₦airaland Forum

Olodostein:
I understand where you are coming from. We need to question their conscience and call them to book.

During the Egyptian revolution, the tear gas canisters, live and rubber bullets used were made in in America. Do you know what the Egyptians did? They picked it up and showed it openly to the media. The Americans couldn't fathom this.

If Britain is playing a dangerous game, they need to be found out and exposed. That is what these guys are trying to do. We need to rise above politics and use every means to stop this carnage and senseless

Bros - they have no conscience - these people are sub human - check their track record, they recently committed genocide in Libya and then they used their media to peddle lies and misinformation about what was really going on in Libya.

have you heard of a town by the name of Tawergha in Libya?
all of the residents of that town were black people - that town was bombarded from the air by NATO and attacked on the ground by the NATO backed AL Qaeda /NTC rebels  - that town is now a GHOST TOWN.

what happened to the people who used to live there? some of them were killed by NATO aerial bombardments, others were killed by NATO backed NTC rebels, many were lynched and beheaded - all of this was done under the watch of the united kingdom, the united states and france - are these the people you think will save you from an impending civil war?

okay i hear what you are saying about the egyptians and the tear gas cannisters but dont forget that the egyptians have still not been able to get rid of the mubarak regime - mubarak's second in command is now in power and the americans are backing him with military aid.  

There are no easy answers, i dont want to sound pessimistic but its not going to be easy to get rid of this monstrous regime in nigeria - they are aided and abetted by america and europe and we need to be aware of that.  If they discover that Goodluck Jonathan can not stop this ongoing movement they will order him to send out troops to kill people.

Lets not pretend as if we don't know what these people are capable of.

Nigerian working classes on the move


Written by Ola Kazeem
Friday, 13 January 2012

As the movement against the fuel price hikes and corruption continues, Ola Kazeem expains how the Nigerian masses are radicalising as the struggle is developing. The demand for the president to step down is becoming ever louder.

12 January, OjotaIn one of our previous articles (Revolution in Tunisia and Egypt: lessons for Nigerian workers) we stated:

“If it was a necessity in Egypt and Tunisia, how much more will the revolution be necessary in Nigeria; where over 70% of the population live on less than 1 dollar per day, and over 91% of Nigerians are living below the $2 dollar a day poverty line; where 5000 of her children between the ages of 1 to 5 die annually; where life expectancy is barely 45 years with only 3% of her population manages to live above 63years; where her ruling class has not been able to generate more than 3000 megawatts of electricity when her actual energy need is conservatively put at 172,000 mega watt?

“As it was in Egypt and Tunisia so will it be on a higher scale in Nigeria. The last straw that broke the camel’s back in the Arab countries might be different from our own, but obviously, Nigeria is just waiting for her own “Mohamad Bouazizi!”, that is; for the last straw to break her camel’s back.”

No doubt, the latest hike in price of fuel, under the disguise of removing the oil subsidy, has provided the last straw that has now finally broken the camel’s back. What primarily took a lot of people aback is the desperation which this regime has demonstrated in implementing this policy; the regime deceived people by directing their attention to March 31st for the implementation, only to announce the hike suddenly on the first of January, when many people were already away on holiday; this is a striking proof of the old saying, "whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad".

Collapsing economy under ravaging corruption
Why is this desperation? N1.3trillion (about $8bn) is allocated for capital projects in the 2012 budget; this represents 28% of the total budget. Over N1.4 trillion was used for the oil subsidy in 2011, the simple implication of this is that if the so called subsidy is not removed; there will be not one kobo for any capital project. In the past, this would be the time to run to the IMF and World Bank for borrowing, but unfortunately for the Nigerian ruling class, the foreign donors are themselves broke and are the ones actually asking the developing countries to bail them out. This raises some important questions: how come Nigeria is this broke, in spite of the high price of oil at over $100 per barrel? Why is this regime paying such a whopping sum for an obviously dubious subsidy?

The Nigerian government runs one of the most expensive government apparatuses in the world because of an extremely large number of political cronies. A president having advisers, each adviser has assistant advisers and each assistant has its own assistant and so on. This puts a huge burden on resources. In addition to this, the government maintains its social base through patronage. Corruption is an endemic and inalienable aspect of the government. Access to wealth is completely dependent on access to power. The last election almost dried up our foreign reserve, which was lavishly spent without reference to any productive thing to point to. Having emptied the treasury, the regime became broke and is now on its knees like a prodigal son. The question as always, remains, who pays for this?

In a previous article, we explained how the so called fuel subsidy in reality is a subsidy on the rich and wealthy who by various means receive an over price for their fuel, which does not reflect the cost of production. Is there any justification for doling out trillions of Naira to a few mafias under the name of the oil subsidy? The government and its agents have been blackmailing Nigerians that to oppose the removal of the fuel subsidy means to support continuation of lavishly doling out money to a few rich fat cats. This is very far from the truth! Nigerians want an end to the irresponsible and scandalous spending of our collective wealth in the name of subsidy, first and foremost.

Why must it be the business of thieves and greedy buffoons to be helping us import fuel to Nigeria? Why can’t the government take over this business and push these mafias aside? Then there would be no need for a “subsidy” to keep the price of fuel down. Sure, the government and its agents will shout: “but Government has no business in doing business”. With this slogan, the useless ruling elites have mortgaged the future of Nigerians. The problem is not Government in itself, but what crop of people are in the government, in whose interests do they serve in Government; that is, is the Government existing for profit and promotion of private property or exiting for the promotion and defence of workers’ and other poor strata of society’s interest. Was it not the state that built the whole of Ilupeju industrial estate? Was it not the state that built that tall edifice in Ibadan call Cocoa house? It built Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, one of the biggest and most beautiful Universities in Africa, while still maintaining free education and building estates upon estates for low income earners, at the same time as constructing roads and paying decent wages. It is much more disheartening that the government in question was doing this with only money made from cocoa, while the useless current leadership raked in billions of Naira daily from oil and yet they cannot pay to their workers the 18,000 naira minimum wage.

