₦airaland Forum

I can only speak for observation 2 being incorrect. I have a relative on npower who has been receiving her monthly stipend. They also have a groupchat where hundreds of other beneficiaries who are also a part of the program are also being paid.

caesaraba:
Nope, this time around, it's you guys who are killing hausas like chickens.
Here's a video of brave Igbos searching for Hausas to kill.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOekXo6VpHM

This is not going to end well for Igbos if they actually capture and kill hausa people in this way.

https://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2017/08/17/cooking-gas-price-drops-30-percent/?utm_source=&utm_medium=twitter


The price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), otherwise called cooking gas, has dropped by 30 percent from N400 per kilogram (kg) in May to N280 per kg currently.

According to a market survey carried out by Daily Trust at different parts of the country, major retailers of the product such as NIPCO Plc and IK Gases Ltd sell at N280/kg while other small retailers sell at N300 per kg.

In the first half of this year, the product averagely remains at N400/kg in many parts of the country.

In Abuja and environs, the price of refilling a 12.5kg of LPG went as high as N6000 in the first quarter of the year. Also, LPG users spoken to have reported a drop in the price in Lagos, Kano, Kogi and Kaduna from what was obtained in the past.

LPG dealers attributed the drop in price to improved supply and distribution.

“There is more product coming in, that is the reason,” said President of the Nigerian Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association (NLGPA), Dayo Adeshina.

“By September or October the BOP jetty should be on stream so we shouldn’t be having any discharge problems, and immediately after that, there will also be another jetty, PWA, in Lagos. Once these jetties come on stream, we should see increased supply,” Adeshina said.

Managing Director of Lyushi Oil & Gas Ltd, Ibrahim Salka Bawa, also said, “There is availability of supply.”

The supply logjam that impeded stable availability of LPG was overcome recently following the unveiling of two LPG vessels in Ulsan, South Korea, by West Africa Gas Limited (WAGL), an NNPC joint venture company, and Sahara Energy Limited.

At the unveiling ceremony, Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, said the development promised to be a game changer in the supply network of LPG nationwide.


Has the price of cooking gas reduced in your area?

The rain has been crazy over in the Rupokwu axis. Hope I don't have to bring out my canoe

In a democracy that operates in federalism, this is a very normal development that will clarify the lines between the 3 tiers of government. This practice of the legislature inserting projects in the appropriation bills happens quite often in the United States. They call it "Pork barrel" spending.

Although, it does highlight the greedy overreaching ambition of this Legislature headed by Saraki/Dogara, but on the flip side, it's normal for the Executive and Legislative branches to test the limits of their powers and it will be left for the Judiciary to determine who will be the last man standing.

At the end of the day, our system of government is evolving and will come out stronger.

People from the South East should critically examine Amaechi's claim and prove him wrong. I live in the South-South and GEJ did virtually nothing in my State. The East-West road was abandoned until Amaechi criticised GEJ for not doing any work on it. The PH airport is a shameful sight but GEJ claimed to be remodeling airports across the nation. I guess ph was not a priority. Let's not forget there's NO road to his village.

These are just a few examples that highlight his blatant neglect for HIS OWN region not to even talk of the South-East. Can anyone provide us a list of GEJ's completed projects/achievements in the South-East because I would love to be proved wrong.

Adiola:
I mentioned the roads that are bad from IMO gate to Enugu no construction is going on do you want me to speak Yoruba before you understand haba ask other people plying that road

So because you claim to live on a road that stretches +200 km, your opinion that there is NO Construction taking place on any part of the road should be taken as fact? Do you drive every inch of the road from start to finish? If so, it shouldn't be a problem for you to show us pictures/video of NO CONSTRUCTION taking place on every inch of the road you claim to have knowledge about. The newspaper article posted earlier clearly shows us pictures of Construction taking place. So who do we believe, newspaper article with clear and verifiable pictures? Or random Nairaland poster with nothing else to rely on but their "word".

TheKingdom:
Amaechi having your interest or his interest I beg. For 8 years he did nothing but sabotage his people and his region so that Buhari a coupist can become president. Don't be silly about Peterside

I don't know about you, but for 8 years I watched Amaechi build schools, health centers, farms, roads and sends thousands of Rivers youths abroad on scholarship. If that is what you call sabotage then let him continue to sabotage. You hate Buhari for whatever reason, but Bayelsa people are regretting Goodluck today because what did he do for them? NOTHING! There is no road to his village for God's sake. If you are on ground in Rivers State you will know that people are regretting having Wike there.

What do you expect from this directionless government in Rivers State. RSSDA staff have not been paid for 22 months now and we wonder why free medicals have disappeared. Drive down stadium road and eliozu road and look what you see, trash everywhere. But this is what Rivers people wanted.....

erico2k2:
Reasoning like this makes me.give up on Nigeria

Thank God you have biafra to turn to.

Kudos to NIMASA. Gone are the days where militants and persons of questionable character are placed in charge of strategic government agencies. Things are looking up.

GrandGarcon:
STORY

If you actually read the article you'd know that this "STORY" is true.

https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2017/03/21/the-march-towards-rice-self-sufficiency-2/

The establishment of a 100,000 metric-tonnes capacity rice mill in Argungu, Kebbi State, is set to catapult Nigeria into self-sustainability in rice production, writes Solomon Elusoji

Sometime in June, 2016, President Muhammadu Buhari, in a Ramadan meeting with members of the business community, announced that his administration would make the country self-sufficient in rice production within 18 months. The President was piqued that the country was still importing its number one staple food in the face of a foreign exchange crisis. Nigeria, Africa’s largest consumer of rice, devours about six million metric tonnes of rice annually, but half of that volume is mostly imported from India, Thailand and Brazil.

Several months down the line, the President’s promise has been buoyed by the emergence of a 100,000 metric-tonne capacity Wacot rice mill in Argungu, Kebbi State. It’s the first rice mill project to be executed and completed during the Buhari administration and its ambitions are staggering.

Rice mills dot the country, but the world-class posture of the Wacot’s will set it apart. Occupying 10 hectares of land, it cost 10 billion naira to build. It has about ten silos with the capacity to store 18,000 tonnes of rice paddy and warehouses for storing an additional 12,000 tonnes of rice paddy. The mill is stocked with machines from world renowned machinery suppliers like Buhler, Petkus, SKF, Thermax and Silos Cordoba and includes a fully equipped lab to test all parameters for ensuring consistent quality of its rice products.

