₦airaland Forum

Rossikk: Yawwwwnnnnnnnnnnn. Tell us when you catch the next flight to settle in Somala or Chad. Then we'll believe you. I can't stand all these peeps that see all these 'terrible' things gong on in this 'hellhole' country, yet keep their stinking backsides firmly glued to the country instead of emigrating to all these neighbouring countries that are doing 'so much better'.

You can take Okupe and travel in your vehicle of mediocrity to Chad, it suits you, you are a low life who walks his socks off by kissing asses.

We are Nigerians, we do not deserve a Chadian life, we deserve better than we get at the moment, we will not let mediocre's like you set us back.

You can sit in the same vehicle with Okupe and continue to w@nk over Chad and Somalia, it is your level of thought, do not drag us into your mediocre life.

Rossikk: Yawwwwnnnnnnnnnnn. Tell s when you catch the next flight to settle in Somala or Chad.

Mr man stick Okupe's nuts into your mouth and shut the hell up.

Okupe the sick fat ugly pig talks senselessly by comparing Nigeria in the 2000's with Ghana in the 1970's. Tells you how deluded these m0r0ns are.

What the fool fails to understand is that the environment we had in the 1980's is not the same as today. Globalisation has shaped the world both positively and negatively. The same way we benefit from trade in essential goods and services is the same way we incur costs through trade in illegal goods and war. The same way we benefit from the cultures of others we adopt is the same way we get threatened by the false and violent doctrines being spread around the world. Globalisation has been further accelerated with modern technology and communication tools. In the past I had to wait for months to send a message to Saudi Arabia, today I can send that same message in seconds. These things boost trade and partnership on the positive but boost war and violence on the negative. It is left for nations to decide and design processes and products to act as a safeguard to these threats and to benefit from the opportunities in this global world.

How do we guard against this as a nation? Simple, by putting our house in order, by building our institutions, by developing our people, by increasing awareness on the dangers that come through globalisation. Have we done this? Nigeria has been destroyed by criminals like Okupe Masquerading as leaders. The Police has not been structured or provided with systems to cope with the threats facing us in this global environment. They have been left to operate like "Ghana in 1970". They cannot even protect themselves. Twenty policemen killed in Nassarawa, twelve in Bayelsa, Police Barracks attacked, loads killed and the list goes on and on because these institutions have been ruined by corruption.

We cannot provide jobs for our ever growing population. Basic infrastructure is a problem, our schools are in a big mess, people are left to get the wrong education because we cannot get our priorities right. 150,000 barrels of crude oil being stolen daily even higher than crime ridding Mexico. We spend more time designing ways to steal and destroy this God given country.

Okupe is a thief, do not expect him to react comfortably when the word corruption is mentioned.

Sowore has been a union leader, building and strengthening relationships at UNILAG. What has Okupe contributed to this country apart from kiss asses to earn a living.

Sowore founded Sahara Reporters which has made Nigerians more aware of like criminals Okupe, so why will they be comfortable with it.

The idi0ts say "why not come home?" I laugh, the impact he has being abroad will never be the same if he was home, it is strategy. Gani Fawehinmi led protests and mobilised by marching on the streets. That was Gani in 1980's and 1990's, we are in 2000's. With the tools available to us today we can reach many more people than Gani reached without having to march on the streets and we will continue to use those tools to bring many more aware. To make many more free as it is an effective way of development.

[quote author=eagle,eye]TELL ME WHAT MAKES YOU DIFFERENT FROM A MURDERER?
IF YOU CAN THINK LIKE THIS, YOU CAN ALSO ACT IT OUT IF YOU HAD THE OPPORTUNITY.
when his family and friends will retaliate and wipe out your family and whol linage, people will come out and start saying that your family and linage were Innocent.
KEEP PROMOTING HATE AND BIGOTRY. npkuru onye kuru ka oga ahoro.[/quote]Nwannem nwoke biko naram aka, you are a real man. You see the way some of these ignorant people spill hate for others, I doubt if they understand such will ultimately come back and hunt them. And that is the situation we find ourselves today.

