₦airaland Forum

mej67: While d debate is on:
See how little seed sowing can change lives. Read
http://theadvocatengr.com/new/?p=2234

Ekweremadu battles adult illiteracy in Enugu
* 5,000 adults get First School Leaving Certificates under Ikeoha Foundation Adult Literacy Programme

“I lost an opportunity to go to school early in life due to early marriage.  I dropped out of Primary 4 when my parents gave me out for marriage and since then I have been lamenting my illiteracy until another opportunity was created for us by Senator Ike Ekweremadu.  Through his Adult Literacy programme many of us in the villages can now read and write and I am very grateful to Ikeoha for restoring my hope, now I can read and write,” elated 40 year-old Mrs. Maria Nwaroh from Aninri Local Government Area of Enugu State told newsmen during the graduation ceremony for the first and second batches of the Ikeoha Foundation Adult Literacy programme
Mrs. Nwaroh, a mother of six children the first of who is 25 year-old, who escorted her to the ceremony, showered praises on Senator Ekweremadu for his interest in uplifting the downtrodden in the society.

“This senator is a blessing to us.  Apart from providing infrastructures in our local communities especially road, water and electricity, he has extended his good gestures to educating those of us who have lost hope of being educated from our childhood either due to the inability of our parents to train us or as a result of early marriage.  May God bless him,” said Mrs. Nwaroh, who promised to continue his education to secondary school level..

otil1: Dear Passion, I praise you for being honourable in this matter, admitting issues not addressed in healthcare and education when our focus has not even reached there.

To be honest with you, this exchange should not be about Sullivan. Sullivan's administration is going to be history in a few months. He is just a reference point for us as residents and citizens to begin to engage with whoever wishes to ascend to that post.

The matter therefore is: should Sullivan's performance be a model for next governor to follow? Not fail or pass mark.

There's water in New Haven and no water in immediate adjoining Independence layout; is that the sound of depth is provision of utilities?

There is 4-point agenda of which infrastructure is 1 of and taking stock of work done it is only is Enugu metro. Is dat a model to copy and propagate? Just infrastructure o.

Now Rural Devt cum Rural Industry is another of the 4-point agenda. How far?

You helped to showcase that core and essential Social Service -Healthcare and Education are below mark.

So where is the performance? Announcing 4-point agenda and scratching on 1 in a whole 8years, is dat what next administration should deliver to us? There is an integrity issue here.

On the 3km, yes I intended to be definite and I truly am serious. Try and encircly Enugu urban, and from any point from the fringe, do 3km and let's see.

E.g. Start from the airport junction, head to emenite. From across the rail, total absence of road magic. No attn to Emene town. From base of Ugwu Onyeama, head out you hit 9th mile, a lost opportunity. From Nike lake, you are heading out to Nsukka via Igbo Etiti. Nsukka is a shame. Why would there be no proper medians and street lighting in Enugu rd and all thru Nsukka town, d no 2 city in Enugu?

So pls, next team needs not copy failure.
We need to be more demanding than making excuses for obvious lapses and total lack of drive.

ifechez: am also in portharcourt. what u read here is the same sentiment as we in portharcourt.

KenGali: Guys,
Lets talk a bit more about how to go about Achieving this.
The Federal Government has done all it should apart from the international Status Gazette. Which I think we can easily convince GEJ to grant to us.
Beyond this I think am very Happy that the Association of shippers has woken up. They need to take over the concession for us to be able to make this work.

I suggest that the Anambra State Government, should work with this Association to float a Shipping or Port Operations company company that will be aggressive in taking over the concession from the Federal Government. Of course at very minimal cost since it has to develope the commercial activity at the port.

Secondly, we do not really need to dredge the River Niger to ocean depths of like 12ft drafts to have a viable port. A lot of commercial shipping has been developed on the Mississippi and is quite successful and we can learn from them. The cost of Dredging up to 12ft from the current 5ft could as well establish a shipping line for us.

Effectively what we need is a Ship to Ship(STS) transfer centre.This is where cargo from the mother ship will be quickly transferred to barges then brought inland. I have spoken about this and given it some thought severally in the past. There are two options really. Having the STS on shore or in the Middle of the Ocean.

Shore STS will have a lot of issues
with custom,
the shore line state to host it,
the Navy,
possible smuggling.
Delays in the ship turn around time due to the legal clearance requires before a foreign vessel can berth on land
It will be like moving goods from another port, and partly defeats the aim of the quest to Onitsha port.

On the Contrary an STS centre in the middle of the ocean
Will benefit ships in quick turn around time, as the water depth in ocean will allow easy movement
this will require having an adequate number of deck barges and ocean going tuggers to empty the Ship in good time
It can be in international waters, where vessels will not require any clearance from Nigerian Govt. but will be wary of piracy
It is best located within Nigerian Waters, we can lobby for a permanent Naval Presence, for vessel clearance
Mother Vessels will have no need to talk to Nigerian customs, Immigration, etc whatsoever, except the Naval Clearance.