The Rice Mill has also been built with the economics of the environment in mind. It will generate electricity from husk (the hard protecting coverings of grains of rice), thereby ensuring that all by-products from the processing are well-utilised. It will generate 1 MW of electricity via turbines to reduce dependence on the national grid. It also has a fully equipped water treatment plant that takes care of its liquid waste before they are discharged into the community, where they can be safely used for irrigation.

The Mill is managed by Mr. Amit Gupta, an Indian business manager with a penchant for detail, who believes that Nigerian is an “amazing” place to work and live. He acknowledges that the Mill is an important project, but he is more focused on working with local farmers to increase their rice yield. “The Mill is the more visible parts of our initiatives,” he said, “but what we are really excited about as a company is the work that we do with farmers on the ground.”

The Mill’s parent company, Wacot (West African Cotton Ltd, a subsidiary of the TGI Group), has successfully worked with Nigerian farmers for decades. It was the first company to do an Out Growers Model and Farmers Assistance Scheme with cotton farmers in Katsina. The success of those programs has helped the company to become one of the largest producers and exporters of cotton in West Africa. Wacot has its ginnery (Continental Eagle) in Funtua, Kastina State and has a capacity for over 50,000 metric tons of seed cotton per season.

Now, the company is extending its expertise to increasing yields among rice farmers in Argungu and beyond, since more farmers need to increase their yield if the country is to meet its self-sufficiency target. Although the building of the Mill only started in February 2016, since 2013, Wacot has been engaging with farmers via two training schemes: the Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and the Yield Enhancement Techniques (YET). The company has worked with over 4,000 farmers and distributed inputs – high quality seeds, fertilisers, agro-chemicals – worth 144 million naira.

“We did it because we felt there is a value chain where we can participate in, where we can grow with the country, and then over a period of time the value appropriation will come automatically,” Mr. Amit said. “Sometimes you don’t enter a business to make money, you enter a business because the industry is growing and you can be a key player in ensuring the growth and the well being of the industry. Automatically, by virtue of being the first mover, you will get certain benefits later on.”

The choice of Argungu as the site of a Rice Mill is not a random one. To the people of the community, rice farming is like a second nature. “When I was a child, I did not know that human beings eat anything other than rice,” a retired Justice of the Supreme Court who is now the Chairman of a rice farmers association in Kebbi State, Justice Uthman Mohammed, told THISDAY at his residence in Argungu.
Although rice has always been grown in Argungu, it has not always been commercially viable. In the past, a 100kg bag of rice cost between 3,000 to 4,000naira. The farmers did it just to feed their family. But within the past two to three years, it started to become profitable. Now, directors of companies are closing their offices and going to the farm.

“We were not getting value for the kind of effort we put into the work,” Justice Uthman said. However, last year, the retired judge, who produces around 1,000 bags of rice paddy a year on his farm, sold a bag for 10,000 naira. “Most of the young men in the community are now into the farming of rice,” he said.
The economic incentive has urged farmers, not just in Argungu, but all over Kebbi, to double their yield. In 2017, the state is set to produce about two million metric tonnes of rice paddy. “Very soon we shall be exporting rice,” the retired judge said.

This explains the enthusiasm that has enveloped farmers in Argungu on the emergence of the Wacot Rice Mill. “Before the Mill, we used to get the rice to the market and then it will be taken far-away,” Justice Uthman said. “So when we learnt about the rice mill, you cannot explain the happiness of the people. Now we have no problems of getting buyers and it will encourage us to feed the mill. We have told the farmers, now grow more rice. We are very delighted that a mill has come here.”

Another stakeholder who is delighted at the presence of the mill is the Emir of Argungu, Alhaji Samaila Mohammadu Mera. “The most important thing to a farmer is an available market for his product,” he told THISDAY. “With Wacot around, we have that. We are guaranteed good prices for what we produce. The future is big and bright and we have a responsibility to ensure that the company is sustained.”

The community is also witnessing an economic transformation; more jobs are flowing in (the Mill alone will provide direct and indirect employment for 3,500 people), new businesses are being built around the Mill and there’s a bubbly sense of optimism in the air. Wacot has also completed several humanitarian projects in the community. They’ve renovated a school and a hospital and have organised health camps with free consultation and medicines to over 1,000 farmers. “We’ve always had the aspiration to implement positive change,” Mr. Amit said.

Now, attaining self-sustainability in rice production is only a matter of time as different states in the country have prioritised increasing paddy yield. The partial ban on the importation of the product and dollar scarcity has raised the prices of foreign rice, turning the head of consumers towards their local substitutes. But Wacot is bent on not just being a substitute.

“We want to change the perception that Nigerian rice is inferior to Thai rice; it’s not,” Mr. Amit said. “It might be slightly shorter, but in terms of polish, safety parameters and ability to give nutrition to the body, it is top-of-the-line. When people buy our bag of rice, they will also be buying an assurance that what they want to consume is best in terms of food standard, health standard and safety standard.”

Great post! It's a trait most African countries suffer from; liitle to no benefit from the resources extracted by European colonizers.

It also goes to show how America and it's partners are going out of their way to destabilize Nigeria and Africa as a whole.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, is facing the allegation of conspiring with a property development firm against electricity consumers who pay as much as N150,000 monthly for power in Abuja.

Residents of Emerald Court, a housing estate in Gudu District of Abuja, accuse UAC Property Development Company, UPDC, of illegal generation of electricity, overbilling, disconnection of residents, and failure to separate the public electricity supply from residents’ private lines.

They also accuse the company of violating the Electricity Power Sector Reform Act, EPSRA, 2005, and doing so with the support of the regulator, NERC.

The residents say NERC has refused to sanction UPDC almost a year after clear illegalities committed by the company were reported to it.

At the core of the controversy is that UPDC installed and operated in the estate electricity generating sets with combined capacity of over 1,015 KVA, without an operating license.

As part of its services, UPDC has been distributing the generated electricity to the estate and levying residents arbitrarily bills without providing meters to determine consumption, said Odilim Enwegbara, a resident of the estate.

Each of the 42 flats and five service apartments in the high rise section of the estate are required to deposit N1 million every year to take care of electricity bills, subject to a minimum charge of N150,000 every month, irrespective of consumption, Mr. Enwegbara said who sent a petition to NERC.

