,we might not have moved from where we are but there seems to be a direction now unlike the 'throw s.hit at the wall and hope it sticks' approach we had in the past.The questions i expect every sensible nigerian to ask are 1.is there a roadmap? 2.how far have we gone on that map 3.what is left?4.what are the bottlenecks in the map? 5.how can we remove them? These are important questions instead of throwing insults up and down in the name of politics.

U just said it all...both most will prefer to focus on the negatives..well its left to the reform handlers to prove skeptics wrong

FALL IN POWER GENERATION DUE TO ROUTINE
MAINTAINANCE

The Minister of Power; Professor Chinedu Nebo has
attributed the drastic drop in nation’s power supply
to on-going routine maintenance activities which
often result in the need to shut down power plants.

He noted that the problem is not a system collapse as it’s
being insinuated in some quarters.

Reports emerged on Tuesday that there’s been a
significant drop in power generation from a peak of 4,517
MegaWatts (MW) attained on December 21, 2012 to
3,443MW on Tuesday. The loss of 1,112 megawatts in
power generation was reported to be due to low gas supply
to thermal power plants.

Addressing a news conference in Abuja, Professor Nebo
said power transmission infrastructure is also being
strengthened and that the POWER GENERATION WILL PEAK
AGAIN BY THURSDAY.

Explaining what led to the drastic fall, the Minister stated
that “a few days ago, precisely last week Friday, Chevron
shut down its gas plant for maintenance purposes which
was to take place between Friday and Saturday. And the
technical crew in the power sector knew about the shut
down and this was in order to make sure that damages are
not done before losing the gas entirely.”

“From time to time there is going to be shut down and it
happened two times recently between Benin and Osogbo.
If you don’t shutdown these plants, in order to have a safe
restarting process, you are going to lose the equipment.
Once routine maintenance is done, the process of
restarting the machines that were shutdown take some
time.”

He said two power stations were affected by the recent
shutdown, stressing that the oil company and the
ministry’s technicians had to maintain the plants.
“That is why between two and three days we lost some
1112MW. That means Omotoso and Olorunsogo plants
were forced to shut down because there was no gas
supply. By design, Chevron has to maintain the gas
pipelines and it was so. You will notice that from Monday
we started seeing some increase that has stabilised” he
added.

He further noted that more power plants are lined up for
commissioning within the year, adding that this is also
expected to boost generation.

SOURCE:www.channelstv.com/home/2013/04/10/fall-in-power-generation-due-to-routine-maintenance/?utm_source=&utm_medium=twitter

ba7man: Nigeria still on course......All the naysayers, keep watching.

My man!!!..u see what most of us Ave been expressing HOPE.Like sincere9nigerian pointed out,U MIGHT HAVE BEEN HUNGRY FOR LONG AND SUDDENLY SM1 GOES INTO THE KITCHEN TO PREPARE THE FOOD.In that case you got 2 be hopeful and at same time patient.
Let's keep hoping ƒσя the best and criticize the govt constructively whenever they go astray.

@ topic very good development,we pray it remains sustainable and above all create JOBS

otokx: Mr STFU, our generators come on at any point in time on the instruction of management, they also come on btw 7pm and 11pm in the evening and a certain period in the early morning. There has been no nepa electricity in the past 4 days beginning Friday and not only in University of Port Harcourt but in 90% of greater Port Harcourt.

My friend shut up...thr was light in uniport on matriculation day,thr was light yesterday.these periods I was there,so stop spreading your lies

otokx: Mr display of stupidity, That was the school generator and it was only for some hours, you can call your junior brother to ask him when last he saw electricity from PHCN

My friend STFU!!! YOUR SCHOOL GENERATOR ONLY COMES ON BY 7PM .If you wanna go further to argue that its because its a matriculation day,then maybe you can give me a reason why thr was light yesterday between the hours of 5-6:30 PM,cos I was in your school around that time yesterday.
Like I said earlier if you say its nt stable then I agree with you,but saying there is no light at all is a blatant falsehood

take dat: So the Merry Andrew's(undisputed clown) of NL claims another is making a fool of himself? Initially, you guys labelled me an hypocrite only to later claim I goofed? Rather than finding a way to justify your master's action, your guys are running amok over my post!

Accept your mistake and move on...that's all...twisting of words here won't help u

otokx: Its no rumor, there has not been any electricity in the University of Port Harcourt since Friday last week which incidentally was our matriculation ceremony.

Stop this your display of stupidity..I was in uniport on that same day for my younger brother's matriculation and thr was light..precisely I was in Kwame Nkurumah Extension hostel.I can only agree with you if u say the light is not stable.So stop trying to hoodwink us with these your old lines

thelastPope: Give it up. You are making a foool of yourself. Learn to just leave it when you have goofed. You are looking more pathetic with every response. You goofed, simple. When you take a stand people notice. When you goof, they will call you out. That is the way it works.

Abeg help me tell him...