₦airaland Forum

hermesprogidy:
I totally agree with you and that is why I said nobody is expecting an El dorado anytime soon if Buhari wins the election. It may be difficult for them to put figures on some things, and frankly speaking most of the campaign strategies is aimed at base of pyramid Nigerians (who unfortunately are the majority)

But the fact remains that Jonathan has nothing to offer and this country needs new leadership. If not for anything let Nigerians us this election to remind politicians that power lies in the hands of the people. Mess up, and you get voted out!!

Exactly. People power.

@Emoboy, I could not respond to your comment because it is long. Since you did not witness IBB's regime then you are probably young. IBB was a dictator but his SAP policy kick started most of the economic programs we leverage on now. Obasanjo's administration and I stand to be corrected with facts and figures, still remains the best administration since the independence of this country. The administration is yet to be unbeaten. If you want to criticise the administration, bring your facts and not words.

kmariko:
The deficits in fundamentals of our economic existence is glaring for me to wake up in the morning and listen to an economic professor lecture me once again on the problems of mono economic indices.

We cannot make any headway in whatever direction we choose without taking a fundamental call it holistic approach in restructuring the polity we find ourselves in.

Soludos thesis is a mere academic exercise in how to manage or mismanage a mono economy of 170 million people.

I did not read any thesis except you read a different version. Soludo only asked questions and advised the president to do away with charlatans and palace praise worshippers deceiving him. The president will be wondering, why all these attacks on me and as usual his wicked aides will always find an excuse to deceive him further.

hermesprogidy:
Same thing I have been saying to my friends and any other person who croons about jonathan's so called achievement. The most nauseating is the so-called agricultural revolution. For all the so-called revolution, agriculture contributes only 33% to our GDP as against 37% in 2008. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for food products are at an all time high. I don't know where the CBN gets their figures from. They keep telling us inflation is reducing and it's a single digit figure (8.4%) whilst in reality, inflation is at a double digit figure. Don't even get me started on the minimalist Youwin crap and the Surep nonsense that is targeted at only 1% of the employable population (the rest goes into their private pockets, because such programs are hard to audit)

Jonathan's achievement is only on paper and he can't do better than this, hence he should step aside. The exciting thing about Buhari, is not only his persona, but the people he has surrounded himself with. Nigerians are not expecting an El dorado any time soon, but they need someone who can apply the brakes to this vehicle called Nigeria and steer it off the precipice it is heading to. Buhari is that person! We need Buhari for just one term to provide the foundation of a new mentality for government officials and Nigerians at large (corruption is stealing and you will be punished if caught, frugality and effectiveness in managing our resources mentality) and someone strong enough to break the demonic hold the civilian military have on Nigeria (David Mark et al). Then will we move forward as a nation.

All these, are clearly beyond Jonathan.

Vote wisely, vote Buhari

You have a point. However, Buhari will not find it funny. He has begin to make utterances on which he would be judged. He has not sat down with his team and like Soludo has said he would have expected more from them. It all seems that they are eager to capture power and when they get there they will sort things out. If this is their plan, surely within two (2) years the public will be calling for their head.

Someone else mentioned that Soludo came up with economic thesis. They are not thesis but valid economic questions. How come oil prices were at an unprecedented level and our foreign reserves and debt profile are at an unprecedented level too. What were they doing with the foreign income. Debt profile is $40billion, abandoned capital projects estimated at $50billion.

If the president or Buhari is going to provide jobs, explain how you intend to do so. If you want to fight corruption, estimate the cost for fighting corruption. Put naira and kobo to your mandate and not wake up in the morning and start talking.

dexentity:
Only a jonathanian regime will outsource a national security contract to a militant and keep a straight face about it. And only a PDPian will see nothing wrong with that. Evil men do not neccessarily look mean. Imagine the havoc this man can wreck wit such war machines in his fleet. Well, election is almost here, watching in 3D.

It is called wickedness in high places. The man himself has even outsourced the presidency

kmariko:
A classic tale of economists measuring who have/ had a bigger manhood on their handling of there respective assignments.
In these economic tales, the greatest football match is the one they captained though neither came home with the crown.

If Obasanjo government was so good why are we still in this economic mess...non existence manufacturing index,low productivity, non existent technological index, infrastructure deficit etc. You cannot get something from nothing. Relying on crude oil as the only source of economic analysis belies the paucity of our collective intellect.