Why does the average Igbo man think it is very appropriate to use derogatory remarks on others? Ignorantly they do not understand these things build hate and resentment thus making them easy targets when violence breaks. This is exactly what Achebe wrote in his book and has been writing about Igbos since the early 1980s.

Igbos should respect others so that you be respected. They are no lesser humans than you people.

I must admit that growing up as a young man, I did not see anything wrong in such derogatory remarks against other ethnic groups -especially Hausas and Fulanis. However, I have come to understand how much anger and hate such things build with time. It is absolutely disgusting.

Rossikk: Me? Miserable? That's YOU dude. YOU are the ''cyberbully'' who gets really upset when people show hope in their country, when you wish we would all be sad, miserable, pessimistic and frustrated like you. BUT WE WON'T, SO GO AND EAT DUST.

As for the HDI disparity among states which I LECTURED you on earlier, here's more proof than you can handle:


http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6Qnac5A38QkC&pg=PA440&lpg=PA440&dq=nigeria+hdi+states&source=bl&ots=F5GQy8pAV1&sig=YniFdG-GLUC-p5aCT5UPMtI9N-8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=a8Z1Uc_4ENGr0gXUkIHwDQ&ved=0CEkQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=nigeria%20hdi%20states&f=false


DUMMMY!!!

Bla bla bla people hope in their country. Your empty hope on nairaland? People who work, hope and believe in Nigeria don't make as much noise. They work without demanding attention like the fraud which you are demands, you are just a cheap 'show boater', "you can see I am patriotic" person.

Patriotism is in the heart, it is not by making noise and telling lies all over nairaland. You are a thief who is working real hard to justify his pay and so any reasonable man will not be deceived. Come out and tell everyone who you are and stop masquerading with patriotism.

You bring out a 1996 figure to justify your lies. The last HDR on Nigeria as far as I know was in 2009, so where did you get your figures from?

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Rossikk: Dude kindly fck off to hell back to your miserable rat hole and leave us sensible people to debate. If you hate Nigeria so much, Bleep ON OFF TO GHANA OR SOMALIA or did they refuse you visa? Talking illiterate rubbish.

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Go and get a life, away from your miserable life. With the anger and frustration you display daily on this forum it shows you are a miserable man working tirelessly to justify his pay cheque.

On a good day I should not engage with a low life scum like you, you have nothing up there. You are just a cyber bully who tries desperately to impress his ignorant perspective on everyone. I say epic fail! I owe it a duty to educate people so they do not get infected by your ignorance. Ignorance is a disease, it is like HIV.

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Rossikk: What rubbish is this one talking about? Savings from what income? Nigeria's oil income is MINISCULE. Recurrent expenditure already takes up something like 60% of the federal budget. Then capital expenditure which is never enough to satiate the needs of 170 million people. You have to develop assets that will create sufficient income in order to create a credible savings regime.



No. Resources are limited, so you DIVERSIFY you income sources. Income in modern developed nations is not based on natural resources.



Maybe about a quarter of annual wealth is lost to corruption. But the wealth itself is tiny, and would be insyifficient even without corruption. The impact of corruption is grossly overstated. What we need is to grow our income.



Infrastructure, roads, power, are all seeing higher investment than before. Even education.



Who do YOU blame when many in the north do not wish to better themselves via education? Do you know they are parts of the north where parents used to be paid by their state govts to send their children to school?



Ok.. Lagos and Edo have the same HDI as Sopkoto and Borno State. DUNCE.

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Trash again!!! It is so little therefore you steal the little you have? That is what your dead brain is asserting. Why is the recurrent expenditure so high? Because it is a government that has failed to prioritise key investments above Presidential jets. It simple, no excuse, budgeting and having a healthy budget is a part of strategy and governance.

