₦airaland Forum

The cynicism here puzzles me

I must say, this Owerri looks beautiful.

I can never be against someone who genuinely wants to improve education.

That is something I don't play politics with.

@Onlytruth: Actually, upon rereading the article it looks like I overreacted. They'll only ban whatever they think is treatable locally. Which is a reasonable policy, assuming they don't claim more capability than they actually have.

You are right, when things are given out "for free" there is a tendency/temptation to abuse. But things like healthcare I take pretty seriously. Better imo to err on the side of safety. You don't want your cancer to be misdiagnosed in Nigeria, for example 

My old man is healthy as a horse, but if he ever falls seriously ill I will fly him out of Nigeria here. I don't want anyone I care about dying like a chicken due to some sort of strange misplaced patriotism (or cheapness.)

Anyway, I wish Fashola well on his quest.

It is possible to build an elite public school. Several US states (California, Michigan, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia and Texas) have done this.

If you are a resident of any of those states and get into the top school in your state, you can get as good an education as an expensive private school.

Perhaps we can find a way to do the same in Lagos, who knows.

werepeLeri:
Mr Fashola sir. You have spoken under the assumption that most poeple who travel out to the UK to study do so under the quest for education mainly? If so, why do majority of them stay put even after the expiration of the study visa? You may want to research the statement above properly sir, majority of people who are on "exodus" to the UK- even though you didnt use the word exodus - most of them have more other reasons they do so. Thus, even if you bring the equivalent of Oxford University to Nigeria, or Oxford University campuses to Lagos State - most people will still shun this and prefer to "exude" to the UK. This is a fact sir.

Why? If you bring a well-funded, excellent university to Nigeria, then companies will look first there to hire.

If Fashola can build the equivalent of an IIT/Sharif/Tsinghua (India, Iran and China, respectively) in Nigeria, then graduates of such a school would not have any difficulty being hired. Companies would flock to hire them, in fact.

Granted, children of the very rich who meet the academic requirements of this hypothetical Lagos IIT would still prefer to go abroad. But your middle class and poor who are bright enough to gain admissions would prefer just staying local.

GEJ is a m0ron. Seriously.

Fix the healthcare system first, THEN mandate that public officials should use it.

Cart before the horse, @ssbackwards policy.

With that said, for any treatments which Nigerian hospitals can already handle well, by all means require it to be done locally.

If a dude has a cold, high blood pressure, or needs an eye exam, presumably that can be handled within the country.

^-- lol.

To be clear, [url=http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Man%20Crush]"Man-crush"[/url] and a woman's crush are totally different things. I assume that you know this, but just want to make sure   

I think I have a man-crush on this dude.

Very sensible guy.

03 Oct 2011


Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi has expressed determination to boost the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of his state to N1 billion, up from the current N300 million.


The governor, who disclosed that the IGR he met when he assumed power nearly a year ago was N109 million monthly, said his administration would work hard to leverage on the natural and human resources in Ekiti, backed by an efficient tax regime and effective implementation of his 8-point agenda for governance.


He disclosed these while on a recent courtesy visit to the corporate head office of THISDAY Newspapers in Apapa, Lagos, where he met with the board of Editors, led by the Managing Director, Mr. Eniola Bello.


Fayemi, who came into power as governor of Ekiti on October 16, 2010, also canvassed the erection of toll booths and weigh brigdes on the road networks around the country, in a bid to restrict indiscriminate use of the roads by heavy-duty vehicles and to also generate revenue to maintain the road networks where these vehicles ply incessantly.


Dispelling the notion where Ekiti is tagged a poor state, Fayemi said, “I don’t think we are a poor state. We have in the past been dubbed that but not because we are poor. We have one of the most significant endowments in the country, our human capital is something that can serve us on and on consistently if we put it to good.


“The other resource that we have is our land, which is a huge agriculture state. We have an aging farming population, which has not been replaced by younger people. And even the aging farming population that we have is reduced to subsistence farming, we don’t do agriculture as a business and that is what needs to change if we want to talk about IGR. Averagely every day you guys in Lagos eat food worth about N3 billion using very conservative estimate of N150. If you multiply N150 by 15 million people gives you N3 billion everyday.


“But the bulk of that food comes from the North. Imagine in a situation, which is something that we are discussing seriously in our regional integration agenda, imagine in a situation were purely 10 per cent of that food comes from Ekiti, another 10 from Osun and another 10 from Ondo, what will that do to us in Ekiti? That is why for us it has become a priority to develop the entire value chain of agriculture not just planting but processing, marketing, entension services.


“The third resource is our solid minerals. Around Ekiti the precious stones you see which goes likely unexploited are something that we believe we can do a lot about even if it’s just setting up quarry not exploiting the granites, marbles that you can easily literally see on the street of any Ekiti community that you go into.


