₦airaland Forum

So GTB should write off money allegedly obtained under false pretence just to save the business interest of Mr Innoson, the alledged fraudster?


Very smart thinking.

The threadwork on Awo's Agbada is very modest and the pocket so small. What a jolly decent man.


Contrast this with todays politicians who pompously stride accross the landscape in Agbada with ostentatious and super luxurious threadwork that goes right down to their waist area and beyond.


How did we get here

It's funny how the Anambra guy in the article imediately asked why Onitsha instead of Lagos.

I also would have thought Lagos was more polluted.


The situation in Onitsha requires urgent State abd Federal govt attention.


One of the most corrupt countries in the world? Nigeria

The most polluted city on earth? Onitsha, Nigeria

One of the most unstable countries in the world? Nigeria


Absolutely little or no positives about this country.

laviecontinue:
1)Ok. I have a feeling that this COULD work. But the challenge will be where some tribes falls or who they actually falls with. Thinking of ondo state here hmmmm......

This is a curious comment.

So, what about Ondo State

This is like wondering whether Sokoto will end up in the SE or Enugu in in the NW.

Some comments on nairaland are just ridiculous.

Good.

A leader must lead for his people. He/she must be strong, decisive and yet considerate.

The Governor's statement restores some confidence that we are not going to be soft and allow ourselves to be run over by people whose ways are strange, reckless & at odds with our core values of tolerance and respect for human life.

Yea, really good.

When I first saw this thread yesterday, I knew it was a fraud, so didn't bother to waste time commenting.

Then a banker friend whom I was to meet on saturday called this afternoon to say we have to cancel as movements will be restricted, apparently due to state-wide local government elections.

Aha, then this thread suddenly made sense.


HERE IS THE TRUTH: Every time there is election, Mimiko brings in a different group of hungry Americans on a no - expense - spared junket to Akure. He lines them up in his office, shakes hands, then photos are taken. Pliant newsmen from the archaic OSRC TV station asks a couple of well - scripted questions about when Bitumen production will start. Usually, the totally non-plussed foreign rascals, who barely understand why they were brought into the country in the first place, nod their heads and say everything is in top gear, and production will start pronto

OSRC then splashes it on its prime 7pm news - BITUMEN PRODUCTION TO FINALLY START!!

But, it is all nonsense. It is a political gimmick to raise false hopes and win saturday's election.

This is about the fourth group of so-called investors that Mimiko has brought in to cheer his people up about Bitumen production. And on each occassion, there was an imminent election. Mere coincidence? Not really.


To my friends in Osun, Oyo, Ogun, Ekiti (I think Lagos can feed itself through its IGR) who are banking on Bitumen production in Ondo for economic transformation, please forget it . Get sound education, get yourself a good job, or do a business and that includes trading...do not scoff at trading. Igbos are making it big time.

I thought Gbajabiamila was a so-called lawyer in the USA. How could he claim '... the attacker is guilty of assault; he is guilty of battery.'


He obviously has no problem pronouncing someone guilty without investigation of facts, charge and trial.

To my knowledge, the judge who was receiving questionable payments into his accout has not even been suspended pending investigation.


As for the SAN, the NBA's silence on the matter has been deafning.


Such a strange country.

As a party APC seems fundamentally flawed. I have come late to agree, but it is only a matter of time before it collapses.

How else can one explain this Mr Frank, a deputy national publicity secretary repeatedly issuing his own personal/unofficial press release castigating the leadership of his party as and when he pleases.

At the start of the Senate leadership election saga, when the party, including the ineffectual party leader Mr Oyegun, were trying to find a solution, out of nowhere this same Mr Frank issued a press release where he attacked Tinubu, a major leader of his party for no apparent reason.

There is no other party in the world where a senior party official is allowed to keep his job with these sort of outbursts. He can certainly criticize like any other citizen, but he cant do that whilst retaining his job. Even PDP at its worst wld not have allowed this sort of thing.

Mr Oyegun is supposed to be calling this man to order . Infact he should be facing disciplinary procedure to explain his unofficial outbursts. But Mr Oyegun is so weak and ineffectual, it is unbelievable.

Is this the same fruit market that is supposedly so dirty.

If yes, they may have finally given LASG the excuse to finally shut it permanently.


The market should be relocated to the outskirt of Lagos.


May be along Lagos - Ibadan expressway (at least 20km after Redeem).

