₦airaland Forum

debosky: Why initiate another airport project without completing the first one? Why do we need to refurbish 11 terminals AND build 11 new terminals as well? Where is the feasibility/viability studies justifying 6 perishable goods cargo airports?

I do not see the rush to build new terminals when the existing ones are not functioning as required or properly maintained.

Pls don't talk what u don't know!! That was a mediocre comment you made!! Just read what u typed, think about it and I will come back to elighten you!

debosky: So Nigeria needs to loan 106 bn to refurbish its airports?

How much has been given away in fake subsidy to cronies of the PDP that could easily be recouped and used to revamp the airports?

Fresh air indeed - increasing Nigeria's indebtedness to do something that is clearly within the affordability of Nigeria's Federal Government.

I'll wait to see the project completed before passing further comments - after all, awarding fat contracts has never been the problem for Nigeria

Dude its brand new terminals that are going to be constructed with the loan, not refurbished.... The govt has like a thousand projects going on, you don't expect them to have the finances to fund each project! Beside there is nothing wrong with the loan! Its soft and can be paid back comfortable.

GEJ admnistration has gotten serious and has entered full throttle!! His 2013 promise might not be an empty promise after all!!

Fresh AIR indeed!

Here is the video report of the cache!!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkLa6oiJAeI

Nora okon: ABUJA—

“But, in the interim, the Minister of State Power is holding on to that. But whether the Minister of Power comes or not, we want to reconstitute the two teams because Nigerians will not be happy if we relapse and I believe that as we progress from now till December if Nigerians can go home in December and do their parties without generators and can drive to their States without gutters (potholes) on our roads stopping them,

[b][/b]


I love the above statement!

[b][/b]

billante: During the raid on the compound, the police
discovered sophisticated arms and
ammunition in a plastic concealed
underground behind the bungalow.
In the armoury were 27 AK 47 rifles, one K2
riffle, two type-06 rifles, one General Purpose
Machine Gun, one Rocket launcher, 17
rockets, six pump action guns, three dane
guns, one Barrett pistol and 13 Rocket
grenades, as well as 12,800 rounds of AK 47
live ammunition, 530 rounds of LAR
ammunition, 95 rounds of GPMG live
ammunition, 1000 rounds of K2 live
ammunition and 143 magazines.

Holly molly mother of God

That can start a civil war!

AWKA—GOVERNOR Peter Obi, Wednesday, at
Ifite-Oraifite in Ekwusigo Local Government
Area of Anambra State, supervised the
demolition of two buildings belonging to a
suspected kidnap kingpin, Mr. Olisagbo
Ifedike.
Obi, had earlier announced that any building
used by kidnappers or belonging to a
kidnapper would be demolished and the land
confiscated by government. A hotel and two
buildings in the state had earlier been sealed
off on the orders of the governor, following
allegations that they were being used as hide
out by suspected kidnappers.
Ifedike, 36, alias Ofe Akwu, was arrested on
Monday by a combined team of the Inspector
General of Police, IGP’s, special task force and
State Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, along with a
member of the gang.
The two properties demolished yesterday
were a one -storey building with a pent house
and a bungalow which he built for his father.
During the raid on the compound, the police
discovered sophisticated arms and
ammunition in a plastic concealed
underground behind the bungalow.
In the armoury were 27 AK 47 rifles, one K2
riffle, two type-06 rifles, one General Purpose
Machine Gun, one Rocket launcher, 17
rockets, six pump action guns, three dane
guns, one Barrett pistol and 13 Rocket
grenades, as well as 12,800 rounds of AK 47
live ammunition, 530 rounds of LAR
ammunition, 95 rounds of GPMG live
ammunition, 1000 rounds of K2 live
ammunition and 143 magazines.
Apart from an underground structure in the
compound suspected to be a place for
keeping victims, there was also an extended
building with toilet facilities behind the
bungalow suspected to be a place he was
using as a cell.
In a small building attached to the wall near
the gate was a shrine allegedly used by the
father of the suspect, Mr. Patrick Ifedike, alias
Ogbujingidi, said to be a native doctor.
Before yesterday’s demolition, it was noticed
that there had been an attack on the
compound by suspected angry mob who
burnt parts of the buildings, smashed the
windows, doors and furniture in the area.
Obi, who personally supervised the
caterpillars while at work on the buildings
with some members of the State Executive
Council, said the action was in line with the
law of the state which provides that any
property linked to kidnappers and other
criminals would be confiscated and
demolished by the state government.
According to him, the decision was geared
towards eradicating crime and flushing out
hoodlums from the state.
The governor said further that due process of
the law had been initiated to prosecute the
suspect, while government would go after all
his investments in the country.
He said that Ifedike’s hotels have already
been sealed off, while Abia State government
would be contacted to seal off another hotel
in Umuahia also belonging to him.
While explaining that machinery had been set
in motion to arrest other people involved in
the crime, Obi reminded other criminals still
lurking in any part of the state, that the game
was up as his administration would not relent
until the set objective was achieved.
He also reminded traditional rulers and town
union executives of their responsibility to
ensure that their communities were not used
as hiding place for criminals, even as he
urged youths to take advantage of the
various economic empowerment programmes
of the state government to earn decent living


