₦airaland Forum

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dayokanu:
That meant Middle belt has rule Nigeria more than any other region.

I kept telling people this when they claim the core north was oppressing them

Gowon 9yrs, IBB 8yrs AbdulSalam 1 yr Total 18yrs Middle Belt 18yrs.

North east Balewa 6yrs

So who is opporessing who?

Op, I dont think it should be carved in the current state bloc rather by Local Govt

DRANOEL:
@karfe

its either you purposely don't want to get it or you are plain mischievious!

the term middle belt refers to central nigeria  i.e benue,kogi,plateau,nassarawa!  but it seems to you MB refers to northern minority/christian regardless of where! ask yourself,is every southern minority a niger deltan? GET THIS THREAD OFF!

karfe:
Moderators, kindly include Kwara and Kogi in the list of options if possible

If Nigeria stays together, as I hope it will, FCT should remain a Federal Territory reflecting the agreement to stay together, but with autonomous regions. I believe Lagos, PHC and Kaduna should also share this special status. This might stop some skirmishes regarding ownership of these major towns. At least we all know which regions Enugu, Ibadan and Kano are part of

I agree. The possibilities for the MB, as well as other regions, are countless to grow economically. However, our hospitality has been taken for granted historically and taken advantage of. Its time to do everything with moderation. No more selling of land at give away prices and allowing your children to pay the price later. Believe me, if properly managed, the MB will become the region of pride in the future Nigeria

I hope to discuss a thread soon about MB opportunities for TOURISM, AGRICULTURE and SOLID MINERALS

emmke:
What a blessed region. But what happens to abuja? Not that am crazy to have it as part of the territory, but it's geographically impossible to remove it from the MB.

Pennywise:
At an appropriate time, we hang Boko Haram too.

karfe:
Criminals full every LG for Nigeria!

So let's have a mini-referendum here

I am not so sure Nigerians realise how crucial it is to solve this Middle Belt issue,

karfe:
Like which ones?

I also forgot to include Kwara and Kogi in the list. Methinks the Yoruba portions belong more to the Odu'a region anyway

Edo monthly IGR now over N2bn – Elamah
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January 29, 2012

News

THE chairman of the Edo State Board of Internal Revenue, Chief Useni Elamah, yesterday, disclosed that the monthly internal generated revenue (IGR) of the state is now over N2billion.

Elamah, who disclosed this to newsmen in Benin City while explaining the reason for locking up the premises of the Federal Museum, Benin City and some other business organizations in the state, said they were able to achieve the feat through aggressive tax policy which, according to him, was necessitated because of the zeal of Governor Adams Oshiomhole to fulfill his electoral promises to the people of the state.

“We were able to make over N2billlion in the month of December and that is even the minimum given the fact that the state government requires a lot of resources to be able to complete all the projects it started.

We pass through due process and procedures towards ensuring that we treat the tax payer as a king. We treat them with dignity, respect and with the most civilized and civil approach. We try to be fair to all and that is the secret to our success”, he said.

On why they sealed up the Federal Museum, Elamah explained: “The museum is situated in a public place. The King’s Square belongs to the state government, they maintain and secure that environment but we have evidence to show that the museum, which is one of the buildings situated in the King’s Square, has appropriated and privatized the collection of revenue from all manners of people, which they have refused to pay to the coffers of the Edo government neither do we have any evidence to show that such money was paid to the Federal Government which is their boss”.

www.vanguardngr.com/2012/01/edo-monthly-igr-now-over-n2bn-elamah/

Kano, the ancient Northern city popular for its groundnut pyramids in the First Republic, is about to offer its landscape to a N252 billion international trade centre. OKWY IROEGBU reports.

CONSTRUCTION has begun on a $2 billion (about N252 billion) project, touted as Africa’s biggest trade city.

The project, to be built on a 121.2-hectare plot in Dangauro Village, on the outskirts of the city, is the brainchild of Integrated Development and Investment Services Limited (IDIS) and the Kano State Government.

Its aim is to create a trade hub capable of redefining the business environment in Northern Nigeria, by providing an attractive environment for investors, tourists and traders, and subsequently transforming the domestic, regional and international economic landscape.

It straddles the intersection of the dual interstate highways running north-south from Kaduna, and east-west towards Maiduguri.

The architectural design, handled by A. T. Onajide Architects Limited, speaks volumes about values. The site is relatively uneven and provides an added advantage in playing with levels with a seasonal stream running across the lower end of the site (east-west). The complex, including its materials selection, symbolises dynamism, innovation and future.

