₦airaland Forum

OK, my friend, it's Friday and it's been real.

Later!

you are asked for backup, we do not need more of your opinion as backup, one is asking for substantial information.

I totally forgot who I'm dealing with; next time you ask me for backup, I will bless you by going ahead and pasting one of OBJ's quotes on EFCC website.

My man, I do not operate like that. I don't need any backup quote written by bunch of corrupt Nigerian entities to support my posts.
I use my mind, what I know and what I've seen with my eyes to backup my posts (I'm sorry that not all of us like to copy and paste or follow).

Dude, the stone you continue to throw is too tiny and you're too far.
Please, get a bigger stone and come closer, till then you remain kvailas

It's rubbish?? It is straight from the EFCC site itself

Again, my friend, that was my topic 2 years ago (the difference Between EFCC and ICPC); feel free to go and double check.
Again, you can not help me; you're not even close!

The EFCC is primarily charged with the responsibility of enforcing laws relating  to banking, money laundering, advance fee fraud (419), miscellaneous offences and any other laws or regulations relating to economic and financial crimes, including the criminal code and the penal code

They (EFCC) enforce laws, they do not make laws.
Ribadu tried to make his own laws, but he failed.

The difference between then and now:
EFCC is currently being managed by professionals that understand and respect the constitution of Nigeria.

My friend, I think you should first help yourself!
FYI: That was (the rubbish you've just posted) one of my topics 2 years ago. Sorry, I do not think you're in any position to help me.

My recommendation to all:
Please, do not listen to just part of the speech before passing your judgement, you've got to listen to the entire speech.

The speech is absolutely magnificent with out any questions. The speech has disabled many of his fallacious backbiters, left others speechless and also made Hillary and Bill Clinton to look like bunch of desperate (hungry) pimps.
I have never in my life witnessed such an incredible speech before; he was focused, full of confidence, absolutely on point and answered many questions boldly with zero hesitation.

Obama, Obama, Obama; this man will forever be on top. I admire his sincerity, genuineness and his unique frame of mind.
Please, keep in mind that Sen Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. did not read any part of this speech.
The speech represents power, opulent, superlative, peerless, unsurpassable and absolutely one of a kind.

@ Kobojunkies:
Look, the cat (sky Blue aka Kobojunkies) mentioned that there should be transparency in government.
And I totally agree with his view, but let us be reasonable; EFCC is not in-charge of initiating transparency in government. This will be the position of the Nigerian Federal Government entities to initiate this incredible process or modify our constittution. This is also the only way this process would be fruitful.
EFCC could definitely take part or be involved, but I do not think they (EFCC) have the authority to initiate such process.

Do not let us forget the position of the EFCC; it is important to understand their duties or responsibilities before soliciting senseless request.
For example: empowering and initiating of transparency in government is also one of Sen Obama's main goals when he becomes the president of United States.
You do not and will not witness FBI or CIA trying to initiate such process in United States. The duties of the EFCC, or ICPC or FBI or CIA is to carry out their various operations accordingly by following the guardline of the constitution that is in place.

Ribadu (Nigerian Michael Jackson) fell flat on his face because he did not understand this fact; he intentionally followed the illegal home made constitution given to him by his master.
And it continues to be more apparent today to all that majority (90%) of Ribadu's actions during his time as the chairman of EFCC were absolutely illegal and far from being sincere. In fact, the man should be happy and very thankful that no major life lost during these despicable operations.

Again, for the first time in many years, EFCC is more focused and finally doing a great job; I think with time, the incredible job of this organization will become clearer to many.

until the usual suspects who have raped Nigeria are arrested and prosecuted, going after small time scammers won't fix the problem.

This statement represents another sensible one, but asking the usual suspects to be arrested and prosecuted, is pretty much the same as asking the entire Nigerian citizens to be arrested and prosecuted; hence, it is impossible.

FYI: Corruption in Nigeria is deeper than what we see or could be discussed on this forum. There is no one soul that is currently representing or serving Nigerian Federal Government that could honestly claim himself or herself as a clean entity. They (politicians) are all well aware of this fact and this is also one of the main reasons why fighting corruption in Nigeria by 100% corrupt entities is incontestably impracticable and will never never be fruitful.

It makes absolutely no sense to me when we constantly ask one set of thieves to pass judgement on other set of thieves. This action represents a total undiluted joke and only a fool will fall for this pure stupidity.
Therefore, do not let us continue to fool ourselves or be fooled, there will always be the group of the untouchables in Nigeria for many many years to come until my recommendation is examined and immediately employed.

Go and check out my recommendation (the only solution) that will revive Nigeria effectively and efficiently.

