₦airaland Forum

Balley:
Hi guys, plz I did the airtel 200naira 2gb for 10days but I can't browse with it, is dere somtin or some code I need to dail before I can start browsing with it. Thanks

Rebekkah:
wait guys it's 11 pages to go!



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READY!!!!!

Ibroh2222222222, mightylekssssssss

ngoben:
Ban abi suspension awaits u @OP

Taeewo:
Its taeewo, they don't validate jamb, i think is regularize....

Go through this thread to ask ur question

https://www.nairaland.com/2501292/post-all-problems-relating-jamb

Dream2:
You welcome sir.
But am not a "Sir" sir,i will appreciate a "brother" sir.

Taeewo:
Its taeewoAm sure u were mobilized and registered during online registration ,but did not go with the batch?

When the next batch portal open, u will be able to revalidate ....

Dream2:
Edit your post and tag Taewoo,LogoDWhiz,Amodu,hopefully they might know one or two things about validating/revalidating issues.

habbyy03:
like seriously David? who told u dis?.....i also heard we are to submit our admission letter to dsa....

Heromaniaa:
He is a victim of gross incompetence and a total lack of human sympathy. Resign and let someone else steer the ship.

It bears repeating that President is a different kind of leader, who just happens to be a victim of the tyranny of high expectations.
— Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) August 14, 2016

Cabinet members of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration may now be listening to the incessant cries of Nigerians en masse. Recently, the Presidency confirmed that “the last couple of weeks have witnessed the heaviest public criticism of the Muhammadu Buhari administration since he came to power.” More than a year since the citizens voted for change, many people believe that the only thing that has changed are the electoral promises, as the government fails to meet up with many of its set deadlines. Why is it then, that the people are being likened to tyrants who are expecting too much?

On Sunday, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, rose to defend the president regarding claims by many Nigerians that they are not seeing the change they voted for. The presidential media aide even went as far as making a case for the present government, stating that Nigeria is doing what the “combined strength of Europe and America have failed to do” – ‘victory’ over the Boko Haram sect, when the world leaders “are still at work trying to contain the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, ISIS, which threat sadly continues to become more potent.”

Garba Shehu is a veteran journalist and a former newspaper editor. He has been the media handler of the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar. Prior to his current appointment, he served as the Director, Media and Publicity for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council. His previous position pitches him as someone with a robust knowledge of the campaign promises of the APC. As expected, Shehu, being a part of the core component of the present government, is a lesser critic of the Nigerian government.

Before this time, in what now appears to be a new trend, the Minister of Information Lai Mohammed said: “I believe that my only sin is talking too much before the elections and now I have to pay the price.” His reaction came in response to questions on the performance of the government, last June. One issue this is highlighting is whether Nigerians are for more than what they were promised or if they (Nigerians) were the ones that set those deadlines for the government. Although some of these promises, on which the mandate of the present administration came, have been denied by those who made them, the citizens are now speaking up about the current state of the country which is now worse than it was, in many terms.

Even though the campaigns that ushered in the present government may be hilarious in retrospect, Nigerians know that change is not an event, rather a process. Nevertheless, the people should be able to see the direction in which the country is being driven. The economic policies by the government have been widely criticised as too rigid and archaic, implementation is slow and priorities are not properly set. From the unfulfilled promise of wiping insurgency out of the North-East before the end of 2015, to the failing promise of making 1 Naira equal to 1 dollar, Nigerians can only hope that the next 3 years will be better.

Until then, the Nigerian President and his administration need to understand that Nigerians are neither tyrants who expect too much, nor people asking for things they were not promised. They are only innocent citizens who feel deceived and some supporters of the government who can no longer hold their breath concerning the way events are unfolding in the country. Buhari is just a prisoner of his own promises, which he must fulfil to justify the confidence of the masses reposed in him.

Rebekkah:
follow follow


so is now your eye open eh?

Dream2:
LOL,tell me which thread you following before?

What is budget padding? I don’t know, educate me. I am a lawyer and the speaker, and I have never heard of the word “padding”. What does padding mean?

Those were some of the questions that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, fired back at members of the press, last Friday. This was in response to questions of his role in the controversy surrounding an alleged budget padding and whether he plans on resigning from office as a result. The speaker stressed that he had never heard of the word “padding” in all his years as a member of the legislature, and that it wasn’t a criminal offense under any Nigerian law.

Who is Yakubu Dogara?
Yakubu Dogara is Nigeria’s latest hot mess of a politician who also doubles as Speaker of the House of Representatives, the fourth highest ranking citizen in all of Nigeria, who made the mistake of firing one of his colleagues who then accused him of budget padding. And it all went downhill from there.

