₦airaland Forum

As the year 2011 draws to a close, it is not out of place to describe the year as a remarkable one for Nigeria. The year was full of activities and Nigeria never ceased to appear on the headlines of the international media for one reason or the other ranging from the conduct of the 2011 elections to the numerous bomb blasts courtesy boko haram.

So in your opinion, what were the highs and lows for the year? How do you perceive the performance of our elected leaders? How has the economy progressed?

Let me open the floor by saying the 2011 elections have been the most exciting ever and probably the most commendable so far. I must also commend a few governors (to the best of my knowledge) for their good work namely: Adams Oshiomhole, Fashola, Chime, Amaechi and Rochas. I will also say a big SHAME to the worst governor ever: Uduaghan for his thuggery and backwardness. Thumbs down also go to the sponsors and sympathizers of Boko haram who have dragged us back and virtually cancelled out all the gains we could have made as a nation. I must also commend the FG for the efforts at righting the wrongs which have plagued us for decades. I am however not yet satisfied with a lot of things including the security and power problems we face today. I hope 2012 will be different.

What's your take?

A little lesson in chemical engineering for those interested. The fractional distillation process will always yield the different "fractions" including gasoline. In order to maximise diesel yield, an additional catalytic conversion process may be used. In any case, those in refining business have to know how to balance the product yield for maximum profitability. What this small refinery may be doing for now is to produce all the fractions but sell diesel and "STORE" gasoline for next year when subsidy will be removed (hopefully). That will give it a good start and a surge in profits after selling its large stock. Every refinery has its strategy and it also has a lot to do with the type of crude being refined. All in all, this is a good step in the right direction. More of this will certainly launch us into our "dream" as a nation.

GEJ is trying to reverse this age old trend and that's why he has been calling for the removal of subsidy in order to enable the increase of local refining capacity. By the time we can refine more than what we need, we can then start exporting refined products. The argument has however been which should come first. Subsidy removal or increase in local refining capacity.

Let's not also forget that it is not only in the product import the west has been making money from 9ja. Even in our oil exploration and production, the IOCs have been in charge. You cannot imagine the billions that they have made off us over the years. Added to that is the employment opportunities to their citizens, repatriation of operatorship income to their base countries etc. That is one area the PIB was supposed to address.

There is so much to say. These issues are very serious and we have a long way to go. I have interacted with professionals in this sector from all over the world and they keep expressing their astonishment at the Nigerian situation. It is truly unbelievable for a country to be so endowed and yet so foolish!

Really sad. This is a big blow to the family. May God grant them the fortitude to bear the loss.

Title: Nigeria awards . . .
Body: Total awards . . .
Total is not Nigeria so can we be clear on who is awarding here?

So are we to suddenly believe she has been working underground all these while (with nothing to show for it on the surface)? For all we know, she may have been gathering the info in order to "blackmail" the so called "cabal" and have a bargaining chip for her share of the loot!

WTF!!! Kudos for embezzlement or for ineptitude?

These "militants" have been feeding the nation with their blood. Let them become useful to themselves abeg!

Dora has ALL it takes!!!

Northern Nigeria: Yes
Entire Nigeria: NEVER!!!

Pls do u have the details of the pilot scheme? I am very interested in this. Thanks

@1025, in other words, as far as u are concerned, Waziri was a monumental success and she did better than Ribadu! I will not even attempt to disprove your claim because the difference between them is as distinct as light is from darkness.

She was a monumental failure!

Bullshit! I'm 1000000% sure she knew what was coming. Someone even posted on nairaland about a day or 2 before that there are concrete plans to remove her. The so called meeting she was in could have even been a "strategy meeting" to prepare the organization for her sack.

Oga Lanre, I felt the same way until I looked well. Let me rephrase the topic for u: "If you (GEJ) Cut Our Allowances, then Forget Fuel Subsidy Removal- Nass Members!"

OP is on point. In fact, this is typical newspaper "headlining". It is designed to make you want to read. Hope u get the point?

If this were to be an election, Dora would have won by now! She really left an indelible mark @ NAFDAC. Interesting.

