It is a known fact that the up coming renewal of oil blocks has ruffled the feather of the north dominating it. Why is it a abominable for all Nigerians to have equal access to the nation's resources?
hakddream: This is from America's Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, delivers an opening statement at a subcommittee hearing entitled "Nigeria on the Brink?"
House committee on Foreign Affairs in America deliberating on supporting Nigerian Army, they still see Nigerian Army as the best in the Region...
I just love the American Republican party. They often tell it as it is, no matter whose ox is gored. No wonder my mentor Gen. Colin Powell is a republican! A democrat congressman would so much sugar coat the same issue,that you would come out of that room believing Boko Haram is a system of government preferred by majority of northern Nigerians.
Unfortunately, because the Democratic party is fondly voted for by black Americans, the average African has not seen the Democrats for who they really are.
Hausa does not participate in anything pan Nigerian. They usually form their own thing, to underline that they are not one country with the south. Just like they have their own Kannywood instead of the normal Nollywood and Gamji instead of Nairaland.
IGBOSON1: ^^^Nice! Where there any changes made to the design?
I hope they landscape the surrounding area in keeping with what's in the renders!
Actually i can't tell if there were any changes. Like you, i'm hoping they get the final product as close as possible to the render. The landscaping is critical to be done well. We have to pray that attention is paid to landscaping and it is done exactly as in the render. You know how our people regard landscaping.
CFCfan: A national carrier can be the solution. The primary hubs would be Lagos and Abuja; while Enugu could serve as a secondary hub. Ideally, the airline would connect Enugu with US and Asian routes. For instance, the national carrier could do Enugu-Atlanta or Enugu-Los Angeles; these routes could also be seasonal ones if the airline management want the primary hubs to be the main cash cows. The Asian routes may be Enugu-Dubai, Enugu-Shanghai, Enugu-Kuala Lumpur.
A 2nd runway, taxiways, and a decent terminal would surely do the trick.
Nigerians typically fear Nigeria based carriers for long haul flights. As a country we have a culture of cutting corners and very poor maintenance culture. In airline business,that often results in disastrous consequences.I was in London recently and my host bitterly warned me not to use Arik back to Nigeria. He preferred BA and would actually say he warned me in my funeral if anything happened.
Secondly, A national carrier would simply continue with the Abuja and Lagos hub, while local flights will merely bring international bound passengers to Lagos or Abuja for them.
Enugu aviation hub can only be possible by a private airline group, not FG national carrier.
biafrandream: Well Med-View Airline just commenced Enugu-Accra route
Truly, That is an improvement. While we work out a direct flight into Europe from Enugu, a Nigerian airline should actually base in Enugu as it's regional hub to connect West and Central African capitals. Lots of Onitsha traders have strong business relationships with Accra, Dakar and Abidjan.So i think it will be a lucrative route for them.
viczing: Boko Haram is flush with cash and weapons after a string of battlefield advances, but the fighting group could face a tougher fight with Nigeria’s neighbours, US intelligence officials have said.
In an assessment of the group, whose five-year uprising has included massacres and kidnappings and spread from Nigeria into neighboring states, the officials said they did not believe it posed a major threat to Nigeria’s oilfields in the south.
They said the group has about 4,000-6,000 “hardcore” fighters – considerably less than some estimates which have put the group’s size at up to 10,000.
The group is “financially secure” from bank robberies, kidnappings and other sources, and is able to go “toe-to-toe” with the Nigerian military after capturing an arsenal of arms, the intelligence officials told reporters.
However, the group could soon face an unprecedented test on the battlefield against more capable forces from Cameroon, Chad and Niger, they added.
The military intervention of neighbouring powers “potentially can be a game changer in a positive way,” one intelligence official said.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Boko Haram were believed to be still holding about 300 schoolgirls they kidnapped early last year and had dispersed them to multiple locations.
Around 10,000 people were killed in Boko Haram attacks last year. The Sunni Muslim group poses the biggest security threat in Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer and biggest economy.
