₦airaland Forum

debosky: I have answered this already, but I will repeat myself for your benefit:



http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=100780:eko-atlantic-city-web-of-intrigues-mysteries-around-a-prime-project&catid=174:newsfeature&Itemid=701

Certification, or preliminary permission was granted, pending the finalisation of the EIA - this shows that there was no contravention of the EIA regulations. The fact that such a claim has been repeated multiple times is responsible for a lot of the opposition. The certification was given pending completion of an EIA which has now been completed.


As for evidence on whether the report was 'authorised' by the FMEnv, I have these various reports:



http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=88025:eko-atlantic-city-calming-frayed-nerves-in-walls&catid=175:kaleidoscope&Itemid=702

A similar report from Vanguard Newspapers:
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/05/eko-atlantic-city-lagos-developers-allay-fears-of-coastal-erosion/

[b]An environmental impact assessment (EIA) is an assessment of the possible positive or negative impact that a proposed project may have on the environment, together consisting of the environmental, social and economic aspects.
The purpose of the assessment is to ensure that decision makers consider the ensuing environmental impacts when deciding whether to proceed with a project. The International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) defines an environmental impact assessment as "the process of identifying, predicting, evaluating and mitigating the biophysical, social, and other relevant effects of development proposals prior to major decisions being taken and commitments made."[1] EIAs are unique in that they do not require adherence to a predetermined environmental outcome, but rather they require decision ­makers to account for environmental values in their decisions and to justify those decisions in light of detailed environmental studies and public comments on the potential environmental impacts of the proposal.[2][/b]

[b]They further noted that the late submission of the EIA to the Federal Ministry of Environment contravened the EIA Act of 2004. “The EIA was submitted three years after the commencement of dredging activities. This is a contravention of the EIA Act 2004, There is no evidence that the Federal Ministry of Environment approved the construction.

The Environmental Impact Assessment of 2004 provides that an EIA must be carried out before embarking upon any developmental project” they experts who stated that the EIA was only submitted in November, 2011 said..

The stakeholders regretted that the affected communities were never involved in the project plans. Meanwhile, serious erosion is happening along the coastal areas identified as vulnerable in the draft final EIA. “The affected areas have to be protected immediately; at the same time, a consensus is needed to find alternative solutions to the proposed hard coastal structures,” they posited.

They further noted that the sustainability concept of the developers does not seem to include core issues like renewable energy, energy efficient building, waste to energy. “It is not clear which kind of permanent jobs the project will create. Neighbouring communities will have difficulties to cope with with increased infrastructural pressure caused by the project.
[/b]

debosky: I did not skip the article, I responded with my views (which you claimed you would/could not rebut), and then subsequently posted evidence that the project was NOT in breach of Nigeria's environmental legislation. Did you even bother to read the comments from the FMEnv's representative?

Another lazy cop-out - why not try addressing the points I’ve raised?

Blogs that consider 'living among white people abroad' as the only determinant of 'exposure' are very likely to be full of unconsolidated bovine droppings. Blogs that carry pure rumour and conjecture and present it as fact cannot be relied upon.

Try to stay on topic - this has nothing to do with information from the ‘west’ - the source I quoted that provided the position of the FMEnv on the project was a Nigerian newspaper. The NIGERIAN Institute of Oceonography and Marine Research that contributed to the EIA is not a 'Western' propaganda agent. Turn off the conspiracy theory switch for a second.

That you’ve even attempted to ‘justify’ this drivel is demonstrative of the paucity of your reasoning capability - no different from the blogger's. Heck I take that back - the blogger’s horse shite is better than any rubbish you could ever produce. So you need to have lived abroad before you ‘understand’ the attitude of white people towards black people eh? Shiii, every African needs to live abroad before they can 'understand' the attitude of white people towards black people.

mapet: That you're not intelligent is not in doubt, but can anyone be dumber than this? you mean you just saw a write-up from a faceless individual on a crap site and it becomes evidence to you/

[b]
595 days ago
Clinton surpasses $75 million in speech income after lucrative 2010

Posted by
CNN Political Research Director Robert Yoon
Washington (CNN) - Former president Bill Clinton enjoyed his most lucrative year ever on the speaking circuit in 2010, capping a decade of paid speaking events that has earned him $75.6 million since leaving office in 2001, according to a CNN analysis of federal financial records.

Clinton received $10.7 million for 52 paid speaking engagements last year, a sizable increase from the 36 paid speeches he delivered in 2009 for a total of $7.5 million. The most the former president had previously earned in one year was in 2006 when he earned $10.2 million for 57 events. His 2010 speaking fees were detailed in Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's annual financial disclosure report released Monday.

Almost half of the former president's speech earnings last year, $4.8 million, came from 18 speeches delivered in 13 other countries, ranging in distance from Canada and Mexico to India, the Philippines, and South Africa. The remainder was earned in 34 speeches delivered in eight states and the District of Columbia.

In 10 years as a private citizen, Clinton has delivered a total of 417 paid speeches and earned an average of $181,000 per event. Almost two-thirds of his total speech earnings, about $44.9 million, have come from 215 overseas events in 48 countries.

The former president's most popular destination outside of the United States has been Canada, where he has participated in 54 paid events for a total of $9.1 million, followed by the United Kingdom, where he earned $3.2 million for 16 events, and Australia and Mexico, where he delivered 13 speeches apiece for $2.3 million and $2.8 million, respectively.

Within the U.S., Clinton has delivered 54 paid events in New York, 35 in California, 22 in Florida and 15 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Helping to propel the former president to his most lucrative year were two events for which he received a combined $1 million. The first was a June 2010 event in Moscow organized by Renaissance Capital. The other was a December speech delivered in the United Arab Emirates for Novo Nordisk, a global health care company. Clinton received $500,000 for each event, which tie for the second-largest payments he has received for a single event. In June 2008, he received $525,000 for a speech at a motivational speaking conference in Edmonton, Canada.

The former president's annual earnings from speeches have varied from year to year depending on his schedule and availability. He gave only six paid speeches for $875,000 in 2004, when he spent much of the year writing his memoirs and recovering from heart bypass surgery.

His $10.7 million haul from 2010 almost doubles the $5.7 million he earned in 2008, when he spent half the year campaigning for his wife's unsuccessful presidential bid. That year, Hillary Clinton loaned her presidential campaign a total of $13.2 million out of her and her husband's personal funds. The Clintons ended up eating the cost of that loan because the campaign was unable to repay the amount by the deadline required by federal campaign finance laws. However, since Hillary Clinton suspended her presidential campaign on June 7, 2008, her husband has earned $23.0 million in speaking fees for 108 events, more than canceling out the impact of the loan.

Clinton was an elected official on a fixed government salary for all but two years from 1977, when he took office as the Arkansas attorney general, until leaving the White House in January 2001.

"I never had any money until I got out of the White House, you know, but I've done reasonably well since then," said Clinton last year at a forum in Cape Town, South Africa.

Though it is not unusual for former presidents to command millions of dollars in speaking fees after leaving office, Clinton is the only one subjected to strict disclosure requirements as a result of his wife's position as a high-ranking federal official, first as a United States Senator and now as Secretary of State.

When President Obama first nominated then-Sen. Clinton, his former rival, to be the nation's top diplomat in December 2008, the former president agreed to a number of steps to guard against possible conflicts of interest that may arise from his various post-presidential activities. In particular, he has agreed to allow State Department and White House ethics officials to review his slate of proposed speaking engagements.

The Center for Public Integrity, a public interest watchdog group, estimated in May that former president George W. Bush had delivered almost 140 paid speeches for at least $15 million in his two-and-a-half years since leaving the White House. A spokesman for President Bush's office declined to comment on the accuracy of that report.

President Clinton's office did not respond to a request for comment on this article.

[/b]

debosky: That is what counts as evidence to that joker called cap28.

Heck one of his pieces of 'evidence' was a blog posting (one of the ones above) wherein the blogger claims Fashola is 'not exposed' because he hasn't lived with white people in a foreign country, or that Eko Atlantic is not Nigerian territory.

mapet: That you're not intelligent is not in doubt, but can anyone be dumber than this? you mean you just saw a write-up from a faceless individual on a crap site and it becomes evidence to you/

[b]NIGERIA: A BANANA REPUBLIC OR NOT? by Bode Eluyera 06/19/2010

Some Nigerians who consider themselves to be knowledgeable and patriotic have never missed the opportunity to express their objections or dissatisfaction whenever Nigeria is referred to as a banana republic. Perhaps, they come to the defense of Nigeria probably out of ignorance, stupidity, patriotism and/or fear to admit that their country, afterall, is nothing but a banana republic despite its 150 million population and the large reserve of oil in the Niger delta. In order to objectively determine if Nigeria is a banana republic or not, please let us put all emotion aside and answer the following questions honestly.

1. What do you call a country whose president was missing for 6 months and nobody, not even his deputy, knew his whereabout or could assertain whether he waas dead or alive?

2. What do you call a country whose acting president happily admitted with pride to a foreign journalist that he had neither seen nor spoken to his boss for the past 3 months?