Infrastructure bla bla bla as if those that have come before it have not done the same. Fact is investment in key areas is largely insignificant and we must plug leakages and massive corruption to finance our key areas of development.

Bring your HDI figures from Edo and Delta or forever shut up. "In fact the HDI of Delta, Edo bla bla bla" You are a liar with no shame.

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Rossikk: "Yet Nigeria in spite of its wealth blah blah blah". What wealth? Our oil reserves are very tiny for our population and size. We are 170 million people yet we produce only as much oil as tiny Kuwait of two million people. Stop deceiving people that Nigeria has all this great wealth. WE DON'T. I read somewhere that for all our "great wealth", our annual budget is the same as that of Harvard University. The key to Nigeria's future is diversification away from oil, not sitting around counting pennies and telling ourselves we have "great wealth", and blaming politicians for stealing "all our great wealth". Rubbish. To contribute, use your brains and establish industries and businesses that are not dependent on oil largesse. The world is moving away from oil and fossil fuels. Reserves are depleting globally. Use your own initiative and help diversify your economy. The income from oil will NEVER be enough to develop Nigeria even if it was ruled by saints.

As for the HDI, blame the low level on the northern part of the country, whose people have their own issues. Without them, our position on the HDI would be much much higher, as a breakdown on a regional or state basis would indicate. In fact the HDI level of states like Edo, Lagos, Rivers, Delta and Imo is nearly the same as Brazil's! So what are we talking about? If the people of the north played their part by attending school, doing business, etc, we would be much higher on the HDI scale. In fact their region has received more money from federal allocation than the south since oil was discovered. So it's not all about blaming govt. Jonathan cannot force people to make something of their lives.

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Nonsense and trash. It is not up to Havard University, it is not up to Kuwait bla bla bla. That is why we call it savings and investment. As you save and prioritise your investments, you grow your assets over the years and you earn more.

So quit that nonsense talk. That resources are limited that is the why we talk of prudence and investment in high priority areas. It is not enough, so you steal the little you have?

It is not all about government bla bla bla, what investment has the government made in areas of high priority. Private individuals will invest in those that are key to development but have a very long cycle? You are absolutely deluded if you think so.

So the northern part is not a part of Nigeria, so what is the excuse? Is it also different in the creeks? Where did you get your HDI data for Edo and Lagos from? So you bring out lies to justify your ignorant views?

Pukkah: Honestly, I don tire for many Nigerians. When I come across foolish, dogmatic and ignoramt comments from some Nigerians like the ones on this thread, I do feel like giving up on them.

I think many of those guys actually DESERVE the bad governance they're getting and all the sufferings that come with it.

They've been blinded by long years of suffering and religious dogma.

No be their fault my brother, the people have been terribly raped over the years by crooks masquerading as leaders.

Shebi na church I dey go over here, the Pastor is like a friend to you, he is a buddy. When you are discussing with him you are having an interaction and he even expects you to disagree with some of his views i.e push and pull

Naija own na push, the pastors feed them with all sorts of trash and they don't ask questions.

Pukkah: Will you stop baselessly declaring anyone as a man of God! It's only God that knows his men.

In a country where they are serious about fighting corruption and money laundering, the acquisition of a private jet by an individual or group is enough to set all alarm bells ringing.

I challenge you to name the chruch members and the businesses they do. Prove the sources of their wealth.

The acquisition of the private jet by Oritsejafor is a suspicious transaction. Pure and simple.

You understand the issues my brother. In a country where evidence before the EFCC shows Atuche made donations using laundered funds to some Churches in Delta State, it is enough for any investigator to start viewing such a donation with high susceptibility of fraud.

Part of what triggered the alarm bell on Ibori was the way he was freely dolling out money in the hotel he lodged. Tips are okay, however, when you start given people as much as a 100 quid, 500 quid, even 50 quid, it is enough to call the Police.

