₦airaland Forum

Nigeria’s former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, has identified corruption, insecurity, and infrastructure decay as major problems confronting the Africa.
Mr. Obasanjo said this at the inauguration of newly-established Africa Institute at the Valparaiso University, Indiana, U.S.A, in his honour on Saturday.
Mr. Obasanjo said that almost every country in Africa had one form of security problem or the other, pointing out that insecurity would not allow development to thrive.

On the security challenges facing Nigeria, the former president said that government must properly identify the remote causes of the activities of the Boko Haram sect. He stressed the need for more attention to be placed on the improvement of infrastructure within the continent.
He said the issue of human development should not be such that the individuals were allowed to leave the continent and be servicing other land.
The former president, however, called on Nigerians living abroad to return home where their knowledge would best be utilised.
“We must develop people and retain them, we must encourage most of them that are in Diaspora, to move back home,” Obasanjo said.
On corruption, the former Nigerian leader said that the issue of corruption was very serious that should not be undermined, adding that it was virtually in every aspect of life.

“If you pretend that there is no corruption, the world already knows there is corruption,” he said.
While commending the efforts of some African leaders in carrying out reforms that had made the continent an emerging economy in the 21st century, Obasanjo said Western economists earlier ruled out Africa as a living continent about 10 years ago.
He explained that some of the economists had even described the 21st century as the best for Africa.
As part of reforms to Nigeria’s economy while in office, Mr. Obasanjo disclosed that when he took over in 1999, the country owed close to 35 billion dollars.
He also said that the country was spending about 3 billion dollars annually to service debts.
“I decided that we should seek debts relief. I also decided that we would go for deep reforms. Our creditors took us very serious and granted us debts relief.
“The reserve of 3.7 billion dollars that I met in 1999 grew to well over 45 billion dollars by the time I left office.
“After we paid over 12 billion dollars, we cleared the debts slate. Nigeria was not the only country moving in that direction,” he said.
Mr. Obasanjo commended the university for honouring him, saying that the establishment of the institute was quite timely in view of global development. He also said that the situation around the globe called for nations to work together.
Earlier, the President of the University, Mark Heckler, said the exemplary leadership of Mr. Obasanjo in Africa and in Nigeria was a driving force for the choice of honouring him.

Mr. Heckler said that the university was established in 1859, stressing that the establishment of the Africa Institute was a dream fulfilled.
Prof. Ade Adefuye, the Nigeria Ambassador to the U.S., also commended the University “for giving honour to whom honour is due.”
Mr. Adefuye described Mr. Obasanjo as someone who had contributed greatly to the development of Nigeria.
Present at the event were Ewa Ewa, Chief Financing Officer, Illinois Human Rights Commission; Bayo Ojo, former Attorney General of the Federation; and Frank Nweke, Director-General, Nigerian Economic Summit Group.

Others were Julius Okojie, Executive Secretary, National University Commission; and Nigeria Consul-General in New York, Habib Habu.
The Africa Institute at the Valparaiso University would serve as a cultural exchange centre between it and Nigeria in particular and Africa at large.
It will also serve as an exchange and resource centre for professional studies of West Nigerian/African commerce and culture among students, artists, writers, educators and politicians.

http://premiumtimesng.com/news/114981-corruption-insecurity-major-problems-confronting-africa-obasanjo.html

Opposition party, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has demanded that it is time for the country to embrace electronic voting in order to ensure the integrity of its elections and hand over the elections back to Nigerians instead of the judiciary.

In a statement issued on Sunday, by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, ACN declared that with electronic voting, the overall cost of elections will be less and there will be stability in the polity.

Referring to the overwhelming deployment of security operatives during elections, the party added that the atmosphere of war usually associated with elections will disappear and the involvement of the security agencies will be de-emphasized.

Admitting that Section 52 (2) of the Electoral Act bans the use of electronic voting for the time being, ACN urged the National Assembly to move quickly to amend that part of the law while it called on the federal government to provide INEC with all the resources needed to make electronic voting a reality.

