₦airaland Forum

proO1:
I was only enthralled by the intricate plot Cap28 managed to weave so dexterously - especially the attempt to establish familial links between DSK and the CIA. Lol. Na wah for the matter oh. I find it all intriguing the way he always manages to come up with these interesting theories. It seems there's really no difference between Hollywood and reality, or between life and art. . .only that I don't know which immitates the other.

OneONYX:
I have to take you on this one Cap28.

1) Laughing all the way to the bank: Isn't that what business is meant for? I really don't have to talk about this.

2) They pay their employees starvation wages and offer mainly part time work: Haha, dude, it's a retail store not an investment bank! Back in 2008, as a fresh graduate, I worked for a Nigeria owned company in Lagos. I had an official car (for sales calls), wore a suit and a tie, but was paid about N25K/month! Take a quick survey among young graduates in Nigeria who don't work for banks, multinationals and oil companies and you'll be shocked at what they earn. I'm not in support of "starvation wages", but it's not a new thing in Nigeria and I'd rather have secondary school graduates work for N20K/month at Walmart than be a bus conductor or rot away at home for years while waiting for JAMB (this really happens btw)!!! Besides, not all the jobs at Walmart are low paying ( I know that for sure)

3) They take out life insurance policies on their employees known as "dead peasant's policies: Yeah, I saw the documentary too. This is a really evil policy, so I don't have much to say about it. However, worse have happened in Nigeria;  the Julius Berger white man who abuses his employees with his dog, or the lebanese/chinese manufacturers who locks you up with poisonous fumes in the factory, then fire you if you get injured, or the oil companies in the Delta and all their atrocities? Truth is, if this were the States, you could make a documentary out of each story, but in Nigeria, this sort of stories only command 1/16th of a page in the back page of The Sun! Bottom line, this is not half as bad as what we already have in Nigeria and it doesn't mean they'll do it over here.

4) None of their stores have union representation: Really dude? Where do you think this is, Detroit? What have the unions done for even Govt workers in Nigeria? not to talk of the private sector? Even if Walmart allows unions in Nigeria, what will the employees gain? Bottom line, we don't have strong unions here, so Walmart will not start or stop anything.

5) They put local retailers out of business: What do you mean? Can you change your perspective from a suburb in LA county to Iyana-Ipaja? who are the local retailers there and what do they sell? 100s of people with "shops"  attached to their houses all selling the same crappy stuff, 100s of people with roadside stands clogging-up the streets, wheelbarrow merchandise, and the "shopping plazas" containing exuberant traders grabbing your arm as you pass by. Really? you prefer walking for miles in mud covered markets than doing your grocery in one superstore with standardized prices? Did you even think of the economic impact that 3 Walmart stores would have in a place like Iyana-Ipaja for instance? How many jobs will be created for kids who would otherwise become street urchins? What about graduates that can work in logistics (Walmart has one of the best in the world), accounting, management, etc. Or what about the local suppliers, distributors etc. Put it together, one Walmart store in Iyana-Ipaja can have more economic impact in terms of jobs etc than 20 banks combined!!! How much tax will go back to the state coffers? You think those "shops" pay tax? haha! (except to the agberos) How many of the things in those "shops" do we even produce in Nigeria? Walmart will not change anything regarding importation in Nigeria, we already import everything!!!

Okay, I'm getting late for work! More comments later!!!

emmatok:
She said, “There was a day she came to work in bandage but when I asked her how she sustained injuries, she said she fell from an okada.


“Two weeks ago, another colleague saw marks on her hands but when asked how she got the bruises, she said she slipped and fell in the house.


“It is now that I’m beginning to connect the dots. Titi was small in stature and her husband was big. I can only imagine the sort of beating he would have been giving her. I regret not noticing on time. Probably, we would have been able to avert this disaster.


“Titi was so in love with Akolade. On many occassions, she would distribute copies of Akolade’s Curriculum Vitae to colleagues in the office because she was eager to see him get a job.