Concern over the insurgency appears to be and one of the main reasons for what appears to be a surge in political support for opposition leader Muhammadu Buhari in a February 14 election.
Many Nigerians believe Buhari, as a former military ruler, will be able to bolster the army’s hapless efforts to counter the insurgency, and that as a Muslim he may even be able to take some of the wind out of Boko Haram’s ideological sails.
The officials said the group had been engaging in both small-scale and larger attacks in recent weeks and they expected this mixed pattern of operations to continue during the election period.
The US officials’ comments came as Boko Haram suffered heavy losses after launching a major attack into Niger on Friday for the first time.
The clashes involved troops from Niger as well as Chad, which has adopted a leading role in the fight against the group.
If you have as much intelligence to even know how much is in their bank accounts, then tell us where they are. Or better still, give us those bank accounts so we can freeze them and arrest those putting money into them. You won't do any of these, but you will be dishing out constant useless " intelligence" everyday.[/size]
ducii: Here is a report from Ventures Africa asking if Nigeria should stay together or break up
Today Scotland decided against independence through a historic referendum to remain in the 307-year-old union with the United Kingdom. Opponents of independence won 55 percent of the vote while those who want self-rule for Scotland won 45 percent with all 3.6 million votes counted in a record 85 percent turnout.
The referendum was a landmark democratic process not only because of the gravity of the consequence of a yes vote- which would have split the UK, but also for several other significant reasons among which was the near-perfect display of the right and responsibility to vote, and the peaceful acceptance of the people’s wish.
On one side the Alex Salmond-led YES to Independence, on the other the Alistair Darling-led and England-supported NO for the Union, and in-between them the nearly 5 million eligible voting Scots galvanised and wholly interested in taking the destiny of their nation in their hands. The Scottish referendum resonated beyond the British Isles attracting attention from all corners of the world and mirroring in faraway lands the questions, demands, aspirations of “to separate or to remain united?”.
Listening to Nigeria’s Diverse Voices
One of those many lands is Nigeria. The most populated African country with over 200 ethnic groups and more than 250 languages, Nigeria has within it very pronounced ethno-religious differences that have remained a boiling pot for socio-political tensions since the creation of the country by British colonial masters. These simmering tensions have spewed into violent confrontations at several times in the course of the country’s history most notably the Nigerian Civil War caused by the Ojukwu-led Eastern move to secede from Nigeria.
The civil war may have ended with a victory for the continued unity of Nigeria, but the ethnic suspicions have remained and continues to stifle genuine nation building and subvert honest patriotic cooperation across tribal lines. Campaigners for independence among the many nationalities that make up Nigeria have also never gone away, most popular among them the Movement for The Actualization of The Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) still calling for the secession of the Igbo-dominated South-East and the Oodua Peoples Congress in the Yoruba dominated South-West.
politics in Nigeria remains heavily built on ethnicity politics in Nigeria remains heavily built on ethnicity Although the campaign for secession in Nigeria is relatively feeble, it does not translate into a political unity across the dominant ethnic lines. Rather the opposite, Political parties in Nigeria still remain heavily built on regions and ethnicities, those who have attempted to bridge the divide have only witnessed struggling results. Government officials and public office holders are most often judged or supported not on their merits but on the basis of where they hail from or how they worship. Resource sharing is also another huge dividing point with regions often at loggerheads with each other over who gets what, all sides supporting the basis that most suits it –from majority control of resources advocated by the generators to distribution dependent on the level of developmental needs by the less resource-filled regions.
Religious differences also leave the country divided even by issues as mundane as the age of marriage for girls. Connected with religious leanings is the difference in the acceptance of the moral and cultural direction of the Nigeria, split between those who see it as a secular country based mainly in the Christian-dominated south and those who support more religious ordinance for the country based in the Muslim dominated Sharia practising north.
Populated with all these tensions, suspicions, sentiments and differing ideologies that mix to hamper social, economic, cultural and political development, taking the Scottish way may be the best choice for Nigeria in its search for a clear path going forward.
