₦airaland Forum

ifyndy:
Skinny men alwas go for orobo



Atimes I wonda where dey get strength to carry such women

Keep wondering in wonderland

Funny thing is that refuse dump is just situated by a market place. Nigerian is a funny place sha. What has eleme local govt done. Does it only have to be the state govt. shio kelebe

Am male and i stay in PH. Anyone is port Harcourt can add me on bmm. Check my signature.

ochejoseph:
‎It's unfortunate that the Fraud has become a component of the Fabric of the Nigerian society.

Daily unscrupulous Nigerians device devilish of defrauding their fellow
Citizens of their hard earned cash!

I get several emails daily I also believe that others get this mails too, my elder brother once lost his savings to this men of the underworld. 

At about 12 midnight one day he started receiving alerts for Monies he never withdrew by day break the account was empty!!! 
Why?  He filled the demonic form online ‎!!!!


The lastest  weapon of these lazy men and women is the BVN  a Biometric identification means that was introduced by the central Bank to safeguard bankers and their deposits

Their Scheme ‎

They  copy the design of the Bank in question, colour, language, pics just name it 

They Send a customized email in the Banks Name with Links to a site where the will collect your particulars including ATM Numbers and PINS 

TIMING 

They target Customers mainly On Fridays or in Public Holidays that way the Customer find it Difficult to contact the Bank to Block the card until his or her account is emptied 

TRUTH 

BVN registration cannot be done online the owner of the account must present his/herself physically for his thumb print and other data to be captured 

No Bank sends email with any Link to Validate any account or Cash Any Money once you see an email with aa Link to a Data base it's a FRAUD click at your own risk 


NO bank will ever ask for your PIN NO matter the circumstances

See a Copy of the Mail I got this evening! See Pics Below

I do not have any Account with ACCESS BANK
Yet Fake ACCESS Bank in a Bedroom somewhere with a Laptop is threatening to close an account that does not even exist!


http://tsuntsumediaservices..com/2015/05/see-how-yahoo-boys-are-using-bvn-to.html

‎

At this just junction,let me advise that every Nigerian should have the 24hr's card service hot line of their banks at their finger tips. After I lost my hard earned 18k to fraudster who used juju on me years ago and I told them my ATM pin 3times correctly (story for another day),gtb customer care line became registered in my medulla oblongata.

Wise up o. Another way to catch these fraudsters when they send you email,CHECK THE EMAIL ADDRESS. Anything @gmail,@hot mail,@skyrocketmail and not customized to your bank. A beg pick race.


FINALLY, when you get any suspicious email,call your bank before clicking any link.

My five kobo I borrow you so o

LESSON ON HUMILITY[b][/b]

A good lesson to learn on arrogance from the story of Late Bode Thomas:
Bode Thomas whom street was named after @Surulere, died on Nov 23,
1953 in a most mysterious manner. Bode Thomas was born to a wealthy
trader, John thomas in 1918. Himself, FRA Williams and Remi Fani-Kayode (Father of Femi Fani-Kayode)
attended Law School in London, and jointly established the first law firm
in Nigeria called "Thomas, Williams & Kayode". The law firm was
established in Jankara Lagos. Bode Thomas was an excellent lawyer, but
also very arrogant. Because of
his education, he was made chairman of the Oyo Divisional Council at one time while Alaafin Adeyemi of Oyo (father of the current Alaafin) was a
mere member! On Bode Thomas' first appearance in council after being
appointed chairman, all council members stood up for him in deference, to
welcome him, except Oba Adeyemi, who, for cultural reasons, should not
show deference to anyone in public, not even his mother! Bode Thomas
rudely shouted at the King "...WHY WERE YOU SITTING WHEN I WALKED IN? YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO SHOW RESPECT?" Then, Bode Thomas was 34 years while Alaafin was in his 60s. The Alaafin
felt very insulted and said "SE EMI LO NGBO MO BAUN?" (Is it me you are
barking at like that?) Bode Thomas responded by shouting in vocabularies
which Alaafin didn't understand, so Alaafin just told him... "MA GBO
LO" (continue barking). This was on November 22, 1953. Bode Thomas
got home and started barking! He barked, barked and continued barking like dog all night until he died in the early morning of November 23,
1953. Bode Thomas was the Balogun of Oyo. So, when next you drive on
Bode Thomas street in Surulere Lagos, note the man who cut short his life
due to arrogance and naughtiness

