₦airaland Forum

playmode:
I feel safer in SA than in the USA and you all know i am speaking the truth.

Wow. That is pretty bold

Good move

[quote author=emeka_gh link=topic=665772.msg8308529#msg8308529 date=1305230135]We vote Abiola[/quote]

What? No you didn't

Not bad.

For those dissing it because of its age. . . well, if we had functioning industry in this country, we could use this ship to teach ourselves how to build ships somewhat-modern ships ourselves.

One thing I've never understood about naija is why people litter so much. Just throwing away stuff in the road/street when done with it

There should be fines for littering. People should dispose of waste in the right place, not on the street or in the drainage ditch.

let's see pics

i dey laff

reporting goodluck ebelechukwu azikiwe jonathan to ojukwu?

lmao

enyojo:
Amosun, Amosun, how many times I call you?
Do not eat anything in the so-called party o. If at all you must even attend.

Make sure you go with your Special Security please.
You are too young to die

roflmao

OAM4J:
But Fayemi must collect back the money.

Collect the money, sell off the cows and cattle farm, etc.

Government has no business investing in dairy farms anyways

Hmm. Looks like the shoe is on the other foot

Scrap youth service

Exiting in style, indeed:

ACN alleges sale of Ogun House, others
By Our reporter 5 hours 9 minutes ago
Font size:
The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has accused the administration of Governor Gbenga Daniel of selling the Ogun State Liaison Office building on Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island, Lagos.
In a statement by the party’s Publicity Secretary in the state, Mr. Sola Lawal, ACN alleged that the House was sold last Thursday, but the government is keeping it secret.
The party also alleged that the government has sold the official quarters of the Chief Justice of the State on Oba Ademola Street, Ibara GRA, Abeokuta, and that of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) to senior government officials.
It accused Daniel of selling several hectares of land at the eight farm settlements established by the Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Western Region government in 1954 to his acolytes at paltry sums.
ACN criticised over 2000 appointments made by the government in the last two weeks.
It alleged that the promotion of 17 school principals to grade level 17 did not follow due process, stressing that the law does not permit the promotion of principals beyond level 16 .

http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news-update/5915-acn-alleges-sale-of-ogun-house-others.html

The problem is that they aren't competitive. Thai/Brazilian/Uruguayan farmer can produce rice more cheaply than Nigerian farmer can.

Which means Nigerian farmer needs to increase his yields and productivity if he wants to be competitive.

Something is very wrong with this country that a farmer in Thailand is able to produce rice more cheaply than the Nigerian farmer can. . . even after the import duties on rice, cost of shipping, etc.

Or is Thailand subsidizing their rice for export? Somehow I doubt this.

Someone needs to show some leadership and deal with this issue.

Thursday, 12 May 2011 00:00
Nigerian Compass

Recent information that Nigeria still imports about one million tonnes of rice valued at about $700 million or about N106 billion from Peoples Republic of Thailand every year is disturbing and calls to question the purported increase in agricultural production in the country.

More worrisome is the information that Brazil and Uruguay which were not known as major producers of rice have over the years developed their rice fields and are now offering lower prices to beat Thailand in the export of the product to the lucrative Nigerian market.

It is shameful that Nigeria is using its oil money to import rice from Thailand when the same money could have been better used to promote local production of rice such that the country can become a major producer of this vital food item and also a net exporter of the product.

The fact that Nigeria cannot produce enough of local rice to meet national demand for rice and has to import as much as one million tonnes of the product annually from Thailand is an indication that there is a looming food insecurity in the country and concerted efforts should be made to ensure enough local production of rice.

There is no reason why Nigeria cannot produce enough rice for itself and also for export. The country has vast and fertile agricultural land that can support massive rice cultivation. Besides, the Nigerian rice, otherwise known as Ofada, Pategi, and Abakaliki brands, is acclaimed as more nutritious than Thai rice. Unfortunately, the price of the local varieties in the market is higher than the price of the imported Thai rice. It is saddening that the Federal Government has not been successful in its efforts to popularise the production of these local brands.