Nigerians should ask questions and not just be mumus waiting for manna to fall from heaven

Dreal1247: .
U are derailing this issue. The point is that Gej is not the one that purchased the jet for Oritsejafor. U can go to the church for the account details of the donors. CASE CLOSED.

How come GEJ the President was the one to present a suspicious gift? That is the issue here!

And you must ask these questions, that is what makes societies grow and not sycophancy and butt licking of leaders ala North Korea.

Dreal1247: .
Unless u dont understand what i mean. Look at the number of abusive words directed to Oritsejafor because of this post. Assuming it is a truth, he may keep mute: but this one is a naked lie to the best of my knowledge. No matter how controvercial Oritsejafor night appear, he is still a man of God and God honours his words. Besides, there is no proof of Gej purchasing the jet. Im not scaring any1.

Oh I should keep quiet in a country where majority of the population have no access to quality education and healthcare, a $20 million gift was presented by the President on behalf of some faceless people?

You are deluded.

If you could read properly you will read what Mr Fasakin Rotimi asserted. Fasakin only says the gift looks suspicious and rightly so. He has not stated explicitly who bought the gift.

Dreal1247: .
U expect me to start advertising people's names here. They are doing legitimately well it their own fields. I only want to make it clear that cpc is a bunch of liars.

What legitimate jobs now, how much taxes have they paid on these income? Do you sort their finance with them?

So how come you have concluded that all is well with the donation? We talk of skepticism in audit i.e You work with the mindset that there is a material error or omission before you conclude before that the transaction is true and fair.

Chai I pity Nigerians, the people have been screwed time and time again they cannot even think straight again.

In the UK a gift of 10,000 quids will bring the tax man sniffing not to talk of a gift of over 15 million quids. Who are you? What do you do? You must ask these questions!!!

Dreal1247: .
Mind what u write against the man of God. This post is a lie. He Oritsejafor issues a curse against those propagating this false news against him, they are doomed. IT IS HIS CHURCH MEMBERS THAT CONTRIBUTED THE MONEY 4 THE JET. This rumour is careless.

A thug like Orisha man of God. It is his "Church members" so we should not ask questions on the source of funds? We should not ask how much taxes have been paid by these "church members"? We should not ask if it is a channel for laundering criminally acquired wealth?

Another deluded mofo.

Dreal1247: I personally know some members of Word Of Life church that bought the jet. Gej does not even know when the jet was purchased. He only graced Papa Ayo's 40th year anniversary ceremony as a pastor which was also used to present the jet. This cpc or what do u call them are not just fighting Gej again, but Nigeria. They have failed.

Who is that guy, how much taxes does he pay? What is the source of his money? In a working country these are the questions they ask.

Orisha-gear-four received a gift of over $20 million.

In a working country that is a taxable benefit with tax implications for Orisha. In a working country compliance and investigation officers would have attempted to trace the source of the funds. Is anyone hiding any criminally acquired fund?

But not in my naija, Orisha a known ganja man is still flying around unquestioned.

Mind you Rotimi has not stated explicitly that it was purchased by the FG. What I can read from the statement is that the transaction is very suspicious and rightly so!

How easy is it for a group of hardworking people to give a gift of over $20 million to an individual?

dominique: @thelastpope
True, the primary health care is reponsibility of the state government. But it is the responsibility of the FG to make the healthcare institution of worldclass standards. If they've been able to achieve this, we won't be hearing cases of top govt officials flying out of the country to treat the simplest of ailments.

Tell the m0r0n biko. A nation has a high mortality rate, it is an emergency. What reasonable leaders do is to coordinate at every level of Government, drive policies and strategies towards reducing mortality rate.