UPDC replicates the same practice in all the over 16 residential and commercial properties it currently owns and operates in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.

NERC wades in

Part IV, Section 62 of the EPSR Act 2005, which sets up NERC, prohibits the generation, distribution and trading in electricity by any person, except in accordance with a licence issued by commission.

Sub-section 62(2) specifically states: “…, a person may construct, own or operate an undertaking for generating electricity not exceeding one megawatt in aggregate at a site or an undertaking for distribution for electricity with a capacity not exceeding 100 kilowatts in aggregate at a site, or such other capacity as the Commission may determine from time to time, without licence.”

Section 62 (5) stipulates: “…any person who contravenes any of these provision “commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding five hundred thousand Naira, or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years , or to both such fine and imprisonment.”

NERC waded in after it received a petition from Mr. Enwegbara, and on March 10, 2016, its officials visited the estate to confirm the allegations.

On April 11, 2016, General Manager (Legal, Licensing and Enforcement Division), Olufunke Dinneh, wrote to UPDC management on NERC’s findings during its visit to the estate.

NERC’s findings, Mrs. Dinneh said, confirmed the allegations against UPDC. Apart from operating two electricity generating units with combined capacity in excess of the one megawatt limit set in the Act, NERC also found UPDC’s electricity distribution within the estate was above 100 KW.

Besides, Mrs. Dinneh said documents reviewed from residents during the visit also revealed the company’s billing system did not conform to NERC’s regulation.

Mrs. Dinneh said an analysis of what UPDC levied Mr. Enwegbara for January 2014 to January 2015 showed grid supply at N32,123.60, generator supply (N178,914.73); VAT (N100,289.97) and service charge (N496,030.96).

“An appraisal of facts from our investigation, vis-a-vis the provisions of the Act, brings us to no other conclusions than that you are clearly in violation of the Act,” Mrs. Dinneh said in her letter to UPDC.

On May 6, 2016, NERC sent a letter to UPDC directing it to desist from its illegal activities and maintain status quo, by collecting only recognised tariff and refrain from illegally disconnecting residents, pending the final determination of the complaint.

Meanwhile, UPDC was served notice to commence enforcement of its rules for violating the Act if within seven days of the receipt of the letter it did not respond to all the issues.

On May 13, 2016, NERC said UPDC requested a meeting with it and the petitioner. At the meeting, UPDC was directed to replace bulk metering with AEDC individual meters to residents within 30 days and report progress to the Commission.

The meeting resolved to carry residents along by copying them in all correspondences between NERC and UPDC till the matter was settled.

On May 27, 2016, NERC said UPDC wrote to request that enforcement action should not commence against it, as it had commenced the process of obtaining a captive generation permit, while a consultant would advise on the separation of grid from private electricity supply.

Curiously, contrary to its resolution during the meeting, Mr. Enwegbara said NERC deliberately refused to inform residents about UPDC’s moves and its decision to grant a six-month extension for the company to comply with its directive.

NERC said during the extension, UPDC would obtain a valid captive power generation permit, provide detailed work plan with specific timelines, stop disconnecting residents and separate public electricity power supply from others.

“The fact that NERC kept residents in the dark about what UPDC was doing only confirms it was more interested in defending and protecting it, to continue defrauding unsuspecting residents of Emerald Court,” Mr. Enwegbara said.

“Let NERC produce a letter it sent jointly with UPDC to Emerald Court residents and the evidence they agreed that extending the timeline would be in their best interest, while stopping the illegal captive electricity generation and distribution would hurt them,” Mr. Enwegbara noted.

He told PREMIUM TIMES residents have good reason to suspect NERC officials compromised their job.

“If NERC officials were not compromised, how come they failed to sanction UPDC for violating the law? Apart from the N500, 000 fine stipulated in the Act for offenders like UPDC, why did NERC not demand the refund of all payments by residents in excess of the legal electricity bills?

“Clearly, NERC allowed UPDC to get away with the fraud, not only in our estate, but in all properties the company runs across the country,” Mr. Enwegbara said.

Mr. Enwegbara, on July 18, 2016, protested against NERC’s decision to grant UPDC operating license.

“My greatest disbelief is that NERC, which as a regulator, should be protecting public interest from the illegal and exploitative activities by private companies like UPDC, is not only (failing) to do so, but in fact providing such public exploiters all the backdoor support to legitimize their exploitation of the unsuspecting public,” Mr. Enwegbara said in a letter to the Commission.

“Why is NERC biased and in a hurry to grant UPDC captive license to legitimize its illegal trading in electricity, but reluctant in stopping UPDC from defrauding its unsuspecting residents,” he added.

He gave NERC seven days to respond or risk legal action. A copy of the protest was sent to the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Tunde Fashola. The Minister is yet to respond to the letter.

However, UPDC in a letter to all residents last December said the estate was connected to the national grid with a dedicated transformer and skipper panel meter for reading the total power consumption in kilowatts from the electricity distribution company.

To carry out NERC’s directives, UPDC said the 650 KVA generator would be replaced with a 400 KVA generator to avoid violating the law and reduce its total power generation capacity to about 765 KVA, less than one megawatt limit.

The company said the cost of connecting each generating unit to the national grid and each unit having two meters for public and generator power consumption would be borne by each resident.

In its response to PREMIUM TIMES’ enquiry last Thursday, NERC said over 90 per cent of the work on the installation of dual tariff meters had been completed by UPDC, with the entire work to be completed in March.

No changes

However, residents told PREMIUM TIMES during a visit to the estate that UPDC had continued to act in defiance of its agreement with NERC.

Although bulk supply meters have been installed about a month ago, the company is yet to connect them to individual premises as directed. Yet, they have continued to levy residents arbitrarily. Those who refuse to pay up are disconnected instantly from public supply.

“The so-called meters were only brought in late last month, while the old fraudulent billing system continues to date. It’s almost one year since the petition was sent to NERC, March 7, 2016. Yet, all the delays have been carefully orchestrated to benefit UPDC, since it continues to send residents the illegal bills,” Mr. Enwegbara said.

When contacted, UPDC representative, Yemi Ejidiran, told PREMIUM TIMES the company had complied fully to NERC’s directives on the issues.

