₦airaland Forum

Outstrip:
I totally agree that you cannot be as free with your mother in law as you would your mother. Anybody that says other wise is lying. The point I was making was that if you want your mother to stay with you for one month then you should be okay with his mother staying the same amount of time. That is the only fair thing. If your mother can grow old in your home then so can his own mother

igbo2011:
, Job creation isn't that hard, the free trade zones are good starts. But we need to support Nigerians from all over the world. Try and get them to come back and start businesses. We need to make business starting very easy in Nigeria with NO CORRUPTION,

hajifaty:
Can't we do without WORLD BANK and other useless international organizations that are only established to serve the interest of the US and other powers. Nigeria have the resources and we should be able to do things on our own without external powers.

russellino:
Its not a bad thing to discuss with the world bank but how exactly are jobs in agriculture etc is it from setting up of the businesses themselves or empower entrepreneurship? They had better act fast because you can't have millions on millions of unemployed youth and be sure of security

Why Is Internet Access Charge This High In Nigeria?

The Truth Nigerians Must Not Know – Part 1: Executive Stealing
Author: Rufus Kayode Oteniya |
In this era of the Middle East Revolution and an increasing dissatisfaction of the people with the government of the day, some truths are better kept as secret in order to preserving the status quo.

These truths must be kept away from the public eyes so that the people can believe that the government is working and Nigeria is on the way to the Promised Land.
If the intention of letting the people know the truth is meant to help set them free, one has to be courageous enough to divulge some of these truths regardless of their potential to cause the people to demand accountability from their leaders.
Regardless of its bitterness, a harmful truth is far better than a useful lie. And it is generally believed as stated by Mohandas K. Gandhi that truth never damages a cause that is just and also according to the words of George Orwell, “during times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”

Nigerians have been deceived enough and it’s time to know some truths.

We have been made to believe that all’s well; the government is working, electricity will be stable in a time soon; we are en route to meeting the Millennium development goals of 2015; and that we are set to be among the 20 most developed nations by 2020 whereas everything is working to the contrary and the people in government are doing nothing but 360° stealing.

Whenever they are not stealing our money, they are busy wasting it on frivolities.
In setting straight the records, I will be writing this series to disclose some truths the government will not like Nigerians to know. Here are some:

Presidential Jets

According to the 2011 budget passed by the National Assembly on May 25, 2011, and signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan on May 26, 2011, the over bloated Presidential Air Fleet will be gulping a whooping N17,834,876,113 ($117m) in 2011.
Nigerians still remember the speed at which president Jonathan approved the purchase of three new jets for $155m in August 2010 in addition to the eight planes that were already in the presidential fleet. Our hope that he would be that swift in rehabilitating the blood sucking Sagamu-Ore-Benin and Lagos-Ibadan express roads never was. Who cares for the common man if Jonathan can fly safely?

Here are facts some Nigerians must not know about presidential jets:

• Nigeria has 11 presidential jets to serve every Tom, Dick and Harry in government departments and presidential villa
• David Cameron, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom came to Nigeria last week on a Chartered British Airways Flight because the government has no single presidential jet
• Queen Elizabeth II, other members of Royal Family, the Prime Minister and other ministers of the British Government are served by either the Royal Squadron of the Royal Air Force (RAF) or chartered civilian aircraft or scheduled commercial flights.
• On 19, Jul 2010, a responsible David Cameron (who does what he preaches) and his officials flew out to Washington DC to meet President Barack Obama on a regular BA flight. He even spurned First Class tickets to travel in the far cheaper Business Class. The move saved the government £200,000 in costs because usually, the PM travels on a BA chartered Boeing 747 or 767 - at a cost of £300,000 - or uses a RAF jet. It is Mr Cameron's attempt to lead by example on sweeping spending cuts across government to pay off Britain's crippling £155billion deficit.
• Like the UK, many countries in the world do not have presidential jets.
• Some countries with one or no presidential jets include Algeria, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Ghana, Honduras, Hong Kong, Kenya, Morocco, New Zealand, Norway, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uruguay, Vatican city, Venezuela, Vietnam and Zambia
• The U S President typically uses one of two customized Boeing 747-200B jetliners designated as Air Force One, while the Vice President uses a customized Boeing 757 designated as Air Force Two.
• Britain does not pay for non official flights of the PM, little wonder David Cameron and his wife Samantha flew Ryanair in April to Spain to celebrate her 40th birthday.
• American president must pay the cost of flight of his guests on Air Force One.
• The presidential jets are at the beck and call of Nigerian president without any restrictions or control.

