₦airaland Forum

idesignwebsite: Oga Fashola didn't make the law,he his an executive governor,which implies he is an executor. I am sure he has security report on the menace of Okada in Lagos and the number of people who are crying in Igbobi. Okada should be restricted to street,not highways,especially in high traffic city like Lagos,on this matter I support fashola

Damn!!! But no security report on the after effect of the ban? ACN runs on propaganda and they have mastered the use of high sounding words like 'progressives', 'sophisticated', 'mega city', 'regional integration' and most recently 'security report'...loool

Looooool...thats how 'progressives' behave, aftera all the National Leader of progressives just returned from the Dems convention after 'reluctantly accepting to honor the GOLD CARD IV' personally given out by Obama himself and followed up by many phone calls to ensure his presence so as to 'boost' the profile convention.

'We' are watching with keen interest...

@juman
Then why is it that we hear more about 'the injustice meted to Salami' from ACN members? So far, ACN members have mourned this removal more than the NBA, Civil Society Organiations and other political parties. The question is why?
The answer is simple when you consider that the 'incorruptible former Justice Salami' exchanged phone calls with Tinubu few hours before the Tribunal under his watch handed over political leadership of a State to a political parties that Tinubu fancies himself as the National Leader. Seriously, are you not worried about this?

@eGuerilla
I never heard of that incident, but i can see that it really happened. I withdraw my former charges that were based on the assumption that it did not happen.
I still believe that there are better ways to settle this and even get the fine paid without making political point with it.

bobosydney: Some people in Nigeria or nairaland talk like a "animal or ignorant " for saying that what fashola did is not right. Nobody above the law and that is why Nigeria keep going backward due to lawlessness. It remind me in 2004 when i was in New Zealand when a police pull New Zealand Prime minister ( President )over when he was in car and gave his drive fine for speeding . Can a pocice pull jonathan over in Nigeria over ? that is why people keep suffering in Nigeria and Nigerians will continue suffering as long as we never change our corrupt or lawlessness mentality . I still don't know why people blame the government though , and the is we Nigerians . I speak the truth from my mind .

Guy, watin u dey yearn sef? Police pulled a sitting Prime Minister over from his convoy and got him fined for overspeeding? Prime Minister?? Make your point without bringing up unbelievable scenarios, it sounds ridiculous. But as you have started, what were Mr Prime Minister's security details doing when they 'police pulled him over'? Funny stuff...

debosky: In percentage terms 17 bn is approximately a tenth of the initial budget of 150bn. We have at least 2 months left in the year - approximately a tenth of the year still to go.

Without knowing the details of why this additional expenditure is required, the figure projected is in itself not unreasonable/alarming considering the period of time remaining in the year.

Let's hope the house will provide appropriate scrutiny to ensure the funds are used for the stated purposes for the benefit of Osun State.

Oh boy! See logic. It sounds like this: 'You can actually overtake somebody in a sharp bend depending on your speed, acceleration and the relative angular deviation of the sharp bend from the normal 180 degrees route'

While i do not doubt the possibility of highly placed Nigerians being behind the security challenges in this country (even my grand mother knows this), I also know that the one way to identify a 'security expert' when he hardly makes statements on National issues. I am not talking about defense contractors. And a guy telling me on television that Boko Haram is sponsored by wealthy Nigerians is not really releasing any intelligence report, he is probably looking for contract.

PS: I don't doubt his assertion, i only question his title.

You people should continue cheering Fashola on. The last time you did that with Lagos Doctors, we all know where it ended. Now is the politics of traffic law. The last time, it was the a military man, then the chief law officer of the country and today, it was a former President of Nigeria. Maybe, next one we will hear will be a foreign head of state during a state visit, after all, 'no body is above the law'

When will Alhaji 'Lie' Mohammed apologize and for what will he be apologizing exactly? He seems to have told more lies than the number of days this year. Ehe....and the 'Gold Card Invitee' to the DEMs convention too He needs to apologize to himself for self defamation of character

patanjaly: You liers i just watch Nta news on plateau visit
1,the bukuru water plant was build in 1981 the present govt just renovated
2,the unijos terf project is non performing d govt is going to revoke it
3 the road shown is d goodluck road which was constructed 3 years ago.
4 d stadium was an abandon project
shame on u 4 coming here to spread lies.