Will a Referendum spur a deeper reflection on the Nigerian project?
Albeit independence was the simple question on the ballot, the answers Scotland sought at the polls were of complex issues ranging from cultural identity and desire for a clearer national direction to the demand for political reform as well as greater economic prosperity. Even with the NO vote wining at the end of the day, Scotland definitely seems on the path to finding those answers.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, obviously delighted with the vote against Scottish independence, admits that the issues that brought up the question in the first place now has to be addressed. He has now vowed to forge a new constitutional settlement that would grant Scotland the promised powers but also give greater control to England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
“Just as Scotland will vote separately in the Scottish parliament on their issues of tax, spending and welfare, so too England, as well as Wales and Northern Ireland should be able to vote on these issues,” Cameron words showed that the Scottish vote meant far more than just the question of independence rather of reform for the whole of the UK.
The Leader of the campaign for independence and of the Scottish parliament Alex Salmond has also responded to the NO vote.
“Scotland has by a majority decided not, at this stage, to become an independent country. I accept that verdict of the people and I call on all of Scotland to follow suit in accepting the democratic verdict of the people of Scotland”. Salmond typifies the peaceful acceptance of the will of the people, the very character that democracy breeds.
The Scottish path could also suit Nigeria very well. With the milieu of problems and challenges facing the country, perhaps an honest question on the workability of the amalgamation, on which Nigerians had no say, could well give the country a clearer perspective of its destiny. Such referendum in Nigeria could also spur a genuine reflection and discourse on the pros and cons of remaining united as happened in Scotland. If unity triumphs as it did in Scotland, then it would be on terms acknowledged and accepted by majority of Nigerians.
This would end skirmishes, diffuse suspicions and bring about greater stability for the faster realization of the multitude of potentials abounding in Nigeria. Like Cameron said after the vote “There can be no disputes, no re-runs, we have heard the settled will of the Scottish people.” Nigeria’s leaders could do more knowing and accepting the genuine will of its people. Economic growth and development as well as business investments all react to stability especially with one that provides clarity on the political and societal future.
Getting Everyone Involved in The Nigerian Project
Ethnic-Map-of-Nigeria
The Scottish example is made more remarkable by the fact that the referendum transcended the political space to get to the ordinary man. It went beyond being a discussion monopolised by politicians to finding its way in the streets and homes of common men. Galvanised by a sense of responsibility Scots as young as 16, understanding the responsibility and importance of their vote, came out en masse to decide their destiny, the result was an 85 percent turnout- one of the highest percentages of democratic participation in the history of modern day democracy.
Nigeria needs this bit of direct democracy; the country held a national conference this year with delegates from the several segments of the society. The representatives have already been criticised in some quarters as not representative of the real demands of the masses. In the case of such direct democracy, everybody’s say counts, something not currently being achieved in Nigeria’s democracy.
Elections in Nigeria struggle to interest even a fraction of the eligible voters with political apathy rife due to the perception of politicians as not genuinely representing the people. As the Scottish example has shown, perhaps a question on the path of the country open to all Nigerians will galvanise national and political awareness and inspire national participation in the direction of the country.
The exemplary peaceful acceptance of the will of the Scottish people must also be something Nigeria has to try to imbibe even in her regular elections where results sometimes throw up skirmishes. To get to that peaceful acceptance however, Nigeria needs fairer and transparent elections.
[size=18pt]Afenifere's demand for a return to Regionalism at the constitutional conference is the only panacea for a peaceful Nigeria. Nigeria should stay together, but every region should control their resources 100% and pay tax to the FG.These taxes received by FG shall only be used to maintain the armed forces and other federal agencies.
NO ALLOCATIONS FROM FG TO REGIONS!!!
Then there will be no need for any form of cheating to get more money from FG or even do or die struggle for power to control the center.[/size]
This is TRUE Federalism. Ofcourse, those benefiting by all sorts of cheating schemes to corner the lion resources of Nigeria will totally reject TRUE Federalism.
