enigmang:

When you say other places you are generalising.. Heathrow Terminal 3 to be precised the trolleys outside the airport have to be paid for ... You put a coin in the machine and it opens the trolley gate...

Oo and its not the shopping trolley kind where you get your coin back

Lies!!! You do not pay for trolleys in Heathrow or any airport in England and Scotland. I have never been asked to pay for one. I have never been asked to do so in any airport apart from MMIA.

enigmang:

Seems you wore plimsoles... There's nothing wrong in taking off your shoes. And it happens in most countries.. Esp. International flights

Lies!!! I do not fly without shoes for safety reasons. Heathrow does not tell you take off your shoes.

Islamic finance is here to stay, get over it. It has grown with assets in $billion.

The best you can do for yourself is to understand the concept of Islamic finance rather than the animosity towards this model.

Markets are becoming integrated through globalisation. Your sovereign wealth fund managers could possibly put some of the funds in Islamic finance assets to reduced risk through a diversified portfolio. What are you going to do about it, kill yourself?

MMIA should not be called an airport. It is a farm house. The place stinks! The car park is a complete mess! Lighting is poor in this airport.

It should be taken away from the vultures and their associates at FAAN and the Ministry of Aviation. These people cannot manage effectively and deliver value for money services in these airports.

Sunny_bobo: Bloody liar. Nobody pays 1000 naira for a trolley. It's 100 naira each. Though that's still not right IMO but the practice predates the present administration.

It's N150 mr, which should not be! There should be other ways of generating revenue and not this crude approach to revenue generation.

1acre: I totally disagree with u o.. Oga.. Pulling of shoes is still dat way In Heathrow.

Lies!!! I've used Heathrow this year and over the years, no one has ever told me to take off my shoes. This year I've been through Weeze Airport, Dusseldorf, Girona, Barcelona El Prat, Gatwick and Edinburgh. No one has ever told me to take off my shoes in these airports.

You people should pity otakara, you know he lies to earn a living. If he does not lie, his job is gone and he returns to being a houseboy in Benin.

You can see how desperate he is on this thread. It is all about keeping his job.

amarilo: It seems you are a Lone Ranger now. Stella case is closed get over it. That is how Nigerian scandals go Otedola and Farouk comes to mind.

Stop crying like a child deprived of his toy.

You wish it was closed to justify the N4000 you are being paid. Now crawl back to the dustbin where your likes belong.

atlwireles: Erasmus Ikhide

Senior Special Assistant Media Affairs at Edo State Government
SA Media at Special Adviser (Media Affairs) to Governor Rauf Aregbesola of the State of Osun

How does that change the core of this piece.

This N4000 has reduced your IQ to near zero.

Ovoko lapdogs, come and earn your salary here

Stella Oduah as Jonathan Example

by Erasmus Ikhide

THOSE who expect President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to buckle and flush Princess Stella Oduah, the Minister of Aviation down the toilet under the torrential brewing scandal called “$1.6 million BMW Cars Scam” are as naive as the President himself. He needs Ms Stella Oduah in that morally bankrupt industry to criminally rates in unearned billions of Naira for his 2015 presidential election the way she did in 2011.

Long before Dr Jonathan openly canonised corruption at the ‘Presidential Media Chat’ as part of his itineraries to mark the nation’s 53rd Independence Anniversary a few weeks ago, Nigerians are fully aware that the president has been wedded to graft interminably, and that only death will do them part.


In that Presidential Media Chat, Dr Jonathan vaguely opined - because he talks before he reasons - that Nigeria problem is not corruption. May be it is premeditated. Presidential minders told me that the president merely wanted to take the shine out of his main political challenger, Gen Muhammadu Buhari, whose historical anti-corruption credential as Military Head of State is beyond reproach. Perhaps, admitting that corruption is the major setback for Nigeria as a nation would have meant that one; the President has ceded a great deal of the battle ground to the opposition against the backdrop of 2015 presidential election. Second, it would have meant an admittance to being corruption, a virus to which he has been tenaciously entangled since he took office.


President Jonathan took the nation’s anti-corruption war a century backward when he decline to declare his assets publicly on assumption of office, even after his government signed a pact to that effect. He said at the time that it is not compulsory for him to declare his assets openly since no law made it expressly mandatory for him to do so. All entreaties to Dr Jonathan to follow the foot steps of his predecessor, the late President Umar Yar’Adua was never heeded.


