₦airaland Forum

^
I understand your point, but i also want you to consider the fact that FDI is a necessary engine for economic transformation in this 21st century. If you want FDI in your country, then you have to make your country look attractive and go out there and woo the investors. They will then come in with the requisite finance, skills and technology to make the change you are asking for. This is the most radical way to create job.

Based on that, we have to praise the Team Nigeria for assembling these high profile individuals like Rice and Blair to advance Nigeria's case. If you have really planned an event before, you will appreciate the amount of lobbying and efforts put in to get these guys seated there at that time to polish us in the eyes of the world and they did the job pretty well.

This to me is an active effort by some people to make the country better, not firing cheap shot from anonymous internet forum. If we want this change to happen, we must do what we can. Which of this administration's policy do you endorse and what HAVE YOU DONE to advance it. Now if you tell me that you disagree with ALL of this administration's policies, i will worry about your motives.

Biggyd2: Blair can say what he wants.He doesn't know the country more than Nigerians. My issue is what GEJ means by 'fear of the unknown". Is that part of the reason he is thinking of a second term.

OBJ said the same thing some years back. This is the problem with Africa and Blair and Rice knows he is right because they were part of administrations where sitting presidents deceived millions of people and even doctored reports so that they can go to war in Iraq. Blair and Bush were wrong, we know this, and Rice was part of that America. Today, Bush and Blair are resting from their services to their country because their people understand that they made these terrible judgments while trying to serve their country and advance them.

In Africa here, we know how we denigrate our leaders. We somehow believe that once your time is up, you should be hounded to prison for real and imagined crimes and all that. I am not suggesting that Africa should not hold their leaders accountable after their tenure, but African leaders should be tried ONLY on cases of mass murder and such other crimes. This is the sad truth, but this is the only thing that will consolidate democratic rule in Africa. Now give me one reason why you should not die in office if you are Robert Mugabe.

Blair and Rice were not talking to you. It was not a campaign tour. They were indirectly wooing the investing community and telling them that Nigeria is on track. And besides, if the right people say that Nigeria is on the right track, i don't care what obvious sympathizers of the opposition political party says.
The colonialists are seeing something good in your country but you are busy denigrating your country and her democratic institutions every day on NL, choosing to emphasize ONLY the negatives at the expense of the positives. I think you are really the guy who is trying to recolonize our minds with negativity.
Nigeria and the current administration must not go down for you to look better. It is our collective responsibility to advance the course of right and fight indicators of a 'failed' mindset- unrelenting negativity.

For all the bad names you have to call your President, Blair has already advised him not to always accept your judgment on issues as you are speaking for some vested interests who are bent on maintaining the status quo. Rice also mentioned something about hearing for the first time that instead of news of AIDs and corruption coming from Africa, she can clearly feel GEJ's efforts in terms of expanding opportunities. Even Tinubu and IBB agrees as they are actively involved in this scramble to take advantage of the opportunities. I am most encouraged by the part that Nigeria is on the way up, and that means tht Africa is on the way up.
These are cheering endorsement by the people the investing community listen to, not vested interests.

Not being able to identify your talent can in itself be a talent. Who knows...

@GenBuhari
what do you say about the states in the north that CPC won governorship sits in the last election. Do you thin the PDP rigged in CPC or did the CPC win fairly?

The best proof of wisdom in town today is to disrespect everything the country should hold dear. Insult the president and his family and you are a 'progressive.' Demean the country of your birth and you are an 'intelligentia'. Even better, wish any member or even ALL first family death and you are a super star. Opine wildly that the Federal Government is the 'enemy' and you are automatically a hero. What a pathetic low people have decended!

Ok. We flog the LG crew and leave the governor? The last time i checked, folks were flogging T.A Orji (at least on NL) for the terrible pic of Aba. Such shameful double faced folks we have around.

I remember the number of pages the taxi driver story ran into because it aims to present the FG as bad. I am watching this to see similar, but opposite treatment.

