₦airaland Forum

mazaje:
I agree with all you have written, but its a bit more complicated than that in Nigeria. . . .In the UK for example, when I tell people that bother to ask about my religious beliefs that am an atheist (Including Nigerians that live there) most just say, so you sef don join them and it ends there, the white theists mostly don't care even the muslims don't say much. . . .In Nigeria the complete reverse is the case. . . .The society is so backward and intolerant to accept lack of belief because people are too superstitious and indoctrinated. . . .

mazaje:
I agree with all you have written, but its a bit more complicated than that in Nigeria. . . .In the UK for example, when I tell people that bother to ask about my religious beliefs that am an atheist (Including Nigerians that live there) most just say, so you sef don join them and it ends there, the white theists mostly don't care even the muslims don't say much. . . .In Nigeria the complete reverse is the case. . . .The society is so backward and intolerant to accept lack of belief because people are too superstitious and indoctrinated. . . .

Part of the reason why Nigerians are so closed minded is because people of other beliefs keep hiding. There are millions of atheists in this country, yet most people don't realize it. They don't realize that most atheists are decent morally upstanding people and they only ever hear of the ridiculous caricatures that their religious leaders paint us as. We need more Soyinkas and Tai Solarins to show the world that atheism is a valid choice.

Hell if homosexuals can gain mainstream acceptance in the west and a black guy can be elected president of america, then atheists have no excuse. Within my father's lifetime, both these groups were looked at with more scorn than atheists. But they stood up for their rights and look at them now.

mazaje:
One thing I have come to understand is that it is best to keep your atheistic or non belief personal in Nigeria, you stand to lose a lot when people know about your non belief. . .Believe me. . Just keep it to your self, people are too indoctrinated, close minded, irrational, blind and uneducated to understand anything you say concerning unbelief in Nigeria, a society that HIGHLY believes in superstition, mythology and magic like Nigeria is not one to let your unbelief public. . .

I disagree. Why should we have to hide? Atheists have nothing to be ashamed of and if some people are so small-minded that they can't deal with someone facing reality, then that's their problem. We shouldn't have pander to religious stup1d1ty.

I'm not suggesting that you should go around proselytizing like the atheists do, we can't all be Dawkins. But it makes no sense to lie and hide like a jew in nazi Germany while the Christians make noise, muslims threaten people and jehovah's witnesses walk around pestering people all day.

If you don't stand up for your rights, they will be taken away from you.

Why India?

Marlboro1:
Allahu Akhbar! If proved true, please kill him before he is freed by the Emirs and Nothern Governors Forum. Sooner or later his mom or dad will show up and tell us how he has been an innocent husband just taking care of his family and will never hurt a fly. Just watch out the kind of attacks from the muslim community against the SSS. Damned if they do, damned if they dont fight these terrorists.

What the hell is wrong with you people? Are you actually advocating for more extrajudicial killings? Based on what, the unconfirmed word of the SSS? How do you know that that they didn't just pick up some random aboki who just happened to be talking on his phone at the wrong time?

When did it become okay for the government to just pick people up from the streets and execute them without trial? Have you people learned nothing from what happened in 2009? I wonder if the SSS arrested your brother and claimed he was a boko member whether you'd be so eager to have him killed.

It's ignorant m0r0ns like you who refuse to understand what democracy and the rule of law mean that are putting this country in trouble.

^^^^^ The point of the article was that el-Rufai drastically cut recurrent expenditure and reduced his his office's spending by almost half in his first full year as minister. In other words, he did what Jonathan and co have refused to do: reduce waste and and stop spending the bulk of the budget on themselves. El-Rufai has been one of the staunchest critics of this administration's irresponsible spending and this just shows that he is not all talk but actually practices what he  been preaches.

The title was is meant to mislead those who are biased against el-Rufai for reasons other than his performance while in government. It seems to have worked very well on you.

I just read this very enlightening article on the former FCT Minister on omojuwa.com. Your comments please.

