₦airaland Forum

busygirl:
I'm not tryna be selfish but i think we still hold different lives. I wouldn't wanna argue with my husband over money. So let every one be the caretaker of his/her own account. So far the bills are paid on time and your husband is performing his responsibilities ( a personal view though)

thanks. i believe (personally) every family must have a common joint account.  they should by all means have their personal accounts plus what we call family accounts that both have access to. ours are mostly operated by the lady of the house because she is better at it.  it suits us best.

feel free to practice what you think will work best for you.

temi 4 rea:
@JJYOU & ROMINIYI
I am not condemning her atall,

But in all her replies she sound convinced on wht she wants to do!

That was why i wrote that, well if it offences u two AM SORRY.

your sins are forgiven you. you may resume taking communion and full fellowship.

these things come out without any notice. it catch you unprepared by the time external pressures comes in you are left almost exhusted because all the people you think would be on yourside turn out to be after their own interest.

an ex walked out on me yrs ago. she married and had 3 kids. she wanted to come back as if nothing happened. because she is nigerian almost everyone we know only remembered how good we were together as if i was born to marry her. believe me it is one of those decisions you pray not to come your way. things you thought were forgotten comes to you like it was yesterday.

this things happen the only difference i see here is the husband and her are not singing from same hymn sheet.  the situation could have easily split us especially when we went home 3yrs ago to bury my mum. it meant we didnt stay as long as we would have loved to stay.  some people know how to be selfish and break up things they have no business breaking up in the first place.  i am so glad i stood my ground and that my mrs stood by me. it was a  vulnerable situation/period but i did my best to protect her because she was my guest in a foreign land. looking back she has been worth it.

we all have choices to make all i am saying to this lady is that she makes hers calmly which she is doing now so i wish her good luck.

busygirl:
To think of it I wouldn't want to run a joint account with my husband. We've got different lives, innit

why is that?

Based on suggestions, we are changing this thread to hotel reviews. guys tell us which hotels you have enjoyed staying and which you didnt enjoy. please tell us what you need us to look out for or avoid in hotels.

MANY THANKS EVERYONE


Gimmicks hoteliers use to attract lodgers By Tobi Soniyi

Despite the different strategies adopted by hoteliers to lure guests, many of the facilities are manned by untrained staff

As competition becomes keener, hotels in Abuja are daily coming out with new tricks to stay ahead of competitors. While some provide complimentary breakfasts, some provide free computer and internet services, though some still charge guests a fee to access internet facilities.

In addition to complimentary breakfasts, some hotels also offer lodgers complimentary toothpaste, toothbrush and drinks.

There is also what they call weekend rates. Due to the fact that guests are fewer during weekends, some hotels reduce their rates by as much as half. Most people visit Abuja for businesses, especially with government, and since official transactions take place between Mondays and Friday, hotels are left with lesser guests to contend with during the weekends. To attract as many guests as possible, some hoteliers slash their rates at weekends in addition to providing free breakfast and internet facilities.

A particular hotel in the Central Area District sells drinks at rock bottom prices, thereby boosting sales. In the evenings, it converts its car park into an open air bar, turning it to a big party. There is always an impressive turn out of fun seekers who come in to buy cheap drinks every evening. A member of the staff of the hotel told our correspondent that what they realise from selling of drinks have overshot their earnings from lodgers.

Though, owners of hotels in the nation’s capital invest so much in facilities, they hardly invest in their workers. Many members of their staff are untrained and inexperienced. They are also impatient and sometimes abusive.

“They attend to you as if they are doing you a favour and expect you to personally motivate them before they can serve you better,” Kingsley Okechukwu, a Lagos based business man complained after checking out from a hotel.

The mode of employing hotel workers in Abuja certainly points to the kind of service to expect. It is a common sight to find a queue of applicants waiting to be interviewed in front of a hotel.

Another hotel in the Central Business District is notorious for employing young school leavers only to sack them six months after. Investigation by our correspondent on why this hotelier adopts such demeaning way of treating his workers reveals that he is afraid of organised labour, therefore, he employs them as casuals. He is afraid that if the workers stay too long, they can organise themselves into a group and start agitate for better conditions of service.

Mr. Kola Olaniyan who works with Amnesty International in London said that the last time he stayed in a big hotel in Wuse 2, the workers were so discourteous.

“In a hospitality industry, we expect people to be kind and helpful, but what I got was shocking. This is not how to promote tourism. I am a Nigerian and can understand, but foreigners will not,” Olaniyan said in a telephone interview from London.

Olaniyan said that at the reception of a particular hotel, he observed that rooms were being hoarded because the rooms would suddenly be available once you were ready to play ball.

“Because corruption has become a national malaise, you expect to see it in hotels,” he said.

Another visitor to Abuja, Mrs. Osai Ejigho, a Programme Officer at the Alliance for Africa, a non governmental organisation based in Lagos, said that hotels in Abuja are overpriced.

“I think Abuja hotels are overpriced - whether they are budget hotels or five stars. This is because, for the amount you pay, I think the service is average. I personally think Nigerian hotels are very expensive,” she said.

She also complained about poor customer service. According to her, “Staff of hotels are very poor at customer service that when you meet very good service you are surprised!”

“Facilities can be better. In some hotels, bathrooms especially, may have cracks in the walls, stained bath sinks and bath tubs. The room itself is usually clean, but then you may get stained sheets, and poor lighting. If you complain, you just get ‘sorry’. In most cases, the outside environment is spotless, which makes me wonder whether it is a ploy to attract customers only to discover that the rooms are not as clean as the outside, once you have checked in. Generally, I think the problem is a poor maintenance culture,” she added.

Getting value for money in Abuja hotels can be particularly tricky. This is because there is no comprehensive guide to check before making a decision.

The Nigeria Hotel Guide, published by the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), is grossly inadequate and not exhaustive. For instance, only 132 hotels are listed in Abuja in the latest guide published by the corporation, notwithstanding the fact that there is twice that number of hotels in the Federal Capital Territory. The guide will also not show you what facilities are available in which hotel. So guests will have to rely on shared experience.