All these contradictions combined to create the present deadlock being experienced. The present situation can be summed up thus: This is a result of the global crisis of capitalism; the Nigerian ruling class can no longer maintain the past reforms under capitalism, while the Nigerian masses can no longer tolerate any more attacks.

The deadlock becomes political
The situation is becoming really explosive on the political plane. The consciousness of the masses is moving in leaps. On January 3rd 2012 the mass rallies called by the Joint Action Front completely shattered the pessimism of many ultra-leftists who wrote off the Nigerian working class. The call to protest on that date received echoes throughout the country and demystified the existing and erroneous belief that Nigerians are not like Egyptians and therefore cannot act like them. It was this thunderous movement of January 3rd that put huge pressure on the leadership of the Trade Unions, who were left with no other option than to call a general strike starting on Monday 9th January 2012. Despite the obvious lack of genuine preparation on the part of the labour leaders, the mass rally that welcomed the general strike was huge. Over 200,000 people came out in Lagos alone and almost half this size was reported in Kano. The leadership of this movement was formalized around LASCO (Labour and Civil Society Coalition) and even the leadership was shocked to see such a huge turnout.

Reports indicate that the general strike was successful in 36 out of the 36 states of the federation, that is, 100% successful. The only state where the strike was not crowned with a mass rally and street protest was in Bayesa, the state of origin of the current president. All schools and Government offices were completely shut down in Bayesa, but those who actually planned to rally on the street were mercilessly repressed. The regime actually organized a pro-government rally, which was held with a lot of funfair under heavy military and police presence. This is another pointer to the nature of politics being played in Nigeria. Each politician bases his or her political position on his or her tribe. They consciously divide Nigeria along ethnic lines for the purpose of maintaining themselves in power.

Nigerians learnt from Egyptians
Muslims praying in Kano, whilst Christians keep watch, 6 January.For 51 years the Nigerian ruling class has been exploiting the situation whereby the Muslim dominated North is confronted with the Christian South. The Nigerian ruling class entrenched the policy of divide and rule, dividing Nigerians along religious and ethnic divides. Something spectacular has happened within this ongoing movement: Muslims were protected by Christians by encircling them when they were praying in the mosque. A comrade from the north said they learnt it from the Egyptians. This was a landmark event in the history Nigeria, where the image always projected by the Nigerian ruling class is that we are irreconcilably divided along ethnic and religious lines. This act was repeated in many other Northern states. For example, in Minna where the Christmas bombing of Christians by Boko Haram (a Terrorist sect) took place, Muslim youths guarded churches on Sunday and directly challenged Boko Haram to come out and attack. Every day, major landmark achievements are being recorded in the area of stronger unity and class solidarity. This is seriously alarming the ruling class and is desperately looking for all means to further sharpen the division. It is arming thugs and secret police to attack peaceful protests.

Another interesting feature of this popular movement is the use of squares as the rallying point of the movement. Nigerians are creating Tahrir squares all over the states. People are taking over parks and naming them freedom square.

On the leadership of the movement
Like most popular movement of the people, this movement started out with a very simplistic demand: “revert the price back to 65 naira”. Underneath this simple demand lies a huge resentment for decades of failure and inefficiency of extremely corrupt Nigerian ruling elites; that explains why over 200,000 people marched through Lagos on the 3rd of January and similarly in five other major towns across the country, even before the trade unions called the general strikes. An indefinite general strike declared on the 9th was a direct response to the January 3rd movement. It sent a very strong message to the Labour leadership that, it is no longer the business as usual. It cuts across series of manoeuvrings going on behind the scene between the Labour leadership and the Government.

January 3rd movement was led by Joint Action Front (JAF), a broad left trade union front. The success of the 3rd January has made it very popular. The organizational structure of JAF started springing up here and there across Nigeria. In some areas, the leadership of the movement is formalized around LASCO (an organization comprising JAF and the two main trade union centres, that is, NLC and TUC).

As it was in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, so it was here in Nigeria: a section of the ruling elites, whose program and policies are not significantly different from the regime in crisis, always lay ambush to hijack the leadership of any popular movement. They always come forward like friends of the people despite their previous close allegiance to the ruling regimes. The leadership of labour, who in the first instance was highly reluctant to lead the movement, is gradually ceding the position of leadership to these friends in form but enemies in content. They exploit the initial raw and highly immature consciousness of the masses. It took the Egyptians several months to realize that the top echelon of the military is as corrupt and useless as Hosni Mubarak was, unlike the rank and file soldiers who fraternized with revolutionaries during the revolution.

No matter how long it may take, Nigerians will come to realize in the course of struggle that the problem is not only the Jonathan regime, though he is part of it. The problem is primarily the socio-economic system that the regime defends. Any regime will have limited options as long as it clings to a system that puts interest of minority over and well above the interest of overwhelming majority. Nigerians will come to realize that the other bourgeois political parties who are presently trying to steal the movement are in no way better than this crumbling regime. After-all, what is the difference between the fuel price hike and the hike in tuition fee in Lagos State University from 25,000 naira to 250,000 naira carried out by ACN Government in Lagos State? Or the imposition of toll fee in Lekki? Masses learn through real life experience and not through books, and with their eyes open, they are obviously learning.