What is budget padding and why should I care?
Contrary to what Speaker Dogara says, budget padding isn’t some new phenomenon in the history of Nigerian civilisation. It’s been with us ever since money was invented. That time that you told mumsy that you needed fifty-thousand Naira for books when really they only cost five thousand and you were planning on using the left over cash for a new smartphone? That was budget padding, and that’s what Nigerian government officials are doing. Only they are taking billions of Naira from hard working Nigerians in the middle of a recession and spending it on cars, renovating their offices and homes, and trips for their girlfriends. You should care because the padded funds are actually your tax money that should be paying for power, schools, healthcare and possibly airfare for our olympic athletes.

Why do I need to know that Dogara is a lawyer?
You don’t, except that he wants you to think that he’s “Mr Efiko.” Dogara has every right to be proud that he studied the law at some point in his life and that but that doesn’t change the fact that strictly speaking it isn’t okay to say to tell your mom that your school fees are N100,000 when the school only expects you to pay N50,000.

But he does have a point that budget padding is not a crime, at least not according to ‘the books,’ and definitely not in the books of financial strategists. To this end, he appears to be sticking to his legally obtained guns claiming that adding extra amounts for contingencies, in order to be ready for possible emergencies is not a crime but only if he and his cohorts employed the practice of padding for its original purpose and not… say luxury vacations for Nigerian lawmakers.

The discomfort for many Nigerians lies in the fact that Dogara has, in fact, heard of the term “budget padding.” He is simply implying, by virtue of refusing to acknowledge it, that he does not agree that it makes him responsible for corrupt activities. Sorry Yakubu Dogara Esq.; it does.

It is important to flesh out the issue a bit more, however.

Does Dogara know anything about how Nigerians survive economically?
In the first place, how does he not understand that the manner in which Nigerian public officials go about budget padding is corrupt? There has never been a single Nigerian who isn’t a politician that has said “My community and I have benefitted from the government putting our money into purchasing property abroad.” Again, if the Nigerian political process were transparent enough to accommodate budget padding, or its American cousin known as ‘pork barrel spending’ or ‘earmarking’ which is common in the United States Congress, we would not be entertaining the current discourse of whether or not it is criminal.

In countries where the aforementioned is popular, constituencies and municipalities benefit hugely from the outcome. Legislators pad budgets in order to advance socioeconomic projects that they have lined up to improve their localities and the lives of the people in them. Yet even then the act comes under a lot of scrutiny from the voting publics in these countries. If these legislators personally benefit from the process in any way they are labeled corrupt and most of the time it probably doesn’t completely destabilize the economy.

But as we know in Nigeria, anything worth doing is worth doing well. So we should clap for Hon. Dogara for adding nonexistent expenditures to the 2016 Appropriation Bill (National Budget) with the intent to later extract their financial equivalent for personal use as alleged by the former Chairman of the House of Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin. Legally speaking Dogara may not have committed a crime because he didn’t have a chance to take anything and no one has proven anything… yet. But in the eyes of the millions of Nigerians who have to suffer economic hardship because the Vice President supposedly needs more books than all the university students in Nigeria, he has.

…Or maybe he doesn’t care?
Maybe Honorable “Efiko” Dogara just doesn’t give a…

It is disturbing that Dogara is not “worried over anything,” or remorseful in the face of calls for his resignation. Members of the rights advocacy group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), are part of the section of Nigerians who disagree with Speaker Dogara on his stance. The group was involved in petitioning for Dogara’s probe and believe that he and other corrupt officials should indeed resign. According to SERAP, Dogara’s offense is in the same league as diversion and misappropriation of public funds, conspiracy to act corruptly and illicit enrichment. These are crimes under Nigerian laws. SERAP has pointed out, amongst other things that “budget padding” is actually stealing under the provisions of both the EFCC and ICPC Acts.

But, what about the angles? Doesn’t the legality of budget padding, in the current context, depend on where you’re standing?
Sadly, it does. Especially if you’re in a position of power in Nigeria.

Dogara is not alone in his attempt to veil his offence against the Nigerian state and people by placing it in a conceived ‘legal grey area.’ One of his predecessors, Ghali Umar Na’Abba, doesn’t believe that Dogara deserves to be asked to resign. In his opinion, stealing funds (by House of Representatives members) is impossible without the active connivance of some members of the executive arm and the general public: “If padding is seen as an offence, it is when some members of the National Assembly decide to add items of expenditures through the back door after the budget has been passed by both houses. It therefore behoves on Nigerians to decide who represents them in the National Assembly.”