Nasir El-Rufai’s wahalas have become too much of recent. It is time someone digs up on his past and show same to the world. The Nigerian government will be interested in this because I know they have been digging on this since 2007 to no avail. The content of this piece will help the Goodluck Jonathan administration in no small way.

Malam Nasir El-Rufai is a Nigerian phenomenon. He seems to attract attention with every move he makes. Right from his days as the Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises to his tenure as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and member of the Economic team of President Olusegun Obasanjo and now the number one watch dog of the Nigerian government, El-Rufai always has been with us. Those who love him really do love him – cue Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi who even had to express his admiration for El-Rufai in a widely-read piece on this site and those who don’t are also not afraid to show it. The most difficult of them to find is those who are indifferent about him. He gets a passionate response from people – even the government of his country – whether or not the passion is expressed as love, fear, respect or even sheer hatred is another issue entirely.

Like many others, the question that comes to my mind is, does this dude have the moral right to for instance tell the Goodluck Jonathan government to be prudent in spending the nation’s resources? Does he have the moral rights to question the contents of the budget? Moral right differs from conventional human rights. Every Nigerian has the right to question the way the government spends money or the content of the budget. Not every Nigerian has the moral right to do same. Would Governor James Ibori for instance have the moral right to tell a future Governor of Delta State how to spend the State’s funds?

If you had the opportunity to do something and you failed at doing it right, you lose the moral right to knock anyone who fails at it. Malam Elrufai was once the Chief Executive of a Nigerian territory, indeed the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The easiest way to question his moral right to write columns upon columns telling the Jonathan presidency the right way to do things is to place his own records on the table. We need not put it side by side with today’s government, all we need do is take a perspective look at it. To do that would be to put one party to more shame.

It would be easier to speak about his performance while in office but that would be a very easy ride for him because if a certain member of this same government writes and I quote “Malam El-rufai is very intelligent and capable. What he has achieved in public life is without match in Nigeria. He set the bar for public office in Nigeria” then it means even his worst critics agree he performed while in public service. I don’t want to write about what is obvious. We all know omojuwa.com is about what is not obvious.

We are going to expose the budget of Nasir El-Rufai as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory. We will in fact not just pick on his first budget, we will indeed compare same with the very budget he inherited while taking office as Abuja’s de facto Governor. This way, I will expose him to President Jonathan and they can do whatever they like with what they see here.

REFORMS DON’T HAVE TO TAKE FOUR YEARS:

There is nothing more difficult to take in hand,More perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things - Niccolo Machiavelli


Between the 2003 budget of the FCT inherited by Nasir El-Rufai, and the 2004 budget he proposed, there are obvious differences that show the focus of each administration.
The telling observation from both budgets presented below show that the then new Minister of the Federal Capital Territory drastically cut allocations to his office by 48.9 per cent. This is obviously against the norm where new office holders immediately move to have more money allocated to their offices. Examples abound; the Senate, the House of Representatives, Ministers and even the Presidency have increasingly increased allocations to their various offices year on year. A careful look at the records of allocations to the National Assembly in the Obasanjo years compared to the Yar’Adua Jonathan years will show this. We need not talk about the increased number of aides and hangers-on that have to travel with President Jonathan wherever he goes – it does not matter where, even his toilet, as long as he is going with as many as three jets and travel remunerations are assured.

Recurrent Expenditure:

Another telling difference between the 2003 and 2004 FCT budgets is the allocation to both Recurrent Expenditures and Capital Expenditures. While the previous Minister allocated 74.7 per cent of his spending on Recurrent Expenditures as is the culture of the present day government, Nasir Elrufai was brave and reform minded enough to slash same to 32.92 per cent – a difference of 41.78 per cent. This simply meant that there was more fund allocated for real development. In comparison, the coordinating minister of Nigeria’s economy, the de facto Prime Minister Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala promised major cuts in Nigeria’s Recurrent Expenditure. She promised a 1 per cent reduction every year from this year – her first budget. What did she do after that obviously-easy-to-achieve-limit? She increased recurrent expenditure by another whopping N92 billion.