“The fourth is tourism. We believe that Ekiti can be a good destination particularly for conference tourism. We are well placed right in between Abuja and Lagos and you don’t need six hours to get to us as you might need to get to Obudu in Calabar and people do get to Obudu now.


According to the governor, “these are the areas we are focusing on but right now what we have been able to do, is to begin a process of plugging the loopholes first. There are leakages in the system. When I came in, the whole IGR of Ekiti was N109 million monthly and we have managed to improve it to N300 million monthly and we believe that we can still go as far as a billion naira”.


Speaking on revenue generation through tolls, Fayemi said, “there are creative ways of also generating resources some of which I mentioned earlier; all thess trucks that pass through Ekiti they may not generate a lot of revenue for us but at least they can generate enough for us to fix the roads even if we don’t earn any other thing the roads that they ply let’s use the money we get from them to fix it.


“It will then mean that the money that we would have been using on the roads we will put to our social security or education programme or our healthcare centre; things that will directly impact on our citizenry and for me.


“It’s in the over all best interest of Nigeria to localise even universal norms and standards that can ensure that arrested development gives way to much more robust growth in our economy and in our livelihood because that is something that really need now because we are indeed at a very dangerous point and in my own view things are not good.


“I don’t want to sound alarmist but we need to buckle up if Nigeria is going to scale through the eminent danger that all of us can see. And why we are doing this is to really devolve power in an accountable fashion and probably to reduce the cost of governance and return to parliamentary form of government reduced to unicameral legislature and probably even make some of those positions part time. We need to look at all these areas in order to address the challenges that we are confronted with as a nation”, the governor added.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/fayemi-targets-n1bn-igr-advocates-roads-toll/99713/

I wonder if the governments (both federal and state) are prepared.

on OCTOBER 3, 2011 · in NEWS

BY OMOH GABRIEL, with Agency report
LAGOS—Oil prices are heading for further drop to the 2008 low levels as investors speculated that global economic growth will slow and curb fuel demand amid rising supplies.This has serious implication for the 2012 budget which is being predicated on $75 per barrel.

If prices of crude tumble as a result of slow down in global economy, Nigeria may face serious financing gap for the economic transformation agenda of the President. It would mean that Minister of Finance and Coordinator of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s plan to reduce budget deficit may not be realised.

Oil prices in New York, weekend, headed for its biggest quarterly drop since 2008. Crude stockpiles rose 1.92 million barrels last week, the U.S. Energy Department said.

Morgan Stanley cut its Brent oil forecast to $100 from $130 on weaker demand and increasing OPEC production. Indications are that Chinese growth is poised to ease.

“We’re trading from headline to headline and that’s all markets, not just the oil market,” said Michael McCarthy, a chief market strategist at CMC Markets Asia Pacific Pty Ltd. in Sydney.

“The gap is closing between Brent and West Texas and that could be an indication that there is some easing in the supply-side concerns from the Middle East.”

Crude for November delivery was at $81.15 a barrel, down six cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at the close of business last week after falling as much as 1.9 per cent. The contract slid 3.8 per cent to $81.21. Futures are down nine per cent this month and 11 per cent this year. The quarterly decline is the biggest since the last three months of 2008.

Brent oil for November settlement was at $103.94 a barrel, up 13 cents, on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark contract was at a premium of $22.79 to New York crude, compared with a record of $26.87 on September 6. Economic growth in China, which consumes about a tenth of the world’s oil, will slow to less than five per cent annually within five years, according to most investors. Growth was 9.5 per cent last quarter.

The European Union accounted for about 16 per cent of global oil demand last year, according BP Plc’s annual Statistical Review of World Energy.

German lawmakers voted on Friday on an expansion of the euro area’s rescue fund as the region’s governments weigh further measures to support Greece.

Crude inventories climbed for the first time in four weeks in the U.S., the world’s biggest user of the commodity, which accounts for about 21 per cent of demand. Gasoline stockpiles rose 791,000 barrels in the week ended September 23, the Energy Department report showed. Production capacity in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries will climb almost 800,000 barrels a day in 2012, led by the resumption of Libyan fields, Morgan Stanley analysts led by New York-based Hussein Allidina said in a report on Friday. Slowing global economic growth will curb demand, the analysts said.

Libyan crude production may reach as much as 400,000 barrels a day next month, Citigroup Inc. analysts including Edward Morse said. Fighting in Libya since February has reduced the availability of light, sweet crude, or oil with low density and sulfur content. The country’s output fell to 45,000 barrels a day last month, according to Bloomberg estimates, compared with the 1.6 million barrels a day the nation pumped in January.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/10/oil-price-heads-for-biggest-quarterly-drop-since-2008/

sbeezy8:
if theres no SW in the nations civil service wetin concern SW people?