That sounds like a load of …
Yes it is. This is exactly what you do when mumsy catches you taking biscuits from the pantry and you say its your little sister’s fault. It’s also the former Speaker of the House blaming Nigerians for someone else stealing their own money.

But Na’Abba does have a point…
Nigerians do have a tendency to elect people to office who could care less about the wellbeing of the Nigerian people. We continue to cast our votes based on who provides bags of rice rather than who will actually implement the Nigerian Dream even more so now that Nigerians appear to have more faith in ‘change’ rather than what history provides as evidence of a clear example of what to expect from certain politicians.

So what’s the point of all this argument?
In summary, all the Dogaras in Nigeria need to quit the legal semantics. On one hand, Nigeria is clearly not ready to practice budget padding effectively enough for the people to benefit from it. This is likely to be the case for a long time. On the other hand, frankly, Nigerians could care less whether or not Dogara understands the term “budget padding.” We care if he participated in robbing us of our birthright at any point. That’s the real crime here even if he doesn’t think what he’s doing is illegal.

So get your plantain chips and popcorn ready and stay tuned because this could be more drama than the Saraki debacle.

Boko Haram recently announced the appointment of a new leader. This development has exposed certain divisions within the Nigerian jihadist organization and that could either be really bad or really good for Nigeria.

The newly appointed leader, Abu Musab al-Barnawi, who was former spokesperson and the head of armoury for the group, is said to be the son of the group’s founder, Mohammed Yusuf. Following his appointment were rumours of a split within the group. An insider told CNN that Barnawi left the groups abode in Sambisa forest after a fall out between him and Abubakar Shekau, the groups long acknowledged leader, three months ago. A 10 minute long audio recording that surfaced on social media after the new appointment has confirmed the rumours to be true. In the recording, a person claiming to be Shekau rejected Barnawi’s appointment, and accused the 25 year old of staging a coup to topple him. As reported, the split between these two appears to be over certain ideologies and beliefs such as the name of the group, the groups’ modus operandi over the years, and Shekau’s judgement, which a source described as “erratic and disorganized.”

To prove even further that the group is indeed divided, Barnawi released an hour long audio recording in Hausa, accusing Shekau of corrupt practices and of killing Muslims. “There are many verses that prohibits the killing of Muslims, that is why we left Shekau … We also disagree with him on how he kills people and steal their properties,” Barnawi said in the recording. He also stated that Shekau interprets the Quran wrongly, and as he wishes, all of which they (the fall out group) do not agree with.

Currently, the split between Boko Haram’s longstanding leader Shekau and the newly appointed Barnawi could mean two things for Nigeria, where the group is based.

Things could get really good in Nigeria…
United, they stand. Divided, they fall
According to reports by CNN, some Western intelligence sources close to negotiations have said the defection of power and the erosion of support leaves Shekau more exposed and could possibly lead to a breakthrough in the search for the abducted girls.

But more than that, the split may signal the end of a seven year reign of terror in Nigeria. As observed from Barnawi’s recording, if the ongoing tension within the group is anything to go by, it won’t be long before these men turn on each other and wage war amongst themselves in a bid to knock the other out of existence. “Don’t think we are little, we are the commanders of Khalifa (Al- Bagdadi). Touch us, and they will touch you,” Barnawi’s men said to Shekau.

And if they do not fight to the death, a group already weakened by discord is likely to become more susceptible to the attacks by the Nigerian military. Rabe Abubakar, a spokesman for the Nigerian military is of the opinion that the recent development(s) is of no relevance. “We are just focused on clearing the remnants of the insurgents that are scattered around,” he told Reuters, adding that the division and power tussle were “the antics of a fading group.”

But they could also get worse…
On the other hand, this division might only exacerbate the country’s current security issues. The split in the Jihadist organization means more factions, and more factions could equal more attacks. Although fervid interceptions by the Nigerian military have weakened the group’s activity, they have not been able to completely defeat Boko Haram. Where the country had one group of insurgents to deal with, we now have two.

As opposed to random attacks orchestrated by Shekau which sees both Muslims and Christians killed, Barnawi has out rightly stated that his group is will target Christians, and everyone that attempts to stop their mission of creating an Islamic state. “Under the Shekau reasoning, it is permissible to kill IDPs in camps. Such action is not sanctioned by the IS-approved faction.” a security analyst in northern Nigeria told Reuters.

Right now, it appears the Nigerian military have their work cut out for them; to effectively tackle “the new Boko Haram” and the splinter group, there is a need to restrategize. Fighting both groups with the same old tactics probably wont do.

