₦airaland Forum

If he fixes it, it will be good for the generality of not just Ekiti people, but for all motorists using the road. However, I don't think the billboard is necessary. Fashola, Obiano, Ajimobi and many governors fixed some federal roads without attacking the federal government.

This was posted by a twitter follower

Now, they will start blaming INEC for inconclusive election.

He transformed Edo

Mad people looking for excuse

Immediate past Governor of Niger state, Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, has defended the inability of the last administration at the federal level to save part of its income in the boom era for the rainy day, saying the government was handicapped by the 1999 Constitution.

He said what the constitution provided for was for all amounts of money generated to be put in the federation account and shared among the three tiers of government.

“The Constitution did not say we should save anything; what the Constitution says is that we should generate and share. It will be illegal for us to say we want to save; the law does not allow it,” Aliyu explained.

He made the remarks in Minna, Niger State, on Saturday when he served as the chairman at the second edition of the NDEDI Annual lecture series which had as its theme, “The Emergence of the Current Economic Realities: Expectations on the part of government and the private sector”.

However, the former governor said he and some of his colleagues were convinced at the time of the need to keep some money aside for eventuality, which brought about the establishment of the Sovereign Wealth Fund.



https://www.today.ng/news/nigeria/214235/pdp-govt-save-rainy-day-aliyu


Cc: Lalasticlala

it happens

Nigerian lawmakers on Thursday threw out a bill seeking to make history a core learning subject in the nation’s primary and secondary schools.
The proposed legislation was rejected by the House of Representatives after members raised concerns about the implication of a language in it.
The bill, titled “A Bill for an Act to Make History a Core School Subject in Nigeria’s Primary and Secondary Schools and for other Related Matters,” was proposed by Ayodeji Oladimeji from Oyo State.
Mr. Oladimeji said he crafted the bill to address widespread ignorance of Nigerian history – and even major historical events around the world – among Nigerians in primary and secondary schools.
“I have a secretary who did not even know anything about former Head of State, Murtala Muhammed,” Mr. Oladimeji, an APC member, said. “Colleagues, we need to do something about this situation because history is highly essential for nation building.”
But Mr. Oladimeji’s proposal quickly met an opposition, first in the person of Zakari Mohammed and later from other lawmakers.
Mr. Mohammed, an APC lawmaker from Kwara, said the word ‘core’ in the heading of the bill was problematic and blocked it from passing a second reading.
“I know it’s important for a people to know their history, but the word ‘core’ in the title of the bill is somehow,” Mr. Zakari said.


His position was later echoed by a few other lawmakers who demanded the bill be stepped down —even when they spoke highly of its importance.
The opposing lawmakers further stated that the parliament does not need to pass a bill strictly for the purpose of mandating history.
They said other key subjects such as English and mathematics are being taught in schools without special legislative backing.
But Mr. Oladimeji said he proposed the bill because he understood that history used to be in Nigeria’s early education curriculum but had since been removed.
The Nigerian government reportedly removed history from key subjects in schools in 2009.
Mr. Oladimeji said enacting the adoption of history into law should make it stringent for education administrators to expunge from the curriculum.
Speaker Yakubu Dogara, nonetheless, overruled Mr. Oladimeji’s prayers and urged him to go and rework the bill.
The defeated proposal came on the heels of relentless calls by academics for history to be restored into the curriculum for pupils.
In August, Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, decried the removal of history which he believed would result in a lack of adequate education for teenagers.
“I learnt not so long ago that history has been taken off the curriculum in this country. Can you imagine that? History?” Mr. Soyinka, a professor, said. “What is wrong with history? Or maybe I should ask, what is wrong with some people’s head?”

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/215001-nigerian-parliament-rejects-bill-make-history-compulsory-subject-schools.html

Aeon were! Make dem continue nah

Meanwhile

Just how unprecedented is this election ?

It's kind of like that old Prince song: 2016, nothing compares to you.

For the first time, you have a woman a step away from being president. That alone makes this campaign unique. And yet you don't hear much buzz about it, probably because Clinton herself rarely mentions it. Older female voters seem geeked up by the possibility of having a Madame President, but female millennial voters are surprisingly blah about it. Probably because they already feel like they'll see a female president in their lifetimes They're just not sure if they want this female to be the first.

