₦airaland Forum

I don't understand why everyone is so married to the idea of subsidizing Benin Republic, Cameroon, Niger Republic.

A fuel subsidy isn't the best way to impact the masses. Does even 5% of it reach the "masses" right now?

It was said for exaggeration. They obviously also don't want "everything" the government earns.

OK, to be pedantic, how can at most 2 or 3% of Osun's population want to command 40-60% of the state's revenue?

Civil servants are the enemy of progress.

How can 0.1% of the population decide that they want to take everything the government earns?

^-- If you are the governor of state X, do you want to receive your money and set up your own fund if you like, or have the government do it?

What happens if the FG deducts money into this account, and your state one day never sees any of it? Or it is chopped and stolen somehow?

Me, I'd prefer to setup my own state fund personally.

if the FG wants to fund a SWF, let it use FEDERAL funds to do so, not state funds.

This is how I'd feel as a state governor, at least.

SWF is a great idea, but shouldn't violate the principle of federalism.

Lack of electricity, bad roads and bad transport has really killed these northern towns economically.

From what I read, there was a time when Kaduna and Kano had bustling industry.

Just hard to be far from the coast with bad transport. . . means so far from the rest of the world

Should an unemployed person pay rent?

Eat?

Etc?

If so, then they should pay tax too, no?

The assumption here is that they have savings of some sort.

Obviously shouldn't and cannot pay income tax, but all other sort of taxes, they should pay.

Don't underestimate women. Almost anything a man can do, a woman can do.

In some ways they can be even more ruthless than guys. . . hehe

Happy birthday man.

htajz:
in no particular order apart from abuja i will pick[b] lagos, delta,anambra,rivers,ogun[/b] you will also notice these states top the list of states with lowest poverty level and highest literacy level

Poverty rates in the SW are highest in Lagos. I think they measure poverty in a relative sense (relative to the top income earners in a jurisdiction or whatever. GINI stuff.)

Looks like there was a presentation on rail at the ACN Governors forum: http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/16649-the-acn-speed-rail-project.html

I'm very disappointed by their half-hearted response (the governors, that is.)

Also, I question the estimate of the company that made the presentation. Seems a factor of 15 or 20 too high to me

Pleep, you seem to believe food prices will rise arbitrarily high. . . and that the increase in food prices over the next 20 years will overwhelm any growth in incomes.

If you believe this, then fine, more will starve.

But I personally don't believe this.

Or stated differently, "How Lagos got its groove back"

Shameful and embarrassing. Split up the university. Find a fair way to partition it.

Man whose bright idea was it to have a jointly owned university anyway?

on AUGUST 17, 2011 · in NEWS

By OLA AJAYI, IBADAN
STUDENTS of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso went on rampage Wednesday to protest the suspension of the former Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Moshood Lanrewaju Nassar and three other principal officials by the incumbent Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi.

Based on a court judgment, the governor, in agreement with his Osun State counterpart, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola had approved of the appointment of a new VC, Prof. Niyi Gbadegesin to replace the former VC. The former Governors of Osun and Oyo, Olagunsoye Oyinlola and Adebayo Alao-Akala both from the PDP had thrown the institution into confusion over the joint ownership of the institution.

As a result of the protest, staff and students of the institution were denied entry into the institution as all the gates were blocked.

The students, who are mainly Oyo State indigenes, insisted that all staff of the institution who are from Osun State should leave for their state.

As early as about 6.45 am, the students had made all the roads leading to the insti8tution impassable forcing motorists and staff of the institution to park their vehicles outside the gate.

The students armed with placards were calling for the removal of the incumbent VC and other staff who are from Osun State.

Some of the placards had the inscriptions like LAUTECH belongs to Oyo”, We don’t want Acting VC; Osun people should leave LAUTECH.

They were calling on the Governors of both states to release the report of the committee set up by the National Universities Commission which played a mediatory role when the crisis got to its peak during the tenure of the former governors.

The President of the Student Union Government of the institution, Mr. Idowu Adeniyi alleged that some staff of Osun State wounded him in one of the crises.

He said, “We even arrested two of the staff. The students asked that Mr Olagunju of Bursary department should leave and go to his state in Osun. They do not want the Acting Vice Chancellor but rather that Professor Nassar should be brought back”.

Calling on the governors of the two states to put heads together and resolve the crises amicably, the President of the LAUTECH Alumni Association, Dr. Tunde Olabiyisi, said, “the association’s position is that the two governors of Oyo and Osun should meet and reach an agreement on how to find a lasting solution to the ownership crisis. They should evolve a holistic approach to the issue to forestall future occurrence”.