The Fulani Herdsmen crisis remains a major issue in Nigeria. So far, thousands have been killed and many more have been expelled from their homes, and the Nigerian government does not appear willing to initiate any forceful action against them. Rather, they are requesting for pieces of land from states in order to provide the rampaging herdsmen with permanent feeding ground.

Who are the Fulani Herdsmen?
They are largely nomads who go through towns with their cattle. In Nigeria, the Fulani and the Hausa people dominate the northern states, with a population of well over 30 million. Notably, people of the Fulani tribe rarely ever use artificial birth control methods and, as a result of this, the tribe is very fertile, hence their vast population and their presence in almost every state across the country.

Why are they violent?
Due to the peculiarity of the activities of the herdsmen, they move from one place to another in search of pasture. In this process, the herdsmen have reportedly encountered cattle rustlers and made complaints to the relevant authorities who fail to investigate the issue, hence their purported reason for carrying arms about. During their journey, they frequently trespass farmlands owned by locals in their host communities, destroying crops and valuables. Attempts by farmers to prevent them from causing havoc are met with stiff and violent resistance. Most times, the farmers are overpowered, injured and killed, while others are evicted from their homes. Sometimes, the herdsmen are accused of taking these opportunities to steal, rape, raze houses and kill innocent members of the communities they pass through.

Recent attacks by the Fulani Herdsmen
Before now, the herdsmen have been known to wreak havoc in certain communities in Nigeria, but now, the rate at which they commit these crimes has increased exponentially. According to statistics provided by the Institute for Economics and Peace, 1,229 people were killed in 2014, up from 63 in 2013 and Benue State seems to be the hardest hit in recent times. Barely five days to the end of Governor Gabriel Suswam’s administration in May 2015, over 100 farmers and their family members were reportedly massacred in villages and refugee camps located in the Ukura, Per, Gafa and Tse-Gusa local government areas of the state. According to reports, in July 2015, suspected herdsmen attacked Adeke, a community on the outskirts of the state capital, Makurdi. Last December, six persons were killed at Idele village in the Oju local government area. A reprisal attack by youths in the community saw three Fulani herdsmen killed and beheaded.

In February this year, as a result of a clash between herdsmen and farmers in Benue State, 40 more people were killed, about 2,000 displaced and not less than 100 were seriously injured. Most recently, more than 92 Nigerians were massacred by suspected Fulani Herdsmen in Benue and Niger states. Also, before this time, there have been reported attacks by the Fulani Herdsmen in southern states of the country, including Enugu, Ekiti and Ondo states.

Are Boko Haram members mistaken for the Fulani herdsmen?
Concerns have been raised as to the true identity of those behind the attacks. Many with dissenting views believe they may be members of the Boko Haram sect, masquerading as Fulani Herdsmen. A few others, including the Nigerian military, have said they are herdsmen from other parts in West Africa and not Fulani. While the latter may be admissible due to porous Nigerian borders and poor immigration surveillance, especially in northern parts of the country, it is very difficult to correlate the activities of Boko Haram terrorists to those of the Fulani Herdsmen. Boko Haram has utilised explosives carried by suicide bombers or hidden in a target, but accounts by victims of the herdsmen crisis have shown that the Fulani Herdsmen are mainly concerned with gaining greater access to grazing lands for livestock. In fact, following the February attacks in Benue, the leadership of the Fulani group openly admitted that the attacks were carried out by its members.

Responses from various stakeholders
Many Nigerians believe the president has deliberately shied away from commenting on the crisis, as it is widely known that he comes from the Fulani ethnic group.

Following attacks by herdsmen in Ekiti State, the governor of the state, Ayodele Fayose, encouraged his people to take up arms in self defence. He also gave the go-ahead to vigilante groups in the affected area of the state, charging them to kill any Fulani Herdsmen attempting to rape their wives or kill their children.

Revealing why the Fulani Herdsmen attacked the Agatus (an ethnic group in Benue) in February, the Interim National Secretary of the Gan Allah Fulani Association, rose in defence of his kinsmen, saying it was a reprisal attack by his people, meant to revenge the killing of a prominent Fulani man. The Gan Allah Fulani Association is an umbrella body of Fulani associations in Nigeria.

In the heat of the herdsmen crisis, the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, advised Nigerians to stop attributing ethnicity and religion to the Fulani Herdsmen crisis, citing that such actions are not peculiar to the Fulanis.

The grazing routes’ plan by the Nigerian government
A Nigerian lawmaker, Zainab Kure, has sponsored a bill in the country’s Senate. The bill popularly regarded as the ‘Land Grazing Bill,’ is aimed at securing areas for Fulani Herdsmen across the federation and for the mapping out of grazing routes. Beyond that, the bill seeks to establish a National Grazing Reserves Establishment and Development Commission.

