₦airaland Forum

timmy:
nice to finally get an info about you, a pix of you would also make a great deal..

if i might ask what does the I M N stands for 'because its easy to guess that your surname is 'akoya'

Timmy you must have been fed a ton load of "smarties" as a kid! Quit fooling around with my name, will ya!

[quote author=Hnd-holder link=topic=1479.msg39439#msg39439 date=1125499593]Wait a minute, do you remember the case involving one time president of powerful nation and Luwasiky(sp) How did it end? The powerful senate of that Land could not impeachment the powerful man. Atikus case will be like that.[/quote]Time will tell.

More on Atiku's mansion and others via Elendu Reports:
http://elendureports.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=58&Itemid=33

(pls help load the pic. Atiku's got taste)

Who is Olu Obsanjo G?
"Olu Obasanjo G. is another famous Nigerian name that acquired a piece of New York real estate. On March 1, 2005, Olu Obasanjo bought a Brooklyn, New York property for five hundred and thirty-seven thousand, one hundred and twenty-six dollars. At about 1:00 PM on April 1, 2005, his agents filed papers with the city. Elendureports.com has been trying for two weeks to confirm the identity of Olu Obasanjo G. A source told Elendureports.com that Olu Obasanjo G is one of Pres. Obasanjo's sons. The source further stated that the President's son is a former law student who lived with Andrew Young, the former United States Ambassador to the United Nations and the Chairman of Goodworks Int. LLC., a firm which lobbies the United States government on behalf of Nigeria."

Adolphus Wabara too
"Disgraced former Senate President, Adolphus Wabara is not left out in the US property mania. Through wife, Felicia, Wabara acquired a piece of Queens, New York for the handsome price of nine hundred and ninety-five thousand dollars. The house was purchased on March 11, 2005, while the documents were filed with the city on April 1, 2005. Felicia Wabara was sighted at the hotel around this time. Elendureports.com is yet to confirm if the white man she was seen with one evening in March is the real estate agent."

[quote author=Hnd-holder link=topic=1479.msg39380#msg39380 date=1125491555]Atiku is also fighting coruption like OBJ. this is Nigeria where you think is wrong may be right.[/quote]I don't understand your logic.

[quote author=Hnd-holder link=topic=1479.msg39360#msg39360 date=1125488797]What is bad is bad. What is Atkins offense? He is innocent.[/quote]Do you know something many don't?

There is an overwhelming evidence against Atiku that a blind man can see. He needs to address the issues against him...Well, in a typical Nigerian sense, all these events are nothing but lies and the work of saboteurs, right?

What do you see, HND-Holder?

Ethnicity is a big factor in Nigerian politics in general. The reason is partly due to diversity of language. Multiethnic nations where this is not a problem have a predominant language. Until we form a lingo that is acceptable to all, ethnicity will continue to be a factor in governance.

What are the short comings of pidgin English as a common language in Nigeria? Already, it is the unofficial lingo...why are we deceiving ourselves with this queens english that is only well spoken by few?

The main issue here is not really the house, is the fact that a serving # 2 citizen of a sovereign nation that normally enjoys diplomatic immunity has his house (his wife's) searched by the FBI. That speaks volume.

The house, and how he got, while relevent to this topic, is not really the issue. Although if one probes deeper, one is bound to uncover more mystery.

Kazey: you think he's a scape goat and bought the house on mortgage...?

Obong: you said the house was 175K in 1988? Think again.

Atiku said he bought the house in 1994. As at 1999, the state of maryland estimated the value at $612,000

Check this out: https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/apps/tax/ViewDetail.asp?RID=827259

Avocat: This info is not from the lousy Nigerian media, they do not have the liver to do investigative journalism.

Guys think again, Atiku is definitely not the only one with soiled hands, but if he is indeed dirty from the looks of things he should be dealt with.