”While electronic voting is not a magic wand, it is the surest way for Nigeria to join the league of countries that have wiped out electoral fraud, which is the worst form of corruption. It is also the best way to hand over Nigeria’s elections back to Nigerians, instead of having the judiciary determine who wins what contest. Two years is long enough to achieve this,” ACN said.

The party noted that Ghana, which has organized perhaps the best elections in this part of the world, has realized it can no longer continue with manual voting; hence it did not wait for troubles associated with electoral malfeasance to break out before embracing electronic voting during its last general elections in December.

”It is not just enough for us to sit back in envy while the world hails our neighbor Ghana for being a model in electoral rectitude and participatory democracy. Let us ask ourselves what we need to do differently, to shed our toga of electoral fraud and brigandage”

”Yes, there were some hiccups during the last elections in Ghana, which were conducted with electronic voting. But Ghana quickly moved to correct whatever problems came up. The system also allowed Ghana to extend voting without fearing that ballot boxes will be hijacked or stuffed,”

ACN said it is true that Ghana’s last presidential election that was conducted with electronic voting is currently being challenged in court, ”to the best of our knowledge, that’s the only case being contested in court since the elections ended.”

”It is totally unacceptable and indeed an anomaly for a nation of 160 million people to hand over the determination of its elections to a few ‘wise’ men and women on the bench.”

“One result of Nigeria’s successive failed elections is that it has brought corruption to the judiciary. It is time to free judges to do their duties and allow Nigerians to play more roles in determining who governs them,” it said.

The party pledged its support for e-voting stating that ”we assure INEC of our full support towards using electronic voting in 2015.”

It also appealed to other political parties, Civil Society Organizations and all Nigerians to join it in pushing for a system that will “eliminate the role of thugs and side line vote thieves during our elections, in addition to making our elections free, fair and credible” the statement read.

http://www.channelstv.com/home/2013/01/13/acn-demands-use-of-electronic-voting-for-2015-elections/

Nigerian First Lady, Patience Jonathan, is scheduled to visit hospitals in Germany and Spain in a few days, according to medical sources in Abuja.

Mrs. Jonathan, who returned to Nigeria last year after a prolonged stay at a German hospital, is officially headed for Spain but our source said she is scheduled for medical treatment in Germany to ready her fit enough so that she can attend an African First ladies event scheduled for Addis Ababa later in the month.

Since her tumultuous return from her extended trip abroad last year, Mrs. Jonathan has remained largely marooned inside the Presidential villa only attending few public events and church services in Abuja. Although SaharaReporters fully reported on her medical excursion in Germany throughout her absence from Nigeria, she claimed not to have been in a hospital.

Our source said the First Lady has been struggling with a variety of ailments that have refused to go away, some of them being complications relating to the surgery she embarked upon during her medical trip abroad.

Concerning Mrs. Jonathan’s trip to Spain, it is known that she had previously attended "health farms" in the Malaga area of the European country. It is there that a former Nigeria First Lady, Stella Obasanjo, tragically lost her life in a cosmetic surgery operation in 2005.

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/nigerian-first-lady-heading-spain-treatment

Chelsea interim manager Rafa Benitez has revealed that Fernando Torres was suffering from a stomach bug during his side's Capital One Cup defeat to Swansea City on Wednesday. Torres lasted 81 minutes of the 2-0 home loss before being replaced by new signing, Demba Ba, and was widely criticised for a below-par display.

However, Benitez has revealed that the Spaniard was in fact suffering from a stomach bug and suggested that his performance was impressive considering the circumstances.

Benitez told reporters: "I was there when he was with the doctor, needing tablets. Still he was playing with the team. When he starts scoring again the fans they will appreciate this.

"He was playing with this problem. You have a professional trying to do his best in this situation. I was really pleased with the attitude of Fernando.

"I am really pleased because he was doing this for the team. We had to manage the situation but I could not phone Michael Laudrup and say he was not fit."

Benitez also confirmed that Ba was suffering from a hamstring injury, so could not start the Capital One Cup clash in place of Torres.

