₦airaland Forum

merengue: For once, you people should try and stay in the middle and analyze things objectively. GEJ can and should do better, this is the era of the social media, the citizen journalist, nothing is hidden, almost nothing is sacred. The list of GEJ's achievements is like a bad comedy script. I fail to see how any of this is different from what any other Nigerian ruler including the mass murderer (Abacha), the bully (OBJ), the King Kong of all criminals (IBB) and others have done. A case in point is IBB and a list of his accomplishments:

Babangida's Achievements; Chronicles of an Over Achiever


Building a New Ultra Modern City - Abuja

IBB realized the vision of Abuja as Federal capital city by providing its most vital infrastructure and moving the seat of government from Lagos in 1991.

Telecommunications

Mobile telecommunications, which is so commonplace today in Nigeria, was introduced as a result of the liberalization of the telecom industry by the Babangida administration, an initiative that over the years has made massive impact on the Nigerian economy.

Privatization

The privatization of the broadcast industry, the licensing of private universities and airlines; the liberalization of the banking industry, including the establishment of community banks (now micro-finance institutions), rank among his best legacies.

Economic Policy

The Babangida economic policy was predicated most importantly on the need to reverse the downward trend of the economy and arrive at a realistic exchange rate for the naira. The Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) was a necessary strategy to achieve economic recovery. It was not a capitulation to the dictates of the World Bank and IMF, but a critically-considered plan aimed at providing the platform for successfully recapturing the inflationary trend within a stipulated period of economic emergency. Deregulation, privatization and economic self reliance were key elements in the policy thrust. In the process most of the poorly-performing government-owned enterprises were sold off to private investors. The new policy also did away with the regime of import licensing which in turn allowed the entry of essential commodities into the country, thus ending the long and tiring queues, which Nigerians, for some years, had to endure for food.

Rural Development

Rural development was a very key aspect of the Babangida regime�s economic plan for Nigeria. Approximately 90,857.40 kilometres of feeder road were constructed, thus opening up hundreds of rural communities to the rest of the country for the first time; electricity, water supply and improved health services reached many more rural folk than ever before. Most of those projects were implemented by DFRRI � the Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure, an agency created by the Babangida administration.

Gender Equality

The Babangida administration was the first to implement a gender sensitive agenda. It created a National Commission for Women that later became the Ministry of Women Affairs. Many women were appointed to key positions in national institutions, among which was the first female vice-chancellor of a Nigerian university; and women occupied strategic portfolios in the Federal Cabinet for the first time. The Better Life for Rural Women, a programme which was anchored by the late First Lady, Hajiya (Dr.) Maryam Babangida, was highly successful in mobilizing women to rise to the challenge of economic empowerment.

MAMSER

MAMSER (Mass Mobilization for Self-reliance, Social Justice and Economic Recovery), was and still remains the best ever exercise in political re-orientation undertaken by any administration in Nigeria. Its central goal was to canvass nationwide support for the Babangida administration�s Political Transition Programme and to promote self-sufficiency in the nation�s economy.

Youth Employment

In order to halt the ever increasing rate of unemployment among the youth, the Babangida administration created the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in 1987. Its main task was to alleviate their suffering and provide them with the necessary skills to be self-employed. By 1997 nearly 107,000 youths had received the benefits of this initiative, and many more still do.

Consultative Government

Despite heading a military regime President Ibrahim Babangida ran the most consultative administration ever in the annals of Nigerian history. Before deciding on the IMF loan, the issue was subjected to a nationwide public debate. When the people gave a resounding NO verdict Babangida went along with their wishes and called off further negotiations. The commencement of the Political Transition Programme in 1988 was also preceded by a nationwide quest to find the right political system for the nation. Conducted by the Political Bureau to a highly enthusiastic participation by the public, the debate produced very concrete suggestions for the establishment of a more balanced and united Federation, and the key elements distilled there-from served as the template for the subsequent structural and constitutional realignment of the Nigerian nation.

National Unity

The Babangida administration, conversant with the geo-politics of Nigeria, particularly the fears of ethnic domination and marginalization, sought to correct the perceived structural imbalances of the Federation by the creation of more states. Eleven states of Nigeria, two of which were born in 1987 (Akwa Ibom, Katsina) and the latter in 1991 (Abia, Anambra, Delta, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kogi, Osun, Yobe and Taraba); and over 200 new Local Government Areas, owe their existence to this August effort.