“Akolade, however, never appreciated her. Sometimes, he would seize her cheque book, ATM cards and her car keys as punishment whenever they fought even though she was the one sustaining the family financially.

mushufan2:
@ cap28 dont hate bro I dnt work at walmart I did work dere wen I was in college n trust me it was fun lol where I work now with intel my months salary will cover ure one year salary lol u better look at d bright side of walmart coming to nigeria cos dey dnt have to ure busy hating on dem dat dey made 3.3million dollarfirst quarter of d year, ure an ode oshi mumu u want dem to make a loss fool dere not begging u to work bro if u dnt anoda person will so stop hating

martinosi:
Please note your bold point,

Every President in Africa,Nigeria included has to come to
point of making a decision in order to grow their economy.

Am i going to tax corporations effectively and make them contribute to the growth of the host economy they are benefiting from

or

Am i going to tax my citizens heavily or cut public expenditure
to please my International Investors be they Banks or Corporations in order to give them subsidies, tax breaks and other benefits to keep them operating in my country with disregard and gross business impunity to the enviroment they operate in and locals they employ.

So the questions is

A - Tax Profits ie Corporations be they Local or International

or

B - Tax Overheads ie Nigerian workers who are already under pressure and on economic life support!!!

I guess we can see from past and current events that african and Nigerian leaders
dont have the guts/balls/politcal will power to do "A" so it going to be "B"

Muza:
I dont know why u guyz still dont get it,

Let me summarise wat GEJ said in one sentence: "Subsidy is going"

then let me now explain,he means fuel will soon go for N140 per litre,Nigerians wont know wat hit them,which will send a rippple effect through-out the economy and raise the the price of everysingle thing in Naigeria from transport,food,clothes,school-fees,rent. . .etc,everything u can think of,
And why he said ordinary man is that the rich will,continue to steal or get contracts,their salaries and allowance will increase many folds to meet their needs and that of their families,while the poor will continue to wallow in poverty.
I guess GEJ is a nice guy for hinting u guyz to sit up,reduce your stomaches and tighten your belts,cos sure hard times are coming your way and aint nothing u can do about it,you voted him,didnt u?

lets see wat d daft GEJ apologists will say. . .

One Paul valley writing in today’s (16th May, 2006) Independent glorifies the finance minister of Nigeria, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the woman who has power to change Africa. My worry about this article is the sheer empty praise singing devoid of any sound analysis of issues as expected of a journalist for a reputable organisation like the UK Independent newspaper. The fact that Mr.Paul travelled all the way to Abuja to interview the so-called wonder woman gave him ample opportunities to explore or assess the developments on the ground, but he chose not to see anything that counters the western chosen view that the worst government in Nigerian history is doing well. A genuine journalist could have marched rhetoric with investigations or interviews with both ordinary people and key opinion leaders and of course, political opponents. One greatly doubts how this Paul would fare in a test of honesty because; only rogues and idiots (which include lousy people singing praises ignorantly) have seen any progress in the present Nigeria.


The unfortunate thing about the new era of mental colonialism is that rogues and white supremacists disguise themselves as friends of Africa. Nigeria under Obasanjo has recorded an unprecedented rise in revenues for about 7years, courtesy of oil boom [b]yet, Obasanjo's regime in its 7th year has not marched Gen. Abacha's of less than 5years in infrastructural development. This is a matter of fact, not opinion! [/b]Obasanjo's regime has equally achieved the highest scales of corruption, official wickedness, police brutality, suppression/assassination of opponents, election malpractices etc. Only genuine western observers like some of those in the Human Rights Watch have seen this glaring fact that the so-called democracy in Nigeria is a disaster.


[b]Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a thoroughly colonised text book economist who knows nothing about Nigeria. And probably knows not that she is being used by the west to achieve their selfish goals. The simple question which any sensible economist in Nigeria ought to face is why the average barrow pusher can afford a better standard of living than the average farmer in Nigeria? Yet another issue is the salient fact that Nigeria exists without the people. If any major disaster destroys Lagos, Abuja and Port-Harcourt (but, God forbid!), 90% of Nigerians would still be enjoying three square meals per day because 90% of us exist without the government. Nigeria exists more as a colonial trading post than as a state involving people who trust their destiny in it. This cannot be said of any of those countries whose economies Okonjo-Iweala has acquired knowledge of.