"Ba couldn't play, he had a hamstring niggle," Benitez added.

"I would like to see all my players praised in the papers. But as a top level player you have to accept you can be criticised. He is a very good professional. He had the problem but he was still training and playing."

http://www.goal.com/en/news/9/england/2013/01/11/3665091/benitez-explains-torres-swansea-shocker-he-had-a-stomach-bug?source=breakingnews&ICID=HP_HL_7

Bossman: I believe this company should be investigated for fraud. I just received a txt from 8888 on my GLO sim that my subscription to weight gain has been renewed and charged 100 naira. I certainly did not subscribe to anything. Heck! Those codes do not work while roaming, as I am in the US. I have no choice but to wait till I get to Naija in a few months to cancel the damn thing. What a joke!

they have likewise did same to me last year, but mine was on human body facts. I tried all efforts to stop it but to no avail, then i refused to load credit before the due date for about two months in which they didn't send any message. Immediately I credit my line they text me that N50 have been used to renew my subscription, that was in November, I then refuse to load my line again, since about two weeks now, they have being disturbing me with useless sms that my "transaction failed" without being specific. But with this code I will try if it will work.

Pastor Tunde Bakare

President Goodluck Jonathan

Scientific research has shown that mosquitoes bite some people more than others for several reasons, including the smells that those people give off, the chemicals on those people's skin and even how much carbon dioxide they emit while breathing. Experts estimate that mosquitoes are highly attracted to about 10 percent of all people, with those people's genetics accounting for about 85 percent of their attractiveness to mosquitoes. Other research suggests that people who are less attractive to mosquitoes emit smells and chemicals that repel the insects. As of 2012, there still was much that was not known about why mosquitoes bite some people more than others and what the people who are bitten more can do about it.
Why Mosquitoes Bite

Only female mosquitoes bite people. They do it for the blood, which contains protein and nutrients that they need either to produce eggs at all or to produce a larger batch of eggs. Before each time they produce a batch of eggs, they will seek out a blood meal. For regular meals, they feed on nectar and other juices produced by plants.
Finding Prey

A female mosquito begins locating prey by detecting carbon dioxide, which is emitted by animals when they exhale and through their skin. The mosquito uses an antenna-like structure called a maxillary palp to detect carbon dioxide from as far as 164 feet (50 m) away. At closer distances, it uses a feathery antenna to identify certain chemicals, and its nose is perforated with many tiny holes that the odors in the air can penetrate. After the mosquito has found a concentration of carbon dioxide being emitted by a person, the mosquito's sensory receptors tell it whether the combination of chemicals and odors being emitted by that person make him or her suitable prey.
Substances That Attract

Research suggests that, in addition to carbon dioxide, some of the substances that people produce and that attract mosquitoes are sweat, lactic acid, uric acid and a chemical called octenol. Lactic acid is emitted through the skin, especially during exercise. Uric acid is a product of the body metabolizing certain proteins, and most of it is excreted in urine, but excess uric acid can build up under the skin. Octenol is present in a person's sweat and breath.

Some people produce greater quantities of these substances, so mosquitoes bite some people more than others. Very large people and pregnant women generally breathe out more carbon dioxide, so they tend to be bitten more often. People who exercise outdoors produce more lactic acid, sweat more and breathe more heavily, so they also tend to suffer more mosquito bites. Many perfumes and deodorants that people to mask their natural body odors also are believed to be attractive to mosquitoes.
Substances that Repel

Commercial mosquito repellants contain various chemicals — such as N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide, better known as DEET — that are believed to turn away mosquitoes by masking the user's body chemicals or by inhibiting the insects' sensory organs. Some research suggests, however, that certain substances already found on certain people's skin make those people less attractive to mosquitoes. Two such chemicals are known as geranyl acetone and 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one. Scientists have looked into the origin of these chemicals — namely, whether they are produced by the body, obtained from the environment or a combination of those methods. The existence of these chemicals found on some people's skin suggests that mosquitoes bite some people more than others not only because some people are more attractive to mosquitoes, but also because some people naturally repel them.