FREE to SHARE
*****************
There's no safety outside of God.

dav8id:
We source and procure sesame seed in any quantity..

location Nasarawa state.

prices:

instock : (cash and carry #195,000/ TONE) price changes at time

farm gate price : (sourcing) #175,000 plus #2000 sourcing agent fee per tone. [large quantity guaranteed]

PRICE ABOVE IS ONLY FOR GOODS AND EXCLUSIVE TRANSPORTATION..

OTHERS EXPENSIVE EG:

UPLOAD AND REVENUE APPLY (about #30,000 plus)

we dont deliver buyers take care of delivery expensive though we can arrange for the trucks if need.

only serious buyers should call

07037781319

Seems Sesame is majorly grown in Nassarawa state and some other part of the North. I plan to cultivate some hectares of it in Kwara state but dont know where to source seeds from as well as what time of the year to plant. Rain pattern in kwara state is same as most parts of the North. Any useful info will be appreciated. If you have any details that can help my inquiry, pls send to shittuolalekan59@yahoo.com. Thanks

justrodney:
time to ease off the weeks work-whose interested kindly buzz me ,#amout

No easing o....wokaholic sunday

demola300:
PH,,less stress unlike lagos.

I agree with you in part, but the govt needs to fix the roads. If PH's population was half of Lagos, I can bet you would be getting home from work by mid-night except if your house is the next yard to your office.

Anyways, I still enjoy it pass the nonsense traffic in Lasgidi.

justrodney:
well Mr Kunle -how the evening rolling.

Evening cool my broda. Another day of hustling o. TGIF

yumyspiced:
hohoho,guyz re not smiling...

Add me on bbm. Am PH based as well

Name: Kunle

Location: Akpajo

Work with an engineering firm. Check my signature for contact details.

Cheers

Denn:
Farm labour demystified...

Farm labour in Nigeria is simple if you understand the dynamics.

First, understand the community in which the farm is located. Do some ground work. Get to know who the real farmers are. It would be surprising to note that the indigenes are not usually the farmers. For example, in the Yoruba community where my farm is located, the real farmers are people from Benue and cotonu.

Second step is to identify the leader of the farming community. Hold your discussions with the leader. This is to provide for accountability.

Now the main part..you should understand the local unit of land measurement... Not the plots or acres or hectares. If you speak in acres or hectares, it is a tell tale sign that you are a 'book farmer' and there are chances that you would be cheated....seriously.

In yoruba land,the local unit of measurement is alapin. An alapin is 60ft by 60ft. That is approximately half of a plot of 120ft by 60ft.

An alapin is measured using a cutlass on a stick. The length of a new cutlass is 2ft. Three cutlass measutments make 6ft. A stick of 6ft measured ten times gives 60ft.

Once you understand this dynamic, then you can move to the next level...pricing.

Depending on your negotiation skill and the thickness of the bush, an alapin is between 700 naira to 1000 naira to weed.

Bear in mind that you will provide feeding too per person at the rate of N200 per head for breakfast. You might decide to add lunch if you are nice. The nicer you are, the cleaner your work is.

Thanks

Ura:
Why do people quarrel on Nairaland? A problem shared is supposed to be half solved and not escalated.

