₦airaland Forum

Nigeria is at a crossroads. Just over a year ago, people voted in a historic democratic election to end corruption and business as usual, opting instead to build an economy that delivers for all Nigerians.

The old order was based on an unsustainable commodities supercycle. While the boom had many positives and contributed to Nigeria becoming Africa’s largest economy, it fostered an epidemic of corruption and inefficiency. Foreign businesses and financial institutions also benefited as some people spent and sometimes hid huge sums abroad, lifted by the rising tide of oil exports and dollar revenues.

Now we are living in a new world of low energy prices. The economy has slowed while unemployment and inflation have jumped. Longstanding structural imbalances and overdependence on imports have been cruelly exposed. We are an oil-rich nation that imports most of our gasoline. We are a farming nation that imports most of our basic food staples. This is simply not acceptable or sustainable.

Our solutions must be in proportion to the challenges. Fundamental change takes time and we are driving not one but three changes to reposition Nigeria for inclusive growth.

Restore Trust

We have begun to tackle the endemic corruption and mismanagement that is crippling our economy and corroding trust in our institutions. The anticorruption fight is at the heart of combating poverty and improving security. We have stepped up enforcement and new prosecutions to get our house in order, and I have called for foreign governments to work with us to identify where funds stolen during previous administrations are lodged and for multistate cooperation to combat oil theft.

Fighting corruption is not enough. We need accountable government and a public sector that can do more with less. We have already taken initial steps by bringing all government finances into a single treasury account where we can monitor spending and impose discipline, implementing zero-based budgets and benchmarks targeted at waste and fraud, and establishing electronic platforms for government agency interface.

Rebalance Our Economy

In a world of lower oil prices and dollar revenues, the only sustainable path is to reduce Nigerians’ overreliance on imports. We must rebalance our economy by empowering entrepreneurs and producers, big and small, to create more of what their fellow Nigerians demand. The supply of foreign exchange to the economy must be increased. This requires radically increasing exports and productivity and improving the investment climate and ease of doing business.

Nigeria’s growth and job creation will be led by the private sector. We are a young, entrepreneurial society with vibrant success stories in new industries such as telecommunications, technology and entertainment. Government is doing its part to lower taxes on small businesses, eliminate bureaucracy to bring the informal economy out of the shadows and provide development funding for priority sectors such as agriculture. The central bank has moved to introduce greater flexibility in our exchange-rate policy. These actions are a downpayment on our people’s ability to succeed.

Regenerate Growth

We must reposition our economy by attracting investment in domestic industries and infrastructure. Nigeria has huge untapped gas reserves and also a critical shortage of electricity. Our private sector loses too much of its revenue due to brownouts and power outages. Half of my fellow Nigerians have no access to the power grid. Investment in our power infrastructure, restructuring of the state-run oil-and-gas sector and development of other industries such as solid minerals, metals and petrochemicals will help to create a virtuous circle of growth and exports while creating jobs and reducing poverty.

I am optimistic that our actions are providing the breathing room Nigeria needs during this period of fundamental change. But we cannot improve living conditions and restore fiscal health without making people feel safe and secure—just as we cannot defeat militancy without reducing poverty and dislocation.

One of our main achievements this past year has been to unite regional and global allies to push back Boko Haram. What we do in the next three years to build an economic bridge to Nigeria’s future will be just as important for bringing lasting peace and prosperity.

• Buhari is the president of Nigeria and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. This article was written for The Wall Street Journal.

DoyenExchange:
Is that so? Ok.

It is sooo...

Yet people there are not ok
Alot of orphans have been created, bereaved parents tooo.

NigerDeltan:
Why cant he just say "why we failed in our assignment"

Failed ke?

When their pocket and account are full.

989900E:
We tend to politicize with sentiments, till things blow up -- same thing is happening in the SS now.

OTOH, the military under GEJ was as corrupt as scoliosis. You can't use the excuse given by the CDS to justify diversion of arms funds, sending soldiers to the war-front to essentially 'go and die', and many other atrocities perpetuated.

