₦airaland Forum

Pavarottii:
If u call pdp a killer party... Wonder what u will APC....

basilo101:
Let me educate you. Its not the business og the government if those who bought their company fails. What matters is that the sector has been liberalized for private investors to compete and that is why the numerous telecom companies operate forcing down prices. The reason why ee still blame government for power situation is because they still control transmission. GEJ has done his part in generation and distribution. Let buhari do his part and investor will rush into the sector and there be constant power supply

OreMI22:
Buhari is a corrupt Scam that deceived Nigerians into believing his FAKE integrity mantra.

Even Obasanjo jailed his own IG of Police for corruption, GEJ removed Stella Odua on "allegation" of corruption.

What has Buhari done to BabaChir, Baru, Ganduje, Tinubu, Orji Uzor Kalu, Amaechi,Wamako, Akpabio, Abdulaziz Yari, Modu Sheriff, Nurianu etc?

All these people have been proven to have stolen government funds meant for development of Nigeria. Yet, Mr integrity - Buhari dines and wines with them as if they are decent human beings?

Buhari is a BIG SCAM! He will sweet-tongue Nigerians again with a thousand fake promises that he has no intentions of keeping.

NaijaRoyalty:
Another Islamic fanatic spotted .

quickberry:
Where is your NITEL today?

ABUJA—FORMER Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, Mallam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, yesterday told the Senate Adhoc Committee investigating activities of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, that the overbearing interference of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his Vice then, Atiku Abubakar, crippled the privatization programme.

El-Rufai who was the Director-General of BPE from 1999 to 2003 noted that the decline of the privatisation programme started when somebody who had earlier been sacked by the BPE, was brought to replace him.

He said that he repeatedly disagreed with the former President when he made moves to dictate to him. He said he also disagreed with Atiku Abubakar when he (Rufai) insisted that the laws must be followed, even as he said that former President Obasanjo blocked the successful privatization of Nigeria Airways following the stories he received from former Minister of Aviation, Chief Kema Chikwe.

Probe targeted me —el-Rufai

El-Rufai who appeared before the Committee at 3.11p.m and was left to go at 4.15 pm., said: “All I can say is that during my tenure in BPE we tried to do everything by the law. We tried to resist any attempt at political interference. There was never a time that either President Obasanjo or Atiku Abubakar told me to sell an enterprise to A or B and I listened

We follow due process. Privatisation was a mechanical process and there was never a time that we deviated from that process. In the 33 transactions that we did we followed the book. If there were lapses that came after I left it was because authorities appointed people that did not understand what privatisation was about but saw BPE as cash cow. Before I left the President called me and said now that you are going to FCT how can we continue what you have started.

The President and I were always quarrelling over privatisation. On Nigeria Airways we quarrelled on the pages of newspapers but he called me and said you have done a decent job give us idea of who should be appointed. I then wrote a memo addressed to the vice president and suggested that my successors should come from within because we have spent a lot of money to train them. I recommended three directors and three deputy directors

The government of the day decided they were not going to appoint anybody from inside BPE. They brought someone who literarily was fired from BPE and that was the beginning of discarding of rules, doing things capriciously promoting people from one level to three levels and the institution have suffered from it since then. You should have a session with the BPE staff themselves they were 120 in number.

“Except when the vice president called me and said I got call from A and B to help the guy win this bid and I said Mr. Vice president you know the rules. Tell him to bid the highest prices because the highest price wins. He replied saying I know but I want to tell you in case they contact you I don’t want them to say I didn’t pass on their message.

President Obasanjo blocked the privatisation of Nigeria Airways practically because Kema Chikwe will go and tell him stories and what is the result today? The company is dead. 2000 jobs have been lost.

“We never investigated anyone for corruption except in my last three months and the only person we investigated ended up being the DG so it is part of the problem. BPE can be improved but I think the key is to have the right people in there and protect them from political interference and fund them properly.”

According to him as the DG, ‘’I supervised the privatization of 23 of the 122 enterprises that have been privatized to date (amounting to 18% of the total). These enterprises came from sectors including hotels and hospitality, banking, cement and oil marketing. Most of them are doing well, and a few have even gone international. For instance, Oando is now listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Some of the companies are listed below: Unipetrol (now Oando) African Petroleum; National Oil (now Conoil) Ashaka Cement; WAPCO, CCNN; BCC Calabar Cement, Capital Hotel, Abuja (Abuja Sheraton); Festac ’77; Nigerian Hotels Limited (now Southern Sun, Ikoyi); Nigerian Hotels (Caterers’ Court, Ikoyi) Nigerian Hotels (House 8 & 9 Lees Road, Ikoyi); and Nigerian Hotels (Audit Section, Ikoyi)”

Returned N57bn to FG

The former Minister who reminded the public what the goals were when the government decided to pursue the policy of privatisation, said that the government decided to reduce or eliminate the drain inefficient public enterprises constituted on the public treasury, adding that he had 33 transactions, closed 23 and returned N57 billion to the Federal government Treasury, adding that from 1970 to 1999, the Federal government invested over $100 billion in building enterprises, but earned only 0.5% return on investment from the. He said that the companies were costing the government N265 billion annually to maintain.