http://www.wisegeek.com/why-do-mosquitoes-bite-some-people-more-than-others.htm

pls i need the maggie E-book
my email is enesi4u@yahoo.com

Empty promises. After the lifespan of the administration she is serving, who will ask her if the promise didn't come to pass by 2025

I lived about three streets after the prisons. There was serious gunshots @ night, and a friend more closer to the prison told me there was jail break

I lived about three streets after the prisons. There was serious gunshots @ night, and a friend more closer to the prison told me there was jail break

Moses is giving us headache

juman: Hope these projects are not FAKE like during Obasanjo's time.

that's my concern, because the completed water project in Edo seems not to be true

Idokojimmy: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/08/el-rufai-peddling-falsehood-okupe/

This administration is not interested in hoodwinking Nigerians with the propaganda of fleeting performances, but even within this short period of its existence, and in spite of incessant attacks from certain quarters to frustrate and distract government, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s administration has engaged in concrete and sustainable socio-economic deliverables that will transform the Nigerian society.

We will hereunder highlight just a few of the numerous achievements of this administration in the last 14 months.

Power

• This administration met 10 abandoned NIPP projects and has successfully revitalized all. More importantly they are all within the range of 95-100 % completion stage and are awaiting gas supply for which government has taken very concrete steps to address.
• Government has improved the power generation from under 3000mw in 2011 to 4300 mw by august 2012
• Various communities across Nigeria can attest to the fact that steady power supply is gradually being restored
The NIPP projects are as listed below:
Location Total installed power output
1 IHOVBOR EDO STATE 451 mw
2 OMOTOSHO ONDO STATE 451 mw
3 OLORUNSOGO OGUN STATE 750 mw
4 SAPELE DELTA 451 mw
5 GEREGU KOGI 434 mw
6 EGBEMA IMO STATE 338 mw
7 GBARAIN BAYELSA 225 mw
8 OMOKU RIVERS STATE 225 mw
9 CALABAR CROSS RIVER 561 mw
10 ALAOJI ABIA 1074 mw
TOTAL 4960 mw


Therefore when the 10 NIPP projects are fully on stream, which will be within the next few months the total national generation capacity will not be less than 9000 mw which will be a 200% increase in the generating capacity as compared with the figures for 2011 and the highest ever by any administration since independence.


Agriculture

• Government has elevated the living standards and income of farmers and rural dwellers through the free distribution of several millions of improved seedlings including cotton,sorghum,rice and cassava.
• Today Nigeria is the world’s largest producer of cassava and is on its way to becoming the largest exporter of cassava products globally.
• The agricultural transformations agenda will double cocoa production from its present 250,000mt to 500,000mt /annum by the year 2015.
• The flour millers, who initially resisted the primary directive from government for 3 % local substitution, have since on their own increased the substitution ratio to 20%. For example Gala a UAC product has a substitution ratio of 20 % cassava mix. This has resulted in considerable foreign exchange savings and increased income for farmers and agro- allied processors.
• On the PPP initiative of the Federal Government, foreign investors have invested $40 million in rice production and milling in Taraba state (Feb 2012). This will be the largest rice farm project in Africa.
• The expected production is 300,000 metric tons of rice (which accounts for 15% of the national rice import) while at the same time creating 15,000 jobs.
• This administration is facilitating the establishment of the largest high quality rice processing mills with an overall installed processing capacity of 2 million tons per annum which will also be the largest installed milling capacity in Africa. It will be private sector driven and established in rice producing states.
• Presently however 3 new rice processing mills in Ebonyi, Niger and Kebbi states with combined 90000 tons of milled rice per annum are already completed


Major market infrastructure projects completed within the last 12 months to drive agricultural transformation at the state level.