Conclusion
As is always the case at the beginning of mass movement, Nigerian masses are not yet aware of the intensity of this crisis. The masses at first thought that merely threatening and shouting could force the regime to change its mind and cancel the implementation of this policy, but were shocked to see that the regime still went ahead with it. Now that the policy is here, Nigerian masses are still of the opinion that with just two days of General Strike, mass rally and street protest, the Government will back-down and revert to original price of N65 per litre, but it is now on day five and it doesn’t look like Government is even considering reversing its policy. The masses learn through experience, the consciousness is transforming as real life experience is being assimilated. They will later learn that under capitalism, the Nigerian ruling elites, like their colleagues in Greece, Italy and others, has no other option before them, except to keep on attacking the welfare of the working class and Nigerian masses in general. It is the crisis of a system and what ruling class is saying is that working class and other poor segment of the society have to carry the burden of this crisis. The masses are already coming to the conclusion that the present regime should go. It is already getting louder: “Jonathan must go”. This regime must end now they demand. Yet, they will end up realizing that it is not only this regime that ought to go, but so also is the system. This system that breeds the kind of regime we have, that puts profit before genuine human needs and exists in the interest of minority against the desire of overwhelming majority.

The working class will in the course of this struggle, realize the urgency in renewing its leadership. Working class will wash itself clean of corrupt and extremely degenerate leadership of its organizations! The masses are now closer than ever before, to understanding the need to have a mass party resting on the trade unions. That is a party that people can call their own, which will defend its interest against the greed and crushing exploitation of an ever diminishing minority. LASCO is springing up here and there, it has within it the genuine Marxists and main Labour centres, as masses are learning they keep building their own organizations without which that victory is not feasible.


http://www.marxist.com/nigerian-working-class-once-again-on-the-move.htm

Britain does not give a fuc.k about you - can't you get that through your skull ? jeez

these people ARMED THE NORTH AGAINST YOU DURING THE BIAFRAN WAR - THEY ARE NOT YOUR FRIENDS PLEASE WAKE UP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHO OWNS SHELL BP

WHO IS WORKING WITH AMERICA TO KEEP YOU PERMANENTLY ENSLAVED AND IMPOVERISHED - YES YOU GUESSED IT - THE UNITED KINGDOM!!!!

Nigerian unions suspend general strike
By Robert Stevens
14 January 2012
Nigeria’s two main trade union federations suspended strike action on Friday, the fifth day of a general strike against the government of President Goodluck Jonathan. Mass rallies set to take place this weekend were also cancelled.

The union bureaucracy’s move to betray the struggle against the government was made on the pretext of supposed compromises offered during talks on Thursday attended by Jonathan. More than a dozen trade union heads attended the talks, which also included the Nigerian vice-president, finance minister, senate president and seven state governors.

Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) spoke of discussions as “fruitful.” Its president, Abdulwaheed Omar, stated that “both sides have agreed to shift ground.”

According to Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, an offer has been made by the government, which unions were considering. Further talks between the parties are to be held over the weekend.

The unions immediately scaled down scheduled protests on Friday, with an NLC official stating, “We are conscious of the security situation, given it is Friday and Friday is a day of prayer [for Muslims].”

He spoke in tacit support of the government’s clampdown following recent sectarian killings attributed to the Islamist group Boko Haram, and violent retaliations by Christian organisations.

The general strike began Monday in response to the government’s January 1 lifting of fuel subsidies at the behest of the International Monetary Fund. The subsidies are worth up to $8 billion a year; their lifting rapidly led to a doubling of petrol prices. Within days a litre of fuel had risen in price from 65 naira, or $0.40, to more than 140 naira, almost a US dollar. The knock-on effect is an immediate drastic increase in the cost of living, with a hike in transportation and food costs, in a country where 70 percent of the population of 160 million live in dire poverty.

It is estimated that the strike has cost Africa’s second biggest economy more than $600 million a day, a total of nearly $3 billion.

The scant information available points to a rotten cave in by the unions.

The demand of workers and youth is for the unconditional restoration of the fuel subsidy. To keep control over escalating protests and a restive workforce, the unions were forced to call the strike, but only after waiting a week.

According to the Financial Times, all the government has offered is a possible reintroduction of the subsidy, “for a few months, albeit at a reduced level that would price petrol at about 100 or 120 naira a litre.”

An agreement on this basis—a temporary cut of just 20 naira—leaves the price of fuel almost doubled for a few months, after which it will be allowed to rise unchecked. It would eliminate what is in effect the only form of welfare subsidy available to millions of people in Nigeria.

The actions of the union bureaucracy are dictated by its own fear of an insurgent movement of the working class. Following initial talks with the government, the unions initially feigned opposition, stating that strikes would still continue as negotiations resumed. “Until we conclude the discussions, we maintain the status quo,” Abdulwahed Omar said.

Workers joined protests in cities on Friday, after trade unions broke off talks with Jonathan and said they would not restart until Saturday. But the strike was called off almost immediately.

“The labour movement and its civil society allies after nationwide consultations has decided that Saturday and Sunday will be observed as strike, protest and rally-free days,” a joint statement from Nigeria's main labour unions said.

Not only were the unions aware that the strikes remained solid and determined. They calculated that they would not be able to continue to hold back the all-important oil and gas workers from joining the action.

The decision to end the strike came just hours after the largest oil workers' union PENGASSAN, representing 20,000 oil and gas workers, was forced to announce that, without an agreement, it planned to pull out its members from Sunday.

Nigeria is the largest producer of crude in Africa, with oil accounting for about 80 percent of state revenue and over 95 percent of export income. Producing more than two million barrels of oil per day, it is a key supplier of crude to the United States (630,000 barrels a day) and the European Union.

Action by oil workers would have stopped Nigeria’s oil and gas production, rapidly leading to a shutdown of the economy. According to one analyst, if new oil production was halted, the country had only enough supplies for six weeks of exports.

As the strike escalated this week, the mood of the demonstrators became increasingly militant with demands for the bringing down of the government. In response to the brutal repression of the state, in which riot police have indiscriminately attacked peaceful demonstrations, killing at least three and injuring many more, the strikes and protests widened. Hundreds of thousands of people have protested in many cities and towns, forcing the government to impose curfews in several states in response to large-scale unrest.

