₦airaland Forum

150 people dead and the tragedy continues . Nobody is any more sane in nigeria .A snake has better chance of coming to front page then the killing of 150 people .SMH

The rate of killings in this country is mind boggling. There is a sense of hopelessness in the country . The people are getting slaughtered like chicken whether it is middle belt , ikorodu or taraba or in any part of the country .Never had it this bad

The naira fell to a new low of 414 against the United States dollar on Sunday amid the continued scarcity of foreign exchange in the country, with economic experts predicting further pressure in the forex market this week.

The development came five days after the Central Bank of Nigeria had banned nine commercial banks from the forex market for failing to remit the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s $2.334bn into the Treasury Single Account in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive last September.

The naira was sold for 414/dollar across some black market segments in Lagos and Abuja on Sunday. It hit an all-time low of 412 against the greenback at the parallel market on Friday, after closing at 409/dollar on Thursday.



On Wednesday, a day after the CBN banned the nine banks from the forex market, the local currency depreciated to 402/dollar, down from the 397 it closed against the greenback on Tuesday.

Forex dealers said the demand pressure on the dollar, mounted by summer travellers and parents paying schools fees of their children studying overseas, was exacerbated by the CBN’s forex ban on the nine lenders.

The currency dealers said the naira started falling after the CBN banned the lenders from forex transactions.

It first touched 400/dollar at the black market this month since the CBN floated the currency on the official interbank market in June.

At the interbank market, the naira closed at 314.95 on Friday, with traders saying interbank rates would ease this week when part of July’s budget allocation must have entered the banking system.

But experts said the naira would plunge further against the US dollar this week at the parallel market as forex supply remained a major challenge.

Forex traders said even though the CBN had continued to sell dollars daily on the interbank market, its efforts were considered weak and inadequate, Reuters reported.

The Chief Executive Officer, Cowry Asset Management Limited, Mr. Johnson Chukwu, said, “There is nothing in the policy environment that will arrest the decline unless the central bank has increased capacity to supply the market, which unfortunately it doesn’t have. So, we should expect the naira to remain under pressure in the coming week.”

He said for the naira to stabilise, there must be a funding that the Federal Government or the CBN could access, such as a credit support from either the World Bank or a trading partner like China.

Chukwu said, “The decline of the naira against the dollar is beyond the recent suspension of some banks from the forex market. We have witnessed suspension of banks in the past, and it did not lead to any spike in exchange rate. The major challenge we have now is supply shortage. If that improves, naira will stabilise.”

He said the naira might hit a low of 420 to the dollar this week.

A currency analyst at Ecobank, Mr. Kunle Ezun, said the supply issue, ban on 41 items from the official forex market and activities of speculators would continue to push the value of the dollar up against the naira.

He said, “Sincerely, there is no major thing that one can expect in the parallel market. The only thing that could bring calm to the market is the supply of the US dollar. What we have in the market is basically demand and supply interplay.”

According to him, the volatility in the parallel market will continue as the importers of the banned 41 items have resorted to the market.

“A lot of people in the official market will want to actually maximise the gains on their dollar holding by channelling it through the parallel market,” Ezun said.


http://punchng.com/naira-falls-414dollar/

More than the cost of his trips, it is his frequent absence from office with nothing to show for is really worrisome.
Economy is becoming comatose with massive job losses . Soaring prices of basic essentials items
Naira is Falling to record levels .Security is again Worsening .

But still he wants to travel around the world .
Is there any democratically elected president or prime minster in whole world roaming around like president buhari ?

I can only say . Serves them right

We have been scammed . More than fall in crude prices it is inept handling of economy by the APC which is making matters worse .

Everything in Nigeria is messed up big time and we call ourselves gaint of africa

It is expected. The economy is in shambles. While president tours the world

Abuja residents should be alert and extra careful in open spaces .we can't rely on this propaganda government to protect us

For God sake what is the role of army in a democracy. Only in a comedy country like Nigeria army performs the role of police.
Nigerian army intelligence could better used to destroy bokoharam and fulani cattle herders.

It has already been rigged in favour of APC

A very useless person who deserves curses not wishes

Why R u a slowpoke

I blame all of us for this ranking. Where there is a good follower there is a good leader . Instead of blaming Buhari or GEJ it is the responsibility of the people to be a good citizen.
All this top countries didnt become top overnight because of politicians they became top because of law abiding citizens.

Everybody deports Nigerians . smh for giant of africa.