Tell me how serious a government that gives more money to Asari Dokubo and Tompolo is serious about reducing mortality.

thelastPope: You just exposed yourself as an immature lad. Talking like a kid as expected. Just tell your principals to step up in their jobs instead of excusing them and trying to divert attention. That trick will not work here. Primary health care is the preserve of the states and LGA. The last time the medics demanded improved service and pay, your governor sacked all 788 of them, hitler style. Tell them to step up instead of typing long stories here. Simple

Nonsense and trash again. What did Jona and Alams do as Governors of Bayelsa for eight years to improve Bayelsa's health system is the question?

If those states had done enough, Lagos will have enough resources to even pay each Doctor N50 million per annum. However with the exploding population, Lagos is strained and forced to conserve and pick up the bits, forced to work on a limited budget.

Lagos has a free health policy for children, Bayelsa cannot even afford to buy condoms to reduce the spread of HIV. Meanwhile Alams has hidden the health money for onward removal from his belle in Germany.

What did Jona and Alams do in Bayelsa over 8 years? Answer now or forever shut up..

thelastPope: So why not talk to them at Alausa to sit up then since you are there with them. In Nigeria, primary health care is the preserve of states and LGA. So tell them to step up and perform since you think you know what is right.

They are but with 1 million people moving to Lagos from Otuoke daily how many people will they cater for? If Jona and Alams had not moved Bayelsa's money to the UK, Bayelsa will have a strong health system today. However, today Bayelsa has one of the highest rates of HIV in the country because Jona chopulate the money for health.

Health should be a priority ahead of Jona's N1 billion cassava bread and 10 Presidential jets.

Wait make I even ask you sef, what is Jona's strategy to improving healthcare? Don't tell me it is flying Patie to Germany to go and die and resurrect seven times. MUHEHEHEH

Lagusta: excuse me!!!

Did you say 60 pediatricians in your village, as in 60 consultant fellows of either the west african or nigerian colleges of pediatrics??

The joke is on you.

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thelastPope: How can you have pediatricians when they have all gone for project fame and Nigerian Idols. The rest are wih their laptops talking to magas.

The whole value system is wrong. It is not just about government. Government is not going to force people to read medicine and become pediatricians. One of the biggest lies being spread in Nigeria is that government is responsible for everything and that government is aso rock. So no one takes responsibility anymore. People talk about lack of facilities but have anyone ever realised that a lack of something is also equal to an opportunity for someone to make good business. If these private hospitals are equiped, won't they be patronised and won't they make money? At least, that is the case for schools in Lagos where the poor state of public schools have led to a boom in private schools.

There is a fundamental mindset we have as Nigerians that is wrong. Most people who made some of the greatest impact in history, did so as private citizens, not government officials. That is not to excuse governmentt but we must not forget that when we say government, someone typing on this thread right now could become an LGA chairman or a governor tomorrow.

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Nonsense and trash. Do you know how much resources the British government commits to the NHS? In terms of training Doctors and medical workers? That is a leadership that values the health of the nation. Government will not force but government will take it as a responsibility and design policies to get more and more people into the field given the high mortality rate.

Health should be a public good, it should be prioritised in development most especially in a country with a very high mortality rate, it is the responsibility of leaders to direct the nation to good health.

Another lie by the imperialists designed to rubbish Nigeria's image.

In my village alone there are 60 Pediatricians, so what the hell are they talking about. huh

Gbawe: Look, the opposition can be a pain. It is same everywhere in the world to include the most advanced democracies we copy fastidiously like the USA. Watch UK Prime Minister question time to gain some perspective.

You should acquire some maturity and ability to think critically as this will show you that the onus always lies on those who occupy the seat of power to do what is right and capable of shutting up criticism. You cannot, anywhere in the world, justify the notion of a Presidency engaging in mud-slinging when the voice of opposition only get stronger because of valid criticism that remain, day in day out, ignored. Get that into your feudalistic and clannish head.

Even if you claim I hate you, because I am the neighbour who tells you to clean your front garden so as to stop disgracing the community boasting well-kept houses around yours, why not shut me up first by doing what I correctly ask for? Doing that means you have the right, the next I talk, to show me up to be hollow.