Capital Projects:
While the 2003 budget had 25.13 per cent for Capital Expenditure, Nasir Elrufai’s 2004 budget shot it to 67.08 per cent. He increased Capital spending by 166.93 per cent! That is not only unprecedented in Nigeria, it is also a difficult thing to do for a new government (see Machiavelli above). Nigeria’s current Capital Projects’ allocation is roving at 27 per cent of total spending.

In conclusion:
I asked for the documents just to see whether this Malam that keeps talking like he knows it all actually has a practical example to show that he is not just about rhetoric. He is just doing everything to keep the government on its toes. He is in the courts every other month defending himself in several charges brought against him by the Nigerian government. They are still trying very hard at making a mess of his legacy in Abuja. It endures.

I hardly deal with people based on my heart or sentiments – save an intelligent-beautiful lady – it is based on what you know and what you can do and it’d be better if you have a record of what you have done. Most Nigerians believe everyone who is and was in government is a thief. That is intuitively impossible. One would wish that the government of Nigeria would spend as much energy prosecuting more past government officials like they are persecuting Nasir El-Rufai. They won’t need four years and more to get easy results. Dimeji Bankole and Nafada have been discharged and virtually cleared of corruption charges while an El-Rufai keeps spending precious time in court for cases lasting years. Cases without head nor tail.

A desperate disease requires a desperate remedy, Guy Fawkes said that and it applies to governance in Nigeria. We need men and women who will not be afraid to do the right things and indeed do them urgently!

Can someone help me with the budget of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan while at the Governor’s Office of Bayelsa State? When you find it, you will discover the secret to why Nigeria is spending N200 million to water gardens, why we have N5 million dedicated per day to the travels of the presidency and why we spend N3.1 billion every 24 hours on security and get insecurity as value for money. Don’t talk about the N20 billion his government gave the Obasanjo 3 term team because you will not find any document to prove it. His previous budgets will not be as difficult to find though.

If you need a template on how to get results as the leader of any government in Nigeria, get the El-Rufai template. Governor Babatunde Fashola admitted that much and Lagos trumps Nigeria in terms of how far both governments are performing. I am studying the template too. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

Assassinations are extreme examples of what people will do to silence the voices of frustrating realities - Ronald A. Heifetz and Marty Linsky

May God protect every soul standing up for Nigeria and the people of Nigeria at these critical times.

I am Omojuwa (@omojuwa on twitter)


2004 FCT STATUTORY BUDGET ESTIMATES
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

A,
2004 REVENUE PROJECTION

REVENUE SOURCE                        2003 APPROPRIATION N                        2004 (EL-RUFAI’S) APPROPRIATION N
i) Statutory Revenue allocation         10,200,000,000.00                                  14,400,000,000.00
ii) VAT                                        1,600,000,000.00                                    1,600,000,000.00
iii) Excess crude/ Stabilization        2,000,000,000.00                                            -
iv) Internally Generated Revenue 1,200,000,000.00                                   4,000,000,000.00
v)Proceeds from sales of Govt. Houses -                                                      5,000,000,000.00
Sub total                                        15,000,000,000.00                                  25,000,000,000.00

B
1st LINE CHARGES
2003: 42.2%

2004 (El-Rufai’s): 23.37%
1) Personnel Cost                                       2003 (42.2 %)                                        2004 (EL-RUFAI’S) (23.37%) % VARIATION


i) MFCT (Ministry of FCT)                      3,322,701,675.00                                      4,281,009,595.37
ii) (FCDA) Federal Capital Devt. Authority 1,316,502,800.00                                         1,521,740,390.96
iii) Other Agencies                                   1,702,589,200.00                                         1,197,250,013.67
2) Pension funds                                              -                                                         480,000,000.00
3) Student’s Feeding                                              -                                                         264,000,000.00
Sub Total                                                    6,341,793,675.00                                        7,744,000,000.00                     18.83%

