₦airaland Forum

My question though is, is Fashola trying to build a new distribution network from scratch?

So I guess the folks in VI are willing to pay just to join a private grid?

If the financials of this are good, then the possibilities are endless. . . he can then wire up most of Lagos and avoid dealing with the Nigerian distribution grid/transmission network currently owned by PHCN.

Maybe even shift over the 270 MW plant Tinubu brought from Nigeria to Lagos?

But unclear to me if they are building a new grid or somehow just piggybacking/using the existing one.

In any case, I think all states should be watching to see how Fashola does this. I'm hoping my governor (Fayemi) is, at least

Interesting. I'd definitely love to see some pictures posted, when you get on the ground

Lagos. . . simply the best

yezzir

^-- Hehe. Lagos State's power needs alone are 3X that of what Nigeria produces. Kind of amazing how far behind on power we are.

on MAY 26, 2011 · in IS'HAQ MODIBBO KAWU, NEWS

By Is’haq Modibbo Kawu
IN the twilight of his eight-year tenure, as Kwara state governor, this week, Bukola Saraki has literally been in overdrive. He hosted Goodluck Jonathan to commission projects: the university at Malete; an aviation college; water plant in Ilorin, even flag-off of a train service.

In a parting blitz of publicity, Bukola’s NGF also organised an induction for newly-elected governors in Abuja, ensuring that Jonathan was similarly in tow. He soaked up the publicity with relish, given the distinguished crowd of local and foreign nomenclatura in attendance.

The impression being curried was that these are some of the finest moments for the young man, who inherited a state, long the heirloom of his family, in 2003, and proceeded over the next eight years, to rule it with an arrogance that we are unlikely to encounter again in a long time. In Bukola, we experienced what it meant, for a state to be the fiefdom of one family.

A family’s fiefdom
Bukola Saraki’s imposition of his erstwhile Commissioner of Finance and long-term staff at the defunct Societe Generale Bank, as governorship candidate of the PDP in Kwara, was dictated by his personal interest of ensuring that power was inherited by an individual central to all the spending decisions of his eight-years in power.

Fatai Ahmed is politically a lightweight and was particularly unpopular amongst people, even within the circles surrounding Bukola. For Bukola, what mattered was post-power protection, and no one could guarantee that better than Fatai.

Those who worried about Fatai’s choice often recall old historical issues that might turn Fatai’s administration into a revanchist regime against Ilorin. Bukola Saraki was not brought up in Ilorin; never shared the feelings of the community and often showed disdain for its values; he was far more consumed in his own personal agenda to be bothered about those niceties.

These were some of the underlining issues of disagreement with his father, Dr. Olushola Saraki, who wanted the daughter, Gbemisola, to become governor alright, but was equally worried about the antecedents of Bukola’s preferred candidate.

A post-power protection
Bukola Saraki genuinely thinks that in Fatai he has a man-Friday, who will allow him to remain governor-by-proxy; afterall, wasn’t the chap an old member of staff at SGBN? And besides, didn’t he make Fatai a Finance Commissioner, during which he became stupendously rich; able to build a house in the GRA in Ilorin, said to be worth hundreds of millions?

So outlandish was the building, that for a long time, especially during a visitation by EFCC operatives, Fatai Ahmed covered the house with tarpaulin, and that became a butt of jokes in Ilorin! It was reason why Bukola was said to have personally drawn up the list of commissioners while also choosing the state’s nominees for minister without the input of the ‘governor-elect’.

If Fatai Ahmed might be willing to play second fiddle to a Bukola Saraki “godfather”, his wife Mrs. Omowoware Ahmed, has apparently did read the script. A born-again Christian, THE NATION newspaper of May 11, 2011, reported her as telling members of the Commonwealth of Zion Assembly (COZA), a Pentecostal church in Ilorin, that “let no man” claim to have made Fatai Ahmed governor; a clear dig at Bukola Saraki. In the meantime, there are stories that Bukola dragged Fatai to Umrah, to extract a pledge of loyalty.

The loyalty war
Those who know say that it was a matter of time, before godfather and son, begin a monumental strife over control of the state. The Bukola Saraki camp believes it has control of the party and the incoming House of Assembly, and therefore would emerge winners of any faceoff. The loyalty Bukola Saraki expects from Fatai he never gave to anybody; not to his father, not to the community!

The anticipated face-off is in the near-future, but more far-seeing people have started purchasing ring side tickets to get the best view, when Bukola Saraki and his anointed successor, Fatai Ahmed, begin their roforofo fight over control. The manner of Bukola’s seizure of control was similarly devoid of the moral high ground he tried to occupy in respect of his sister’s governorship ambition. It was immoral for Gbemisola to take over his seat but he had no qualms to take over as senator!