For the first time, you have a true outsider-businessman who really could shake up business as usual in Washington. Change is the big call this election, and nobody represents that more than The Donald. He's the ultimate Washington outsider -- he was the host of "The Apprentice" for goodness sake -- who doesn't give a damn about political tradition.

For the first time, you have a major party nominee who, until this weekend, was under FBI investigation. Clinton's email problems were kind of fading into the background, then came roaring back.

For the first time, you have a man seeking office who bragged about wanting to sexually assault women. That "Access Hollywood" video of Trump would have been the death knell for any other candidate. But Trump is, well, Trump, and he says and gets away with things other politicians can only dream about.

For the first time, you have two of the most despised, hated and untrusted candidates. If they were running against any other run-of-mill presidential candidate, they'd be toast.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/11/06/politics/non-americans-guide-us-elections-trnd/index.html#question9

Why are Democratic states 'blue' and Republican states 'red'?

The media made it up. Both are colors in the American flag, and they look sharp on infographics because they're pretty much on opposite ends of the color spectrum. But the seemingly arbitrary color assignments have actually flip-flopped over the years. In 1980, states won by Republican Ronald Reagan were colored blue; Democrat Jimmy Carter's states were colored red. Even as late as 1996, major media outlets were divided on how to color-code the parties.

What are the biggest issues?

The usual suspects: The economy, national security, health care. The issues are so big the candidates never seem to find time to talk about them. How could they, when there's private email servers and lewd hot-mic videos to discuss.

On foreign policy:

Trump: His is an America-first strategy. He's suggested not coming to the aid of some countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and said he would work with challenging world leaders.

Clinton: She wants to use diplomacy and development to quell problems abroad, stand by US allies, and stand her ground with rivals such as Russia and China.

On trade:

Trump: He's said the Trans-Pacific Partnership is a bad deal for America. He's also said he'd renegotiate or end the North American Free Trade Agreement and label China a currency manipulator.

Clinton: She used to call TPP the "gold standard" of trade agreements ... until it wasn't politically expedient anymore.

On climate change:

Trump: He called global warming "a hoax." He has told coal miners he'd save their jobs by reversing President Barack Obama's executive actions and dramatically cutting funding for the Environmental Protection Agency.

Clinton: She wants to combat climate change and boost renewable energies, cut waste and reduce the United States' dependency on oil.

When will we know the results?

Landslide elections are usually called about 8 p.m. ET when most of the polls have closed on the East Coast and in Central Time zones. This election seems destined to be a nail-biter though, so we'll be lucky if we know who won by midnight. If it all comes down to Ohio -- wouldn't be the first time -- and Trump and Clinton are pretty much tied, the whole thing could ride on absentee and provisional ballots. But poll workers there have a whole 10 days to check eligibility. In that case, we wouldn't know the winner until the weekend before Thanksgiving. (Oh, and the Electoral College could tie 269-269


Can you really rig an election?

In America? That'd be really hard. In the last presidential election some 129 million votes were cast, so just think about thelarge scale of votes you'd have to manipulate to even have an effect.

Vote more than once? That small army of poll workers and poll watchers (not to mention the lawyers) at each precinct can easily put a stop to that.

Screw around with the voting machines? Sure, but first you have to figure out how to break the locks and seals that are placed on each voting machine. And did we mention each machine sits out in the open all Election Day long?

Hack the machines? Yeah, good luck. The election system is decentralized by design, with state, county and local governments all managing voting. Even though many precincts use voting machines, none are connected to the Internet, nor are they connected to each other.

It's probably a lot easier to just pick up a campaign sign, stand on a street corner and try to convince people that your candidate's the better option. You know, it's called democracy.

When's the election?

Tuesday, November 8, for most Americans. Notice we say "most." Millions will have already voted by then. That's because early voting is a thing in the US. It's estimated more than 40% of all votes this year will be cast before Election Day -- a record. In some states, you can even vote early, change your mind and vote again. Yeah, we make democracy really easy.