C.
OVERHEAD
2003: 32.67%
2004 (El-Rufai’s): 9.55%

OVERHEAD                                            2003 (32.67%)                                            2004 (El-Rufai’s) (9.55%)          % Variation
i)Office of the Honourable Minister FCT    2,172,500,000.00                                 1,110,000,000.00                  48.9% Slash
ii) Office of the Perm. Sec.                                  -                                                              279,000,000.00
ii) MFCT 23.94%                                    1,162,000,000.00                                        808,000,000.00
iii) FCDA 16.27%                                    800,000,000.00                                           600,000,000.00
iv) Other Agencies 15.60%                    766,499,200.00                                           367,000,000.00
Sub-Total                                                    4,900,999,200.00                                        3,164,000,000.00

4.
CAPITAL PROJECTS
2003: 25.13%
2004: 67.08%
CAPITAL PROJECTS                                      2003                                                        2004 (El-Rufai’s)      % VARIATION
MFCT                                                           1,470,000,000.00                                       5,026,000,000.00
FCDA                                                           801,315,018.00                                           12,473,500,000.00
Other Agencies                                            963,476,307.00                                           1,175,000,000.00
Special projects                                            527,409,800.00                                           2,560,000,000.00
Funds for new Parastals                             -                                                                  1,000,000,000.00
Sub-Total                                                    3,762,201,125.00                                        22,234,500,000.00

El-Rufai’s numbers are highlighted, while the other numbers are the direct 2003 comparisons

http://omojuwa.com/2012/nasir-el-rufai-his-past-finally-exposed/

Edit: I've modified the formatting at the end to make the budget comparision easier to read.

@adeshevy

Once you upgrade past  3.55 there's no going back. Downgrading is so technically difficult that its not a real option for most people. You'll have to buy another PS3 on 3.55 or lower if you want to keep playing backups.

Either that or wait for another jailbreak which may or may not happen in our lifetime.

What's the big deal? I got robbed 3 times by police last year and once already this year. It's a normal thing.

The police are basically a giant armed robbery syndicate that also provides security for politicians as a side business. They are an organised crime group. They rob okada men in broad daylight with active connivance of senior policemen and the tacit approval of the government. Boko Haram is nothing more than an annoying distraction from their main work, collecting their N50 checkpoint fee.

I don't see why anyone should be making a big deal about them robbing regular folks unless they are also going to stand up for the danfo drivers and bikemen who part with their hard eared money at gunpoint everyday.

But knowing my country, nothing is going to be done about them until they mistakenly kill one big politician's son.

I don't see how Silva is any more useless than GEJ was when he was governor. Timipre is just following in his oga's footsteps. Stealing money and refusing to help your people is now a proud government tradition in the south-south.

Until the ND governors get their acts together, non of them will ever set their greedy, corrupt feet in Aso Rock again. GEJ and his co-thieves have soiled the reputation of niger deltans forever.

So some random oyimbo is thinking about converting. Please explain to me why I should give a sh1t.

I consider myself to be a rationalist. I don't believe in god(s) because it doesn't make sense to based on the best information available to me. If the rapture were to occur, and there were no better explanation for it other than the religious one, then I'll swallow my pride and join religion.

If the skies were to part today and God was to poke his head through and say hi, I'd apologize for doubting him and follow whatever religion he prefers. I'll probably also start secretly researching ways to neutralize or defeat him since the bible clearly shows that he is a mass-murdering psycho who can't be trusted not to try and wipe out humanity again.

Atheism is not based on sentiment or gut feeling. It's base on pure common sense. Atheists believe in dinosaurs becaus we've found their bones and eggs and footprints. We have evidence that they once existed. If we could find god's footprints we'd believe in him too.

I'm waiting for the inevitable simpletons who will now claim that they saw "the hand of god" in church or in the market ir something.

Punishing armed robbery with death removes the incentive for the robbers to avoid killing. Instead, it encourages them to do everything possible to avoid getting caught leading to more violence and more deaths. It is a thoroughly stup1d policy. I bet that if this guy had just shot everybody present, he'd be sitting in his house watching home video right now.

In the US, armed robbers go out of their way not to kill people so as to avoid a murder charge. Some have even been known to rob with empty guns despite bullets being widely available and cheap. If th gun wasn't loaded, your lawyer can argue that it's not actually armed robbery and get you a much lighter sentence.