[b]The fundamental issue is that Nigeria and other failed Black states need to look inwards rather than outwards to the same white men who are their curse for survival. It is disgraceful to the entire Black race that Nigeria with over 70 universities and many thousands of first class economists would allow a group of white supremacist merchants dubiously titling themselves the world bank (to bamboozle colonial idiots) would at this stage of human development be manipulating the destiny of over 130 million people (the supposedly most enlightened black society).

The World Bank obviously promoted Okonjo-Iweala as bait knowing fully well, it would wow majority of colonised Black people who approve whoever has been approved by white men. Gen Obasanjo appointed her based on his primitive mentality that he cannot do without the white man. Perhaps, due to her ignorance coupled with the idiocy of Nigerian elites who shiver around her, she has not even realised that her position is serving no good for the future of Nigeria. Of course, many more Nigerians would be used by other international gangs like the World Bank to derail development in the guise of reforms.

One cardinal question any sensible observer ought to ask is where the economic reform which has been painted on newspaper pages about Okonjo-Iweala/Obasanjo lies. Nigeria is going down and down due to unprecedented levels of corruption yet, journalists across the world who ought to be on the side of the truth are singing hallelujah! Economic reforms which concentrates on sacking hapless messengers and low level workers which include many disabled and elderly people while the government is over bloated with irrelevant political appointments must be fake. An economic reform which borders on dubiously selling the juiciest public enterprises to white men is most unfortunate for the Black race. Of course, there is no doubt about the fraudulence of the so-called crusade against corruption which only spots political opponents. If only one tenth of what has happened in Nigeria could happen in Zimbabwe, God knows how the international media would have been reacting.[/b]

http://www.dawodu.com/iteshi3.htm

rhymz:
@Caps24
Without mincing words, that article you posted is conjectural crap and deliberately overlooks facts. The writer's aim is obviously to maneuver the real issues and facts by giving vague explanations to buttress his points.

Instead of mouthing off about how the minister is a dollar-paid agent of the west, he should be more concerned with the facts that showed how our debt profile ballooned from  $12billion in 1985 to $35billion in 2005.

Can you actually blame all that on the minister? These are the facts we need to face:
· More loans were obtained from both bilateral and multilateral institutions.
· More loans were sourced from the international capital market at "commercial rates".
· The accumulation of "trade arrears" (somebody defaulted on payment & the punishment was the accumulated trade arears we had to pay, am sure we agreed on that terms before taking the loans)
· Fines/Penalties on the debts arising from over-due scheduled payments (And you blame your creditors? Did Nigeria agree to those terms or not before securing the loans?)
· The capitalization of unpaid interests ( thesame issue of default payment)

Depreciation of the US dollars against other major international currencies in which the loans were taken( now this is where I felt Mr Banjo or whatever his name is  peaked up his sentimental article. Like for real, we should have borrowed in Naira from these creditors; he must think these guys are dunce and do not understand the strength of our unpredictable naira currency. To even assert that after the creditors granted us loans, there was some sort of immediate calls to their sister institutions to put pressure on the government to devalue the Naira is prepostrous and shows his unwillingness to admit that successful administrations goofed big time with the management of these loans which led to serious economic problems that in turn led to IBB's introduction of SAP against strong advice from renown economicsts at that time.

The bottom line is, whether IMF prescribed the devaluation is not the crux of the issue, the issue is what realy led to the problems that culminated to succumbing to the pressure of introducing SAP?

It is instructive to state that debt service payment for Nigeria's debts started on a soft, tolerable level in 1958 until it became a hard bargain years later. The average debt service in the late fifties was N3.2m annually which worked out at 0.2% of the GDP. In other words debt serving was not a big cut on the nation's purse initially. However, later, debt serving became much of burden for Nigeria to bear. Matters came to a head in 2003 when one of Nigeria's creditors the Paris Club demanded an all- time high $3 billion annually for debt service payment. Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala considered the payment economically unsustainable. She therefore negotiated with the club and got to accept $1.7 billion debt service payment annually. This left an unpaid debt service of $1.3 billion, which the club added to the principal alongside other interests. This is one reason the nation's total debt stock kept on rising.