The successful signing of this bill into law means there will be a limited ares reserved for the Fulani Herdsmen and their cattle. On the land required for the grazing routes, Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, has said that many northern states have donated several pieces of land for the project. However, states in the southern part of the country have kicked against the idea, noting that they cannot be forced to give out their land for this purpose. Despite the controversy that comes with the proposal, the bill has scaled the first reading in the Senate.

What to expect
The Fulani Herdsmen have unabatedly continued to wreck havoc, mostly in the middle belt area of the country. The inability of the Nigerian Police to contain them may spell greater doom for lives in susceptible areas. Some days ago, Ventures Africa reflected on what the silence of President Muhammadu Buhari on the herdsmen crisis could mean. Nigeria needs to take the bull by its horn, else, the Fulani Herdsmen – who are deemed only less deadly than Boko Haram, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS or ISIL), and al-Shabaab in the entire world – may be Nigeria’s worst nightmare.

lashout1:
OP! it is the federal civil servant u are talking about.

ahaz:
some people will cgoose to avoid tgis thread cos its not talking about ipob or avengers..they choose to run cos the heardsmen might trace them here on nairaland...i blame the middiebelt elders,youths especally the likes of omenka who choose to live comfortably in idp camps and fraternize with theur lords up north than defend their people. while those in the south west are enjoying limited comfort without knowing that the next ppint of call is their villages, the igbos are busy trading and ignoring useless leaders in there mist who are lost at what to do, and we s.s are busy looking the othe way in a more confusing manner..the earlier we know our enemy and realise tat we are under seige the better for us all.

Within the last two weeks, more than 81 Nigerians have reportedly been massacred by suspected Fulani herdsmen in Benue State alone. Also, over the weekend, a clash between the Fulani herdsmen and local farmers in Niger state has left no fewer than 11 people dead. While it took President Muhammadu Buhari less than 24 hours to condemn the July 4 suicide bombing in far away Saudi Arabia, where only 4 persons were killed, so many Nigerians have lost their lives over the last two weeks in their homeland, and the president is yet to address this. This has only served to fuel claims that the president’s response to crimes committed by the herdsmen is controversial and highly condemnable.

In a report by Channels Television, the survivors of the attacks, and residents in Benue state recounted their ordeal in the hands of the rampaging herdsmen. In a similar tone, the traditional ruler of Logo, a council area in Benue State, Jimmy Meeme, said the sole reason why the Fulani herdsmen are killing them is because “they [Fulani herdsmen] want the land, they want to push people away, so that they can get the land and rear their cattle as they want, that’s all.”

Numerous reactions have trailed President Buhari’s characteristic silence on the incessant killings by the Fulani herdsmen. Many Nigerians playing the ethnicity card, believe the president has failed to say anything because he, himself belongs to the Fulani ethnic group.

In the mean time, while Nigerians hope that the president finally reacts to the news of these herdsmen, there is need to understand that his silence comes with many direct and indirect implications, most of which threaten Nigeria’s unity and breed instability.

Here are some of the implications of Buhari’s silence:

The silence of the Nigerian President may fuel ethnic conflict in Nigeria: Since the President has not mentioned anything on an incident that left over 92 persons dead within 2 weeks, these criminals may find it hard to understand the gruesomeness of their acts. Also, this could lead to deadlier reprisal attacks and, in this way, Nigerians are further divided along ethnic lines.

President Muhammadu Buhari will continually seem biased: Just as the president continues to talk tough on the secessionists and militants in southern Nigeria, the Fulani herdsmen from his own ethnic division are ‘spared.’

The weakness of the Nigerian security forces is further exposed: The inability of the Nigerian Forces to contain the herdsmen menace further substantiates claims that the Nigerian security forces are weak and in disarray.

The latest Global Terrorism Index by the Institute for Economics and Peace, places Nigeria 3rd among 162 countries affected by terrorism. The institute attributed the position to several internal conflicts in the country, including the activities of the Fulani herdsmen. “The reason for this change is the Fulani militants who killed 1,229 people in 2014, up from 63 in 2013. They now pose a serious threat to stability,” a portion of the index report reads. Since late last year, only Boko Haram, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS or ISIL), and al-Shabaab are deemed deadlier than the Fulani herdsmen in the entire world.

fighal:
I'm asking this question because my site if mainly focused on Nigerians, it was built mainly for Nigerians. So is it advisable to use a local host to host my site? And do local host provide security?