Asked about reports by residents that bulk meters installed at the estate were yet to be connected to individual premises, Mr. Ejidiran said he was not permitted to comment further as the matter was in court.

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/business/business-news/225861-nigerian-estate-residents-paying-n150-000-monthly-electricity-bill-accuse-regulator-conspiracy.html/amp

ivandragon:
the primary factor that caused low savings under the previous administration was fuel subsidy.

if Nigerians had agreed for subsidy to be removed then, we would have saved an extra $35b-$40b...

besides, you talk of logic... isn't it LOGICAL that when the cost of the raw material of a finished good reduces, shouldn't the cost of the finished good also drop? so why is the reverse the case with our PMS? it just goes to show that there are more variables in arriving at a decision than meets the eye.

furthermore, in the context of development, foreign reserves is a secondary factor. its what i call a 'variable', it is effective when other primary factors are reasonably addressed. what is the point of saving if infrastructure is terrible? for instance, you point to present savings & I say, why not build a large refinery? isn't buying PMS one of the drains on the savings? so what's the sense of saving when you would still use the savings to treat a problem you can eliminate by 'not saving' but investing...

that's the situation GEJ met & used the opportunity of high income to try to redress. Nigeria has a huge population - infrastructure deficit which dates back to the 70s when socioeconomic development stopped keeping pace with population growth, so the backlog is enormous & even if Nigeria had an external reserve of $150b without infrastructure, it would mean nothing in real development terms.

countries like Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Mexico, Brazil, Russia have higher reserves than nations like US, Sweden, Canada... but which countries are most developed?


the drop in crude oil price affected things, sure, but a lack of clear focus & planning coupled with unstatemanly utterances made what would have been a manageable situation worse.

that the previous administration had corruption issues is not in doubt, but so did every administration before it & even this present one is on course to equal if not surpass that.

every administration will have its positives & negatives.

Saying the previous administration had corruption issues is an understatement. Couple that with GEJs incessant and unguided spending we find ourselves where we are today. You keep referring to the fact that we were importing pms. Why didn't GEJ take all that extra money and ensure we had working refineries or ensure that the private sector can invest in building a refinery? Isn't that a failure on the part of GEJ? 5 years and our domestic production of PMS was non existant.

This same administration attempted to remove fuel subsidy but was unable to do so. But on the flip aide of that the amount of money being spent on subsidy was doubling and tripling every year under GEJ. It's only now that we've seen that during his tenure the corruption involved in the subsidy scheme was unimaginable. Don't forget about the funds withdrawn from the excess crude account which were never accounted for and the dollars that were passed around during the election, and people want to sit here and blame Buhari.

The system is gradually being rebuilt on firm and sustainable principles. Prudent savings to the reserves will allow more forex to be available, which will reduce the exchange rate (which we are seeing right now), increase foreign investment and improve our economic outlook. Increased spending on capital expenditure will put people back to work and improve our infrastructure deficit. The planned sale or revamping of our refineries, along with Dangotes refinery coming on stream will reduce our constant expenditure of our forex on a commodity that we will now be producing domestically.

GEJ had so many opportunities to set us on the correct path but HE DIDN'T. And to suggest otherwise is pure insanity.

TonyeBarcanista:
Man, Okrikans are not landgrabbers. That is a fact that we must recognise.

While it is true that Okrika is an Island, it is also a fallacy to claim that we don't have other lands. I won't speak much on any disputed territory because I may appear bias, but I will insist that the proper thing be done to seek redress by both parties.


Eleme MUST respect the gentleman pact it entered with Okrika in the nineties so that we sustain the peaceful coexistence we hitherto enjoy. You know that when it comes to violence, they suffer the most.

Okrikans are peaceful people.

So are you saying that the gentlemen's agreement didn't include that of Ekporo? You are aware of their displacement at the hands of Ogu/Bolo right? Isn't that a violation? And wouldn't that violation be the first breach against Okrika and not Eleme as you are insinuating?

GeniusDavid:
Peace and Loving people of Okrika? Not trying to support the violence but is it not the same Okrikas that have been encroaching the boundaries with Eleme? Last year, indigenes of Ekporo were driven from their town by Okrikas.. Okrika that is surrounded by water claiming ownership of lands? Anyone who knows the history of the rivalry between these two would understand the greed of the Okrikas.

Thank you for your respectable insight. Till today the people of Ekporo Eleme are refugees and have been unable to return to their homeland due to the "Peace loving people of Ogu Bolo". Eleme land is constantly being encroached upon from Ekporo to Alesa. Senseless killing is not the solution but let this not be an excuse to continue the land grabbing.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/02/ministry-transport-starting-quiet-revolution-south-west/

WHEN Buhari announced his cabinet members and granted the Ministers portfolios, nobody could have selected the Minister for Transport, Rotimi Amaechi as the minister most likely to succeed in the first term. Compared with appointees from the Southwest and Southeast who had received rave reviews as governors of their states or prolific National Publicity Secretaries, Amaechi apparently had no chance to top the class of 2015 Ministers. To make matters worse, the controversies over the 2015 budget, the frustration over power supply and crazy bills, exchange rate which seems to be flying higher like a kite, loan requests, security issues, and now officially acknowledged food scarcity have all combined to make Nigerians forget the fact that transport is still one of the three most vital services governments provide and it is the second most powerful glue (money is first) binding all economic activities. It deserves more attention than it is getting from most economic and social commentators. Starting today, transport will receive the attention it deserves. Fortunately, not all of us have lost focus. When the Buhari administration clocks its second year in office on May 29, 2017, one Minister will be able to beat his chest that his Ministry has made significant progress. More than that Amaechi and Buhari are about to leave one of the longest lasting legacies in the Southwest and South-South corner of Nigeria – starting with the West.