1. Incredibly on point

2. Fair, but not good enough to revive all his voters' high spirit

3. The damage is done and the speech doesn't have any effect

4. The speech has made things worst

Kobojunkies:

Why don't you log on with your Sky Blue profile and ask me the question again?

@Big B1, EFCC is very active and "functioning effectively and efficiently"? So what have they achieved since the removal then? Genuinely not trying to be a pain but i rather be fed with substance. If you are saying they are doing their job and we just have to what? Sit down and trust that this is happening? I am sorry but i just don't buy it. There should be transparency in government and until the usual suspects who have raped Nigeria are arrested and prosecuted, going after small time scammers won't fix the problem. You can't arrest robbers who work at night and leave the glorified daylight ones and serve that as any useful deterrent to the crime. Of course EFCC was always going to attract attention, they are/were supposed to be dealing with corruption which is a fundamental problem in Nigeria and are we now asking for a behind the scenes treatment whereby an unspecified ammount is "returned back" to government? The more open and public the shaming the better, as a deterrent for would be future offenders. I think it is high time we should just start sayin we no go gree. Transparency doesn't have to come at a compromise to effectivity and efficiency.

@sky Blue:

You're absolutely on point; in order to elevate this nation back to the top, we must definitely embrace transparency in Nigeria under all circumstances. But at the same time, this doesn't mean that EFCC is not being managed effectively and efficiently by professionals who understand the constitution of Nigeria.
EFCC is more focused today than 4 months ago and the best is still yet to arrive.

@ono:
I absolutely agree with you; too much continues to pop out day after day, indicating that Nigerian Michael Jackson (Ribadu) truly took us for a ride.
If it was up to me, Mr. Ribadu will be immediately arrested, probed and punished if necessary.

FYI: EFCC is still very active in Nigeria and functioning effectively and efficiently; you haven't heard much about this institution for 4 main reasons:
1. They are no longer being used as political tool.
2. It's no longer about a one man show, it's about accomplishing objectives together as a team (there is a team concept in place, which is mainly focused on building an institution and not just one entity).
3. The organization has stayed far away from politics and creating unnecessary confusion.
4. Finally, the organization is being managed by professionals who are not power hungry, but clearly understand the constitution of Nigeria.

I still think removing this coward is the best thing this current administration has done so far!

When it comes to Nigeria, folks are quick to throw a curve ball by presenting intangible obstacles. We need to look and search deeper; there is absolutely nothing that is not possible if we are willing to give honesty and sincerity a chance.

FYI: Nigerians are every where all across the world helping to further develop already developed nations; it's time to get rid of unnecessary man-made excuses and use our own resources to elevate this country back to the top. We have the talent and God knows that the money is also available.

Oh yes, we can absolutely do it together!

This is the kobojunkie I like to witness!
You've addressed backslider's questions intelligently and accurately.

Bravo!

FYI:New York city lost electric power for less than 16 hours few years ago and the city lost close to 2billion Dollars.
That is the typical sample of the importance of reliable Electric Power in Developed nation.
Nigeria as a nation has been without reliable Electric power for 100 years and my questions are:

How much money have we lost?
How much money stolen in the name of Electric Power supply project?
How many international opportunities have we lost?
How long are we willing to continue to live in the dark?
And how much more are we willing to waste or give away to political thieves?

We've given the Federal Government of Nigeria enough time to make things happen; it is now time for us to wake up and allow major investors (in Nigeria and outside Nigeria) to give professionals opportunity to develop this nation.
There is nothing for us to loss, the government will make more and citizens will be happy at the end of the day.

1) If you privatize how will you transmit and distribute?
2) The transmission and generate are interwoven
3) you can't generate and not TEST TRANSMIT
4) NO COMPANY WILL COME AND GENERATE AND TRANSMIT AT THE SAME TIME
5) It will a great deal of waste of money if the various states generate and transmit
6) We Need a NATIONAL GRID AND A TRANSMISSION COMPANY THAT WILL MANAGE IT
7) THE GOVERNMENT MUST GET A NATIONALL GRID TO ALL PARTS OF THE COUNTRY

@backslider:
I've answered you once before; again all the factors (obstacles) you've listed are absolutely nothing, if we have sincere folks in place, who truly care about this nation.
This implementation could be easily accomplished; just give privatization a chance and I promise you, in a very short period all of us will witness wonder.
It's not that difficult, greedy folks are only making this implementation seems to be impossible; all because of their no mercy self interest.

Believe me, back in those days, at the beginning of the transition of telecommunication, the obstacles that were listed were 100 times more than what you've listed.