Dear Mr Senate President, before you demand for the resignation or sack of the Sports Minister which is not directly under your watch, i request that you demand the resignation of your Senate Comittee Members of Sports or outrigtly sack them. This, i believe is within your direct power. I agree with you, they let us down. Show us how to be the leader you want Mr President to be.

We can better appreciate how not to 'politicize education' if you can reduce your fonts and not posting education related topics in politics section

I think people are trying hard to export their personal tendency to micromanage others to the national sphere. I believe in Democracy very strongly and even more strongly, in its ability to bring about order and my idea of civilization.
Somebody was nominated to do a job. You screened him and found him qualified to be at the helm of the CBN for 5 years. 4 years into his mandate, while executing his assignments in line with his job description, you come up to say that the very tool you gave him to work with is not 'popular' I keep wondering, was his job to take popular decisions or to take necessary decisions?
Let this guy do his job so that you can have the moral authority to say whether he has done well or not at the end of his tenure. To me, this is Democracy. Democracy should be patient, atleast for every 4 years and 5 years in the case of Sanusi. DO NOT MICROMANAGE people when you trust them enough to do a job.

For folks making funny comments, who stand to lose if Lagos refuse to work with the FEDs?

I have more respect for a guy that speaks three or four major languages(English, French, Arabic, Spanish, Italian, etc) like this guy than I have for one that speaks ONLY English like Soyinka.

Talking about cutting cost, why not scrap the House of Reps, afterall they are more in number, less mature and less productive than the Senate.

I was telling somebody that the NA has no such powers under the constitution to stop the CBN from this action and they said i am ignorant. It remains good politics to carry Nigerians along, NA inclusive but not a prerequisite.
The NA will be shooting herself on the foot with any action aimed at reducing the powers of the CBN because this is a very technical area that need expertise and information, not necessarily popularity to handle.
Now, few questions for the NA. Monetary policy formulation and naira redenomination, which affects Nigerians more? MPR, exchange rate, inflation and other indices that the CBN manages are far more profound than Naira redenomination. If you are courageous enough to grant the CBN powers to handle these other issues, what then is currency redenomination?
I never supported Sanusi's appointment as CBN governor mainly because i feel that a B.Sc in Economics holder with 15 years banking experience is not qualified enough in a gifted country like Nigeria to manage multi-billion dollar economic monetary policy but the NA felt otherwise.
My advice to the NA, democracy runs on laws not arbitrariness. You confirmed Sanusi as CBN governor, let him do his job!

When it come to positive reports coming out of Nigeria, some folks will have us understand that economic indices don't matter. Is this really hatred for your country or personal disbelief in oneself overflowing? All bad news are celebrated and good news are terribly questioned. Pathetic, i must say.

This notion of 'government is the enemy' is pathetic.

Is it not disheartening where the latest mood in town is for people to assign more credibility to what BH says than what brave men and women who are have families like all of us, fighting our common enemy. If BH comes out to say that they killed 2 soldiers, nobody will question it.
How low we have decended in our attempt to make government the enemy and our real enemies, our friends.

As if we don't really know the Bakassi story...

Beaf is a legend.

But the US already have $100 bills, equivalent of about N15000. If the argumant against this is in terms of value, i don't think it stands firm.

@Reference
I agree with you completely but such robust debates has happened since 2005 before the office of the CBN governor was empowered to do this and majority felt that he should have such powers.
Sanusi does not really have the profile of my ideal CBN governor but how can we hold him responsible for his today's decisions in 2020 if we do not even allow him to take that decision in the first place. I think democracy makes us civilized by getting us to act according to laws. Democracy is not intended to yield one big chaotic system where everyone has to agree before policies are implemented, that is why even the National Assembly have principles of 2/3 or simple majority. Democracy makes your vote an equivalent to that of musiwa.

I have my issues with Sanusi but if someone is nominated for a job and screened by our Senate and found worthy of such office, we should be gracious enough to let them DO THE JOB. The law has empowered this guy, by virtue of his office to take decisions that will advance the country economically and what he is doing is within the limit of his powers, so lets not do his job for him...let him do the job we put him there to do!!! This place is not a jungle.