Ask the right questions...he was a custom official abi...salaried. so between his retirement the time he became the VP he definitely hit a massive jackpot to be able to afford that mansion in US (and others elsewhere) and then fund a private university ( http://www.abti-american.edu.ng/ ).

It is not impossible...he just needs to be asked some tough questions...and he must provide answers and proof, lots of proof!

kazey:
Just curious? Why question the rich guy? He wasn't in the government when he supposedly made all the money?

He could have made his money after he retired from customs in 1989 or thereabout. He can not just keep quiet to all these...he needs to show clear evidence that he is clean.

For christ' sake he is our VP, so he has diplomatic immunity...so, for his house to be searched...I'm baffled...he must be involved in something big...

Chxta:
The US government says federal agents have raided the Maryland home of Nigerian Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.


Bad press like that rules out Atiku...

Bad press? Do you mean that he's innocent, or he is just getting bad publicity?

See: Will Atiku Get the Boot soon? @ https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-1479.0.html

I don't know if any are following the drama over Atiku's house in the US.

Summary
He has a mansion the US where his 4th wife- Jennifer used to live ( it seems she has relocated to Nigeria now). Jennifer runs GEGE foundation (website has been  pulled down).
The question is how can he afford a house of that size? It is not impossible, but he needs to explain how.

Just recently, the FBI searched the house on the suspicion that the VP maybe involved in a deal (being brokered by a US congressman) involving a US  telecoms firm.

See The House of Atiku for more...

Duke's ranking doesn't come as a surprise! Piggy-backing off Obong's response, Duke has shown serious initiatives and vision by investing heavily in tourism.

I wonder how Jigawa and Kwara state governors fare? Jigawa: heavy investment in IT and solar energy,; and Kwara: Agriculture.

Interesting concept, and that is all there is to it. Its like leather and "pleather" (patent leather)- one is real the other an imation.

It is not only the animals that the safari vistors find exciting- weather/climate, natives, food, scenery, smell and of course sex with the locals. There is no way these can be duplicated, at leaset not in any time soon.

kazey:
By the way whats wrong with that? I really don't understand. Any big corporate company anywhere in the world has connections in the government. Look at M$ in the USA for example. Dont tell me Bill is not one of the big contributors to the potential presidential seats or Senators campaign. .

Guys this is the business world, and all they are doing is grabbing leads to help them run their businesses. Nothing harmful. That is just the corporate way of doing things.

Yeah Kazay, that is business, even Gates has been taken through the mill to some extent, and fined. Dangote has enjoyed a lot of patronage from the Nigeriangovernment and people, and it isn't a surprise really that he putting his money where is mouth is. Where else could he benefit hugely as he has- na only Nigeria now!

He's smart and has mapped out his game plan so tight!!

Quite a number have mentioned Kalu, on what ground? Yes, he happened to find himself on the wrong side of the Abuja powerhouses, which is most unfortunate and shouldn't be condoned. Aside from that this is a Guy that talks with both sides of mouth, he is always being persecuted- either by Anneni, Obasanjo or some ghost! But we he called to defend his claims, he suddenly goes dumb. Haba!

He may be a good governor, but he has light years to go in terms is decency and decorum. We all know Baba OBJ has no style; Kalu is worse!

There are really no super candidate out there, but out of the trio: IBB, Atiku and Marwa; I will go with Marwa. Out of all military governors during his time, he was the best. Talk to any Lagos residents. He is well educated, exposed and seems to be a good manager. He is serious enough to indicate his intention, nad he has started move around to actualise his goals. All others are undecided, it seems.

Atiku will not get there, IBB will maradona his out of the race, hopefully. Okotie lacks the experience; managing a church is different from managing a nation, he should first start at the grassroots. For others not mentioned, they should show their intentions.

joftech:
is that guy gunning for the mr prez sit or as a grassroot man when youy started comparing him with IBB.

anyway IBB regime was'nt that bad, i tell you thousands of people flouting their wealth now are forever grateful to him, if he has none of them then, we would have been praising him today. What difference does present-day politicians make compared to IBB and other military leaders, the present democrazy is even worst than past military rules.