3 weeks ago I saw Emefiele make his carte blanche comment on tv saying he was ready to provide ALL the foreign currency Dangote needs. I was surprised then wondering where cbn would get the funds from.

Emefiele just comes accross as a 'yes' man who always look timid & confused.

Add all the illegal withdrawals by Gej and his men, this Emefiele man appears not to know what he's doing.

Pavore9:
This is an opportunity for someone living around such area to buy it cheap and have them solar dried and ground into powder that can last for years when properly stored!

The challenge is that ground tomato is totally alien to most Nigerian housewives. So, unless you have a fair amount of resources to push this new product and convince people to buy, this is probably not a product most small scale Nairaland farmers can rush into.


Besides, in the Nigerian context, there is something about ground dry tomato that will leave me, and I suspect many others, wondering what else is inside that brown polythene bag other than tomato This is Nigeria. People adulterate everything. Nigerians can easily add some funny 'additives' to bulk up the weight.

At least with raw tomatoes, people see and know exactly what they are buying.

Not all ideas are easily transferable to Nigeria. That's not to say this cant work, but, hmmm....


I think this will only catch on if buyers are confident about the providence of the product.

Interesting, after 'viewing' all the responses, the Op has ran away refusing to contribute and defend his write-up.


I have been seeing a lot of nonsense on this 'falling naira' thing for the past months, but the huge task of educating politically-indoctrinated, follow-follow people kept me from taking up the challenge.


Tonite that I have a bit of time on me, the Op does not appear willing to debate.

Kazakhstan - the poster child of glutonous oil spending, the richest country in Central Asia is on its knees now.

According to Al Jazeera, "Many struggling to make ends meet in main city of Central Asian nation whose economy is heavily dependent on oil." http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/02/global-oil-glut-leaves-kazakhstan-reeling-160204150626887.html

Their currency has fallen sharply, and the government recently cut their budget by 40%!


If Buhari cuts Nigeria's budget by 40%, all hell will break loose with PDP and misinformed youths calling for arms to fight the 'dictator.'

Btw, 40% reduction in Nigeria's budget will cause near - mass starvation of a sizable portion of the Nigerian population.

I went to shoprite the other day, and as usual I walked down almost all the ailes obeserving where products are from.

Can you believe that more than 95% of non-food items you see in shoprite are imported.

Even food items - a big chunk is imported.

And you expect Buhari to fund Shop rite's addiction to importation of nonsense.


Let shop rite and the other lazy importers keep buying dollars in the black market and destroy the naira.

It will get to a point where non of us will be able to buy the over inflated imported goods[/b], most of which we can do without anyway.

Once no one is buying, they will look to local suppliers. Let's bear the naira pain for now.

Buhari must not yield.

Had Buhari kept financing the reckless dollar demands of the selfish import-everything-on-planet-earth gang, by now the $30 billion dollars or so that Jonathan left will be down to about $10 billion. And by the end of 2016, we will run out of money. The IMF, United Nations, World Bank will have to call an urgent meeting in Geneva or another foreign outpost to discuss how to rescue Nigeria.


This is the reality that some of these people just dont realise.


Buhari can't print dollars. The little the country has, he is trying to preserve for the most essential imports. Yes, it is a pain to bear, but it is better than the alternative.

We just have to bear the pain and hope oil price recover a bit, may be to around $55 in the near term.


There is no miracle. People in Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Russia know it. But some Nigerians refuse to smell the coffee.

Op said, for a while, he restrained himself from commenting on the present economic situation.

Given the nonsense he wrote above, he should have listened to his inner counsel and kept mum.


Iraq: "If, as projected, global oil prices remain at historic lows, Iraq will be unable to pay some of its civil servants, or honour pledges to build roads and power stations in the next financial year." Guardian UK Friday 19 February 2016 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/19/post-war-iraq-corruption-oil-prices-revenues

Venezuela: Country with the largest proven oil reserve, even larger than Saudi, now has the world's highest rate of inflation and the worst performing economy in the world. Just last week, the govt increased price of petrol by more than 2000% Infact look here to see people queing for food. BBC 20 February 2016 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-35622188

Saudi Arabia - has spent more than $150 billion dollars propping up its economy just in the last 9 months. If oil prices remain low and the country continues spending at this rate, Saudi Arabia will run out of money around 2020. This is a country that had over $800 billion in reserves. Nigeria has just $30 billion.

Russia nko? - situation is so bad, the rubble has lost so much value.