Clap for yourself You have just cracked the Da Vinci Code. You forgot to add that Nigeria was amalgamated in 1914, and so everything being done today is just 'renovation'

wellmax: Why are there so many dead heads on NL. Is it by force τ̅☺ make comments. You just talk for talking sake. If its not sentiments, its tribal or religious, why this kain yeye people full here sef?

Will you be asking this question if GEJ presents a budget of say N100b in October? Now you can better identify the biased guy here...

BrutusOj: U have said it,I tink all som ppl want to hear abt d govt is criticism.Wen d govt does bad dey complain,wen dey do gud even dou it' d responsibility of de govt to do gud,at least an aplause wudnt stop de govt to continue wot it has started.Any way kudos to Govnor Jang,d sight of J.D.Gomwalk road to Zaria road gives me joy.Thumbs up GEJ n co...

It is not some people, they are well known. If you want to know where they are active presently, go to the thread where Aregbesola 'plan' to build cattle ranch. You will see all of them jumping up and down there.

Fact is that those guys have an entirely different agenda. They will praise any promise by Aregbe but will find something to complain about the resuscitation of our rail system. They are not after a better Nigeria. They are out to convince themselves that good things can only be achieved by people that they have narrow tribal interest in. To them, everything is about politics. It is what PDP national publicity secretary called 'drumbeats of tribalism and narrow political adventurism'...

kabba7: Thank God for the national assemble. The hope was that Mark/Tambwal ĄЙd̶̲̥̅̊ their teams will just robber stamp the 'empty' paper called budget so the looting continue . Meanwhile I just wonder why those equipment being moved from state to state for circus shows are not repainted for next state show defebders on NL will do Maku a lot of good drawing his attention there.
I thank the national assembly for the shows, am earning allowances

It is so unfortunate the pathetic low you people have descended to. The important thing however is that the country is moving forward and it is Maku's job to point out the facts. It is GEJ's job to put the facts on ground, but you seem comfortable with the job of complaining about everything.

People are just funny, one guy once complained that his good health is the major reason why he has not tested out the 'medical facilities put in place by government'...

Hahahahahaha....Aregbe is presenting supplementary budget to 'accommodate the increase in the state revenue, recurrent, and capital expenditure' when 2013 budget preparation (at least) should be his preoccupation. Am i the only one that observe the SOLID reason for this supplementary budget?

Now , some of us will be interested in what Aregbe achieves with this extra 15 billa in 2 months after excellent implementation of the initial 150 billa, the effect which we can see in the O'city...

Why are ACN members mourning the disciplinary action meted out to a member of the Nigerian Judiciary by the NJC? I don't like the feeling i get when i think about this...

While I have my fears about raising oligarchy that will have the capacity to stifle us, I still believe that unless we want to throw away fairness from this process, these guys will still meet the requirements to win any big deal in Nigeria. Look at Emeka Offor and Gen Abubakar's business strategy, they engaged the big names as technical partners for these deals and the process allows this. Do we want to change the rules? Is it not better to have foreign companies with substantial Nigerian interests in our shores? Would it not have been better if a deal allowed the Abachas to be part owners of MTN, at least some of the funds presently hauled to SA will still be within our shores. This is reality...

While we take up our position to push against oligarchies, we should not lose sight of the fact that almost all businesses have strong political backing, including Apple and Microsoft, Chevron and Shell. They can be local or foreign, that is the only difference. Which do we prefer? Foreign or local oligarchies? And what is our opinion about repatriation of stole wealth? Nobody today can imprison Gen Abubakar, even the West see him as a noble. How can you imprison him and return the wealth he allegedly stole and starched away in offshore accounts if not through processes like this? Fact is that the legal perspective is tedious, difficult, costly and highly inefficient. Ibori's loot is case study. We just have to, as a matter of National policy, design a framework that will easily encourage our own Dick Cheneys to use their wealth (whether stolen or acquired by government patronage) to create value within our bothers. I am not saying that we should encourage corrupt leaders, but emotions apart, what are our chances of legally getting back the stolen wealth?