Or buying refurbished alpha jets without rotor

Or refusing to pay soldiers their feeding allowance

Former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Admiral Ola Sa’ad Ibrahim (Rtd) has blamed politics for failure of the military to defeat Boko Haram under the leadership of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Ibrahim on Monday in Abuja told journalists during a lecture he delivered at the National Defence College (NDC) on Military Leadership and National Security, that “In our time, there were so many distractions.”

The CDS served from October 2012 to January 16, 2014, and also as Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) from 2010 to 2012.

Ibrahim added that: “Up to the time the Commander in Chief then declared a State of Emergency, you will hear: ‘we are negotiating here and there, please slow down,’ north eastern elders were worried.

“Can you imagine fighting a war and the people you were trying to protect were thinking that soldiers out there on the streets of Maiduguri, were an army of occupation, which brought a lot of political dimension to the issues.

“And when political dimension, combined with several other policy choices, the result was what we saw, when the state of emergency was declared, I thought there was a little celebration, because the political dimension was like giving you a job and tying your hand behind your back.

“Besides the resources to take on such challenges were neither here nor there, to the level one would have expected, we were not prepared for the nature of the insurgency, even our procurement processes were tailored towards or heavier on conventional warfare.”


http://dailypost.ng/2016/06/13/why-military-under-jonathan-failed-to-defeat-boko-haram-former-cds/?utm_source=dlvr.it_dp1&utm_medium=facebook

henrygale:
His looks like an slowpoke's.......slowpoke with money!
Only in Nigeria dat an slowpoke with money can rule! .
Meanwhile,dats their problem!


Haba.......i wrote i.m.b.e.c.i.l.e. una swap am with slowpoke! Wetin be dat nah? Abi una wan make I talk am as 'imbecide' as my igbo brothers will say! .

Y would you say such thing. No be only in naija now,

Donald trump nko?

The three slots for those that died family,

What if the person is an only child? Or if the family only had one other child?

And then frustration would almost kill some people. Cos appointment letters are already given, then withdrawn

I counted almost a hundred awards on that wall.

That's some award. Damn

EKET (AKWA IBOM) – Oil and Gas Communities Rights Advocacy centre (OGCRAC), NGO, has faulted the use of derivation funds accruing to Akwa Ibom to develop other parts of the state.

Bassey Nkanang, Executive Director of the NGO, said in an interview with newsmen in Eket that the neglect of oil communities was not justified.

Nkanang was reacting to comments made by Mr. Elias Mbam, Chairman, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), on the neglect of oil communities by state governments benefiting from derivation funds.

OGCRAC is an Eket-based NGO focused on community development by encouraging participation of oil communities in the oil sector.

He said the principle of derivation was to ensure that communities that were impacted on by oil exploitation are reinstated or taken care of by the special fund.

He explained that the fund was expected to be used for issues such as ecological problems arising from oil exploitation.

It is a misnomer to use derivation money to develop or carry out projects in every part of the state, especially areas that have nothing to do with oil production,’’ Nkanag stated.

The executive director appealed to Akwa Ibom government to pay attention to the development needs of the coastal communities in line with the derivation policy of the Federal Government.

He noted that the communities suffer more from the negative effects of the oil production.

Our position is that the government should ensure that this is corrected as, very soon, we may have no reason to restrain ourselves from taking up a legal challenge over the continuous use of derivation money for purposes that were not intended.

The oil-producing communities have continued to bear extra brunt of oil exploration and there has been a near total neglect of the communities by the oil companies.

It will amount to double jeopardy if government also receive money meant to develop the oil communities and utilize it for prestige projects that have no bearing on the wellbeing of the communities.’’

It will be recalled that Mbam, chairman of RMAFC, recently criticized governors of the Niger Delta region for using derivation funds to develop state capitals to the detriment of oil communities.

Governor. Godswill Akpabio of Akwa-Ibom had pledged to fast track the development of Akwa Ibom oil communities during his re-election campaign prior to the 2011 general election.

www.osundefender.org/2012/11/06/akwa-ibom-ngo-faults-use-of-deeivation-funds/

I came across this old news item and i thought that and some other reason must be why we are were we are today.

The 13% is meant to take care of communities were drilling, exploration activities take place or communities were pipeline pass through

But most of the governors hav been using such moneys to build new government houses, stadiums and other suchthings in state capitals while completely ignoring the
Host communities of oil exploration activities

Please people in the house, can someone shade some light on exactly what the 13% oil derivation objectives are?