It is quite possible that neither the President nor the Minister is aware of the scope of economic, social and political transformation that will eventually occur as a result of the proposed rail lines. At the moment, the positive changes that will occur over the years are immeasurable because this writer is still grappling with finding the metrics needed to measure the impact of the changes which are inevitable. The conclusions reached in this first article are therefore tentative. More research will have to be conducted to determine the scale and scope of the economic, social and political benefits that Nigerians will enjoy when the rail lines between Ibadan and Lagos and Lagos to Calabar start rolling. We start with the Lagos-Ibadan line because it is easier for a lot of people to understand the issues here on account of having to live daily with the consequences of having clueless governments in the past. A train carrying 2100 passengers conveys as many people as 150 standard 14-seater buses or 420 cars fully loaded with five people in greater comfort and safety than any of those buses and cars can. Accidents and losses of life and assets will also be sharply reduced. Again, we will over time determine the benefits in there regards. It also carries the added advantage that insurance companies can vie for train accident insurance for passengers covering injuries and death – benefits which cannot now be offered to travelers. Every bus taken off the road as a result of more reliable train service reduces the wear and tear on the roads and traffic congestion. All these have enormous economic results which need to be determined as soon as possible for the people to understand what a dramatic transformation is about to take place along that route. Yet, the basketful of benefits has not been exhausted. The first people to grasp the enormity of this revolutionary idea are people from Ibadan working in Lagos and those along the route of the train line – especially those renting houses in Lagos. Shortly after the Honourable Minister announced the plan to introduce the Lagos-Ibadan rail service, a series of interviews were conducted with people from Ibadan working in Lagos. Unanimously, they are planning to return home to Ibadan and commute everyday to work in Lagos. The same is true of people along the entire route of the rail service. Here again the benefits are numerous but a few will be sufficient for now. First, week-end mothers and fathers can now spend all week long with their families and still work at their present jobs. Nobody knows at the moment how many people will seize the opportunity to relocate home. But, it is a safe bet that close to half a million will gladly return home to spend more time with their families. Here again a well-organised study will be required to ascertain the likely number of commuters wanting to use the service. Nothing will create monumental problems than for far more people to show up than the trains can accommodate. Second, the mass transfer of thousands of tenants from Lagos to other places along the route will reduce the pressure on social services in Lagos State in the first instance. And, it might halt the upward spiral of rents in Lagos. At any rate the people who will relocate to places where rents are far lower than in Lagos will have more discretionary income to spend. They will eat better food; spend more on health and the education of their kids. In a few years, living in Lagos will be a luxury which the people along those routes will no longer want to afford. Will you need a car in Lagos, if you live at Ibadan and commute to Lagos? It is doubtful. Those of us who lived in suburban US communities and went to work with trains knew that we packed the car at a parking lot at the station and went to the city without it. That is likely to be the fate of most people who relocate to other places and come by train to Lagos. Eventually, more vehicles will move out of Lagos and traffic hold-ups will be reduced somewhat. How much is difficult to say at the moment. But, traffic reduction will certainly occur. Even Lagos roads will experience some relief from wear and tear. People just don’t move. For good or ill they move their habits and lifestyles with them as much as possible. Schools, churches and service providers in Lagos will experience movement of their clients and congregations. But, one community’s loss is another community’s gain. Incomes will be redistributed all over the area and new opportunities will open up. Among them are direct bus services from the train terminal to designated areas of Lagos and return journey. Vendors of various goods and services – newspapers, food and drinks etc, will, under licence have thousands of potential customers delivered to the station all day long instead of having to hunt for them in drenching rains and burning sun. Mark my words; in ten years time people will be asking why nobody ever thought of this before. May be then they will erect monuments to Buhari and Amaechi.

Wike should just sack all of his commissioners because it's not like they have the power to do anything anyway.

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has relieved the state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Theophilus Odagme, of his appointment.

Briefing journalists after the state Executive Council meeting yesterday, the state Commissioner for Information and Communication, Dr. Austin Tam-George, noted that the governor wished the former commissioner well in his future endeavour.

He, however, did not give reasons for the sack.
The state was awash two weeks with rumours of the dissolution of the state executive council by the governor.

Sources said the governor was not happy with the performance of most members of his cabinet whom THISDAY gathered were not keeping pace with the speed of the governor on project execution.

https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2017/02/16/wike-sacks-health-commissioner/

FTC woooo!

Wike watch out, APC had really been on the move.

omenkaLives:
APC should focus on taking the economy out of recession instead of wasting time on trying to taint the saintly image of the hero of modern day democracy and his then cabinet of competent technocrats.

They should also stop trying to distract Nigerians from focusing on their ailing president who has been away from office for one year now.

Useless propaganda with no pictures or video of the property.

A prime example of corruption fighting back.

And people wonder why the exchange rate is spiraling out of control. Kudos to the EFCC

A renowned economist and Managing Director, Cocoshen Nigeria Limited, Mr. Henry Boyo, says there is a need for the Central Bank of Nigeria to review its monetary policy framework to address the problems of high inflation, foreign exchange scarcity and high interest rate, among other challenges facing the country’s economy, in this interview with OYETUNJI ABIOYE and TOBI AWORINDE

Recently, you wrote about why Nigerians could become poorer with higher crude oil prices, and this has generated a lot of reactions across the country. Can you throw more light on this?

It is public perception that our current parlous economy is caused by the fact that we don’t earn enough dollars because the price of crude oil has gone down. That is the belief of everybody. But for that perception to be correct, it must be supported by evidence that if we have more dollars, we would not suffer as much. And that position also suggests that we have never been in the position where we had surplus or plenty (of) dollars; because from your assumption, our exchange rate has fallen and the economy has collapsed because we don’t have enough dollars. Reverse: Did your exchange rate become stronger? Did your economy prosper to accommodate higher levels of employment, higher productivity, higher export of finished products and things like that, when the price of crude oil was $150 per barrel and we were producing steadily over two million barrels a day and our reserves touched as high as $60bn and above, our highest ever? Because that is the victory you want by suggesting that if only crude oil prices were up and production was up, we would have more money and we would not suffer. But then, I say, take a look back four or five years ago. Didn’t we actually have this position, where crude oil touched $150 per barrel and reserves were so much that we didn’t even know what to do with it? The Central Bank of Nigeria was even allocating, not even selling dollars to every one of the 2,500 to 3,000 Bureau de Change operators, whether you liked it or not, you could take $500,000. Is that not madness? This is your money, this is our money. And the agency that is supposed to manage the quality of the money we earn is doing this type of thing.