Err.

hmm. . .

Pifa:
Some of you are a curious lot. Ever since I found this web site a couple of years ago, I’ve come to realize that there is a dichotomy between what Nigerians say they want in their society (law and order) and what they are willing to sacrifice to live in a lawful and orderly society (nothing).

I am bemused at how some of you dug deep for reasons this ordinance should not be enacted or cannot be enforced. To the person who brought up the firewood for the poor issue, let me ask you this: Would you justify jumping the queue at a bus station just because you were running late for work? Would a poor person justify killing zoo animals for meat because of hunger?

Ignorance is no defense for flouting the law and poverty is no justification for committing an offence.

The issue here is very simple: the trees are public property and you have no right to destroy them. Can it be any clearer than that?

It will take a long time to reorient the mindset of Nigerians. Hopefully we will get there one day.

Well, color me surprised.

I didn't think OYES was a good idea at all. Perhaps I was too harsh in judging it.

Btw, regarding this:

Osun State government efforts on youths empowerment have received a boost, as the state is to benefit from the N50 billion World Bank/ Federal Government youth empowerment fund.

Is it a grant? That is a lot of money if so. Or is this bad Nigeria journalism? (Koruji, I'm not trying to hate on Aregbe, just want to understand this better.)

velo10:
The trees would serve as firewood anytime kerosene/gas prices soars. If I cut am for night make I see who go come catch me

And if they catch you, maybe your body will be used as firewood instead

Leave the trees alone.

Unfortunate.

@omo_to_dun: Thanks, I saw your message. I actually have a book of programming puzzles that I'm working through now though. Thanks for those too, though.

Good move.

I dunno the exact connection between leafy, green places and flooding/temperature/etc, but my guess is that trees have a positive impact on both.

[quote author=Omo_Tier1 link=topic=772553.msg9258023#msg9258023 date=1317493497]Those complaining about Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma fees are unfair to themselves and to future generations. The average private school fees in Edo State is around N40,000 per term! AAU needs serious upgrading and the government wants to invest in the school but then asking students to pay N12,000 or N18,000 would be an under service to the future generation. Why borrow money to upgrade the school for this present generation only for them to offer peanuts back? At least asking them to pay N60,000 or N70,00 per session I think is a fare bargain. Let the truth be told; Formal Education with quality doesn't come cheap![/quote]Why don't socialists amalaists like Fstranger see this too?

What is so hard to understand about good things not coming for free in life?

Smh

philip0906:
@ekt bear=eko ile
d pay must be really good,2 stay up this late praising fashola who is asleep. . .

Lol. You are not the sharpest tool in the shed if you think he and I are the same. Is even our writing style similar?

Regarding "stay up this late". . . who told you I'm in the same time zone as you?

Kx:
Its notable that while his other govs and the man at the center are using the words, "to", "will" etc,
BRF does inaugurates, commissions, unveils etc.

Thumbs up BRF

Cosign on that. Less "government plans to do. . . " and more "government completed. . ."

But even the ones Lagos gov't announces, they complete.

Fashola baba


Where is @djustice to somehow rubbish even this?

i dey laff o

naija government got jokes

Tell us another joke!

Why not?

Current system isn't working. Why not try something new?

Good leadership is the key.

I'm just glad that we have relatively good leadership in my state.

Where would Dubai be today if their emir thought the same myopic way APGA does?

Johndoe300:
Why do you vampitres not stick to sucking the blood of innocent people? If the duly elected representatives of various states make apointments that they think is in the interest of their states, who asked your skank azzes to tell them what their people should have?

Yes o

Who are you DK to protest the appointment of murderers, rap1sts, felons, drug addicts in government? After all, did the governors of such states not consult widely with the people before appointing criminals as their advisors? Aren't the people fully in favor of murderers in power?

Shame on you for questioning the will of the governor people

^-- Abi o

The problem is these guys are intellectually bankrupt. Not creative enough, no fresh ideas or innovations.

What people don't seem to get is that there is good debt and bad debt. Not all debt is bad.

Why not set the goal for yourself of making Imo infrastructure the best in Africa? Fund it through debt, but market the bonds to Imo citizens. Let them view it as their patriotic duty to buy the bond. Imo gets to sell the bond at a slightly lower interest rate than what the market would demand, but in exchange Imoites (or Imolites? dunno what the word is) get to feel as if they are helping to build their state.

Dubai is the oil-poorest of the UAE emirates.

How much oil did they even produce at their peak?

Servant #1 borrowed money from the stock broker putting up his 5 talents as collateral. He used the money to buy stock options on Apple stock back when it was at $250. Now it is at ~$400.

The lazy servant (Obiagu1) invested his money in a CD at his bank paying ~2% interest a year