I don't like this man much but i respect his depth, native wisdom and firm grasp of the ways of this world, particularly Africa. Mayby, i am wrong in not liking him the the first place..

lanre_front: ^ Mr. Frank-C,

Please why not just keep silent. The more you talk, or is it write, the more you expose your folly and great ignorance.

There really is no point in trying to argue with u because it's apparent you do not have grasp of elementary rudiments of separation of powers, and the roles of the three arms of government.

Half-illiteracy has always being more dangerous than illiteracy. An illiterate knows he does not know, but an half-illiterate believes he knows when he actually knows nothing.

Your writings contains grammar, mentioning CBN acts and stuffs like that; but that is there is to it. Someone needs to tell it to you. Go educate yourself more about the running of government and stop conjuring together things you picked up from various places.

Please, boldly point out the erors in my logic and let me see how wrong I am. You can't just declare that I am wrong, highlight the line in my argument that led you to that conclusion.

And let me restate my point- The executive (of which CBN is an agency) does not need Senate or HoR consent to redenominate the naira or remove subsidy according to the law of the land. It may be good politics to carry influential leaders of various arms of government along but not a pre-requisite. Examples of situations where they consent is required is in declaration of war or ministerial screening. You can pull up sections of the constitution that make you think otherwise let us debate it but declaring me fooling and ignorant doesn't just cut it. I am willing to learn from intelligent argument not name calling.

@1025
Yes, I am ever ready to learn, especially from experts on the subject matter under discussion. I also recognize that experts are people who do not allow their professional opinions to be corrupt by their personal opinions.

I don't think you are correct, my friend. You should be able to differentiate law making and law enforcement. Actually, why political parties push for their candidates to win seats in parliament is because they want to be able to push laws that further their party ideology, like Obama health care bill or constitutional amendments or gay bills or even market control bills, not to stop the executive if they want to enforce bills already passed and signed into law. These are new laws or amendments to existing laws which is law making. As it is, i have opined that the NA can repeal CBN ACT 2005 and that is what is before the senate now, thereby limiting the executive playing field with the law. But UNTIL that is done, it is only good politics to mobilize opinions to enforce a law and not necessarily a law as you are making it out.

Now, you will agree with me that fuel price or Naira redenomination is being done in line with a law already passed by NA and assented to by the President, so the NA has no official role to play here. It is purely within executive powers to change these things. Senate can pass a resolution to say that they don't like the policy but this is not a Parliamentary system where Congress resolution carries legal weight. Here, such resolution only shows disagreement of the House but does not in any way legally stop the executive from going ahead.

As Nigerian Law permits today, the President can totally(and legally) remove fuel subsidy or redenominate Naira without consulting the senate legally. This does not mean that it is good politics because consensus building is always a good thing in a democracy but in matured democracies, consensus are built along broad based party ideologies like liberal/conservatives. So fuel subsidy removal is an attempt to liberalize the market which PDP may believe in and so more PDP members are likely to agree with the executive. Ofcourse, Mr President can meet with Senate leadership but the law does not require it. I think you are mixing up good politics with the law.

On OBJ's third term, he wanted to change the LAW. That was how the NA got involved. If OBJ can run without changing the law, the Senate cannot do anything about that, likewise the issue of fuel subsidy or Naira redenomination. How action which the law already empower them to perform is carried out rub off on people's feelings but as i said earlier, popular policies are not necessarily good policies and I am not ready to debate whether redenomination/fuel price increase is a good or bad policy because it depends entirely on how you are looking at this and I probably cannot see what you are seeing.

Does the Executive need to mobilize support for her policies? Yes, because it is good politics to carry Nigerians along, including the NA. Is it the LAW to get Senate approval and that of Nigerians before enforcing what the law already empower them to do? NO!!!