Foreign Policy

Under the Babangida administration Nigeria demonstrated to the world its capacity to play the highest leadership role in African affairs. The formation of the West African Peace Monitoring Force, ECOMOG (a Babangida initiative), anchored by bold and heroic Nigerian troops, brought peace to war-torn Liberia and Sierra Leone, an achievement that further cemented the role of Nigeria as the great protector and promoter of international peace.

Other Notable Reforms and People-Oriented Programmes

Abrogation of Decree No 4 (Protection of Public Officers Against False Accusation Decree) 1984
Abrogation of import and export licencing regime
Dissolution of Nigerian National Supply Company
Abolition of commodity marketing boards
Elimination of price control
Reduction of import duties on newsprint
Ban on the importation of rice
Ban on importation of wheat
Establishment of the National Planning Commission
Institutionalizing Central Bank autonomy
Establishment of the Nigerian Export Import Bank (NEXIM)
Deregulation of capital and financial markets
Establishment of the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC)
Establishment of National Economic Reconstruction Fund (NERFUND)
Abolition of fixed exchange rate for the naira
Establishment of the Peoples Bank
Licencing of more banks and finance houses
Introduction of community banking system
Introduction of bureaux de change
Establishment of stable tariff regime
Introduction of civil service reforms
Establishment of the Political Bureau and conduct of nationwide public debate on the IMF loan
Introduction of two party political system
Introduction of Open Ballot and Option A4 voting System
Introduction of Local Government Reform
Educational sector reform and the Introduction of 6-3-3-4 System
Establishment of more federal Universities and Polytechnics
Establishment of the Technical Committee on Privatization and Commercialization of Public Enterprises under which 55 public enterprises, including nine banks, were privatized through public offers on the Nigerian Stock Exchange
Reform of obsolete colonial laws; and abrogation of law making ��wandering�� an offence
Establishment of the Urban Mass Transit Progamme
Institution of the Primary Healthcare Progamme
Establishment of the National Commission for Women
Establishment of the Federal Environmental Protection Agency
Enactment of Copyright Law and establishment of Copyright Council
Allocation of oil prospecting acreages to Nigerian oil companies
Establishment of the National Agricultural Land Development Authority
Establishment of special supervised Agicultural and Industrial Credit Schemes
Establishment of the Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) and the creation of the Calabar EPZ
Conduct of the 1991 National Population Census
Establishment of the Federal Road Safety Corps
Establishment of the National Health Insurance Scheme
Establishment of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration And Control (NAFDAC)
Establishment Of the Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC), now the Niger Delta Development Commission
Establishment of the National Boundary Commission
Establishment of National Communications Commission
Establishment of the National Broadcasting Commission
Institutionalizing of the National Housing Fund
Establishment of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA)
Establishment of Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission
Reorganization of Nigerian Police into zonal commands
Establishment of National Guard
Reduction in the size of the military
Reorganization of security services into three arms from the former single Nigerian Security organization, i.e. State Security Service, National Intelligence Agency, Defence Intelligence Agency
Resumption of diplomatic relations with Israel
Establishment of Technical Aid Corps
Major Projects Completed
Federal Government Secretariat (Phase 1 & 11), Abuja
International Conference Centre, Abuja
Abuja International Airport (Phase 1 & 11)
The Presidential Villa, Abuja
National Assembly Complex, Abuja
The Supreme Court Complex, Abuja
Lagos Third Mainland Bridge
Abuja-Kaduna-Kano road dualization
Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Warri-Ore standard-gauge railway line
Digital telecommunication gateways: Lanlate (North), Enugu (East), Lagos (West)
Onne Fertilizer Plant in Rivers State
Kaduna Superphosphate Fertilizer Plant
Warri Petrochemical plant
Elesa Eleme Petroleum Refinery in Rivers State
Kaduna Petrochemical plant
The Escravos-Lagos Gas pipeline
Jebba and Shiroro hydro-electricity projects
Egbin Thermal Power Station in Lagos
Challawa Gorge Dam
Nigeria House in New York, USA
Ajaokuta Steel Plant (Phase 1)
The Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Project, Bonny
The Oso Condensate Plant in Akwa Ibom State
NNPC headquarters in Abuja
Aluminium Smelter Plant in Akwa Ibom State
NigerDock (Africa�s largest dry dock), Snake Island
Nigerian Machine Tools Manufacturing Co., Oshogbo
Military cantonments, Abuja
National Intelligence Agency administration headquarters
Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company factory, Abuja

Kobojunkie: Well, here's the thing. We don't live in the stone ages anymore. Roads are built in a matter of weeks, even months these days. Railway lines are put together in 1-2 years or more. Bridges are assembled in less than a year even. Even SkyCrapers are built in a matter of months. Nuclear stations don't need to take 20 years to build any more . . . you can get 20 built across the nation in just 4 years(working with various teams). This all depends on the size of the project, availability of resources, and commitment on the part of those who need the job done. It does not need to take Nigeria 20 years to get where it needs to be. If we are committed to serious development, there is no reason why we cannot accomplish a significant amount of that in just 2 years. Much of the leg work has been done in most cases. All we need to do is apply what has been proven to work for our benefit here. So, forgive me if I think your argument there is bull-shiot as it does not answer anything. You are not talking to an slowpoke who you can tell anything. Go do your homework.