He added that none of them could enter the campus with their vehicles yesterday. “ If the two states want to stay together, or they really want to part, they should do so with legal backing so that there would not be continued breach of the peace, he said.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/08/lautech-students-cripple-academic-activities/

ogbongzky:
get yourself Samsun galaxy S and you will love it mehnnn, Android based Samsung phones are good and you can even ping with friends using android, Blackberry, iPhone and iPad using LiveProfile.

Yep, my sis has a galaxy. She loves it. Battery runs out quickly though.

Gbawe:
The fact is that all ACN Governors are miles ahead of those they replaced in terms of decency and pro-people policy making, developmental ideas and leadership orientation.

This is something I think that needs to be emphasized. The PDP governors in the SW were sooooooooo bad!

They may have been the worst governors in Nigeria, period. You know my governor Segun Oni was spending state money on a dairy farm, right?   And all the cows died of malnutrition supposedly  

Beaf, what you don't seem to get is that a state like mine cannot afford bad leaders. Every dollar is precious and must be spent intelligently. We simply cannot have lackwit (or corrupt) governors, otherwise the state will not progress economically.

Read about this rail project that was presented at the ACN governors meeting for example: http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/16649-the-acn-speed-rail-project.html

What impact do you think this will happen on a rural state like Ekiti if you can essentially make it a suburb of Lagos? The suburb of Houston my parents live in 30 or 40 years ago was undeveloped bush. But now it is a town even wealthier per capita than the city (Houston) it a suburb of!

Will you ever see such forward thinking and broadness of vision from the PDP in Yorubaland? No way!

Anyway, I don't begrudge people the choice of PDP if they want. People need to choose whatever party they are happy with. But at least in my own homeland (Yorubaland), we have rejected PDP thoroughly. Others in other zones can do what they like, I don't care.

I don't expect the ACN to ever be the party of choice for Igbos and Hausa (though with Ngige in Anambra, I might be wrong ).

But there will be a time when it also the party of the minority groups of the middle belt, at least.

Depending on what happens with their judicial challenges, it may be the party of two states in that zone (Kwara and Benue) in as little as the next few years.

I wonder if they will still call the ACN an ethnic party when it becomes the preferred choice of some of the minority groups in this country.

Anyway, I apologize to you all for derailing this into a discussion about the ACN. That is not the topic of this thread.

Beaf:
How many elections are they winning outside the SW and Edo? Maybe four or five? Compare that with Labour and DPP (ANPP and APGA to an extent) which are much smaller parties.

First of all, when did Edo become Yorubaland? How are you able to throw away the success of the ACN so quickly in that state?

Second, you bring up APGA that will not even retain Anambra when Peter Obi's tenure ends? APGA that got its teeth kicking in by ACN in its own backyard? APGA, where it looks like they may already even be regretting Okorocha?

DPP, the Urhobo party that cannot even win in Delta? Labour, that is only in SW?

These are the mushroom parties you want to compare ACN to?  

Your hatred has blinded you too much, man.

Anyway, count up the # of elected offices that ACN has outside of SW and Edo, since you seem to think that Edo is Yorubaland for some reason. If ACN doesn't have more than Labour and APGA, I'll eat my hat.

Oh, regarding your comment of "The only above average governor in ACN is Fashola". . . hehe. All I can say is that you don't follow Ekiti State politics at all like I do.

If the ACN keeps delivering rockstars like Fayemi, then I don't see how they will ever lose the state. And dude has been in office for what, 9 months?

Dude gets it. And I'm not even handicapping for the Nigerian setting, I mean for a global one. This is something that I can say for only a few politicians in Nigeria, at any level.

And I say this as a man from what was once a virulently PDP town (and still has those elements there.)

What ethnicity is the ACN centered around? Out of curiosity?

And if your answer is Yoruba. . . then how the hell are they winning elections outside of Yorubaland?

Are Edo people for example so silly that they'd vote for a Yoruba ethnic nationalist party? What of Anambrarians? The people of Benue nko? (if I had to bet money, Ugbah will win that seat sooner or later in the courts.)

If the ACN is a bigoted party, then they must be using juju to get non-Yoruba to vote for them.

As for me personally, I don't care if the ACN are ethnic bigots or not. For all I know Governor Fayemi is a demon-worshipper. And has a status of Hitler in his home. I don't care. . . so long as he governs well.