The Nigeria-US Binational commission on transparency signed a communique in Washington DC on June 4 and 5, 2012 by the then US Deputy Secretary of State, Bill Burns and Nigeria was represented by Foreign Affairs Minister, Olugbenga Ashiru and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr Martin I. Uhomoibhi. The fourth paragraph of the communique signed by both countries at the meeting read thus: “both countries recognized and reaffirmed commitments to transparency and accountability from local to national levels that include strong community efforts. To support those commitments, Nigeria intends to widen its budgetary transparency efforts to include public asset declarations by parliamentarians and other senior public officials.”


The President, in his ungainly and boyish style said a few weeks that, “The issue of asset declaration is a matter of principle. I don’t give a damn about it, if you want to criticize me from heaven. The issue of public declaration I think is playing to the gallery. You don’t need to publicly declare any assets. If I am somebody who wants to hide it is what I tell you that you will even believe.” One would have thought that the rancorous crises that attended his own presidential ascendancy would have buoyed President Jonathan to declare his asset without being prodded to do so, couple with the fact that his predecessor did the same. He defied the pressure pilled on him to lead by example if he hopes to win the war against official graft.


Since then, Nigeria has refused to join the Open Government Partnership, OGP, a forum of about 55 countries determined to promote open governance and a culture of accountability around the world. To join the forum however, Nigeria would need to ensure that assets declaration by senior public officials and elected officials is in place. The OGP is an international initiative aimed at securing concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, increase civic participation, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to make government more open, effective, and accountable. This is exactly what Dr Jonathan detests and would continue to object to, so long it opens the floodgate to siphon hundreds of billion of Naira to prosecute his undeserving continuation in power beyond 2015.


How then do we expect the ministers selected by a larcenous president under the cover of a compromised legal system whose financial records of how wealthy or poor is copiously wrapped in veiled pretence of a less charitable anti-corruption code? The Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC had a case against President Jonathan as the Governor of Bayelsa State. He was among the 19 former Governors who had a case with the EFCC at the time. The case was discontinued the moment he was selected as the Vice-President to the late President Yar’Adua. His wife, Patience Jonathan was also on the EFCC’s list among those to face prosecution for money laundry. That too has also been discontinued!


The repulsive rot in the Aviation industry merely mirrors the larger picture of the graft induced Administration of Dr Jonathan where Presidential Air Fleet is lager than three national airlines with 10 aircrafts in its fold. According to findings, the PAF include two Falcon 7X jets, two Falcon 900 jets, a Gulfstream 550, one Boeing 737 BBJ (Nigerian Air Force 001 or Eagle One), and a Gulfstream IVSP. Others are one Gulfstream V, Cessna Citation 2 aircraft and Hawker Siddley 125-800 jet.


Each of the Falcon 7X jets was purchased in 2010 at a cost of $51.1m, while the Gulfstream 550 costs $53.3m. However, the actual price on the average of the Falcon 900 is put at $35m; Gulfstream IVSP, $40m; Gulfstream V, $45m; Boeing 737 BBJ, $58m; Cessna Citation, $7m; and Hawker Siddley 125-800, $15m. This brings a combined estimated value of the PAF to $390.5m (N60.53bn).


Industry experts are wont to say that airlines spend between 15 and 20 per cent of the cost of an aircraft on its operation yearly. They opined that averagely, a little less than one-fifth of the cost of the plane is spent every year on insurance, flight and cabin crew, maintenance, fuelling, catering and training. The Nigerian Air Force’s website says the PAF’s current staff strength consists of 47 NAF officers, 173 airmen/airwomen and 96 technical and administrative civilians. Going by the fact that at least 15 per cent of this amount is spent annually on operating the PAF, it means about $58.57m (N9.08bn) is being spent annually on running the planes in the Nigerian PAF, making Nigeria one of the most expensive PAF in the world.


It will be out of place for Nigerians to wishfully anticipate, even to demand a beat transparency and accountability from a government that thrives essentially on the selection of certified crooks who see public office as mining ground of their own share of the national cake. It is the same Dr Jonathan’s poverty of ambition - Power without purpose and answering the name ‘President’ - regardless of his ineptitude and woeful failure that drives Ms Stella Oduah to the pure vanity and lost for obscene opulence.