3. What do you call a country that awards road contracts to Lebanese, whose population is less than 4 million and territory less than Oyo state?

4. What do you call a country that allows foreign oil companies to pollute its land for decades without any repercusion?

5. What do you call a county that over pays half-baked foreigners for work and/or services that better qualified Nigerians could do better and cheaper?

6. What do you call a county that dishes out its oil blocks, its most valuable and liquid assets, to every Dick and Harry?

7. What do you call a country that allows foreign envoys and spies to hold closed door meetings with a former military dictator who was disgaced out of office?

8. What do you call a country that allows fopreigners, foreign companies and countries to dominate its energy sector, its most valuable and liquid assets?

9. What do you call a country that allows foeigners, foreign companies and countries to dominate the whole of its economy?

10. What do you call a country that produces practically nothing and lives only on oil for the past 50 years?

11. What do you call a country that allows foreign oil companies to use offshore taxation thereby denying it of billions of dollars in lost tax revenues?

12. What do you call a country that is not capable of drilling its oil for almost 50 years when other producing countries like Iran and Venezuela with much smaller populations of 65 million and 26 millions respectively have already been doing that for long?

13. What do yuou call a country that has been ruled fo the past 50 years by incompetent, corupt, visionless and morally bankrupt oppotunists?

14. What do yuou call a country with a population of 150 million that is incapable of managing its airports, steel, metallurgical and aluminium plants and had to privatize them or hand them over to Indians, Arabs and Israelis?

15. What do you call a country that the American, British ambassadors and every Dick and harry American state official like William J. Burns, the Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs, could walk straight into the office of its president and hold secret meetings anytime they want?

16. What do you call a country with a population of 150 million whose president thinks that his country must form a bi-Nation committees with the American government on elections, the Niger Delta, good governance in order to conduct a free and fair presidential election that will be accepted by the Americans; and resolve the Niger Delta impasse and other issues related to good governance?

17. What do you call a country whose president can not find capable citizens out of a population of 150 million to conduct technical audits and write blue prints for the country's power sector and had to award over-inflated contact - without even a tender - to the World Bank?

18. What do you call a country whose leadership has

to make jamboree visits to British's Chatham House in London, the country of its colonial master in order to resolve all its internal problems especially the Niger Delta crises?

19. What do you call a country whose minister of petroleum was appointed despite the fact that her own people people were even against the appointment and she has been indicted twice for fraud and embezzlement?

20. What do you call a country that allows the former spokes man to its deceased president to travel to America on a suspicious and strange Harvard scholarship without realising that in actual fact he was invited by by the C.I.A. in order to get a detailed and classified information about all activities in Aso rock especially all the circumstances surrounding the death of its president?

21. What do you call a country that American and British ambassadors, Secretary of State, diplomats are already openly supporting the candidacy of an acting president before the latter even declares his intention to contest and without any strong protest from the country's civil rights ands democratic activists?

22. What do you call a country whose law makers do not feel that it is necessary to investigate and establish the true cause and all the circumstances surrounding the death of its president which has brought public humiliation to the country and cost the economy a substantial loss?

23. What do you call a country that was uncapable of arresting an allegedly corrupt former governor that the president ordered should be arrested dead or alive, and the same thief was arrested by the Dubai government a couple of days later after the he escaped from the country?

24. What do you call a country where Babangida is still bold enough to come out to announce that he wants to become the president again after all the atrocities and crime that he committed that warrant his execution?

25. What do you call a country that uses only English language, the language of its colonial master as its only official language, 50 years after independence despite the fact that it has its own rich indeginous languages?

26. What do you call a country that complains from time to time that Britain, France and the United States are keeping its looted artefacts in their respective museums but at the same time reward these countries with lucrative oil contracts?

27. What do you call a country that gives out its land to foreigners to farm and export the products without any hinderance?

28. What do you call a country that complains sometimes about the molestation, humiliation and murder of its citizens by foreign countries but at the same time reward these countries with very lucrative contracts running into billions of dollars?

29. what do you call a country that continuously send retired, redundant, sick military officers as ambassadors?

30. What do you call a country that continuously send diplomats, who are not capable of communicating at all in the language of the host countries to represent it?

31. What do you call a country whose presidents go abroad regularly for medical check-ups and treatments despite the fact that it could afford to build state of the arts medical center that could be run by its own medical personnel who rank among the best of the best in the world?

32. What do you call a country that squanders millions of dollars to send its army on training exercises to the United States on how to guard its own coastal water 50 years after independence?

33. What do you call a country that still bears the name given to it by its colonial masters 50 years after independence?

34. What do you call a country that is still not capable of printing its own money 50n yeras after independence?

35. What do you call a country that handed over a big chunk of its territory extremely rich in oil and gas and other mineral resources to another country based on a fraudulent and strange international kangaroo court ruling controlled by western countries?

In actual fact, the list is endless too. But I will stop here for now. It will be continued another time. If we answer the above questions sincerely, we will all agree that the answer to every question, without any excerption, is A BANANA REPUBLIC! Taking into consideration the fact that the population of Nigeria is 150 million, therefore, UNDOUBTEDLY, NIGERIA IS THE BIGGEST BANANA REPUBLIC IN THE WORLD. It is just impossible to imagine all or even any of the above happening in smaller countries.

[/b]

Eko Atlantic City- Lagos State Govt Allegedly Paid Bill Clinton US$200,000 For His Appearance


Former U.S. President Bill Clinton graced the stage at the commissioning of Eko Atlantic City, Lagos, but what many people don’t know is that he got paid US$200,000 for his appearance.
What is unclear at this point in time is whether the funds came from the Lagos State treasury, private enterprise or a mixture of both. Knowing how Nigeria works, we’re inclined to go with option A as the original source of the funds


Read more: http://www.9jalife.com/2013/02/23/eko-atlantic-city-lagos-state-govt-allegedly-paid-bill-clinton-us200000-for-his-appearance/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+9jalife+%289jaLife%29#ixzz2LoV5Ea1u

Eko Ile: You give these illiterate clowns too much credit. I can't even give them a second of my time hence ignoring them like they don't exist.

ROSSIKE: The highlighted is why it is so difficult to debate people like you. Only a madman will say Fashola has done nothing for the people of Lagos. Look I grew up in Lagos. I know exactly what it was like 20-30 years ago. The transformation over the last 6 years has been nothing short of astonishing. Schools, hospitals, roads. ALL have seen big improvements. The IPP projects. The road expansions. The state rail network being built. Are these all being done for foreign multinationals? I mean, please, reason when you debate, so you can at least sound sane.





Where? How? If I were him, places like Makoko would have disappeared completely. I would have chased everyone out of there. He is even gentle. If you have nowhere to stay in Lagos, RETURN TO YOUR VILLAGE and FARM or start a trade. Don't leave your village out of greed to 'make it in Lagos' unless you have saved up and can afford approved housing in Lagos. That's the same way it works in USA, UK, Germany, Russia, SA, everywhere.



Milking how? These guys see a huge market with strong demand. They wish to take advantage of the opportunity by establishing outlets here, and you say they want to ''milk Nigeria dry''? Are Microsoft and Bill Gates milking YOU dry now as you use their equipment to type your disgruntlement?

No?

So how will GE be ''milking Nigeria dry'' by establishing their $1 billion dollar manufacturing plant here?

How will LG be ''milking us dry'' by setting up an electronics factory in Nnewi as they're planning?

Samsung too are coming to set up a plant I hear. How will they be exploiting us? The exact way the Asian Tigers developed was by western companies doing the exact same thing - setting up bases there. Exploiting the cheaper labour and large middle class markets there. The result? The Asian Tigers ended up more developed and prosperous than the west. There's no reason to think Africa will not experience similar fortunes. In fact it's already happening, as the middle class expands across the continent.



Where do you get this ''5 cents an hour'' nonsense from? Are multinationals currently based in Nigeria paying their workers ''5 cents an hour''?

No?

So why would incoming ones begin paying their workers such pitiful amounts?

Do you realize that modern companies understand the importance of proper renumeration of their workforce in order to ensure greater productivity, which helps to improve their competitive advantage over rivals?




These cannot be the reasons, since Nigeria is hardly the only place on earth with such 'characteristics'.

The main reasons they are attracted to Nigeria are the huge market and rising incomes, rising demand for consumables, and a rising GDP. Add the fact that power infrastructure is being transformed. All this means, big business, big profits. A win-win situation.

ROSSIKE: I honestly thought you were more intelligent than this.

[b]THE CAT HAS BEEN LET OUT OF THE BAG!!!

EKO ATLANTIC: NOT MEANT FOR NIGERIA!!!

A PICTURE IS WORTH MORE THAN A 1000 WORDS!!!

CAN YOU SEE WHAT ! AM SEEING TOO?!!!

MUHAMMODU BUHARI NEEDS TO SORT THIS OUT IN 2015!!!




Ladies and Gentlemen!