My brother. If the price of cocoa increases, won't more people plant cocoa in Yorubaland?

If the price of coffee increases, won't people plant coffee bean?

When people got tired of expensive iPhones, didn't HTC, Samsung (and the other manufacturers) and Google team up to steal some of Apple's lunch by introducing a cheaper alternative (Droid phones)?

High prices drive increased investment. And I don't think this is theory alone. . . people go to where the money is.

ACN is by no means perfect. But at least for us in Ekiti State, it is better than the alternatives. The governor of our state actually seems to know what he is doing, unlike the guys we had in the past.

I understand that you don't like Tinubu. But the ACN also has Fashola and Fayemi (among other good folks.) The good outweighs the bad, I think.

Imo if you dislike the ACN, you should push your party to trot out better candidates. A negative campaign (one of calumny like you are doing) is unlikely to be as effective as a positive one.

Interesting article. I think the SWF is a pretty damn good idea. Living for today and saving nothing for tomorrow leads to ruin.

But otoh, if I a governor, I'd probably be opposed to it too. . . less money that I get to directly control.

Sun of god:
Tinubu/Fashola - So these two rogues dont want any money set aside for future generations?

Tinubu and his puppet governors want the money delivered into their coffers now.

B.a.s.t.a.r.d.s

You did not see the names of your fellow Heebows there? Or why are you tribalizing this issue?

Beaf probably isn't a bad chap overall. The problem is that for whatever reason, he seems to view the ACN and SW zone as his enemy.

Why that is, I have no clue. . . the likelihood of Beaf's chosen faction of the PDP wrestling power away from the Northern faction without at least neutrality from the ACN and SW is pretty much nil.

[quote author=okada_man link=topic=741011.msg8973721#msg8973721 date=1313934719]The Niger Delta story is a microcosm of the Nigerian situation.[/quote]Much of your post I agree with. This in particular I think is 100% correct. More specifically, Delta State seems to me a microcosm of Nigeria. At least from what I hear about it.

Nigeria is getting wealthier per capita, not poorer.

If food prices grow too rapidly, people will invest more in producing it. This will help control the costs of food.

In a nutshell, 20 years from now your typical Nigerian will spend a smaller fraction of his salary on food than today's Nigerian

His vision of eliminating polio from the world by 2012. . . is ambitious. And unrealistic.

There is a state called Kano in Nigeria that seems to be doing everything in its power to ensure that this dread disease remains on the planet 

on AUGUST 21, 2011 · in NEWS

By Foluso Ajibulu

Nigeria is one of the highest donor countries to the Rotary International (RI) polio fund, according to the RI president, Rotarian Kalyan Banerjee.

Banerjee, who spoke during a reception organised by District 9110 to mark his visit to Nigeria, explained that the country has been a generous donor to the move to eradicate polio.

Consequently, the Rotary chief stated that should Nigeria be in need of the RI support to deal with the problems affecting children, the club would contact the World Health Organisation (WHO), and the United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) on her behalf.

‘’ If Nigeria needs our support to get WHO, UNICEF in, we will be there and support their programme. We must finish up with polio before the year 2012. Nigeria must finish up with polio and we have to work hard,” he stated.

The RI president said he would initiative moves to free Nigeria and India from polio.

He was sad that in spite of the country’s contributions to the RI, Somalia believed to have alarming rate of polio cases, did not have a Rotary Club to champion the cause of eradication of the scourge.

His words” It is difficult to approach the Somalia government on the issue as we desire to eradicate this disease from the whole world by the year 2012.”

Banerjee, who was accompanied by his wife, Binota, on the visit to Nigeria arrived Abuja on Monday before showing up in Lagos for the reception by the District 9110 at the Rotary Centre, Ikeja.

Earlier, Rotarian Kennedy Ejakpomewhe, District Governor, 9110, comprising Lagos and Ogun States, in company of a host of past DGs, had conducted the visiting RI president round the district centre.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/08/economic-diplomacy-a-paradigm-shift-in-nigeria%E2%80%99s-foreign-policy/

4 Play:
I'm glad ordinary Nigerians are beginning to see that this workers' salary increase is a diversion of wealth to [size=18pt]unionised labour.[/size]

Nigerian unions. . . I am very skeptical of them. I hear too many selfish, vindictive and evil acts coming from them. Doctors and nurses striking for example, and people dying as a result? Solidarity strikes? There should be laws against some of the things I've heard them do.