Executive Stealing

At this juncture, no Nigerian is left in doubt that the members of the 6th National Assembly under the leadership of David Mark and Dimeji Bankole were just a bunch of looters who were awarding themselves jumbo allowances at the expense of the masses. They were practically reaping what they did not sow and some of them were too busy spending their loots to the extent that hardly have time to attend the plenary sittings of the Houses.
It is too close to call if the members of the 7th National assembly are thieves like their predecessors but the moment they collect the first illegal quarterly allowance, they all become thieves with ‘immediate effect and automatic alacrity.’ Regardless of the hyped reduction, the allowance is still 100% illegal.

The executives are not left behind; in fact, the legislative plunder is like a child’s play compared to what the executives are illegally taking away from the system.
In addition to their constituency allowances, It is no longer a news that governors collect billions of naira as security votes which are unaccounted for and which makes everyone wonder which security they are providing with the money.

While so much has been said about these legislooters, Nigerians must not know that most of the politicians they have elected as their leaders are nothing but execu-thieves,. They are thieves! They do much more harms than the petty robbers who are always subjected to jungle justice of lynching whenever they are caught on the streets of Lagos.
Few days ago, I watched on a social network a gory video of a necklace thief being lynched and burnt to death by the same society that celebrates or elects these billion naira thieves. While I was condemning this barbaric act in its entirety and wondering how lawlessness could be so celebrated with such impunity, I was forced to question why this same society couldn’t just think that what was good for the goose would be good for the gander! Why couldn’t they just go after those who have made poverty a permanent habitant of our society.

Who is a thief?

According to www.dictionary.com , a thief a is person who steals while it further defines stealing as taking (the property of another or others) without permission or right, especially secretly or by force.

Going by the above definition, most of the executives from the local and state governments to the federal government qualify to be called thieves because they award themselves as much as they want as allowances and also illegally infiltrated security vote into the system.

Is security vote legal? NO!

The longer an illegality persists, the more legal it seems. Security vote which was an invention under the presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo started with Obasanjo and a few governors awarding themselves monthly, a few millions of naira, giving the impression that it must not be accounted for. It has now got to a level where many of the governors appropriate the sum ranging from several hundreds of millions of naira to billions monthly as security votes.

Notwithstanding it’s illegality, Owelle Rochas Okorocha , the Imo State governor, during his inauguration on May 29, 2011 was openly announcing that he would slash the state’s annual security vote from N6.5 billion to N2.5billion to make provision for the free education programme.

As good as it sounded, it was like saying my predecessor was stealing N6.5b from you annually in the name of security vote but I would reduce it and only steal N2.5b.
Show me an executive from the presidency to the local government who does not take security vote and I will show you an executive who is not a THIEF.

While the president, governors and the local government chairmen were awarding themselves security votes, ministers under Yar’Adua and Goodluck were allegedly taking about N80m quarterly as statutory award. Where is this provided for in our laws?
According to Davidson Iriekpen in an article titled, Security Vote - For Whose Security? “the exact value of the vote is unknown to anyone. There is also no part of the appropriation where it is stated that such a pool of funds should be maintained as security votes in the country. Instead, the malaise has become one of the easiest ways governors allegedly misappropriate funds in their respective states.”

He further claimed that “every year, billions of naira are allegedly squandered under the guise of security votes. The funds suspected to be illegal, are purportedly being used to provide security for the president, governors and their domains, whereas they are being transferred into personal bank accounts. In spite of these huge sums of money, killings, kidnappings, cultism and other security threats are on the increase across the states.
At the federal level, funds are allocated to the Ministry of Defence for the upkeep and welfare of the armed forces and the police, yet billions are still voted for the President as security votes whose impact is unknown.”

And also according to human rights lawyer, Bamidele Aturu, security vote is an illegality and irresponsibility on the part of the country's leaders. He condemned the governors for appropriating security votes to themselves even when they know that it is unconstitutional. He also argued that the governors who indulge in security votes rob the society of essential resources.

In a report by former RMAFC chairman, Hamman Tukur to the presidency, he warned all organs of government to adhere strictly to the remuneration packages by his commission, saying "no other salaries, allowances and or benefits are to be paid to any political, public and judicial office holder. "He said the Federal, State and Local Governments flout the remuneration provisions made by the commission through frivolous foreign trips, arbitrary appointment of aides and use of excessively large motorcades.

He further said “based on the constitution, RMAFC has the final say on the remuneration package of National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly members, while a law need to be enacted based on the commission's proposals regarding the pay packages of executive and judicial office holders.”

Notwithstanding this warning, this illegality thrives from the presidency to the council. As the president take billions of naira in monthly security vote, he also take several millions in constituency allowance.