As some one on NL aptly called them

''Awon eyan benjamin natanyahu''

Lost sheep of 'yisreali niyen'

'''Officers of the service told them since N1, 000 was collected from applicants whether it could pay for the recruitment exercise. The company said its agreement with the Ministry did not specify so or require it to pay for the exercise.

“[b]The company said the N1, 000 they collected from applicants was for online services only and not to fund the expenses of the recruitm[/b]ent exercise.

“Then we were brought back to zero-level, where it seemed like there was no way forward. It was agreed that the situation should be brought to the knowledge of the Minister whether he could raise money to foot the bill.

“The committee submitted report on the financial implications and procedure, and gave us a copy.'''

Imagine that N1000 was for online service. What did they end up servicing if not their pockets?

opalu:
These are the big guys in army abi? But was it not FG that kicked against sacking in banks?

If only the banks have been sacking their heads, the EX Dir, the reg. Managers ,and those that facilitated the passage of fraudulent money thru the system, then no one would have interfered

okonja:
God, help us in this country oh!

Isnt it about time we start helping ourselves by holding this people accountable?

He told the court that the ex-Minister subsequently informed him that a date had already been fixed for the exercise.

“It was very surprising for all of us. I called my management team and told them that the Minister has announced that the recruitment exercise will take place on March 15, 2014, and we should start getting ready.

“I did not receive any official letter on the issue. But we started to mobilise. We wrote the state commands to begin to get ready, thinking ahead of time, to secure venues and make adequate preparations.

“Thereafter, we called all the service heads to hold preliminary meetings to plan for the recruitment exercise. I attended that first meeting where we decided to set up sub-committees of our Admin officers to plan and brief us. My Admin officer reported to me that they met and the first issue that came to the fore were the procedure and financial implications of holding such exercise.

“With respect to the financial implications, we made it known that we were not ready as we had no money to fund the exercise. We communicated this to the committee which went back and tabled our position and suggested whether the company that was engaged by the Ministry to carry out the recruitment exercise could fund it.

“The said company is the 4th defendant. Based on the issues we raised, the sub-committee invited the company to our next meeting and showed it our budget to the exercise.

“Officers of the service told them since N1, 000 was collected from applicants whether it could pay for the recruitment exercise. The company said its agreement with the Ministry did not specify so or require it to pay for the exercise.

“The company said the N1, 000 they collected from applicants was for online services only and not to fund the expenses of the recruitment exercise.

“Then we were brought back to zero-level, where it seemed like there was no way forward. It was agreed that the situation should be brought to the knowledge of the Minister whether he could raise money to foot the bill.

“The committee submitted report on the financial implications and procedure, and gave us a copy.

“After then, we awaited the decision and money required for the exercise. There was no response till March 14, 2014.

“On that day, I got a letter from the board written on March 13, which indicated that arrangement was concluded for the recruitment exercise for the next day, March 15, and we should inform all the states.

“After then, I called Secretary to the board if he has money for the officers. He asked me to tell each Comptroller to send their account numbers”.

Continuing, Paradang said: “On that day, each of the Comptrollers received alert of N300, 000 each on March 14. It was the board that facilitated the payment, I was not involved. I did not know the source of the money. When I asked, they told me it was from the company Drexel (4th defendant).

“However, the money was inadequate for the exercise because there was supposed to be ambulances and allowances for the officers. Then I asked senior officers in charge of each zone to supervise the exercise in their zones.

Narrating circumstances that led to the instant death of 15 applicants with 165 others injured, the former NIS boss said: “On March 15, 2014, not too long after the exercise commenced, most states called me that they were overwhelmed by the number of persons that turned out for the exercise. I advised them to seek help from sister security agencies and keep me informed.

“I remember clearly that on that day I was in Jos and the Minister was with me there, then I started receiving text messages and calls that there were casualties. I then went to the Minister where he was seated and told him what happened and that I would need to go back to Abuja immediately to coordinate.

“I left Jos immediately. I called each command to give me verbal report and also back it up with a written report. At the close of the day we had 15 casualties and the Department of State Services gave us report that injured people were 165 in number.