Writing on the necessity for the guide, the Director General of the NTDC, Chief Olusegun Runsewe said, “This book (guide) is borne out of our determination to ensure that tourists and potential lodgers in Nigeria hotels are given the relevant information that would enable them take well-informed decisions on where to get value for their money.”

The claim to give relevant information is not established in the publication. Apart from providing the names, addresses and telephone numbers of the hotels listed therein, there is no other information that a potential lodger can rely on to make an informed choice.

The guide is bereft of information on whether a hotel has swimming pools, internet and recreational facilities.

A guest, Mr. Olugbenga Thomas, an elderly man told our correspondent that he had paid for room in a hotel in Central Area and was given a room on the fourth floor, only to discover that there was no lift.

At a recent interaction with the Media in Abuja, Runsewe identified proliferation of sub-standard and inefficient hotels, other hospitality establishments which did not meet the minimum requirement for practice, as one of the problems militating against the development of the hospitality industry in Nigeria. It will interest him to know that such sub-standard hotels still operate in Abuja.

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200902120455253

g/f NO NO. the mrs 101% MUST

wbb

wbb

nana:
brb

where you dey go? i beg talk for this matter.

rominiyi:
thanks JJYOU . A psycologist told me to  follow my heart cos of happiness , that's what I think I need , but in all I am taking my child and we are getting out , at least for the next 2months , My ticketing agent has confirmed my ticket and I need to get away from the two fo them , at least for now ,
happiness? be responsible for creating your own happiness my dear sister. what happens if uncle romeo turns against you tomorrow what would happen to your happiness. no man should be capable of creating your happiness.

Proverbs 19:21 (New Living Translation)
You can make many plans,
but the Lord’s purpose will prevail.

Proverbs 20:5 Though good advice lies deep within the heart,
a person with understanding will draw it out.

Isaiah 46: 10 Only I ( God ) can tell you the future
before it even happens.
Everything I plan will come to pass,
for I do whatever I wish


My husband is with his white girl , want me to be waiting for him ? No way I have sent him an email and left a text msg on his phone,

[size=1[color=#990000][/color]8pt]how long has this been going on?[/size]

rominiyi:
why is everyone blaming me? I have endured and worked hard for this 6yrs marriage and all I get is a stab in the back? we all have own differences and backgrounds , but I have worked and tirelessly so trying to save a marriage, but I am not going to be a second best , I will rather stay a first and real love to my first love , Thanks for all of ur input , I am not going to lose my sanity or senses by staying in a marriage I am not happy about,

stay calm and think this through

[size=18pt]Nigeria held hostage by a cabal –Rights activist[/size]
By ISMAIL OMIPIDAN, Kaduna
Thursday, February 12, 2009
•Mr. Festus Okoye
Photo: Sun News Publishing

* More Stories on This Section

Kaduna-based Rights activist and member of the Uwais-led Electoral Reform Panel, Mr. Festus Okoye, has declared that there is cabal that is bent on holding Nigeria down, saying that the cabal is responsible for the bad leadership in the country.
Speaking in an interview with Daily Sun in Kaduna, Okoye who is also a member of the Abisoye-led Panel inaugurated by the Federal government to probe the last Jos crisis, said: "there is a cabal holding the country down.

There are some reactionary forces holding this country down. There are some people who activate sectional, religious and other primordial interests to remain in power and keep this country down. There are forces that do not really want this country to move forward”.
He spoke on all these and several other issues of national interest.
Excerpts:

The Electoral reform
In that committee, we have people who came from various and varying backgrounds. So, our committee was just a store of knowledge.But the big difference in our committee was that each individual appointed to that committee was very unhappy with the way we have been running our elections and that informed our approach to that particular assignment.
Secondly, we had public hearings in 12 states of the federation. In all the states we went to, traditional rulers said they were unhappy with the way we have run elections in this country. All the political parties that appeared before us said they were unhappy. All the civil society groups that appeared before us said they were unhappy. All the security chiefs that appeared before us said they were unhappy. The resident commissioners that appeared before us said they were unhappy. Politicians that rigged elections, stole the people’s mandate, stole ballot boxes, stuffed ballot boxes came before us and said they were unhappy.

Then, the issue became what is the problem and who is the problem, if everybody is unhappy? So, it became very clear that if we did not make recommendations that are revolutionary in nature, then the committee would have been lagging behind in the thinking of the people, the thinking of the government and public opinion.
One issue that everybody emphasized had to do with the independence and autonomy of the Electoral management body. We needed to deal with that and closely related to that is the professionalism and expertise of those running the electoral management body. We had to also deal with that. The first issue we dealt with had to do with the independence and autonomy of the electoral management body and also how to professionalize it and make sure that whoever that is there is somebody who is inbuilt with some level of integrity and who will take some ethical things into consideration in doing his or her work. That is one big issue we dealt with.

Another big issue we dealt with had to do with the issue of resolution of electoral disputes. Nigerians are very unhappy at the fact that somebody will assume office and three years after, his or case is still pending in court and three years after, somebody who does not have genuine mandate would have stolen the people’s mandate, remained in office for three years and the person who has genuine mandate will only come to enjoy the unexpired residue of a term of office of four years, when somebody who does not have the mandate had taken three years.

So, we felt that we needed to put in mechanisms that would enable Nigerians dispose of all elections petitions before anybody is sworn in and that is why we recommended that Nigerians should have elections in November and that all election petitions will terminate before the swearing in of the newly elected President or Governor or members of the National Assembly in May. We have also put a time frame for the disposal of election petitions. For the tribunals, we’ve given them four months to round off every election petition and for the appeal processes; we’ve given two months, making it a total of six months.

The third radical and revolutionary decision we took, as far as I’m concerned, is the fact that we have both in fact and in law abolished the State Independent Electoral Commission. But if you read the report, the report will tell you that we integrated their functions into the reformed Independent National Electoral Commission. But if you read carefully, you will see that they no longer exist in law and in fact.
The other thing we did was the introduction of independent candidature and the tightening of the conditions for registration of political parties. I want to tell you that I support liberal democracy and I support multi-party democracy.