Buhari foot soldiers are being released .

Dont worry Buhari underwear smell will fix it .

The Nigerian economy is in a serious mess with lot of job losses. The earliest the president and his party APC understand the better.

APC and her followers always lying since time immemorial

It's horrible .

Can anyone explain the difference between Apc and Pdp and the meaning of change

Those saying Sai buhari will also disappear by the end of buharis tenure. .

Don't worry people .The integrity and body language of illiterate president will take care of power supply .

Sincere9gerian:
** FG set to commence work on 2nd Niger Bridge

** "Once the project commences, I will relocate to Onitsha and turn myself into one of the project supervisors"- Peter Obi

The Federal Govern-ment disclosed yesterday at a stakeholders meeting held at the palace of the Obi of Onitsha, HRM, Igwe Alfred Achebe that all was set for work to commence on 2nd Niger Bridge.

Addressing a mammoth crowd, the Minister of Works, Architect Mike Onolemomen who came with a high calibre of technical team that comprised mostly civil servants and building experts, said the time had come now for serious action on the 2nd Niger Bridge.

He said Obi’s efforts towards the project contributed a lot in keeping it alive. He recalled many letters and visits by the Governor to the President, himself and relevant stakeholders pleading and requesting the commencement of the project.

“Even at our last event at Transcorps Hotel Abuja, Gov. Obi was there and made strong point on the imperative of commencing the bridge now”, the Minister said.

According to the Works Minister, the project would be completed before the expiration of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration in 2015 as part of efforts to deliver on the campaign promises of the present government.

The Minister further disclosed that the need for the completion of the secondbridge across the River Niger was apt to ease transportation problems as well as fulfill President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign promises.

Mr. Onolememen who traced the history of second Niger Bridge said it was Governor Obi’s efforts that enlivened the project otherwise, it would have been a closed chapter, adding that the project will span from Asaba to Ozubulu and Ogbaru areas.

He said he was in Onitsha to acquaint Anambrarians with the latest development aboutthe s Bridge and that the project was designed in such a way that there would be a ring road from Asaba to Onitsha to ease traffic challenges.

In his contribution, Governor Peter Obi described the project as very gigantic and assured the Federal Government that the state government would provide adequate security and other necessary sacrifices that will enhance effective completionof the project.”

Once the project commences, I will relocate to Onitsha and turn myself into one of the project supervisors,” Obi said.

He thanked President Goodluck Jonathan for fulfilling his promise of building the bridge which he said would, among other things, bring the sufferings travellers face in the state to an end and assured federal government of proper supervision to ensure hitch free exercise.

The Managing Director of Julius Berger Construction Company, Mr. Wolfgang Goetsch who was there with other technical crew from the company pledged to carry out the project successfully according to specifications and time and commended the federal government for considering them as the preferred consortium.

The Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe expressed delight that the project is actually taking off and awarded to a very competent construction firm which he said was a testimony that the federal government was determined to fulfill their promises to the electorate. He said there would be unity among the communities where the bridge would pass through and that the project would help to transform the country.

In his own remarks, Igwe Peter who was there commended the Federal Government and Gov. Obi whose relentless efforts led to the realization on the project. Describing him as anexemplarily leader, he said Anambra State would never remain the same for having a governor like Obi.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/03/fg-set-to-commence-work-on-2nd-niger-bridge/

PDP and their lies

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/22/nigeria-prospects-defeating-boko-haram-look-bleak.

Forget about the APC or PDP thing . If this article is true than we are in a very deep trouble .

Army corruption, troop mutinies, alienated citizens and a lack of political will are among reasons that militants continue to thrive


Nigeria’s current military strategy for defeating Boko Horam is unlikely to succeed, analysts have warned, with the international community largely powerless to defeat the increasingly rampant Islamist group.

Corruption inside the Nigerian army, unpaid wages, and mutinies among troops have all facilitated Boko Haram’s rise, they said. On Sunday the sect, which has killed thousands in its bid to carve out an Islamic state in northern Nigeria, kidnapped about 80 people in neighbouring Cameroon. The victims of this latest cross-border attack included many children. The Cameroon army subsequently managed to free 20 of the hostages.

Dr Marc-Antoine Pérouse de Montclos, an associate fellow at Chatham House’s Africa programme, said Nigeria’s president, Goodluck Jonathan, had been manifestly unable to halt Boko Haram’s advance. The opposition leader, Gen Muhammadu Buhari, who is seeking to unseat Jonathan in the election on 14 February, may be better able to overhaul the country’s dysfunctional military, he suggested.