I think we should take a robust look at this issue at intellectual level, while maintaining patriotic disposition. Every society have their super-elite. Countries like Cote d'Ivoire and Gabon may have them as French Nationals and in most cases, super-elite are corrupt. Which do we prefer as Nigerians? Is it really fair to come up with a privatization framework that will hand over our national assets to foreigners without substantial local interests? Would it have been fairer if Oando Consortium had won the bid? Can the 'upright masses' buy Discos? Do you think that Nigeria can execute a successful privatization process if our own super-elites are sidelined (as with NITEL) or foreign super-elites favored?

I think the process have been substantially fair, going by the rule of the game. I also think that any disagreement with the process should be at the level of the privatization philosophy of Nigeria. It happens that nobody asked these questions until some persons (both local and foreign interests) lost out in the bids. Now, as with the fuel subsidy protests, is this really about Nigeria or individuals who think that they will lose out in the new order?

take dat: Seem you have a personal vendetta against Aregbe. ACN might lose Osun but not to PDP simply because the real PDP big boys of Osun Politics ie Oyinlola and Omisore lost their respective elections by a wide margin that they decided not to appeal cos the defeat was glaring for all to see just a year and half ago.
Though am not on ground in Osun but based on last year's outcome it looks bleak

You seem not to understand that you are just one person among very many other people and you have as many people who believe you as those who don't agree with you. If PDP present a good candidate in Osun and Aregbe continues what he is doing presently till 2015, he will lose the election just as Akeredolu have lost. The Lagos mafia has been demystified by Mimiko and many people even within SW/ACN are getting more uncomfortable with Tinubu's total political control of the region.

Unless Aregbe changes his ways, 2015 is his to lose. The other option is if PDP and other parties present unpopular candidates. You don't know that people are excited with this new found power in the ballot paper in their hands and they will gladly test it out on anybody.

wale1974: I feel u on the sad state of the roads at Iyana Ipaja, Agege and Egbeda Area but the blame needs to go to those local chairman and council members.

And why not Fashola or Tinubu who imposed ALL of them on the peopls in the first place?

First, I want to agree that the this does not suggest an expanding middle class but a growing upper class. I repeat that most of those guys with those cars are the regular artistes we see in concert, who made money from the CDs they sell to us. AY and P-Square were just average street guys less than 15 years ago. Any society that afford these guys such fast transition straight to the upper class is worth commending. Most importantly, it makes a statement that anybody can make it in Nigeria. It also makes a statement that ours is a society where hard work pays and opportunities available and accessible to all.

Secondly, while many will desire news that highlight the things that are wrong with Nigeria, I guess we should also understand that many hardworking fellow are daring and are succeeding beyond measures. While some bankers are losing their jobs, many others are changing jobs. Entrepreneurs who dare are succeeding. Some people have their containers on high sea as we are speaking. YouWin guys are daring and will also likely succeed. The effective change in the size of the middle class cannot just be measured by the number of people that lost their jobs but also by the number of people that got even better jobs within the same time frame. The local content law has sent many foreigner home and our people are replacing them. The labour economy is just too dynamic for someone to conclude that bankers losing their jobs means a drop in middle class.

Are Nigerians sophisticated and heavy consumers? The answer is yes. People make money for each N100 MTN recharge card someone load, not just MTN!!!

lacasa: Which Economy?

When just yesterday the UN sent out warnings thαt Nigeria's poverty index is at its highest ever & increasing at an alarming rate

Which UN sent out which information? Please, back up this claim. Most of the owners of these cars are the regular folks we we know in the entertainment industry. AY, P-Square, D-Bang, Eldee, etc...these are not politians or foreigners. They are guys we know and they get rick just by holding the microphone. AY and Davido and DBanj actually believe that the economy is growing, if not how do they explain the kind of money they make out of this economy...

Oct 19 - Fitch Ratings has affirmed Nigeria's Long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) at 'BB-' and 'BB' respectively with a Stable Outlook. The agency has also affirmed Nigeria's Short-term foreign currency IDR at 'B'. The Country Ceiling has been affirmed at 'BB-'.

The affirmation reflects progress on a number of fronts including a tighter fiscal stance, an improvement in electricity supply, increased agricultural output which has helped reduce imports, and an increase in international reserves. Nonetheless, the reinvigoration of structural reforms has yet to feed through to a higher growth rate and weaknesses including a vulnerability to oil price shocks, high inflation and governance challenges weigh on the rating.