But a situation where our committee spent a year and three months searching for over forty political parties, where their offices and where their principal officers are is unacceptable to the people of this country. But these over forty political parties collect subvention from INEC every year and it is a fact that there are some individuals whose only duty is forming political parties and collecting subvention. In fact, we heard that one single individual has five political parties. So, every year, he sits down and collects over N30 million from the Independent National Electoral Commission and has a permanent suit in NICON and his party has never fielded even a councilor for a councillorship election. We felt that type of nonsense should stop and that’s why we have recommended that in addition to the constitutional provisions, any political party that wants to be registered must have offices in two-third of all the States of the Federation and that subvention will only be given after election and it will only be given to any political party that scores at least 2.5 percent of the total votes cast in the election, so that all these mushroom parties that have no existence in fact and in law that were formed purposely to collect subvention will just completely disappear and we will have serious political parties who are ready to bid for power and who are ready to assume office, if the opportunity comes their way. These are some of the issues we dealt with in relation to the electoral process.

But these parties collect taxpayers’ money as subventions without carrying out their own side of the deal, shouldn’t the law catch up with them?
That is part of the lacuna we have in the electoral Act. When a party has not accounted for the money it was given, why should you give it additional fund without waiting for it to account for the ones it was given. I think that is also part of the failure of the civil societies. For instance, the audited account of the political parties for the year 2006 was published in 2008, when the Electoral Act says that these things must be done every year; it must be published in three national newspapers every year. If the one for 2006 was published in 2008, the one for 2008, when are we going to have it?

It means INEC should also share in the blame?
INEC should share in the blame because it means they are not also doing their work. For instance, the law also says that after every election, the Independent National Electoral Commission should also publish in three national newspapers, the audited accounts of the political parties, with which they ran election. That has not been done. So, what it means is that INEC does not have the capacity to do most of the functions assigned to them by the Electoral Act and by the Constitution. That is why we have attempted in our report to unbundled them, remove certain functions they are performing and give such functions to other agencies.

For instance, our Committee had created what we call Political Parties Registration and Regulatory Commission to deal with issues relating to political parties, their campaigns, their audited accounts, their registration. We have also created Constituency Delimitation Commission to deal with the issue of delineation of constituencies. We have also created what we call an Electoral Offences Commission to do with arrest and prosecution of electoral offenders because the Electoral Act 2006 gives the INEC the power to prosecute electoral offenders, when some of the electoral offenders are within the institution itself. These are some of the things we have looked at comprehensively and done some revolutionary work relating to the Electoral Act and the Constitution.

State Independent Electoral Commission
What our Committee did is that we proposed amendment to the Constitution because it is part of our terms of reference. If you look at volume one, which is our main report, you will see that we have annexure one, which is the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Amendment Act, 2008. We drafted a bill for an act to amend the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, so as to further strengthen Nigeria’s democratic foundation in general and in particular, to raise the quality and standard of general elections together with the reinforcement of the cross cutting institutional framework, already delineated in that behalf and provide for other matters connected therewith.

So, all the recommendations we have made, we’ve reduced them into a bill and this bill, hopefully, would be forwarded to the National Assembly that will deliberate on that. So, we recognize the fact that some of the recommendations we made will impact on the constitution and that unless the constitution is amended, they will not have effect.
We also drafted Electoral Act amendment bill to take on board all the recommendations we have made. We also drafted what we called the Electoral Offences Commission Bill and we attached all these as annexure to our report.

Is it possible for all these bills to be taken before 2011 elections?
It is possible. If you look at page 253 of our report, the one we call implementation report, we said that there is a need for a thematic constitutional review, relating to all provisions that have direct bearing on the electoral process, without waiting for a wholesale review of the Constitution. So, what we have done is that the amendments we are proposing in relation to the Constitution are only amendments that have a bearing on the electoral process and we have said that take this as a first amendment and deal with and we have already drafted the bills. If, for instance, the President in his wisdom decides to constitute an implementation Committee, what the Committee will do, since we have drafted the bill, is to forward it to National Assembly and they begin deliberation and all these things are possible before December 2009, which is the date the President has also proposed for him to get all the electoral framework right. So, I think that all these things are possible.

You will agree with me that Nigeria is a funny country. We propose beautiful and lofty ideas, but getting them to work has always been the problem. For example, when they were debating the amendment to the 2006 Electoral Act, some Senators proposed that subvention should be given to parties based on the number of seats they win. But a lot of the other legislators kicked against that proposal and you and I know that in the National Assembly, it is majority that carries the day. So, if at the end of the day, the members of National Assembly see nothing good in your proposal, what happens?

Our Committee was set up by the President with a defined mandate and defined terms of reference. We have paid attention to those terms of reference and we have paid attention to our mandate. We got people from other countries with similar election problems like Nigeria to talk to us; we reviewed literatures from so many places. But at the end of the day, the question we asked is what is it that will work for the people of this country and that’s what we have proposed. For me, we have done our own job. The Electoral Reform Committee does not have the constitutional power to make laws. That power is within the exclusive reserve of members of the National Assembly, including the State Houses of Assembly. It is the business of Civil Society groups and major stakeholders in this country to push for this report and I can tell you that most of the recommendations we made, we paid very serious attention to the feelings of the people during our Public Hearings.

I want to also tell you that, for instance, the issue of the State Independent Electoral Commission; it is true that it has something to do with our federalism. But having looked at their performance holistically, majority of Nigerians believe that it is not an issue they want to leave at the State level because they have not managed it well. So, it is the pressure of Nigerians, the commitment of the President and the commitment of the major stakeholders that will see the reduction of these reforms into law. But we are under no illusion whatsoever that all our recommendations will sail through.

Some will sail through. Some will not sail through. But the issue is that whatever the National Assembly does, let them bear in mind the overall interest of the people of this country, the need for us to reform our electoral process, the need for our electoral process and our elections to be the reference point in Africa on how credible elections are conducted. I think it has become very shameful in modern day Nigeria, the reference point on how to conduct credible elections are Ghana, Benin Republic and some of these other countries and Nigerians are very unhappy about that.