Please, what ground? Democracy is a very important concept; equating military rule to democracy is absurd! There is absolutely no basis for it, at least going by anecdotal evidence.

Guardian, are yousure you are ready for this?

Your  question: could you just name a few other Nigerian's who have or are investing in Nigeria to the benefit of our economy?

I suggest you do some research first! I do not shoot blindly, I shoot too kill!

Do you remember the Odutolas of many years back? Some of their stuff are still running.

Bode Akindele, (ARAMED), the world largest match marker; he eemploysthousands in Nigerians worldwide

Folawiyo is there. Okoya is there, the Ibrus are there,  right there in Nigeria!

Then how about Adenuga, Consolidated oil and Globacom, he no be Nigerians? All these are big shots. And none runs a monopoly. The monopoly (which is government backed) Alhaji runs is instrumental to his success.

On small businesses, well they data is there as evidence, check it out, please.


NOTE: Dangote is a great guy, I like him and what he has done is great.

small-medium enterprise, that's a different ball game. See all the Nigerian Banks ? them gree give loan to facilitate such take offs ? No.  They only borrow to their friends and associates who are venturing into some self centered business.

Is this the reason why the billions in the SMEIS scheme laying fallow in bank vaults? Once aging do your research! Check out the conditions for getting a loan through this scheme...

This subject was the subject of a Champion Newspaper arcticle: Puzzles of the ID card project

http://www.champion-newspapers.com/editorial/teasers/

THE decision of the Federal Government to redesignate, and up-grade the hitherto moribund national identity card scheme into a ‘universal I.D. card’ project, must rank as one of the most curious emanations from the Obasanjo-led government in recent times.

Rising from a Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting last week, government had announced that plans are on to up-grade the ‘present’ National Identification, which has been in the making for almost 30 years. The new improved contraption will be a one-stop ‘universal’ I.D. card that would contain more than the conventionally legal and acceptable personal records of individual holders.

As envisaged by the President, and accepted by the FEC, instead of merely containing records of birth, dates and blood group, the proposed universal I.D. Cards would additionally contain such information as credit-rating, drivers license, health-insurance, voting, and security accesses and ratings.

The ostensible reason for modification, according to government, is to wean citizens from a cash centred mentality and march on to a cashless society where on the basis of an individual’s I.D. Card, banks could offer loans, advance credit and enable security authorities pin-point and isolate suspects. The objective is the establishment of a Credit-Card Financing Scheme: where cash use and abuse would be minimised if not eliminated!

These are fantastic motions, except for the reality that, as things stand today in Nigeria, they are just fantasies, if not a smart initiative to divert public attention from the incontestible fact that the original ID card scheme that has taken almost 30 years to evolve has failed to provide Nigerians with any shred of identification. There is, of course, the matter of the enormous state resources wasted in the project.

That the President has already set up a committee of "eminent" Nigerians with a time-frame of three weeks to come up with a prototype of this single universal ID scheme for all Nigerians is also curious.

In 2002 when President Olusegun Obasanjo resurrected the I.D Card project, Nigerians were divided substantially along regional and religious lines about its propriety and use as national electoral and demographic data-base. Still, Nigerians in their millions registered for the project under the National Civic Registration set up to handle the project. Subsequently, billions of naira were voted for the project and contracts were signed with foreign firms said to be competent to do the job.

Along the line, massive fraud was detected in the ID card project, allegedly involving government officials, among them the then Internal Affairs minister, the late Chief Sunday Afolabi and the consultant for SAGEM, the French firm handling the project.

Not only have Nigerians not heard the last of the investigations on the monies invested in the old I.D card project, till date millions of citizens are yet to see, not to talk of being in possession of the ID cards

Considering the low level of technological awareness of majority of citizens, how does government expect such a largely illiterate society to cope with the complexities involved in operating a cashless society? In any case, how many citizens operate bank accounts not to talk of being privy to credit card transactions?