In Kano, the largest city in the north, hundreds of thousands protested Thursday. Another large protest was held in Lagos, with more than 10,000 people attending a rally in Gawi Fawehinmi Park. Many sang anti-government songs and carried placards reading, “Jonathan must go now” or “Revolution Now! They have the guns—We have the Guts.”

The mouthpiece of the US financial elite, the Wall Street Journal, cited the comments of Bismark Rewane, the managing director of Financial Derivatives Co, based in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital. “Both the unions and the government have lost control of this process,” he warned.

Despite the unions’ attempts to minimise all protests on Friday, thousands still came out in Lagos. Reuters said many present, “said they were determined to carry on until the government met their original demands.”

The development of a mass movement against the Jonathan regime, and its International Monetary Fund-inspired policies, reveals yet again that in every country, no matter their formal political complexion, the trade unions act at all times as bitter opponents of the class struggle. They function as a bulwark dedicated to safeguarding the ruling elite and the profit system itself against any threat from below.

Nothing can be secured by the working class outside of a rebellion against these organisations—which are wholly controlled by a pro-business fifth column of privileged functionaries—and the construction of new rank-and-file organs of struggle armed with a socialist programme

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/jan2012/nige-j14.shtml

do i like Beaf?

why dont you ask me whether i like people who committ murder, rap.e and armed robbery?

Beaf represents everything that is wrong with nigeria - he is a sycophant, he worships the very people who have destroyed the lives of millions of nigerians, he turns a blind eye to evil and immorality - who would like such a person?

If i had my way and i were to be in the corridors of power in nigeria - I would hunt down such people and have all of them lined up against a wall and shot - they are part of the problem we are having today in nigeria.  These shameless praise singing bas.tards have no moral compass and are only interested in going where it benefits them -  i am confident that we the people  will eventually succeed in overthrowing these satanic bas.tards that have held us back for the past 51 years and when we succeed in doing so the likes of Beaf will be apprehended and eliminated - these cancerous scum bags need to be weeded out of the system in order to prevent them from spreading their cancerous venom.

I am optimistic that the likes of Beaf and other sycophant's days are numbered.

BEAF BE WARNED YOU ARE A MARKED MAN!!! YOU CAN RUN - BUT YOU CAN NOT HIDE FOREVER WATCH YOUR BACK!!!

chmod777:
my brother perhaps your IQ  is lower than theirs. Did you attend school at all ?
watch the video again and observe that some of them did not answer questions asked as if they had no brains

I can assure you that when it comes to intelligence i will chew you up and spit you out - check my posts and then you will understand that you and me are not in the same category.

Instead of hiding behind a computer mouthing off insults why not go in front of a tv camera and answer questions off the cuff  and lets see whether you won't break into a sweat, shi.t yourself and start stammering like the dumb bit.ch that you are.

keep on hiding behind your computer - you know you dont (and will never) have the balls to stand in front of a camera and take on the international media - bi.tch.

They all answered the questions well, i don't know what you guys are moaning about.

[b]Security Council Votes to Cut Rwanda Peacekeeping Force
By PAUL LEWIS
Published: April 22, 1994


In another retreat for the United Nations, the Security Council voted unanimously tonight to cut back the beleaguered peacekeeping force in Rwanda from some 1,700 at present to about 270, despite protests from human rights groups who fear that the move will only increase the carnage there.

Diplomats here say that the decision came after the United Nations Secretary General, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, told the Council that the force should either be substantially strengthened so it can restore order or reduced to a symbolic size.

Mr. Boutros-Ghali rejected a third option of pulling it out altogether, which the United States had favored, saying the small force of 270 would be instructed to try to promote a cease-fire and assist with relief work. But in his report to the Council today, Mr. Boutros-Ghali appeared pessimistic about the prospects of an early end to the fighting in Rwanda. "I regretfully have concluded there is no prospect of a cease-fire being agreed upon in the coming days," he said.


Diplomats said there was no willingness to send another big peacekeeping force, like the one that had been sent to Somalia, to try to impose peace on Rwanda's warring tribes -- a task that the Secretary General said would require several thousand additional troops.

Most of the existing force is being withdrawn for its own safety because the United Nations troops had originally been sent to oversee a peace agreement and not to become involved in a new civil war, these diplomats said.

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/22/world/security-council-votes-to-cut-rwanda-peacekeeping-force.html

[/b]

THEY INCITE VIOLENCE AND WAR IN YOUR COUNTRY, THEN THEY STEP BACK AND WATCH YOU KILL EACH OTHER - ITS THE OLDEST TRICK IN THE BOOK AND ITS CALLED DIVIDE AND CONQUER.

YOU ARE SO BAMBOOZLED THAT YOU ACTUALLY RUN TO YOUR ENEMIES SEEKING JUSTICE !!!!

I PITY ALL OF YOU!!!!

The UN is a discredited organisation which is controlled and manipulated by the criminal govt of the United States, Israel and the United Kingdom - this is the same organisation that sanctioned an illegal invasion and destruction of two sovereign nations in africa - Libya and Ivory Coast. If you people think that this same organisation will deliver justice to you then you need your heads examined.

Dont forget that when the Rwandan genocide was in progress the UN peace keepign forces stood by and did NOTHING, also when the killings were underway europe and america sent troops to rescue ONLY THEIR OWN CITIZENS BUT LEFT THE RWANDANS TO BE MASSACRED so those of you who think the UN will ever raise a finger to help any of you need to wake up.

Its too late - the IMF is already running nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan has handed everything over to them, he is merely an honorary head of state and has no say in nigeria's economic policy.

Any fighting we nigerians are doing now is a fight to free ourselves from neo colonialism.

op looks like you are suffering from amnesia - is IBB not an ex military man, how about OBJ? what did they do for the nigerian people? Didnt nigeria run up 90% of its debts under these two animals? Didnt nigeria adopt and implement SAP under IBB's watch - listen the people are the only hope now and by that i mean the grassroots people have to stage a people's revolution - that is the only way out of this mess, the big problem is how do you stage a revolution against these criminals without arms?