www.vanguardngr.com/2012/09/anambra-demolishes-2-buildings-owned-by-suspected-kidnap-kingpin/

Hmmm! Don't believe this story! Why would d men drug u girls when u girls are ready and willing to have sex! Every guy had his own girl!! whats d drugging for Cooked up story joor!

yankidelta: @ Billante, share the views of Hillsate. For Instance that contract for PH-Eket rd has been awarded RCC for not less than 3yrs ago. So does it mean that without SURE-P the contract wouldn't be completed. Something's amiss guy.Make we dey watch dey go.sounds like NOT SO SURE-P

When a contract is awarded the complete contract money is not lying some where in d bank for the d contract! As work progresses govt funds d contract from its diffrent source of income! East-west road contract is huge and captial sapping! I think d FG is funding it as it earns revenue, not forgetting that other sectors and projects likewise need their own funding.

I think d problem is govt awards too many contract they don't really have the sufficient finances to excute! Just because they have to satisfy political promises they made without thinking....FEC meetings are always a contract awarding bazzar.

gentlegg: Is it the same Enugu-Onitsha road i know in the east or the Enugu-Onitsha road in the north

It Is the same you know! Niger-cat construction company is doing some part, CCC is doing the other part

hillsate: How many times do they want to award this same abuja-abaji-lokoja road? Haba!

@OP, do you have any document that proves any such payment?
We just even heard another story of oil marketers denying any payments from FG.
I have since learnt to take any word for FG with a pinch of salt.

I should give u documents dat prove the goverment's payments Are u high on gas fumes?!

That abuja-lokoja road has been awarded before doesn't mean it has been reawarded again with the sure-p program...FG is just using their sure-p savings to fund the contracts they have awarded since!! FG Mostly award contracts with mobilization fee! They remaining part of the money most times enters voicemail! That's why abandon projects full everywhere.

coded777: I couldn't help but ROFLMFAO when this dude (even though he looked learned and corporate) withdrew his money from an ATM and still counted the money to be sure it was complete. For pete'sake, It is called AUTOMATIC Telling Machine, does this happens only in 9ja where we dont even trust "our" automatic machines, Geeez!

Dude the atm can make mistake! If it can debit you and not give u money, it can as well shortchange you

The Federal Government on Tuesday said it paid atotal of N25billion to contractors handling various projects under the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme fund (SURE-P) in various locations across the country.
The beneficiary contractors include, Dantata & Sawoe Construction Nigeria Limited, which is handling the Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja road (Abuja-Sheda Junction) and the 510 kilometre Kano-Maiduguri (Kano-Wudil-Shuarin) road dualisation scheme; and China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) for the railway projects on Idu-Kaduna and Jebba-Kano rail line rehabilitation.
The Programme’s Office in Abuja said other companies paid for the SURE-P projects in variousparts of the country include Reynold ConstructionCo. for work on East-West Road section 3 (Port Harcourt-Eket) and Benin-Ore-Shagamu section 1;Esser West Africa for the Eastern rail line projects from Port Harcourt-Makurdi; Niger Construction Limited for Enugu-Onitsha road dualisation; Costain West Africa for railway rehabilitation from Jebba-Kano; and Messr Gitto Construzioni for workon Abuja-Lokoja road.
The SURE-P office disclosed further that the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme Committee has approved the appointment of workers supporting the programme on Maternal and Child Health in some states.


http://premiumtimesng.com/business/99018-dantata-others-receive-n25billion-sure-p-payments.html

Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) said
yesterday that 240 new factories opened shops in
the country within a year, thereby propping up
investment in the manufacturing sector.
President of MAN, Chief Kola Jamodu said Monday in
Abuja at a stakeholders’ conference on the review
of common tariff for 2008 to 2012 that the
projected turnover of these factories is N140 billion.
He said that some of its members have expanded
their production base by as much as N100 billion,
adding that close to 200,000 new employment was
generated by December last year alone.
He said there was increased utilization from 47.50
percent in December 2010 to 48.93 percent in
December last year, and that in some sectors,
capacity utilization grew to 70 percent.
He attributed the growth in the manufacturing
sector to the cancellation of the Cargo Tracking
Note, reduction in the number of agencies at the
ports and adoption of sector-specific incentives/
waivers policy and promotion of buying made-in-
Nigeria products.
He also said other factors responsible for the growth
include rehabilitation of the railway system,
adoption of backward integration policy, zero per
cent import duty on agricultural machinery,
equipment and enzymes.
Jamodu emphasized the need for more
consultations and interactions with stakeholders in
the implementation procedures of composite
cassava flour in bread.
This consultation, he said, should include the
possible review of 15 percent levy imposed on
wheat and special incentives to accelerate the
manufacture of composite flour.
According to him, the real sector should not be
overburdened with excessive taxes and affronted
with multiplicity of taxes and levies.
On the planned introduction of the N5000 note by
the Central Bank of Nigeria, the MAN’s boss said it is
a negation of the cashless policy.
He said federal government should rather come up
with realistic policies that will encourage the use of
coins.


www.dailytrust.com.ng/index.php/business/176047-240-new-factories-open-in-a-year-man

PointB: Same fear that made Nigeria, through the instrument of PDP, choose Obj rather than the more obviously suitable Ekueme. It's a paronia!

I don't tink ekwueme would have made any difference! He is not dat lion heart dat was needed to kill corruption and pull through d storm dat comes with it

billante: I cannot imagine Nigeria breaking into smaller groupings. I do not see any of the groupings that will ‘happily’ stay together under one union without its own internal contradictions and tensions as in the larger Nigeria.

Nice analysis prof on the above! Who says anambra and imo won't quarrel over who produce more revenue when there is biafra! Chino24 already said we are not d same people.... If we can't stay together as nigeria then we can't stay together as oduduwa or niger delta or arewa!!!

Source!

I think he is oiling his poltical machine for the next election!!
Get it on prof! We are right behind you...come turn anambra to d dubai you are talking about, we now have oyel money

In my 2005 National Democracy Day Lecture, I strongly argued that “for sustainable democracy, fundamental changes are required in the constitution, the electoral system, the fiscal federalism, as well as a gamut of legal-institutional reforms that are developmental and capable of promoting private enterprise and competition”. 

Charles Soludo, Ex Nigerian Central Bank Governor
Seven years later, I feel more strongly about this point, and almost a sense of urgency to it. In the last two years, I have given several lectures on Nigeria’s dysfunctional political economy. I am glad that constitutional amendments are being debated. At least, let us start the talking. There is a systemic failure, and our institutions cannot take Nigeria on a sustainable path to prosperity.  In three articles, beginning with this one, I want to join the debate.

The word ‘restructure’ evokes all kinds of reactions. For some, it is a veiled campaign to dismember or weaken the Nigerian federation. I disagree. While I admit that Nigeria as a country or nation has been a colossal disappointment and a textbook example of “how not to do it”, I disagree that the solution is to dismember or weaken it.