In the established democracies, politics does not make somebody rich overnight or how can you explain that after years as Attorney-general of Arkansas state, 12 years as governor of the same state and 8 years as the President of the richest and the most powerful country in the world, Clinton needed to take a mortgage in the year 2000 toward the end of his tenure to buy his only house then. And also after many years as a member of Parliament and 10 years as Prime Minister of the rich and powerful UK, Tony Blair had to take up a paid consultancy job to be able to meet up with his bills.

Do you know even any local government Chairman in Nigeria who does not own houses and fleet of cars?

Rufus Kayode Oteniya – oteniyark@hotmail.com
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SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DEGREES
THEWILL. 12/07/2011 22:04:00
SACKED EDO STATE UNIVERSITY EKPOMA LECTURER, MR PETER OTUBU WHO WAS CAUGHT PANTS DOWN IN A SEX-FOR-GRADE SCANDAL A FEW MONTHS AGO.

A friend of mine, a writer based in Abuja, surprised me recently when he asked if I knew what the acronym STD stood for. To underscore how ludicrous I found his question, I quickly retorted, “Of course, sexually transmitted diseases.” He guffawed – I should have noted a tinge of mischief in his tone – and then disabused me. “It stands for sexually transmitted degrees!”

This writer then went ahead to explain that the term was coined by another friend of his to account for the fact that many (too many, in fact) of Nigeria’s university and polytechnic students – mostly females, but some males as well – barter their bodies in exchange for grades. In effect, this inventive adaptation of a well known, frightening shorthand for venereal infestation seeks to sum up a disturbing social trend: students sleeping (or otherwise bribing) their way to a degree.

There are, one conjectures, multitudes of Nigerian bankers, engineers, lawyers, accountants, physicians, mass communicators, economists – to name a few – who flaunt sexually transmitted degrees, diplomas or certificates. Or degrees that were priced and bought, not earned through diligent study.

One must stress that there are many academics and students who don’t – and won’t – participate in this monumental self-debasement and degradation of education. Even so, there’s no question that those who take part, as lecturers or students, in this scandalous cheapening of education constitute a significant percentage.

I was always aware of the existence of rogue academics who sexually exploit their students, or induce them into parting with cash, for good grades. But I came to grasp the dimensions of the crisis when I spent part of the 2001-2002 academic year as a Fulbright lecturer at the University of Lagos.

As I prepared to give my first class, a colleague observed that I seemed “excited.” When I confirmed that I was, he said, in a discouraging tone, “But these students don’t want to learn anything. They prefer to pay cash or offer sex for their grades.”

“Is it possible,” I queried, “that some lecturers are not keen on teaching – and so prefer to collect cash or to bed the students?”

“No, believe me,” this lecturer insisted. “They are not interested in learning.”

Of course, the terrible transaction of buying and selling grades involves two parties, but the seller of grades – the lecturer – strikes me as having far more power than the buyer. At any rate, with all the determination in the world on the part of students to buy good grades, the sordid deal cannot be sealed unless and until a lecturer consents.

With that in view, I told my students the first day of class that I had heard that some of them purchased their grades with cash or their bodies. Then I warned: “The only way you can do well in this class is by working hard. I don’t accept financial or sexual gratification.”

To their credit, most of the students rose to the challenge. They read the texts and came to class ready to ask questions and to participate. Still, a few were too dyed in corrupt colors to take me at my word. One young woman was particularly persistent in asking me to change my rules. “Is it a crime to love?” she asked me over the phone. “Who do you love?” I asked. “You,” she answered. When I told her that I was her teacher, married and unavailable to be loved, she was far from fazed. “I’m not asking you to leave your wife,” she informed me. “I won’t let you borrow me from my wife for even a minute,” I said. Her response: “Why do you hate me so much?”

When I gave exams, another student – male this time – approached me. After giving me the information – which he seemed to think remarkable – that he and I were from Anambra State, he said, “Bros, what can we do about this exam?” Feigning ignorance of where the conversation was headed, I asked, “Did you take the exam?” When he nodded yes, I added: “That’s all I need from you. I will grade you and everybody else.” “No, bros,” he pursued, his tone more earnest. “As a bros, tell me how much I can give you,” he implored. Enraged, I told him how ashamed I was of his conduct – and then waved him away.

An old acquaintance – at the time a final year law student I had known since the mid-1980s – had observed the encounter. He approached and asked why I seemed so irritated. His response to my account of events was even more shocking. He advised me to call back the student and take the money he was willing to offer. “If he fails the exam, he can go and give the money to somebody in the records office – and they will change the grade. Since you’re the one who suffered to teach him, you should be the one to enjoy the money.”

I was astonished to hear a lawyer-to-be pass off such inanity as logic. He was asking me to anticipate wrongdoing by another person, and to move fast to, a, do the wrong thing first and, b, claim the prize – being the one who “suffered.”