If you observe very well you will notice that the difference between loans secured from the Paris club and multilateral institutions is in its terms agreed upon and the size of the loans. While it is obvious that the debt potfolio from the latter is manageable as they were secured under concessionary arrangement with little or no interest rates; with 10 years moratorium and about 30 years payment period. The same cannot be said for the former. Hence the need to seek for debt forgiveness and pay off the remnant and move on, let's not forget that was not the first time Nigeria had sought for debt forgiveness. One thing a lot of us have refused to acknowledge is that you can't take away the intrigues of politics when seeking for debt relief from these creditors, all these baseless cries about Ngozi being a stooge is conjectural crap. Somebody should state clearly where and when the woman has sold the country's interests to the west without resorting to what the small devils and demons crip-walking on your shoulders and whispering to your ears in paranoia. Enough said abeg, the woman is exactly the kind of experts we need, people with both the expertise, reach and courage to face the job, not these ugly, colourless Aganga that is so very much busy doing nothing.

Damn- i mean ive always known pdp kiss imperialist Bottom but didnt know to what extent.
It makes sense africom is co-ordinating the attacks but ive always maintained NATO was a simple cover up for the US to continue its worldwide spread of terror under the pretense the rest of the world agrees.
Apparently half of the EU arent even in agreement with the situation in libya, i wont be surprised if its left with the US, UK and france to continue.

But on the case of buhari it makes more sense that jonathan most likely rigged the elections, sums up what he was doing in the US prior to the election and the lack of coverage on the terror attacks in Nigeria by the western media.
'If its not on sky news it must not be happening'

So in your opinion provided the US dont otherthrow the rest of the world 'armaggedon style' with this major arms race thats goin on- whats Nigeria going to be like 2020 provided our imperialist masters continue to have thier way??

To expose the flaw, some historical perspective is requisite. In 1985, Nigeria's external debt was $19 billion, of which $8 billion was owed to the Paris Club creditors, $2 billion to other creditor countries e.g., Bulgaria, $8 billion to commercial creditors, and $1 billion to multilateral agencies (mostly the World Bank and the African Development Bank). At the end of 2004, the Nigeria's external debt was $36 billion. Of this amount, $31 billion was owed to Paris Club creditors, almost nothing to other bilateral official creditors, $3 billion to multilateral agencies, and $2 billion to commercial creditors.

The appropriate question to ask then is this; why did Nigeria's Paris Club debt balloon by $23 billion over the past 20 years? In brief, the Paris Club creditors stopped advancing new loans to Nigeria because they disliked the country's military dictatorship some of whom signed for the loans. The bulk of the $23 billion increase represents interest arrears, interest charged on these arrears, and penalties that accumulated after 1992 when the Paris Club creditors refused to negotiate a debt workout for political reasons, compounded by adverse exchange rate changes. It is instructive to mention that less than $400 million of the debt represents post-1985 borrowing.

Interestingly Nigeria has received virtually no new loans from the Paris Club creditors after 1992. On the other hand, she has paid almost $8 billion to these creditors since then. Yet, she still owes them $14 billion more than she did in 1992. Moreover, instead of applying Nigeria's payments to post-1985 loans to make these performing loans, the creditors have applied the payments against arrears and penalties. Thus, the post-1985 loans continue to accrue their own interest and penalties without challenge from all the Ministers of Finance since 1985, including the World Bank agent, Okonjo-Iweala.

Given the exceptional nature of Nigeria's debt problem, an exceptional solution is called for. A strong case can be made for debt cancellation phased over 2-3 years on the order of 80 percent, blowing the froth off the debt. A buyback of half of the remaining $6 billion of debt would leave Nigeria with $3 billion of the Paris Club debt, putting these creditors at par with the country's multilateral and commercial creditors.

[b]If a non-political, businesslike approach had been taken to Nigeria's debt servicing, the first question that the Nigerian government should have asked is the indenture to the loan. Every loan carries an indenture, which dictates the terms of the loan. It spells out what projects were to be executed, to which companies the contracts were awarded etc. A review of the loan agreement would have revealed that the contracts were awarded to certain companies in America and Europe. These companies were required to be paid based on percentage of completion, and that being true, Nigeria ought to have asked the question, where are the projects for which $8 billion was paid that attracted almost $23 billion in interest and penalty? In essence, the bulk of these loans which the government of Nigeria is cajoling her citizens to rejoice for, never left the shores of some of the 15 countries that form the Paris Club.