If anything, of all the large oil producing countries who depend solely or almost solely on oil money, Nigeria has fared somewhat better.


Get this again, Venezuela's proven reserves is more than 10 times Nigeria's, yet as I type, they cant find basic stuffs like pampers, milk, soap to buy in the shops.

Isn't that the Finance Minister?

She looks really dapper...very nice.

...and that pout, hmmn.

It seems people make like N250,000 per acre after 4 months of hard toil and hand-in-mouth suspense not knowing whether disease will destroy the watermelon plants overnite. Agree with Op, for the effort and risk involved, the reward is somewhat low.

Probably not bad if you are a subsistence full time farmer and live in a village or small town and have modest aspirations. Or you want to do it part time, which appears to carry even more risk.


If you can put the same effort into one acre of tomato (assuming 4,000 plants per acre) and you achieve 3kg yield per plant, that should give you 12,000 kg of tomatoes. Now, if you can plan for your tomato plants to fruit between May and early June when wholesale price is around N250 per kg, you should end up with about N3 million. Even if you reduce that by N1m, you still end up with N2 million. This is still almost 10 times better than you get with watermelon!

One thing about watermelon though is its ubiquituos presence in almost every street shops these days. Same cant be said about cucumber...at least in my state. Not many seem to buy cucumber in my state, as most of the ones I see look stale and unfresh, perhaps due to lack of sale.

Based on my own careful assessment...pound for pound, the most profitable vegetable to plant in Southern Nigeria is tomato, PROVIDED:


1. You can get a decent yield - our hot & humid weather is not as good for tomatoes as the weather in the far northern states

2. You make sure your tomato arrives between May & June. Anything outside of these 2 months, you could be in big trouble.

Went to shoprite this afternoon...and lo and behold, there was imported beefsteak tomato listed at N2,499 per kg!


Roma tomato was N799 per Kilo.


Importing tomato to sell at N2,499 per kilo is ridiculous.


I am sure if Shoprite offers to pay a few Nigerian farmers N850 per Kg, they will invest in greenhouses and produce these large beefsteak
tomatoes.


If any farmer can get things right concerning tomatoes, hmmm....the person has hit a goldmine.

Fashola is not a politician. He can't win over 5,000 people in my State Even in Lagos, I dont think he can do much on his own.

Fayemi? Guy is so politically lightweight, if he wasn't cocooned in ministerial security, the political wind would blow him away.

The Minister of Finance? Says a lot about her that I cant even remember her name.


I am in a State in the SW that is not APC, yet all political talk here start and end with Tinubu. Tinubu's name is on the lips of every adult in this state, whatever party they belong.

Most people here credit him with masterminding Jonathan's defeat. He is seen as a political Master.


When the die is cast, most people in the SW will line up behind Tinubu, not some light weight politician.

Nigeria is highly tribalistic. You need someone who can play the political game that suits your region.


People like Fashola cannot lead the Yorubas politically. All that grammar he speaks will not resonate in Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo, Ogun.

Tinubu speaks better grammar than Fashola. Yet, if you put him in Oshodi, he will speak the kind of Yoruba that market women and area boy understand.

Kids in Finland dont start formal school until they are 6yrs old, yet Finland primary & secondary students outperform students from other countries year in year out.


My sister's 3 yr old already have to learn to write from 1 to 500.

Why the rush to overload these kids & not allow their brain to develop in a natural way?

I was helping a 4 year old with homework and was shocked by the maths. It was way above what a 4yr old should be grappling with. And there were about 25 exercises.

On top of that,, he also had home work in 3 other subjects. And it's like that every day.

The poor boy could barely keep his eyes open half way through the exercise.


Who tha hell is setting the curriculum for these kids?

The Senator is just looking for cheap publicity to deceive Nigerian youths.

It's cheaper in India because India govt massively subsidises Kerosene. And the debate about removing the subsidy in India goes back several years - successive Indian governments just cant find the political will to remove the subsidy.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Government-caps-kerosene-subsidy-at-Rs-12/litre-LPG-at-Rs-18/kg/articleshow/48421993.cms

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0973082611001128 - Kerosene subsidies in India: When energy policy fails as social policy.

Most sane countries are moving away from subsidising anything. It is simply unsustainable.

Please can I add that, this period is a preiod of profound opportunity for Nigerians. You dont even need to be brilliant at identifying opportunites. The opportunities are right there in your face right now if you care to open your eyes.