If there is a will there is a way; trust me!

Reliable Power supply is linked to every thing; without it a country is bound to be underdeveloped (economically and socially) forever.
We can cry and whine for 100 years straight if we want, without reliable Power Supply in the country; Nigeria will forever remain retarded and stagnant; and will never ever be able to compete effectively with other countries.

If Yar'Adua's administration cares, the best gift for the citizens of Nigeria is to immediately privatize Electric Supply. Trust me,  It will be a great achievement.

FYI:New York city lost electric power for less than 16 hours few years ago and the city lost close to 2billion Dollars.
That is the typical sample of the importance of reliable Electric Power in Developed nation.

My question is: How long are we willing to remain a third world country?

NIPP: Abdulsalami’s firm got N13.2bn contract

The House of Representatives Committee on Power and Steel on Thursday was stunned when it heard that a firm, chaired by the former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, won a power contract and was paid N13.2bn but allegedly did only a minimal per cent of the work.

The firm, ENEGO Nigeria Limited, was awarded the contract for the 330KV Uwu-Aji-New Haven-Ikote-Ekpene Transmission Line in the sum of N19.4bn.

Also, former President Olusegun Obasanjo was accused of superintending over many National Independent Power Projects and approved payments for them without input from the Ministry of Energy.

The ENEGO project has a completion date of March 31, 2009 but the firm has so far done 20 per cent of the work after collecting N13.2bn.

The firm claimed to have been registered in 1991, but investigations the panel conducted at the Corporate Affairs Commission showed that ENEGO did not exist in CAC’s records.

Other members of the board of ENEGO are Messrs Hamza Ibrahim, Felix Oshinowo, and David Oyeleye.

Abubakar became the chairman of the firm in 2000.

The project consultant, Mr. Thomas Lambert, an Austrian, also collected N501m out of the contract sum of N720.1m.

He, however, could not assess the performance of ENEGO on the job, saying that he had not been paid enough money.

His response angered the panel’s chairman, Mr. Ndudi Elumelu, who retorted, “What are you saying? You collected N501m of Nigerians’ money for a contract of N720.1m and you are saying that you have not been paid?

“Is it the difference of N218m that will stop you from doing the work? Then, take all the money and go with it to your country.”

Another firm that won a controversial contract was Pivot Engineering Limited, chaired by Oba Otudeko, Chairman of Honeywell Group.

It was awarded the contract for the upgrading of three sub-stations in Lekki and Ajah areas of Lagos in the sum of N12.9bn.

It was paid N7.9bn upfront, but the NIPP management rated the job done on the stations as “less than five per cent.”

Otudeko’s wife, Wole Adetoye, and one Sera Obafemi were also mentioned as members of the board of the firm.

The same firm also won the contract for the Benin-Agbor-Asaba-Nkalagu Transmission Line in the sum of N4.8bn.

Although the Managing Director of the firm, Mr. David MacBride, admitted receiving over N3bn out of the total contract sum, the panel found out that the clearing of the site had not been done.

The contract, with a completion time of 13 months, was signed on March 3, 2006, while N3.6bn was paid to the firm on July 21, 2006.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Energy, Dr. Abdullahi Aliyu, on Thursday testified on oath before the House committee.

He said that the ministry was sidelined in the handling of the contracts, while as the accounting officer, the permanent secretary had no knowledge of how the contracts were awarded and paid for.

The permanent secretary also stunned the committee when he disclosed that none of the contracts went through the ministry’s tenders’ board.

He spoke at the third day of the public hearing on the $16bn the administration of Obasanjo allegedly spent on the power sector between 1999 and 2007.

According to Aliyu, the paper works for the contracts started from the office of the former Minister of Energy (now Governor of Cross River State), Senator Liyel Imoke, who passed them to the Due Process Office.

From the Due Process Office, Aliyu said that the documents went for presidential approval.

He also alleged that because of the way the contracts were handled, there were contractors who did not deserve to be paid but were paid, while those contracted to supervise the jobs were not paid.

For instance, Aliyu stated that many consultants were not paid, resulting in a situation where some contractors pocketed money and did no job.

Aliyu said, “There were payments that were made that were not supposed to be made.

“There are no records of payment for any NIPP at the ministry; the projects were done by the presidential committee.

“They felt that the money they were using (Excess Crude Fund) belonged to the three tiers of government; so our input was not important.

“None of the NIPP passed through the tenders’ board; they passed from the minister to the Due Process Office and then to Mr. President.”

The permanent secretary noted that following the exit of Obasanjo from office, the ministry set up several task forces to look into the problems associated with the projects.