Why is the turnout so pathetic?

All right, you got us with that one. Our country loves the hype surrounding the elections, but the actual election? Not so much. Just 53.6% of the voting-age population cast a ballot in 2012. Some can't. (Like felons. That's 6 million right there.) Some just don't feel like it. (We're looking at you Hawaii and your lowest voter turnout in the country!). Compare that with Belgium. In 2014, nearly 90% of those who could vote did.


Why is the election on a work day?

You can thank Congress for that one. Once upon a time, America was a farming nation that went to church on Sundays and market on Wednesdays. Holding elections on Tuesdays gave farmers enough time to get to the polls, get back home, and get their products to market. Hey, they weren't going to sacrifice capitalism for democracy. Why November? So, people could vote after the fall harvest, but before winter weather made travel difficult. Cut to 2016, and we're STILL DOING THAT! There are proposals to move Election Day to the weekend, or make it a federal holiday, but they've gone nowhere.


Why is the election season so darned long?

We can see how this puzzles the world. Britain gets it done in 4 months, Canada in 2 and a 1/2 and Japan in just TWELVE DAYS. America's two main political parties -- the Democrats and the Republicans -- pick nominees through contests called primaries and caucuses in each of the 50 states and the U.S. territories. That process starts in February and it alone takes up to five months! Before that, candidates typically spend a year laying groundwork. They can start earlier, because there are no laws dictating the length of a campaign. Because, you know, freedom.


Can anybody run for president?

Yes, even Kanye West, if he chooses. Thelist of qualifications listed in the US Constitution isn't exactly long. It says you have to be at least 35 years old, have lived in the US for at least 14 years and be "a natural born citizen." The good folks who put together the Constitution nailed down a lot of things, but the exact definition of a natural born citizenwasn't one of them. And neither Congress nor the Supreme Court have provided much clarity. (Here, enjoy this light reading.) That explains why the birthers who question President Obama's citizenship won't shut up.

Why is it that the greatest country in the world only has two parties?

Actually America has a ton of them. There's the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, the Socialist Workers Party, even something called the Legal Marijuana Now Party. But for pretty much all of its history, the US has always had just two dominant parties that compete for the White House. These days it's the Democrats and Republicans. In middle of the 19th century, it was the Democrats and the Whigs. It's primarily because of America's winner-take-all elections. In other countries, 20% of the vote means you get some seats in parliament. In America, you get a sympathetic pat on the back and a "you'll get 'em next time" pep talk.


Is it true Americans don't directly vote for President?

The election is determined by this mysterious thing called the Electoral College. Yeah, we were shocked when we learned this in our grade school civics classes too. It's complicated, so stay with us:

The Electoral College is a group of people appointed by each party

The total number of electors is equal to the number of members in Congress: 538

Each state gets electors based on its population. So, Wyoming has 3; New York has 29

So, if Candidate A wins the most votes in, say, New York, (s)he gets all 29 electoral votes.

The goal is to get to 270, which is just over half of 538.

Because of this wacky system, a candidate can get ZERO votes in THIRTY-NINE states and DC and still win the presidency.

Has anyone ever lost the popular vote and still become president?

Why don't you ask Al Gore? He lost to George W. Bush in 2000, despite winning more votes nationwide.


538 is an even number. What if there's a tie?

An Electoral College tie is extremely rare. It's only happened twice. In a tie, one arm of Congress, the House of Representatives, will elect the president, while the other, the Senate, will elect the vice president. (Here's a helpful chart). This year, if there's a tie in the Electoral College, and the Republicans keep the House but the Democrats win back the Senate, it's quite possible that we'd be looking at a Donald Trump-Tim Kaine administration, a fitting end to the wackiest election we've ever seen. Isn't democracy wonderful?

What are battleground states?

The way the Electoral College works now is that most states are reliably either "blue," meaning they vote for the Democratic candidate, or "red," meaning they go with the Republican candidate. That leaves just a handful of states -- the battleground, or swing, states -- that the candidates fight over, such as Florida. Florida is the swingiest swing state of all. In 2008 and 2012 it went for President Obama; in 2000 and 2004 it went for President Bush. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are neck-and-neck there.