Nigeria has not gotten to the level of using tractors to weed. Some of our farmlands are undulating, so a tractor cannot give a very straight line during ridging. Aside from that, the tractor operators are not so trained to be that meticulous. I worked with them for several years. Majority of them just have this Nigerian mentality of "I just want to do my work and go", not caring how it turns out. Besides, with crops like maize, it might be a bit difficult to carry out.

It is normal for novice farmers to spend more than necessary because they are not yet thinking like business men but after they incur losses, they will start reasoning like correct business people. It is because of such people that I created the thread for agronomic practices because too many times, I have heard the expression "I did not know". Why repeat mistakes that others have made when you can avoid them?

As for what you incurred on clearing your land, we used to spend about N130,000.00 daily on diesel for the bulldozer when we were opening up virgin lands so I don't think that you did too badly, considering that you used manual labour. A tractor cannot uproot trees or remove tree stumps. They can bend its blades in the process. Subsequent tilling is not so expensive. all you have to do is to kill the grass and let the tractor do the rest. the grass that it will churn up during ploughing will be adding more nutrients to your farm. And you will not spend very much to achieve this.

About labour, try to look up the thread on agronomic practices. If you import scores of people for labour and you have to transport, accomodate, feed and pay them, how much profit will you be left with? Business is not done without calculations. You can negotiate with a hausa man around you to source for labour for you from his place. I believe that by the time you do your maths properly, you will not need so much labour.

Please keep up the good work. I am happy you started with 3 hectares. And the fact that you are warming up for this season means that you did a good job last year. I wish you a bountiful harvest this year.

Please provide a link to the agronomic section. Your points are noted

mikolo80:
so...you know what the only person's opinion that counts is th op so to hell with all of you that act without thinking
with all your knowledge and practical expertise you are still farming with hoe and cutlass
if that is the expertise and experience you are exhibitng(not to talk of your use of insults instead of superior argument(thats how i know you've lost the debate)) then i fear for our dear nation's agric future

@mikolo and solbash...enof of this exchange of words. One thing we should understand is that in Nigeria where govt inputs in terms of machinery are not available for mechanised farming. It is difficult to invest all your capital in labour.

Moreover mikolo,how many places have you seen the videos u posted been used in Nigeria.

Am not as bouyant as Hot mass is cos I have followed his thread very well. As for the cost of bulldozer, it was my first option for clearing but then overhead cost na die so I had to take shelter under manual labour.

Pls let's share our divergent views on this topic without lashing ourselves.

Mikolo,whichever way you thin about it,you need permanent laborers on the farm to do certain kind of jobs. Its saves you more money.

mikolo80:
Dude. By or rent tractor na

. So na tractor go do clearing of virgin land for you bah abi when u need to clear the weeds on your farm, na tractor go clear am for you. E be like say you be internet farmer

Lesgupnigeria:
Sorry for the loss.
there is no need to give up on your dreams.
Where is your farm located?
Before starting out,labour is very essential and to be profitable,permanent labour is needed and not laborers on a temporary basis.

You made some mistakes (as i perceive it from your statements) which i will highlight here for others to learn and i will proffer solutions as well detailing how to go about getting the right labourers next time.

Mistakes
1.Giving the person money before bringing labourers.
You can do that if the person is a resident of the village where your farm is located.
The ones working for me now got to the village where my farm is located before i pay their agent.

2.You should have done a serious negotiation when you were making use of the temporary laborers


These are what you should do next time
1.Never give any agent transportation fee before seeing the laborers

2.Never employed laborers that are married for farm work
Reasons:They are very lazy,will need daily thorough monitoring before they work.
You will have to bear the burden of transporting,feeding,and accomodating their family.

I hope this will help you and you can take your agribusiness to the another level of profitability.

Thanks bro. Will work on the aforementioned. My farm is somewhere on the outskirt of Ilorin.

OLAMIMO12:
@OP......labour management is one of the challenges in agric production. only piece of advice i will drop for now is this: dont flash the labourers with high pay. There is no incentive in doing so.