Una, I want to share something wey I don see with you o. Indeed, I took my time to open the site that Ajibs posted above; and to my HORROR, do you know what I saw. I saw/noticed something very very very. Take a close look at picture 13 of the "IMage Gallery and Design Concepts," what do you notice. Are you a good observer? What do you see? Ok, let me let the cat out of the bag. All the people in the picture(picture 13) are WHITE(YELLOW, to be precise)! There is no single black looking person in the picture!!! Do you know what that means? Well, your guess is as good as mine. What this means in
essence is that according to the concept of EKO Atlantic, it is supposed to be a FOREIGN CITY IN LAGOS THAT WILL BE OCCUPIED SOLELY BY FOREIGN COMPANIES, FOREIGN COUNTRIES AND FOREIGNERS - COMPLETELY CLOSED AND OUT OF BOUNDS TO LAGOSIANS, NIGERIANS, AFRICANS AND BLACKS IN GENERAL!!! The security company and personnel will be wholely FOREIGN OWNED. If you will ever see any black man there, they will most likely be CLEANERS, JANITORS, WAITERS, WAITRESSES, CALL AND GO-GO GIRLS (which may also include even some Nollywood stars). As part of his PR stunt, Tunde Fashola will eventually go on to tell Nigerians that he has provided 5,000 jobs for Lagosians through Eko Atlantic project. Whenever he goes out to say that, we must not forget to ask him what kind of jobs exactly did he provide, their average salaries compared to the Oyinbo people that are occupying/colonizing Eko Atlantic.


EKO ATLANTIC: A REALITY SHOW!!!

Eko Atlantic, to the best of my understanding, is supposed to be a sort of REALITY SHOW meant only/mainly for RICH FOREIGNERS and a few Nigerian bandits who have stolen billions of dollars of our money, deposited in foreign banks and helped foreigners to steal Nigeria dry. Lagosians and Nigerians are supposed to watch from FAR AWAY, marvel at what they see, but NOT interfere. Eko Atlantic will be like a COUNTRY WITHIN A COUNTRY with its own jurisdiction where foreigners can fly into directly or enter from the ship without going through Nigeria's immigration. Through Eko Atlantic, anybody can enter and leave Nigeria without the knowledge of the Nigerian government, through Eko Atlantic, the CIA can smuggle anybody and anything out of and into Nigeria without the knowledge of Nigeria's immigratio and government. Imagine a situation whereby the CIA will assassinate a prominent Nigerian, take him into Eko Atlantic(a closed and secured territory where their camouflaged companies and people are in charge of securuty) and later fly his corpse out of Nigeria and the State Security Service will be searching for the poor guy all over Nigeria not knowing that CIA don carry am out of Nigeria via Eko Atlantic. The CIA can as well operate SECRET PRISONS where any Nigerian that they 'suspect' of having connection with terrorism can be rounded up(kidnapped) on the streets of Lagos in a cladenstine operation and brought into their UNDERGROUND secret prison in Eko Atlantic.

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is not a kind of fiery tales available only in James Bond films that I am writing above. I am damn serious! This is not just not only more than possible, but I am convinced that this is what is going to happen eventually with Eko Atlantic. It is no more a secret that the US government and CIA operate secret prisons all over the world where different people under the pretext of fighting terrorism are detained there and tortured in order to either get some classified information from them, frighten them or force them to co-operate with the US secret service. All we see at the background are beautiful edifices, but do Nigerians know who really own and control them? Taking into consideration the fact that a substantial part of Eko Atlantic was constructed in the Atlantic Ocean, it can not be completely ruled out too that some LEGAL MANIPULATION were carried so that Eko Atlantic TECHNICALLY will not be part of Nigerian territory - and is a sort of AUTONOMOUS/SOVEREIGN ISLAND that belongs to foreigners and the Lebanese Chagoury brothers! Why not? This is more than possible too! Do Nigerians know what are really inside these buildings? Do Nigerians It is more than possible tobuild ANYTHING inside Eko Atlantic: secret prisons, UNDERGROUND PASSAGES, MINI-AIRPORTS for planes and helicopters where anybody and anything could be flown in and outside of Nigeria.

BUHARI HAS A LOT OF WORK TO DO IN 2015.

Eko Atlantic is one of the major reasons why bandits like Nasir El-Rufai and his comrades-in-crime are pressurising Muhammodu Buhari not to contest in 2015: so that they can replace jonathan badluck and continue the looting and money laundering activities. Who is afraid of Buhari? Personally, I am not. I have no skeletons in my cupboard. I have NEVER duped, stolen anybody's money nor kill anybody. Therefore, I have nothing to fear. Only bandits are afraid of Muhammodu Buhari.

Last but not not the least, I was just wondering on what basis did Tunde Fashola decide to host the Super Eagles in Lagos and also dash out money and other expensive presents (which belong to Lagos tax payers) to them. Fashola is only a governor of one of the 36 states of the Federation - and not a Federal minister. Or are we to understand that the fact that Lagos state is the richest state in Nigeria gave Tunde Fashola the right to be dashing out the money of Lagosians without seeking their approval? I can understand Fashola: he is trying to out-do/perform the Federal government headed by jonathan badluck. But, the billion question is: Is it not unfair and immoral of Tunde Fashola to be boosting his political image, promoting his presidential ambition and conducting a PR campaign at the expense of the hard-working Lagosians most of whom are still lacking basic ammenities and live below poverty line.

Perhaps, Ajibs could be kind enough again to address the issues raised here too. By the way, we look forward to more pictures from you or any other person. THE MORE PICTURES, THE MORE INFORMATION! A big thank you to him in advance.


THE JUDGEMENT DAY IS AT HAND!!! WE WILL NOT HAVE TO WAIT FOR LONG TO PUT ALL THE BANDITS IN PRISONS AND EVEN EXECUTE SOME OF THEM!!!

BY THE WAY, TUNDE FASHOLA MIGHT END UP IN PRISON INSTEAD OF ASO-ROCK IN 2015!!!


YOU ARE FREE TO REPUBLISH THIS POST ON YOUR BLOG, SOCIAL WEB SITES AND SEND IT TO FEMI FALANA,WOLE SOYINKA, BOLA TINUBU, RAUF AREGBESOLA, MUHAMMAD FAWEHINMI, JONATHAN BADLUCK, FRIENDS, COLLEAGUES, POLITICIANS, HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS, E.T.C. THANK YOU!


[/b]

[b]e: Eko Atlantic City Opens

BABATUNDE FASHOLA IS A LOCAL CHAMPION!!!

TUNDE FASHOLA POSES A SERIOUS ECONOMIC RISK TO NIGERIA!!!

TUNDE FASHOLA - POTENTIAL CIVILIAN DICTATOR!!!

BABATUNDE FASHOLA FAR FROM BEING THE IDEAL PRESIDENT FOR NIGERIA!!!

I AM AGAINST TUNDE FASHOLA AND NASIR EL-RUFAI BECOMING THE PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA!!!



@Mr. Ahmed Olayinka Sule.

First, let me say a big thank you for your courage for writing this article. The norm or belief these days is that Tunde Fashola is just TOO GOOD to be taken up on policies and criticized. The perception in town is that this guy called the "action governor,' who was very lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time for Sen. Bola Ahmed Tinubu to hand pick him and make him the governor of Lagos state, is bigger than life. Tinubu's influence in Lagos state is so strong to the extent that if he had chosen/backed a dog then, the dog would definitely win the elections and occupy Alausa House.

Fashola is building Lagos for the affluence and foreigners: Chinese, Lebanese, Americans, British, French, Indians etc but not for ordinary mekunus. I have said it so many times that Tunde Fashola constitute a serious ECONOMIC SECURITY RISK' to Nigeria. Fashola proved me right again with 2 major events/decisions/statements that he made: 1. When he told Omole Sowore of the Saharareporters during an interview in New York that the process he uses in carrying out his projects do not matter but what matters most are the result; 2. And the imposition of Chinese language on Lagos pupils and schools all in the name of preparing them for global competition. The fact that even countries like Russia, Britain, Germany (and the European Union in general) whose trade turn over with China is above $50 billion each(modest estimation) don't even force the Chinese language on their citizens is ignored by Fashola.All most Lagosians and Nigerians are the beautiful roads and other structures, but many are not paying attention to the processes that were used or being used to provide these ammenities. Most of the projects in Lagos state are being carried out by the LEBANESE from Lebanon, a country of less than 5 million population and a territory less than that of Lagos.

Nigerians that are yearning or dreaming that Tunde Fashola should become the president of Nigeria really don't know what they are asking for. TUNDE FASHOLA WILL MORTGAGE THE WHOLE OF NIGERIA TO THE CHINESE, LEBANESE, INDIANS, AmericaNS, BRITISH, FRENCH and other foreigners all in the name of developing Nigeria and attracting foreign direct investments and Nigerians will have to work for these foreign companies, countries and foreigners as slaves in their own country. The Lagos state government has already invited foreign companies to come and invest in Lagos state WITHOUT PAYING TAXES and REPATRIATE back to their respective countries all the profits. Excellent conditions would be provide to them - while indigenous/Nigerian business men would have to operate in a very harsh and unfriendly business enviroment and pay taxes through their noses. Okada have been banned and would soon be replaced by air taxes owned by a foreign investor. How many cities in the world operate air taxesThis is exactly what Tunde Fashola will do if he becomes the president - all in the name of providing employment to Nigerians. So, God Forbids that Tunde Fashola becomes the president of Nigeria. Personally, I can NEVER vote for Tunde Fashola as a presidential candidate. Ofcourse, unfortunately, everything is relative. It all depends on whom Tunde Fashola is contesting against. If you give me jonathan badluck and Tunde Fashola, I will not go to the polling booth on election day to exercise my right. Sadly, we don't have a lot of choices. But, honestly speaking, I just can not imagine myself voting for Fashola. I sincerely hope that the new party will not make the mistake of electing/choosing Tunde Fashola as its candidate. Believe it or not, but Tunde Fashola is not the ideal person to lead Nigeria.