I have three strong reasons to be a believer in one united and prosperous Nigeria. First, I am a pan-Africanist--- an Nkrumaist in terms of Pan-African unity.  As a scholar, about 60 per cent of my research and publications are on African economies. I am one of those dreaming of the second USA, the United States of Africa (with 54 states, encompassing the current 54 countries, with Nigeria as the Texas of Africa). Our destiny is tied together—the rest of the world simply sees one ‘Africa’ as if it is a ‘country’ but we think of ourselves as different. Combined, the 49 sub-Saharan African countries account for barely two per cent of global GDP (the size of Belgium with 10 million people). I see Africa’s future increasingly within the context of a more fully integrated continent. Enough of my dreams: now back to reality!
Second, I am proud to belong to the “big country”, and wish that it could become the “next China”. Nigeria is Africa’s most populous and its potentially biggest economy. In today and tomorrow’s world, size matters. Europe will inevitably move towards greater ‘federal Europe’ if the euro is to survive, and other efforts towards agglomeration are going on around the world. Nigeria accounts for far less than one per cent of global GDP (indeed if Nigeria were to submerge under a volcano tomorrow, the world would only notice it as a humanitarian disaster). I cannot imagine Nigeria breaking into smaller groupings. I do not see any of the groupings that will ‘happily’ stay together under one union without its own internal contradictions and tensions as in the larger Nigeria.
Third, I am aware that the hangover of history makes any reference to the word ‘restructure’ by an Igboman to be viewed with suspicion. I hate to think of public policy in those terms but if it helps this discourse, I make bold to say that as an Igboman, I will never support anything that will threaten the unity of Nigeria. Igbos have the greatest stake in Nigeria, and therefore stand to lose the most in the event of (God forbid) any disorderly unravelling of Nigeria. An enterprising, itinerant people with huge population in a tiny land mass, Igbos (like the Jews) are in need of a large domain or market for their commerce without molestation or discrimination. They are everywhere.  Of the estimated 17 million Nigerians in Diaspora, I can bet that at least 10 million of them are Igbos. They dominate most markets, especially for motor spare parts, in Africa. Onitsha traders now suffer because of Boko Haram as their supply chains to and from many parts of the North are grossly diminished.


There is hardly any village in Nigeria or town in Africa without an Igboman, speaking the local language and probably owning a house and feeling much at home. Without fear of contradiction, I can assert that at least 80 per cent of the Igbo elite live outside of Igboland (mostly in Lagos and Abuja), and more than 70 per cent of the investments by Igbos are outside of Igboland. I know that more than half of Anambra’s population lives outside of the state. There is hardly any former public office holder (governors, ministers, senators, Reps, etc) since 1999 who lives in Igboland. As Mallam Nasir el-Rufai was quoted as saying sometime, Igbos have turned Abuja into their ‘sixth state’, and some estimates opine that Igbos constitute 30-40 per cent of Lagos State. Even traditional marriages are now celebrated anywhere. The reasons for these are for another day.
The point of emphasis is that Igbos have the greatest need to keep Nigeria or even Africa as one united and prosperous market. An elderly Igbo friend of mine summed it nicely: “in the 1960s Igbos fought to leave Nigeria and the rest of Nigeria refused; we lost our properties and lives; now that we have re-built them everywhere, we are going to fight to make sure no one else will leave the union: we are all in this marriage for better or for worse”. Enough said!
Our thesis here is that a society can only prosper under conditions of ‘good leadership’ as well as a ‘good system’ that supports competition and wealth creation. So far, the dysfunctional system and its perverse incentives that make it almost impossible to make sustained progress in Nigeria have received little attention in public discourse. For three consecutive years, Nigeria has retained the 14th position in the world as ‘a failed state’ (with Somalia as number one) and many people think it is a joke. I posit that any serious discussion of public policy that ignores this issue misses the point. We believe there is a systemic failure that cannot be fixed by ad hoc ‘reforms’ irrespective of the type of leadership.


We therefore use the term ‘restructure’ to refer to the gamut of transformations in the nature and structure of the Nigerian State and society away from the current entanglements with the pursuit of rents to re-establish the link between the state and the people/business, and to re-engineer a society where competition and hard work drive success. Let us divide Nigeria’s post-independence history into the pre-civil war (under the 1963 Republican Constitution and its provisions for competitive federalism under the regions and a revenue allocation formula that forced hard work and competition) on the one hand, and the post-civil war with its centralised, unitary-federalism, with the centre repeatedly ‘creating’ the unviable federating units each entitled to the free money from the centre.
On literally all accounts, the average Nigerian was better off in the first than under the second: per capita income in 1966 was about $1,000 and about $1,400 in 1973 and is currently about $1,200. In REAL terms, the average Nigerian today (despite Nigeria earning over $600 billion from oil since 1973) has less than half of the income in 1966; is poorer; has a shorter life span; with poorer educational system and infrastructure. All the industries and palm and cocoa plantations and groundnut pyramids built by the regions have collapsed.