“Some of the applicants were just exhausted and when revived were asked to go home. The Minister upon return from Jos asked me to accompany him to the National Hospital. We went ward to ward to check the victims, then we went to the Stadium to observe what happened.

“After then there was national outcry. There was public hearing and the National Assembly invited us. Former President Goodluck Jonathan also made remarks in the Federal Executive Council where he spoke in sober tone to the nation. The President was very sad and directed that families of those who died should be given three slots and those who were injured if still fit should take a job with the NIS.

“The then President called us about a year later and gave the 15 families of those that died, three letters of employment each.

“Immediately after the letters were sent, the President also informed us to do a fresh recruitment. Those who were injured were screened and also given letters of employment. However, shortly after, the board directed them to bring back the letters.

“The President had constituted a committee to conduct the fresh recruitment exercise. But families of the deceased that were given three automatic employment slots were not part of that fresh exercise

“The letters given to them were however withdrawn later because the Ministry said it was an illegal recruitment.

“I was a member of that Presidential committee by virtue of my office. However my lord, I was not a signatory to the contract awarded for the recruitment exercise”, Paradang added.

Meanwhile, Justice Dimgba has adjourned the case till July 1 and 5 to enable counsel to the defendants to cross-examine the witness.

The Judge also directed the defendants to meet with the prosecution to harmonise on documents they may wish to rely upon.

Specifically, EFCC alleged that the defendants defrauded 676,675 Nigerian applicants of N676, 675,000 (Six Hundred and Seventy Six Million, Six Hundred and Seventy Five Thousand Naira).

Each of the 676,675 applicants were charged N1, 000 each for participating in the ill-fated Immigration recruitment exercise.

The defendants were alleged to have flouted the Public Procurement Act, No. 65 of 2007 in the award of the contract for the organisation of the recruitment test to Drexel Tech Nigeria Ltd.

‎EFCC said its investigations revealed that the firm, which it said was not validly registered to operate in Nigeria, never bidded for the contract.

It said the contract was awarded through selective tendering procedure by invitation of 4 (Four) firms without seeking the approval of the Bureau for Public Procurement, contrary to sections 40, 42 and 43 of the Public Procurement Act, No. 65 of 2007 and punishable under section 58 of the same Act.



www.vanguardngr.com/2016/06/alleged-n676-job-scam-each-comptroller-got-n300-000-ex-nis-boss-tells-court

Erstwhile Comptroller General of the Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS, Mr. David Shikfu Paradang, on Friday, narrated before the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, how the botched recruitment exercise that led to the death of 20 persons across the country in 2014, was planned and executed.

Paradang, who insisted that he was not fully carried along by the former Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro, told the court that all the Comptrollers in each state of the federation, “received alert of N300, 000.00”, a day before the ill-fated recruitment exercise took place.

He said the “alert” was sponsored by the company the ex-Minister, Moro, awarded the contract to recruit for the NIS, Drexel Tech Nigeria Ltd.

The former NIS boss testified before trial Justice Nnamdi Dimgba as the star prosecution witness, PW-1, of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, which is prosecuting the former Minister over alleged N676million job scam.

Those equally on trial over the alleged recruitment fraud are the former Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Interior, Mrs. Anastasia Daniel-Nwobia and a ‎Deputy Director in the Ministry, Mr. F. O Alayebami. They were charged alongside the firm.

The defendants are answering to an 11-count charge.

EFCC earlier told the court that ‎one of the alleged culprits, Mr. Mahmood Ahmadu, who it said was a Director at the firm, was at large.

Meantime, in continuation of his evidence-in-chief on Friday, Paradang said he was “shocked” to discover through advertisements in Newspapers that the Immigration Service under his leadership was recruiting.

''Its gonna be a chilla, and a thrilla when i meet the gorilla in manilla''

Muhammad Ali before his bout with joe frazier in Manilla

May his gentle soul rest in peace

The essence of the goat census or statistics is to see what we have on ground (in terms of livestock) compared to our human population wether its adequate or not. For future population planning.