Just wondering how one gets that done when you have for example weeding that needs to be done to aid crop growth but d labor is no where near and when they come...one is more or less at their mercy. Thanks all the same

Still waiting for inputs from farmers a beg.

Good opportunity for Dokpesi to bring his Daarsat to limelight but instead of him to focus on developing business empire, he is busy meddling with politics. I just pity those who bought shares into the company when he floated his IPO

Hello Great Farmers in the forum.

Sourcing for Labour has been a great concern for my farming business. Last year we spent close to 180,000 clearing and cultivating about 3 hectares of land. Dont know whether my partner who most of the time is in charge of the farm isnt good at negotiating with the labourers or its something else I cant explain. All I can say is 2014 was a bad year as all of our profit was swept away by labour cost.

We have tried to alleviate this issue, but the problem now is that the guys from Benin republic we are expecting to come work for us this season havent arrived. The agent we gave about 40000 to as transport to bring labor keeps telling there are issues with immigration at the border due to election palava.

Just want to learn how you guys have been able to manage challenges getting labour for your farm work.

Have a great weekend my lovely peeps

Hello farmers,

I have read quite a few things about sesame seeds being grown and exported in Nigeria but it seems very few farmers plant it.

My little research shows it adapts very well even on infertile soil I mean with low nutrients. Heard OLAM helps farmers in supply of seeds as well as buy after harvest.

I will appreciate inputs from farmers anywhere in the country on the following issues
1. What time of the year do you plan

2. What is the rain pattern in Ur location and during the period of planting.

3 . where do you source for seeds.

4. Any general experience with sesame seeds will be appreciated.

I plan on growing sesame seeds this year in Ilorin God willing.

hotmas911:
it depends on the size of the machine. D8 is about 80k per day. D6 is 60k per day.

How much landmass can either of then clear in a day and does this cost cover transportation to the farm and all other expenses.

hotmas911:
A brand new D6 bulldozer is commencing clearing on Monday or Tuesday we are waiting for the low bed carrier to transport it to site. Pictures coming soon

. How much does it cost to hire a bulldozer say in an area like Ilorin.

Your Excellency Sir:

Let me quickly jump in front of the oncoming bandwagon in offering my congratulations. I know you do not have too much time for niceties because much has been left on the Augean Stables for you to clean up. Let me be one of the first to offer my two kobo on how you should begin the art (for, in Nigeria, it is indeed an art) of governing us for the next four years. My advice is neither in chronological order nor even in any order of preference. But most of it stems from lessons learned in the huge fall from grace to grass of your immediate predecessor, Mr. Goodluck Jonathan.

Biodun Ladepo
(Declaration of Assets) Even before your official swearing in ceremony scheduled for May 29th, go ahead and declare your assets as you promised. Do it publicly. In fact, find some money and buy space in a few national dailies and online media outlets and declare your assets. I am sure your Vice, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, will follow suit. Nigerians know both of you are not stupendously rich, so no need to worry about having to explain how you came about your assets. Then go ahead and make it (in private, of course) a requirement for all your ministerial, judicial and heads of MDA appointees, to also declare their assets.

(Appointments) Please look beyond the APC for a combination of brains and brawn. Make deliberate efforts to find talents in other parties (believe it or not, there are good people even in the PDP) and appoint them to, not just inconsequential positions, but key positions that will task their intellect and vigor. Look beyond active politicians for skilled people because many of them want to serve and can serve very well but for myriad reasons, could not participate in politics. Spread your appointments across the nation as fairly as possible. I know the southwest practically elected you (the north had always been with you) and you will be pulled by those of us from the southwest to reward us and not marginalize us like Jonathan did. But you are president for the whole country. Beam your searchlight on the east, south-south and all over the country and look for talents. If you try hard, you will find talents in the states that voted against you. You will find talents among Nigerians living abroad. You have to demonstrate the level of maturity that Jonathan lacked and show the world that you are not vindictive. How nice would it be if you could ask Nuhu Ribadu to be Minister of Interior, in charge of the Police, Immigrations, Prisons, Civil Defense and Customs? These are parastatals that have become cesspools of corruption and need someone of Ribadu’s incorruptibility, energy, patriotism and attention-to-detail to lead. How about Raji Fashola for Ministry of Works or Ministry of Justice? You get my drift?