The partial elimination of the petroleum subsidy in January sent a strong message about the government's reformist intentions. Although the move did not go as far as originally planned, it is an important step in the right direction. Moreover, the political furore it prompted paved the way for a clean-up of the subsidy payment system and crack down on the inefficiencies and fraud that have been uncovered. This has brought important gains to government revenues and international reserves, including the Excess Crude Account (ECA) which has risen to USD8bn this year.

The reforms have yet to have a noticeable impact on GDP growth. Growth has slowed this year, averaging 6.2% in H112, compared to an average 7.4% in 2009-2011. Fitch believes the slowdown is temporary, affected by security and weather problems which have particularly affected agriculture. A recovery to 7% or more should be possible next year. However, there is no sign yet that growth is moving to a higher plain, which should happen as the reforms take hold. The banking system is also still convalescing, with credit growth barely positive in real terms due to high interest rates, limited lending opportunities and improved risk management.

A redraft of the long-delayed Petroleum Investment Bill was recently submitted to parliament. The prolonged debate of this key piece of legislation, affecting a vital sector of Nigeria's economy, has brought major uncertainty and been detrimental to investment. Passage of a bill that achieves the goal of a progressive fiscal framework while encouraging investment would be credit positive.

Significant fiscal tightening is underway. Fitch expects the general government overall balance (including an estimate for state and local government) to move into small surplus this year - the first since 2008. At the federal government (FG) level, H1 figures suggest the deficit (official definition, at the benchmark oil price) may narrow by 1.4% of GDP, although it may slightly overshoot the budgeted level. At actual oil prices, including net flows to the ECA, Fitch expects the FG surplus to increase. The draft 2013 budget is consistent with further fiscal tightening and a broadly stable general government debt ratio, which Fitch forecasts at 22% of GDP at end-2012.

The combination of a tighter fiscal stance, the reduced petroleum subsidy and a tightening of the subsidy payment system and other FX transactions, has resulted in a month-by-month increase in FX reserves this year of a cumulative USD9.1bn. This goes some way towards replenishing the buffer to withstand future oil price shocks. However, reserves still represent only 4.5 months of current external payments, compared to almost eight in 2008. The inauguration of the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority could herald a stronger mechanism for saving
above budget oil revenues. However, it is not clear when it will begin receiving regular inflows.

Nigeria's rating is constrained by long-standing structural weaknesses including a per capita income well below both 'B' and 'BB' medians. A likely substantial upward revision to GDP due to rebasing will not fundamentally change this metric. Even after this, and with nominal GDP growth of up to 20% per annum for the next two years, per capita income would remain well below the 'BB' median. Other constraints include weak governance, a poor business climate, and relatively high and volatile inflation.

Continuation of structural reforms that brought faster GDP growth, higher per capita income, increased international reserves and lower inflation would be ratings positive. The main driver of negative rating action would be sustained lower oil prices and an inappropriate policy response, or a reversal of reforms.

Additional information is available at www.fitchratings.com. The ratings above were solicited by, or on behalf of, the issuer, and therefore, Fitch has been compensated for the provision of the ratings.

Applicable criteria, 'Sovereign Rating Methodology', dated 13 August 2012, are available on www.fitchratings.com.
Applicable Criteria and Related Research:
Sovereign Rating Methodology

http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFWNA798020121019

Our economy is in good hands. We are on the move, probably slowly but surely. With the way Nigeria is going, GEJ would have put Nigeria on the path to sustainable growth by 2015.

^
Don't mind Demdem. FG requested the help of an international audit coy to audit Oteh and found her clean, save for team leadership challenges which the FG consider not to be enough reason to push her aside. Demdem thinks that she should still go but Salami should stay. I marvel at his hypocrisy. Anyway, that ACN's trademark, 'Lie' Mohammed has a line up of 'capable' successors...

If they have so invested excellently, why is the sector not succesful? If how much invested is the determinant of who wins the bid, then the FG's interests should go unchallenged. The problem with this kind of protest is that its poverty of ideology. What is the idea behind privatization in the first place?
This protest sounds more like #occupyWallStreet or fuel subsidy protest.

Omo_Tier1: May upright standings never elude those who may have to make decisions that will determine your fate.

Do you mean Salami is one of such men of upright standing? Dr Odumakin thinks otherwise...

Demdem: I agree, but we cant because of that not at least have faith in our justice system. we still have to.