Also forget about looking to america or europe for help because they are backign GEJ to the hilt.

very good - keep following IMF dictates - by the time you have privatised all the schools in the country 90% of the country will be stark illiterates because they will not be able to afford the fees.

dayokanu:
Nzeogwu, Ifeajuna and Nwobosi are the beginning of Nigerias problems

Those Ibos soldiers are the people who brought us to our knees as a country

cdoffx,

Can you tell me any reason why Nzeogwu and co killed other regional leaders but spared all Ibo politicians?


Under the guise of cleaning corruption, they killed

North - balewa and bello

SW- Akintola

SS- Okotie-Eboh

But these Ibo soldiers found all SE politicians free from corruption

or why wasnt Azikwe or Michael okpara killed?

you are funny.

all those abovementioned people were criminals and their deaths were met with jubilation by the nigerian people at that time.

Nigeria was already on its back following 6 years of rampant corruption and looting of the national treasury by those afore mentioned criminals so get your facts right my friend.

stop allowing tribalism to cloud your ability to reason objectively.

hahahaha - i like the use of the word "may".

How about US backed Al Qaeda/NTC who are currently running Libya - will they also face crimes against humanity?.

But how will america indict Boko Haram when Boko Haram are a splinter group of Al Qaeda and Al Qaeda is US intelligence - i'm confused - can someone explain to me how the US controlled UN will prosecute their own intelligence operatives?

Desperation knows no bounds - Like drowning men PDP  desperately clutch at straws blaming everyone but themselves for the intense hatred that nigerians have for them.

So they think nigerians can't see just how callous, greedy, immoral and devoid of humanity that they are.

what do you call a govt in which its senators earn more than their counterparts in the  US?

what do you call a govt in which its head of govt spends N1billion on food while the average nigerian exists on the equivalent of less than $1 a day?

You call them degenerate scum, you call them morally bankrupt filth, they all deserve to be publicly hung and quartered in a public square in front of a jeering mob to deter anyone with an ulterior motive from going into govt.

Ahhh fresh air - wow this fresh air is so clean its threatening to suffocate me.

And so the loyal clown went back to his masters to get a well deserved pat on the head for carrying out all of their instructions to a tee.

I'm so glad many of you have awoken from your day dreams and have now been forced to confront the nightmare that is Goodluck Ebele Jonathan - you see western nations always back and support deeply flawed characters, especially deeply flawed characters with thousands of skeletons in their cupboards. Goodluck is a flawed character - weak, obedient to the west and terrified of them - this is why he was chosen by Obasanjo (another diabolical western stooge)

The west loves weak and gutless africans like GEJ or barbaric uncivilised thugs like Obasanjo - both types are easy to control because they both worship and idolise europeans and suffer from inferiority complex

Today the western countries are congratulating him for a job well done - tomorrow if he loses control over the country they will abandon him and label him an evil dictaor.

Is it now crystal clear to all of you apologists and ars.e lickers of the west that they have never wanted anything good for africa? Have the scales now finally fallen from your eyes or are you still mired in stu.pidity and ignorance like Beaf and Morpheus ? But there is more to come my friends - these people have big plans for africans and none of them are designed to benefit any of you.

Goodluck Jonathan was allowed to win the elections on the condition thaat he would implement all of these reforms - that is why he can not and will not change his position on the fuel subsidy - if he does - he knows what awaits him - your country is now firmly under the control of the IMF - Goodluck is just an honorary leader - he has no power - dont you see that Okonjo Iweala wields even more power than him as she is the one charged with the responsibility of implementing all of these reforms. It will take a revolution to stop these people from leading all of us into the abyss of endless poverty because i can assure you that Goodluck, Okonjo Iweala and the Goldman Sachs agents do not want to end up six feet under as a result of failing to follow orders.

But i beleive that as long as we stand strong in this fight against evil and tyranny we shall prevail.

Under no circumstances should we the people give up on this strike action, if we stand strong we will win.

martinosi:
Hi Cap28 happy new year. just came into the forum to see your take on the issues with the
fuel subsidy removal pressed on Nigeria & other West African countries by the IMF.

I was telling people on the forum 2 year ago as well as yourself that this type of scenario was
going to unfold. People are running around shouting that the Govt is useless and you did say
people will regret that they voted for GEJ. But as we can see the CBN Gov'nor & Finance Minister
and Trade Minister are just giving GEJ orders from their former employer's!

And still some Nigerians cannot see the link and cause of their misery, *smh*

happy new year to you my brother.

do you think GEJ will back down over this fuel subsidy removal?

I hear the NLC have agreed to suspend the strike for two days in order to negotiate with the govt - i just hope they are not planning on selling the people out.

We all need to stand strong and NOT back down to these criminals - what we decide to do now will determine our future and the future of generations to come.

the NLC should NOT back down no matter what GEJ offers them.

^^^^^
I agree - we need a courageous and charismatic leader who will lead us out of the hands of the satanic demons. I know we can do it as a people, I am so proud of what our people are doing in places like Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Katsina, Ibadan and Lokoja - let the igbos in the east keep fooling themselves by staying out of this thing - they will come to regret their stance in the long run.

Yes i didnt know much about the sovereign wealth fund but i remember reading about how Goldman Sachs stole $1. 3 billion dollars of Libya's money which was invested in this fund which led to the Libyans demanding a full refund of their money or a stake in Goldman Sachs !!! As you know Goldman Sachs are one of the biggest criminal banking syndicates in the world -they were also behind the collapse of the Greek economy. The nigerian govt has also been infiltrated with a Goldman Sachs agent in the person of Aganga.