Contract for the first phase was awarded a fortnight ago to Dys Trocca Valsesia & Company Limited, popularly known as DTV, a company with extensive track record of high profile and customised construction.

Sleek, sophisticated and visually-commanding, yet incredibly warm and exotic, Kano Economic City was thoughtfully designed with expansive outdoor entertainment areas to optimise the use of its vast space.

The land use distribution is based on acceptable international and local standards for such facilities, including multi-use (ancillary) buildings, retail and informal buildings, warehouses, roads, parking facilities, landscaping/footpaths, drainage and other infrastructure.

The facility, on completion, would provide ease of circulation and maneuverability for vehicular and human traffic, adequate parking facilities, maximum possibility for interaction among market users, provision and full utilisation of support facilities, efficient goods handling, energy efficiency and ease of maintenance and minimum development standards for health, safety and environmental standards.

Essentially, the city, being financed by a consortium of local and foreign banks led by Oceanic Bank International Plc, will accommodate a five-star hotel, residential and industrial estates, an all-encompassing shopping mall, a World Trade Centre, a retail market, warehouses of several sizes, two large cinema halls, social and recreational facilities, conference facilities, rail terminus, fuel and fire stations, banks, clinics, post offices and a maintenance building.

Some of its major landmarks include a superstructure which will house a five-star hotel with escalators and modern facilities designed to redefine hospitality in the West African sub-region.

The promoters said style, class and panache would be lavishly displayed for businessmen and leisure seekers who go for nothing but the best.

In developing the layout of the recreational facility, three distinct blocks, linked by a semi-basement car park and landscaped courtyard, are created with a parking space for 400 cars, the minimum number required for a facility of such magnitude.

A World Trade Centre is also incorporated in the design. It will house big corporations’ offices in a business-like environment. In developing the office layout, the designers set out to create three distinct blocks linked by a gallery with atriums to let in.

The phases two and three of the project will encompass residential and industrial estates expected to radically transform the real estate and economic landscape of Kano.

Other infrastructural provisions include two huge cinema halls, conference halls and theatres for performing artistes.

The Economic City will also have the biggest shopping mall in Africa. The promoters said the mall will make shopping a very exciting experience. According to them, the facility will be fitted with the latest technology in shopping comparable with that obtained in Mall of Emirates in Dubai. It is expected that when completed, there would be no need for Nigerians and West Africans to travel abroad for shopping as the world’s best designers would be adequately represented.

To adequately cater for the storage of goods and equipment, the Economic City has provision for large, medium and small warehouses where goods and equipment can be stored in perfect conditions, irrespective of the nature of the products.

On the maintenance of the edifice, the promoters said generous provisions have been made for a maintenance building which would house generators, workshops for electrical, plumbing and other support services.

Besides, a reputable international consultancy firm is said to be working on advertising windows with sophisticated and latest technology in advertising delivery for brand promotion and exposure at the city.

The windows include scrolling board, ultra waves, LCD screens, creative wall drapes, high resolution multi advert display board, street flags.

The advert windows have reportedly been pre-designed to accommodate the aesthetic architectural designs to forestall defacing and unprofessi

karfe:
This thread has tried to identify all the areas which may or may not be part of the MIDDLE BELT (CENTRAL) REGION

Non-Yoruba Kwara
Non-Yoruba Kogi
Benue
Niger
Nasarawa
Plateau
Taraba
Adamawa
Southern Kaduna
Southern Kebbi
Southern Bauchi
Southern Gombe
Southern Borno (not sure)

It would be useful if MB persons, and other Nigerians could identify which regions should be removed from the list or retained. It would also be useful to hear the views of Hausa-Fulani and Kanuri persons who come from these areas or from the Far North

For those from the Yoruba parts of Kwara and Kogi, please state if these areas should be part of the MB

jamace:
OP
Thanks for coming up with this eye-opener and clarion call for self-actualisation by the MB of Nigeria.

First, I have never liked that name "North Central" for the MB because the MB are not geographically in the centre of the North but in the centre of Nigeria. Therefore the correct nomenclature would have been "Central Nigeria" or "Middle Belt of Nigeria". I feel the Hausa/Fulani were just bent on using that region as a tool for political weight that's why they tagged it "North Central" to make it part of the North by fire by force.

Now that the situations on ground have called for immediate independence of the MB people, I want the MB states to denounce the name "North Central" and go for "Central Nigeria". The MB should opt out of the so-call 19 Northern States Governors Forum or Arewa Consultative Forum. These organisations are subtle ways in which the H/F continue to hold onto the MB as political ally while in the actual fact they are mere tools to be used and dumped by the H/F.