The Obasanjo administration started a rice initiative that was designed to make Nigeria self-sufficient in rice production and even have enough for export to other ECOWAS countries. While the rice initiative was on, new hybrid varieties of rice were adopted and sold to farmers at subsidised prices. It was supposed to be a sustained campaign to increase the acreage under rice production and concurrent increase in the tonnage of rice produced. It was hoped that by 2008, Nigeria would have achieved self-sufficiency in rice production and would have started exporting the commodity to other West African countries.

Rice cultivation must be reinvigorated to make Nigeria self sufficient in the production of this popular food item and also to conserve the country’s hard earned foreign reserves. Nigeria has vast and rich agricultural land that can support large-scale rice production. In fact, rice cultivation does not require any special skill before it can be done. The fact that cultivation of rice can also fetch farmers reasonable income is a good reason for government to fund local rice production. Young farmers and school leavers should also be encouraged to go into rice cultivation to earn a good living.

The fact that Brazil and Uruguay are now keenly competing with Thailand for the supply of rice to the Nigerian market is an indication that if there is strong and sustained government support for local rice farmers, Nigeria can also be a major producer of rice, as well as a net exporter of the product to other West African countries.

Rice is the most widely consumed food in Nigeria and in most African countries. Unless and until there is marked and massive local production of imported food like rice, Nigeria’s food security remains at risk.

What the country needs is a sincere and sustained government intervention in food production and processing. There is no way Nigeria can realise its vision of becoming one of the first 20 most industrialised countries in the world if it cannot feed itself and has to rely on other countries to feed its teeming population.

As President Goodlluck Jonathan prepares for his inauguration on May 29, he must make a clean break from the past and put aggressive food production programme on top of his agenda and encourage the production of rice and other major food items to make the country self-sufficient in food production and also for export.

It is now time for an active and sustained presidential intervention in food production and processing such that both the federal and state governments will consciously provide robust financial and material support for farmers to produce rice and other food and cash crops to enable Nigeria to once again, feed its increasing population in order to stop its massive food importation.

http://www.compassnewspaper.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5912:nigeria-as-largest-importer-of-thai-rice-&catid=58:editorial&Itemid=569

Na wa for naija

subsidized electricity => shortage, power industry moribund
subsidized petrol => shortage, no refineries

By Sola Alabadan, Senior Correspondent

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has pointed out that the call on Federal Government to ensure that all refineries in Nigeria work at full capacity might not address the issue of increment in the prices of oil products.
IMF’s Country Chief and Senior Resident Representative in Nigeria, Scot Rogers stated this in Lagos on Wednesday, at a training course being organised by Thomson Reuters Foundation in collaboration with (Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation) NORAD for financial journalists.
He based his argument on the fact that Nigerians are presently paying N65 for a litre of petrol whereas the same product goes for about N130 at the world market.
According to him, if all refineries are made to work as people have been canvassing for, the onus will still be on the owners of these refineries to decide whether to sell at the local price or take it outside the country to make more money.
Rogers also called on the government to critically address the issue of power generation, noting that once this problem is solved, the nation’s economy will be better for it as virtually all businesses require electricity in their operations.
He stressed that if the government can ensure ready supply of electricity, as well as ensure that there are good road networks in the country, all the other things would fall into line.
Managing Director of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), Chime Ibenechie, had at a recent conference of the Nigerian Association for Energy Economics, said that the Nigerian government was spending $350 million monthly on petroleum subsidy.
He regretted the huge sum of money being spent on fuel subsidy monthly saying the situation is unacceptable.
According to him, the amount currently spent on gas subsidy could be deployed to other areas of needs such as the provision of infrastructure and gas projects.
Ibenechie, however, expressed the need for economists to think about balancing the confusing paradox in the petroleum industry.

http://www.independentngonline.com/DailyIndependent/Article.aspx?id=33633

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-nigeria-much-married-man-20110512,0,1289883,full.story


Hehe. Very amusing story

Aishetu Ndayako, about 57, clocked in at wife No. 40 or so. She had heard Maasaba was a good man who looked after his wives and solved all the problems of the family.

