₦airaland Forum

@chamber2, I agree that these guys are unfortunate Nigerians and it's not their fault. I only used the amputees as an example and I do not see them from the point of view of their tribe. That said, I would like to point out two key points here:

First, the target is not actually to stop begging entirely but to remove them from the streets. The title of the article is a bit misleading. This is what it actually says in the body:

The Lagos State Government on Thursday said giving alms to beggars on roadside is an offence punishable by two years imprisonment without an option of fine

You can give alms to them in front of Churches, Mosques or any other place that is not Roadside.

Secondly, Lagos cannot successfully cater for all of them. No structure that will be created can successfully do this if there is no regulation of who gets welfare benefits from Lagos or not. Many of them come from every nook and cranny of Nigeria. They have their own states who are less burdened than Lagos. If every state takes care of its own, it will be better for everybody. What you would like Lagos to do is only possible at the Federal level. If they go to other states to constitute a nuisance, it will be left for those states to deal with the issue also.

I agree with Fashola on this one. We need to reduce the menace of street begging. I remember driving from Lekki to VI in traffic and I saw someone with an inflammation of the scrotum sitting in the middle of the road, begging for alms! The inflamed scrotum was exposed and everybody including children could see the horrible sight. DAMN!!! I was pissed off. In Lagos, you find cripples gliding along with cars on their "skate boards". They pose a lot of danger to themselves and to commuters.

The law has to be used to organize them or stamp them out of Lagos else, they will keep coming in their droves. Why should one state carry the weight of the nation's foolishness. An irresponsible sharia system churns out some of these amputees and they end up in Lagos. Let them go back to their home and let their system take care of them.  If it becomes a nightmare for them in Lagos, they will think twice before coming. If they decide to go to other states, let the other states deal with it. I hope they too will take a cue from Lagos. When they all go back to their homes, their states can take care of them or sink with them. It's their choice.

If we want to be developed as a nation, we have to start controlling these things seriously. You cannot just sit in the middle of the road in New York and beg for alms. You cannot sit on a skate board in London and hang on to any car that goes by. Yes, there are still beggars in these places but they are controlled and not encouraged to go on the streets. Lagos as it is right now encourages them to keep coming. Those who need help are to be catered for by a welfare system and should not be on the streets. Alms collection points can be placed in strategic locations around the city to make it easy for those who want to give alms. Every shop can affiliate itself with some registered charity organization and help collect alms decently.

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10cirenoh, what the guy is saying is that u should stop attacking posters and deal with the matter at hand.

And so the ping pong continues for the next four years. Buhari is a professional loser. Let him keep running his mouth down there while GEJ is running things up there in Aso Rock.

IMF is trying to protect their own interest. I agree that we need to tackle power first before taking on the refineries but we eventually have to eliminate product imports. Here are reasons to support my points.

1. POWER FIRST
A huge portion of our product imports (Diesel and Gasoline) are used to fuel generators and plants for power consumption. If we can utilize gas to generate enough electrical power to meet local demand, we can reduce our dependence on the imports significantly.

2. REFINERIES NEXT. Everybody in the refinery business knows that Nigeria occupies a vantage position in terms of refining. We have access to FOB (Free On Board) crude and a subsidized CIF (Cost, Insurance and Freight) market. The investments that would be made in constructing new refineries and upgrading old ones will be quickly recovered by the CIF - FOB margin. The idea is eliminating the Cost of Importing products. This will also significantly improve the economy and create jobs. Government may have to spend the same money on subsidies in order to keep refiners in business but guess who will get the profits: NNPC (Another part of the government!). We will internalize the profits rather than export value.

3. WHY IMF IS WORRIED:
There are too many refineries in the world already and refining margins are quite low. There is risk of excess supply. Nigeria is an extremely large market and whoever was supplying us will be hit very hard if we suddenly stop the imports. IMF is trying to protect itself by balancing the market but keeping us at the demand end.

It's best for us to improve the power situation and build enough refining capacity for local consumption simultaneously. However, power should be given the priority while we are at it.

@kalokalo, in addition to those 2 places you mentioned, there is also very high power availability in Forcados area, Eket,  Ajaokuta, etc. The Afam power plant will also provide a similar service. The thing these places have in common is that they host key energy installations. They prove that we can achieve 100% power in Nigeria. I strongly support  the localized generation / consumption option aka modular power system, but we also need large transmission grids and interconnection systems. They work hand in hand and we should develop all the options together.

Triumph Through Knowledge

I am 100% sure that there are millions of Nigerians (including myself) who are ready to pay any charge (no matter how expensive the tarrif is) for 100% power availability. The private sector can make it happen. Prices will settle themselves afterwards.

Ribadu has done well. He has proven once again that he is not a local champion. We should celebrate him.

Mr. Knowall can you tell us more about the "forensic" way they should have looked at it? Sounds new to me.

I personally prefer a Fashola presidency but I assure you that it will be equal to offering PDP the return ticket on a platter of gold. Nigeria is not yet mature to that level. Tribalism is still a very strong political determinant.

He has been on both sides and can now see clearly as regards this matter.

Very painful situation. I hope the masterminds are caught and severely punished.

We need to treat them as the terrorists they are. Military + Intelligence; everything should be used against them since they are not ready for diplomacy.

Boko haram has declared war against Nigeria without room for negotiation. They are terrorists agitating for a foreign interest therefore, they should not be tolerated. FG should descend on them heavily with all the military power available.

I offer 1.5m. Seun, hit me up for discussion if interested.

Wikileaks! This is a serious matter. I will prefer we focus on discussing what the challenges are and proposing how we can tackle them.

@ Enyojo, pls do not bother to give us personal info. I personally occupy a sensitive position but we can talk without getting into details.

So can we say it is the incompetence of local contractors that is hindering us or the involvement of politicians in these contracts.

Afam-PH (gas supply aspect). You don't have to be too specific anyway. Just try to give us a general picture so we can understand the challenges.

Dangote is a business man. He has every reason to support GEJ.

Why can't we adopt the modular approach for a start? Target Abuja, Lagos, PH or Enugu. Let there be at least one city in Nigeria where power is 100% available. We can move on from there.

@ Enyojo, I would really like to hear your side of the story. I currently work on projects related to power generation but I'm more of a technical person. From the info I have, a lot of work is being done but I may not know much about the political issues underlying this problem.

We can achieve 100% power availability at least for those who can pay. All we need is to implement the right policy. For example, we can create a parallel market with a dedicated grid operated by private investors to serve large customers. Make the market competitive and the market forces will drive the price down. When GSM was introduced in Nigeria, a sim card was priced at over N25,000. Today, it is almost free.

I thot Lagos also had it's own rail project. Or does it not cover VI / Lekki axis?

Women are very important to the society. In fact, there is no society without the woman. I am simply amazed at the backward practice. It is like saying women should be confined to their houses and not be seen on the street. It is a form of slavery and should be condemned.

Pls how do I modify a poll? For example, to add one more option

Give it time

A baby's laughter is like a priceless commodity. I'm ready to behave like a monkey if it will make my baby laugh.

In this age, people still think like this? SMH