Like the poster above me rightly observed, it is only the MB that has no militant group, which is very necessary in the contemporary Nigeria for self identity.
The UMBF should make hay while the sun shines and establish themselves as a formidable political group with a true self identity. This umbrella body can now have a political stake and identity in the present political turpsy-turvy in Nigeria and should things go hey-wire, can easily declare autonomy and have a solid foundation for further poliitical agitations/growth.

The words of the Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher are instructive here. In the September 2, 1991 edition of Newsweek she said, ”the lesson of this century is that countries put together artificially will fall apart. National identities will not be suppressed”.

Nigeria must change, she must be restructured, she must be reformed and she must make every single ”Nigerian” believe that he or she can get to the top regardless of their nationality or faith. Other than that, whether we like it or not, Nigeria will eventually break.

StarBoard:
^^^
I know the less said about DeGea the better for us all , but your comments won't be out of place.
Seriously speaking,how he's our designated no.1 goalie still remains a mystery.
But no,folks tell us he's better in at least 100 areas than AL34. . .
Point of note:this is the earliest we've been out of contention for the CL, FA Cup and Carling Cup.
This season is on the verge of being termed a disaster.

sleekcm:
There are rumours in the arsenal blogosphere that arse fc have tabled a bid of £25m for Hazard plus a player. The major papers in europe got nothing on it anyways. Just a rumour.

Comments (4)
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Linking Boko Haram's insurgency to derivation is an oxymoron. It is not at all surprising that this is all Sanusi can offer as an explanation of the rise of the Boko Haram. So what is the reason for the rise of Islamic insurgency every other place in the world and the continued plots to attack Western interests in the US, Europe and in many Maghreb nations in Africa? It is reasoning like this that makes some think the elite in the north know more than they are revealing.
From: xxxx
Posted: 1 hour ago
Flag as inappropriate

What do you mean now? Your statement has a lot of meaning: that is, you sponsored them so that Federal government will give more money to Northern state? or are you saying that the oil producing state should not benefit from the resources? [/b]I think if i'm not making mistake, you are calling for the division of the country in which i agree with you. However, if we still have one Nigeria according to Northern leaders, then you should please step down because you are encouraging this boys to go ahead and kill people.
From: xxxxx
Posted: 1 hour ago
Flag as inappropriate

Sanusi Lamido has shown his tribal and religious agenda. [b]He did not make reference to the losses from pollutions, accidents and other hazards that ought to be compensated for as they arise from the oil production. The issue of Boko Haram was raise by US intelligence since Abacha regime. The warning was that 'a parallel military was being formed in the North-East part of Nigeria'. It will be wrong to attribute it to unfair and iniquity share of the oil revenue. Is it the only Northern States that don�t partake equally from the oil revenue? Why are states like Kebbi, Katsina and Sokoto not involved in this jihad? Why are foreigners from Niger Republic and Chad involved?
.
From: xxxxx
Posted: 1 hour ago
Flag as inappropriate

My Dear Sanusi, I just can't believe what I am reading but this is the moment of truth for Nigeria. Tell your brothers to move south, adopt the religion and culture of Rivers or Akwa Ibom and prosper there. Are you going to be worshiping the Arab Prophet and Mecca while oil from the south south feeds you? Down south we are worshiping the Jewish Man and the Italian pope while their oil companies rob us blind and they cheat us in international trade. THE BLACK MAN IS DOOMED!!! Tufia! worldly oil money won by infidel Lord Lugard to pacify non-thinking muslims. Doom,doom doom! Araba until each family is a country for the selfish slow black people of Nigeria

My peoplem

When a lie is repeated often without being checked, it begins to look like the truth. Who told this Sanusi Lamido Sanusi that the North East of Nigeria is more populous than any other comparable part of Nigeria? His political group make a genuine census impossible and turned the politics of census into the politics of Nigeria. He cannot rely on his own figures that they made impossible for others to accept as the basis for Boko Haram.

Secondly, where is corruption in the equation and what part did the people of the North East and their elite play in that corruption? Is that not the part of Nigeria where a Governor kept 150 brand new jeeps in a compound and said he was a collector of jeeps? This Sanusi Lamido Sanusi must think that the publishers of Financial Times are as foolish as his fellow Nigerian elite who fail to tell themselves the truth and who lie to each other and think that the whole wide world is as stupid as they are.