^^^^^

poor illiterate saga has no idea what's going on because in mutant chimp world your trainer does all the thinking for you.

mutant chimp - did you not know that the IMF which is run and controlled by the white man just condemned millions of your people to a life of unending poverty?


https://www.newsrescue.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Lagarde-Iweala-Sanusi-NewsRescue-who-is-behind.jpg
https://www.newsrescue.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Lagarde-Ngozi-Iweala-Sanusi-NewsRescue1.jpg
[B]
IMF Forces African Nations to Remove Fuel Subsidies[/B]
http://www.newsrescue.com/2012/01/imf-forces-african-nations-to-remove-fuel-subsidies/

^^

what point are you not making?

so Gbagbo had his first child with a white woman - big deal!

The fact of the matter is that his current wife is an ivorien woman who was beaten, humiliated and possibly rap.ed by Ouattara's trooops - would this have happened to a white woman - let me hear you say hell no!!

self hating sambo

^^^

oh so you need me to come and hold your hand?

i always knew you were a coward - but your own type of cowardice is in a separate category.

^^^^

your day of reckoning is at hand, you will remain a fool for life.

[quote author=isale_gan2 link=topic=842457.msg9946504#msg9946504 date=1326332559]It's enough to make you throw up your hands and retreat from the world, I tell ya.

In the past, we didn't see the handwriting on the wall - we didn't see these people scheming before they've effected their plans.  But now we get to see thing as they progress but still unable to arrest it!

Look how the whole Gaddafi overthrow and murder developed.  We saw it all.  In slow motion.

Look at the overrated Iweala, an utter stooge.  She can't even have a 2-minute conversation with Sahara Reporters without resorting to transparent lies about a bad phone connection - but she's the best of us?  So, the IMF is now the training ground for the new house-negroes? 

Imagine if during the struggle with gbagbo, a picture had been released of his "wife" being subjected to the treatment Mrs. Gbagbo was.  And we had Nigerians on this silly site full of even stupider Africans hailing the behaviour and their neo-colonial masters. 

I told you before, you had a of of patience trying to educate this semi-literate people.  I think I actually had a better image of our people before I started spending time on here.  The ignorance and Western worship is startling!  No matter what we say of akata behaviour, fact is, even the most uneducated, "shiftless" ones know more about the systemic destruction of black peoples all over the world than these Nigerians who are the most overly educated black people you will ever see.  There is a difference between going to school and amassing degrees and actually having real knowledge and applying that knowledge to real life.  Naijas (at least the most vocal ones strutting around this virtual conference hall) are a disappointment.[/quote]Yes it is indeed, and the worst part is that they have still got so many of us fooled.

This is why i say that 90% of nigerians are completely brain dead.

Acquring worthless pieces of papers in the name of educational qualifications does not equate to intelligence.

People here in the west with no academic qualifications can run rings around purported masters degree and phd holders in and outside nigeria because many of these fools have no understanding of the wider world that they live in.  Their narrow outlook on life limits them to seeing the world from the view point of a brainwashed follower  - a robot, completely devoid of the ability to reason and analyse issues critically.

These dolts never read books unless they relate to their immediate field of endeavour, this is why nothing in the world makes sense to them.  You would have thought that given our  history many of these individuals would seek to find out the root causes of our predicament, but no, they prefer to sit back and allow the white man to rehash and rewrite their own history, dumb fools!

Many of these fools were rejoicing when Qadaffi was killed - what they didnt realise was that nigeria along with other resource rich african countries have also been earmarked for destabilisation and destruction by these same western powers.  How ironic that less than 3 months after the libyan towns of sirte, bani walid and tripoli were razed to  the ground by the satanic forces of NATO they have turned their sights towards nigeria, the irony!  where are all these fools that were shouting and praising the NATO intervention in libya.  Where are these dim wits who thought that France had every right to invade ivory coast and kill thousands of unarmed men women and children in order to install their IMF puppet Ouattara.

The IMF hijacked the running of many african countries a long time ago but now due to the imminent collapse of america and europe's economies they are now ramping up the pressure and are resorting to even more draconian methods of siphoning the wealth from africa.

Okonjo Iweala has now been placed at the helm of affairs in order to push through the kind of economic reforms that will condemn over 80% of the nigerian population to an unending cycle of poverty.

I am so glad you can appreciate the level of frustration that i experience on this forum when trying to communicate with the endless flow of ignoramuses on here .

your point about the inhuman treatment meted out to Gbagbo and her husband is spot on - do you think those soldiers would have dared manhandle Ouattara's wife in that manner?

Do you think the french govt would have allowed any african soldier to manhandle a white woman and get away with it?

africans are fools and we are now dealing with the consequences of our stu.pidity.

Nigerian economy: the impending catastrophe
Written by Ola Kazeem
Thursday, 15 December 2011 00:53


Although the Nigerian economy has been officially growing at over 6% for the past 5 years, the poverty rate keeps increasing; youth unemployment has risen to an unprecedented 47% and over 80 per cent of Nigerian youth don’t have more than a secondary school certificate.

Infrastructure is collapsing with power generation hovering between 1,000 to 3,500 mega-watts, when Nigeria actually needs over 75,000 mega-watts to power its size. Out of over 160,000 kilometres of secondary and tertiary roads in Nigeria, with an average registered network of 4,000 kilometres per state, only about 10–15 per cent is paved. While a large proportion of this network remains in poor or very poor condition with only 15 per cent of federal roads in good condition.

“It is sad to note that rural roads, which are statutorily referred to as local government roads which constitutes about 132,000 kilometres (67.7 per cent) of the entire road networks in Nigeria is the worst hit by this state of disrepair.”(Rural Access and Mobility Project, RAMP).

Per capital income today is less than per capita income in the 1960’s, with the real wages of Nigerian workers now less than 35% of what it was in the 70’s.