When Elumelu asked Aliyu to name the members of the presidential committee, he declined. He said that the right person to do it was the Managing Director of the NIPP, Mr. James Olotu.

Olutu explained to the panel that there were two committees that handled the projects, both reporting to Obasanjo.

He said the main committee was the Presidential Committee on the NIPP, while a lower committee was the steering committee.

He listed the members of the main committee as former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar; Imoke; former Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; former Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr. Funsho Kupolokun; and the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Mr. Joseph Makoju.

Others were nine governors from the oil-producing states and Dr. Seke Shomolu.

“For reasons I do not know, the former Vice-President (Atiku) stopped attending the meetings of the committee.

“The governors also stopped attending; so, in their absence, Imoke was presiding and he reported to the President.”

Olotu stated that the steering committee was chaired by Imoke and had Makoju, Shomolu, Kupolokun and others he said he could not remember.

“So, impliedly, the President (Obasanjo) approved the lists of the members and approved all the projects of the NIPP,” he said.

http://odili.net/news/source/2008/mar/14/417.html

How Obasanjo Allocated N88b Power Contracts, Reps Told - Without Any Tender - NIPP, An illegal Body - CBN Gov Summoned


HOUSE of Representatives was on Friday told of how ex-President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, allocated power contracts worth over N88 billion to a company, Rockson Engineering Company, out of the $3.5 billion through the Nigerian Independent Power Project (NIPP) charged with the responsibility of awarding contracts to improve the nation’s power supply.

This revelation came as the Managing Director of NIPP, Mr. James Olotu, declared before the House Committee on Power and Steel probing the $16 billion wasted on power generation by the Obasanjo administration in the eight years he stayed in office that the agency was an illegal body and did not have the force of law as well as jurisdictional powers.

According to Olotu, the NIPP has no law backing its set up, it could not sue and could also not be sued.
Friday’s public hearing was not attended by the governor of Cross River, Sen. Liyet Imoke; Governor of Niger State, Dr. Aliyu Babangida and that of Ondo State, as they were still being expected as at press time.

However, the committee of the House headed by Hon. Ndudi Godwin Elumelu, has ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, to appear before it unfailingly to give detailed account of how the organization under him participated in the so-called rot in the power sector.

The summons given to Prof. Soludo came as the committee rejected the appearance of the CBN Deputy Governor (Operations), Sulaimon Barau, on behalf of the governor, who was said to be in Jos attending to a non-specific assignment after having been invited by the committee.

According to the managing director of NIPP, Obasanjo was the one who awarded the total contracts worth over N88 billion to Rockson, single-handed – a company whose managing director is Senator Aniette Okon.

Olotu said the award did not pass through the approval of the Federal Tenders Board, saying the company merely submitted bids which were sent before the due process.

The managing director of NIPP told the House of Representatives Committee on Power and Steel that the contracts included the construction of gas power plants in Omokwu (Rivers State), Gbarain (Bayelsa State), Alaoji and Egbema, with contract sums ranging between N16 billion and N20 billion.

Olotu said the ex-president caused the awards of such contracts in four locations across the country after he visited the Omokwu Gas Power Plant built by Rockson in Port- Harcourt.

The NIPP boss disclosed that in spite of the fact that close to 90 per cent of the total cost of the projects had been paid out to the contractors, the completion rate had been dismal, as it ranged between five per cent and 10 per cent.

However, the chairman of Rockson, former Senator Okon, disputed that the company was paid any amount for the job so far done, even as he disputed the completion figures of the NIPP for the various projects.

Olotu said the NIPP was supposed to be a consortium belonging to all the three tiers of government – including the federal, state and local government, with power projects undertaken by the body to be funded from excess crude account.

Meawhile, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Abdulhamid Omar, has expressed solidarity with the House committee probing the wasted fund in the power sector, even as he said Nigeria was watching and waiting for the outcome of the investigations.

Omar, who was physically present at the hearing, expressed the belief that the recommendations of the committee would be implemented, unlike in the past, and those found culpable made to pay for their sins.


http://www.ngex.com/cgi-bin/frame/frameit2.plx?link=%22http://www.tribune.com.ng%22

The banking situation in Nigeria is not even people friendly at the moment and it is mostly cause banks there too have to do so much more in trying to protect themselves and end up putting  up walls and what nots that work against the people who they want as customers

Here we go again with the celebration of absolute gibberish!
You are a very good cat, but sometimes you do sound like a toddler and it's very sad.

At the same time criminals in Nigeria are able to do business more effectively unmonitored and able to get away with it.

In what way, my friend?

And FYI, OBJ did not make anything available, infact he was a major obstacle up against this accomplishment for many months.

