₦airaland Forum

PDPGuy:
For me, Bianca Ojukwu, Chukwuma Soludo, and Peter Obi are easily the most sellable persons from the SE.

Bianca and Soludo would be the ‘safest’ choices because although they are both technocrats, they also do not have a cult of political followeship or a huge political machinery that could challenge a President Atiku.

Bianca is a lawyer and has a Masters degree in International Relations. She also served as Nigeria’s ambassador to Spain for three years, from 2012-2015. She definitely has the requisite intellectual capacity and executive/foreign policy experience to be part of the PDP’s presidential ticket.

Peter Obi and Soludo will be long shots due to their charisma and political machine in Anambra. As the history of Nigerian politics has shown, with the exception of OBJ, the running mate has always been someone who is quiet and unassuming eg GEJ, Osinbajo, Ekwueme etc.

Then, if Atiku decides to serve only one term, Bianca owould be in a great position to run for the presidency in 2023.

ELgordo:
Omo na to release inside them 2

ElPadrino33:
So being a Billionaire's driver for 20 years is stagnation ? The man and his family are probably living finer than most of you haters. I'm sure he doesn't lack anything

Milllz:
All year they have been seizing bulletproof cars.

I’m yet to understand the rationale behind this or what makes the cars liable to be seized. I hope they’re not just trampling on the work of honest hardworking people like in the days of OBJ just to announce a 1trn Naira revenue.

Unless these cars are stolen, anyone who imports these expensive vehicles clearly has enough funds to legally clear them.

emmie14:
Why all these changes only during Christmas? While not after Christmas? . How does the removal of subsidies really affected the common people in Nigeria? The suffering and insufficiency is still the same. The problem of Nigeria with dilapidated refineries didn't start in 2012. Corruption in the presidency and NNPC is the problem in Nigeria including citizens who base their political analysis on religious and tribal sentiments. Not the policies of 2012.

luvinhubby:
Which perennial problem?
5yrs of GEJ witnessed no fuel queues despite selling fuel at ₦97

Nigerians last started experiencing fuel queues September 2015 till around March 2016 when Buhari increased pump price of fuel to ₦145 & we are still experiencing fuel queues with it.

arinzeejikonye:
The cost is even better than that azura edo ipp,

Awarded at same $1 billion in 2014, for 450 mega watts

Obi1kenobi:
As always, not a surprise, he reveals the root of his weird fury.
Again, posting some comment on a forum while on the move doesn't entail that I have to spend my time rehashing online documents to bolster my argument. You're free to disagree with my claims and free to refute them (even though foaming in the mouth like a rabid dog while shouting "IPOB" doesn't count as a rebuttal) yourself, but as I already said, you're entitled to what you believe. There a million and one articles online critiquing the inflated costs of Nigeria's infrastructural projects, including from international observers. Whenever you can wipe the foaming dribble off your mouth and breathe normally, you can find them. I have no interest in indulging keyboard warriors today.

Blizzy9ja:
I commend the boys in the creeks for their boldness and gallantry. If the current status quo is not changed, then the pipes should go up in flames, you cannot borrow money to develope the north for the south to pay

LordAdam16:
Seems many of you can't argue constructively.

Here's my reply to another commenter making the same baseless comparison

"Amazon, Apple, Facebook et cetera are global corporations. The short form of what they do is that when they make sales, they forward the money to a low-tax jurisdiction where they often have tax arrangements with the country. Their country of choice is typically Ireland. And so avoid paying huge taxes in any country they operate in.

That's why Apple has more than $200b in off-shore accounts. If they moved that money to the US, the Feds would take at least 30% ($60b). And that's the reason why DT wants to reduce it to 10%, so most of that cash can be transferred back to the US.

Dangote's case is very different. It is a Nigerian company with 90% of sales occurring in Nigeria. He took advantage of a loophole (the pioneer status is not the main issue, it's using it multiple times for the same plants after the five years has expired). I'd defo do the same thing if I was in his shoes, as it is not a crime per se. Capitalism and morality as I said earlier don't mix.

But it is an unfair loophole and that's what the author of the OP is trying to argue. It is an unfair loophole that hurts the Nigerian economy.

There are many loopholes and shady practices like these in Nigeria and indeed all around the world. But if you read the article from start to finish, you'd understand that while other governments seek to block them as quickly as they can, the Nigerian government often acts in cahoot with the companies benefiting from the loophole against the interests of the citizens who they're meant to represent.

In business, something can be legal while still being wrong. If we say we should stop calling out things that are wrong because the law condones it, then we should just disband the government."

-Lord

LordAdam16:
Nonsense!

Show me any company in the Western world paying 1% in taxes.

And you're here talking about the benefits of tax breaks. Like I've been living under a rock or I'm an artisan. If the 1% is so okay, why is the government plugging the leak by excluding cement from the pioneer list now?

-Lord

LordAdam16:
I respect Dangote. And I fully acknowledge that morality and capitalism don't mix, but paying 12 billion out of 1.* trillion is disgustingly low.

That's around 1%. Corporate tax is 30%. Income tax (the tax you pay) starts at 25%.

Dangote is a smart businessman. And sure he has his plus points, but it doesn't mean we should all just ignore his minuses.

That said, I'd like to know what the margins and tax remunerations are with the other cement companies--LaFarge, BUA, Ibeto et al...

-Lord

Obi1kenobi:
As has been pointed out by some international critics of Dangote, we had better watch out for the refinery. This should theoretically be a good thing seeing as we can be self-sufficient in crude refining and eliminate the massive imports of refined crude. But the antecedents of Dangote and his cartel in the cement industry gives us a clue as to what this monopoly on local refining can devolve to. Because, rather than see a massive drop in prices of crude products, it would be unsurprising to see Nigerians having to STILL pay through their nose for locally refined crude - even higher than now. This is a man that makes over 50% profits on cement even as Nigerians groan under the high prices. Importing cement pre-Obasanjo was actually easier on the Nigerian population, seeing as cement, and consequently construction, was far cheaper. The so-called "local production" has only been a curse to us. The 10,000 Nigerian workers Dangote cement employs is not worth the sacrifice millions of Nigerians have to make.

Emmytrill:
I am hereby officially giving up on Buhari's Government. The man is a total failure, an irredeemable bigot and nepotistic hegoat .