Sometimes whenever I follow analyze the actions of Tunde Fashola, I just can not help thinking that he is a good actor who is trying to create the right impression in order to eventually win the nomination of his party as its presidential candidate in the 2015 elections. The sacking of Lagos doctors who went on strike until he was pressured to change his decisions, the tear gasing of protestors over the collection of money to use the toll gate; jailing of amms seeker and giver without even an option for a fine are RED FLAGS and HIDDEN SIGNS that Tunde Fashola is a CIVILIAN DICTATOR in waiting if elected the president of Nigeria.

Tunde Fashola committed another UNFORGIVABLE DIPLOMATIC BLUNDER during his last visit to the United State about a month ago(in the middle of the scandal of Prof. Chinua Achebe's latest book where he accused Chief Obafemi Awolowo of genocide against the Ndigbos through hunger) when he said that 'The country(i.e. Nigerians) have put the tragic civil war behind them and moved on." I consider this statement from Tunde Fashola not only UNTRUE, but, is also RECKLESS and purposely meant to MISLEAD the Americans and the world in general. Apart from the fact that fashola's statement was false and misleading, it is IMMORAL of him to take upon himself the responsibility of speaking on behalf of, and for, the Ndigbos on such a very sensitive topic - more so, taking into consideration the fact that Tunde Fashola never took part in the war nor played any significant.

Furthermore, I disagree with your assertion that Fashola is exposed. As a matter of fact, one of the short comings of Fashola is that he is not exposed. He is a local champion! He dis all his studying: went to a local university in Benin-city, and has lived and worked all his life in Nigeria. It is one thing to visit many countries in the capacity of a governor(or the governor of Lagos state) where everybody you are given a VIP treatment: everybody smiles and behaves politely to you; you ride in a limousine car; driven through the best roads and areas; lodge in the best hotels; because you are a special guest and they want to get some contracts from you. You only see what they(your hosts) want you to see in their countries. You never get the opportunity to really get to know the country or the true faces of these so called white/red/yellow people justling for contracts and who are out to please you at any cost. But, it is completely a different situation when you are nobody or a governor, and you studying, working and living abroad among these people. It is only under such circumstances that you can reallly get to know the people and country. Therefore, despite the fact that Tunde Fashola might have travelled to so many countries, nevertheless, it will be wrong to say that he is exposed. TUNDE FASHOLA IS NOT EXPOSED. As a matter of fact, to be objective, Fashola's lack of exposure is one of the MAJOR REASONS/FACTORS why I strongly believe that HE IS FAR FROM BEING THE IDEAL PRESIDENT he will not make an ideal president for Nigeria. The person/politician that is most popular is not necessaryly the best person. In my humble opinion, taking into consideration his background, personality and experience, Adams Oshiomole of Edo state will make a much better president for Nigeria.

In as much as I agree with the fact that the beggars(who are mainly from the Northern part of Nigeria) that litter the whole of Lagos state and other South West/Yoruba states(including Kwara, Kogi and Delta states respectively) have really become a BIG and IRRITATING nuisance to the people, state and entire region and something really drastic needs to be done about this menace, I am completely against the DRACONIAN LAW of jailing both the beggars and the good samaritans that give arms. THIS IS JUST HEARTLESS OF TUNDE FASHOLA!!!

Finally, I am very much aware of the fact that I might be castigated by some Fashola lovers, but, what is more important to me is that I am able to express my opinion irrespective of whose ox is gored - and I will repeat and defend my position any where and any time; even in the presence of Tunde Fashola. I can see what you guys can not see. Nothing personal! I will write in details on this topic concerning Babatunde Fashola at the appropriate time.

YOU ARE FREE TO REPUBLISH THIS POST ON YOUR BLOG, SOCIAL WEB SITES AND SEND IT TO FEMI FALANA,WOLE SOYINKA, BOLA TINUBU, RAUF AREGBESOLA, MUHAMMAD FAWEHINMI, JONATHAN BADLUCK, FRIENDS, COLLEAGUES, POLITICIANS, HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS, E.T.C. THANK YOU!


[/b]

[b]: Eko Atlantic City Opens

baje eko o !

MENTAL SLAVERY.LAGOS STATE GOVERNOR FASHOLA allegedly PAYS 500k U.S dollars for Kim Kardashian to spend 24 hrs in Lagos Nigeria courtesy of Oba Fashola and Dare Art Alade.


At a time when residents of Makoko are homeless and beggars are in Prison. American celebrity Kim Kardashian was paid 500k US dollars and a return first class ticket to appear on Dare Art Alade 'Love...Like A Movie' at Eko Hotel.
She was whisked from the airport in a convoy of SUVs via Third Mainland bridge to the lavish EKO hotel where she mixed with the Lagos new rich created by Oba Fashola and his stooges. Cigars and Moet champagne flowed while British public school accents could be heard above the din. Is this really Lagos?

The Ancestors are not sleeping. Thunder go fire all of una very soon including all those half baked Africanist pretenders!..B
Kim Kardashian does Lagos as UK jounalist insults nigerians


The conners are conned as Nigerian elite blows its money on bling puffery while most of the country suffers


Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos: the scene of so many expensive misdemeanours in the past, did its best not to disappoint. Kim Kardashian was billed to "co-host" an event with R'n'B crooner Darey Art-Alade in honour of "Love..Like a Movie". In other words, it was a "Vals" thing. Lagos being familiar to the metallurgy of snobbery, this involved platinum ticket holders being invited to an exclusive pre-dinner event with her K-ness. Pseudo-ogas lower down the corporate food chain only got to see the show.

I was just over 1,000 miles away from the action in Freetown, watching my Twitter timeline cascade with commentary as the evening unfolded. Tweets purred with pleasure at the acrobatics segment, and at the godly qualities of Waje's voice. There was a sense that in production values and packaging, Lagos had outblinged itself.
And then Ms Kardashian appeared, said, "Hey Naija" and vamoosed. The rumour was that she'd been paid 500,000 Benjamins for the honour of mixing with the petro-class. She arrived on Saturday evening (on Air France), and left within 24 hours (someone Instagrammed her back at MMIA). Prole class tickets were apparently N100,000 ($640), although quite a few got in gratis on the guest list.

The Lagos elite blows money at puffery, while most of Nigeria suffers. It's the same as it ever was. I recall Carlos Moore railing against the Gowon era on his trip to Nigeria a couple of years ago – how Lagosians were partying while bodies were lying unburied in the street. Gowon was famous at the time for saying that the problem in Nigeria was not money, but how to spend it.

Reflecting a little on the unfolding disappointment in Lagos, I couldn't help but think that the narrow slice of KK the audience were granted reflects a cargo cult/import economy/colo-mentality, that dresses its shame in dandified arrogance. Last year, Hugh Masekela played the Motor Boat club. I was lucky to be there (I think I paid 15,000 naira for the privilege). People chatted noisily throughout. The great jazzman could hardly hide his disgust.
There's something Dubai-esque about the children of the Islands. Pampered lives told in British public school brogues. Bubbles of air-conditioned comfort, which we might think of these days as "Lekki blindness". Fela is long since dead, but his words rework themselves in the present with ease.

As the disgruntled tweets flowed out on my timeline, I thought of Special K, comfy in her jimjams, the plane rising gradually above the Atlantic, safe from all Lagos harm, smiling to herself that she'd actually 419'd the 419ers. And I went to bed with one final thought: oil turns all who touch it completely insane


[/b]

[b]

Re: Eko Atlantic City Opens

NOT ALL THAT GLITTERS IS GOLD!!!

BABATUNDE FASHOLA'S ECONOMIC POLICY IS A SERIOUS ECONOMIC SECURITY THREAT!!!

IT WILL MAKE INDIGENOUS COMPANIES UNCOMPETITIVE BOTH INSIDE AND OUTSIDE NIGERIA!!!

ENSLAVE NIGERIANS AND MAKE IT VERY VULNERABLE - IN THE LONG RUN!!!

TAKE A WALK AROUND LAGOS AND ASK: "WHO(WHICH COMPANY) OWNS AND BUILT THESE STRUCTURES?"


I AM ALSO A LAGOSIAN BUT I AM AGAINST FASHOLA.