ARROBA: @Spyder880, Yes but Turkish airline will commence abuja route from th 5th of march. They signed mou that they will include enugu only in principle and the VC Sambo used it in his campaign rally just to get South East votes.
Just checked their site and they have flight to abuja staring from the 5th of march.
Truly, If they have Enugu route now just "in principle", its really not bad. They will thus start whenever the traffic becomes sufficient, without needing to go through the aviation ministry for a MUO, which could be frustrated,depending on who is in charge then.
The Ethiopian airline is already excellent connecting Enugu to all of African cities and far East. All we need is one more international carrier based in Europe to make easy link for our people in Europe and America into Enugu.
spyder880: They use a 767 on the Enugu route. .....
So glad to see these pics Spyder! Thanks for your effort.
Wow!, they started with a 737, then graduated to a 757 and now they are using a 767-300 !!! Hopefully, as the passenger traffic continues to grow, they will even expand to even bigger planes as 777 or even dreamliner 787!!! Chai, Enugu will soon be among the few African airports welcoming the dreamliner!
Next time i travel, i will enter Naija via Enugu, then take local flight to Lagos!
Buhari is only annoyed the Nigerian army filled with him moles will not be the only ones facing Boko Haram now.
Chad, is a disciplined force and unlike Nigerian army, doesn't have to deal with moles leaking out information to Boko Haram. So he knows Boko Haram is truly facing annihilation with the involvement of other real troops. So, him and his cohorts sponsoring Boko Haram will somehow find the successes Chad has recorded against Boko Haram within a few days as something tragic for his Boko boys.
tochukwuifeduba: Now the election have been shifted to a more conducive date its time for us to bring sanity back to Inec.
We the good people of Nigeria from the rich and economic viable Northern Nigeria and the intellectual citadel of south west of Nigeria are calling on the Inec chairman Alhaji Attihiru Jega to do the needful and resign honourably or get sacked . We have lost total confident in his ability to conduct a free, credible and fair election.
Jega must go now join the campaign hastag!
[size=18pt]Ifeduba ThankGod Tochukwu
Aguiyi na Ozubulu
08094646643[/size]
[size=18pt]Useless Ediot using peoples real facebook names to post vile on the internet![/size]
[size=14pt]GEJ has been quietly transforming Nigeria. Unlike the animals that merely filled their Swiss accounts and allowed our infrastructure to rot.
Meanwhile, as they and their friends looted Nigeria, they were pretending to be fighting corruption.Setting up ICPC,EFCC,PICC,QRCC to "witch hunt" their perceived enemies. They are back again with the same stories and lies to fight "corruption". Imagine Obasanjo, Tinubu and Amaechi talking about anti corruption! Will they refund what they stole to have a clean hand or moral right to accuse others? As soon as they are voted in, the only person they will ever charge for corruption will be their political enemies.