With a Gini-coefficient of 0.57, Nigeria has one of the most unequal distributions of income in the world. Nigeria has a 78% illiteracy level and despite having 70% of its 55 million workforce in the agricultural sector, Nigeria is a net importer of staple foods; domestic production of rice has never been able to meet the demand, leading to considerable imports which today stand at about 1,000,000 metric tonnes yearly. The imports are procured on the world market with Nigeria spending annually over US$300 million on rice imports alone.

Nigeria is a maritime state with a coastline measuring approximately 853 kilometres; of the 36 states of the federation, nine are located on the coast where the waves of the Atlantic Ocean lap against the land and yet Nigeria imports between 700,000 and 900,000 metric tonnes of fish annually to partially meet a shortfall of 1,800,000 metric tonnes, thereby spending $800million annually on fish imports.

Nigeria, which was once the second exporter of tin in the world has completely destroyed this industry. What is most unfortunate about this statistics is that all this is happening at a time when Nigeria is said to be growing at an impressive rate of over 6%. This growth is largely driven by oil exports and commerce. The big question therefore is “what will happen when the price of oil crashes and the income crumbles?”

The rising debt

The Obasanjo regime, in an extremely dubious deal of April 2006, celebrated the exit of Nigeria from debt entanglement, which was then estimated at 35 billion dollars. The celebration alone cost 2.4 billion Naira and he was beating his chest as a man who has done the impossible. Less than 5 years later, Nigerian debt has risen to 39 billion dollars, a figure that clearly surpasses the earlier figure.

The significant difference between the present debt and the earlier one is in its composition. While the previous debt was predominantly foreign, the current debt structure leans more towards the domestic creditors; only 5 billion dollars is foreign held, while the remaining 34 billion is domestic. Though this is still less than 25% of GDP, it gives a pointer to what awaits the Nigerian economy in the coming period and this explains why there is so much panic among the Nigeria ruling class.

Within this debt figure is 16 billion dollars allocated to power generation but pocketed by Obasanjo during his tenure; it includes almost 100 billion naira reportedly embezzled by Governor Daniel and Governor Akala, the 152 billion naira fraud involving Bankole. The EFCC investigations show that Bankole has spent some of these corruptly acquired funds to commence construction of high profile properties and to purchase the 32-storey NITEL building in Lagos. He is currently developing a N7 billion resort in the Akodo area of Lekki. Arisekola and other Nigeria billionaires had their names published in many public media in 2006 as debtors to most of the distressed Nigerian banks, and many of them still continue owing these banks and the response of the Government then was to provide public money to bail out these banks.

It is also of interest to remind ourselves that many bank CEOs like Akingbola of Intercontinental bank and Ibru of Oceanic bank were spending depositors’ money on their various personal projects, which led to many of these banks collapsing after the first 2007 shock that rocked the stock exchange. The government bailed out these banks with over 5.3 trillion naira of public money and consequently it formed part of this domestic debt that the Nigerian ruling class is asking Nigeria’s masses to bear the burden of.

Another significant portion of this debt is owed to contractors who are constructing and repairing roads. This has raised a lot of questions from Nigerians, which roads are being constructed and which ones are being repaired?

Therefore, a booming Nigerian economy has only widened the gap between the extremely rich minority and overwhelming poor majority of Nigerian working masses. While this accelerates the accumulation of immense wealth in the hands of a handful, it pushes many more people into the abyss of poverty and want; it robs the poor to pay the rich. It calls on the already impoverished majority to tighten their belts and be prepared for hard times, while the ever diminishing fat cats continue to grow fat. It scares people with rising debt, while channeling the public wealth into private pockets. We are going through a boom, which deceptively presents billionaires Dangote, Akingbola and Ibru’s private debt as public debt, so as to swindle the people of their public property.

Does this mean that the Nigerian ruling class is just playing games and its future is rosy? Obvously not! There is panic written all over their faces. They are everyday losing confidence in their capability to manage the incoming tsunami; they can see it coming but they unfortunately see themselves powerless to do anything to prevent it, because along the path of capitalism there is no solution to the catastrophe that is fast approaching. They can see Tunisia, Egypt and Greece showing them their future but what can they do to avoid this?

Although, the Nigerian ruling class is one of the most inept and most inefficient ruling classes in the world, it has a very close and cordial relationship with its western masters; and its master in the western countries definitely must have informed them that with recession in Europe and significant slowdown in America, which will inevitably negatively affect the Chinese economy, it is just a matter of time before the price of oil plummets. The crashing of oil prices internationally is currently on the agenda and this clearly explains why the Nigeria ruling class is seriously panicking. It understands quite correctly that unlike in the 80’s and 90’s, there is no easy cash to be doled out by the IMF and World Bank if Nigeria is financially stranded. Western banks are still battling with their losses in Greece and Italy and are not in a very nice position to carelessly hand-out money to an economy with a bleak future.

All this limits the available room for manoeuvring unlike in the past and this clearly explains why the economic policy of Goodluck, as dictated by the IMF through Okonjo Iweala, is taking on this aggressive form. The desperation to completely deregulate oil and gas, the aggressive sales of public property through privatization, cuts in education and public health, and the recent campaign for a Sovereign Wealth Fund, are policies aimed at saving the decaying capitalist system at the expense of the overwhelming majority of Nigerians.

Sovereign Wealth Fund and the IMF agenda

A sovereign wealth fund (SWF) is a state-owned investment fund composed of financial assets such as stocks, bonds, property, precious metals or other financial instruments. Sovereign wealth funds invest globally. Some of them have grabbed attention making bad investments in several Wall Street financial firms including Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Merrill Lynch. These firms needed a cash infusion due to losses resulting from mismanagement and the subprime mortgage crisis. Most SWFs are funded by foreign exchange assets. How does this fit into the Nigerian ruling class’s popular slogan of “Government has no business doing business”? If it is in the interest of the ordinary Nigerians, Government will have no business doing business; if it is in the interest of the rich and their Western backers, Government will have a very strong reason to do business.