Dora Akunyili
Mallam El-Rufai

We are lucky the guy didn't say: "Patience Jonathan have did it again".

Lol!!! More bottles

@ Pukkah, I hereby dub you "Poster of the day". This thread needs to be archived and used for educational purposes. It will be useful for teaching the kids the meaning of: Pot calling the kettle black.

But you wikid sha!!!

OP, I must commend you for your ability to look at things from the point of view of others. That is one quality that many people lack today. Many people allow the Bandwagon Effect control their reasoning. The fact that everyone is doing something doesn't mean we too must do same. They hear about the Arab spring and they say: let's have Nigerian Spring! The Americans decide to "Occupy" and they say "let's occupy Nigeria also"! Can't we use our own brains to dig up something original that suits us? Why must we copy?

They say; we must continue with subsidy. Why? because others are doing it! But then have we asked ourselves "Is it good for us?" Or " Is it working for us?" A proper analysis of the situation should help us deccide the best step to take.

We have lost far more than that. 1.33t is an underestimation. It's a pity we have not realized how serious the implications of this menace is.

Nigeria was built on a faulty foundation. These is one of the reasons why we are unstable as a nation today. Those cracks in our foundation will keep haunting us until we fix them properly. If we refuse to address the issues, one day things will fall apart.

Dangote is the largest shareholder of our national cake.

That's a very strong point you made there xtianh.

@ Topic, we need to put on our thinking caps and do something constructive with our lives. This is what I'm doing right now and its a lot of hardwork. We can create employment opportunities in our own little ways. We don't need to wait for the government. Going back to our farms could be a good starting point.

They have always been on "strike" from time immemorial. What should make news is that they are no longer on "strike" I.e. 24hrs power supply.

Stupid PHCN people. Is it their father's property? How does what the FG want to do with its assets concern them? Funny enough, if these plans work out, they stand to gain. More people will be employed and many of them will be promoted by filling in the new and expanded roles that will be created. Scumbags!

Instead of taking advantage of the opportunity, people are sitting down to point fingers. What is so difficult in producing rice Nigerians pls stop being lazy. Get ur ass up and hurry up! Position yourself to fill the gap if you have what it takes. GEJ cannot stop you from growing your rice in commercial qty if you want to.

We have acres upon acres of fertile land lying in waste, we have the climate, information on how to produce rice effectively is everywhere. What more do we want? We can see why some people keep getting richer and others remain poor. We should be ashamed as a nation that we are still importing rice. The same people complaining will agree with that but when a policy that can help is introduced, they sit their fat asses down and start complaining. In fact, I'm outta here!

It cannot be but if it were true, I'll still prefer it to the current "public monopoly"!

I say it cannot be because as others have pointed out, the sector has been segmented and different investors will need to participate in the different parts. He may be taking over 3 or 4 power generation stations. I don't think he can get more than that for now . . . But then, it's just my thought. Who knows?

OP, let's stop deceiving ourselves. Some Nigerians are foolish enough to kill themselves. There have been many cases of suicide in Nigeria over the years. Just check your neighborhood and you will find 1 or 2. All the talk of "Nigerians love life too much" is pure bullcrap. Nigerians are humans like others all over the world.

Secondly, it is our responsibility as a nation to protect ourselves from foreign attack. Whether it be military, intelligence or economic warfare. We need to stop begging for crumbs from other nations and start owning up to our responsibility. If USA is indeed attacking us, we should square up to them. Many countries have done so. We also need to stop giving excuses for our failure and instead face the issues.

Finally, the USA may be right after studying us for so long. I do some modeling and forecasting myself and I can tell you it does work. Political modelling and forecasting is the basis upon which USA has made their prediction. The smart thing to do is to seek to understand their model seeing now that we are heading for the rocks as predicted. We should then seek to fix ourselves rather than continue blaming the USA for our woes. It's like a patient accusing the doctor of inflicting him with an ailment after making a diagnosis rather than seeking for treatment. Once again, please, let's stop deceiving ourselves!

The deadly seed has been planted. It can only continue to grow henceforth!

The affected states will soon begin to feel the effect of aiding and abetting criminals. It's just a matter of time.