Jonathan is nit minimally interested in that approach at all. Instead, GEJ is criticised about monumental corruption and next minute he is pardoning corruption while unleashing Okupe et al on those correctly highlighting his duplicity, deceit and corrupt streak. Grow up dude and learn to accept that a man grows when he accepts rather than avoid or deflect truthful and factually correct criticism. The aberrant creature would be one who expensively deploys 'attack dogs' rather than face the truth.

You see these crumb catchers actually believe everyone should be on the queue with them in their bid to suck Jona's nuts.

When you watch the PMQ you will understand what democracy is all about. I have heard Milliband tell Mr Cameron time and time again that "he is clueless", "he is dishonest" and many more jibes. In fact on one of the PMQs he told him, "it is a downgraded Prime Minister, a downgraded Chancellor and a downgraded economy". Those debates and jibes are the beauty of the UK democracy.

But to these nut suckers, everyone must be on the queue with them and wait to suck Zona's nuts. I say epic fail!

He is clueless, he is deluded, he is a good example of a rogue masquerading as a leader.

Rossikk: 85.4% of the world are developing nations ie ''shuffereing and smiling''. The other 14.6% comprise mostly those who looted and rap.ed the world over the last couple of centuries and are now living large. I'm not losing sleep over not being 'like them'.

Stop that your nonsense of "84% of the world are developing nations". Of 186 countries ranked in the HDI, 94 countries belong to the high and very high end of the scale while 46 countries belong to the medium level. Nigeria in spite of its wealth belongs to the low level of human development.

Yes countries are developing but even among developing countries, some countries are progressing better than others. Why should Nigeria be among the low level developing countries?

Theft, greed and cannibalism against a nation.

Rossikk why did you not include in that your post that Nigeria is at the lowest end on the Human Development scale?

So it is okay that Nigeria is ranked alongside countries like Haiti, Chad, Yemen, Niger?

What is the essence of this post when no state in Nigeria is developed.

"I better pass my neighbour" mentality!

^^^

Mr man close your mouth. Lagos Ibadan, Sagamu to Benin, Warri to Patani were motorable roads before 1999. The PTF road signs showing construction works were visible in those days- at least I can remember on Sagamu to Benin road very well. In my UNI those days we had PTF projects, water projects, PTF drugs for free, it was everywhere. That green and white logo showing the drop of oil was very visible those days.

At least we could get to PH from Lag in 9 hrs those days. Not until we were infected with PDP's demons did we start travelling for 18 hours just to get to PH from Lag.

You can earn your salary, tell lies to those who do not know your type. Biko avoid bringing those your lies to me.

Jona has budgeted over N9 trillion since taking over, what has he done with it? What have they done with SURE-P apart from give it to a rogue like Bode George to manage.

PTF the best organisation headed by Buhari and Dora Akunyili (a great woman, who saved Jona from Turai) as the executive secretary. An organistion headed by two hardworking and disciplined minds and not drunken sailor fishermen.

Till date everyone keeps talking of PTF, why not SURE-P as established by President Jonafraud? Because PTF impacted. PTF drugs, PTF textbooks for students, PTF mass transit buses, I saw PTF roads being rehabilitated.

Below is an article written by Pini Jason Onyegbadue, a big time critic of Muhammadu Buhari. He wrote this article in 1998.

Development: PTF - shining in the gloom

The Petroleum Trust Fund, headed by former President, Gen. Buhari, has confounded all its critics. As a development agency, it has succeeded spectacularly where all others failed. Pini Jason has the details.

The one silver lining to emerge from the current heavy economic cloud must be the performance of the Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund (PTF). In October 1994, General Sani Abacha hiked the pump price of petrol from N3.25 to N11 per litre, promising, with Decree 25, to set up a Petroleum Trust Fund to distribute the gains from the increase on social and infrasturctural projects. The board of the fund, headed by former Head of State, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, was eventually inaugurated on March 21, 1995.