(Corruption) Nigerians trust you and to some degree, trust Osinbajo. But that is not the same and will, of course, not be the same for your appointees. You cannot single-handedly eradicate corruption in Nigeria. In fact, no one can eradicate corruption from any country. You can only do your best to reduce it to the bare minimum. To this end, you must return transparency and independence to the EFCC and ICPC. Once nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate to serve for a specified term, the chairpersons of both organizations should only be removable by (a simple majority) legislative impeachment. This removes the EFCC from Executive control and allows every political party to have a say in how it does its job. Please ask your political appointees to sign an undated Resignation Letter before you appoint them. This will serve you well in the future if they misbehave and you need to sack them. All you would need to do is put a date on their Resignation Letter and ACCEPT their resignation. This letter serves to keep them on their toes. I have heard other members of your party (and specifically Prof. Osinbajo) promise to not go after those who have perpetrated corruption before your election. I hope that is not true. Nigerians expect you to go after those who stole the future of their children. No, you should not allow this to consume you and detract from more important things. Nonetheless, we cannot afford to let them go scot-free. They must pay, if only to serve as deterrence to future thieves.

(Judiciary) You must overhaul the judiciary as a matter of urgency. The process of litigation in Nigeria is too long, too tedious, too expensive and too prone to abuse that justice is often delayed and thus often denied. Please embark on the construction of more courtrooms, upgrade the infrastructures of the existing ones, improve the welfare of judiciary workers and build more prisons to house those convicted in your new, expedited process.

(Federal Budget) This is too fat. You have to demonstrate to Nigerians that you are going to live by example. All those billions of naira usually allocated for food in Aso Rock need to be drastically cut down. Everybody working in or visiting Aso Rock is already being paid handsomely. They can pay for their own food. Make the cafeteria in Aso Rock a pay-for-your-own-food establishment for everybody. Cut down on the number of people traveling out of town and out of country who collect estacodes and allowances for doing practically nothing on such trips. Then invite the Senate leader and the Speaker of the House of Representatives and ask them to lead their respective legislatures in taking drastic cuts both in salaries and in other emoluments. Nigerians find it unconscionable that a Senator earns more than the President of the United States. Your predecessor was too compromised to have the moral authority to ask the legislators to take a pay cut. You do not have such a problem. They - the legislators - are looking for motivation, direction and purpose. You must provide that leadership.

(NNPC) I don’t need to tell you that this is the nation’s jugular. Fortunately, you are probably the most knowledgeable about this sector out of all who have governed Nigeria. So, there is very little anybody can tell you about this that you do not already know. You must appoint persons of absolutely unquestionable character to head this Ministry and the various parastatals that support our oil industry. Your Minister of Petroleum must believe in refining our oil within our country. And so that person must commence the construction of new refineries and the repair of old ones. If you have to borrow money to do anything, this is one sector you must get going almost right away. By the time your party comes to ask for our votes in 2019, we must be paying far less at the pumps than we are currently paying and exporting finished oil products to neighboring countries.