See Abuja- Kaduna railway completed in record 2.5 years Goodluck Jonathan! "OUTSIDE THE PRESIDENT'S GEOPOLITICAL REGION!!!![/size]
Segadem: Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, in this interview with OLALEKAN ADETAYO , reacts to some of the criticisms trailing President Goodluck Jonathan and gives reasons why he deserves a second term Despite the achievements President Goodluck Jonathan claims to have made, what will you say is responsible for the general perception that this government has performed below expectation? I like it that you used the word perception. There is a negative sinister perception created by the opposition. I will tell you how. The opposition has a tremendous influence on Nigerian media and therefore, most of these achievements are suppressed from coming to public glare. The second one is that achievements and good news do not make news but when Boko Haram keeps bombing and killing, that is the news. I have looked at newspapers’ headlines for one year, 75 per cent of headlines are on Boko Haram. It doesn’t matter even if you say that the President had just gone to commission an industry somewhere but when you say 285 killed in Monduga, Borno State, that is what people will remember. Insurgency has been overplayed to the extent that it has overshadowed the laudable achievements of this administration and it is deliberate. I know for a fact that the issue of Boko Haram was designed and executed from the beginning to malign this administration. There was Boko Haram before this administration, but the evil people in the society who felt there was no way they could remove the administration saw an opportunity and they encouraged it one way or the other to the extent that we never had rest in the last two to three years. Do you exercise any fear of possible post-election violence in the country? That question should go to APC people. They are the ones that are identified with violence and also canvass for violence and perpetrate violence. There is no doubt about it, they have said it before and they have made it happen. We have nothing to do with violence. We win all the time, we are going to win again. We just pray that when we win, people will accept it readily and not create violence as they did in 2011. Many people who suffered the 2011 violence have not recovered from it. One of the achievements being pointed to by this administration is the unbundling of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, why is it that Nigerians still do not have electricity? The unbundling of the PHCN is a major event. It took 15 years and finally it took the courage, tenacity and commitment of President Jonathan to see it through. Without the unbundling of the PHCN, we will be a non-starter in terms of power generation. Government cannot provide what is required to provide Nigerians’ electricity needs. Nigerians today need 50,000MW. We are looking at about $40bn to $50b, that is multiple trillions in naira. All we have in our capital vote in a year is about N1tr, where will we get that kind of money from? So we have to break down the power infrastructure so as to encourage foreign direct investors to come and invest and take it over just like the telecommunications. Don’t you think the issue of the missing Chibok girls has affected the political fortune of the President? It is not just Chibok girls; everything that has to do with this insurgency has affected the political fortune of the President. The good news however is that in spite of it all, this administration has verifiable and concrete achievements that nobody can argue about. How do you react to the claim by the opposition that the President lacks the capacity to fight Boko Haram? It is only the mentally derailed that will say that. Because there is insurgency here, then the government is not doing well. It is nonsense talk. It is absolute nonsense talk. Insurgency is not a Nigerian affair. How much is our national budget? About N4tr. How much is that in dollars? Is that not $2b? That is not up to what America gives to Egypt on a yearly basis. It is only foolish people and some not too experienced politicians as well as ignorant and mischief makers that will say that because Jonathan’s administration has not been able to end insurgency, then he does not have what it takes to tackle Boko Haram. When Buhari says he will end insurgency, that is total rubbish. He does not know what he is talking about, it is not going to happen unless he is the one who controls the boys on the field. That is the only reason why he can end insurgency immediately. Because in that case, what he needs to do as their commander is to ask them to stop and they will stop. If that is not the case, nobody can say he will end insurgency like that. That is just political gimmick and nobody should take him seriously. The issue of insurgency is not a campaign performance of President Jonathan. Apart from security, another major fallout of ongoing campaigns is corruption. How will you rate this administration’s anti-corruption drive? I don’t need to rate this administration’s anti- corruption drive. If I say it, nobody will believe me. Why should you believe me? Why should APC believe me? Why should Nigerians believe me? I am a beneficiary of this government. But there are world institutions that have in the past castigated us and condemned us, but are saying another thing now. Two years ago, we were 147th out of over 170 nations when they did the corruption perception index of Transparency International. We did not abuse them, we accepted it and said we were going to improve and we have done that. Today, the same organisation says we are 136th, we have moved eight points in two years. These are independent and objective observers. It does not mean that we are no longer corrupt, it is evident that something is being done about it. The President appointed Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, who has a case pending in court, as the