₦airaland Forum

zero8zero:
Stop including what he didn't say, the bold was not part of his statements. Again if an investigation took an international dimension ( with the involvement of foreign organization), how has that made him corrupt?. After the investigation, what happened?. Ribadu himself admitted that Tinubu was the most investigated person yet he wasn't found guilty.

zero8zero:
So where did Ribadu say Tinubu was corrupt in the links you provided?. Does saying someone was under investigation means he was corrupt?. Did you miss English class or you have a low understanding or both.

simpleseyi:
Tinubu grows stronger in the midst of enemies

ZombieDredd:
1:49am

You open thread on igbo people matter.

Be careful make you no get cardiac arrest.

It's real like HIV oo

But I like that igbos dey give you sleepless night, that's good.

Cajal:
Dauda Lawal of zamfara of the PDP was also there

FRESH accusations that members of the National Assembly demanded N480 million from federal universities to approve their 2025 budget allocations is a stark reminder of the entrenched corruption plaguing Nigeria’s federal parliament. Is the NASS redeemable?

According to media reports, lawmakers, operating through the Senate Committee on Tertiary Education and the House Committee on University Education, are allegedly coercing vice-chancellors of about 60 federal universities to pay N8 million each to secure their budget approvals. If true, this would undermine the integrity of the parliament again.

The NASS has strongly denied the allegations, calling them a blackmail. A VC has also disdained bribe demands allegations by the House Committee on Education members.

Unfortunately, the controversy rages because the scandal has a familiar ring.



It is part of a disturbing pattern of sleaze that has defined Nigeria’s political landscape. The NASS has been enmeshed in a long list of scandals that have exposed the penchant for lawmakers to equate their legislative duties with making money illicitly.

In 2005, Fabian Osuji, the Minister of Education, was dismissed over allegations of offering a N55 million bribe to the then senate president and others to influence the ministry’s budget.

In 2012, Farouk Lawan, a House member, was caught in a sting operation by the self-styled DSS concerning a $500,000 bribery case involving billionaire businessman Femi Otedola. Lawan was convicted of soliciting a $3 million bribe to remove Otedola’s company from a list of firms indicted in a fuel subsidy scam.


After this, Abdulrasheed Maina, who headed the Pension Reform Task Team, was jailed for looting N2.1 billion. He had accused Aloysius Etok, chairman of the Senate investigating committee of demanding a $100,000 bribe. The former director of pensions in the office of the Head of Service of the Federation, Sani Teidi, also accused Etok of collecting N3 billion to suppress the investigation.

NASS members routinely demand money during simple oversight visits. In 2019, the Director-General of the National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control, Mojisola Adeyeye, accused House Committee on Healthcare Services members of asking her for “money for welfare” during a visit. Former Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai once accused lawmakers of demanding bribes to approve his nomination as FCT minister.

These episodes highlight the pervasive culture of monetisation of legislative oversight functions. When lawmakers, entrusted with the sacred duty of representing the people’s interests, engage in corrupt practices, it erodes public trust and delegitimises the institutions of governance.

Rather than exercise strict oversight to curb wastage in government expenditure, lawmakers routinely swell the budget with unimplementable and bogus projects and contracts. This makes a mess of the budgeting and execution process and adds to the scandalous number of abandoned projects nationwide.

It is shameful that Nigerian lawmakers engage in all sorts of corrupt practices despite being the highest paid in the world with humongous allowances and perks in tow. A senator’s monthly take-home pay is N21 million.

In late 2023, N57 billion was approved to import 360 SUVs for lawmakers amid public outrage. In March 2024, Cross River senator Agom Jarigbe revealed that ranking senators got N500 million each for so-called constituency projects, others got less. Last August, senators got N2 million each, enough to pay the N70,000 minimum wage for 28 months, as “kola” to enjoy their recess.

It is horrendous that lawmakers can demand bribes from universities already crippled by chronic underfunding. Many cannot even pay their electricity bills. Yet, some lawmakers graduated from these universities paying next to nothing for their education. This episode stinks.


This odious conduct persists because there are no consequences. There must be a comprehensive review of the legislative oversight functions to ensure they are conducted transparently and in the public interest.

NIGERIA is in dire straits. Its citizens are hungry while its children are malnourished. The situation is compounded by farmers in the food basket region fleeing their farms due to terrorism and Fulani herdsmen rapine. President Bola Tinubu, his Minister of Agriculture and the state governors must prioritise agriculture and security, incentivise farmers and build systems that will improve food production and displace food insecurity.

At 24 per cent, agriculture is the highest contributor to GDP. Notwithstanding, food prices, especially rice, beans, eggs, beef, chicken, corn, oils, and yam have hit the roof. Vegetables, fruits, and fish are out of reach in a country teeming with mass privation. An NBS study aggregated 133 million Nigerians living in multidimensional poverty in 2022. The minimum wage of N70,000 a month is abject.

Unwisely, Nigeria depends on food imports to feed its citizens. CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso says Nigeria’s annual food import bill is $16 billion. This poses a significant challenge because the naira has depreciated heavily since 2023 when Tinubu floated the currency.