Sadly, this Teflon travesty of womanhood has not brought in any fresh initiatives and has failed to react brilliantly to the problems militating against aviation industry since her appointment. It removes from her flowing elegance and beauty, the very innate majestic talents and highest aptitude require of princess that she claims. She is more concerned cruising in posh armoured cars in flashing jewels than the safety of air travellers.


Nigerians are used to Dr Jonathan’s numerous ego trip queries and commission of enquiries that produce White Papers for his White Paper Government, WPG. This one on “$1.6 million BWM Cars Scam” will not be difference. At a time planes are fallen off the nation’s airspace like the migrating stock encountering poisonous substance in the middle of the air; at a time the nation’s aviation industry is competing for the bottom of the ladder with war-tore country like Somalia as the poorest airport in African, at a time Foreign airlines coming to Nigeria rely on their in built Total Radar navigational equipment for air safety within the Nigeria airspace gives the barefaced looting an international embarrassment.


Nigerians have been badly led enough and it is my firmly held conception that we need to come emphatically clear on this and point out that Dr Jonathan neither can nor should be an obstacle to our unyielding commitment to put the nation on the part to greatness. Until Nigerians resolve and appreciate the potency of their electoral power to chase failed leaders like Dr Jonathan out of power with their votes, the present nightmare will be a child’s for the anarchy that is to come next time.


Erasmus Ikhide write from Lagos, Nigeria.

Weekend Observer

DerideGull:



Above crap and writer are the reasons Nigerians are afflicted with intellectual disease known as retardation. The goofy writer filled an entire page without telling the would-be audiences the meaning of corruption or forms of corruption.

Writer buttresses his/her idiocy on the write-up by condemning Oduah in a paragraph and stating he/she does not know if Oduah is guilty as charged in a latter paragraph. What a foolery.

Can a frustrated soul like you appreciate a wonderful piece? Answer is no.

So it's best you crawl back into your pit latrine and keep eating your skunk.

This Ross, a true man.

Oduah is a rogue.

ROSSIKE: Has Seun ever said anything about Tinubu at all?

Just asking.

Did Fela talk about everyone in government even to state level? Rubbish

He chooses what to talk about. He is not under any obligation to speak for you.

Yes O, omo baba 70. She should "do the needful" and herself to Ikoyi prison. She is a rogue as one can see from her watery defence.

By Ross Alabo-George
It is one bullet Mr. President cannot afford to take for his minister. It will pierce through the Fedora hat. This president has taken too many bullets for some of his cabinet ministers and auxiliaries in government, and cannot afford to continue being in such politically hazardous crossfire.

No president goes down for his subordinate. When they do, it is either because the political cost has been cautiously weighed and confirmed harmless or they simply consider it manoeuvrable for political advantage. This one is not.

Not even a military general takes a bullet for a troop, because the fall of the general means much more than just the fall of a soldier. President Goodluck Jonathan has taken bullets for his ministers of Petroleum Resources, Niger Delta Affairs, Education, the list goes on. He has been a shield for his party and for his own presidency.

In December 2012, when Ambassador Susan Rice dropped her bid for US Secretary of State, even as President Barack Obama's nominee, it was not because she was nay less qualified than Senator John Kerry. She stepped aside to save the president some huge political capital. Her confirmation by the US Senate was not impossible. Even with the bashing she got for 'misinforming' America on the US Embassy attack in Benghazi, President Obama could slap enough backs to get her through confirmation, but at a huge political cost. Ambassador Rice understood that: she spared her president the loss.

The right thing should be done, Princess Oduah should resign her appointment as minister and spare the president the burden of her sack. When Ambassador Rice, now US National Security Adviser, voluntarily stepped aside, President Obama said the ambassador showed “an admirable commitment to rise above the politics of the moment to put our national interests first.”

As dynamic as she has been as minister of aviation, Princess Oduah's inability to resign her appointment and pursue the 'clearing' of her name, like Nigerian politicians like to say, is causing a pilgrim president some major embarrassment.

I can understand the president's burden. Princess Oduah is passionate about the transformation agenda. She was the carburetor of his political machine in 2011, and an elegant symbol of female activism in partisan politics. She has made not a few adversaries as an armour bearer for the president.

She stepped on toes, and crushed the feet of the president's adversaries who crossed the red carpet, and she did so without blinking an eyelid. She grounded aircrafts and entire airlines owned by powerful politicians in her course of duty. She is a staunch supporter and loyalist, not like many of the president's men who dine with his enemies at dusk. She personified the president's agenda for aviation and cruised in her space like a Concorde.