spokesman of his campaign organisation. He also granted pardon to Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha who was convicted of corruption. How will you marry these with the President’s anti-corruption war? Granting pardon to somebody, is that corruption? How can you say that? I expect people who are educated and knowledgeable to stay away from things that do not make sense. When these events happened, we showed you that prerogative of mercy is the preserve of the President. Look at Presidents all over the world: murderers have been granted mercy; drug peddlers have been granted mercy. It is a prerogative of mercy. In the case of Alamieyeseigha, why do our people exhibit so much hatred? Alamieyeseigha was accused of corruption, he was tried for corruption, he was found guilty and jailed for corruption. He finished his term, his properties were seized. Why don’t you just give a gun to the President to shoot him? What is wrong if he granted him pardon? How can that be corruption? That is not corruption. He exercised the power that is given to him. At every celebration of national events, President, governors and even state chief judges grant pardons to murderers and other criminals to leave prisons. This one had served his term. Chief Fani-Kayode has a case in court. The law says you are not guilty until you are declared so by a court. He had many charges levelled against him, virtually all of them were quashed by the court because they were either exaggerations or things that cannot be backed by facts. There is absolutely nothing wrong in making Fani-Kayode the spokesman. He is very competent, he is good at it, he has the intellect and he is in a position to do the job. If he goes to court and he is found guilty, then the law can take its course. You cannot say because he has a case in court, therefore, he cannot work. And it is not a case of corruption really. That is not an issue. How will you react to the belief that those of you who surround the President always respond with anger to criticism and attack personalities instead of addressing issues? What issues are there to attend to? Those who call the President clueless, those who say the President is a drunkard, those who say the President is a non-performer, are those issues? It is just because this President is liberal. We do not have a choice than to be angry. I am angry because I know that people are painting the President in colours that he does not deserve and they are doing it deliberately, not based on facts. They are using the media to manipulate the minds of people. They abuse the President but when we respond, they will say it is unpresidential. If you do not want to be insulted, do not insult others. You once predicted that APC will not last one year. The party is almost two years now. How do you feel? My prediction helped them because I found out that every day they meet, instead for them to fight, they will say ‘you know Okupe predicted that we are not going to last, so let us beg one another.’ So what I have done is to help them because we wanted a very serious opposition and we are praying that they will not break. If I did not say so, they would have broken and there would have been no contest. So they should thank me for saying so.
[size=18pt]The same man we expect to finish Boko Haram islamist group said all these?[/size]
Buhari is simply being supported by fanatics that imagine they can lord it over the rest of the country. On February 14th, we shall hand him a resounding defeat so that he can openly declare for Boko Haram leadership of the insurgency
The Court of Appeal in Abuja has set aside the judgments of the Federal High Court, Abuja which upheld the Ejike Oguebego-led Executive Committee as the true leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Anambra State.
The appellate court also set aside the Federal High Court’s decision which on thursday voided the Colonel Augustine Akobundo-led caretaker/ad-hoc committee established by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to run the affairs of its Anambra chapter and restrained the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from accepting the list of candidates that emanated from the primaries conducted by the caretaker committee.
The court, in two unanimous judgments, upheld the two appeals filed by the PDP and a chieftain of the party, Chukwudi Okasia against the December 5, 2014 judgments by Justice Evoh Chukwu of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
By the judgments on Thursday, all the candidates produced in the primaries held by the Oguebego-led Exco of the Anambra PDP would no longer be acceptable to INEC until the Supreme Court decides otherwise.
The Court of Appeal having set aside both judgments by the lower court, struck out the suits on which the judgments were given on the ground that the Federal High Court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the suit which bordered on the party’s internal affairs.
The appellate court, which queried the locus standi of Oguebego and Chucks Okoye, who claimed the Chairman and Secretary of the Anambra chapter of the PDP, held that by virtue of a March 17, 2012 judgment by Justice Kekemeke of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Oguebego and Okoye were not members of the party’s Exco because the judgment annulled the election from which they purportedly emerged.
The Court of Appeal further held that the suits on which the Justice Chukwu’s judgments were based were not only an abuse of court process, but were wrongly commenced via originating summons.
The court held that it ought to have been commenced with writ of summons as there were needs for parties to call witnesses.
Of course they want to thumb print ballot boxes. How do you release such sensitive materials to traditional and religious leaders from just one part of the country?
Politics › Re: Nigeria's Oil Wells: Why The Northerners Want Gej Out.. by cjrane: 11:29pm On Feb 10, 2015