Knowing our population and the food requirement of each individual is what will help us know wether we are self sufficient or we need to work harder to meet our need or for export

catchfun:
He said the 2011 National Agricultural Sample Survey indicated that Nigeria was endowed with an estimated 19.5 million cattle, 72.5 million goats, 41.3 million sheep, 7.1 million pigs and 28,000 camels.
Accordingly, the minister said the country had 145 million chickens, 11.6 million ducks, 1.2 million turkeys and 974, 499 donkeys.
Mr. Ogbeh said this impressive statistics which had made Nigeria number one in livestock in Africa had not met the national demand of animal protein or contributed to the GDP over the years.
He decried the low milk production in Nigeria as a cow produced one litre of milk a day while a cow in Saudi Arabia or Brazil produced 30 to 40 litres.
“Saudi Arabia produces 4.7 million litres of milk daily while Nigeria imports about 1.3 billion dollar worth of milk annually to make up deficit.
The minister said of all the enterprise in the livestock sector, only the poultry industry had achieved an appreciable level of commercialisation.
http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/204577-nigeria-releases-census-goats-sheep-pigs-livestocks-country.html

Many commenters did not even take note that the figures were of census conducted in 2011 under the last administration (think clueless?)

Nor of the fact that if you go through the report with a fine comb you will see business ideas hidden there-in

That though we are no 1 in livestock production in Africa yet have not met our national animal protein needs hence the importation.
That there is opportunity for anyone interested in llivestock for milk production to tap out of the $1.3 billion worth of milk we import annually.

BrightEye:
they are gentle militants! Lol....

But let's be serious, killing is not only by taking life away from human, but also by taking away the things that facilitates his livelihood. Sometimes you may think you are doing the right, where as it is your intellect that is deceiving you. And your intuition completely dead!

`

Correct point. Ask those that witness the civil war and they would tell you how Nigeria blockade food deliveries to the east.

Hunger is a bitch. And if oil production is grounded, people are gonna go hungry

I hate it when people ask wether we are ready for nuclear energy.

The world is not going to wait for you to be ready or not,,
technology is moving forward wether we utilize it or not

2best:
R we ready 4 Nuclear Energy? Abeg make dem no construct any one 4 my zone abeg.

Yes we are ready. If nuclear plant is what will force us to cultivate maintenance culture, then bring it on

The Federal Government has taken a Final Investment Decision (FID) on the construction of $80 bil-lion nuclear plants to be constructed and operated by a Russia nuclear energy firm, Rosatom, it was learnt yesterday.
A shared document between the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission and the Ministry of Power indicated that the FID was taken after the completion of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the sites and the comple-tion of design for the plants.
The sites have been approved, while the design for the financing had com-menced, the document showed. “The agreement with Rosatom gave the company the right to veto the nation doing business with any other nuclear vendor,” the document stated.
Chief Executive Officer of Rosatom, according to the document, has signed a document on financing with the government, which stipulates that the Russian company “will hold a majority controlling stake in Nigeria’s nuclear facility, while the rest will be owned by the country, with roles to be specified in contracts.
The government will enter a powerpurchasing agreement for the nuclear plant.” The plants, according to the document, would be “financed by Rosatom, which will then build, own, operate and transfer them to the government.”
The pilot project, which is the first of the four plants, is to add 1,200 megawatts of capacity by the end of the decade. Neither the Federal Government nor Rosatom has disclosed the specific locations of the sites, but it was learnt that the nuclear plants would be in Akwa Ibom and Kogi states. Both sites are planned to house two plants each.
The first plant is planned to be constructed in Kogi State. Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, had earlier said that Nigeria had secured the necessary certification from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
“We have gone through the training level; we have produced 25 graduates of master’s level under certification by the IAEA,” he said. “We have found the sites; the sites have been approved. We have started the design for the financing.
“That is the stage we are now; once we conclude that, we move to the design for the construction. If all things go well, by quarter four of next year – that is the schedule that I met – we should have started construction.”
Fashola urged industry players to focus on the gains and safety of nuclear energy, as obtained in other countries. He pointed out that the project will make electricity cheap in the country, stressing that diversifying the nation’s energy mix would lead to the utilisation of the various forms of renewable energy sources in the country.
“We are thinking longterm solutions, solutions that will endure for generations to come,” he said.
Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Franklin Erepamo Osaisai, who first in 2014 unveiled the talks between Rosatom and Nigeria, said that a joint coordination committee was in place and negotiations are ongoing for financing and contracting.
Nigeria, Osaisai said, signed an agreement with Rosatom to cooperate on the design, construction, operation and decommissioning of a facility in 2012.
Three other nuclear plants are being planned ,which would take total capacity to 4,800 megawatts by 2035, with each facility costing $20 billion. The first Nigerian plant will be operational in 2025.
Compared to coal and natural gas power plants, which discharge carbon dioxide into the air and cause environmental hazards, experts say nuclear energy would not rely on fossil fuels and is not influenced by fluctuations in the prices of oil and gas.
What that means is that the operation and pricing of nuclear energy system will not depend on vagaries of the oil and gas market. However, experts have warned that to achieve this, Nigeria needs to stick to a disciplined regime to manage the nuclear energy system.
They also point to the huge financial demands of the energy system, insisting that countries that had adopted the idea are already scaling down on the use of nuclear technology due to the high cost.