1. 180 km of rural roads and 77 km of feeder roads completed
2. Establishment of 10 export crop, preservation and conditioning centers located in Kebbi, Kaduna, Cross River, Nassarawa, Gombe and Enugu states
3. Establishment of 8 agro processing centers.
4. Completion of 10 additional silo complexes with total capacity of 550,000 metric tons
5. 100,000 metric tons capacity silos located in Fct, Borno, Zamfara and Kebbi states
6. 25,000 metric tons capacity located in Taraba, Osun, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Katsina and Sokoto states.

Water supply

Projects completed:

1. Northern Ishan water supply project in Edo state with a plant capacity of 9 million litters per day to serve communities of Uromi, Ubiaja, Ugengu, Ugboha and Igueben, with a total projected population of 500,000 by 2012 at a cost of n2.5billion
2. 10 million liters per day – Mangu water treatment plant at the cost of over n1billion to serve communities of Gindiri and Mangu townships in Plateau state
3. The Federal Government and Benue State Government have completed and commissioned 50 million liters per day capacity the greater Makurdi water supply scheme.


Ongoing water projects-Cost
Okiriki water supply project Rivers state-830m
Ojirami water supply project Edo state-966m
Takum water supply rehab, Taraba state-263m
Central Ogbia regional water scheme Bayelsa state-4.7b
Biu water supply reactivated, Borno state-8.5b
Usmandanfodio water supply Sokoto-40m
Zungeru /Wushisi water supply project Niger state-2.1b
Fed university of Agric Makurdi-180m
Completion of Okpilla water supply, Edo state-800m
Rehab of ABU water supply Kaduna State-465m
Fika –Gadaka water supply Yobe State-300m

• 545 new hand pump schemes completed
• 1000 hand pumps borehole in 18 states across the six geopolitical zones rehabilitated
• 836 new motorized boreholes completed
• The rehabilitation of Oyan dam in Ogun state at a cost of 650m

Transportation

In the transportation sector government has successfully rehabilitated 3000km out of 3505 km of existing narrow gauge rail lines. The Lagos –Kano corridor will be completed this year, while the Port Harcourt -Maiduguri corridor which has started will be completed in 2013. The all-important Itakpe-Ajaokuta–Warri modern standard gauge line rail lines is nearly complete with the entire tracks 100% laid down. The 2 nd similar standard modern guage lines between Lagos and Ibadan has also been awarded.

Aviation

There is ongoing massive rehabilitation of airports nationwide, and for the first time ever there is 100 % total radar coverage of Nigeria’s airspace .this is the largest radar coverage project in black Africa.

Ports

At the ports, cargo clearing time has been reduced from one month to seven days and is expected to be reduced further to four days within the next few months.This has seriously impacted positively on the business and economic climate within the country.

Infrastructure

In the area of infrastructure this administration’s impact can be felt in all nooks and crannies across the six geopolitical zones of the country as follows:

Projects already commissioned in 2012

• Enugu-Abakaliki road
• Ogoja –junction Ikom road
• Gombe to biu road
• Akure –Ilesha road
• Kurfi-Charancha in Katsina
• Taka-Alabaju-gaya road in Kano
• Dingaya –Galambi road in Jigawa
• Nafada-Gombe-abba road in Gombe state
• Hong –Mubi road in Adamawa state
• Doma-Lafia road in Nassarawa state
• Rumukurshi –Chokoho road Rivers state
• Akure –Owo road in Ondo state
• Ado-Ilumoba-Agbado road
• Lafia-Mokwa road
• East-West odi road
• Okpala-Igwurita road
• Jebba-Lafiaji

Projects completed

• 7 presidential initiative projects
• 15 highway road projects
• 24 street lights projects
• 36 road consultancy projects
• 16 weigh bridges
• 7 traffic census road projects
• 7 road inventory projects
• Renovations of central work shops
• 92 national road rehabilitation projects completed
• 59 zonal intervention projects
• 6 access roads to refineries
• 4 roads under the Nigeria /Niger joint commission for cooperation