Before furthering, It's important for me to state here that I was not only born in Lagos, but my mother hails from Lagos too. Therefore, I am more than qualified to comment on issues affecting Lagos state. Furthermore, I have decided to emphasize this aspect of my background/biography so that people will not say that it is only non-Yoruba or non-Lagosians that are bad-mouthing Tunde Fashola. Believe, this is far from the truth. We must as well not forget the fact that questions and criticism are all parts and parcel or main features of FREEDOM OF SPEECH and DEMOCRACY. Mind you, nobody is denying the fact that Tunde is really trying and intends(at least to the best of my knowledge) to make Lagos a better place to live. However, in as much as I appreciate the efforts of Fashola, I am afraid to say that FASHOLA'S PROJECTS AND ECONOMIC POLICIES IN THE LONG RUN IS NOT ONLY NOT IN FAVOUR OF NIGERIA, BUT WILL MAKE INDIGENOUS COMPANIES AND NIGERIA'S ECONOMY AS A WHOLE UNCOMPETITIVE AND VULNERABLE. I can even go as far as saying that Fashola constitutes a very serious economic threat to Nigeria's economy.

Unfortunately, most Nigerians, due to lack of adequate knowledge and the ability to ask the right questions, are more than satisfied with 'beautiful' structures: skyscrapers, bridges, shopping malls, etc. However, what we really need to understand is that 'NOT ALL THAT GLITTERS IS GOLD.' For those of us who consider ourselves 'at least' NOT less educated, but BETTER EXPOSED, than Tunde Fashola, we just can not afford to be bought over by beautiful structures alone. In the first place, we are used to working, living and using these kind of structures (for years) that are just being built in Nigeria or Lagos (to be precise) now. Thus, we look beyond the structures and ask questions like:

1. How were the projects funded?

2. Where did the raw materials that were used come from?

3. How many indiginous companies were involved in the projects?

4. What percentage of the total budget for the project went to local companies?

5. How many Nigerians/Africans(black Africans and not Nigerian passport carrying Arabs, Lebanese) or what percentage were involved in the project?

6. How many 'MADE IN NIGERIAN PROJUCTS' (products that belong to black Nigerians and not Arabs, British, Americans, French, Italians holding Nigerian passport) will be sold in the shopping malls.

7. How many indiginous Nigerian companies will get spaces in the Eko Atlantic?

8. Who are the major stakeholders: investors, companies, occupants, people, their nationalities, etc?

9. In what currency will transactions be carried out?

10. What is the tax regime/scheme of the project?

11. Which company/ies will be managing company?

When you ask the above questions and start getting answers to them, you will come to the bitter conclusion that Fashola is basically handing over Lagos' economy to foreign companies, countries and foreigners: Lebanese, Indians, British, Americans, French, Chinese and others ALL IN THE NAME OF ATTRACTING FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT(FDI). Believe it or not, what may look as SUPER PERFORMANCE on the path of Tunde will be detriment to Nigeria's economy as a whole in the long run. Due to Fashola's economic policies, Lagosians and Nigerians(with a population of over 150 million) in the long run will end up working as SLAVES (without any rights) in their own country while these companies and foreigners will be making rents. I am 100% sure that most of the offices in Eko Atlantic will be owned by foreign companies and the products sold in the shopping malls are imported. Fashola is building 'an elitist' state which only the very rich will be able to afford. South American countries have already gone through this stage and when the socialists came to power, they realised the follies that their predecessors had made all in the name of attracting foreign investment, and eventually took over(nationalize) some of these companies. Recently, there was a diplomatic row between Spain and Argentina when the latter nationalized some of Spanish companies. One of my areas of interests and research is 'HOW DEVELOPING COUNTRIES CAN ENSURE, DESIGN AND IMPLIMENT ECONOMIC POLICIES THAT PROMOTES GROWTH AND EQUALLY PROTECTS THEIR ECONOMIC SOVEREIGNTY.

The issue of ECONOMIC SECURITY is a very important issue which developing countries like Nigeria are not paying attention to - unfortunately. Economic security and sovereignty cover a wide range of complex issues including:

1. Which sectors are strategic and foreigners must not even be allowed to be involved or invest in them:

2. Which companies, countries and people should be allowed (or not allowed) to invest in some sectors of our economy:

3. How much should they be involved;

4. What should be the ownership structure?

5. How should it be financed?

6. What should be the investment strategy of the country?

7. How will deals approved or signed today affect the competitiveness of indigenous companies and Nigeria's economy in the long run?

The bitter truth is that 90% of Nigeria's economy are in the hands of foreigners(including those fake/artificial Nigerians - Lebanese, Arabs, British, French, Americans, Chinese and others who are now holding Nigerian passports ILLEGALLY) The fact that our economy are being controlled by foreigners will make it IMPOSSIBLE for Nigeria to conduct successful economic policies both inside and outside Nigeria. These foreign countries will always frustrate them - directly and indirectly. And the government's plan of making Nigeria be among the 20 biggest economies will be elusive and will only remain a mere discussion. Furthermore, it is a known fact that the Lebanese, Chine, Indians are highly involved in MONEY LAUNDERING and BASTERDISING Nigeria's economy. Therefore, it was not accidental that when TUNDE IDIAGBON/MUHAMMODU BUHARI came to power, they pounced on the Lebanese and threw many of them in jail. Many, realizing that the government were after them took to their heels. It's very sad to admit that these are the same people that Tunde Fashola is dining and wining with and are his major financiers. For example, the EKO ATLANTIC is being financed by the CHAGOURY LEBANESE BROTHERS: GILBERT AND RONALD, founders of the CHAGOURY GROUP. These are some of the people controlling Lagos's and Nigeria's economies. They own EKO HOTEL, the largest hotel in Nigeria. BTW, talking about security, allowing foreigners(that's what the Chagoury brothers are indeed despite the fact that they were born in Nigeria and hold Nigerian passports) to own hotels threatens the security of the country. Like-wise, allowing foreigners to operate telecommunications equipments. My advise or recommendation to any Nigerian president who wants to succeed in the future is to get AN ADVISER ON ECONOMIC SECURITY that will not only design and help him impliment a comprehensive economic security policy, but will as well be consulting him regularly.

PRAY THAT TUNDE FASHOLA DOES NOT BECOME NIGERIA'S PRESIDENT FOR HE WILL MORTGAGE NIGERIA TO FOREIGNERS!!!


AS THINGS STAND NOW, I SUPPORT MUHAMMODU BUHARI!!!

EVEN EMMANUAL UDUAGHAN AND GODSWILL UKPABIA OF DELTA AND AKWA-IBOM STATES OF PDP ARE PREFERRABLE TO TUNDE FASHOLA

It's obvious that Tunde Fashola already has his eyes too at Aso rock - just like Nasir El-Rufai. And Tunde is not living any stone unturned in achieving this coveted and ultimate political ambition. Part of Fashola's PR stunt is the RUSH to commission Eko Atlantic when it has bearly been completed, invitation of Bill Clinton, the Williams sisters, Kim Kidashin and other celebrities to Lagos with the money of POOR LAGOSIANS. A thorough look at the picture shows that even the floor tiles were not done/laid properly. Personally, I am 100% against Tunde Fashola becoming the president of Nigeria. Ofcourse, as far as Fashola is concerned, sadly, everything is relative. Unfortunately, if the choice is between Tunde Fashola and jonathan badluck, we will have to settle down for Tunde. But if the choice is between Tunde Fashola or Muhammodu Buhari, as things stand now and after getting a good understanding of Tunde's economic policies in Lagos, I will definitely go for the general without any hesitation for many reasons. Infact, I prefer Emmanuel Uduaghan and Godswill Ukpabia of Delta and Akwa-Ibom states respectively to Tunde Fashola! Fashola can not be a good and independent president because he is UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF WESTERN/FOREIGN COUNTRIES, COMPANIES, POLITICIANS, BUSINESS MEN - UNLIKE BUHARI. Such a person can not solve nor take strategic decisions which will be in the interest of Nigeria nad Nigerians at the expense of his foreign friends. It is an open secret too that it is in the same Lagos that transactions are openly carried out in dollars, euros with the tacit approval of Tunde Fashola untill the Senate and House of Reps. were compelled to intervene. I am also 100% sure that many foreigners who are already involved in (or are planning to) projects in Nigeria are some of the major financiers of Tunde Fashola's political programmes.

Thus, one of the major challenges before a new Nigerian president is to throw the gauntlet at these artificial Nigerians and BANDITS like The LEBANESE CHAGOURY AND INDIAN ASHWANI brothers: arrest and jail, and probably, EXECUTE them for financial attrocities against Nigeria. I am more than convinced that these Lebanese, Indians and other foreigners must have murdered innocent Nigerians, who are either working for them or/and went against their economic interests by trying to do their jobs honestly.

Honestly, the situation in Nigeria is really very very bad. Security wise, the bitter truth is that Nigeria is a one of the most vulnerable countries in the world! A number of our so called statesmen like ibrahim babangida are working directly for foreign intelligence agencies at the detriment of Nigeria. They are used to plan and impliment coups, and impliment economic policies that are against the interests of the country. For example, how does one explain the fact that a president of a country will agree to the ruling of an international KANGAROO COURT which is under the tight control of Western countries to secceed its territory rich in oil, gas and other resources to anothyer country - like Segun Obasanjo did with BAKASSI. Don't you think that something is fishy?