“The best hope [of defeating Boko Haram] would be the elections. For me the problem is in Nigeria. The answer is in Nigeria.” He added: “I’m confident that so long as President Jonathan is in charge there isn’t much that can be done. He isn’t in control of the military leadership. And the leadership doesn’t control the soldiers on the ground.”

Others, however, were sceptical that the elections would bring about change, predicting instead that they would further polarise divisions between a largely Muslim north and Christian south. Buhari, a Muslim, draws most of his support from Nigeria’s northern provinces, where Boko Haram is active. The group rejects the idea of a secular state. It has promised to disrupt the polls.

“Nigerian politics is a violent and dangerous game. Gangs of thugs are hired to intimidate rivals,” Martin Roberts, senior Africa analyst at IHS Global Insight, said. Roberts predicted that neither side would concede defeat, with suspicion in the north that Jonathan was deliberately allowing Boko Haram to flourish in an attempt to disenfranchise Buhari’s supporters.

Montclos, meanwhile, said there was relatively little the international community could do, following several well-meaning but doomed attempts to boost the Nigerian military.

The US offered surveillance and intelligence help after Boko Haram kidnapped 279 schoolgirls last April during a raid in Chibok, deep in north-eastern Nigeria, sparking global outrage. But an American plan to equip a new Nigerian battalion ended last month in an acrimonious squabble between Washington and Abuja.

Nigerian commanders insisted that the US supply them with attack helicopters and fighter jets to wipe out Boko Haram, something that the White House was unwilling to do, given the army’s poor human rights record. The Nigerian government then abruptly terminated the final phase of the programme. Successive central governments have also deliberately hollowed out the army because of a pervasive fear it could stage a coup.

Tensions between Nigeria and its neighbours, meanwhile, made the prospect of a regional peacekeeping operation fraught.

At a summit last May the French president, François Hollande, announced a new regional force, comprising troops from Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and the Republic of Niger. Each country was meant to supply 700 troops.

But by November the force had failed to materialise. Ghana’s president, John Mahama, who currently heads the west African Ecowas bloc, last week said that an army to fight Boko Haram could be created under African Union auspices. “It’s pie in the sky. It isn’t going to happen,” Roberts predicted.

With Boko Haram staging a series of audacious cross-border raids, Nigeria’s neighbours were now busy defending their own territory. On Monday a convoy of troops from Chad arrived in Maroua, the main town in Cameroon’s far north.

The Chadian army – which helped French forces drive out al-Qaida-linked jihadis from northern Mali in 2013 – has deployed around 2,000 soldiers. Cameroon has also sent thousands of additional troops to its border with Nigeria.

According to Montclos, Chad’s chief goal is to protect its economic interests. Much of Chad’s oil is exported via northern Cameroon. “This is the main reason they intervened,” he said.

The obstacles preventing a regional task force appear insurmountable, observers say. Cameroon and Nigeria have difficult relations.
Niger – a stable, smaller state, with a relatively disciplined army – has found it impossible to coordinate actions against Boko Haram with its Nigerian counterpart.

“Military officers from the Republic of Niger complain that when they call the Nigerian army nobody picks up. What kind of regional cooperation are we talking about?” Montclos asked.

His recent Chatham House report argues that Boko Haram, which has taken control of Borno state in Nigeria’s north-east, is adept at exploiting the state’s chronic institutional weaknesses.

It knows the local terrain well, can navigate around a demoralised and deficient security presence, and is able to attack villages with total impunity. Government troops on the ground suffer from low morale. Local vigilante forces have been unable to stave off violent Boko Haram operations.

On 3 January Boko Haram launched a bloody assault on the towns of Baga and Doron, killing hundreds and razing the area to the ground. Roberts said the army had withdrawn ahead of the raid, after being told the Nigerian air force was about to bomb the rebels. But the plane never arrived. Typically, the army runs away when Boko Haram advances, he said.

Since 2009 Nigeria’s security forces have waged a brutal anti-insurgency campaign, characterised by massacres, extra-judicial killings and arrests without trial.

This onslaught has alienated many civilians and driven communities into the arms of Boko Haram. This repression has driven recruitment, with Boko Haram expanding from an estimated 4,000 members in 2009 to 6,000-8,000 in 2014.