Soludo thanks for exposing our "intellectual elite" for what they truly are outside the confines of appointment

Obi won and Obiano got "appointed" is the reality. Deal with it and move on. Let it go

We are in this mess because someone called Jonathan got us into it. One of our problem is that we always find a way to attack the messenger and ignore the message. That is why our leaders misbehave and rather than we holding them accountable, we make excuses for them.

Soludo has told us nothing but what we already know. He only added verifiable facts to the issues. If you did not read the article, please do. It was not a campaign tool but a wake up call to both presidential candidates.

Buhari promised 20,000 jobs for each state every month or year. How would he achieve that? The president promised 2,000,000 jobs per annum - likewise, how would he achieve that. These are mere words/deception if they have no documented implementation strategy. Do you also know that in our 2015 budget - oil revenue was estimated as $60/barrel and presently oil price is lower than $50/barrel. Now you begin to question, who is the wicked and clueless person that did that budget? Be mindful that the team responsible are considered the best the president can recruit.

ogene007:
Your answer is indeed revealing, it simply shows that people like you who go about criticizing GEJ know little or not about what an economic blue print is. So it is on twitter that APC wants to talk about its economic policies? They have not put together any document with which the electorate and organised private sector can plan with, that is why there is so much speculations as to what may become of the nigerian economy, if Buhari is to win the elections. This speculation is adversely affecting FDIs and the value of the naira, no to talk of a halt in all forms of investments by businesses. It goes to show that the people whose actions and inactions, generated the problems do not have the capacity to effect any positive change. Let Buhari tell us how he intends to fund all the bogus promises he is making all over the place, and the over 90% of the budget spent on recurrent expenditure. APC should go beyond bogus and vague promises, to provide us with the specifics, else we can all safely conclude that they are indeed clueless as to what the solution to the problem is. The solution to this present problem is the restructuring of the country along the lines of true federalism, only than can we not have history repeating itself on this issue of monies from oil boom. Whe n it comes to cutting down on the cost of governance, the national assembly becomes bipartisan, ensuring that there are no reductions in government expenditure. Why has the Oresanya report on the restructuring of the civil service not yet implemented? Have you bothered to ask why we are spending over 90% of our budget on recurrent expenditure? A lot of the ministries, agencies and parastatals which were recommended to be scrapped, where established by acts of parliament, meaning that the national assembly needs to amend the relevant laws in order to reduce the size of government. On issues like this, the NA adopts a bipartisan approach, so it smacks of sheer mischief and distortion of facts for Soludo to come here reeling out figures as if reducing government spending is done by just wishful thinking. It will take a bipartisan approach from all members of the political class, at all levels, to bring down the cost of governance. Anything other than that is mere grandstanding by the so-called agents of change. GEJ remains the only viable option in getting nigeria out of the present economic mess. GEJ till 2019.

Sure GEJ remains the only viable option to get us out of the economic mess because he got us into it in the first place. However, both presidential candidates are yet to present to us what their economic plans are. If Jonathan can show us his plans, surely he would win our support. No one is blaming him for insurgency but we blame him for not curtailing it. Foreign reserves is depleted. Now our debt profile is at a dangerous level. The problem here is that we are indebted to private investors whose aim is to increase their returns so we are not going to get a debt relief. Which means we are going to pay every kobo/penny to the last and who do you think will suffer for this - me and you.

Jonathan has employed the wrong set of team. If he wins he must assemble a great team that can execute within the shortest period. Also, if I were Buhari, I will re-strategize with my team on how to revamp the economy and not make empty promises.

We surely need help. May God save Nigeria

fresh15:
President Goodluck may not have delivered 100% in his first tenure due to so many attacks on his government.In this second tenure,I am sure that he will deliver 100%.

I don't think so. He has nothing to offer. Like Soludo said, he has surpass his predecessor in all achievements, only in the reversed order.

gists:
After reading this rather long but truthful piece with such a great ending as highlighted above, I can only say the beautiful ones are here afterall. However, while I completely agree that APC should have done better at costing its promises, I tend to disagree a bit with Soludo concerning the economic theory by Osinbajo in which he (PYO) stated that the problem is not really availability of funds but that the problem is management. I must say I agree with PYO in because I believe Nigeria is not poor (the analogy by soludo of a man with N50000 income does not entirely fit). Even with reduced income from crude export as it presently, we can still get some basic things achieved.