As expected, the Minister of Women Affairs, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, recently in the United Kingdom lamented the 32 per cent rise in malnutrition in children under five in Nigeria. Imaan linked the situation to the erosion of family cohesion, economic pressures, forced migration, and cultural shifts that have displaced strong safety nets for children.

The UN Office on Humanitarian Affairs stated that 33 million Nigerians are food insecure. The figure includes 2.5 million severely malnourished children.

“We are seeing potentially up to 2.5 million children, who would be severely and acutely malnourished…,” Trond Jesen of the UNOCH Nigeria said. Jesen lamented that the annual flooding, rising food prices, and inflation have exacerbated the situation.

In 2024, the World Food Programme warned that 26.5 million Nigerians would suffer severe hunger from June to August. Unfortunately, the government failed to respond effectively to the warning.


The situation is compounded by Nigeria’s growing population. At 237 million per Worldometer, there are too many mouths to feed. Yet, the government lacks a clear plan to feed the spiking population or to control it.

The government has failed to leverage research and development from agricultural institutes, exacerbating issues such as high post-harvest losses.

Farmers face numerous challenges, including poor rural roads, nuisance taxes, flooding, irrigation difficulties, lack of mechanised tools, and inadequate food storage facilities.

The cost of transporting food from rural to urban areas is too high, worsened by high fuel prices, and extortion by state and non-state actors.

Therefore, the government must eliminate nuisance taxes and improve rural infrastructure. While Nigeria grapples with 135,000 untarred rural roads, India constructed 76 km of rural roads daily in 2023.

Nigeria has neglected its agricultural sector. The sector receives less than 20 per cent of the federal budget, reflecting misplaced priorities. This translates to a lack of ample investment in the sector and contributes to hunger and malnutrition. The buoyancy of terrorism and insecurity in the food basket regions compounds the situation.

Nigeria should establish and entrench state police to secure farmers and law-abiding citizens while exploiting the potential of the arable lands within the states. Governors should collaborate to boost a robust agriculture ecosystem of fishery, poultry, livestock, and crops. The police should do more with intelligence and execution.


Nigeria must learn from countries in Europe and America, where food security is considered a critical part of state policy. These countries prioritise food security by subsidising production and storing surplus during harvest. The Netherlands generates $8 billion annually from food exports. Nigeria, with an arable land of 34 million hectares, should focus on feeding its people and exporting surplus food.

zero8zero:
Provide the source. Do you think the people here are as dumb as an average ipob.

Former Communication Minister Adebayo Shittu has decried the high poverty rate in the country, saying many Nigerians have become beggars.

Shittu, while appearing on an AIT programme, Focus Nigeria, cited examples of how Nigeria’s economic condition has turned citizens into beggars.

The ex-minister, who lives in Ibadan, said a Nigerian called him from Bauchi to beg for N1,000 to feed, adding that another woman called him 30 times to beg for N3,000.

He said, “Yesterday, before I left Ibadan, somebody phoned me from Bauchi and begged me for N1,000.

He said he had not eaten for two days. Again, about a week ago, somebody also called me, a woman who wanted N3,000. At the time she wanted that morning, unbelievably, I myself didn’t have that money, and the woman called me 30 times in one day.”

He maintained that poverty had been weaponized in the country to the extent that when politicians go to the people for votes, they tend to be more interested in what the politicians can give them rather than what they are capable of doing.

Shittu said, “It’s not my business to douse the poverty of such people calling. So when you go to such people to ask for their votes or support, they don’t care what you’re capable of doing. What they are interested in is what they can get out of you today.”

However, contrary to Nigerians’ beliefs about political appointees, the ex-minister, who served under the Muhammadu Buhari administration from 2015 to 2019, said he currently doesn’t have money because he didn’t steal while in office.

He said post-political appointment life can be challenging for politicians who didn’t steal in office.

Shittu said he survives on the monthly resources his 10 graduate children give him for upkeep.

The Ohanaeze President-General said, “Some people say they are from Benin, that their ancestry is Benin. And I say, That’s fine. Let’s go there. We say that we have a relationship with the Igbo. I’m not going to deny my Igbo identity.

“Anyhow you like, talk from now till tomorrow; I’m not going to deny my ancestry.

TimeManager:
It was a jab to the fake statistician but the joke flew over your head. This is a road PDP couldn't fix for 16 yrs.


-Kiss the truth!

9jatriot:
APC seems to favor infrastructure to sharing the money around, PDP seems to be more focused on sharing the money.

There are people who will ask you weda na road we go chop, maybe for them sharing the money may be better.

AbuTwins:
Follow the law or be sanctioned!

This is not the era where Diezani will be packing trillions and everyone will be sleeping!

“We urge Nigerians to begin their scrutiny early. And choose between political hecklers and real progressives. The clouds are beginning to clear. The stage sets soon. The combat begins. Until then, President Tinubu, an avowed democrat remains undistracted and unperturbed. The fight is ahead. Not now.

The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, has lashed out at the President’s political opponents, alleging that they are unnecessarily “heating up the polity”.