She was a widow with six children and no means of support when she married him, leaving her children living in her late husband's house.

"There were no problems between the wives. They were all very peaceful. Honestly, we never had a quarrel, not even once," she says. "He loved me. The food was good. He slaughtered a cow so many times. He gave enough money to each of the wives.

"I was always happy in his house. I understood the man. I felt he was sent by God."

But after five years, her children demanded that she return.

"They said no one was with them, and they were lonely," she says. "They asked me, and I felt I should go because of my love for them." After leaving Maasaba's house, she never saw him again.

"I really miss him," she says.

Three years ago, Islamic authorities in Niger, a majority Muslim state with Sharia, or Islamic law, ordered that Maasaba divorce 82 of his wives, keeping four. He refused and was ordered by the Sharia court to leave town. (Muslim scholars generally agree that the Koran allows up to four wives, provided each gets equal treatment.)

Police raided Maasaba's house at 3:45 a.m. on Sept. 15, 2008. He was taken away to jail.

Disobedience, the trait intolerable in a wife, was his own sin.

"In prison they asked me what was my offense. I said they hate me because I won't do what they want me to do."

Refused bail, Maasaba spent 22 days behind bars, while his wives (11 of them pregnant) demonstrated for his release. In the end, a group of civil rights lawyers came to Maasaba's rescue and had him freed on bail.

That November, at the High Court in the capital, Abuja, the lawyers called in his wives and their parents, one by one, to testify that they had agreed to marriage. At wife No. 57, the court told the lawyers to stop, and ordered Maasaba freed.

Maasaba is unyielding in his refusal to seek medical care, even if his wives or children are dying.

When any died, "I didn't feel annoyed or upset," he says. "I didn't feel anything because it's God who gave them to me and it's God who takes them away."

But when a child becomes ill, that can try a mother's obedience.

"I told them not to go to hospital," Maasaba says. "They must report to me and pray. Some of my wives don't have that confidence. They would take them to hospital behind my back. If anyone goes behind my back, the child will develop a swelling in the body and will eventually die."

Some of the wives, wearing bright costumes of pink and blue, gold and yellow, meet visitors to the house in a white-tiled entry room, chorusing hellos. Others, surrounded by a clutch of children, cascade down a wooden staircase and peer curiously around a door.

As Maasaba talks, they are hidden within, listening to the squawking speakers, as the delicate question is finally posed. With so many wives, how does he meet their romantic needs?

He smiles. Everyone asks him that.

"In his wisdom, God has given me the power and strength to give them the sexual portion they need," he says. "If I didn't satisfy them, they would leave."

Then he stands up, and his aides rush to him, putting his white shoes on his feet and arranging his white costume, just so.

Reporting from Bida, Nigeria— He fell in love with his first wife because she was sincere and eager to please.

His second wife, a cousin, was irresistible because she did everything he wished and nothing he didn't.

"That alone made me love her."

His third wife won him because she submitted to his every request.

"I saw her, I liked her. I went to her parents and asked for her hand in marriage."

Wife No. 4 was very obedient. So was wife No. 5. Wife No. 6, the same. As were wives 7 and 8 and 9 and …

Well, by then — it was the late 1980s — things had taken off for Bello Maasaba, an Islamic faith healer in this city in Niger state. He went from a wedding every few months to one every few weeks.

All told, the 87-year-old has married 107 women, which, even in a society with a tradition of polygamy, is on the high side. The Nigerian government is not amused. Neither are Islamic authorities in the state.

But he's still marrying, every time Miss Right comes along. He now has 86 wives, the youngest 19 and the oldest 64. Nine have died and 12 he divorced (for disobedience).

But how on earth does he … ?

To ask the delicate question about how a man with so many wives, well, manages, one first has to cross a dusty street in this hot city in northern Nigeria where the sun bleaches the color from the street. Droning Chinese motorcycles belch choking fumes. Women in flowing garments sit under umbrellas in the market, selling fruit and vegetables.