If you are looking for ideas for small scale investment, please go to shoprite if you have a free 30 minutes on your hands this week. Just spend that time walking around, look at prices of imported commodities which can be easily (well, if you are determined) produced to at least 95% percent of the quality of imported varieties.

The truth is, it is only a matter of months before shop rite start feeling the pinch and dropping several of these imported products and turn to local producers. And its not just Shop rite. Many medium to large companies are in the same situation.

The opportunites right now are massive.


Whether you like Buhari or not, please leave that aside for now. See how you can take advantage of this FX policy.

I was at shoprite in my State on Friday and decided to take a look around their vegetable stand. I was shocked!


There were 3 baskets of tomatoes.

Basket 1 : beefsteak tomato (produce of Nigeria) - N750 per kilo

Basket 2 : beefsteak tomato (label says 'imported') - N1030 per kilo - exactly the same as the ones in basket 1. The only difference was the label.

Basket 3 : Roma (like the ones from the north) - N750 per kilo.


Why would shoprite import a tomato that is exactly the same as the local produce they also had on display?


I walked further down the veg isle, only to see Cabbage imported all the way from Spain. Again the quality was no better than what the Northerners or indeed anyone can produce in Nigeria.

By the way, all the tomatoes in this particular Shoprite were mushy and near-rotten...and I wondered why? Where is the much vaunted Nigerian middleclass who we are repeatedly told are so awash with cash they would buy anything at whatever ridiculous price?

When I got home, I saw a small pack of tomatoes (about 1.5 kg) freshly brought from the market. I asked my wife how much she bought them for - she said N100!. That's roughly N75 per kg, yet Shoprite is using our scarce foreign currency to import a tomato that is not much better to sell for 10 times more. And no one is even buying them...so it seems as they were mostly rotten due to no takers.


It's a crazy country.

This FX ban is one of the best things to happen to Nigeria. I am sorry for the importers obviously, but this is a time we all need to make a sacrifice and think about the future of this country rather than how much Mr A or B can make from importing things we do not need.

This might want to read this, and see if it applies to your situation.


http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10883

To all those who are upset (who wouldn't be), I think it's important to put things in perspective and look on the immense educational quality of this thread, particularly for a lot of young people and others from abroad who have thoroughly enjoyed the oasis of civilised conversation that this thread has broadly represented.


Please keep the faith and keep contributing.

No wonder I searched for this thread this morning and couldn't find it. I logged off thinking my sight was to blame


But not in my wildest dream did I think it had been moved.


How dare you nairaland managers


There's a thread on Anambra and another Eastern city, neither of which I have ever opened. But they are constantly on the politics section. Does it mean they manage somehow to only talk about politics?

And the excuse about the thread title is just so daft and and a ruse to look for an excuse for a humiliating reversal of a poor decision.

Shymm3x:
But why do some Owo folks claim half-Bini ancestry?

It is unlikely an Owo indigene would claim half Bini ancestry, unless one of his/her parents is/was from Benin.

It's no different from someone in Ibadan claiming half Igbo or half Ijaw if one of his parents is from those areas.


Any contact between Benin and Owo starts and ends with the fact that Owo is the last big town in Yoruba territory on the way to Benin in ancient days. The Benin Empire launched several attempts to invade and conquer Owo, but were gloriously repelled on each occassion

Even to this day, you'll find that folks in places like Ondo and Ekiti are ready to rumble any invasive force any time any day.

Gbawe:
Good question one would have to put to the GEJ government that signed the original deal with SystemSpecs. The TSA itself is a good idea and this is why the Buhari government decided to resurrect and use it.



Now it is clear, according to official statement of the FG through its minister of information, it is members of the GEJ government that negotiated the 1% fee. This clears up the controversy because it shows there is no wrongdoing on the path of the Buhari government who can only continue with the scheme, if it wants to derive the obvious benefit Remita provides, until it can review the terms of the contract or possibly cancel without heavy financial penalty.

No, the Minister's statement does not resolve the issue. It seems your priority is to clear the air on whether Buhari's government was at fault or not. That is not the issue that concerns most people. The issue is that this contract has all the signs of a shady PDP contraption schemed to funnel 1% of the contry's entire internally generated commonwealth into the hands of a handful of people. For this reason alone, I am in full support of the Senate investigating this contract.

The Presidency or Ministry of Finance must initiate its own investigation into the motive of the people in the previou.s administration who agreed to this fee. Afterall, the government is revisiting a number of other shady deals signed by the previous government