The second thing I want to say is that I am also not under any illusion whatsoever that the law as it is, even if our recommendations may not on its own guarantee credible elections and that having gotten the electoral and constitutional framework right, the second thing we need to do is to get the political framework right. Unless the political class is ready to repent; unless the political class plays by the rules of the game; unless the political class internalizes the virtues of internal party democracy and the values of constitutional democracy, no matter how beautiful the law is, you may not make any fundamental headway. So, for me, the law is twenty percent. The politics of it is eighty percent and one of the ways we can get that eighty percent is if civil society groups have come to the inevitable conclusion that enough is enough and that they are ready to defend the mandate of the people, no matter what it will cost.

State creation
My take on this is that members of the press are yet to appreciate and delineate what the issues are. Section 9 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria provides for the mode of altering provisions of the Constitution. If you want to alter the provisions of the Constitution, then you pay attention to section 9 of the Constitution. If you want to alter the ordinary provisions of this constitution, you need an Act an of the National Assembly and you also need two-third majority of members of the National Assembly and your report of that alteration must also be adopted by the vote of not less than two-third of all the State Houses of Assembly. But there are other provisions that require a higher number to amend. One of those provisions is the issue of provisions relating to chapter four of the Constitution; the second are provisions relating to State creation and provisions relating to creation of additional Local Governments and boundary adjustment.

If you believe that the process for creation, the provisions for creation of additional local government, that the provisions of chapter four of the Constitution are cumbersome and you want them to amend them, you need four-fifth of majority of members the National Assembly and it must also be approved by the resolution of the Houses of Assembly of not less than two-third of all the States. In counting the members of the National Assembly, you count both those who are dead and those who are alive. In other words, section 9(4) provides that for the purposes of section 8 of this Constitution, that is sections dealing with State creation and chapter four and so on, the member or members of each Houses of National Assembly shall, notwithstanding any vacancy, be deemed to be the number of members specified in section 48 and 49 of the Constitution. So, for the Senate, it is 109 and for the House of Representatives 360. No vacancy is allowed. So, it’s very cumbersome. If you believe that the process for State and Local Government creation is cumbersome and you want the National Assembly to alter it, this is the number you need. But if you want States to be created, the National Assembly as an institution cannot create States. The National Assembly as institution cannot activate the process of State creation. The process of State creation is like a court of law.

Court can only assume jurisdiction if cases are filed. If no case is filed before a court of law, it cannot on its own assume jurisdiction. Even if a High Court Judge witnesses an accident on the road, the High Court Judge cannot say because I have witnessed an accident, I hereby assume jurisdiction over the case. No. the police or Attorney General must file charges or file a first information report, before a court can assume jurisdiction, the same thing with the process of State creation.
Section 8 of the Constitution says that an Act of the National Assembly, for the purpose of creating a new State shall only be passed if a request is made to the National Assembly. A request must first of all be made to the National Assembly before they can even begin to talk of issue of State creation. Who are the people that will make this request? It says a request supported by two-third majority of all members representing the area demanding the creation of the new State in each of the following: the Senate and House of Representatives; the House of Assembly in respect of the area and, thirdly, the Local Government Councils in respect of the area is received by the National Assembly. So, the people who will activate the jurisdiction of the National Assembly are two-third of members of the National Assembly from the area demanding the State, two-third of the Members of the House of Assembly from the area demanding the State and two-third of the members of the Local Government Council from the area demanding for the State. They will make a request.

Then, after making the request, what happens? They will make it to the National Assembly. Then a proposal for the creation of State is thereafter approved in a referendum by at least two-third of the majority of the people in the area where the demand for the creation of the State originated.
For instance, if the people of Kaduna State are demanding for the creation of a new State, the referendum will take place in the whole of Kaduna State and the result of the referendum must be approved by two-third of the majority of the people of Kaduna State. Then the result of the referendum is approved by a simple majority of all the States of the Federation, supported by a simple majority of members of the Houses of Assembly. Then, it now returns back to the National Assembly and the proposal is approved by a resolution passed by two-third majority of members of the National Assembly. That’s what the constitution says.

So, my advice is that the Joint National Assembly Committee on Constitutional Review must make it very clear to State creation agitators to go and do what section 8 of the Constitution has asked them to do. The Joint Committee of the National Assembly on Constitutional Review has nothing to do with State creation. It is not part of their mandate.
Even if they receive such requests during their public hearings that they are about to embark on?
The Constitution does not mandate a Committee to receive a request. The request must go to the National Assembly and two-third of National Assembly members as well as House of Assembly members from the area must endorse the request.
JCRC
It is a National Assembly Committee, but the Constitution has not mandated it to receive this request. So, even if they receive the request, the National Assembly has not received it. People should go and do what they are supposed to do in the first place. For instance, if you want a State to be created in Kaduna State, there are three Senators representing Kaduna State and two of them must agree. So, if two say no, it has collapsed already. Even if the National Assembly promises you that they will create 20 States out of your State and two Senators from your State say no, the thing has collapsed.
My advice, is that the President should move quickly, and set up an implementation Committee for this report and that the implementation Committee should look at this report holistically and also forward the bills to the National Assembly and let them begin deliberations on it. This has nothing to do with whatever they do subsequently in terms of other provisions of the Constitution that they want to review. But let them take the amendment dealing with the electoral process and they should separate it from other issues they want to handle, so that the politics of State creation, the politics of federalism, the politics of resource control and the politics of giving a role to the traditional institutions does not overshadow the primacy and fundamentality of getting our electoral system to work right. So, my idea is that it should go to them first.

Jos crisis
You have to excuse my answering this particular question because you know I’m a member of the Abisoye panel. Maybe after our assignment, if you ask me the question again, I will be in a better position to proffer a solution. I understand some of the issues at stake but I will reserve my comments for now, until we finish the assignment given to us.