Her careful rise to the upper echelon of politics was not by chance. A few people came down on her way up. It is, therefore, utter insensitivity for a minister of the ruling party to still remain in the cabinet while being investigated by a 'military' panel set up by her boss. The princess should understand that her political viability as minister has expired. The glory has departed.

But the princess is a fighter and an political Amazon. Her greatest pain will not be that she wouldn't be minister anymore, rather it will be that she has some unfinished battles. Her war to restore our airports have almost been won, but not yet. Her fight to make our airspace safer is not finished too. Her fight to deliver the president in 2015 is one fight she won't stop even if sacked. Back home, her fight to check the rivalry of Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu, as the Queen of Anambra politics may just have been lost. But don't count her out just yet.

This scandal goes to show the loopholes in our procurement process. It has become clear that even in due process, there are corrupt procedures. These leakages are a source of concern to citizens, and the role of the financial institutions in this whole mess cannot be downplayed. It is time to re-evaluate the sufficiency of the Public Procurement Act of 2007.

Now, is she guilty? I don't know. She has not been tried, and no one can tell. But right now, she doesn't even have to be. The tenuous and wobbly defence put up by the NCAA has made some of us - non-partisan supporters of the president- uncomfortable. No cogent defence, no reliable proof of innocence, and no rational talking point to defend the administration on this matter have emerged. I will rather not defend the president on this matter, because the bullet has already hit its target. It is not time to look for the snipers, it is time to tow away the fallen, and put national interest first.

Ross Alabo-George
tweets from @imaginasion1

Source

I can tell Ngozi is one of the people against. The statement she released few days has fire all over it.

berem: Very true!

He tactically distorted what was reported to support his lies. Most Nigerian highways will not meet the standard in a country that is working.

For example, 3rd mainland bridge is death, to put it simply. Is it not smooth? Therefore, if we were to judge by the standards of these m0r0ns then that is a world class road.

In a working country, 3rd mainland would have been shutdown for safety reasons.

anonimi:

You just make me laugh with your twisting and winding now that you are caught out with DISTORTION
So in your world, a poorly maintained road is NOT a road in disrepair, abi
Could this be an act of desperation on your part as I believe you are smarter than you are making out to be on this thread?
I guess there is no point discussing further with a mischievous person.

You are the mischievous person here.

If it lacks all the important components then it is a poorly maintained road. Sahara Reporters has not given any false information here.

1MCN:
It's not in my habit to sing around a topic here on NL, I just drop my candid opinion and let others have their own right to say. I refuted the other guy's assertion that the said scene of the accident was on the "bad" Elele-Isiokpo Road as reported by SR.

If you say a smooth road is not a good road then I wonder.

To also inform you, the road is properly marked and dualized with relevant road signs, wide shoulders and some parts fully lit--the lights have not been fully installed on the entire stretched. Am a project manager by profession and also an expert in HSE, so I claim to know a few thing about what a good road should be.

Note that the said road was one of Amaechi's first and best road projects. It's an economically very important federal road which Amaechi fixed in 2009-2011. And got reimbursed by FG in 2012. I said I use this road regularly and I want someone who also uses this road to come here with facts and tell me that what I say is not true. I make a challenge.

The same way Okupe fixed Apapa Oshodi expressway.

So you say a road was fixed in 2011 and this is 2013 going to 2014, they are still fixing lights.

And you are a HSE expert O. This relevant road signs is what?

anonimi:

Is it that you do not understand simple English or you are simply playing dumb and trying to be mischievous

SR reported that "she died along Elele-Isiokpo road which has been in state of serious disrepair over the years..."
The poster said that is NOT true as the road is smooth.
From where did you conjure up smooth equals good
You be magician?

You are dull.

Can you bring a link to where the word "disrepair" was used?

Sahara reporters says a poorly maintained road.

Has nothing to do with smoothness. If a road is smooth and lacks other components of a good road then it is still in a bad condition.

berem: mbanu! He wants me to believe she died of reckless driving from the driver and not bad road as widely reported. If there are 4 or 5 potholes on a road,it means the road is smooth abi? Smh

One of the m0r0ns here once told me Owerri to Aba is a very good road. I laughed loud while reading his trash. That road lacks everything a good road should have. No road signs, no road marks and potholes on the road.