Matters like credit-rating, police and security records, health Insurance and other peripheral even if important data should be left for specialised agencies in the private and public sector to handle, as they have been statutorily set up to do. More importantly, the time does not seem right for this dream high tech ID Card.

The logical and transparent thing to do is to finalise the already existing ID card scheme in a satisfactory manner before taking up the idealistic universal card project which has no time-frame.

If however, government has found the whole ID card project too perplexing and confounding, the path of honour dictates that Nigerians should be told the absolute truth that the scheme has failed and that the billions of naira sunk into it had been lost.

It is only when government can complete the already existing ID card project that the move to up-grade can begin to make sense.

Meanwhile, the case against those identified to have embezzled funds for the original ID card scheme is still hanging. That is part of the problem. It simply needs to be brought to an effective closure, so that the society will know what happened.

GUARDIAN:
Dear All,
It doesn't matter the odds of this character. What matters are :

1. Aliko is the only Private investor who has succeded in creating jobs for Nigerians (Obasanjo can not match this )

3. He is the only one, of all the rich Nigerians, who has been kind enough to establish and manage
manufacturing businesses in this country. Believe it or not factories are what drives Economies.
-China - Malaysia - India - France - Germany- Belgium - Brazil - US . look at all these ranks the
manufacturing and assembly lines - creating Jobs, business oppurtunities and Tax returns to Government .
These economies would never have gotten to where they all stand today. If they depended on
buying and selling, building houses for rent or a 5 man company that returns nothing to the economy, but
earns millions undisclosed.

Guardian:
Your point #1 is not really true. There are many others, just because you do not read about them does not mean they do not exist. You know the meaning of MONOPOLY (not the game) I guess, that is an important word in Dangote's dictionary.

Point # 3 is a fallacy also...those small businesses you have thrown into the gutter by your statement are what drive those economies you mentioned. Big Industries do play a role, do not get me wrong, but not as huge as it seems. The problem with Nigeria is that the majority of the small businesses are stuck in the informal sector, so their impact is not felt. Create a means of formalizing their businesses, you'll have an economic boom, bigger than those industries as you have alluded.

@ sholao

Man, you must have a nerve of steel- flying a hang glider across the UK...It sounds interesting though. I will keep an eye on your progress and I hope you get the "First Nigerian Glider Across UK" Guinness World Record!

I really find this fascinating...

"El-Rufai said the Federal Government wanted to empower the middle class by introducing long-term credit financing that would broaden the market base. "

I would like to know the rationale behind this statement, first. I am really struggling to not call this idea "names"- I want to believe Rufai as claimed is an intelligent man...maybe the press got the whole thing wrong and upside down...

He  (El-Rufai) said the meeting had identified poor salary base, high interest rate, non-availability of credit rating system, identification and enforcement as factors impeding the operation of a credit economy in the country.

Even my great grandmother knows this! What steps are being taken to address these deficiencies?

The article leaves more questions (unanswered) than answers, bad communication, bad PR!

I Identify two problems: 1) Mediocre government official, and 2) an ignorant press/journalist

Location is important in this business so that there is no competition with street hawkers. Didn't Lagos just banned street hawking in Marina and other places tagged "presidential routes"?

Power supply & cash machine- that will call for innovation. Batteries (dry, wet solar) may be the way to go. Cash-will pre-paid tokens work? Cash cards? The machines can easily be programmed to accept Naira though...

Products must be unbreakable. Then you have the issues of servicing of the machines also.

There are more to the topic than all these. If this is a challenge/competition; how would you make it work? What steps will you take?

Entrepreneurs, where are you?

This is an open ended question, so run with the idea if you can.

Could anyone help post a picture of vending machine please? ...So we are n the same page.

kazey: You Who says you can't blog for adsense? Sure you jolly well can!

topics, angel-hot?