So, it is necessary for you to relate history with the present. History does not suggest that your exchange rate will become stronger when the price of crude oil is higher or you earn more revenue from crude oil sales because you’ve had it in the past and the exchange rate remained at N150 or N160 per dollar or thereabout. And suddenly, the price of crude oil fell and every other thing fell. You must wonder, why did the situation not improve? Why did the naira not become 100/dollar, instead of staying at 155 to 160/dollar for three to four years, when we had excess dollar reserves? We even had an Excess Crude Account. Like you rightly observed in my article, why should it be that when crude oil price is $10 per barrel, the exchange rate is $2 per naira? Whereas if crude oil is now about $40 per barrel, that is about 20 times the price at which the naira was $2; as you can see, things are upside down and this is not magic I am telling you. This is not rocket science. These are things that are obvious. If you want the data to prove it, go and check your records. If I’m wrong, challenge me; come and tell me that the naira was in fact very good. The naira was a very strong currency when we had $60bn in our external reserves and God knows how much was in the Excess Crude Account. And we prepared to give to everybody to go and invest, including the $7bn that Professor Charles Soludo gave to 14 banks to go and learn how to do international business. Where is the money? What were the terms? Shouldn’t we be asking for that money, at a time that we have the economy in such a condition? Shouldn’t we even wonder or have investigative journalists find out whether the $7bn Soludo gave to the 14 banks actually disappeared with those banks that collapsed? Do you think if all these things I am saying are wrong, they wouldn’t have challenged me and said, “No! The money is here. This is the rate. This person and that person have paid back.” But why are people not courageous enough to take it up and find out the truth? It is your country, it is my country.

Inflation is currently at 18.55 per cent in the country. How important is the management of inflation for a country?

The primary job of the CBN is to manage the purchasing quality of the money you and I earn. Somebody may dismiss that and say, “That’s not so important. What is more important is fiscal policy, this or that policy.” But the truth is that all those features of a successful economy that you wish or expect would never be possible, if the management of money in your country is not standard. In other words, without money, there is no government. Without money, there is no reward system that makes sense. Money is everything. Even your fiscal plan will be denominated in money. Everything is money. Without money, there is no business, there is nothing. Money is the river that connects everything. So, you must recognise the significance of money. But something that is so innocuous, the importance is never easily recognised. When you find that to give birth, you pay money; to marry, you give money; to work or visit the hospital, it is money; if the management or the quality of the money that is in the system in your country is defective ab initio, every other thing would not function effectively. That is why, for example, the CBN 2007 Act which has been enacted in almost all successful economies, gives a lot of independence to the Central Bank of Nigeria to manage the value of money in such a way that it will not be counterproductive to other areas of economic activity in the country. But if, on the other hand, the management of that money from the source of supply is inappropriate, you will find that every other thing will also be inappropriate. By the same token, you can observe this reality on the most singular objective to stop inflation from going out of control. So, you now have a system where, in order for the money you earn to be useful and of value to you, in order to continue to encourage students to want to learn so that when they finish school, they can earn money, in order to create an environment where people don’t see other countries where they go for greener pastures, it is all because of the value of the money.

As an aside, I came back from England in 1975 after studying there for almost 10 years. I was happy to come back and rushed back home. People of my age all rushed back because the naira was two to $1. You could buy a new car for an amount you can’t even buy a tyre for today. So, you can see the importance of money. The brain drain was to our side (towards Nigeria). But the moment the money started getting useless — in other words, you have to work 10 times more to get the same thing, because of the fact that your money has been eroded and people say, ‘I’m working so hard, and I am only earning peanuts’ — the brain drain started. The point I am trying to make is, the first lesson of governance is the fear of inflation. And what is inflation? Inflation means that you’re not managing your money supply very well. An Inflation rate as high as 20 per cent means that in five years, the money they are paying you at that time will not buy you a single loaf of bread because inflation has been taking out 20 per cent each year. An example is pensioners who may be earning static salaries. So, if you’re not getting 20 per cent increase in salaries annually, it means that in five years’ time, the money is nothing.

So, you can understand how critical it is to make sure that inflation rate doesn’t go haywire. And that is only 20 per cent. Suppose it doesn’t stop there and it goes to 40 or 50 per cent, it means that if you go into a shop to buy your toothpaste, by the time you come out, the price would have changed. How can you grow your economy (like that)? That is why the first lesson in governance is fear of inflation. So, the CBN has a role to make sure that whatever the circumstances, it must keep inflation down because if it doesn’t keep it down, every other thing will go haywire. Even if you can have your fiscal plan in your budget at the beginning of the year and before the end of the year, 30 per cent of the purchasing value as a result of inflation has gone out, can you implement your budget? Can you bring relief to the people who are earning salaries? Obviously not, because they also find that they are having 80 per cent less purchasing value than what they started with. That is why people who don’t understand keep saying, ‘The CBN is bad, including our Minister of Finance. The CBN should bring down the interest rate.’ How can you bring down interest rate, when you can’t bring down inflation? So, I’ve explained, inflation on one hand erodes your income. When inflation is eroding your income, you can’t buy as much bread or sardine or fish as before? What happens to the people who are producing those things in your country? They reduce their production because of low demand, which is also a result of low purchasing power. And if the low purchasing power continues, only few people will be eating bread because they can afford it.

So, in order to ensure that things don’t get to that stage, you have to manage the supply of money in such a way that inflation is kept at best levels, as low as one or two per cent, as it happens in successful economies everywhere, which we all know. If we have inflation as your first priority, it means that you also would have your cost of funds tied to the rate of inflation. For example, you would not listen to anybody who says, “Lend me N100,000 in January, and on December 31, I will pay you 15 per cent interest on your money.” If you are not money wise or you didn’t go to secondary school, at least you would think that I would get 15 per cent on my N100,000. But if inflation is growing at 20 per cent, if a man gives you N100,000 plus your 15 per cent, you find that it can only buy what N90,000 used to buy before. By the same token, it is impossible for anybody to expect cost of funds to be below the rate of inflation because it doesn’t make sense. Why would anybody want to lend you money when he knows that at the end of the year, the money is going to be less rather than more? So, you can understand. It is only when people don’t understand that they will challenge the CBN and say, ‘Why is cost of funds so high?’ And these same people do not say, ‘Why is inflation so high?’

What are the implications of high inflation rate?

It is the instigator of high cost of funds. Inflation in the first place reduces consumer demand, which means less production and less productivity. It also means more unemployment because if you are not producing, you send people (employees) home. If inflation is high, cost of funds also will be high. So, it is inappropriate to ask the CBN to bring down the cost of funds without first attending to the issue of inflation. The higher the cost of funds, the more difficult it is for those industries who are still surviving despite the lower demand to also survive because it is impractical to expect them to make a profit when they produce their power, water and yet they can also take loans that they have to service at about 20 per cent. They cannot survive for very long. If they want to survive, they may not be able to do it effectively with goods that are coming from countries where interest rate and inflation are three to five per cent. So, you can see that inflation and cost of funds go together. That is why it is inappropriate to start talking of bringing down cost of funds without bringing down inflation.