And do you agree that Justice Salami is one of the reasons for the eroding faith in our judicial system? I guess the answer is no because Salami is ACN benefactor.

I love Nigerian soldiers. A heard of how boys beg their bosses to draft them to trouble areas to see action, complaining that throughout their stay in the army, they had not shot at a real target. They will be quite happy with this order...

@Demdem
Your fight against corruption seem to always get derailed whenever it affects ACN's interests. Why is that?

You were in support of Oteh's removal from office while she is being investigated for Hembe's claims and fictitious corrupt practices. Oteh is the Head of stock exchange, so her position is less sensitive than that of Salami. But for Salami, you felt that it is ok for him to continue to head a strategic section of the judiciary that is investigating him. You forgot that at one point or the other, he may be required to take the last decision in his own case.

I understand your position- you have to do your job and you have a KPI -but I advice that you get smarter about it. What is your party's interest in Former Justice Salami. Can you just precisely answer this question?

Talking about 'investing heavily' in the electricity sector in their domains and knowledge of the area, their logic seem to suggest that the FG should continue to own everything since it invested the most and has the most extensive knowledge of the territory and the sector. We can see how 'efficient' power distribution and supply has been in Ekiti, Edo and Delta before GEJ's intervention measures and we can see for ourselves how 'technically qualified' this 3-state consortium is.

Power before now was in the exclusive list of the FG responsibilities. So is the power to sell off such state resources to investors they deem qualified. These states better align more strategically with the named investors instead of this funny talk. It is about providing electricity to the people we are talking about here.

Former Justice Salami is far from being re-instated. All ACN members crying for his recall can take a chill pill, it exposes them further. There are many dimensions to Salami issue. First, is the legal angle and the second is the moral angle. Legally, Salami cannot be re-instated until ALL pending court cases are dealt with. That is the law. And the cases cannot be dealt with with him on that seat, hence his removal in the first place. The moral angle is the inexcusable exchange of one sided correspondence with some people who came to his court for justice. Even if justice was done, it will never look as if it was ever done.

What actually happened on Thursday was that the position of Mr President was echoed (endorsing the position of his legal team) while Salami's chance of re-in statement is pushed farther out of reach. Anybody can believe ACN propaganda at their own peril. You can refer to the link below:

http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/lead-stories/49464-hope-dims-for-salami-as-njc-dumps-reinstatement-option

ndu_chucks: If you were not a JJC, you would not have thought that I harbour any kind of anger towards Madam. She is our first lady and her travels and medical trips are funded by us, so we have every reason yo know what we were paying for while the was away.

I accepted the title of JJC, that is not a problem. After all calling someone by any name on a faceless forum to me is a funny way of feeling some superiority that may be lacking in real life. I indulge such, it is good for the society.

We are actually saying the same thing. Saharareporters said that she underwent surgery, Madam came back and said that she did not undergo any surgery and you got angry and started calling the first lady a lair while maintaining a straight face in your claim that you harbor no anger towards her. Your calling her a lair seem to stem from the idea that she denied what Saharareporters claim. I understand why saharareporters should call her a lair, but you? Unless you are a staff or a stake holder of saharareporters.

[quote author=semid4lyfe]According to him, the committee noted that since Oteh's return, the commission has been plagued with series of protests that have pitted her against the staff.

"The committee, therefore, resolved to support the position of the House of Representatives that the SEC DG be removed forthwith. The committee also resolved to have nothing to do with Arunmah Oteh for as long as she remains at the helm of affairs at the SEC", he said.

Am i the only one that observed this point. Their only grouse with this woman is that she does not work well with staff. Others calling for her removal on this forum refer to funny stuff like 'arrogance' and indecent allusion. This underlined the poverty of ideology behind some of these so called clarion calls.

On a more serious note, this is the time for the President to empower his party to play the right politics that should instil more discipline in the polity especially among his party members. Because of the perceived humility of Mr President, everybody now challenge the enormous powers of his office. How can the National Assembly be so strongly pitched against the executive arm over almost everything despite the fact that the ruling Party has the majority in both houses? I think that Mr President need to straighten his politics. The way things are going, these guys will derail his programs. He needs strong politics at a time like this. Not just him as a person, the office should remain the highest in the land, Democracy does not dictate that the NA call the shots. Now, many people will not like this but it is the truth.