Rip Heroes

Americans are choosing between a corruption politician and an inexperienced unfit billionaire. Wherever they decide to go, they are losing.

Rip heroes

Rip hero

If this is true about the late Lt. Col. Muhammad Abu Ali, it won't be too much to call him the best material of the Nigerian Army in recent time.

Rip Hero!

realglobe:
Ambode is a mediocre compared to obiano.. Ambode receives more than 20 times the money obiano gets and yet obiano has more projects and better policies than him

sir? So your own yardstick for good governance is sales of ugwu? Okay o

wman:
It will make more sense if you modify the initial thread opener and post the four images there.

I can't do that again since the post has been moved to front page

sakalisis:
Oba awon UniStrikes

If you take the "UniStrike" once, you will drop out of your "uniSmooth" immediately.

Eko baje ti

A team of three students from the Faculty of Law, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife in Osun State recently made the nation and indeed the continent proud.
The team appeared as Africa’s representatives at the 2016 World Rounds of the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition held in Guadalajara in Mexico where this year’s International Astronautical Congress (IAC) also held.
The team leader, Adekemi Timilehin narrates the experience to Lawyard:
Having obtained the ticket to represent Africa in the World round of 2016 Manfred Lach moot court competition in Guadalajara, Mexico, the mountain looked insurmountable. However, before I continue this story, let me stress that my team is grateful to God because He alone made it possible.
We journeyed to Abuja in a bid to get sponsorship for the competition. Our budget was N7.3m and it was obvious that we could not sponsor ourselves.
By His grace and after several discussions, the Ministry of Science and Technology agreed to sponsor us.
Rehearsals were intense because we knew our opponents were equally good. Having obtained the needed documents and sponsorship, we left Abuja for Mexico on 24th of September.
We had a connecting flight to Paris before we headed to Mexico. We arrived Mexico Sunday night (Mexican Time). We settled down and waited until the next day to visit the conference centre for registration and other preliminary matters.
At the Semi finals, we faced McGill Institute of Air and Space Law, Canada representing North America region and we won. Our win was not borne out of luck but what I call favour because the Canadian team was also very good.
The judges however commented that they liked our structure of argument and responses to questions. Hence they saw us as the better team to proceed to the finals.
Meanwhile, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens representing Europe region defeated Curtin University, Australia representing Asia-Pacific region at the semifinals to equally qualify to the world round.
The final held on a Thursday and both teams were fully prepared.
The final was presided over by sitting International Court of Justice (ICJ) judges; Judge Xue, Judge Peter Tomka and Judge Grevian. The chief judge was Judge Tomka, being the vice-president of the ICJ.
We argued for the Applicant while Athens argued for the Respondent.
At the end of both arguments, space law experts walked up to us and congratulated us on our success but unfortunately when the ICJ Judges came in, they decided in favour of the respondent. In other words, Athens won.
The Hall was dead silent as it took some time for persons in the court room to congratulate the Europe team.
In all we thank God. We left Mexico the next day, that is Friday and arrived Nigeria safely.


http://www.lawyard.ng/oau-space-law-team-recalls-how-it-made-africa-proud-in-mexico/


Cc: Lalasticlala

promisechild:
Fynestboi for OAU SUG president

In Great Ife, we don't have Students' Union Government, we have Students' Union. We believe the union belongs to the students and not a set of cabals.

The most vibrant students' union in Africa is back!

I know they will be fast with the passage of this kind of bill because it affects them.

The nation’s monetary and fiscal policy should complement each other and the interest rate should be reviewed further down, Senator Adesoji Akanbi, representing Oyo South Senatorial District, has advised.

In an interview where he listed 13 steps the Federal Government could take to rebuild the economy, the senator stressed that a situation whereby the Minister of finance and CBN Governor contradict each other will erode the little confident left in the economy.

He said: “The economic team needs to be proactive and our monetary and fiscal policy should complement each other and the interest rate should be reviewed further down. A situation whereby the Minister of finance and CBN Governor are contradicting each other will erode little confident left in the economy and that will not help our economy to grow”

Senator Akanbi suggested slashing of salaries and emoluments of all members of the executive, legislature and the judiciary as the first sacrifice to be paid by the leadership.