I beg to differ. Our main source of revenue is dwindling. Either we have a robust and efficient tax collection system to support the revenue base.

The big spanner in the wheel of Nigerias development is corruption. Even though there is no nation in the world that is corruption-free, I am yet to see a truly developed country that has institutionalized corruption as we have in Nigeria today. Plug as much holes as possible, and there is a high chance that the country's income can fund many fundamental projects. No matter how you diversify the economy, no matter the amount of resource control we arrive at, corruption will kill any gain we ought to derive from such efforts. You cannot talk of job creation, electricity, medicare etc where corruption is endemic.

Corruption does not stop economic development; if there was one anyway. Nigeria has no economic blueprint. If you stop corruption and waste money on unproductive infrastructures, you still get poverty. The problem is that in this country people are either thinking for their pockets or not thinking at all.

As far as I am concerned, economic development is important but unattainable if we leave corruption unchecked. How do we talk about economic development when like Soludo pointed out, we experienced the greatest boom, yet borrowed more while depleting the reserve along the way and falling exchange rate - all because of institutionalized corruption. This is why I voted GMB in 2011 (in addition to eradicating insurgents), thinking that by 2015 I will vote for someone else to develop the economy after taming corruption.

Here again you mention corruption, which I think is not correct. If your income is increasing and yet your are borrowing along side - what does it make you. It is either you are wasting your money on frivolous expenditures or you are clueless.

Nonetheless, this is a beautiful right-up by Soludo and I dove my cap for him.[/quote]

oneeast:
Anambra has some of the best road networks in Nigeria courtesy of Ngige and Obi and now Obiano..

Laughs. I just left there and I saw the beautiful road networks. They were so beautiful, angels left heaven to come see them.

ogene007:
What is Buhari's economic blueprint or is it a case of 'when we get there, we will know what to do'. Please, provide us with what policy direction APC intends to pursue, other than to come and reverse all the privitization that has been done and return us to status quo. Where will APC get the funding for all the bogus promises they are making all over the place. Let us not forget the Tinubu and Amaechi were two key individuals who vehemently kicked against any form of savings from the oil boom era, first, Tinubu went to court over the excess crude account set up by OBJ, and go the supreme court to declare it illegal, secondly, Amaechi under the governors forum, opposed the sovereign wealth fund that GEJ set up, they wanted GEJ to bring all the monies and share between the FG and state governments. Coming to the budget, how many times has the national assembly increased the crude oil benchmark for the yearly budgets? They always increase it to ensure that less is available for savings. That there hasn't been meaningful savings throughout the period of the oil boom, has not been for want of trying by GEJ and his economic team, rather, it has happened due to the collective greed of the likes of Tinubu, Amaechi and other key members of the opposition, who today have become the self appointed apostles of 'change', who is deceiving who? Where we fault Soludo in his analysis is that he failed to state clearly that the oil boom money was shared by the three levels of government.

There is only one way to find out about Buhari's economic policy - you ask him directly. He is now on twitter and seriously he needs to answer some questions

EUROBOMBER:
Then we have a big problem on our hands.

An even bigger problem. It will be worst with Jonathan and bad with Buhari. They all have to build shields from public outcry.

Bad for Buhari because he probably might reduce corruption and unnecessary government expenditure, both he might have no clue on how to kick start an economic revolution to will put more people back to work. Plus he probably might end boko haram and this economically will cost more money.

Worst for Jonathan because - we have to expect the same thing over all again and even worst because 2nd term is to saving for future retirement (him and his cabinet). Plus boko haram might spread to the south.

Luchitec:
No doubt, Prof. Soludo raised some valid points about the state of affairs in the country. However, Soludo's denigration of Peter Obi for leaving funds in Anambra State coffers while at the same time praising OBJ's regime for accumulating a huge external reserve highlights his doublespeak and pettiness. Moreover, if stuffs that transpired in the banking sector during Sanusi's tenure at CBN are put into consideration, then Soludo is actually overrating himself as an economic guru.

What was Peter Obi leaving the money for? To show he was honest? Sure he successfully built a fat account with no road to the bank to withdraw the money

EUROBOMBER:
You are correct my brother. Recent economic trends call for concern. I want to hear from both the PDP and the APC how they intend to get the Nigerian economy back on track.