Bad leadership
I think there is a perfect realization that things should not continue the way they are. There is a cabal holding the country down. There are some reactionary forces holding this country down. There are some people who activate sectional, religious and other primordial interests to remain in power and keep this country down. There are forces that do not really want this country to move forward.

So, the first thing we need to do is to understand these forces, understand where they are coming from, understand their tactics and their mechanisms and find ways of breaking those tactics and mechanisms down. Secondly, no society can develop without an active middle class or even make serious progress. So, one of the things I think we need to do is to reform and empower our institutions. If you look at the history of countries that have stable democracy and are making real progress, you will find out that their institutions work and that more often than not, the President of the country or the Governor is only a supervisor but the real work is done by these institutions.

When people infringe on the law, knowing fully well that there are consequences and the law proceeds against them, give them due fine and sometimes, they are convicted thereafter, people will think twice about breaking the law. But in this country, when somebody is arrested for having cornered the resources of a whole State, the person says it is because I’m from this part of the country; it is because I’m a Muslim, that’s why I’m being arrested; it’s because I’m a Christian, that’s why they are arresting me; after all, so and so person from this ethnic group stole more than me and nobody has arrested him.

We hide under some primordial banners in order to escape prosecution. But one thing is that the moment institutions begin to work for instance the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC and the ICPC; if they are very professional in their work; if they are very ethical in their work and people know that if they are arrested and are found guilty, the prosecution would be done well and they will go in for it, people will think twice about what they did.

But if they know that the moment you are arrested, you are taken to court and then you are granted bail, you amass 20 Senior Advocates and the case, maybe after two or three years is off the ladder, impunity will continue. So, I think that a single individual can make a difference. But a collective can also make a very big difference. One of the things we need to begin to do is to get our institutions to work; institutions that support democracy, if they begin to work, things will begin to change. In the past, it is unheard of for a governor to be taken to court for trial for charges of money laundering, charges of economic sabotage and economic crimes and on. But now it is happening. So, I think that we are making progress, although the progress is slow. But we should begin to think of how to rebuild our institutions that support democracy.

What I’m saying is that as at the time the President set up the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, he wrapped the institution around himself and it became an instrument for the settling of political and personal scores. But if the thing is made independent and built around the institution itself, not around any personality, they will make better progress, not if a President has a personal scores to settle, he will say go and fight him and you go. No. if it’s an institution, if the President has scores to settle with the person, he will send you a petition and you look at the position and if he doesn’t have a case, you throw it out, no matter who is involved. That is how institutions work

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2009/feb/12/national-12-02-2009-15.htm

[size=18pt]Nigeria held hostage by a cabal –Rights activist[/size]
By ISMAIL OMIPIDAN, Kaduna
Thursday, February 12, 2009
•Mr. Festus Okoye
Photo: Sun News Publishing

    * More Stories on This Section

Kaduna-based Rights activist and member of the Uwais-led Electoral Reform Panel, Mr. Festus Okoye, has declared that there is cabal that is bent on holding Nigeria down, saying that the cabal is responsible for the bad leadership in the country.
Speaking in an interview with Daily Sun in Kaduna, Okoye who is also a member of the Abisoye-led Panel inaugurated by the Federal government to probe the last Jos crisis, said: "there is a cabal holding the country down.

There are some reactionary forces holding this country down. There are some people who activate sectional, religious and other primordial interests to remain in power and keep this country down. There are forces that do not really want this country to move forward”.
He spoke on all these and several other issues of national interest.
Excerpts:

The Electoral reform
In that committee, we have people who came from various and varying backgrounds. So, our committee was just a store of knowledge.But the big difference in our committee was that each individual appointed to that committee was very unhappy with the way we have been running our elections and that informed our approach to that particular assignment.
Secondly, we had public hearings in 12 states of the federation. In all the states we went to, traditional rulers said they were unhappy with the way we have run elections in this country. All the political parties that appeared before us said they were unhappy. All the civil society groups that appeared before us said they were unhappy. All the security chiefs that appeared before us said they were unhappy. The resident commissioners that appeared before us said they were unhappy. Politicians that rigged elections, stole the people’s mandate, stole ballot boxes, stuffed ballot boxes came before us and said they were unhappy.

Then, the issue became what is the problem and who is the problem, if everybody is unhappy? So, it became very clear that if we did not make recommendations that are revolutionary in nature, then the committee would have been lagging behind in the thinking of the people, the thinking of the government and public opinion.
One issue that everybody emphasized had to do with the independence and autonomy of the Electoral management body. We needed to deal with that and closely related to that is the professionalism and expertise of those running the electoral management body. We had to also deal with that. The first issue we dealt with had to do with the independence and autonomy of the electoral management body and also how to professionalize it and make sure that whoever that is there is somebody who is inbuilt with some level of integrity and who will take some ethical things into consideration in doing his or her work. That is one big issue we dealt with.

Another big issue we dealt with had to do with the issue of resolution of electoral disputes. Nigerians are very unhappy at the fact that somebody will assume office and three years after, his or case is still pending in court and three years after, somebody who does not have genuine mandate would have stolen the people’s mandate, remained in office for three years and the person who has genuine mandate will only come to enjoy the unexpired residue of a term of office of four years, when somebody who does not have the mandate had taken three years.

So, we felt that we needed to put in mechanisms that would enable Nigerians dispose of all elections petitions before anybody is sworn in and that is why we recommended that Nigerians should have elections in November and that all election petitions will terminate before the swearing in of the newly elected President or Governor or members of the National Assembly in May. We have also put a time frame for the disposal of election petitions. For the tribunals, we’ve given them four months to round off every election petition and for the appeal processes; we’ve given two months, making it a total of six months.

The third radical and revolutionary decision we took, as far as I’m concerned, is the fact that we have both in fact and in law abolished the State Independent Electoral Commission. But if you read the report, the report will tell you that we integrated their functions into the reformed Independent National Electoral Commission. But if you read carefully, you will see that they no longer exist in law and in fact.
The other thing we did was the introduction of independent candidature and the tightening of the conditions for registration of political parties. I want to tell you that I support liberal democracy and I support multi-party democracy.