Others like Sen. Bola Tinubu are indirectly under the influence of Western countries. About 3 weeks ago, a very important event took place which most Nigerians are either not aware of(although, it was published) or did not pay serious attention to took place in Lagos. Staff of the US embassy in Nigeria paid ' a courtesy' visit to Sen. Bola Tinubu. Now, the question we need to ask ourselves is "Taking into consideration the fact that Bola Tinubu is not holding any diplomatic/national/Federal government post, why on earth would the US be visiting Tinubu who is only a leader of an opposition party. The US Embassy ought to know that their action amounted to a GROSS breach of diplomatic protocol. It's also an open secret that the so called NGO and other financial bodies like THE BRITISH COUNCIL, USAID that operate freely in Nigeria double also as SPY NETWORKS for spying on Nigeria on behalf of the British and American governments. It's obvuious that the purpose of the meeting with Tinubu is about the 2015 presidential elections. The Americans, who are indeed officers of the CIA but camouflag as diplomatics were on a fact finding mission and ensure that their dirty political and economic interests will continue to be protected irrespective of who will be in power in 2015.

The fact that Bola Tinubu even agreed to meet with US diplomats in essence means is that he is also under the influence(at least indirectly) of western countries. Only God knows how many of such meetings have taken place both inside and outside Nigeria, and what were discussed. What we all need to understand is that if a leader is directly or indirectly under the influence of foreign countries, companies, citizens, he will be compromised, corrupted, manipulated, can not be 'independent' and free to impliment the required economic, social, military and political prpogrammes in the interests of his country and its citizens. Such a president will not be able to take on the multinationals and impliment economic policies that will free his country from economic bondage. Muhammodu Buhari, compared to his counterparts, is much better and preferrable as the president of Nigeria.

Finally, suffice to say that if I were to be a governor of a state or the president of Nigeria, and my commisioner, minister or governor said that 'the process that he uses in implimenting his projects were not important, but only the result were important' - as Tunde Fashola told Omole Sowore in New York, I would order him to either write a letter of resignation voluntaryly or fire him. That's one of the most reckless statement that could come from the mouth of an administrator and as well goes a long way to show that Fashola is far from being the ideal person to be Lagos's governor or Nigeria's president.

Whenever people like us/me eventually have the opportunity to serve, we will prove and show Nigerians that there are other better ways of developing without compromising our security: political, military, economic, social; mortgaging our economy to foreigners and enslaving our people as Tunde Fashola is doing in Lagos.

I will be posting some of my posts on Tunde Fashola written recently which are still relevant to the topic being discussed.


SORRY FOR THE LENGTH OF THE POST.

YOU ARE FREE TO REPUBLISH THIS POST ON YOUR BLOG, SOCIAL WEB SITES AND SEND IT TO FEMI FALANA,WOLE SOYINKA, BOLA TINUBU, RAUF AREGBESOLA, MUHAMMAD FAWEHINMI, JONATHAN BADLUCK, FRIENDS, COLLEAGUES, POLITICIANS, HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS, E.T.C. THANK YOU!


[/b]

Eko Ile: These ignorant illiterates are still on a rampage.. Life must be very hard for them. Ndo.

vandarsar: The clear cut winner is getting obvious. If cap28 and obadiah win, it all goes to show no matter how good capitalist system could be socialism set up will overshadow it in 1sec. Cause this 2 guys are basically on the side of the poor masses

How can people keep floating economic and political gains without mentioning people's welfare? You watch on as america gradually shift towards the socialist system. Fiscal cliff? Obamacare?

vandarsar: We can as well conclude that the EIA has been tampered with just to make sure this devilish project occur..... I mean if a minister could be a total agreement with Lagos state government on an issue, abeg that issue needs to be reexamine, GBAM

[b]The Project Is Wrong-headed; It’s Courting Disaster’

One weighty voice that has raised concerns about the Eko Atlantic City project is Nnimmo Bassey, an architect and Global Chair of Friends of the Earth International. In an exclusive interview with The Guardian, in May, Bassey who also leads the Environmental Rights Action (ERA), described Eko Atlantic City as a wrong-headed project, noting that the realities of climate change pointed to a disaster in the making.

“Now, the Eko Atlantic City project in this age of climate change is a very wrong headed project,” he declared.

“We have no reason whatsoever to court disaster, when we can invest elsewhere. There is land for expansion of the city because we can have satellite cities elsewhere, and if the problem is taken to be the population in Lagos, solution could be found elsewhere. What is happening in Eko Atlantic is a short term, short sighted project that may work for a couple of years, but when climate impacts really come, it would be a monumental folly”.

The award winning environmental activist argued that what had been going on in the name of Eko Atlantic City is a game being played by people with access to a lot of money. He said the grandiose construction represents a quest by the rich and affluent for “new playgrounds.”

“They want exotic and exclusive places where the talakawas of this world would have no access to. They are looking for enclaves, where they could just go and live the good life, but when you know that the entire coastal area of Nigeria is extremely low line, and a place like the Niger-Delta is naturally subsiding, so it is sinking, and then sea levels are rising. And the sea levels are going to rise more, especially with what we know about climate change negotiations, and the fact that there are no serious efforts to stop global warming.

“Scientists have also estimated that if we have a net sea level rise of one metre, along the coast of Nigeria, the country would be inundated (by flood) up to 90 kilometres from the coast. This means that even a place like Benin City may be challenged. If you look around Lagos, do you see hills; are there mountains here, and then they are going into the ocean?”

Bassey continued: “In terms of engineering, it is an interesting challenge; there are such cities around the world, but we have seen the best defended cities in the United States along Louisiana-Alabama or the Gulf areas, and we know what happened with Katrina, and what happened in Mississippi recently, where the defenses all collapsed, and then disaster took over.

“Why do we need to invest and waste our resources to create problems that we don’t need, when we have more critical need for mass housing, better transportation and better access for people to jobs and other things elsewhere, rather than dumping our scarce resources in the ocean. I think it is not too late to reconsider it.”

[/b]

[b]


Eko Atlantic City…Rumbles In The Sea
Sunday, 06 November 2011 00:00 By Tunde Akingbade Sunday Magazine – Sunday Magazine
Last update12:00:00 AM GMT



THE construction of the proposed Eko Atlantic City by a private firm, South Energy X and the Lagos State Government is raising fears and concern amongst environmentalists, climate change and disaster risk reduction experts despite the repeated official explanations on the project, and assurances that it is a well thought-out venture.

Besides, The Guardian investigations revealed the existence of submarine canyon offshore, deep inside the Atlantic Ocean.

A canyon is a deep valley, or narrow chasm with steep cliff walls which has been carved out of the earth crust by running water. It is a gorge. There are three canyons offshore in Nigeria. Amongst geologists, the canyons are scientifically known as Avon, Mahin and Calabar. Of the three Canyons, Avon is V-shaped and it is the largest located in the Nigerian part of the Atlantic Ocean. The shape of the Avon Canyon is like a large amphitheatre with “steep rims” and there are several gullies along the shelf located in the east and west part of the Avon canyon. The Canyon is located along longitude 3”55’ 00” E and latitude 60 10’ 00”N. It is the first to be seen under the sea in the Lagos area followed by Mahin and Calabar in the extreme eastern area of the Atlantic.


Unlike other valleys or gorges on land, Avon is called a submarine canyon because it’s under water, in the sea!

Studies by marine geologists show that there are sharp tributary valleys that are connected to the canyon” within 4 to 6 kilometres of the coastline and in deep water depths of less than 50metres.”

Environmental scientists also told The Guardian during the many weeks of this investigation that the state government may not have properly conducted Environmental Impact Assessment,(EIA) as stipulated by a Federal Government Act of 1992, on the underground forces and nature of the Atlantic ocean bed close to the Bar Beach (where the project is being carried out) and its impact on coastal communities and residents of Victoria Island and Lekki.



Prof. Edwin O. Iguibi, Director, Centre for Disaster Risks Management and Development Studies, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, said in an interview in Abuja after the International Day of Disaster Risk Reduction discussion organised for youths by the National Emergency Management Agency, (NEMA), that although the proposed Atlantic City is a great concept, those who behind it ought to take into serious consideration sea surges that could intrude on land.

Climate Change experts told The Guardian that they fear that with an unplanned city like Lagos, and the low lying nature of Nigeria’s coasts coupled with the problem of climate change, people and properties may be at risk if sea water enters the land area.

An environmentalist, Desmond Majekodunmi, told The Guardian that he is uncomfortable with the construction of a massive city within the Atlantic Ocean when it is obvious that many communities will be affected.

Majekodunmi who had been monitoring the problems of erosion along Lagos’ coastal communities said that its unfortunate that such a project would be embarked upon without proper consultation with stakeholders.

Another fear being raised by experts who preferred to remain anonymous is that Victoria Island and Lekki area in Lagos do not have many exit routes in case of disaster from the ocean.