But far more worrisome about the Bukola Saraki legacy is the nature of the achievements he parades. The most central of these is the Zimbabwe farm project that has given us far more food for thought than food for our stomachs. Bukola spent billions belonging to Kwara state on the project; he then turned around to say it is ‘owned’ in the main by the ‘private sector’.

It was also the funds of Kwara that he sunk into such prestige projects as Kwara Football Academy; the Aviation College; his Diagnostic Centre; Kwara Furniture Company, renamed Kwara Ethnix; the new supermarket/mall that took land belonging to the Civil Service College; even his nightclub in the GRA. Again, they belong to the ‘private sector’. Under Bukola’s administration in Kwara, P-P-P was genuinely a process of fleecing the public to enrich the private!

Then there were the more blatant acts of taking possession: the Amusement Parks in Adewole Estate and on Unity Road in Ilorin were sold to family members; while Kwara Hotel was farmed out to a company brought by a sibling just as most contracts in the ministry in charge of energy and SPEB were the exclusive domain of the family. Add the huge sums he spent hiring private jets to junket around, in his delusion of grandeur, as one of the nation’s leading power brokers!

In the meantime, Bukola’s administration rehabilitated a grand total of FOUR secondary schools in eight years of power, despite the huge sums he spent on an education reform process. Yes, he started a university from the scratch, but who were the contractors fronting for? These are questions asked all the time in Kwara. It was therefore no surprise that people massively voted against Bukola during the elections for Senate; he needed sexed up numbers from rural LGAs of Ilorin Emirate to be declared winner. Even that senate seat might not be guaranteed, because there is a case in court by Alhaji L.A.K. Jimoh, who claims to be rightful PDP candidate; while Dr. Ibrahim Oloriegbe, the ACN candidate is also in the tribunal, disputing the fantastic rural figures which Bukola used to neutralise his shocking rejection in urban Ilorin. In reality, Bukola Saraki has become a giant with feet of clay, surviving on borrowed political time. After the May 29th handover, Fatai Ahmed will become party leader; and able to dish out patronage as governor, will also become the central focus of loyalty.

Shock of rejection
In Ilorin, people voted massively for Dele Belgore of the ACN, even in the polling booth in front of the Saraki family house; those who voted Gbemisola in ACPN also rejected him, meaning that he has forfeited people’s political loyalty.

The collapse of affection for Bukola, especially in Ilorin, was due to a combination of factors, chief among which were the depth of poverty amongst people these past eight years, just as operatives of the regime flaunted unaccounted-for wealth in the mighty houses they seemed to be in competition amongst themselves to build (it was a ‘my house is bigger than yours’ regime!); the demystification of the Saraki clan crept upon him as people became tired of being ‘owned’ by one family and being the laughing stock of the nation. Bukola Saraki’s arrogance just tipped the scale completely!

He felt an absurd sense of entitlement (to the ‘conquered’ territory called Kwara) and seemed to believe Kwarans were less than human, including revered traditional rulers. It was an intrinsic part of the Bukola “feudal-court” style that even his commissioners and other people kneel down in his presence to curry favour! The final question to ask was whether there was anything positive about his stewardship.

In eight years, Bukola was a harbinger of a self-serving and elitist form of modernity. In the long run, it was modernity which did not and could not work for the mass of our people. Most big contracts went to his Lagos crowd and the trickle down expected did not materialise because of capital flight.

He got tremendous goodwill, at the beginning to make a difference in people’s lives, but he was too self-serving and arrogant, and was therefore, unable to live up to the people’s genuine expectations. On a final and fitting note of transparency, it will be best practice for Bukola Saraki to publish the EXACT amount expended on his various projects and their “private sector” owners.

A Disclaimer is necessary here: I worked actively for the candidacy of Muhammed Dele Belgore of the ACN, in the last gubernatorial election in Kwara state.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/05/the-bukola-saraki-years-in-kwara-state/

hehe

ya'll sure love squabbling

BTW, I remember we had a discussion on NL the other day about fuel subsidies. This article strongly suggests that nearly all the benefit goes to the rich 

To change the system, Mr Jonathan would have to break with his backers. That is difficult, perhaps even dangerous. For instance, a mafia that embezzles vast fuel subsidies is said to be a big contributor to his campaign. The government spends more than $4 billion a year to sell fuel at less than half the already low American price. (Since Nigeria has no domestic refining capacity—billions allocated to repair its facilities were squandered—the fuel must be bought on international markets.) The president’s backers routinely falsify bills of lading, inflating the amount of fuel imported fivefold, then collect the government subsidy on all of it, and finally smuggle the fuel to a neighbouring country to sell at double or triple the price. Mr Jonathan, of course, did not personally take their money. But if he goes after them their cronies may stop co-operating.