But a situation where our committee spent a year and three months searching for over forty political parties, where their offices and where their principal officers are is unacceptable to the people of this country. But these over forty political parties collect subvention from INEC every year and it is a fact that there are some individuals whose only duty is forming political parties and collecting subvention. In fact, we heard that one single individual has five political parties. So, every year, he sits down and collects over N30 million from the Independent National Electoral Commission and has a permanent suit in NICON and his party has never fielded even a councilor for a councillorship election. We felt that type of nonsense should stop and that’s why we have recommended that in addition to the constitutional provisions, any political party that wants to be registered must have offices in two-third of all the States of the Federation and that subvention will only be given after election and it will only be given to any political party that scores at least 2.5 percent of the total votes cast in the election, so that all these mushroom parties that have no existence in fact and in law that were formed purposely to collect subvention will just completely disappear and we will have serious political parties who are ready to bid for power and who are ready to assume office, if the opportunity comes their way. These are some of the issues we dealt with in relation to the electoral process.

But these parties collect taxpayers’ money as subventions without carrying out their own side of the deal, shouldn’t the law catch up with them?
That is part of the lacuna we have in the electoral Act. When a party has not accounted for the money it was given, why should you give it additional fund without waiting for it to account for the ones it was given. I think that is also part of the failure of the civil societies. For instance, the audited account of the political parties for the year 2006 was published in 2008, when the Electoral Act says that these things must be done every year; it must be published in three national newspapers every year. If the one for 2006 was published in 2008, the one for 2008, when are we going to have it?

It means INEC should also share in the blame?
INEC should share in the blame because it means they are not also doing their work. For instance, the law also says that after every election, the Independent National Electoral Commission should also publish in three national newspapers, the audited accounts of the political parties, with which they ran election. That has not been done. So, what it means is that INEC does not have the capacity to do most of the functions assigned to them by the Electoral Act and by the Constitution. That is why we have attempted in our report to unbundled them, remove certain functions they are performing and give such functions to other agencies.

For instance, our Committee had created what we call Political Parties Registration and Regulatory Commission to deal with issues relating to political parties, their campaigns, their audited accounts, their registration. We have also created Constituency Delimitation Commission to deal with the issue of delineation of constituencies. We have also created what we call an Electoral Offences Commission to do with arrest and prosecution of electoral offenders because the Electoral Act 2006 gives the INEC the power to prosecute electoral offenders, when some of the electoral offenders are within the institution itself. These are some of the things we have looked at comprehensively and done some revolutionary work relating to the Electoral Act and the Constitution.

State Independent Electoral Commission
What our Committee did is that we proposed amendment to the Constitution because it is part of our terms of reference. If you look at volume one, which is our main report, you will see that we have annexure one, which is the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Amendment Act, 2008. We drafted a bill for an act to amend the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, so as to further strengthen Nigeria’s democratic foundation in general and in particular, to raise the quality and standard of general elections together with the reinforcement of the cross cutting institutional framework, already delineated in that behalf and provide for other matters connected therewith.

So, all the recommendations we have made, we’ve reduced them into a bill and this bill, hopefully, would be forwarded to the National Assembly that will deliberate on that. So, we recognize the fact that some of the recommendations we made will impact on the constitution and that unless the constitution is amended, they will not have effect.
We also drafted Electoral Act amendment bill to take on board all the recommendations we have made. We also drafted what we called the Electoral Offences Commission Bill and we attached all these as annexure to our report.

Is it possible for all these bills to be taken before 2011 elections?
It is possible. If you look at page 253 of our report, the one we call implementation report, we said that there is a need for a thematic constitutional review, relating to all provisions that have direct bearing on the electoral process, without waiting for a wholesale review of the Constitution. So, what we have done is that the amendments we are proposing in relation to the Constitution are only amendments that have a bearing on the electoral process and we have said that take this as a first amendment and deal with and we have already drafted the bills. If, for instance, the President in his wisdom decides to constitute an implementation Committee, what the Committee will do, since we have drafted the bill, is to forward it to National Assembly and they begin deliberation and all these things are possible before December 2009, which is the date the President has also proposed for him to get all the electoral framework right. So, I think that all these things are possible.

You will agree with me that Nigeria is a funny country. We propose beautiful and lofty ideas, but getting them to work has always been the problem. For example, when they were debating the amendment to the 2006 Electoral Act, some Senators proposed that subvention should be given to parties based on the number of seats they win. But a lot of the other legislators kicked against that proposal and you and I know that in the National Assembly, it is majority that carries the day. So, if at the end of the day, the members of National Assembly see nothing good in your proposal, what happens?

Our Committee was set up by the President with a defined mandate and defined terms of reference. We have paid attention to those terms of reference and we have paid attention to our mandate. We got people from other countries with similar election problems like Nigeria to talk to us; we reviewed literatures from so many places. But at the end of the day, the question we asked is what is it that will work for the people of this country and that’s what we have proposed. For me, we have done our own job. The Electoral Reform Committee does not have the constitutional power to make laws. That power is within the exclusive reserve of members of the National Assembly, including the State Houses of Assembly. It is the business of Civil Society groups and major stakeholders in this country to push for this report and I can tell you that most of the recommendations we made, we paid very serious attention to the feelings of the people during our Public Hearings.

I want to also tell you that, for instance, the issue of the State Independent Electoral Commission; it is true that it has something to do with our federalism. But having looked at their performance holistically, majority of Nigerians believe that it is not an issue they want to leave at the State level because they have not managed it well. So, it is the pressure of Nigerians, the commitment of the President and the commitment of the major stakeholders that will see the reduction of these reforms into law. But we are under no illusion whatsoever that all our recommendations will sail through.

Some will sail through. Some will not sail through. But the issue is that whatever the National Assembly does, let them bear in mind the overall interest of the people of this country, the need for us to reform our electoral process, the need for our electoral process and our elections to be the reference point in Africa on how credible elections are conducted. I think it has become very shameful in modern day Nigeria, the reference point on how to conduct credible elections are Ghana, Benin Republic and some of these other countries and Nigerians are very unhappy about that.