On what informed his opposition to the proposed sale of narional assets to shore up the nation’s foreign reserve, Senator Akanbi said “it is not only inappropriate to dig a hole to fill another hole but economically it is unthinkable and historically it is unprofitable in every sense of it”.

He spoke further: “It is not only inappropriate to support the idea to sell our national assets but it is very illegal and it is against the salient provisions of our constitution. Section 16 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended forbids this. Specifically subsection (2)(c) outrightly negates the idea of concentration of government assets in the hands of few individuals in the society at the detriment of the populace.

“Historically speaking ,selling of our national assets has not brought any of our desires to fulfilment. Therefore, I’m in strong doubt if doing it this time will ever bring to us our utmost desires.

“Another reason we should jettison the idea of selling our national assets is that they will be undervalued by any buyer during this economic recession”.

Senator Akanbi however stated that Nigeria will come out of this recession stronger “without necessarily opting for a cheap idea of selling our national assets but by urgently taking a drastic and sincere step on some of our untapped resources that are readily available at our disposal”.

What then is the better alternative to the Federal Government’s proposal to sell assets?

The senator gave a 13-point solution highlighted below:

1. The Federal Government should, as a matter of urgency, bring all the aggrieved groups in the SouthSouth of the country to the negotiation table whereby all their genuine agitations can be addressed because Nigeria as a country currently in recession cannot continue to lose millions of barrels of oil daily as a result of their incessant bombings of our oil installations in the region.

2. In a country where we are spending less than 30 per cent of our income on capital expenditure and more than 70 per cent on recurrent expenditure getting out of recession will hardly be quick.
The executive, judiciary and the legislature must be ready to make sacrifice and even our executive governors in various states must be ready to do away with their security votes and if need be, they have to be transparent about it. A country like Ethiopia as at now has reached a level where 60 per cent of her income is being spent on capital expenditure and 40 per cent on recurrent expenditure. This should be the ultimate target of this present administration.

3. Despite increase in our debt profile, it is still believed that Nigeria can borrow from the International financial institutions and use it to reflate the economy by quickly taking the advantage of the credibility of President Muhamadu Buhari which is a good leverage because some international financial institutions are ready to lend us money for infrastructural development.

4. The current administration should reduce local borrowing in order not to be in competition with the private sector because the banks prefer to lend money to the government than the private sector and that will further run down our economy


5. I have this on a good authority that in 2015, Nigeria spent N630 billion to import food items and beverages. This shows our taste for foreign products which must stop at this point, and all of us have a role to play by patronizing made-in-Nigeria goods.

6. It is worthy of note to say that the present government has started well in the area of agriculture. But more still needs to be done to encourage our existing farmers and make farming more attractive to young graduates. And the good news is that we have the ability and capability to feed ourselves at a very reduced cost but the government has to play more roles in the area of providing transportation of farm produce to various markets at low cost. Government should put some palliative measures in place in this area. However, outright banning of imported food items is not the real solution but this can be best done by placing high tariff on them to discourage importers and consumers. The Nigerian Customs Service has to play its statutory role by manning our porous borders efficiently so as to prevent the smugglers from getting those banned products to our various markets.


7. Nigeria refineries must be put in good working condition because Nigeria cannot continue to spending over 50 per cent of her forex-earning mainly from sales of crude oil to import back petroleum by-products for our local consumption. We are left with very little foreign exchange which is not adequate to support our manufacturing sector in the areas of machinery parts and raw materials procurement that will enable our industry to operate at maximum capacity which will create jobs for our teeming unemployed youths.


8. We need to look inward to generate more revenue by widening our tax nets. In this kind of economy, people should not be over-taxed but there are still spaces where we can improve on our tax revenue.
Our Value Added Tax (VAT) has been 5 per cent since introduction of VAT for over 23 years ago and VAT is mainly on luxury goods. It should be review upward.