So, the starting point is inflation, and as I said before, what is the major primary cause of inflation? Its too much money chasing too few goods. So, if you want to attack cost of funds, start with inflation. Reduce the too much money that is chasing too few goods. Reduce the need for the CBN to continuously mop up excess liquidity. Then you start asking the question, where did the excess liquidity come from in the first place? The CBN is paying as high as 15 to 18 per cent for money that it doesn’t need only to come back later to say, ‘I want to help the economy. I want to intervene. Agriculture, take N20bn.’ We are borrowing excess of N6tn annually. In 2016, they already planned ab initio that they were going to mop out N6tn that was supposed to be excess liquidity. How did it get there?

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo was at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland recently. He said the Federal Government was working with the CBN to bridge the huge gap between the parallel market and official window exchange rates of the naira. Is this possible with the CBN’s current price mechanism that is skewed against the naira?

The issue of foreign exchange pricing is a case of the blind leading the blind. It is not the first time of us having these multiple exchange rates. This happened also during the Babangida era. It also happened when Obasanjo came into power. We had multiple exchange rates. But fortunately at that time, our mismanagement was covered by the huge amount of dollars that they were earning at that time. But the reality is that the mechanism for determining the exchange rate is not different from the mechanism that determines the price of any commodity — demand and supply. But then, the price would be adversely affected if the process of demand and supply is interfered with. It will not give you the right equilibrium price for a very simple reason. Let’s take a market example, but in this market example, instead of comparing tomatoes with onions, in terms of price, let us compare like with like. Let us use a currency market where all kinds of currency, including naira, dollars, pounds and euro. In that market, that is all they sell — currencies. We see a situation where you have a particular currency always in surplus in the market, and it is so embarrassing that the central bank of that country is compelled to be borrowing it and paying interest. Meanwhile, the real sector says, ‘Where is the money? We need money.’ The man (central bank governor) says, ‘Wait, I’ll give you money later. But let me borrow this one and pay 15 per cent, even though I’m not going to use it. But at least, it will reduce liquidity in the market, so that inflation would not take over.’ Remember, the fear of inflation. ‘I can’t allow all this money to be in the market. If I don’t mop up, the banks will be lending to every Tom, Dick and Harry and the price of commodities will go haywire. I can’t allow that. So, I need to borrow this money back to back the price mechanism.’ We are now in a market where there is continuous surplus of naira, meanwhile you see them introducing the other currencies into the same parallel market in rations. What do you think will be the state of the naira? Worse still, the agency that controls also happens to be the custodian-general of the naira. Yet that agency appears ignorant and auctions continuously as a tradition rations of dollars from time to time, in a market that is continuously suffocated with surplus naira. So whether the price of crude oil goes to $200 per barrel and your reserves go to $500bn, so long as there is that mechanism where surplus naira always appears in the currency market against rations of dollars, it is not the price of crude oil that will save you. At least, it didn’t save you when the price was $150 per barrel and you had $60bn in reserves, your best — ever reserves. Yet that was when they started listing Nigeria among the one of the world’s poorest nations. Not when the price of crude oil was less than $10 (per barrel) and we had reserves of less than $2bn or $3bn. If you earn more dollars from here till tomorrow, and the system continues to have excess liquidity juxtaposed in a market with rations of dollars and other currencies, which are unfortunately also being auctioned. If you want to auction your phone, presumably it is expected that you would want to sell it to the person who offers to pay the highest. When the custodian-general of the naira decides to be auctioning rations of dollars, for instance, ‘Today, I will only auction $200m’ and the naira in the market can buy $10bn and that continues. If the custodian-general is auctioning dollars in a market that is suffocated with naira, it would not be wise to expect the naira rate to ever improve because you will always have rations of the dollar and billions of naira chasing it. And of course, the billions of naira are in the system chasing inflation, now you have the billions of naira also in the system chasing the weaker naira exchange rate. You have a situation where the cost of excess liquidity and inflation cannot be controlled. Cost of funds cannot be controlled and the exchange rate also can never be brought to what should be. Therefore, the pursuit or control of excess liquidity should be the first step we should take if we want to bring inflation, cost of funds and the exchange rate of the naira under control.

What is the solution to this problem of excess liquidity?

Number one, change the mechanism. By changing the mechanism, you have to reduce the excess liquidity. Also, make the dollars open; distribute dollar certificates for dollar revenue. The intention of these two actions is to drive away excess liquidity, minimise liquidity surplus and when you do that, you will control the inflation. When you control the inflation, you will control the cost of funds and in turn people can buy more because the purchasing power is more because there is less inflation. Purchasing power is more, there is more consumer demand, production and employment is straightforward because you can’t produce without people.

http://punchng.com/cbn-must-bring-inflation-boyo/

Wantedmiller:
No, this is what happens when tout win elections.

Thugs, Touts, Agbero all the same thing. Respectable leadership cannot allow such behavior run rampant.

haggai247:
wow and was thinking about visiting phc oooo dingbang is it. true come and tell me something any tips to aviod boma and his boys
abi make i camel to phc ni?
edaku epp me

PH is a nice place o but you just have to be very care. No go areas are ONELGA, some parts of Emohua, and some Riverine areas. Anything can happen anywhere sha, but make you shine eye.

Always lock your doors when driving in PH. I even saw these thugs harass a watermelon seller on the road close to Slaughter. 5 of these RSG "Officials" turned over the cart and destroyed all the mans watermelons. Armed with knives and other blunt objects, they dared all onlookers to do anything. I felt so sad for our people that day. A typical day in Wike’s Port Harcourt.

http://thenationonlineng.net/motorists-groan-hoodlums-make-driving-port-harcourt-nightmare/

These days, vehicles and motorcycles are blocked in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital by men in white and green T-shirts, with “Rivers State Government” boldly written at the back. They claim to be checking wrong parking, without having identity cards. They are in the habit of impounding vehicles and driving it to an expansive yard on the site of the new Rivers State School of Nursing, directly opposite the old University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH).