Now back to the work . . again, when a leader leads, his works do the talking for him, on the most part. he does not need to hire a gang of hooligans to harangue the people on a daily basis and tell them lies of what they ought to expect from him. There are so many examples of them across the world today that I don't need to explain that to you.
Again, in the Nigeria case, what continues to happen is that we are fed stories of what might happen, but what we hear does not line up with what we see and know. This is on human levels and seeing is believing.

Delafruita: its normal that africans modernise their names for easy pronunciation.my father changed his name afolabi to afo while in the UK.that didnt stop him from using afolabi when he finally relocated to nigeria on a permanent basis.its ridiculous to say a man is a fraud because he shortened his name.
question is did the man flee goergia?NO
did he leave a forwarding address?YES
did he return to georgia when he was informed?YES
did he accept responsibility?YES
was he punished?YES
has he served his punishment?YES
did he face a jury or judge?NO
is he eligible to practise law in georgia?YES
is he a criminal?NO
You have heard his part only the wise will wait for the other side before arriving at judgement... Am expecting more revelations on this.. His rebuttal has a lot of loopholes, however ipray he survives this but he should learn to keep clean next time
has he admitted his wrongdoing?YES.he highlighted the incident in a book published last month even before peedeepee decided to start digging
.why are some morons still hellbent on ranting

Idokojimmy: http://www.tribune.com.ng/index.php/news/44918-indictment-pdp-gives-gbajabiamila-14-day-ultimatum-to-resign


The question that calls to mind is, is he the only thief in the House? Has Farouk or Hembe been kicked out? Is it ethical to harbor Criminals in the National Assembly? Will it be ideal if Gbajabiamila remains in the House? What is the best or Honourable thing to do when you are accused of corruption, or openly admit that you erred?

tunapawizzy: dude ur job schedule is to sell gej n his administration to the public not to fetch them more haters. sincerely u have failed, d more u post the more ur paymaster's incompetence is unveiled. were u privy to the full content of Luke Angel's email. If u think deep u should know that the dude must have said more things which must be kept away from the public. And for goodness sake why must u always abuse people that have contrary opinion to yours, if ur employers were wise they should have known that u have no ability to persuade nigerians to like them, ur most striking quality is coersion which is rather unfortunate.

Pataki: GEJ is a Retardeen. That is his name, his identity. Where were you to stop people calling Yar'dua - 'President Go-slow'? Where were you to stop people calling Obasanjo - 'the monkey'? Please, if you cannot stand the heat, tell Retardeen to resign.

Within two years, I expected to see the fresh air he promised. Why is corruption on the increase in Nigeria? Why is insecurity rising all across the nation? Why is unemployment on the increase in the nation? Why do we have a retardeen who gallops one billion naira food consumption? Why is the nation wallowing in abject poverty? Salaries of government workers not being paid, a lawless first lady globe trotting and disgracing Nigeria with all manners of disgusting news about her?

All these in two years, and a lot more the Retardeen's family still have in stock for us.

edicolove: Just to add. I have never seen a forum where the owners of the forum put up a thread to insult a certain group in its forum. This is the height of disrespect and intolerance. It is as bad as any form of racism. If you think these group of people don't deserve to be on your forum, you should just go ahead and ban them. Then you can have threads where everyone just insults GEJ unopposed. You can even make all the threads GEJ insult threads if you like. Afterall, it belongs to you.

If this is the tolerance level of the opposition, then Nigeria is doomed and I make a vow that I will never vote for them even if everyone else in Nigeria votes for them! You can't bully people to vote for you. This is anti-democratic

dollyptosh: You are a fool!