Please, don't reduce this to personal attack and pedestrian talk. If you have a contribution against my argument, you can make that without using foul language.
My point is clear. Legislators legislate and do NOT interfer in executive decisions that the law has not empowered them to. I think your idea of three arms of governenment is not accurate. You can test that logic if you place it side by side with the principle of seperation of power. There are however few areas where the law permits legislators to intervene like declaration of war and ministerial screening and not in areas like currency redenomination.
I am not in anyway saying that the legislator is not relevant. I am saying that execution of government programs and policies in line with already established laws (like CBN act 2005) falls strictly within the purview of the executive responsibility, and so, the legislature's oversight function can only be to ensure that the laws are followed.
Again, i maintain that this does not add or remove anything from the debate on propriety of the policy. Only seasoned economists can predict at a time like this. But for Falana to come out openly to say that executive policy will be stopped by the legislature on grounds of unpopularity is just an emotional talk. If you want to have a decent debate on this, i will like to listen to you but if it the kind of talk you jus put up there, then i'm sorry, i don't trade insults in faceless public forum.

^ Yes, I a a Nigerian, but not the bandwagon type. I ask again, what has the NA to do with government's economic policies? The job of the NA is simple, law making and oversight and you should check out the meaning of oversight. It is just like saying that the NA should stop an executive agency from functioning. No, they can not. They can only ensure that such agencies function according to the enabling laws, and when they don't, do you know that they still depend on executive agencies to get them to do so? Naira redenomination is purely an executive decision, the only approval needed to proceed as Nigerian law presently allows is that of the president. That was exactly why Soludo was stopped on his track when Yar a'Adua refused to endorse his program. We should stop all these emotions and learn to take things in perspective.

I think as far as NA is involved right now, the question is this: does CBN have the powers to proceed with the redenomination of the Naira with the approval of the President. The CBN Act 2005 says YES. What can NA do in this situation? 1. The law allow them to just ensure that this policy is executed according to the enabling act and 2. to change the law so that NEXT time the CBN will have to get NA approval to carry out its programs. This is the law, my friend.

Now, this does not add or remove anything from the popularity of the policy. And i will also mention that good policies are not necessarily popular policies.

This Falana guy is so ignorant that when he speaks, it lack any iota of logic but all emotion. What has NA to do with government's economic policies. There is no need then for executive. If for strategic economic reasons and long term economic security needs of the country the executive decides to redenominate the naira, who is NA to say NO? Is is a law? We can as well outsource our economic and infact executive decisions to NA. The arguments against this policy is just too emotional, similar to arguments against Soludo's redenomination. We should just grow up in this country.

Biggyd2: Chief Sumner Karibi Dagogo-Jack (born 1930) was chairman of the National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON) appointed by President Sani Abacha, holding office from 1994 to 1998.[1]

Dagogo-Jack served as a member of the Humphrey Nwosu electoral commission (1989–1993) and was later appointed chairman of the National Electoral Commission of Nigeria.[2] His commission was reportedly not impartial, but was controlled by Abacha.[3] [b]Under Dagogo-Jack, NECON registered five political associations, none led by credible politicians. These were United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP), Congress for National Consensus (CNC), Democratic Party of Nigeria (DPN), National Centre Party of Nigeria (NCPN) and Grassroots Democratic Movement (GDM). The purpose was to ensure that Abacha would become the sole presidential candidate, supported by all parties.[4]
[/b]The commission conducted elections for the local government councils and the National Assembly.[1] NECON overstepped the bounds of its authority in some cases. For example, shortly before the March 1997 local government elections, Dagogo-Jack nullified the positions of National Leader in the NCPN and National Coordinator in the DPN, which he said were in violation of the parties' constitutions.[5] The elected officers had not been inaugurated when Abacha died suddenly in June 1998, and his successor Abdulsalami Abubakar initiated a fresh electoral process that would lead to the establishment of the Nigerian Fourth Republic in May 1999.[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumner_Dagogo-Jack

Aside from the above, i don't know much about this individual. My concern is that this man should have enough expertise to provide Nigerians with power (where he comes from not withstanding). Let this not be an appointment based on "settlement" sha.

I think the guy's name is Mr. Reynold Dagogo-Jack and not Chief Sumner Karibi Dagogo-Jack as your post suggests.

Is it not interesting how 'investigations' by the Punch Newspaper was published by 'nigerianeye.com'.