This is not about shouting GEJ till 2019 or Sai Buhari!

Trust me, both have no clue. One is eager to stay; the other eager to accomplish a dream

omenka:
I read every single word. This is a cutting edge masterpiece! I haven't the slightest of doubt Abati and co would do all they can to ensure Jonathan doesn't lay his hand on the paper. It might make him question all the things he's been told from day one because as it stands, the man seems completely detached from reality, dancing in the rain while his house is on fire.

One thing I know for sure is that Buhari will reduce to the barest minimum the cost of governance. He will do away with all those aircraft Jonathan secured for the presidency for God-only-knows which cost billions annually to maintain. He will free up more funds for capital commitments by ridding the executive of the retinue of needless aides, assistants, and advisers and senior special advisers.

There are just too many means of cutting costs and freeing up more funds to finance capital projects but believe me, it might backfire should Buhari mention some of those things on his campaign. So for now, I'm in support of him limiting his manifesto to what he's been telling us, the stakes are just too damn high to make any daredevil pronouncements at the moment.

I liked your analysis, but if there was a partial like, I would have clicked that. True, the cost of governance needs to be trimmed down, unneccesary expenditures should stop. However, when you derive cost savings - then what. Is Buhari good enough to take us up to economic progress. Will he able to kick start an economic revolution that we see us producing and manufacturing.

Most of our leaders aint thinkers, they just sign papers that is the only thing they are good at.

Finally, Soludo is right about the economic team - a bunch of traders and entrepreneur opportunists.

omenka:
Wow!!! This is pure gold!! Thank you sir Charles! I hope these little jesters that come here to promote all those lies that bear stark contrast with realities on ground are reading this. And I hope the genuinely ignorant fellows that have been sold the lies over time can now take a step back and see for themselves what terrible dummies they've been sold.

By and large, Jonathan has added not a single substance to the economy of this nation since he came on board. All those statistics reeled out to the public about fledging economy by Iweala are all a tissue of lies.

They are not lies; they are pure deception. I wonder if those people live in a different world or possibly they want to keep their jobs and steal some more. We don't need a story teller or even an economist like Soludo to tell us the truth. Aren't we feeling the heat - Naira is N210 to a dollar, poverty is increasing (the trains are bringing the dead from the north). Corruption and stealing is unprecedented. Agriculture is booming yet garri and rice remains scarce and their prices are increasing daily. Subsidy funds are hitting the trillions and the quantity of fuel consumption in the country remains the same or just increase slightly.

manny4life:
I read every single word and I am truly honored to have read this piece. I supported Jonathan but of recent, I have been more cautious than ever. The truth is our economy really needs help, unfortunately, Buhari isn't the man for the job either. Soludo rubbish both PDP and APC, man, he gave President Jonathan the bitter truth. Some may not like what he wrote, how he wrote and why he wrote it, but truth be told, Soludo asked pertinent questions. I liked where he hinted about the "Austerity" measures... How I wish this man could be my mentor, or yet work for him. He is endowed with wisdom.

The man Soludo brings hope that this country is not doomed afterall. It is an honest analysis from a master mind. Also, it is a shame that APC cannot capitalise of this. I thought they hired a foreign consultant for the campaign. When I saw the N5,000 for the poor, that is when I knew they are not serious. Truth be told, we need more government transparency and no corruption. What we have now is nepotism and self aggrandisement by a selected few. They have no clue on how to run a government and only think for their pocket. This has translated to making the president appearing to be clueless.

How do you justify so much public expenditure with so much poverty

Reddit:
What a brilliant and intelligent piece of write up that is, very provocative and brutal. How did we find ourselves in this mess? Tougher and scary times ahead be it either GEJ or GMB come Feb 15.

Why can't we be have people like Soludo and the likes in these so called 'major' political parties vying for the post of the President in this country?

Honestly we still have a long way to go.

I wonder my brother. The analysis is thought provoking. the president and his team has failed us and i don't think Buhari would do any wonders

JESUS THIS IS A BOMB. Gawd, Soludo murdered the president. All he presented were facts. Soludo we need you back. Please come home. I keep telling friends that so far Obasanjo's administration, regardless of what you think, remains the best and yet to be unbeaten

Many people at the rally are from neighboring states. The president is capitalizing on rigging the elections. I heard him mention he has strong supporter base in lagos and I thought he was drunk not till AIG Mbu was redeployed to lagos that I realised the president wasn't joking about the strong supporter base in lagos

The guys are not intimidated. For a lady to own a car simply implies that she into a serious relationship.