Pukkah:

It's obvious that many Nigerians do not know what true development is. This may be due to lack of exposure, education or the fact that they have become used to the very low standards they see around.

Imagine some of the N4,000 posters saying Stella Odua has turned Nigerian airports to 'world class'

Man must wack now. They have been turned to slaves by these rogues for peanuts. They must lie to earn a living.

The only thing I have for them is to tell them to get a proper job. For how long are you going to sit in front of a computer to tell lies? That is no job, you should look for better things to do with your lives.

MMA is the worst thing I have ever seen in my life. A farm house is better than that place. From the car park to the terminal building is filth.

It is good the man is deaf. If he was attentive enough, he would have had an idea of what was coming at the convention of rogues.

See how he was ambushed like a rat by the rebel governors. More awaits him.

1MCN:
When I read the SR recent article on the death of this old woman and the part that said, "she died along Elele-Isiokpo road which has been in state of serious disrepair over the years..." I laughed at our embarassingly ignorant criticisms. Only a very few roads in the entire Southern Nigeria are as smooth and well contoured as that very road (I stand to be disagreed with). I can bet that what killed that old woman must be excessive speed by the driver on that road. From the foot of the boundary signboard between Imo and Rivers down thru Omagwa (Airport) upto even Eliozu to Rumuokoro, the road is impeccable. Pls, let someone who has also used the road come and disagree with my position.

So a road is smooth means it is a good road? Rubbish.

What happened to road signs, road marks and other important safety criterias which most Nigerian highways lack.

ritux: The public bus system in Edinburgh. The bus time tracker. I know exactly the time the bus will pass through the closest bus stop to my house. 99% accurate and effective.

Lothian Bus Company too much. I can't wait to get into a public position and do that in my Senatorial District.

The most effecient bus service in the UK. I lived in Edinburgh for 3 years and I can attest to this.

taharqa2:

Come on SHUT that ya Hypocritical mouth UP, tha!

What is 'state-ly' about this:

Nonsense and trash. Who is the concessionaire? LCC. Who owns LCC? The Lagos Govt, ARM investments and Hi Tech.

So how then does the government cancel a deal in which it is an equity holder of the concessionaire. What LASG did was to buy the equity of the other equity holders through an agreement so as to have control over it's asset. Instead of your agbero style of cancelling deals, you reach an agreement.

Even if the government was not an equity holder of LCC, it is absolutely trashy and disloyal to cancel such deals after an agreement. There is something called loyalty in business.

People sign deals and forecasts show such deals as favourable initially. However, as we go on and with changes in the environment, what was favourable in the past may not be favourable anymore. It is business and valuation.

taharqa2:

OK. I concede that this MAY be another explanation for it, although the Lagos official who was contacted on the issue didn't make this clarification. #Waitingdetailsonthis.

By the way, if you knew about this why didn't apply it to the African First ladies' case. I recall both the Presidency and this same Cosharis were almost at pains, explaining that the 40 cars used for that event was 'borrowed' and not bought. Were you not one of the TOOOLS then vehemently arguing otherwise here?

Of what importance is the gathering of hopeless first ladies to us that we grant waivers for the event. To come and eat isi ewu and fish peppersoup?

We don't want waivers for such useless events.

taharqa2:

You HYPOCRITES shouting at the top of about the No of cars the Aviation ministry bought and calling it EXTRAVAGANT, LASG bought 300 BRAND NEW cars for the National Sports Festival last year- a temporary less than 2 weeks event. How much WASTEFUL can one get?

By the way, who were the 300 cars Distributed to after the Sporting event??

Close your mouth you deceitful being. It is the practice to have cars imported for a government event with zero import tariff. Import using our waiver, lend us the car for our event and at the end of the event you have your car back.

Instead of we paying you cash to hire vehicles from you, you get benefits from the tariff free import. Simple!

We saw the partnership between LUBOAN and COJA. We saw same between the rogue Coscharis and CHOGM.

The buses were never bought by COJA, it was owned by LUBOAN.

More news here. Ministry also denies granting import waivers. These people are rogues

https://www.nairaland.com/1500133/n255m-car-scandal-ministry-denies

Ovoko!!!

This is a man who came crying to the whole Nigeria on TV that Ify Uba duped him. Meanwhile he has been defrauding the entire nation.

This man should be in jail by now. A tax thief is worse than a yahoo yahoo boy.

In fact my apologies to yahoo boys for comparing you all to this rogue.