According to El-Rufai ‘’what has happened by the late 1970s it was a period that public enterprises were not working instead they were not only a drain on the economy they were providing services, they were not solving the problem they were meant to solve but they were captured by the elites for their own benefits.

“In the BPE then we crafted a phrase which we called the ‘the reverse Robin hood’ they were stealing from the poor and givento the rich. Because only the rich and the connected get the services. Nigeria’s privatisation was not driven by any ideology.”

From subsidised foreign exchange, to import duty and tax exemptions and not paying VAT, to revenues they don’t remit this is what the FG paid to keep public enterprises. “In that during Abdusalami’s regime, the budget of the Federal government was N300,000 but we spent N265 billion supporting inefficient, corrupt, and epileptic public enterprises.

That was the philosophy behind privatisation and commercialisation of the companies. 33 privatisation a transaction, 23 were closed as at the time we left, and we remitted N57 billion to the treasury. Apart from one of the companies all were doing very well.”
So to blame privatisation for these companies not doing well is being economical with the truth.

‘’We spent over $100 billion USD from 1973 to 1995 to establish public enterprises. But their return was 0.5 percent per annum it is in the vision 2020 report. Tell who will keep such companies? Only an idiot will do that.

‘’Example NITEL for 25 years only provided 400,000 telephone lines after putting in $7 billion USD the most expensive phone system in the world and they actually think they were doing you a favour if they give you a telephone line.

‘’So this is where I want us to begin from. And to say that the purpose is to create jobs is wrong. That was not the mandate to BPE is to reduce these companies from the treasury, make them more efficient, open up the market for competition so that other operators can come in. NITEL had 11,000 employees, they will lose jobs but how many jobs were created by the telecom industry?

‘’In the year 2000, as at December, 2000 the total liabilities of 39 public enterprises was in excess of N1.1 trillion and they have accumulated loses of N92 billion naira and they consume over $3 billion USD per annum or about N10 million a day. The justification for selling them was very clear and we did it.

‘’The only thing that is working in Nigeria today is what is run by private sector. Today we produced 9000 mega watts of power in our homes with generators and NEPA is giving us 3000.”

When asked to say whether the privatisation process was beneficial to Nigerians as a whole?, he said, ‘’I am reluctant to judge my successors. So when I ever I do job I move on and don’t look at what my successors do. We were working 20 hours in day and seven days a week.”

socialmediaman:
How long will you keep blaming previous governments, who will Obasanjo and the rest now blame? You want to finish all the blames alone?

seunfly:
Corruption in Nigeria is on specialty level, leaders of every sectors, cooperative, association, agencies, union even churches are just their to steal money and pay journalist to sing tbeir praise while they throw dirt at the agencies investigating them.

Redoil:
even when they are been aproved by cbn fed ministry of finance

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Tuesday before a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, docked the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, (NBA) Mr. Paul Usoro (SAN), over an alleged N1.4billion fraud.

The trial judge, Justice Muslim Hassan, however granted N250 million bail to Usoro and one surety in like sum who must be a landed property owner in Lagos.

The court also ordered that both Usoro and the surety must deposit their travelling documents with the court as part of the bail condition.

In the charge, filed by the EFCC, the NBA President was alleged to have converted and laundered the money in connivance with the governor of his state, Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State.

Emmanuel was however not listed as a defendant in the charge, as the EFCC indicated that he is “currently constitutionally immune against criminal prosecution”.

Also mentioned in the body of the charges were one Nsikan Nkan, described as Commissioner for Finance, Akwa Ibom State; one Mfon Udomah, described as the Accountant General of Akwa Ibom State; and Uwemedimo Nwoko, the Akwa Ibom State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice; as well as Margaret Ukpe, all of whom were said to be on the run.

The EFCC alleged that Usoro in connivance with the others mentioned conspired among themselves to commit the offence sometime in 2015 “within the jurisdiction of this honourable court”.

The anti-graft agency claimed that the N1.4bn allegedly converted and laundered by the defendants belonged to the Akwa Ibom State Government.