Standing5:
You remind me of those lazy South Africans. The want the blacks out. They preferred the superior people to the inferior folks who are like them. Keep it up.

You misunderstood him

He is not in support of kicking blacks out, he is only asking wether thats whats the person he is responding to wants

As the controversies generated over which region controlled more of Nigeria’s oil assets intensify, the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, has said that such controversies are baseless considering that oil blocks are awarded based on bids offered for them globally. Against this backdrop, the industry regulator noted that when such bid rounds are being conducted, the region of the bidders is not one of the prequalification for winning such oil blocks. The Director, DPR, Mr. Osten Olorunshola, who made the clarification last week in Lagos, said, “The Federal Government does not allocate oil blocks and marginal fields to individuals and corporations based on region or where they come from. So, DPR does not ask if an individual is from the North or South when allocating the fields.” Ownership controversies Pressed further, on which region owned more of Nigeria’s oil assets, Olorunshola, who spoke at the launch of the Nigeria Oil and Gas, NOG Intelligence, a weekly print and online industry newsletter, insisted that “The DPR has no records of 83 per cent Northern ownership of oil blocks anywhere.” According to him, Nigerians currently own 52 per cent of the country’s 173 active oil blocs, while foreign oil companies own 48 per cent. He added that of the total of 388 oil blocks in the country, only 173 of them have been awarded to individuals and corporations, while 215 blocks were yet to be awarded. Broken further, of the 173 so far awarded, Nigerians owned 90 blocks while foreigners owned 83 blocks. He, however, lamented that all the 90 blocks awarded to indigenous players account for only six per cent of the country’s total crude oil production, while the 83 awarded to foreign oil companies account for 94 per cent of the total output. Steering the hornets’ nest The Chairman, Senate Committee on Business and Rules, Senator Ita Enang, a forth night ago steered the hornets’ nest, when he alleged that 83 percent of Nigeria’s oil blocks were in the control of the northern region. This led to a series of claims and counter claims by various groups in the different geographical regions in the country, including activists and non-governmental organisations, NGOs. Many even called for a review of oil block awards. Even newspapers (not Vanguard) went agog with their own versions of the real oil block owners. However, DPR’s recent pronouncements on the issue that Nigerians own 80 oil bocks where foreigners had 83 have nullified every other previous pronouncements on the controversial oil blocks ownership, including the list of 77 oil blocks and their owners recently published by one of the dailies. Analysts are of the view that to end the controversy, the DPR should go a step further to publish the full list of the 173 oil blocks so far awarded, indicating who owned what, whether local or foreign. Poor indigenous output contribution Notwithstanding the fact that Nigerians owned the larger share of the nation’s oil assets, their contributions to total production as revealed by the DPR is abysmally poor. According to data provided by the regulator, Nigerians are producing about 150,000 barrels of crude oil per day, representing six per cent of the Nigeria’s total crude production; while foreign oil companies account for the bulk of 2.35 million bpd or 94 per cent of total output. He blamed this on the lackadaisical attitude of the Nigerian players towards the development of their blocks. He said that majority of them have not commenced any serious production activities on the oil blocks since they were awarded to them. He said, “It appears that people just want to own oil blocks and put it on their complimentary cards. We are not happy with that. It is absurd that six per cent of oil production is coming out of 90 leases. “Government decided to dig deeper as it was not so happy with the performance of the indigenous oil companies. That is the reason why government put in place the Marginal Fields policy,” he noted. He disclosed that about 24 marginal fields were allocated in 2003, and only six fields are doing well, while the rest have refused to develop theirs, adding that many are faced with litigations, funding constraints, non-bankable proposals, and a host of others issues. He said, “The major issue that negatively affected the production capacity of majority of the marginal field owners is the fact that the owners could not access funds. As at 2003, when the fields were awarded, Nigerian banks where in difficult situation, making it impossible for majority of them to give out loans. “Also, another challenge that served as a drawback to the marginal fields programme is the unending litigations by most of the parties the fields were awarded to. The bid rounds brought a lot of litigations, due to the fact that the parties were technically asked to merge before the fields will be awarded to them. Till today, majority of them are still in court and are yet to kick start the process of production on their fields.” The active and producing marginal fields are: · Asuokpu/Umutu field owned by Platform Petroleum · Ibigwe field by Walter Smith and Morris Petroleum · Uquo field by Frontier Oil · Ajapa field – Britania-U · Umusadege field by Midwestern Oil and Gas, and Suntrust · Obodogwa/Obodeti field by Pillar Oil Olorunshola further stated that of the five marginal fields that were awarded on a discretionary basis, only Oriental Energy owners of two of the fields – Okwok and Ebok fields; and Niger Delta Petroleum Development Company, owner of Ogbelle field are involved in active