The second thing I want to say is that I am also not under any illusion whatsoever that the law as it is, even if our recommendations may not on its own guarantee credible elections and that having gotten the electoral and constitutional framework right, the second thing we need to do is to get the political framework right. Unless the political class is ready to repent; unless the political class plays by the rules of the game; unless the political class internalizes the virtues of internal party democracy and the values of constitutional democracy, no matter how beautiful the law is, you may not make any fundamental headway. So, for me, the law is twenty percent. The politics of it is eighty percent and one of the ways we can get that eighty percent is if civil society groups have come to the inevitable conclusion that enough is enough and that they are ready to defend the mandate of the people, no matter what it will cost.

State creation
My take on this is that members of the press are yet to appreciate and delineate what the issues are. Section 9 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria provides for the mode of altering provisions of the Constitution. If you want to alter the provisions of the Constitution, then you pay attention to section 9 of the Constitution. If you want to alter the ordinary provisions of this constitution, you need an Act an of the National Assembly and you also need two-third majority of members of the National Assembly and your report of that alteration must also be adopted by the vote of not less than two-third of all the State Houses of Assembly. But there are other provisions that require a higher number to amend. One of those provisions is the issue of provisions relating to chapter four of the Constitution; the second are provisions relating to State creation and provisions relating to creation of additional Local Governments and boundary adjustment.

If you believe that the process for creation, the provisions for creation of additional local government, that the provisions of chapter four of the Constitution are cumbersome and you want them to amend them, you need four-fifth of majority of members the National Assembly and it must also be approved by the resolution of the Houses of Assembly of not less than two-third of all the States. In counting the members of the National Assembly, you count both those who are dead and those who are alive. In other words, section 9(4) provides that for the purposes of section 8 of this Constitution, that is sections dealing with State creation and chapter four and so on, the member or members of each Houses of National Assembly shall, notwithstanding any vacancy, be deemed to be the number of members specified in section 48 and 49 of the Constitution. So, for the Senate, it is 109 and for the House of Representatives 360. No vacancy is allowed. So, it’s very cumbersome. If you believe that the process for State and Local Government creation is cumbersome and you want the National Assembly to alter it, this is the number you need. But if you want States to be created, the National Assembly as an institution cannot create States. The National Assembly as institution cannot activate the process of State creation. The process of State creation is like a court of law.

Court can only assume jurisdiction if cases are filed. If no case is filed before a court of law, it cannot on its own assume jurisdiction. Even if a High Court Judge witnesses an accident on the road, the High Court Judge cannot say because I have witnessed an accident, I hereby assume jurisdiction over the case. No. the police or Attorney General must file charges or file a first information report, before a court can assume jurisdiction, the same thing with the process of State creation.
Section 8 of the Constitution says that an Act of the National Assembly, for the purpose of creating a new State shall only be passed if a request is made to the National Assembly. A request must first of all be made to the National Assembly before they can even begin to talk of issue of State creation. Who are the people that will make this request? It says a request supported by two-third majority of all members representing the area demanding the creation of the new State in each of the following: the Senate and House of Representatives; the House of Assembly in respect of the area and, thirdly, the Local Government Councils in respect of the area is received by the National Assembly. So, the people who will activate the jurisdiction of the National Assembly are two-third of members of the National Assembly from the area demanding the State, two-third of the Members of the House of Assembly from the area demanding the State and two-third of the members of the Local Government Council from the area demanding for the State. They will make a request.

Then, after making the request, what happens? They will make it to the National Assembly. Then a proposal for the creation of State is thereafter approved in a referendum by at least two-third of the majority of the people in the area where the demand for the creation of the State originated.
For instance, if the people of Kaduna State are demanding for the creation of a new State, the referendum will take place in the whole of Kaduna State and the result of the referendum must be approved by two-third of the majority of the people of Kaduna State. Then the result of the referendum is approved by a simple majority of all the States of the Federation, supported by a simple majority of members of the Houses of Assembly. Then, it now returns back to the National Assembly and the proposal is approved by a resolution passed by two-third majority of members of the National Assembly. That’s what the constitution says.

So, my advice is that the Joint National Assembly Committee on Constitutional Review must make it very clear to State creation agitators to go and do what section 8 of the Constitution has asked them to do. The Joint Committee of the National Assembly on Constitutional Review has nothing to do with State creation. It is not part of their mandate.
Even if they receive such requests during their public hearings that they are about to embark on?
The Constitution does not mandate a Committee to receive a request. The request must go to the National Assembly and two-third of National Assembly members as well as House of Assembly members from the area must endorse the request.
JCRC
It is a National Assembly Committee, but the Constitution has not mandated it to receive this request. So, even if they receive the request, the National Assembly has not received it. People should go and do what they are supposed to do in the first place. For instance, if you want a State to be created in Kaduna State, there are three Senators representing Kaduna State and two of them must agree. So, if two say no, it has collapsed already. Even if the National Assembly promises you that they will create 20 States out of your State and two Senators from your State say no, the thing has collapsed.
My advice, is that the President should move quickly, and set up an implementation Committee for this report and that the implementation Committee should look at this report holistically and also forward the bills to the National Assembly and let them begin deliberations on it. This has nothing to do with whatever they do subsequently in terms of other provisions of the Constitution that they want to review. But let them take the amendment dealing with the electoral process and they should separate it from other issues they want to handle, so that the politics of State creation, the politics of federalism, the politics of resource control and the politics of giving a role to the traditional institutions does not overshadow the primacy and fundamentality of getting our electoral system to work right. So, my idea is that it should go to them first.

Jos crisis
You have to excuse my answering this particular question because you know I’m a member of the Abisoye panel. Maybe after our assignment, if you ask me the question again, I will be in a better position to proffer a solution. I understand some of the issues at stake but I will reserve my comments for now, until we finish the assignment given to us.