A new report on Tuesday said that the rapidly escalating insurgency had forced a million people to flee their homes. The International Organisation for Migration said there was “growing evidence” of turmoil spreading across Nigeria’s frontiers into neighbouring Cameroon, Niger and Chad, in addition to those internally displaced by the fighting.

Stories of Nigerian soldiers running away from Boko Haram militants have been widely reported - but low on ammunition and allocated vehicles that don't work, a former soldier says they are being outgunned and overpowered.

"Imagine me and you are fighting," the soldier tells me. "We both have guns but while you are wearing a bullet proof vest, I'm carrying an umbrella."

It is his way of explaining that the fight against Boko Haram is being undermined because the jihadists are often far better equipped than the soldiers.

Abiona is 40 years old and has been in the Nigerian army since he was 17. Or I should say had been, because along with more than 200 others he was dismissed last week for disobeying orders. He was accused of fleeing rather than fighting but says it was a tactical withdrawal.

He has survived several battles, in fact he sounds quite fearless, and wants to tell me about serious problems he encountered in the military.


"I've committed no crime why should I be scared?" Abiona says. "I don't carry a gun or knife. My only weapon is my mouth."

I have heard many reports of Boko Haram attacks where the soldiers ended up running away with the civilians. Traumatized parents separated from their children during the chaos have described to me how they saw troops pulling off their uniforms and fleeing. This is a rare chance to hear from the soldiers themselves.

"It was 10:30 at night," says Abiona remembering one battle in Borno State. "Suddenly we saw Boko Haram very close to our trenches. Those of us with machine guns started firing and I can tell you that was a bad day for Boko Haram. We killed more than 80 of them." After the night-long battle his soldiers were low on ammunition but when they urgently called for more supplies each soldier was given just 10 rounds. Not surprisingly, the next encounter was disastrous.

"Two days later Boko Haram were back," he tells me. "This time they had about 24 four-wheel drive vehicles, some with anti-aircraft guns mounted on them."

Soldiers in Baga, Nigeria
Outgunned and with colleagues being shot dead around him, Abiona says they retreated and spent the next 11 hours on the run as the jihadists pursued them through the bush.

There were other problems. He tells me about armoured vehicles that were in such poor mechanical condition they would just produce smoke and wouldn't move.

During another encounter with the enemy in Adamawa State he says there were military vehicles that ran out of fuel.

"What did you do?" I ask. "We had to abandon them and walk. You can't carry them on your head," was his blunt reply. Boko Haram seized the vehicles. Then in the battle for a place called Bazza he says their guns proved no match for the jihadists' firepower and so they again beat a hasty retreat.

"They overpowered us and many died. Our mortars and rocket-propelled grenades wouldn't even explode they were so old," says Ibrahim, another dismissed soldier who was in Bazza, adding: "Because of the corruption in the nation it makes everything run down."

The soldiers say they have learned that better equipment has recently been supplied to the troops but overall it seems the security situation is getting worse.

Just over 18 months ago, I watched President Goodluck Jonathan address the nation on TV as he declared a state of emergency in the north east of Nigeria and promised a massive military operation against the jihadists.

Within a few weeks I was bouncing along sandy tracks with the Nigerian military who were keen to show me some success.

We reached the just-liberated village of Marte, close to Lake Chad - along with a couple of other remote settlements it had been briefly held by Boko Haram. I met people who were mightily relieved that the black and white jihadist flags were no longer flying and were hopeful that schools would soon reopen. Back then it looked like Boko Haram would never hold territory again.

This week I managed to get through on the phone to one of the people I'd met there. "Where are you?" I asked Abba. "We are all in Maiduguri city. There's not a single person left in Marte now. We all ran away with nothing but the clothes we were wearing," he said.

His village is back in the hands of Boko Haram but as a sign of just how disastrous the military campaign has been, huge swathes of north-east Nigeria are now in the hands of the jihadists

Some may call the soldiers I met cowards. Others will say they were poorly equipped and badly let down.

"I just thank God I'm alive," Ibrahim tells me, adding: "But I pray for our colleagues who died - we couldn't carry their corpses away. May their souls rest in peace."

Religion of peace spreading peace by putting innocent to sleep

AKUNWATA1:
ZURIA WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT YOUR PEACEFUL RELIGION

It is a CIA job . western powers like USA is involved .bah bah bah bah and nonsense

VOTE FOR BUHARI .VOTE FOR SHARIA.VOTE FOR BOKO HARAM

choice is upto to youv