Our current unproductive system was designed to keep Nigeria ‘united’ by creating a strong ‘centre’. In the process, we have neither a federation nor a unitary system (at best a corrupted unitary system).
All incentives and institutions are designed around a command and control structure for sharing and consuming the lottery jackpot from God (oil rents). For fear of death, Nigeria has indeed decided to commit suicide! There is no incentive for productive governance. National politics of competition for the oil rents has assumed a life of its own. On a per capita income basis, Nigeria has the most expensive parliament in the world. Every village now wants to be a state to get its own ‘share’. Don’t talk about fiscal viability! Have you heard any state governor advertising the number of new businesses that were attracted to his state or number of private sector jobs created as ‘the’ key performance indicator? There is little incentive for such! Debate on leadership is about who will share and where he comes from. It is not about who has the best plans to create jobs and wealth. Because you don’t need any skills to share, just about anybody can be a ‘leader’. Our politics has become a road to nowhere.


We need good leaders but equally important, we need a competitive system that allows any potentially good leader to emerge and perform. To use the metaphor of football, you need good footballers in a good pitch to have great football. If you have 10 Lionel Messis in a team but you take them to play in a cassava farm as field, their talents and efforts may come to little. In fact, because the field is a cassava farm, the ‘best players’ that would emerge could be the street urchins. Our view is that the type of leaders thrown up under a democracy and the latitude they have for creative change depends upon the nature of the legal-institutional infrastructure and the incentive-sanction system. As an economist, I understand that to change behaviour, two keywords are critical: incentives and sanctions. Both summarise what are popularly termed ‘institutions’. An individual can make a difference but ultimately it is institutions that make all the difference.  You can assemble a thousand technocrats, each with his/her ‘reforms’ and at best their positive impact will be at the margin.
Nigeria is in a chicken and egg situation. How will the ‘good system’ emerge without ‘good leaders’ and vice versa? Leave this for our next articles!


To prepare for life without oil, we need a new road map, and the starting point is a new constitution for prosperity! We need to understand the institutional/constitutional design that makes United Arab Emirates (UAE) produce the world class city of Dubai with little oil while other oil-producing countries of the Middle East are not diversified. We need to understand the incentive system that enables the State of Nevada in the US to prosper despite not having any natural resource in a country with oil rich states. It won’t be easy to repair the havoc oil and the destructive politics around it have wreaked on the society, including destruction of the productive elite. But the time to start is now.


To move forward, Nigeria must review the content and meaning of its current political map; rights over mineral resources and land; tax jurisdictions; citizenship rights; fiscal responsibility and fiscal federalism; powers of the central vis-a-vis regional governments; elimination of the suffocating hands of the Federal Government on the regions; etc. It is an oxymoron to repeat the same thing over and over, and expect a different outcome. For a new Nigeria to emerge, new thinking and new ways of doing business must be in place.


http://www.africaeagle.com/2012/09/reconstructing-nigeria-for-prosperity.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Africaeagle+(AfricaEagle)&m=1

Nigeria can't presently satisfy its university enrolment demand of its citizen! Even though it has d highest number of universities in africa! So I don't see the issue that so many of nigerians are studing abroad as a negative thing!! Federal goverment has a university in every state, also every state has its own university,some even have more than one,still demand is still sky rocketing....I think d issue is more of an opportunity than something to yab nigeria about!!!

semid4lyfe: Jacob Esan? He must keep a really low profile cos I've never heard of him

Me too! Maybe he is based at Uk

Hahahahahah! Hilarious!

But I thought I read somewhere dat peter obi has taken over the reconstruction of the onitsha-awka end of onithsa-enugu expressway!?

Anyway d transformation agenda of d president continues! I hope its not truncated.

Where is the ethnic bigotry going on?

ifyalways: He left his contact,why don't you just contact him if you are interested.You've just left your number here for no reason,don't come complaining when you start getting all sorts of scam calls and sms.

I did called him! Gave him an address to come so we can talk...I haven't seen him uptill now.

nagoma: I may be wrong but I strongly believe GEJ was advised by the Americans to advise Nnaji to step down so that transparency is ensured. No one else could have convinced Jona to accept this man's resignation. Except of course if they promised him ( Nnaji) half of the industry when it is privatized.

Wetin concern america with this one

But I wonder what will still happen if barth's company wins d bid!...they can't just make the man to resign and also not allow his company to compete....all I know the man is competent and should be allowed to partake in nigeria electricity sector.

Another thing I don't understand is why would he want to buy a power plant( afam power plant) while he already has his own(geometric power plant)

The position is still available!

Am still looking out for a good marketer.