Equally worthy of note is the long-standing strategy of these moneylenders. Once they lend us money, they usually lobby the IMF and World Bank for us to devalue our currency so that we would end up paying more than the amount owed by the percentage of the devaluation. For illustration purpose, if they lend us $1,000 and if we were to pay back at the then exchange rate of $1 to N85, we would have paid N85,000. But then the leaches would now call their brothers at the IMF and World Bank to instruct the Negroes at the helms of affairs in Nigeria to devalue. If we now devalue to N140 to $1, we would end up paying back N140,000 instead of N85,000. Do you see how much gain accrued to the master-creditors?

It is also instructive to know that the great United States of America owes a lot of money to China, Japan etc. But because, they have patriots running the affairs of their great country, and they know the kind of horses usually ridden to meet with other peoples' mothers in camera, the U.S always borrows in her own currency. So if you go to the IMF or World Bank to ask the U.S. to devalue her currency, she has nothing to lose because she would still pay you the same amount of dollar borrowed from you. Now if you ask Chief Olu Falae, the Yale Graduate, or Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the World Bank expert, they would recite a politically motivated economic theory that is not employed in the writer's country to explain why Nigeria could not borrow in her own currency. What a chattel! [/b]

Let me now diagnose the prescription of our economic doctors, the IMF and World Bank. The IMF/World Bank in Argentina told us about a decade or so ago that their prescription for Argentina will make them the envy of the World, and lay the frame work to get other nations out of debt and on the road to development. Today, it is crystal clear to every watching eye that their prescription killed Argentina financially, economically and politically. [b][/b]Like Nigeria, they appointed their slaves as Finance Ministers to administer the prescriptions. In the case of Nigeria, their agent Okonjo-Iweala never went to the table with Nigeria interest at heart. She thinks she has nothing to loose, in as much as she dances to the tune of those who pay her in dollars. Her insistence on being paid in dollar is extremely unpatriotic. More than any other factors, it underscores her lack of confidence both in Naira and in her own ability as well as that of the administration to save our rotten Naira. Just like her Master, the creditors, the more Nigerian Naira is devalued the better for her. This is similar to the Nigerian governors and president who have no reasons to build good hospitals with state of the art medical equipment and well-trained doctors in any state in Nigeria, because the hospitals in London, Israel, America and Germany were built for them. Why do they have to care about the rest of us? If Iweala had demanded to be paid equal amount or more of her salary in Naira, she would perhaps care about the value of our Naira.

If Iweala had the interest of Nigeria at heart, she should have called for due diligence on these loans to determine whether we truly owe the money. The president who respects court order on Babangida only but not the release of fund for the Lagos State local governments or on the restoration of Governor Ngige's security details, should have been able to determine who and who siphoned the money and charge them to court for prosecution.

General Obasanjo said the debt relief is a dividend of his globetrotting and a product of Okonjo-Iweala's ability to speak in their Master's own tongue. Foul! I say it again, Foul! The leaders of all those countries that officially and genuinely received debt relief, including Ghana and Ethiopia did not waste the resources of their country to deliver to the Masters how well they are ruining their various countries to the contentment of the West. Chief Obafemi Awolowo, of blessed memory, successfully challenged the economic theories of the Europeans during his tenure as the Minister for Finance with the interest of his country foremost in his heart. He did not speak their language, yet he earned their respect.


All our rulers today develop inferiority complexes and stumble through life with a feeling of insecurity, a lack of self-confidence, and a sense of impeding failure. Fear of what life may bring outside government encourages them to sacrifice all of us to the powerful countries with mighty Army and wander aimlessly along the frittering road of selling their people for destruction. Why our rulers continue to trust these Europeans and their descendant worldwide, even with their records all over the world is cloudy to me.