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/03/how-we-award-oil-blocks-fg/

Also item 8. The amnesty programme was never stopped in the first place.

Its meant to run to 2018 b4 it be reviewed, so why should it be among requests now failure of which bombing would continue ?

The current admin has already agreed to clean up ogoni land even before the bombings start.

But my concern now is who would clean up the pipelines been currently bombed? The NDA or the FG ?

6. Ogoniland and and all oil polluted lands in the Niger Delta must be cleaned up, while compensation should be paid to all oil producing communities.

7. Radio Biafra director and Independent Peoples of Biafra leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, should be released unconditionally.

8. The Niger Delta Amnesty programme must be well funded and allowed to continue to run effectively.

9. All APC members indicted for corruption should be made to face trial like their counterparts in the Peoples Democratic Party.

10. All oil multi-nationals and foreign investors should observe this demands, as their business interest in the country will be first targeted.

1. The immediate implementation of the report of the 2014 National Conference report, failure of Nigeria will forcefully break-up.
2. President Buhari, the director-general of the State Secret Service and the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in Bayelsa state, Timipre Sylva should apologize to the people of the Niger Delta region and family of Late Chief DSP Alamieyesegha for killing him with intimidation and harassment because of his party affiliation.

3. The ownership of oil blocks in Nigeria must reflect 60% for the oil producing people and 40% for the non-oil producing people.

4. The only Nigerian Maritime University sited in the most appropriate and befitting place – Okerenkoko in Delta state, must start the 2015/2016 academic session immediately.
5. The minister of transportation, Rotimi Amechi should apologize to the Ijaws and the entire Niger Delta people for his careless and reckless statement about the citing of the University in Okerenko.

Guyman02:
With such paltry sum, none of the mentioned roads or bridges can be completed in this years budget

Most project are not goin to be completed in one year, come what? If you are a civil engr you would know this.
Apart frm funding challenges and what have you

We just hope they carry it out to conpletion and on time too. Because the longer it is delayed, the more money to be allocated to the porjects

hustla:
Would it be a bad thing if it's sold for 6k for one bag thus making it affordable for even minimum wage earners?

I think not

For 6k? Common.

You expect someone to toil under the scorching sun for about 4mnth and sell one nag for 6k?

No wonder no one want ro go into farmin! When you can import and sell within a week and make 600k?

All those imported cheap rice we are used to buying are subsidized by the gov't of those countries to keep their citizens employed.

I also just bought a bag of indian long grain last friday at 14k. The price might be higher now but i believe the forces of demand and supply would force down the price later.