Ongoing Projects

• Abuja-lokoja dual carriageway will be completed by this admiration
• Kano-maiduguri dual carriageway will also be completed by this administration
• At then beginning of this administration benin _ore road was almost impassable and it used to take 6-9 hrs to get to lagos .now it takes just 3 three hours.
• Onitsha head bridge –upper iweka junction
• Apapa –oshodi expressway is being rehabilitated
• 9th mile to otukpo –iweata road in benue is being rehabilitated
• Gombe –potiskum road washout
• Auchi-ikene expressway washout
• Biliri highway washout
• Sokoto –ilela washout
• Km 30 onitsha –enugu road washout

Conclusion

With these few highlighted developmental efforts and activities of the government enumerated above, all the fallacies, deceits, misinformation and disinformation about incompetence and non-performance of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration are unfounded not supported by facts on ground and are therefore are outright falsehood.

Irrespective of what the detractors of this administration want the general public to believe, the truth, and indeed the absolute truth, is that this government is alive to its responsibilities, effectively, actively performing and responding to the needs of the Nigerian people.

SIGNED:
OLUSANYA AWOSAN (MEDIA DIRECTOR)
OFFICE OF THE SENIOR SPECIAL ASSISTANT
TO THE PRESIDENT (PUBLIC AFFAIRS)
PRESIDENCY
ABUJA




[size=14pt]Pls, go through and tell us whether any of the aforementioned completed projects is/are located in your area and its status[/size]

is the economy of Granada, Kenya, Ethiopia, Jamaica better than Nigeria?

Missy B,kindly send a copy of maggi ebook. My email address is enesi4u@yahoo.com

Sijo01: Just missed the presentation(Akoko Edo LGA) .......i steped out of the room.

Notes: results/elections cancelled in some units due to irregularities &cases of kidnap of officials with materials

I missed out too. I was observing my early morning Devotion

Paul John: E be like say I go leave this peeps alone go sleep. With this kind margin, I doubt am if hope still dey for PDP. But we no trust PDP, nothing is impossible.

DIS CAN'T BE RIGGED EVEN BY GEJ. THIS IS LIVE ANNOUNCEMENT

Paul John: O boy, I'm feeling sleepy. E be like say PDP don jass me

TRY & WAIT TO SEE THE RESULTS FOR THE REMAINIGN TWO LGAs

RESULTS AS ANNOUNCED LIVE ON NTA BY COLLATION OFFICER
OWAN EAST
ACN - 22483
ANPP - 159
CPC - 123
LP - 27
NCP - 23
PDP - 11709
SDMP - 34

WELCOME BACK. NTA IS ON LIVE FROM BREAK

GOING ON BREAK, TO RESUME BY 4:45AM

RESULTS AS ANNOUNCED LIVE ON NTA BY COLLATION OFFICER
ETSAKO WEST
ACN - 44952
ANPP - 169
CPC - 192
LP - 152
NCP - 37
PDP - 5920
SDMP - 45

RESULTS AS ANNOUNCED LIVE ON NTA BY COLLATION OFFICER

OREDO LGA

ACN - 66522
ANPP - 454
CPC - 268
LP - 49
NCP - 45
PDP - 9081
SDMP - 48

NO VOTING IN ONLY ONE POLLING UNIT OF OVER 500 VOTERS

RESULTS AS ANNOUNCED LIVE ON NTA BY COLLATION OFFICER
ETSAKO EAST
ACN - 23174
ANPP - 75
CPC - 61
LP - 13
NCP - 6
PDP - 4992
SDMP - 28

RESULTS AS ANNOUNCED LIVE ON NTA BY COLLATION OFFICER
ESAN SOUTH EAST
ACN - 14904
ANPP - 85
CPC - 61
LP - 22
NCP - 16
PDP - 9634
SDMP - 36

Oredo ward 12(Airforce Primary School):
Unit 18
ACN 270
PDP 31

Unit 19
ACN 304
PDP 29
LP 1
CPC 2

WE ARE STILL ON ACCREDITATION PROCESS AT POLLING UNIT 12/12/02/18 & 19. THE TURN OUT TODAY IS FAR ABOVE PREVIOUS ONES