Lo! Something about evil we must never forget, evil is recalcitrant and determined. It would never voluntarily relinquish its hold without a persistent, almost fanatical resistance. It would give you its agent that is called by your name "Okonjo" to help, which is why Muhammad Gaddaffi advised his fellow African rulers to discontinue begging, but they are not deep enough to understand. These beggars usually wait in the hall, while their Masters, the G-8, hold meetings on how they would render the assistance that pays them more than us. These are the beggars Governor Ahmed Bola Tinubu should take off the streets of our country and continent, not the ones that were compelled to become beggars by the wicked actions and inactions of their rulers. With this kind of mentality, the black race would continue to be regarded as an inferior specie of Homo sapiens and we would continue to be held in thrall and public odium[/b]

http://nigeriaworld.com/feature/publication/banjo/072905.html

Saharareporters spoke to an analyst who said, “Though the IMF has approved the PSI for Nigeria to exit from the Paris Club, the international financial institutions are not really fooled by the Nigerian government.” Another contact close to the two institutions who is also knowledgeable about the “Debt Relief” package said, “They know that the Obasanjo regime has been poor and weak in terms of institutional development.” Furthermore, the analyst told Saharareporters that the international community knows that offloading $12 billion dollars for debt repayment is not a wise decision.[/b]They were more concerned about the corruption which, as they know too well, Mr. President wasn’t fighting.

[b]According to our contact, the international community sees Nigeria as a father of four kids who withheld the school fees and feeding allowances of his children so that he can pay his debtors. It never made sense to them, and it never will. They knew all along that the “Debt Relief” package was bribe money offered by Obasanjo to buy the international community’s opinion to perpetuate his stay in power

http://www.saharareporters.com/news-page/obasanjo-plans-squander-nigeria%E2%80%99s-foreign-reserve-saharareporters

davidylan:
Interesting . . . considering your own fact-free diatribe.

and that is the fault of:
a. the free market system
b. multinational companies
c. Africans themselves.

I guess we all know where the problem lies. The free market system you claim violated Africa is the same one that developed the Europe and America that hypocrites like you prefer to hide today. Those same multinational companies exist in other parts of the world, i wonder why Africa is the only continent with a bad relationship with them . . . perhaps it has more to do with our own corruption and general lack of organisation. It is not the free market system that forced Babangida to pocket $12bn of our oil proceeds. Try the truth, it might help.

Interesting that the same Shell and free market system that exists here in the US has not led to environmental degradation . . . perhaps because here the laws are enforced and kickbacks are not the order of the day?

If labor laws are too lax then i suggest you blame your leaders and not the free market system.

Which is why you count one of those "mirages" home as well right? you would be more believable if you chose to move to another country that does not practice the political and economic systems you so easily denigrate. Its called hypocrisy no?

Your alternative to democracy would be what? Pakistan?

Makes little sense comparing a nation of 6m with that of 300m. I'm sure if there were only 5m people in nigeria we'd be able to afford a social welfare system like Libya too with all our oil money. If Libya is as good as you describe then what were the rebels crying about? They hate education?

Even though 1m FREE arabs live, work and are beneficiaries of the social welfare system in Israel? Have arab members in the Knesset and the supreme court? lol i'll have this unique system of "apartheid" any day over that in arab countries like Syria where citizens have become refugees in turkey.

Building a home without a permit would lead to your home being bulldozed in the UK too.

1. No such thing exists. provide evidence to the contrary.

2. Syria is doing just that, do you not care for those kids as well?

GenBuhari:
cap28,
your comments is very interesting.
I always knew OBJ government is a western nations (white man's) stooge

Please explain the 12 billion was made up of inflated interest?
were the interest rate legal?

Let's take another look at the unfolding scenario. According to government statistics, the principal amount we owe is $19 billion. Over the years, we have paid $42 billion, mostly interests and penalties, and despite that, we are still owing about $35 billion - with the Paris Club alone accounting for $30 billion. Shouldn't we be glad, then, that we'll pay only $12 billion and get $18 billion written off forever and ever?

I'm sorry to say this: I am not glad. By simple arithmetic, our creditors have used a $19 billion loan to make $23 billion "profit" from us so far (that is $42 billion minus $19 billion). If we still owe $35 billion then, it means they would be making a "cool profit" of $58 billion on the $19 billion principal. We have re-paid the original loan over and over again. They have already recovered the debts and it is just interests we are dealing with now, as far as I am concerned. This, to my mind, is the mindset with which we must approach the debt issue.

http://nigeriaworld.com/articles/2005/jul/201.html