(Transportation) I take you at your word that you will revive the moribund Nigeria Airways by first deploying most of the aircraft in the currently bloated Presidential fleet to the national carrier. It has been a national embarrassment that the Giant of Africa has been unable to manage its airline. Remember that what killed Nigeria Airways was corruption (from ticketing fraud to spare parts fraud and) general poor maintenance record. Your new Nigeria Airways must be peopled with crack professionals and technicians – people who take aviation safety and customer service seriously. On the railways, you will agree with me that the situation whereby people and merchandises heading from Abuja to Ondo, Ile-Ife, Sokoto, Ado Ekiti, Birnin Kebbi, Akure, Benin City, Ogbomosho, Oyo, Jalingo, Yola, Damaturu, Dutse, Calabar, and many more key towns cannot even contemplate taking the train. Train tracks do not pass through these places! And the tracks we have are single tracks that force trains to wait for each other for hours at trains stations. These were the tracks betrothed to us by the colonial masters and we are yet to improve on them. Please start building new tracks and get rid of those archaic, used locomotives with which your predecessor “transformed” us back to the Stone Age. Remember, a viable rail system will ease the pressure on our roads as large goods such as petroleum tanks and containers will find it cheaper and faster to use the railways.

(Defense) Like NNPC, this is another sector about which nobody can lecture you. As the Boko Haram quagmire has shown us, there has been gross corruption or negligence or incompetence of all of the foregoing in the Ministry of Defense dating back to before your predecessor. Things just got past him more because he knew next to nothing about this sector and he was too incurious and too afraid to ask questions. Luckily for us, you know what is going on and nobody can accuse you of being too afraid to ask questions. The ranks of our military leadership, the officer corps, has been politicized and bastardized to the point that they have lost credibility with Nigerians. The respect and adulation normally enjoyed by the military has been erased and replaced with scorn and derision. People now see the military as a bunch of willing tools in the hands of politicians; a rag-tag bunch who will scamper off the battlefield with tails tucked between their legs at the sound of Boko Haram’s Hilux trucks. You have to restore the dignity of the Nigerian military. Heads have to roll. In fact, heads that have left the service but responsible for the rot in the military must be recalled and set rolling. You must set up a panel of former military officers, aided by a crack team of accountants, to look into the books of the military and find all the missing trillions – the reason our military lacked weapons and other equipment when called up to defend the country; the reason why thousands of our citizens were easily massacred by terrorists; the reason why we lost parts of our country to a Boko Haram and the reason why our country became the butt of jokes in international military circles. You must reorient the military to the path of professionalism – training for war in peacetime as if they are at war; training them in some of the best countries in the world and with some of the best militaries in the world; equipping them with the most modern war-fighting equipment; taking care of their welfare and that of their family and building for them infrastructures that befit the status we want them to occupy in the world. If you have to reduce the size, please do so. Remember, size is not might. Most advanced nations have moved away from large, slower military to smaller and more mobile, more nimble forces. That is the direction we should be headed. We should be building a smaller but more lethal force.

(Intelligence) There are too many unintelligent personnel parading themselves as intelligence operatives in our country. Like the military, they too have been co-opted into serving the whims and caprices of the government of the day. And they do not know what they are doing. I make this last statement boldly, confident that I know what I am talking about. Our intelligence organizations should complement the efforts of the law enforcement agencies and the military. In fact, they should be integral parts of those organizations and should not, themselves, be exempted from being scrutinized. You need to infuse the DMI, the NSA, the DSS and all the others with well-trained (internationally well-trained) professionals who can teach basic and advance intelligence gathering, packaging and dissemination to the end user. The gun-toting, sunglasses-wearing and suit-decked so-called intelligence personnel are just collecting pay checks. Where, for example, is the Boko Haram leader? Where are the Chibok girls? How are weapons getting inside Nigeria – and I mean heavy weapons? How are fighters getting inside Nigeria and how are they getting re-supplied? You need to overhaul this sector.

(Medical) Please send a bill to the legislature prohibiting all government officials from using government money to fund any aspect of medical care they receive abroad. They can exercise their inalienable right of free movement, but Nigeria should no longer pay for anybody to receive treatment abroad. In the mean time and while the bill snakes through the legislature, use your executive powers to deny requests for overseas medical travels that involve the use of government funds.