“Have you ever thought that the only place the teeming population in Victoria Island and Lekki can think of escape is either the Eko Bridge or Third Mainland Bridge, a scientist asked.

Also at an EIA stakeholders’ session recently, the proponents of the projects were accused of not taking into consideration certain agelong scientific information on the Atlantic Ocean in the Western part of Nigeria.

The session took place on October 13 at Oceanview Victoria Island Lagos. It was supposed to be a stakeholders’ review meeting. Apart from shutting out the media from the meeting, many of the coastal communities were not invited too. They were unaware of what was being decided on their lives and properties.

At the session, a group of experts and regulators faulted the Environmental and Impact Assessment report put in place by promoters of the proposed project. Among the panelists were Prof. Dele Olowokudejo, a Hydro Biologist; Prof. Madu , a Social Economist; and Dr. Regina Folorunsho, a Marine Geologist. While the foreign firm contracted to execute the project tried to convince the audience that the new city would be safe and not cause any impact on the marine environment, the experts insisted that the designers “are creating a problem.!”

“What is going to happen 10 years down the line, asked one of the scientists.

It was gathered that the EIA put up by the promoters of the project does not include plans for thousands of people in the communities that will eventually be displaced when the project is completed.

“They only visited Takwa Bay community whereas there are so many other communities along the coastal area”, stated one of the environmental activists at the session.



IT was learnt that the idea of Eko Atlantic City was floated by a Lebanese business concern headed by Chagouri, which has been doing business in Nigeria for years. They are working reportedly with some top Nigerian politicians and powerful forces within the ruling party in Lagos State. The outfit and its executives were once sent out of Nigeria in controversial circumstances on allegation of commiting acts detrimental to health of the Nigerian economy, though the government action was said to have been politically motivated. Heads of the Lebanese concern, who were said to have had a cozy relationship with the regime of General Sanni Abacha, were later given a soft landing through intervention of some powerful citizens under the former President Olusegun Obasanjo administration.

Investigations showed that the idea for the Atlantic city probably emanated from the man’s visit to Dubai where he saw a similar development in the sea and he exclaimed; “this is nice and it should be done in Nigeria”, claimed an aide.

A scientist, however, said, “The Atlantic Oceanic is a very tremulous sea; so what you can do in Dubai cannot just be replicated in Nigeria because the situations are different”.

The scientist doubted whether there was a properly conducted Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) on the Eko Atlantic City as mandated by the Federal Government of Nigeria Act of 1992.

Another crucial issue worrying observers is the that the land and facilities on the Atlantic city have been sold and those behind it have made their money back, so they may not be bothered about what would result from it in future.


[/b]

debosky: Good questions - but clearly the questions are indicating that the environmentalists do not know what data was used, not that the wrong/no data was used.

This doesn't mean tide and wave strengths were not monitored ahead of time. Royal Haskoning was involved in updating designs initially made in 2001 in 2008/09 related to the tides and breakwaters associated with the East and West Moles. Clearly data was collected (in addition to historical tide data) to cover the changes from 2001 to 2008 before the design could be updated. What more 'long term' monitoring is required? 50 years' worth?

http://www.royalhaskoning.co.uk/en-gb/Publication/Documents/projects/port-of-lagos-breakwater-repair.pdf



Good comment - something they should be pursued with the government/developers, but then again, there would need to be a scientific way of establishing the negative impacts did come from the project, not just hearsay.



An EIA has now been submitted - this concern appears procedural rather than a content issue.



Serious erosion that has happened and would continue to happen even if Eko Atlantic wasn't built - the issue I have with many of these 'objections' is that they seem to want to 'latch on' to a project to fix a problem it didn't cause in the first place. Consultation is required as part of the EIA process - if that indeed didn't happen, then it should have happened.



Renewable energy and waste to energy are not core issues - they are 'nice to haves'. There is no requirement to install renewable energy or waste to energy either. What 'infrastructural pressure' is this talking about? This sounds like a roundabout way to ask for compensation of some sort - again, the aim appears to 'latch on' to a project to solve your problems.

obadiah777: SEE HOW YOU SHUT EVERYONE DOWN LOL. THEY HAVE ALL STOPPED POSTING. THEY HAVE REALIZED THE ERROR AND FOLLY OF THEIR WAYS SLAM DUNK

[b]Current stock of offshore sand
Research, according to them has shown that the current stock of offshore sand would be inadequate for such a project. “Over the years, the offshore sand bed of the ocean in the Lagos area has not been replenished naturally.

This is due to factors such as the sand drifts along the West African coast where -amongst others, the port constructions at Lome and Cotonou have reduced the amount of sand deposited in the Lagos area. The sand and block digging for the projects needs to be closely monitored by the appropriate government authorities,” a facts sheet released by the experts noted.

According to them “The offshore dredging can increase the energy of the ocean waves which will be diverted to the eastern coast when hitting the new “Great Wall”

The environmentalists raised these posers: “Have the tide and wave strength undergone a long term monitoring before the commencement of the project? On which data do the foreign experts simulations rely on?

They stressed the need for a provision that would hold the developers responsible for long term negative impacts caused by the project.

They further noted that the late submission of the EIA to the Federal Ministry of Environment contravened the EIA Act of 2004. “The EIA was submitted three years after the commencement of dredging activities. This is a contravention of the EIA Act 2004, There is no evidence that the Federal Ministry of Environment approved the construction.

The Environmental Impact Assessment of 2004 provides that an EIA must be carried out before embarking upon any developmental project” they experts who stated that the EIA was only submitted in November, 2011 said..

The stakeholders regretted that the affected communities were never involved in the project plans. Meanwhile, serious erosion is happening along the coastal areas identified as vulnerable in the draft final EIA. “The affected areas have to be protected immediately; at the same time, a consensus is needed to find alternative solutions to the proposed hard coastal structures,” they posited.

They further noted that the sustainability concept of the developers does not seem to include core issues like renewable energy, energy efficient building, waste to energy. “It is not clear which kind of permanent jobs the project will create. Neighbouring communities will have difficulties to cope with with increased infrastructural pressure caused by the project.

[/b]

Fresh concerns over multi-billion dollar Eko Atlantic City project
on SEPTEMBER 4, 2012 · in HOMES & PROPERTY
12:40 am
6
By Jude Njoku

GOshen and Alpha Beach Estates were developed as highbrow residential estates in the Lekki Peninsula axis of Lagos. But the once serene neighbourhoods have been hit by coastal erosion which has forced some of the residents to relocate to more secure areas.

One of such residents is Mr.Azuka Ezemakam who relocated to the mainland because of the coastal erosion that ravaged Alpha Beach Estate. Ezemakam told a one-day Roundtable on Climate Change Adaptation in Lagos: Eko Atlantic City- Dream for Few or Nightmare for Many? organised by Heinrich Boll Stiftung in Nigeria in January, that water from the Atlantic ocean was just pushing and taking over the estate when work started on the first phase of Eko Atlantic City project.

[b]It is expected that an imposing skyline of towers housing the headquarters of banks, insurance companies and hotels will remind visitors and investors of the successful development of Dubai. But does this project really provide the necessary answer to the approximately 15 million inhabitants to achieve sustainable economic growth for all under increased climate stress?

These issues took the front burner when environmentalists drawn from the Community Conservation and Development Initiatives, CCDI, Environmental Law Research Institute, ELRI and Heinrich Boll Stiftung, HBS as well as professionals in the field of environmental law, architecture, and urban planning, marine research and oceanography, came together to examine the “Draft Final Environmental Impact Assessment Report” submitted to the Federal Ministry of Environment by the developers of the luxury city in 2011.

The experts included Mr. Ako Amadi, of CCDI who gave a brief description of the communities threatened by coastal erosion and displacement and also spoke on Eko Atlantic City, a sustainable development project for coastal states – Best practices from other countries; Prof David Areadeon who focused on “Eko Lagos City -and the new Eko Atlantic City: A case study in development issues” and Profs Margaret Okorodudu and Lanre Fabgbohun who delivered a paper on “Eko Atlantic Environmental Impact Assessment: Legal Issues”’.

The experts were unanimous in declaring that the Eko Atlantic City project lacks transparency, participation and doesn’t always adhere to the rule of law. Said they: “The approach taken so far by the Federal Government, Lagos State Government and South EnergyX leaves room for doubt.[/b]

obadiah777: THANKS FOR PROVING MY POINT CAP28. YOU ARE A GOOD MAN. I STATED THAT THIS PROJECT IS A PROJECT FOR THE SUPER RICH TO RUN AWAY FROM THE POOR MASSES. THAT NUMBSKULL ROSSIKKE IS HERE SAYING ITS ABOUT BRINGING IN FOREIGN INVESTMENT. 400,000 HOMES FOR THE SUPER RICH. THEY ARE TRYING TO ESCAPE FROM YOU PLEBEANS. THEY ARE TRYING TO RUN AWAY FROM YOU POOR SOULS. SOCIAL SEGREGATION. THATS WHAT THIS IS ABOUT. NOT NO ATTRACTING FOREIGN INVESTORS

debosky: Now this is just plain dishonest - the managers of the project have involved world-class marine/reclamation consultants with experience in carrying out similar projects. They have carried out extensive testing of extreme weather scenarios to verify the robustness of the design. How much of that are you even aware of or have you examined?