^-- Nah, look through his posting history

He is a dude from Cross Rivers (or Akwa Ibom?) and pretty anti-Igbo

I don't think he has any anti yoruba agenda, tho, just his own opinions

I was just about to post it, lol

Nice article though

Nah Afanna is not Igbo, lol

Dude has taken too many shots at them in the past

Abuja is phenomenal. Never been to Calabar though.

Lagos has its fair share of slums, but the wealthier parts are as good as anything you'll find anywhere in the world.

But just takes a lot of money to afford to live in those spots

Haven't read through this thread. But I watched the video and liked it a lot. I dunno what was heartbreaking in it. Yes the people are poor, but everyone is working hard to make ends meet and to better their lives.

Progress will come with time.

Wouldn't most of those 71% be southerners, though?

I'm suspecting that their market research is a bit flawed

on MAY 26, 2011 · in NEWS

London – A London leading retailer shop, Debenhams, has adopted Hausa, a language spoken by nearly 45 million people in West Africa including Nigeria, to woo customers as race for summer sales starts.

The retailer had placed a bold sign reading: “Na gode don sayayyarka a Debenhams’’ in Hausa meaning, “Thank you for shopping at Debenhams’’ at the entrance of its Oxford street Branch in London.

Speaking to a group newsmen on the issue on Wednesday Mr Marcus Appleton, a Senior Store Manager said the decision was based on an assessment of its shoppers who come from outside Briatain.

He said it was discovered that 71 per cent of foreigners who visited the shop in 2010 are Nigerians followed by Chinese and the Arabs.

Appleton noted further that while some of it Nigerian customers were keen on designer suits, Chinese shoppers favoured cosmetics and perfumes.

According to the 2001 census, more than 300 languages are being spoken in London.(NAN)

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/05/london-leading-retailer-shop-adopts-hausa-language-to-woo-customers/

phantom:
what are you going on aboutdo you realize rivers is generating enough power to make PH alone selfsufficientrivers was just waiting for the go ahead to transmit and distribute(and i dont mean to a few government establishments), lol

Can you elaborate on the bolded? Do they plan on building their own distribution network from scratch?

Good effort. I think the main thing to do is to ensure that whoever buys the PH disco once GEJ privatizes PHCN is a credible owner.

In the meantime though, you can build your own distribution network and power key buildings (e.g., a downtown area or business district.)

^-- I clicked the reply button and was going to write something in favor of 'freedom of the press', but you beat me to it

hercules07:
ekt

How much do you pay for electricity in a month and what is your typical consumption?

I actually don't use much electricity personally (in part because I'm not in my apartment that much). . . from my electric companies website, looks like I consumed 57 kWh in the month of April. I paid $7.51 (roughly N1120) for it. So $0.13/kWh ~ N20/kWh.

In Nigeria, if you are running a diesel generator you are probably pay 3X the amount for electricity I am. . . probably N60/kWh.

^-- Good question

werepeLeri:
what happened to the one Tinubu wanted to build during his time?

He built it, but it was sabatoged by the FG Instead the 270MW is sent to the national grid rather than Lagos.

macjive01:
mehn, this dude ekt-bear i, apparently,  erroneously use to think u were some above-the-fray erudite fellow i guess i was wrong.
your increasingly tribalist tendencies are really casting an ugly shadow on your personalities.  its really becoming repugnant. abi u don turn x/f/stranger ? talk, so we go simply ignore u and your comments.

why the 6 western states? and not advocating something more nationalist like the president (tho i don't completely think he is awesome).

Absolutely nothing tribalist in what I said. Charity begins at home. Besides, I'm not convinced he can win the presidency, given the realties of Nigeria. So if he cannot be president of Nigeria, at least we should be able to turn his talents to serving the SW region.

on the topic,  the so called plant to be built where will the gas to power it come from? the 6 yoruba state?

They'll probably sign a NG contract with Oando

You make a good point with this

jmaine:
a nation where strong institution are built rather than a few individuals who so often tend to feel indispensable which breeds arrogance and stealthily corruption . . .

The current term-limited system is good, in some ways.

So this Muiz Banire is likely to be just as effective, in your opinion?

That is good to hear.

lol @ Heineken stomach

One nice thing about Nigerian girls in Nigeria is that they tend to have nice bodies.

Not the typically pudgy bodies you see many women here having

Heh. You can believe what you like, doesn't really matter to me

Can we just merge back up the 6 SW states and have 'em governed by a British style parliamentary system again?

The dude is too talented to just be governing Lagos State alone. I'd like to see his talents used for something more.