When you pass senseless laws based on sentiment rather than rationality, it leads to unintended consequences.

The death penalty has no place in civilized society.

This poor guy has been condemned based on witness statements alone. No forensic evidence, no pictures or video, no fingerprints. What if the witnesses were lying? What if it was a case of mistaken identity?
Since were are all equal under the law, if I was able to find 4 people to testify that GEJ robbed someone, would the courts be so quick to sentence him to death?

The Nigerian judicial system is an embarrassment.

Also, the death penalty has no place in a civilized society.

PA1982:
I see Wiki relates it to thalidomide use
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phocomelia

Is thalidomide still available in Nigeria?

No

Sagamite:
You are a cretin!

Seconded.

The doctor they quoted is also a ret@rd for baselessly blaming the poor woman when he clearly has no knowledge of the case. Phocomelia has been known to occur spontaneously and the only drug which causes it is nearly impossible to obtain, even in the first world. The odds that the mother was to blame are nearly zero. I think she has more than enough problems already without having to deal with that kind of accusation.

Both the doctor and the journalist who printed this rubbish should be ashamed.

prodam:
this is not boko-haram, its not my opinion but the FACT

Its the Ijaw Christian chapter of Boko Haram. What, you didn't know they had an Ijaw Christian chapter? They've infiltrated everywhere. They are even among the ex-militants now. We have to stop criticizing and support GEJ more otherwise Nigeria will explode!

Meme Inc.:
Bull poo, He doesn't practise no religion,how would he know all.
He thinks westenr knowledge does it all, afteralll he was among the pioneers of cultism in Nigeria and now he stands to speak against violence.
What about the ones killed by cultists?
What can you say about it?

So because he doesn't practice religion, you think he doesn't know anything? I guess you are one those fanatics we're talking about.

Also, Soyinka's group was never violent. There is nothing wrong with forming a students group, stop trolling.

birdman:
Soyinka has hit the nail squarely on the head here. BH may have outgrown its original sponsors and turned on them. There has always been grassroots support in the north for killing and maiming "southern infidels". I think that support has fed BH, and the north is now reaping what it sowed. I say "let them eat cake". I pity any foolish southerner still in the north. I'd leave and let the Islamists enjoy their harvest all by themselves.

The violence in the north isn't going to stay there. Nigeria is one country. Eventually it will spread south. There are muslims in the south, christian fanatics and poor people everywhere. Anybody who thinks Boko Haram is someone else's problem is deceiving himself. If we don't solve this then we are all fvcked.

birdman:
Soyinka has hit the nail squarely on the head here. BH may have outgrown its original sponsors and turned on them. There has always been grassroots support in the north for killing and maiming "southern infidels". I think that support has fed BH, and the north is now reaping what it sowed. I say "let them eat cake". I pity any foolish southerner still in the north. I'd leave and let the Islamists enjoy their harvest all by themselves.

The violence in the north isn't going to stay there. Nigeria is one country. Eventually it will spread south. There are muslims in the south and poor people everywhere. Anybody who thinks Boko Haram is someone else's problem is deceiving himself. If we don't solve this then we are all fvcked.

frosbel:
Then count me among the 'insane'

God's truths are ABSOLUTE !!

That's funny. Osama bin Laden used to say the exact same thing.

Sad. Another victim of a failing state.

Does anyone know how exactly he died? Was it the bomb blast, or was he shot or what? I hope he didn't suffer.

It's only in Jonathan's Nigeria that this type of open and undisguised bribery can occur. Even IBB and Abacha at least had the decency to hide their graft from public view. But Jonathan is either too corrupt or too stup1d to do that. The guy promises to "tackle corruption" and then does this just days later?

What he doesn't realize is that by discrediting labour and civil society groups, he is eliminating the level heads that could end the next crisis peacefully. The next time Nigerians have cause to come out and protest, it will not end well for Goodluck.