I can understand a philosophical opposition to this type of project based on your economic viewpoint, but there's no need to resort to falsehood.

[b]Multi-Billion Dollar "Eko Atlantic City" Project Caused Fatal Atlantic Ocean Surge That Killed 16 People In Lagos
Posted: August 19, 2012 - 13:44

By SaharaReporters, New York
A powerful ocean tide yesterday swept away 16 people in Lagos . So far, 6 bodies have been recovered including that of a six year old girl.



Precisely a month ago, SaharaReporters released a series of photos depicting a dangerous trend on Lagos beach fronts due to the mindless dredging of the Lagos beach fronts for construction of the Eko Atlantic City. A project planned and executed to create luxury homes for some 400,000 super rich and powerful Nigerians.



Our photonews warned that an environmental disaster on the beaches as a result of the dredging occasioned by the ongoing project was just days away.



Last night the ocean conquered the boundary between it and the Kuramo Beach, sweeping away 16 residents, all of them presumed dead at this point.



The vicious current first assaulted its neighboring Kuramo Beach near Goshen Estate and later spread to Alpha Beach, Mayegun and Badagry waterfronts.



Several people have been displaced, and Lagos officials are capitalizing on the tragedy to eliminate several homes and small businesses owned poor people by blaming them for the tragic ocean storm.



Several small business owners and residents in the area told Saharareporters that the wave happens every year, but blamed this years ferocity on the construction of the new "Eko Atlantic City". The said the dredging ultimately empowered the Atlantic ocean's discharge of its tidal wave to maximum width and places, thereby causing the havoc yesterday.



The tide to forcefully pull down its border with the Kuramo beach.



The Lagos state government has deployed Policemen this morning to cordon off the Kuramo beach, while executing the Lagos State Government’s order to forcefully eject people from the area.

[/b]

[b]TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2012
Bill Clinton’s $80 Million Payday, or Why Politicians Don’t Care That Much About Reelection

“I never had any money until I got out of the White House, you know, but I’ve done reasonably well since then.” Bill Clinton

On December 21, 2000, President Bill Clinton signed a bill called the Commodities Futures Modernization Act. This law ensured that derivatives could not be regulated, setting the stage for the financial crisis. Just two months later, on February 5, 2001, Clinton received $125,000 from Morgan Stanley, in the form of a payment for a speech Clinton gave for the company in New York City. A few weeks later, Credit Suisse also hired Clinton for a speech, at a $125,000 speaking fee, also in New York. It turns out, Bill Clinton could make a lot of money, for not very much work.

Today, Clinton is worth something on the order of $80 million (probably much more, but we don’t really know), and these speeches have become a lucrative and consistent revenue stream for his family. Clinton spends his time offering policy advice, writing books, stumping for political candidates, and running a global foundation. He’s now a vegan. He makes money from books. But the speaking fee money stream keeps coming in, year after year, in larger and larger amounts.

Most activists and political operatives are under a delusion about American politics, which goes as follows. Politicians will do *anything* to get reelected, and they will pander, beg, borrow, lie, cheat and steal, just to stay in office. It’s all about their job.

This is 100% wrong. The dirty secret of American politics is that, for most politicians, getting elected is just not that important. What matters is post-election employment. It’s all about staying in the elite political class, which means being respected in a dense network of corporate-funded think tanks, high-powered law firms, banks, defense contractors, prestigious universities, and corporations. If you run a campaign based on populist themes, that’s a threat to your post-election employment prospects. This is why rising Democratic star and Newark Mayor Corey Booker reacted so strongly against criticism of private equity – he’s looking out for a potential client after his political career is over, or perhaps, during interludes between offices. Running as a vague populist is manageable, as long as you’re lying to voters. If you actually go after powerful interests while in office, then you better win, because if you don’t, you’ll have basically nowhere to go. And if you lose, but you were a team player, then you’ll have plenty of money and opportunity. The most lucrative scenario is to win and be a team player, which is what Bill and Hillary Clinton did. The Clinton’s are the best at the political game – it’s not a coincidence that deregulation accelerated in the late 1990s, as Clinton and his whole team began thinking about their post-Presidential prospects.

Corruption used to be more overt. Lyndon Johnson made money while in office, by illicitly garnering lucrative FCC licenses. It was the first neoliberal President, Jimmy Carter, who began the post-career payoff trend in the Democratic Party. In 1978, Archer Daniels Midland CEO Dwayne Andreas convinced Carter to back ethanol subsidies. After Carter lost to Reagan, he faced financial problems, as his peanut warehouse had been mismanaged and was going bankrupt. AMD stepped in, overpaying for the property. But Carter wasn’t nearly as skilled as Clinton, because he didn’t stay in the club.

Over the course of the next ten years after his Presidency, Clinton brought in roughly $8-10 million a year in speaking fees. In 2004, Clinton got $250,000 from Citigroup and $150,000 from Deutsche Bank. Goldman paid him $300,000 for two speeches, one in Paris. As the bubble peaked, in 2006, Clinton got $150,000 paydays each from Citigroup (twice), Lehman Brothers, the Mortgage Bankers Association, and the National Association of Realtors. In 2007, it was Goldman again, twice, Lehman, Citigroup, and Merrill Lynch. He didn’t just reap speaking fee cash from the financial services sector – corporate titans like Oracle and outsourcing specialist Cisco paid up, as did many Israel-focused groups, Middle Eastern interests, and universities. Does this explain the finance-friendly, oil-friendly and Israel First-friendly policies pursued by the State Department under Hillary Clinton? Who knows? But if you could legally deliver millions in cash to the husband of a high-level political official, it wouldn’t hurt your policy goals.

Speaking fee money isn’t just money, it is easy money. In one appearance, for one hour, Clinton can make $125,000 to $500,000. At an hourly rate, that’s between $250 million to $1 billion annually. It isn’t the case that Clinton is a billionaire, but it is the case that Clinton can, whenever he wants, make money as quickly and as easily as a billionaire. He is awash in cash, and cash is useful. Cash finances his lifestyle. Cash helped backstop his wife’s Presidential campaign when it was on the ropes.

And these speaking fees aren’t the only money Clinton got, it’s just the easiest cash to find because of disclosure laws. Apparently, Clinton’s firm apparently had a paid $100k+ a month consulting relationship with MF Global, and Clinton and Tony Blair have teamed up to help hedge funds raise money. His daughter worked for a giant hedge fund and political ally (Avenue Capital). And Clinton has unusual relationships with billionaires and Dubai-based investors.


Bill and Hillary Clinton are the best at what they do, but they aren’t the only ones who do it. In fact, this is what politics is increasingly about, not elections, but staying in the club. Erskine Bowles, former White House Chief of Staff, lost two Senate elections. But he’s on the board of Facebook and Morgan Stanley, as well as authoring the highly influential Simpson-Bowles plan to gut Social Security and Medicare. Tom Daschle, who lost a Senate race in 2004, is a millionaire who in large part crafted Obama’s health care plan. Former Senator Judd Gregg is now at Goldman Sachs. Current Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel made $12 million in between his stint at the Clinton White House which ended in 2000 and his election to Congress in 2002. Former Congressman Harold Ford, now at Morgan Stanley, is routinely on TV making political claims. Larry Summers is on the board of the high-flying start-up Square. Meanwhile, Russ Feingold, a Senator who did go after Wall Street, is a professor in the Midwest. Eliot Spitzer is a struggling TV host and writer.

In other words, Barack Obama and his franchise are emulating the Clinton’s, and are speaking not to voters, but to potential post-election patrons. That’s what their policy goals are organized around. So when you hear someone talking about how politicians just want to be reelected, roll your eyes. When you hear an argument about the best message or policy framework to use for reelection, stop listening. That’s not what politicians really care about. Elections in many ways are just like regular season games in basketball – they are worth winning, but it’s not worth risking an injury. The reason Obama won’t prosecute bankers, or run anything but a very mild sort of populism, is because he’s not really talking to voters. He just wants to be slightly more appealing than Romney. He’s really talking to the people who made Bill and Hillary Clinton a very wealthy couple, his future prospective clients. We don’t call it bribery, but that’s what it is. Bill Clinton made a lot of money when he signed the bill deregulating derivatives and repealed Glass-Steagall. The payout just came later, in the form of speaking fees from elite banks and their allies.

Ironically, Clinton has come to express regret about deregulating derivatives. He has not given the money back.


Read more at http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/05/its-not-about-reelection-bill-clintons-80-million-payday.html#LQbckkiWODMbegpE.99


Read more at http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/05/its-not-about-reelection-bill-clintons-80-million-payday.html#LQbckkiWODMbegpE.99


Read more at http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/05/its-not-about-reelection-bill-clintons-80-million-payday.html#LQbckkiWODMbegpE.99


Read more at http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/05/its-not-about-reelection-bill-clintons-80-million-payday.html#LQbckkiWODMbegpE.99 [/b]