Thirdly, when will he from Kano band his fellow Borno-Adamawa elite admit that they are the ones who are at fault. They are the ones who failed their people and failed Nigeria and they are the ones who go about bandying false theories and precepts. When 3 motor assembly plants were set up in Nigeria Volkswagen was in Lagos our friend at the Pan African University Pat Utomi ruined that one after he grabbed it under the PDP working for Shehu Shagari and ruined it. PAN - Peugeot Automobile was established in Kaduna and that one continues to gulp subsidies and state aids and yet is not profitable, and ANNAMCO - Anambra State Motor Company with Mercedes Benz was set up in the East and today it is producing luxurious buses and it is profitable.

I am sure in that example lies the derivation theory of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. A derivation of laziness, a derivation of greed and corruption, and a derivation of lack of investment in your own people and in your own area. Begrudging those whose oil has been stolen and whose lands have been destroyed does not cut it. It is lazy mental exercise and Mister Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, we need more rigour and more truth from you you.

Cheers.



Ibukunolu Alao Babajide (IBK)

Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, CBN Governor
By Yemi Adebowale, with agency reports, and Ahamefula Ogbu


Attempts to redress historic grievances in Nigeria’s oil-rich south may inadvertently have helped create the conditions for the Islamic insurgency spreading from the impoverished north-east of the country, so says Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
A revenue sharing formula that gave 13 percent derivation to the oil-producing states was introduced after the military relinquished power in 1999 among a series of measures aimed at redressing historic grievances among those living closest to the oil and quelling a conflict that was jeopardising output.
But Sanusi who spoke in an interview with the Financial Times Friday said: "There is clearly a direct link between the very uneven nature of distribution of resources and the rising level of violence."
He said that it was now necessary to focus funds on regenerating other regions if Nigeria wants to secure long-term stability.
"When you look at the figures and look at the size of the population in the north, you can see that there is a structural imbalance of enormous proportions. Those states simply do not have enough money to meet basic needs while some states have too much money.
"The imbalance is so stark because the state still depends on oil for more than 80 per cent of its revenues," said Sanusi.
The FT, in a further analysis of the issue yesterday, wrote: "Nigeria has made little headway raising taxes for example from agriculture, which accounts for 42 per cent of GDP. Northern Nigeria’s economy has traditionally depended on the government more than the south. Many of the industries set up as part of earlier efforts to promote national balance have gone bust or been sold off during a decade of liberal market reforms, power shortages and infrastructure collapse.
"According to official figures, the leading oil producing state, Rivers, received N1,053 billion between 1999 and 2008 in federal allocations. By contrast the North-eastern states of Yobe and Borno, where the Boko Haram sect was created, received N175bn and N213bn respectively. Broken down on a per capita basis, the contrast is even starker. In 2008 the 18.97m people who lived in the six states in the north-east received on average N1,156 per person.
"By contrast Rivers state was allocated N3,965 per capita, and on average the oil producing South- South region received on average N3,332 per capita. This imbalance is compounded when the cost of an amnesty programme for militants in the delta is included together with an additional 1 per cent for a special development body for the Niger Delta. To boot, the theft of oil by profiteers in the region diverts tens of millions more weekly from federal coffers."
In the past year, the extremist Boko Haram sect has been responsible for proliferating attacks on churches, police stations and other state targets. Just last week, it claimed responsibility for multiple bomb blasts that claimed nearly 200 lives in Kano. The size and sophistication of the attacks underlined fears that the conflict is spiralling out of control.
. . .

efisher:
FG must be tough on Boko Haram – Israeli envoy

January 9, 2012 by John Alechenu, Abuja

The Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Moshe Ram, has said Nigeria requires an “iron fist” to deal with terrorism in general and the Boko Haram menace in particular.

The envoy also urged Nigerians not to allow terrorists dictate to them how they live and relate with one another.

Ram said this while presenting medical equipment worth about N2m on behalf of the government of Israel to victims of the Christmas Day bombing at St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger State on Friday.

He also said for the war on terror to succeed in Nigeria, Nigerians would require re-orientation to strengthen their security consciousness.

The envoy said Israel had suffered from acts of terror in the past, but that the situation had been brought under control because of some measures it put in place.

Ram said, “Nigeria is really on a crossroads, the way Nigeria and (people) everywhere should handle it, is with an iron fist. Not to permit terror to dictate the way the people live.

“Everyone is entitled to take his children to school in the morning, to go for shopping in the mall, to go to friends homes or movies in the morning. Everyone is entitled to this one, no one should disrupt this.

“We know what it is to be exposed to terror. And we know we have the capability, we have the knowledge, and we are willing to share our knowledge and our abilities with our good friends in Nigeria.A