Further trial in the case has been fixed for February 5 and March 6, 2019

yarimo:
Sir, just take your time slowly and deal with corruption. Nigerians are with you

festacman:
Some of Buhari's footprints

- Diversification of the economy by installing global mining business procedures to attract foreign investors
- Laying foundation for production-driven economy by using using fiscal measures to encourage local producers
- Improving agricultural production and reduction in food importation
with stage set to encourage investment in processing and preservation
- Shrewd use of government revenues
- Conservation of nation's hard-earned Forex Reserve
by discouraging importation of needless stuff
- Sensible wealth redistribution through social Investment programs
to the vulnerable and strengthen the capital base of micro and small businesses across the nation
- Critical infrastructure-tied borrowings to avoid diversion
- Completing on-going and abandoned projects to strengthen critical infrastructure needs in power plants e.g Mambilla, rail transport, airport terminal, ports, interstate road networks, etc
- Fighting corruption and blocking leakages
- Motivating revenue-yielding government agencies to make higher returns e.g Customs, JAMB, etc
- Changing the long established mindset giving free money to non-productive political structure (foot soldiers) rather than empowering them to be productive and financial independent
- Etc.

4more to take things to new level

socialmediaman:
Even Buhari himself knows he’s fighting political opponents not corruption. Without Democracy there will be no meaningful opposition today because he would’ve locked everyone up like he did in the 80s while crumbling the economy and blaming predecessors

Kundagarten:
The man is slow in everything, from economy to security, a waste.

Abuja – President Muhammadu Buhari says his administration is slow in fighting corruption because the system is slow. The president said this when he received the Federal Capital Territory community, who paid him Christmas homage at his official residence on Tuesday in Abuja.

President Buhari President Buhari, who apparently was reacting to those allegedly accusing his administration of being too slow in tackling the nation’s challenges, including `endemic corruption’ in the society, said: “It’s not Baba (Buhari) that is slow but it is the system. “So, I am going by this system and I hope we will make it.”

The president announced that he would soon embark on aggressive campaign for the 2019 Presidential Election, saying that the campaign would start with visits to each of the six geo-political zones of the country. According to him, the three areas of focus with which he campaigned in 2015 are still very relevant today, adding that he will continue to focus on the fight against corruption, tackling insecurity and improving the economy. “We are watching the Independent National Electoral Commission very seriously and we are going out very soon; we will go from geo-political zone to geo-political zone, to remind the people of our promises in 2015. “These three fundamental things include security, because you have to secure the country before you can govern it and talking about what we have done regarding securing the country, the people of the North-east know better.

“The three fundamental things we campaigned with are still very relevant. “On improving the economy, which we are still going to explore, we have done well in agriculture, and those who embraced farming are not regretting it and we have also addressed unemployment and we are very lucky, through that we are now attaining food security. “The third thing with which we will campaign is the issue of corruption. "I told you what I did when I was in uniform but now when I have to go by this system (Democracy,) where people have to be arrested and then prosecuted, taken to court and then with evidence, we will collect back what they had taken illegally and for doing that, people are calling me Baba go slow. “I am going slowly but whatever the case, I will not stop pointing fingers at those who have abused trust by taking money that does not belong to them. “I will keep on trying to do my best for this country and get back what belongs to the country.”

He reiterated the determination of his administration to continue to repair the roads and revive the railway and electricity with the little resources at its disposal. The President, who thanked the FCT community for the visit, urged people in leadership positions to always do the right things so as not to betray the confidence reposed on them.

Earlier, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Muhammed Bello expressed satisfaction with the achievements of the Buhari administration in the last three and half years. He said inhabitants of the FCT had resolved to reward the president over his recorded achievements with massive votes during the forthcoming general elections in 2019. The minister said: “We pray that God almighty continues to grant you good health, strength, capacity, ability and patience to continue to lead us to the Promise Land. “On behalf of the FCT, we appreciate you for the good works you are doing for the territory. “Just last week you commissioned for us a new airport terminal and so many road projects that are ongoing in Abuja. “We feel highly delighted to be hosting you here and it’s my honour on behalf of the FCT community

TheEconomist:
They should pay for houses and cars too.

Taxes should be paid for luxury cars and any house worth more than 100 million Naira.

Chigold101:
Is this not funny?

EFCC as an arm of APC is one of Buhari's greatest weapon against the people of Nigeria.

If such huge amount of money is forfeited, tell me how Union Bank would be able to pay back the depositors that actually owned the money.

Tell me how Union Bank would not fold up finally.

Peter called it locking your shop and chasing criminals. This time it's more of witch hunt

Binikingdowm:
what are you even talking about, you made no single sense in your write-up

babyfaceafrica:
what brand of weed are you taking?