Nigeria’s Lagos State Plans 114 MW Power Plant, ThisDay Reports
By Elisha Bala-Gbogbo - May 26, 2011 12:50 AM PT

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Nigeria’s Lagos state, which includes the country’s commercial capital, plans to build a 114 megawatt power plant to supply its major business districts, ThisDay reported, citing the state governor, Babatunde Fashola.
The plant will be financed by private industry and is expected to be completed 24 months after inception, the Lagos- based newspaper said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Elisha Bala-Gbogbo in Abuja at ebalagbogbo@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin in Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.net.


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-26/nigeria-s-lagos-state-plans-114-mw-power-plant-thisday-reports.html

babytoun:
Funny how the pro-fashola  gang state the population of lagos as between 18-20 million. i wonder where they got their figures from.


Fashola is trying but definitely over-hyped. QED

Well, here is just once source:

The luncheon event was attended by 50 key civil society, academic and private sector representatives interested in hearing the Governor's vision for one of Nigeria's most important states -- Lagos -- where the capital city of the same name (Lagos) heralds a population of 18 million.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amb-robin-renee-sanders/nigerias-lagos-governor-f_1_b_864550.html

The good US ambassador to Nigeria, Robin Renee Sanders.

The official # listed in the 2006 census is fiction

[quote author=Rhino.5dm link=topic=675630.msg8396453#msg8396453 date=1306407084]No hating the guy is really trying considering the small capital available for the projects, though plenty complain from the locals here that all the contracts are awarded between his immediate family.

Whenever am in the state capital(dutse), i will try putting up something.[/quote]It will be progress in Nigeria for people to give contracts to their pikin, but for at least the contracts to be executed.

Not the best, but also better than the status quo.

[quote author=emeka_gh link=topic=675778.msg8396433#msg8396433 date=1306406869]lol, it's rather a problem with your reasoning, judging from the bundle of contraction you type here. You on one hand agreed that the position will not serve SW well, you continued that the ACN agrees with this, but not the SW. What exactly are trying to say? That what will not serve SW well is good for SW? How about that for contradiction?[/quote]1. There is a 90% chance that the position will not serve the SW well. It'll probably be another Bankole. In this case, the SW gains nothing, and the ACN also gains nothing.
2. However, there is a 10% chance the guy does a good job, both for Nigeria as a whole and the SW. In this case, the ACN suffers somewhat, since this means a strong challenger against the governor of whichever state the speaker is from.

Long story short, I like the ACN, but my primary loyalty is to the SW. A badly performing SW speaker doesn't hurt the region at all and doesn't really hurt the ACN much either. However, on the off chance that this speaker does well, then the region benefits.

If he (PDP) delivers for SW, he will deal a blow to ACN! Does that defy logic? Are you not the fellow saying that SW voters vote based on issue? If that is the case, why wont they vote for the fellow who delivers?
(for SW)

If the PDP guy performs well, then he'll stand a good chance of running for governor if the ACN guy slips up. I think that is overall a win for the SW, even if it is a loss for the ACN.

Tribalism at play? 

Call it what you like 

True you weren't the one that started that thread, but you are gloating; deal with it! 

Hehe, you might have a point 

Hrm, actually, it isn't so cut and dried I guess.

There is a ton of stuff on the relevant Wikipedia articles, and some links to scientific research. Draw your conclusions, I guess.

But for me, based on what I've read in the past and what makes sense to me, I think it is mostly genetic.

rhymz:
Come'on ekt_bear, what fact do I need from a straight person I have always known who recently turned gay.
I dont know how the social systems in the west works but I can say without any fear of equivocation that a majority of the people down here in the act were not born that way, nature never made them like that.
Have you been to our boarding and secondary schools? Do you know how much of such habit a new entrant there can pick up? Not to talk of our Universities where we have some very popular gay groups with enviable access to , who make such habit look very attractive and fashionable to wanna-be(s).
Well, I may not have written evidence to show that homosexuality has almost nothing or very little to do with genetic make up but more to do with the product of ones environment and value system; however, I have personal experiences and stories from the horses mouth to prove my case. And pls, i would realy love it for you to show that there are scientifically proven cases of homosexuality in human genetic make-up.

I don't buy all that stuff of people being converted into homosexuality or whatever. It doesn't make sense to me. . . why would anyone choose something that is stigmatized socially and in some societies greatly increases the chance of you being lynched/attacked by a mob? Only a m.o.ron would choose homosexuality if it were optional for him, I think.

Anyway, if we don't approach it scientifically and just resort to personal experience, hearsay, then not much good can come of this discussion.

A few years ago I read some stuff on the subject. From what I recall, research seems to indicate it is genetic. . . most people are either born gay or straight. 10-15% of people are gay, iirc.

I don't really have time to dig up the stuff I read at that time, but I'm sure you'll be able to find plenty of material discussing nature vs nurture for homosexuality.