Further
A Ship to Ship transfer can be done in the middle of the ocean without any infrastructure. The Challenge is keeping the vessels steady, which will depend on having calm waters. This will not be reliable for serious commercial operation. However this approach can be used for start off. For the long term, I think the best solution is to buy a decommission oil platform or a very large Vessel and find shallower points in the ocean or stubble islands to mount it. Shipping vessels can be gently anchor to such a structure using a pull in mechanism. That is a lot of Engineering though. But companies like Saipem in Nigeria can accomplish it. This does not rule out further dredging the Niger to 12 ft and above, but leaves it for the future when it will be justified by commercial expediency.

Overall, the Company to be formed by Anambra State Govt, and the the Shiping Association should issue IPO to raise funds. They will need to acquire Deck Barges, I checked online and see some used ones that go for about $500,000.00. Secondly they need to seed the route with about two or three Medium Sized Cargo Ships. I think they can do a time charter of some international vessel and place them on the route to say China, Germany and Singapore for about six months. But we already know the business is not already existing but we must build it up hence I prefer an outright buy of two or three vessels. I think they can get fairly used vessels for about $10,000,000.00 that is roughly N1.6 billion each. Each vessel doing a round trip a month will be quite adequate for a start. An the STS can be done in open seas. Lets not forget gun boats for security. I think I omitted the price of tuggers, they should cost almost same as the barges or more. It will not be a good idea to use articulated barges.

This will create some good jobs for Anambrarian youths. the ships and barges will be requiring crews. So the state government won't do badly thinking of a maritime shipping school now.

Decker Barge
Barges for Sale
http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/728129560/DWT_1000t_2000t_3000t_4000t_5000t.html
http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/859834950/High_quality_deck_cargo_barge.html
Ships for sale
http://www.maritimesales.com/ships%20for%20sale.htm

Abagworo: Rochas is a good man but he needs to hearken his heart and play dirty. With what happened in Anambra and recent fabrications of falsehood against him sponsored by Peter Obi, Theodore Orji, Ikedi Ohakim and Eze Ilomuanya the best thing is for him to attack them and their interests from all fronts including using propaganda to paint them black and violence where neccessary. Nobody has monopoly to dirty games.

ngozievergreen: His own is not onye isi o,: leader.
It is pronounced differently from onye isi.
I don't know how to type intonations, so I could demonstrate to u

vanguard1: What concerns Gil and ike nike with my post. BTW, Gil and ike nike are seasoned politicians while peace Is just another business man trying to experiment on politics. He doesn't have the necessary political wits to survive in politics. He should use his money to do more meaningful things than engaging in political campaigns.

vanguard1: What is peace mass transit CEO looking for in politics. This man should have learnt from ifeanyi uba and Ngige. He should go and concentrate in his business.

henrychubayo: Like from wat u saw, how many passengers were on board coming and leaving? You estimate.

GGracegardens: I came across this article yesterday evening but could not publish immediatedly for your reading delight till now cos of poor telecommunication system and its titled: FEMI FANI KAYODE-Haunted by A Nupe Ancestry-Fighting A Foggy Yoruba Identity Complex by Dr.N.Tony Nwaezeigwe and I was moved and awed by his deep historical insights and couldn’t help but share it with you all!

This is simply awesome and Waoooooh! Brief Excerpts from the article:

“With a quisling political and subservient pedigree haunted by a jaundiced Nupe ancestry, laced with a foggy Saro-Yoruba identity compex, nothing better should have better been expected from Chief David Oluwafemi adewunmi abdulateef Fani-Kayode, a.k.a. Femi Fani-kayode, than his spineless historical verbosity woven in outright haft-truths and infantile sensationalism. As a professional historian, replying to such musings of a habitual moronic mind would amount to giving Femi[b] Abdulateef[/b] Fani-Kayode an unmerited intellectual prominence, which indeed is his hidden motive behind his calculated infamy against the Igbo.
Damn
Read full article and share your views!
http://graciousgracegardens./2013/08/24/breaking-news-femi-fani-kayode-is-not-even-yoruba-after-allhaunted-by-a-nupe-ancestry-fighting-a-foggy-yoruba-identity-complex/

Obiagelli: MEANWHILE the rest of the article "delibrately" cut out by the OP as he usually does is as follows