This just proves that the removal of subsidy was all about freeing more money for the greedy scumfucks in government to steal. Reducing the price to N97 means that we are subsidizing again. That means all of Sanusi and Okonjo-Iweala's arguments about new refineries and the economy are now moot.

If they really believed that removing subsidy was in the nation's long-term interest, they would have stood their ground. Now their are neither here nor there. We get all the so-called disadvantages of subsidy, as well as the inflation that a fuel price hike brings.

In any case, it doesn't matter because we are still on strike. When they are ready to do something about coruption and slash their recurrent budget by a reasonable amount, then we'll listen to them.

I'm sick and tired of these clowns insulting our intelligence with their lies. The fact is that there can be no real progress as long as the thieves are in charge.

We need to overthrow this government and start afresh. Jonathan, Sambo and their entire cabinet have to go. The entire Senate and House of Reps have to go. We need a totally new government with a new constitutuon with more checks and balances to prevent this nonsense from happening again.

This is why we need to overthrow this government. The amount of stealing is completely unsustainable and we are heading towards disaster if something isn't done soon. We can't afford to wait until the next election. Nigeria cannot survive another 3 years of this.

We may never get an opportunity like this again. Let's not waste it on fuel subsidy alone. we can sweep out all these criminals ruling us and put an end to high level corruption.

Here's a link to the list. It just says "subject to litigation" beside PDP meaning that Jonathan's candidtate's name can still be filled in whenever the court case is resolved.

This is standard INEC procedure. Nothing to see here, move along.

http://www.inecnigeria.org/list-of-candidates-for-2012-governorship-election-in-bayelsa-state-2/

Shut it down! Shut it down!

Starve this useless government to death.

This rubbish policy is just another form of taxation by the useless, corrupt federal government. Instead of them to find ways to encourage the growth of small businesses, they are throwing up obstacles and extorting money.

I tire for these people.

The senators can obviously see the way the wind is blowing. If you try and oppose the will of the people, the people will roll over you.

After this subsidy matter is settled, we'll deal with the issue of their jumbo allowances.

VoodooDoll:
Reasons against:

1) Social welfare vouchers may lead to a massive population explosion. Do we even know Nigeria's true population. People would be encouraged to have as many kids as the state becomes their caretaker

Not true. Seun suggested that the vouchers be given to every Nigerian over 18. The government is not going to be feeding anyone's children. Besides, it is well established that birth rate reduces as people's standard of living rises so less poverty won't lead to more children.

2) Ethnic tension as some smaller ethnic groups would feel cheated and so will go on a massive population explosion. Some ethnic groups will register to collect vouchers in one area but live in another area creating further pressure on infrastructure in the regions they live in

Everybody will get the exact same amount of money regardless of ethnicity.

3) Migratory ethnic groups would find it hard to collect their vouchers - no fixed abode - and so will feel left out of the state and thus cheated

This is easily solvable by making each person register at a single point wherever is convinient. If we can do it with voter registration, we can do it with fuel vouchers.

4) Ghost children and Adults would spring up as corruption and a new cabal prevails

I completely agree on this point. Nigeria is totally corrupt and that is not likely to change anytime soon. Even though we can try to limit fraud with biometrics, etc, the thieves will always find a way.

5) Huge administrative costs may be unsustainable.

The admin costs won't be as high as you think. Computers will do most of the heavy lifting so there won't be much paperwork. Besides, we have an army of idle federal civil servants. Let them earn their salaries for a change.

Arosa:
I understand what you are driving at, but I don't think anybody would want to remain poor cos of fuel vouchers. Poverty is not an envious status,  

No, Seun is right. The same thing happens in the US and UK with people living on welfare or in public housing. If getting a better job means that you're going to lose the government cheque, then many people would rather work less or remain stagnant. There are hundreds of thousands of people living in council flats in the UK who can work but prefer to stay at home and collect disability allowance.

Personally though, I doubt if any government program that preferentially benefits the poor can work in Nigeria. Egaletarianism is a foreign concept to us and even poor people seem to believe that the rich deserve a bigger share of the national cake.

And like I said earlier, the kleptocrats will always find a way to steal the bulk of the money.