Quite unfortunately, the school of nursing, which could not be completed by the Rotimi Amaechi administration has now been turned into a den for illegal acts.

The old UPTH was demolished by the Amaechi’s government, with the construction of Mothers and Children Hospital started at the site by the administration, but could not be completed till the end of the tenure on May 29, 2015.

The yard for seized vehicles and motorcycles (school of nursing, Port Harcourt) now has many shanties, with the uncompleted buildings also turned to barracks/accommodation by many policemen, civilians and miscreants, with the bushy environment becoming an eyesore, while many teenage girls having little children litter the yard.

While Niger Delta Report was at the yard from 9:30 a.m. on undercover investigation to 8:30 p.m., the hoodlums and their friends were freely smoking Indian hemp, taking hard drugs and drinking alcohol, while claiming to be on duty.

Besides seizing vehicles, the mindless and rough-looking youths also harass commercial vehicle drivers over stickers and hackney permit, while attracting outrageous sums of money.

The vehicles-impounding squad is headed by a man identified as Boma, whose wife has a liquor shop in one of the shanties in the yard.

Once vehicles and motorcycles are towed/moved into the yard, behind the popular Sharks Stadium, the tyres would be deflated, keys seized by the miscreants and demand of money from N45,000 would be made, without receipts/booking documents, thereby confirming the hoodlums’ illegalities.

For the fear of losing their vehicles to armed robbers or to prevent them from being vandalised before daybreak, contacts would then be made through the telephone by the victims, for their colleagues, relatives, friends and associates to assist in raising the money, which might be as high as N100,000 or more, before the keys of vehicles/motorcycles would be released, making the yard to always contain many impounded vehicles and motorcycles.

Victims would then begin another round of agony of pumping the tyres, with many vulcanisers on standby, but charging N500 per tyre, instead of the usual N50, under normal circumstance.

Investigation also revealed that from the N500 for pumping each tyre, the vulcaniser would only get between N100 and N150, while the balance would go to the leaders of the hoodlums, which they would share every evening.

The last point of harassment, before impounded vehicles and motorcycles would be allowed to leave the premises was the main gate, where the usually-drunk gatemen would still insist on collecting N1,000, before opening the gate, claiming that the hoodlums would not share the collected “loot” with them.
Not minding the number of hours spent by the victims to plead with the terrible gatemen, exit would be denied, until they collected money.

While in the midst of the miscreants, with identity concealed, the ignorant hoodlums, unaware of who their employer was, claimed they were engaged by the Chairman of Port Harcourt City Local Government Council, popularly called PHALGA, Hon. Christian Chiokwa, who insisted that he and his council were not aware of the activities of the criminals.

Chiokwa, through his spokesman, Mike Iwezor, noted that he, as a complete gentleman and a child of God, would never be part of illegal activities/engaging hoodlums, especially with his council having competent and committed officials/employees, saddled with the responsibility of legitimately collecting taxes and levies.

Shortly after a senior pastor’s car was towed into the yard, the cleric made some calls and wanted one of the secretaries to speak with the person on the other end, but the lady in her early 20s declined, while the pastor threatened to report the harassment to Governor Nyesom Wike, his friend, the secretary said: “Na the same Nyesom Wike we dey work for. Go ahead and report us. Nothing will happen,” and she walked away, ignoring the elderly cleric, who complained loudly that they had on the way to the yard, forcibly collected all the money he had on him.

A secondary school teacher was driving in highbrow D-Line (Direct Main Line), Port Harcourt, when his phone rang and he parked his car by the road side to answer the call, with the car’s hazard lights on, but Boma’s boys towed the car to their yard and accused the young tutor of obstructing traffic, forcing the teacher, who had just N2,000 on him, to contact relatives, who brought huge sum of money, which he refused to disclose, to avoid being trailed, before his car was granted “bail.”

There was also the case of senior employee of a popular company, who went to a first generation bank near the Federal High Court on Station Road, Port Harcourt to transfer money to his family in Lagos.

After the transaction at the bank, the easy-going man drove out and linked Station Road to return to his office in Mile One, Diobu in the Rivers State capital, not knowing that the ‘hoodlums’ in unmarked car behind, saw him as he drove out of the bank.

The top official continued driving, until he got to the ever-busy junction by Post Office Bus Stop and he decided to allow a car, whose driver had indicated that he wanted to enter the road to the Rivers state secretariat, while also slowing down to allow a police van coming from the Port Harcourt office of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), near Government House, to pass.

Shortly after the imposing Spar Shopping Mall, the bandits blocked the car of the senior official, accused him of obstructing traffic, one of them took over the steering, while three others jumped into the car and insisted that they must drive it to their yard, which they did, with demand of N45,000 made, but the chief executive gave them the N5,000 on him, which they collected and refused to release the car, in spite of pleading from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., making him to return home without the car.

The ‘hoodlums’, who impounded the car, having earlier indicated that they were working for PHALGA chairman, the senior official simply contacted Chiokwa (the local government boss), who detailed top official of the local government to accompany the man to the yard, only to see Boma, a known face, whom the PHALGA official confirmed had been into touting and thuggery for many years.

In spite of the PHALGA’s official pleading with Boma to release the car, he was adamant and still insisted on collecting N45,000. The LG official then met with one of the sub-chairmen of the yard, who was well-known to him and who acted reasonably, thereby disclosing that Boma and others were working for the Rivers State Ministry of Urban Development and Physical Planning.

The ‘hoodlums’ told Boma that they saw the senior executive driving out of a bank and he should be able to afford the N45,000 demanded.

When it became obvious that Boma did not want to release the car, in spite of the intervention of the PHALGA’s official, the senior executive opted to contact top military chiefs at the newly-created 6th Division of the Nigerian Army in Port Harcourt, to come and take the car by force, which one of the touts eavesdropped on and quickly ran to Boma to alert him as the PHALGA official and top executive of the renowned firm were driving out of the yard in the LG official’s car.

Boma jumped out of one of the shanties and ran to the road, asking the senior executive and the LG official to meet with one of his secretaries to pick the key of the impounded car.

kcnwaigbo:
My dear you are yet to prove that is Gov Wike's voice. Prove that first and we will take it from there

The courts can and will do that. It sounds exactly like him though and to deny that is just pure bias. Which is why the software can and should be used to prove the case either way.