Dr Chike Obidigbo who was disqualified from
the APGA nomination process by the party’s
screening panel has urged supporters to keep
calm pending what he claimed as ongoing
consultations with strategic stakeholders.
Soludo, Ogene, Odenigbo, Uzoh, Mrs.
Ekwunife , Okonkwo, Ndubuisi and Ifeanyi Uba
The decision of the screening panel was also
upheld by the appeal panel.
While addressing supporters in Awka, Ogidigbo
said he made wide and extensive consultations
before declaring his intention to seek the
mandate of the people for the governorship and
that he was still sure of the support he got to
enter the contest.
He said that it would be too early to announce
his decision on the contest following the
disqualification by APGA as he said that would
still consult with all relevant stakeholders, who
gave him their strategic endorsement before
announcing his next move.
The gubernatorial aspirant restated that his
desire to seek election into the office of
governor of Anambra state was borne out of
the fact that he possesses the needed capacity
to fast track the economic development of the
State.
“As a renowned industrialist, administrator,
academic and philanthropist, my life and
pursuits have always revolved around uplifting
people.”
Several PDP aspirants who relocated to Abuja
after the annulled ward congress penultimate
Monday were yesterday spread across the
state monitoring the rescheduled congresses
ordered by the party.
APGA screening panel member wants Soludo,
others to support party
Chief Onwuka Ukwa, a member of the party’s
Governorship Screening Committee, which
disqualified Professor Charles Soludo and five
others from the contest, has urged all those his
committee ruled out to support the nominee of
the party.
While affirming that the committee was not
programmed to disqualify any of the aspirants,
he said the same parameters were used in
screening all the aspirants.
His claim follows insinuations that the APGA
hierarchy was coerced by forces in the
presidency to screen out Soludo from the
contest on the assumption that Soludo could be
antagonistic to the PDP’s presidential
candidate in 2015.
Governor Peter Obi had earlier washed himself
from culpability in the conspiracy theory.
Explaining that APGA was adopting a new
attitude to politics, he advised the disqualified
aspirants to accept the result, remain focused
and support the party.
“It’s not the end of the world; it’s not a do-or-
die affair,” Ukwa said as he reminded them of
their vow to support whoever emerged the
candidate of the party.
Chief Ukwa emphasized that the committee
conducted the screening based on the party’s
guidelines and constitution. “The intention is to
make sure that those going into politics are
doing so strictly for service. When some of us
go to America, France and Britain, we see that
the important thing there is service; the
motivating factor is rendering service to the
nation and the people. But when some of us
come back to Nigeria, we begin to do things in
the wrong way,” he said.
He was also quick to distance the party’s
National Chairman, Chief Victor Umeh from the
fate of the six disqualified aspirants.
PDP ‘ll be unstoppable — Anosike
ONE of the governorship aspirants on the
cards of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),
Senator Emma Anosike, has said that the ruling
All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) could
not stop PDP at the polls in spite of the
performance of Governor Peter Obi.
Noting that party indiscipline cost PDP the seat
in 2010, he said the party would get it right this
time around.
He also made a case for Anambra North
producing the next governor. However, he said
the zone should produce a sellable candidate.
“I am a good candidate and I can go for the
battle and win the battle. Also, everything work
to my advantage because the governorship
position has been zoned to Anambra North
where I hail from, both the current Governor
and the masses in the state have been
clamouring that it is the turn of Anambra North.
“PDP which is my party was formed on the
platform of equity and justice, even, it is
enshrined in the Constitution that equity is the
key to what we are doing. Therefore, I come
from Anambra North, I am a good candidate
and I have been to the House of
Representatives, I am a Senator and I have
contested governorship before and I was a
running mate to Charles Soludo and I have all it
takes to govern Anambra State
On the chances of PDP at the upcoming
elections, he said: “What happened in 2010 was
crazy because it has to do with party discipline.
”
Ulasi picks PPA ticket
MRS. Blessing Ulasi, the Nnewi-born lawyer,
who had until recently been based in the United
Kingdom is giving fresh life to the Progressive
Peoples Alliance, PPA, the party founded by
former governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor
Kalu.
It will be recalled that briefly before the 2010
gubernatorial election that the party made some
sparkles when it presented Mrs. Uche Ekwunife
as its candidate in that election. But following
that election, Mrs. Ekwunife decamped to
APGA, the platform on which she is now
presently seeking another quest to occupy the
Government House.
Since her exit, the party had laid practically
comatose.
Mrs. Ulasi who recently returned to Nigeria has
now revived the party and is presently only
aspirant on the platform of the party and the
PPA’s presumptive nominee.
Speaking to party members at an outing
yesterday, the returnee lawyer said she is
determined to wrest control of government from
APGA at the November election.
She told members of the party: “PPA may not
be making noise like other political parties, but
we know what we are doing, Governorship
election is not a matter of making so much
noise but planning properly for the race.
“My assurance is that we will enter the
Government House in March next year and I
want to urge our members to be patient because
so much ground work is currently going on about
the November 16 election.”
State chairman of PPA, Mr. Matthias Ameke
said the party has solid structure in all the 326
political wards of the state, adding that all the
ward officials are prepared to move the party
forward.
He explained that the problem they had in the
past was that the candidates of the party came
through the back door which discouraged most
members from working for PPA during the last
election.

Ola Johnson: I would have profitted you more if the money used for this upgrading is used to address the gully erosion that is ravaging the SE. After all, who benefits from the airport upgrading, if not the rich?

HappyJoe: Please, I would like to know from anyone who lives at Enugu.

Jonathan came earlier this year to lay a "foundation stone" for the new international terminal of Enugu Airport. Please has there been any work done on the NEW terminal building (please note: I'm not talking about the remodeled old terminal)?

Many thanks.