Has kennis music poach the guy?

We recycle stale news

Temptee101:
People dont seem to know what they truly have. My sis is a first class graduate, a lecturer and also doing her Ph.D now. Though she's not the outgoing type but that does not give him the temerity to cheat on her.

You will destroy your sister's marriage if you tell her. I think it's best you confront him yourself. In my own opinion I think he is just having fun and nothing serious.

You mentioned your sister is pregnant and I guess the sex has slowed down for a while and he just wants to offload and feel like a boy again. For him to have left immediately sighting you means he is embarrassed and worried and I know he would still be worried sick.

Confront him and express yourself. You would win a friend rather than a foe and also save your sister's marriage because ignorance is bliss sometimes.

Take care

PS: I would also advise you not to listen to the kids advising you to tell your sister because they have no clue about marriage or being in a marriage or to drive home the point, being a married man

Goodluck Jonathan’s national security advisor has a simple message for the Nigerian military: “If you don’t want to fight … get out of the army.”

Speaking at the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House in London on Thursday, Sambo Dasuki said the cowardice of Nigeria’s army is the reason why a multinational military base in Baga fell to Boko Haram terrorists earlier this month in a bloody attack that deeply embarrassed Jonathan’s fragile government.

“We had a lot of cowards, and it turned out there was a problem in the recruitment process,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of people who we believe joined because they wanted a job, not because they wanted a career in the military. And it’s most of them who are running away and telling stories.”

http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/01/22/nigeria-boko-haram-blame-game/

olu77:
Is that his uniformed gateman proudly displaying the court summons in front of camera? I smell another old soldier returning to labour market soon.

I guess he has not paid the security guard

Are all these people struggling for 65million people

fyneguy:
I have a feeling FFK is deliberately working against Jona o

Your are not alone. I wonder why the president would appoint someone who has crossed over to the opposition as part of your campaign team.

This president sef

Is this guy a comedian. He better be

Gawd can we let this rest and focus on better things

ignatusamson:
See let me tell u people let's not make a mistake we will all regret....how can GMB at his old age be the president be the president of Nigeria...hell no...my fellow citizen's plsss let's vote for some1 who will make our dreams come through...let's not fall back to the old thinking of Government or do we need another president to die on sit like yaradua?? please in this country we need civilization now and GEJ is the man that will take us to the greener pasture...lest not be blind folded with the fact that GMB will change this country it's a big lie....plsss let's support GEJ for a better Nigeria

Truly a dream filled with corruption and more terrorism - What a scary dream

Abeg Mek una help us

OldefDaniels:
Illiteracy is still a huge issue in Nigeria sha. A "supposed soldier" goes on air to CNN, the same CNN we saw interviewing bokoharam members, tells the world he buys his military uniforms himself, some wild animals say na President sell am or influence am, na wa.
D same CNN that said Ebola was ravaging Nigeria and gave a map that pointed another country as Nigeria, Some idiots say President.
A "Supposed Soldier" tells the world via CNN that BH is better equipped with sophisticated weapons than the Nigerian army, some nama wen dem suppose sell for Market forget that this same BH loot weapons from our military to fight.
My Question is, do these soldiers go to Aso Rock to buy uniforms directly from the presidency? If these same soldiers can go on air to report their institution to d world, why haven't they cried foul to d relevant authorities all this while but CNN?
CNN propagating the gospel of a better equipped BH than the NA, have they ever come out to condemn the USA and its western allies for refusing to sell the supposed "sophisticated arms" to Nigeria?
Wetin be their plan for Nigeria? If our Govt is bad like it truly is in our country, CNN should carry their mumu stories and go to hell, Illiterates should go get some brains to ask relevant questions, probe statements before blabbing.
Uniforms for NYSC sef dem no de buy, Soldiers are given uniforms at all relevant levels, if one misuses or looses out of carelessness and at the point has to buy doesn't mean they all buy. The west and their CNN should leave us alone with our wahala, FOOLS.

I read your comment. I think you are the illiterate one here.