This whole business of buying and selling grades is a touchy subject. A few years ago, Ernest Emenyonu, one of Nigeria’s most esteemed literary scholars, ignited a storm when he detailed how some Nigerian lecturers demand cash from their students as a condition for handing out good grades, supervising projects, or awarding degrees. Titled “Sorting: New Vocabulary in Nigerian Higher Institutions,” his piece offered several examples of such unscrupulous behavior.

Emenyonu, who had a distinguished career as a professor at the University of Calabar and whose current teaching address is at the University of Michigan (in Flint), wrote that the terminology “sorting” has become part of the tragic economy of trading in grades and degrees. According to him, sorting means, “to check out lecturers and determine how much a student could pay in return for a grade not worked for or earned through the academic process.” Professor Emenyonu then revealed that some lecturers “bargain in tens of thousands of Naira while some high profile lecturers and professors quote in hundreds of thousands.”

My sadness grows each time I reread Emenyonu’s essay or recall my personal experiences with students who wanted grades that cast them as excellent, but who were loath to do the requisite work. As Emenyonu stated, many students of tertiary institutions “are receiving no worthwhile education at all,” their sponsors “paying for their children to be duped by lecturers and if they learn anything at all, it is experiencing first hand how to camouflage appearance for reality.” Emenyonu continued: “The sharp ones among them are receiving their first orientation into obtaining goods, laurels, and wealth by false pretences, alias, 419. However, the most irreparable harm done by ‘Sorting,’ is that Education is being mirrored as inconsequential in the development of a nation; the degrees we award have no value and the years spent in institutions of higher learning are irrelevant, and rigor as a crucial virtue to be acquired in the course of one's education is an avoidable and unnecessary self imposed hardship.”

I had a drink in Lagos with a Nigerian entrepreneur who’s in the middle of hiring staff for his start-up company. He told of graduates of accountancy who are ignorant of the most basic terms and procedures in the field. He noted the large pool of candidates he must interview before he finds somebody who appears barely qualified. “It’s embarrassing and frustrating,” he said.

The malaise in Nigeria’s education is a microcosm of a larger cultural crisis. By and large, the ethic of the unearned, illicitly acquired preferment has been enshrined in Nigeria. Too many of us aspire to stupendous wealth, but disdain the patience, inventive enterprise and focus that facilitate material success in many other societies. As Emenyonu pointed out, Nigeria runs the risk of arriving at a point where earned and honorary degrees would become indistinguishable. After all, the recipient of a sexually transmitted degree is unlikely to be more versed in her/his field than a man who just gave a big donation to some university in exchange for a degree.

Much as Nigeria’s educational sector mirrors the broader problems of the society, we can stipulate that the country can’t move forward until it gets its educational house in order. No society has ever achieved its developmental goals by degrading the quality and standards of education.

The condition of Nigerian education demands the declaration of a state of emergency. As a corollary, a special commission to save education ought to be established. Nothing less would do. I’d give Emenyonu the last word: “It is about time parents and guardians took more interest in what goes on at the campuses of our tertiary institutions in the name of educating the young minds. What we sow today in our citadels of learning, we will reap tomorrow in the behavioral and mental disorientations of our children and children's children!”

Written by Okey Ndibe (okeyndibe@gmail.com).

jay bee:
Have you ever gone through the graduate recruitment exercises in the UK?

Do you realise that applicants get screened out cos they haven't attended a red brick university especially when it's a highly technical discipline.

Why would you advice someone to waste thousands of pounds only for them to add to the statistics?

Interest Rate: Currently set at 7%. It is based on 180 Days (6 month) LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate) plus 2% adjusted every 180 Days.

A man has become the first in the UK to be found guilty of trafficking Nigerian women into the country.

Anthony Harrison, 32, was convicted of four trafficking offences as well as two of false imprisonment.

But, Harrison, of Stratford, east London, was found not guilty of two counts of rape, at Woolwich Crown Court.

He is expected to be sentenced later.

Tcrack:
the Nigerian problem is a problem that was created over a long period of time and solving it is something that will take time. trust me, even if every Nigerian is ready to die, it still wont solve the problem. if violence should break out in nigeria, i can assure you in the end we will be worse than somalia.all we can do is to find a way of making people in position of authority more accountable and thats something that will take time, considering the fact that corruption has eaten deep into the blood stream of EVERY NIGERIAN. the average nigerian youth is no better than the corrupt elders leading us.

tom28:
I visited one of my Uncles residing in Peckham in 2006.I would say London is no different from Lagos.

Syenite:
The next thing now u'll see some not-do-well Nigerians carrying there Nigeria-must-go bags to Ghana for "greener pastures".