The Fund began with an initial capital of about N60bn in 1996. Its all encompassing mandate includes the rehabilitation of roads and waterways, educational and health institutions, providing textbooks and stationary, procuring essential drugs and vaccines, providing water supply systems, reviving crumbling agricultural sectors, connecting outlying areas to the national electricity grid, extending railways and telecommunications and ensuring consistent food supply.

The huge budget and all-embracing mandate earned PTF some criticisms. Some dubbed it "the alternative government," accusing it of duplicating the responsibilities of other existing government agencies. There was for instance an initial conflict about who should be tarring which road, between PTF and the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing.

Yet, for once, other Nigerians began to hope that here was an agency that took its work seriously. The question was: could it carry out its entire mandate, or even a part of it? Everyone waited to see what would happen.

Initially PTF awarded contracts for the rehabilitation of 12,000km of federal highways (including drainages) nationwide, and between 25-100km of urban road in major cities such as Gusau, Benin, Funtua, Zaria, Enugu, Kaduna, Aba, Lagos, Lokoja, and Port Harcourt. A N27.3bn contract was awarded for road rehabilitation in the first quarter of 1996. The sum of N1.328bn was awarded to 53 pharmaceutical companies for the supply of drugs, while the importation of vaccines cost N229.9m. As at December 31, 1997, funds available to PTF stood at N115.1bn.

One thing even the most uncharitable critic of PTF will admit is that it has evolved a new way of doing things. This is true to its mission statement which is 'to establish and operate an open, modest and efficient organisation for the purpose of achieving the honest and timely execution of carefully designed socio-economic projects.'

Right from its inception, the Head of State directed the fund to operate a lean bureaucracy. It depends therefore largely on consultants supervised by Afri-Projects Consortium, the management consultant to PTF. This policy has created jobs and boosted the confidence of Nigerian professionals such as architects, engineers and quantity surveyors.

In many other ways, PTF has thrown a lifeline to dying sectors of the economy. Most of Nigeria's pharmaceutical companies were failing, and the foreign multinationals were divesting. But through its drugs procurement programme, PTF has turned the balance sheet of most of them into profit. Equipment and car leasing companies are also benefitting from the multiplier effects of PTF operations.

Banks and insurance companies have also benefited. Nigeria has a history of contractors collecting mobilisation (advance) fees and not carrying out the contract. But not with PTF. Every advance payment up to N10m must be guaranteed by a PTF-approved bank, while other advance payments are covered by performance bonds issued by similarly approved insurance companies. This method, apart from increasing solvency through cash deposits, has created business for banks and insurance companies.

One of the insurance companies that has benefited from PTF as a provider of performance bonds is The United Nigeria Insurance Company (UNIC), a composite insurance company which provides both life and non-life insurance. The total assets of UNIC stood at N979m while it grossed premium income of N916m and settled claims of N263m in 1996. With a staff of 552 spread all over its nationwide branch network, UNIC is today one of the leading insurance company in Nigeria.

Another company that has done good business with PTF is IPWA plc, formerly International Paints (West Africa) Ltd. IPWA is today one of the biggest and most diversified paint manufacturers in Nigeria. The company product range spans automotive paints, building paints, industrial coatings and marine coatings. Others are packaging coatings, protective coatings and wood finishes.

Most PTF contractors, specialist advisers and consultants lease and use computers, fax machines, printers and photocopiers. This has provided a new market for computer companies like Leading Edge Ltd., headed by Mr Tony Edoro, the managing director. Leading Edge is foremost in cloning computers with parts from diverse companies such as US Micro-Generation, IBM Direct, Merisel and Gateway. According to Mr Edoro, a widely experienced computer systems engineer, the advent of PTF has been good for Leading Edge. The company's turnover has grown from N50m in 1995 to well over N100m in 1997.