While describing the President’s political opponents as “wannabes”, he said they unleashed vitriol on Tinubu while he was away in Tanzania seeking solutions to Nigeria’s energy problems.

The presidential aide however said Tinubu is not perturbed and will only entertain conversations on how to improve the lives of Nigerian citizens and constructive discourse on building a resilient economy.


His outburst is coming days after former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, and former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, along other opposition leaders openly criticised Tinubu’s administration.

El-Rufai also criticized the All Progressives Congress, APC, for abandoning its founding principles and fostering poor leadership.

“I no longer recognise the APC. No party organ has met in two years—no caucus, no NEC, nothing. You don’t even know if it is a one-man show; it’s a zero-man show,” El-Rufai said.


The former governor criticised the quality of leadership emerging from political parties, attributing it to unqualified delegates.

“You cannot afford to have illiterates, semi-illiterates, and cunning people as your leaders. This is why we end up with the poor leadership we have today.”

Amaechi, while speaking on how to take power from a sitting President, was quoted to have said that Tinubu and the political class would not surrender power to the younger generation without a fight.


Reacting in in a post on his X handle on Monday, Dare told Tinubu’s political opponents to wait for the next election to test their popularity.

His post reads, “While President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Nigeria was away in far away Dar es Salaam, capital of Tanzania, his political opponents, detractors, opposition elements, psuedo friends unfolded their Machiavellian inclinations. Indeed, while the President was seeking solutions to Nigerias’ energy problems in Dar es Salaam, some “wannabes “were heating up the polity.

“Expectedly, it was a gathering convened to further spread ill-will. Nothing new came out of the gathering different from the opposition script we are used to. A few of the participants went overboard in their vitriol, fanning the embers for adopting undemocratic actions. These political gladiators have antecedents that are well known.


“We urge Nigerians to begin their scrutiny early. And choose between political hecklers and real progressives. The clouds are beginning to clear. The stage sets soon. The combat begins. Until then, President Tinubu, an avowed democrat remains undistracted and unperturbed. The fight is ahead. Not now.

“The only conversation he wants to have now is how to improve the lives of Nigerian citizens and constructive discourse on building a resilient economy. This is 2025. Not 2027. Let those who want to test their popularity with Nigerians wait for the next election. President Tinubu is fully focused on providing the leadership that will transform our country.”

Leaders of the northern political establishment and other key stakeholders across the country appeared to have concluded on the need to jettison the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the vehicle to deploy in challenging incumbent President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2027 general election.

Investigations by the Nigerian Tribune confirmed that the leaders across the North and South, who have been meeting in the last three months, have come to a conclusion that the PDP was becoming a dead horse and that the governors, who hold the ace in the party, could no longer be relied upon to play the major opposition roles in 2027.

It was gathered that a committee set up in the last weeks of December 2024 to finalise the details of the new mega party has been given a deadline of late February to announce the special purpose vehicle the opposition would rely upon to dislodge the APC.


Sources, however, said that there is no conclusion yet on the lead candidate to fly the flag of the mega party in 2027.

“The leaders are looking at a number of options as the 2027 election calendar is being awaited from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in May. There are four or five options on the table as presidential hopefuls. There is Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Mr. Peter Obi, both of whom contested the 2023 election, and then, a former governor of Kaduna State. Mallam Nasir El-Rufai and the former Rivers State governor, Mr Rotimi Amaechi. Former governor of Sokoto State, Senator Aminu Waziri Tambuwal is also being considered, just as are reports that former President Goodluck Jonathan could be considered as a possible option, especially, looking at the contention in some quarters that you may have to confront a southern candidate with another candidate from the South,” a source said.

It was gathered that a series of meetings that have taken place within the country and what a source called the “West and the East Coast,” have resolved to establish a mega party that would tackle the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the race for Aso Rock in 2027.


A source equally said that the recently held democracy summit, in Abuja was one of the measures meant to galvanise the forces ahead of the eventual launch of the mega party.

Another source told the Nigerian Tribune: “The North seems to have settled for a candidate they believe would give the APC a good run for the money in 2027. The parties being considered for the mega coalition include the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and a number of other registered parties. The PDP is not featuring prominently in the calculation because of the belief that many of its governors are afraid of President Tinubu and are secretly working for his re-election.”

It was also gathered that the candidate of the LP, Mr Peter Obi is featuring prominently in the coalition, as a source said that proponents of the coalition are insisting that it cannot work without a Peter Obi.

It was also learnt that while Atiku is already acting as the rallying point for the expected coalition, all eyes may not be lost on Obi and Tambuwal.


A source, however, discountenanced the feeling that Atiku may be too old for the presidency in 2027, adding that the example of Donald Trump of the United States is still fresh in mind.

Sources also said that the League of Northern Democrats (LND), headed by former Kano State governor, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, is already playing a coordinating role in sewing together all fronts in the emerging coalition.

Britishpea:
omo?// You are a buffonnnnn.... HOW MANY people has UGM killed in your region? you cant even open your cubicle shops today or maybe you re in idumota where you are scouting for customers for your brother who has you as a boy boy... these people are fucking dumbos