Even folks in various villages have phones.
Organizations all across the nation are able to communicate and function more effectively and efficiency.
Banks are now launching internet banking in every state in Nigeria

FYI: Many organizations in Nigeria today are able to hold remote video conferencing without pulling a tooth

@Mr. kobojunkie:
You need to stop watching discovery channel and visit home more often.

In Communication, he did a terrible job. We may have phones and all in that country now but it is so unmonitored and unstructured that it actually works against us than it does for us at the moment.

Absolutely rubbish!

I will appreciate detailed information to support this baseless conclusion.

We are in this mess, because one man in Abuja wants to control all the power generation, distribution and consumption in naija

Excellent point @ NaijaKing.

Colonia also made this same statement many months ago!

@ naijaking1 and Big1

It is very easy to privatise with just by saying it.

The reality on the ground is very different.

With telephone you don't need transmission lines.

With Power it is a different thing all together.

When you generate power you need to transmit it.

when you transmit you need to sell it

There three aspect to power

1) Generating
2) Transmission
3) Distribution

When obj Came he was very committed to make sure that he solved the problem but there were technical issues and the saturation of corrupt men as we can now see what is happening

Obj wanted to use the GSM License Approach but that did not work because

i) who will be in charge of Transmission?
ii) How much will any company will sell a unit of power?
iii) How will the company that generate power get their money.

Obasanjo had to spend massively so that the power sector could be attractive. The advise he got was a good one but the problem was not Obj it was corruption. The problem is still there now! Yaradua can't put a kobo because he knows that there is no way he will succeed.

The best thing is to arrest people that have stolen money Jail them so that people that want to put their money into power can have confidence.

We need a Transmission network first and then you can give it to a body on concessional basis.  The building of a 7000 kilometer transmission line would have helped so much because all that will be left will be Generation and Distribution

Obasanjo Had to spend on generation and transmission because if he focussed on Transmission line alone the mass will be billed heavily by the power generation companies.

OBJ knew people betrayed his trust. He had alot of battles from his Vice to his wife and servants. I salute Great General, Thank God you chose Yaradua.

It reminds me of Rawlings of Ghana saying that his minister betrayed him.

Excellent point indeed.

You've listed important points that should be clearly addressed before moving this sector to privatization.
I'm very confident without any questions that privatization will place us back on the map quickly.

Do not let us further fool ourselves, Nigerian government is not capable of tackling this issue effectively and efficiently; it has been too long, too much money wasted and my people are still in the dark. It's time to do something different, it's time to take it to the next level.

In order to protect the citizens of Nigeria and discourage monopolization at all levels, I think Electric Power Supply sector should be broken down into 4 parts and publicly auctioned out to the most competent, most capable and most qualified entities.
With fair and firmed federal government regulations, I guarantee you that this area will improve in less than 2 years.


@Backslider:
A little bit of sincerity and ingenious organisation/ management team in place will absolutely overcome all the obstacles you've listed. (Trust me, Nigerians are very talented, extremely creative and wealthy; they're purely capable of getting just about anything done if you give them a chance and a real leader)

And please, try your best not to mention OBJ during this discussion; (and do not ever give him any credit for the smooth transition of the telecommunication sector in Nigeria). Trust me, he tried everything to interrupt the uniformity of the transition during the process.
During his time as the president he did not believe in listening to any professional advise from real professionals all across the world.

The man is vindictive, childish, greedy, a waste of time and absolutely doesn't deserve to be mentioned at all.

I totally understand your frustration, but still be thankful; 'because it could be worst.
My friend, remember that you can run away from everybody, but you can't run away from yourself (Nigeria). Whether you like it or not Nigeria is part of you.

Don't let us give up so soon, let's find a way to restore this country. No place like home and home is always sweet home.

It's not over till it's over; Nigeria will be back soon.
Nigeria is what it is today because many escaped many many years ago; do not let us repeat the failure.
FYI: The real news is, it's not so sweet at the other side of the sea.
Let's hope for the best and continue to pray together for this country.

May God Bless Nigeria!

OK, Mr.Doyin: No fighting!

May be this was one of the things my mentor was coming back to correct.

Wow! You sure know how to punch hard "below the belt" and you will pay for it.

I will answer you in few minutes!

Privatizing Electric Power Supply in Nigeria will reduce corruption, will improve standard of living, will promote job opportunities, will entice more investors, will improve security, and will definitely put Nigeria as a nation back on the map.

No need to continue to look up to the government; we've done this for many years with absolutely nothing accomplished. Privatize the sector and allow a visible entity to be responsible.

This is the only way out!