9. Treasury Single Account (TSA) is a good idea and it has helped to curb corruption in the system but the Federal Government has to ensure that much money is not kept idle in the central bank. A situation where large amounts of money are being deposited in Central Bank of Nigeria without making any positive impact on our economy should be reviewed and such money should be used to support our Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) to the fullest. Without supporting SME, we will continue to have high rate of unemployment.


10. Diversification of Nigeria economy at this point should no longer be a slogan as it used to be. Rather all our energies should be concentrated on how to indeed diversify our economy.We have abundant mineral resources untapped all over the country in commercial quantities and most importantly our laws and policies need to be reviewed to attract foreign investors that will invest in our solid minerals sector in particular. But looking at this year budget, I doubt that this present government is serious with the idea of diversification with regard to solid minerals development. The sector received a lean budget. This sector needs huge amount of money to be invested in area of geological survey and all other useful data and information that can always be available for interested investors before it can generate substantial revenue for the government in the long run.
The new development in Ajaokuta Steel Industry is good news and also a positive development towards sustainable growth.


11. I want to submit with this observation that the Federal Government should dwell much on infrastructure concessioning e.g. our four major airports in this country are not generating enough revenue for the government and this can be improved upon through concessioning arrangement. Some of these infrastructures can be upgraded to world-class standard. Instead of embarking on sale of our national assets, the government should embrace concessioning idea.


12. The palliative measure by the present Government should take off immediately and all the bureaucracy bottle neck should be eliminated with immediate effect, so people can enjoy the benefits – the sooner the better.


13. Finally, the economic team needs to be proactive and our monetary and fiscal policy should complement each other and the interest rate should be reviewed further down. A situation whereby the Minister of finance and CBN Governor are contradicting each other will erode little confident left in the economy and that will not help our economy to grow.


http://newspeakonline.com/13-steps-buhari-should-follow-to-rebuild-nigerias-economy-by-senator-adesoji-akanbi/

Mrs. Magareth Alameiseigha, the widow of the First Executive Governor of Bayelsa State, Late Diepreye Solomon Alameisegha, yesterday exonerated the leadership of the All Progressive Congress (APC) from the events which led to the October 2015 death of her husband.

According to Mrs. Alameiseigha, though the events leading to the last year death of her husband sparked off controversy between the PDP and APC ahead of the Governorship election, the killing of her husband started with his removal from office,arrest,trial and seizure of owned properties under the leadership of the PDP.

Mrs. Margareth Alameiseigha, the widow of former governor of Bayelsa state, Late Chief D.S.P Alamieyeseigha, while speaking with news men during the First Year Anniversary of his death, said ‎the controversy surrounding the death of her husband was not necessary, ” the PDP that frustrated and sent her husband to his early grave
and not the All Progressives Congress (APC) as widely speculated.”

According to her, “I can categorically say today that it was the PDP that arrested my husband, seized all his properties and humiliated him to the point of his death.It is PDP that killed my husband and not the APC. It was PDP that arrested my husband, it was PDP that humiliated my husband and killed him. At the end they seized everything that belonged to him.”

“It was the PDP that tormented my husband and he died as a result of the humiliation he suffered in the hands of the PDP. As far as am concerned, the humiliated me and took everything away from us.”

Mrs. Alamieyeseigha, described her husband as a man who wholeheartedly fought for the emancipation of the Ijaw people but that it is sad to note that the same people he fought for that sold her husband out to the PDP that eventually killed him.

Recounting how her husband was protested against and humiliated before he was arrested, she called on the people of Ijaw ethnic nationality to shun
acts that may cause them to betray their leaders.

“When my husband took over the mantle of leadership, he saw how his people were suffering. As an intelligent man, he saw the need to fight for
resource control as the way out for his people.”

“But at the end it is the same people that he fourth for that betrayed him. They sold him out to the PDP that eventually killed him. I want to advise the Ijaw people to stop betraying their leaders, so that they can move forward.”

http://leadership.ng/news/555996/shocking-pdp-not-apc-killed-my-husband-alameiseigha%E2%80%8Es-widow

You don't need to set up committee to develop economy. We have enough of that already. Just make and implement policies that supports economic growth.