Clearly, your biggest challenge is electricity. This is the giant killer that has “killed” those before you. If you fail in everything above and succeed in stabilizing electricity supply, increasing its generation and distributing it effectively, your name will be written in gold. This will task your brain and sap your energy the most. Every sinew of your being must be engaged when you appoint people to solve this very huge problem. With the talents that abound within our country and outside, with the resources at our disposal, you can eradicate our dependence on all sorts of generators. With stable electricity, you won’t need to create too many jobs as Nigerians will create jobs by themselves.

Your Excellency, I know you have a full plate and you are no spring chicken. That is why assembling a team of very qualified and able people from across the country and the Diaspora will make your job easier. All you need to do is provide the motivation, purpose and direction and they will execute. Begin, Sir, by appointing a credible spokesperson who also has a strong background in the media – a true professional. I think Reuben Abati has proved to us that ability to churn out bombast-laden articles does not make an effective spokesperson. You need someone who will command the professional respect of members of his/her journalism constituency as well as be able to articulate your programs and actions without being condescending and patronizing. Sir, please do not appoint someone who will attack your political enemies. That job should go to your party’s spokesperson.

Good luck (not Goodluck) Sir.Abiodun Ladepo

Oluyole2@yahoo.com

Ibadan, Oyo State.

http://saharareporters.com/2015/04/01/open-letter-president-elect-muhammadu-buhari#.VRvFT8iei0A.facebook

(Bloomberg) -- When Okey Onwa decided to run for a seat in Nigeria’s House of Representatives, a ruling party leader laid out the terms to the 52-year-old lawyer.
He would have to pay 2 million naira ($10,048) as an expression of interest and sign post-dated checks, forfeiting half of his income as a lawmaker to gain the support of the party boss, commonly known as a “godfather” in Nigeria.
“When I complained, he told me this was business, that I can try going it alone if I wanted,” Onwa said in an interview in Awka, capital of the southeastern state of Anambra. He said he decided against running because he knew that on his own, he couldn’t raise the 100 million naira he needed for the campaign.
As Africa’s biggest oil producer prepares to elect a president and parliament on March 28, at stake for most politicians is the power to dispense and receive cash and patronage rather than competing ideologies. The main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress, has said it will maintain many of the economic policies of President Goodluck Jonathan’s ruling People’s Democratic Party.
With annual salaries and benefits of as much as $2 million a year, Nigeria’s lawmakers earn more than four times Barack Obama’s salary as U.S. president. Whoever wins the presidency has a critical say in dispensing about $70 billion a year in state revenue, more than two-thirds of which comes from oil and gas exports.
Godfather Control
“There’s no country in the world that has that kind of remuneration for its lawmakers,” Jibrin Ibrahim, director of the Abuja-based Centre for Democracy and Development, or CDD, said in a phone interview. “Money plays such a huge role and the political process is very expensive, making it for the richest and not the best. Essentially, the godfathers are the ones that control the parties and determine candidates.”
Both Jonathan, a 57-year-old southern Christian from the oil-rich Niger River delta, and his main opponent, Muhammadu Buhari, a 72-year-old northern Muslim and former military dictator, have pledged to fight corruption and make the petroleum industry more transparent.
Corruption has dogged Nigeria’s political system since independence from the U.K. in 1960. Transparency International ranked it as the 136th out of 174 countries assessed in its 2014 Corruption Perception Index.
Former central bank Governor Lamido Sanusi was suspended by Jonathan last year after he alleged that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. hadn’t remitted about $20 billion in oil revenue to the government.
Highlights of a PriceweaterhouseCoopers LLP audit into the NNPC said it should refund a minimum of $1.48 billion, with the state-owned company claiming the report had absolved it of Sanusi’s allegations. The full PwC audit hasn’t been released.
State Power
“Anyone who has state power controls everything,” said Jideofor Adibe, a political science lecturer at Nassarawa State University in the city of Keffi, 60 kilometers (37 miles) east of the capital, Abuja. “The group that produces the president can reward itself and punish the others. You can make a billionaire out of an ordinary man overnight.”
Candidates use funds for their publicity campaigns as well as to influence “opinion leaders” and potential voters, said Gozie Agbakoba, who lost his bid to return to the House of Representatives in 2011 for the Action Congress of Nigeria, which is now part of the APC.
“I lost because I didn’t share money,” Agbakoba said in an interview in Abuja. “It’s difficult to win an election in Nigeria without providing inducements to voters, be it rice, other gifts or cash.”
Apart from the 109 seats in the Senate and 360 in the House of Representatives, candidates are also vying for the state governorships and places in regional legislatures.
Revenue Allocation
Each level of government shares in the oil revenue, with the national government receiving 52.7 percent, the states 26.7 percent and local councils 20.6 percent.
Of the 36 states, only Lagos, which generates 75 percent of its own revenue, could survive without the monthly cash allocations from the central government by trimming spending or selling bonds, according to National Bureau of Statistics data.
Since more than 70 percent of the federal budget is spent on recurrent expenses, such as the salaries and benefits of about a million public officials, there’s little left for capital investments in infrastructure, health and education.
Many people who would’ve been entrepreneurs in business or industry seek political office “as a much quicker way to make money,” Clement Nwankwo, executive director of Abuja-based Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre, said in an interview.
Tight Election
With the majority of the population poor and without education, “it’s difficult for citizens to understand the role of the elected official,” he said. “They measure candidates by how much they pay.”
This year’s races are set to be the tightest ever, with both parties having 42 percent support among likely voters, according to an Afrobarometer poll released Jan. 27. About 68 million people are registered to vote, the electoral agency said. The vote is being held at a time when cash is especially tight, with the price of crude having declined more than 50 percent since June, falling below budget projections.
With ideology less important than the battle to control resources, elections can sometimes be no-holds-barred battles with candidates and parties employing armed thugs to bludgeon supporters of opponents, snatch ballots and rig results.
In 2011, about 800 people were killed and at least 75,000 forced to flee their homes after Jonathan’s victory was announced.
“The big challenge now facing Nigeria is how to make the welfare of people the purpose of politics,” said Onwa. “Right now, for the average politician it’s all about how to make money.”