Pukkah: Must you comment? I don't know which is worse between your reasoning and your manners. What kind of person are you? How much are they paying you that has made you sterilize your conscience?

taharqa: My interest on dis particular issue is hw pips mk dier conclusions 4rm info presentd to dem. Lets look at yr post plz: 1st, noticd dat d CPC spokesman talkd bout 'exotic cars...that were ordered'(an ambigous word dat betrays his uncertaintity bout weda d said cars were bought or leased). Now,d criticism has mainly shiftd to why hosting d summit at all.bt who decides d type of summits 9ja can host?who determines which summit is a 'jamboree' or nt?wont sm ppl also argue dat First Ladies in Africa gatherin to discuss peace,HIV/AIDS nd Women issues?if d First Ladies in Africa were so useless why is it dat international agencies nd bodies routinely liase wit dem on these issues?is 9ja d 1st coun3 to host d First Ladies nd on wot grounds shld 9ja reject to host it dis time wen it is her 'turn' to host?importantly,why did d spokesman 4get to tell us exactly why d summit is a 'jamboree' nd d cost of hostin such to 9ja? I tink u need to learn to differentiate Constructive criticisms geard towards helping d nation nd Political criticisms whose aim is to furda political gain(Context: these guys kw dat d First Lady is fair game nw cos of her veri silly decision to b part of dat complete Perm Sec mess recently). Now on dis talk of Depressd Economy nd Finances dat i hear bout dese day, i ask myself which economy actuali- d economy dat has grown 4 an average of 7%,an economy whose net trade inflow in d 1st quarter of dis yr is bout $10billion,an economy dat was d largest recipient of FDI in Africa last yr nd continuing in d first quarter of dis yr,an economy where FIRS nd Customs has overrearchd dier projectns already,an economy whose Foreign Reserves has increasd 4rm bout $32billion late last yr to bout $37billion nd whose GDP/Debt ratio is still lower dan d world's threshold-no 9ja economy nd finance is nt depressd,it is just nt workin(ie managd properly) 4 d majority of ppl. Just to reinterate nd as I said previously, IF d said cars were bought den it is totali condemnable nd i will put it amongst d list of WASTE of 9ja's govts 4rm independent(egs d huge bureaucracies in various govts necessitatin a huge Recurrent relative to Capital expenditure, d large no of mostly useless aids as evidences as evidencd by d current sack by d Bauchi state governor of 6000 'special advisers' last wk,meaningless foreign trips,sponsorship of xtian nd muslims prilgrimages nd budget of huge monies 4 Ramaddan fast nd rams,even d 3000 CHOGM cars etc etc).am a strong advocate of Lean govts as much as it is NECESSARY bt also cant tolerate distortn of info nd peddlin of such by ppl wit agendas.i see dat alot nw wit ppl criticizin d president-d strategy,particularly d type nd intensity, is in my view nt only wrong bt counterproductive as it will mk a lot of persons,includin dose of us dat were sm of his harshest critics, to b pushd away towards seeing as d 'victim' of a group' of power mongers' nd so tryin to undastad him. One can criticize bt nt by distortns,esp d person is sure of his/her stance.tanks

emmatok: LOL, how can one be paid to criticize GEJ.

Gbawe: Abeg, let us all enjoy "fresh air". I don't know why folks are surprised. When will Nigerians learn? If you put a Fox in charge of your Chickens, do you expect to have any Chicken left when you return a few days later?

deandavid: where ote$ name? He is supose to be number one on that list, his own is so obvious, easy to judge, he was already giving bribe to be remove, efcc shouldn't have stress prosecuting the guy. Well we are watching. If not for people like pastor Bakare and other nigerians pushing these elites, this thing wouldn't have got to this level. Lets continue to push for this thieves so that they do the right thing.

rash47: Mr man sharap there,wat do u know about govt. Logistics,wat happened to state house budget for catering for dis kind of event. U 're supposed to talk about management of our scarce resources b4 inflation n safety of d so-called cars.

EBELE,EBELE,EBELE....how many times did I call u...ok becareful because d GODS ARE ANGRY

leon25aug: Elueme: if u support evil,evil will never leave ur home and generations Amen! While ppl are suffering and 80% living below posterty level ur ppl are buying such luxury...if u had mouth off like dis around me in person i wld strangle u. FOOL!

Demdem: u are a fooool. whats wrong with all the presidential fleet we have loitering all over Aso-Rock currently? The govt has a lot of vehicles they can use why go for new set of cars at these hard times when the country is gradually going bankrupt.
besides of what benefit will this conference bring to Nigeria? Buullshit

akthedream: Stop mentioning Tinubu and Buhari,..was it not an IGBO man from the same party that took him to court

miteolu:
1. When GEJ is about to be impeached?
2. How can court dismiss the suit for being incompetent and premature?
3. 'A president could stay in office for additional time beyond his tenure in certain circumstances' is nonsense when GEJ is not perform.
4. If GEJ is an employee of a company he would have been sack since.