Pictures, ummh! Yes I have tons of 'em...I'll work on it

My people, thanks for the warm comments. I still need to prowl to other postings on the forum, please bear with me.

Seun- "Admin-Maestro"- it is a honor to be part of this vibrant community. I am proud of the resourceful and driven personalities I have encountered on your forum thus far. Keep your head up y'all!

Fellas, this delibration is fascinating...keep it up please.

Seun, I'll suggest you do a synopsis of this topic later.

Really good questions Seun, why don't you find out?

Grandiose Parlor is a repository for my mental meandering on issues relating to governance, entrepreneurship, sustainable development, and oddities...with special interest in Africa, and Nigeria in particular. That is what GP is about.

I ventured into blogging because I do a lot of pseudo-analyses on Nigeria with my colleagues, usually these are conversations over the phone and sometime in person when we meet somewhere. I felt that I should create a chronological achieves for these "arm-chair criticism" and ideas...so that is how I started. Funny though, many of my friends/colleagues do not know I blog...I like it that way, I get a lot of objective input that way.

Chxta:
Take a look at the private sector in Nigeria over the past few years and you have your answer.

I do not understand what you imply, please explain.

Dr Ngozi is a product of one of the ivy league schools in the US, I suppose (maybe I'm wrong-too lazy to find out), and she's as smart as the whip! Well, what is there to say about her....? She has shown to all her substance- haven't her justified your dollar denominated pay check?

What I'm still grappling with is the idea of being "debt-free"as a nation- it is almost impossible to do without loans, all developed nations have them...with US being some trillions of dollars in the hole! So the problem is not really the debts, what messed Nigeria up was how borrowed money was spent, and the conditions for paying back!

Secondly, what efforts are being made to initiate a solid mortgage industry in Nigeria? Home purchase is one of the biggest (if not the biggest) personal financial undertakings; having to make about 50% downpayment and pay back millions in 3-5 years is not a sound way to do things. Nigerians need a government-facilitated mortgage system, and this is the time to start.

Thanks Remedy for this post, and Seun for the great input. Permit me to add the following:

I see you are not in Nigeria, that is fine, your question is a very common topic in many Nigerian gatherings overseas. Many are quick to dismiss Nigeria has a done deal- broken beyond redemption. I can't blame them; they have their reasons. Some and I see a great future for Nigeria, but this future is conditional on the initiation of a paradigm shift- a social change- in our thinking and ways of doing things.

While the provision of infrastructure, particularly power, will go a long way in brightening our chances of attaining greatness; it is not enough to turn things around. The future of Nigeria depends on real leaders- tough, passionate, courageous and visionary leaders that will not only talk about the problems, but also proffer practical solutions to the problems. And of course, Nigerians will need to step up too, the paradigm shift will only remain a mirage unless all of us are ready to appraise the "Nigerian situation" with a different sets of eyes, be willing to find, and serve as catalyst of change...then maybe things will turn around...

Youmay read more about similar issues on Grandiose Parlor, here: http://grandioseparlor..com/2005/06/trailblazers-fantasizers-and-quitters.html and here: http://grandioseparlor..com/2005/06/beyond-realm-of-fantasy.html

bioye:
...There is nothing wrong in discussing our problems. But let's do so in a positive optimistic manner. I will always react to someone to preaches hopelessness and doom. And i have found that this is often preached by people who are currently outside nigeria. Are you trying to justify your reason for running away?

Sir, hold your horses before you over the cliff...isn't it possible to have a decent conversation on this forum? So the only conclusion you can reach, particularly those of us that have refused not to "settle" for the Nigerian mediocrity, is that we ran away from Nigeria? Do your research first, then discuss later.

Nigeria is sure improving, great- but we are still deep in the woods- so why start rejoicing? I and many of us here did not ran away from Nigeria, we love Nigeria and we leave for Nigeria in a heart beat, all things being equal.