mytime24:
i'll show ur gf wat u posted

Good I don't have one... So let's see who you wanna showshow

mytime24:
Guys, can u date any of dis ladies

I will date only you

chukzyblingz:
The lady has done excellently well and she deserves to be appreciated. But honestly speaking, I think she only returned the money because she is scared of what might happen if she were caught and because she is not a good thief (a fast guy as most Nigerians would say). If she sees a better opportunity next time she would utilise it.

But the owner of this money deserves to be flogged, firstly, for forgetting such a huge amount of money and secondly for being such an ingrate

Aba she first saw the bag in the morning while she was sweeping and in the evening when she was abt going home. So how do you mean she isnt a good thief. Its just her person.
Well I agree with you the guy is an ingrate who deserves to be tied to a transformer and floggedflogged

4bobo:
But they were circulating another woman from one media promoter house, people wicked o.


@kilokeys , but you know if she is caught, she will loose her job and be disgraced out of office. So who knows may be this is a trial for her and she overcame. I learnt that american embassy and MTN are now interested in rewarding her. i was listening to radio recently in which, on two different occassions or programs, on different stations were discussing her case and people were calling in, recommending her for many things.
Her soon to be fame, may overtake the money found on the long run, time will tell.

I hope the state governor will do something as well. But FAAN sha...how long does it take to create a position and give a job. Paying lip service since 500BC

Wike Wike woke....amaexhi amaechi amawchi...I have called the 2 of you 3 times. Whichever of you have guns to this boys should pls collect them back. Port Harcourt is gradually returning to the days of odili as governor.

mytime24:
pls wat's gbiyanju

Simply put...Its a job welldone or you try if you translate directly.
Good piece, couldnt help but laff