A looming four-story house with 89 rooms and a broad veranda supported by gold columns overlooks the street with an air of faded grandeur. But its view is inauspicious: an open gutter running from a bank of rickety street toilets, their wooden doors askew.

On the porch, dozens of men are seated, some relations, some followers. They rustle in excitement at the approach of guests. Choruses of "You are welcome" echo like bells as visitors are seated on a red couch beside a large, patterned red rug. The carpet, an island in the sea of Maasaba's followers, lies bare but for one white pillow and one white facecloth.

The pillow awaits. Suddenly, the crowd of males leaps to its feet, bursting into a traditional song of praise.

He is coming.

At the doorway, his long, pointy white shoes are removed by aides and placed in an empty plastic shoe rack tacked high on the wall. Then he rustles in, enveloped by a tumble of shiny white cloth, which the aides spring forward to arrange whenever he stands or sits.

He ignores the pillow and sits beside it. He wears a tall white hat, and smiles a crooked-toothed smile. The pouches under his eyes give him a mournful air. But there's barely a wrinkle on his forehead, and he professes to have no worries.

An aide proffers a microphone hooked up to speakers on every floor of the house so his wives and children can listen. Questions are blasted through speakers over the street so his followers (and anyone happening by) can hear.

Which makes it a little awkward to ask that delicate one.

He begins with his family history, almost singing the story of his roots.

After school, he led an ordinary life for 21 years, involved in the clothing business and later working for a sugar company, keeping just two wives. Life was normal until a religious "vision" in the 1970s, which he says involved a visit from the archangel Gabriel. He fell deeply ill, unable to eat or sleep for days, and all the medicine the doctors gave him only made him worse.

He gave up work and became a traditional faith healer who eschewed medicine. The angel also instructed him to take wife after wife after wife.

"I get a revelation from God telling me any woman I'm going to marry. If it wasn't from God, I wouldn't have gone beyond two," he explains in a wispy, singsong voice.

Maasaba has to pause to remember the number of children he has: an ever growing figure, with the youngest just 1 month old. He has fathered 185, and 133 are still living. He has acquired an extended family of some 5,000 people, many of whom live in the sprawling compound in the block surrounding his house.

It takes three enormous sacks of rice a day and prodigious quantities of meat and vegetables to feed his enormous clan. He's rich because of the handsome fees paid by those who come to be healed.

Maasaba's many marriages underscore the gulf between modern urban Nigeria and traditional rural towns, where women often have few choices.

I wonder if he will exit as gracefully into jail

^-- Spent all sorts of silly money on cattle ranching, or milk cows, whatever the heck it was

* subscribes*

[quote author=aloy/emeka link=topic=665338.msg8302603#msg8302603 date=1305163311]Where did Ekiti get the N5.1BN?. This figure is unrealistic; it is like Nigerians claiming that IBB stole $20BN.[/quote]Our total revenue is not that low.

Beaf:
Five and a half billion is some pretty serious shyte! By comparison, Ibori stole three billion.
If the story is not a witchhunt, then Ekiti state govt must take every legal step to recover the money and seek justice. It is not enough to fill newspaper headlines.

5.5 billion Naira versus 3 billion+ dollars

Interesting article. Scotland isn't such a great example though right now. . . didn't the UK just spend billions bailing out failed Scottish banks?

His name is Goodluck Ebelechukwu Jonathan Azikiwe

That sounds pretty igbo to me. . .

You forgot Ebelechukwu.

Goodluck Ebelechukwu Azikiwe Jonathan

^-- yep, we had this convo some time ago. I didn't realize what a weak link TCN at the time

BTW. . . one key reason why I'm suggesting that whoever buys Eko, Ikeja and Enugu consider buying directly from power plants. . . well, it looks like TCNs capacity isn't even enough.

Imagine that you buy Eko and Ikeja right now. The demand for electricity in Lagos is probably north of 10 GW. But TCN cannot deliver 10 GW to you. . . their total capacity is much less than that. Like 7 GW for the entire country, or something like that.

This means that their inability to deliver is costing you money. So it makes a lot of sense to see if you can get to the 10 GW demand by buying electricity from someone else (the power plants directly.)