Apart from energising several sectors of the economy, PTF is also setting the pace in another direction. In the words of Mr Salihijo Ahmad, of Afri-Projects Consortium, the twin objectives of PTF are to "rehabilitate infrastructures and reorientate the people." This the fund does through its insistence on transparency even though some critics still accuse it of lopsidedness in project execution and selection of consultants and contractors.

In a country dogged by lack of transparency, PTF is the first, and perhaps the only public institution in Nigeria to publish its annual accounts. Last year, when he presented the annual report and accounts of 1996, Gen. Buhari promised to present the 1997 accounts before the end of the first quarter of 1998. He fulfilled that promise.

The 1997 account of PTF shows that it disbursed N24.3bn on roads, N21.2bn on security, N7.8bn on health, and N3bn on other projects. Other disbursements include N2.2bn on water supply, N936m on food supply and N476m on education. It realised a total of N1.049bn from various investment activities.

Reviewing the success story of PTF, Gen. Buhari said: "We have consolidated our execution of the take-off projects for the previous year and increased our intervention within the sectors. There is no doubt that the years ahead will witness even more intervention, as reports of some of the studies commissioned are received and project execution commenced."

The fund has embarked on community education to sensitise and enlighten communities of its activities. The idea is to bring recipients closer to the objectives of the fund, so that they can participate in project identification and selection as well as eventual PTF projects in their areas.

One aspect of the overall project that the public has raised an eyebrow over is the Armed Forces PTF. According to Gen. Buhari, PTF is under instruction to allocate 20% of its funds to the armed forces, and another 1% to the Federal Capital Territory. The allocation to the Armed Forces is probably a continuation of a practice that started during Gen. Babangida's time when he used to allocate excess revenue from the projected price of crude directly to the commanding officers. But what worries critics of PTF is that the military is not accountable to anyone regarding its utilisation of funds. Moreover, critics question the wisdom of allocating such a huge chunk to the military (who also usually takes the lion's share of the budget) over and above food supply, education and health. Apart from roads, the allocation to all other sectors does not add up to the Armed Forces PTF allocation.

Nobody knows how long PTF, a purely intensive intervention agency, will last or whether there will be a place for such an agency under a democratic set up. That decision, Gen. Buhari said, will be up to Nigerians. For now his preoccupation is to rehabilitate infrastructure and reorientate the people towards a new, effective and efficient way of executing uninflated contracts without kickbacks and without consuming mobilisation fees. [size=14pt]Said Gen. Buhari to PTF contractors: "If you perform well, you get a hand shake. If you perform badly, you get a handcuff."[/size]

GBAM!!!

Yes O! Time to flush the drunken sailor fisherman who hid behind Dora's wrapper when Turai came for his jugular.

In 14 years of this horrible criminals we are still talking megawatts, gigawatts, kilowatts, meanwhile Jona done carry N7 trillion run. When Bola Tinubu was to build the ENRON plant, these same rogues frustrated the project. Till date they still deduct from Lagos allocation for a non-existent plant.

And we are making progress! For 14 years now they have been "rehabilitating" Benin-Ore road.

Oil prices have risen by almost 10 folds since 1999 yet Nigeria still has one of the worst Human Development index comparable to countries like Haiti. Yet they are making progress.

Time to kick PDP out, if you think twice about it then you are the biggest m0r0n on earth. The men have no conscience, I have had dealings with some of them in the past and I can tell you how they think. They are evil, demonic, selfish, greedy and violent.

It is not about inflation dropping, it is about what are the implications.

The ability to analyse and say what the implications are is what differentiates a layman from an economist.

I can inflate a macroeconomy and it will be beneficial, I can also tighten and it creates a "balloon effect". The East Asians experienced high growth even with a double digit inflation rate in the 1990s. How do you explain that?

It is not a science, there is no definite answer.