The global economic crisis has dictated this dramatically laughable change of policy of the IMF/World bank towards the “third world” countries. The IMF is no longer satisfied with massive sales of public properties at take away prices in the name of privatizations; it is no longer satisfied with huge cuts in public spending that further impoverishes the majority of Nigerians; the IMF has conveniently added to these policies the Sovereign Wealth Fund; that is, it is asking Nigeria to ensure huge savings from the proceeds from oil and other social cuts, savings not for the purpose of investing in Nigeria because “Government has no business doing business”, not for the purpose of improving the life of the overwhelming majority of Nigerians because “Capitalism is a system for the minority against the interest of the majority (1% against the 99%)”, but savings for the purpose of investing in the western market. How laughable does this sound? The poorer countries should not invest in their own countries where there is urgent and desperate need to do so, but should turn around and invest in the rich western countries because they are going through a financial crisis; that is, the rich will be fed from the belly of the poor!

Revolution is inevitable

Obviously, the Nigerian ruling class is one of the most subservient to the dictates of the western powers, in the world. The IMF has a direct representation within the government in the person of Okonjo Iweala who will go to any extent to get the imperialists’ interests protected to the last. Along the path they have mapped out, the consequences are glaring! It will inevitably lead to an open clash between the overwhelming majority of Nigerians and the ever diminishing minority of exploiters. Egypt and Greece have provided an example of what is to come.

With their policies, revolution is on the agenda and there is no other possible alternative policy on the basis of capitalism. Only a social and economic system that focuses first on the interests of the majority and not on the profits of the few, can harness all the Nigerian resources, both human and material, and unleash the full capacity of Nigerians for the purpose of actualizing the full potential of the country. That system is Socialism and it is the only alternative to blood sucking capitalism. It is absolutely impossible to find a solution within a system that puts profit first before human needs, which judges the rationality of everything based on profitability, a greedy system that promotes greediness and turns man to beast.

Therefore the real enemy is neither corruption nor the mediocrity of the Nigerian ruling elites as such, but the dying system that breeds corruption in which the Nigerian ruling elite are mere appendages of the western powers. That is what the capitalist system is, especially in very backward countries like Nigeria. The alternative system is the only way out and this alternative is inconceivable without first booting out these degenerate servants of the imperialists.

http://www.workersalternative.com/economy/118-ol

^^^

exactly - they won't use any footage that portrays nigeria in a positive light. they are liars and propagandists.

remember the role they played during the libyan war.

Nice one, - these bastards deserve to be publicly lynched - imagine having the nerve to show their ugly faces in public.

Beaf - can you now see what the nation thinks of you and that shameless thief GEJ?

Can you see how this man sold nigeria lock stock and barrell to the IMF?

My prayer for you is that you will stay alive long enough to enjoy the mayhem that GEJ has planned for nigeria.

You love americans dont you?

well Goodluck Jonathan has handed nigeria over to US africom and the IMF - so i hope you enjoy your coming enslavement.

They say ignorance is a disease, in your own case it is lethal.

isale gan - the vultures are moving in for the kill,

read this:

[b]The IMF and US African Command (AFRICOM) Join Hands in the Plunder of the African Continent


by Nile Bowie

 
Global Research, January 6, 2012



Lagos Dissents Under IMF Hegemony

Nigeria: The Next Front for AFRICOM

On a recent trip to West Africa, the newly appointed managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde ordered the governments of Nigeria, Guinea, Cameroon, Ghana and Chad to relinquish vital fuel subsidies. Much to the dismay of the population of these nations, the prices of fuel and transport have near tripled over night without notice, causing widespread violence on the streets of the Nigerian capital of Abuja and its economic center, Lagos. Much like the IMF induced riots in Indonesia during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, public discontent in Nigeria is channelled towards an incompetent and self-serving domestic elite, compliant to the interests of fraudulent foreign institutions.

Although Nigeria holds the most proven oil reserves in Africa behind Libya, it’s people are now expected to pay a fee closer to what the average American pays for the cost of fuel, an exorbitant sum in contrast to its regional neighbours. Alternatively, other oil producing nations such as Venezuela, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia offer their populations fuel for as little as $0.12 USD per gallon. While Lagos has one of Africa’s highest concentration of billionaires, the vast majority of the population struggle daily on less than $2.00 USD. Amid a staggering 47% youth unemployment rate and thousands of annual deaths related to preventable diseases, the IMF has pulled the rug out from under a nation where safe drinking water is a luxury to around 80% of it’s populace. 


Although Nigeria produces 2.4 million barrels of crude oil a day intended for export use, the country struggles with generating sufficient electrical power and maintaining its infrastructure. Ironically enough, less than 6% of bank depositors own 88% of all bank deposits in Nigeria. Goldman Sachs employees line its domestic government, in addition to the former Vice President of the World Bank, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who is widely considered by many to be the de facto Prime Minister. Even after decades of producing lucrative oil exports, Nigeria has failed to maintain it’s own refineries, forcing it to illogically purchase oil imports from other nations. Society at large has not benefited from Nigeria’s natural riches, so it comes as no surprise that a severe level of distrust is held towards the government, who claims the fuel subsidy needs to be lifted in order to divert funds towards improving the quality of life within the country.


Like so many other nations, Nigerian people have suffered from a systematically reduced living standard after being subjected to the IMF’s Structural Adjustment Policies (SAP). Before a loan can be taken from the World Bank or IMF, a country must first follow strict economic policies, which include currency devaluation, lifting of trade tariffs, the removal of subsidies and detrimental budget cuts to critical public sector health and education services

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=28520

[/b]

we need a revolution.

[flash=300,300]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqtzh206ymA&feature=channel_video_title[/flash]

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V33dsr8JxuI[/flash]

excellent move - lets see how these parasites will survive without the goose that lays the golden egg.

Beaf - would you like to dispense with the juvenile humour and answer the question?