Bad leadership
I think there is a perfect realization that things should not continue the way they are. There is a cabal holding the country down. There are some reactionary forces holding this country down. There are some people who activate sectional, religious and other primordial interests to remain in power and keep this country down. There are forces that do not really want this country to move forward.

So, the first thing we need to do is to understand these forces, understand where they are coming from, understand their tactics and their mechanisms and find ways of breaking those tactics and mechanisms down. Secondly, no society can develop without an active middle class or even make serious progress. So, one of the things I think we need to do is to reform and empower our institutions. If you look at the history of countries that have stable democracy and are making real progress, you will find out that their institutions work and that more often than not, the President of the country or the Governor is only a supervisor but the real work is done by these institutions.

When people infringe on the law, knowing fully well that there are consequences and the law proceeds against them, give them due fine and sometimes, they are convicted thereafter, people will think twice about breaking the law. But in this country, when somebody is arrested for having cornered the resources of a whole State, the person says it is because I’m from this part of the country; it is because I’m a Muslim, that’s why I’m being arrested; it’s because I’m a Christian, that’s why they are arresting me; after all, so and so person from this ethnic group stole more than me and nobody has arrested him.

We hide under some primordial banners in order to escape prosecution. But one thing is that the moment institutions begin to work for instance the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC and the ICPC; if they are very professional in their work; if they are very ethical in their work and people know that if they are arrested and are found guilty, the prosecution would be done well and they will go in for it, people will think twice about what they did.

But if they know that the moment you are arrested, you are taken to court and then you are granted bail, you amass 20 Senior Advocates and the case, maybe after two or three years is off the ladder, impunity will continue. So, I think that a single individual can make a difference. But a collective can also make a very big difference. One of the things we need to begin to do is to get our institutions to work; institutions that support democracy, if they begin to work, things will begin to change. In the past, it is unheard of for a governor to be taken to court for trial for charges of money laundering, charges of economic sabotage and economic crimes and on. But now it is happening. So, I think that we are making progress, although the progress is slow. But we should begin to think of how to rebuild our institutions that support democracy.

What I’m saying is that as at the time the President set up the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, he wrapped the institution around himself and it became an instrument for the settling of political and personal scores. But if the thing is made independent and built around the institution itself, not around any personality, they will make better progress, not if a President has a personal scores to settle, he will say go and fight him and you go. No. if it’s an institution, if the President has scores to settle with the person, he will send you a petition and you look at the position and if he doesn’t have a case, you throw it out, no matter who is involved. That is how institutions work

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2009/feb/12/national-12-02-2009-15.htm

temi 4 rea:
I dont get this whole thing again,where is ur husband ROMINIYI?

And u dont have to come to NL since ur mind is made up,

Wish u good luck.

NL is an open forum ma'am.  there are liars and 419 scums posting freely here. understand that she didnt create this situation because she likes being insulted by people like you.

the english says there goes i but for the grace of God.

you dont want to face what she is facing now. we all have our different tempations that is what makes us card carrying members of the human race.

touchmeder:
God bless u outlaw for this one personally this is something i have learnt from this story. let everybody be 100% convinced before u say i do. make God nor let person see bad thing oh

Amin Jesu

rominiyi:
Thank you so very much , I have read and re-read over twenty something letters that went to my parents address while I was in Jordan studying,  and he professes his love and said things about why I never replied any of his letters,  I think all of this fault is from my parents, cos How could they keep letters being sent to me and never gave me even when I came home those days on holidays,
I know events has gone over these issue by me getting married, but He is the one that I have love all my life,
I also agreed not getting married to anyone for the next one year but I am definitely getting out of this present one , I have bought my ticket and I am getting away from the two of them,  am going somewhere for the next 2months to get my life in order.
thank you all so very much ,  I love u and may u never be in my situation , its only me that knows what is going on in my head right now, my eyes are getting out of the sockets from weeping my heart out .

may God help and be with you. i feel for you cos i have been there myself. i pulled through because of the grace of God and a very gracious lady who understood from the very beginning i was not playing games.  these are some challenges you get as you are about to move into the next phase of your life. the decisions you make now can make or mar you for  a lifetime. that is why you must not mess things up by sleeping with uncle romeo now.  there is tomorrow and a child involved here so i plead dont spoil the future with ease.

it takes a split second for things to change. so thread carefully. you dont know tomorrow.

may Jesus grace and light flood your heart

surveycash:
With the collapse of Bernard Madoff's 50 billion dollar investment fund, Ponzi schemes are very much in the news. Recently, the FPA investigated CRE Capitol Corporation and the TradeLite HYIP, both of which turned out to be Ponzi schemes. I've covered some of this before in my article about managed forex, but since so many people have lost so much money to both classic Ponzi schemes and HYIPS, I thought this style of scam deserved a more in-depth analysis.

Be aware that not every managed forex fraud is a Ponzi scheme. Both Atwood & James and LegendTrader just found different ways to steal money directly from investors without following the typical plan of a Ponzi scheme.


So, what exactly is a Ponzi scheme?

A Ponzi scheme is an investment that provides returns to investors from deposits, not from investing. In a typical Ponzi scheme, investors are promised a fixed rate of return (usually fairly high) allegedly from some form of high return investment. The original scheme was devised by Charles Ponzi and was based on a legal method (at that time) of using international postal reply coupons. The problem was that there weren't enough of those coupons in existence to cover all the investment money that poured in. Modern Ponzi schemes claim to make returns based on a number of different investment plans, with forex becoming more and more prominent.

When the first person invests, the company makes very sure the investor gets paid his returns in a timely fashion and encourages him/her to tell friends and family about the investment. For example, if Investor 1 invests $10,000 dollars with PonziFx Investments (fake company name – example only) and is promised a 10% monthly return from their “expertly” run investments. If the scammers keep their overhead costs down, they can pay $1000 per month to Investor 1 for almost 10 months without doing any work at all.

This would seem like a foolish way to scam people, but the scammers have a plan. Whether by advertising or just by encouraging Investor 1 to tell friends and family, they get more investors. Everyone is now making a huge return on their investments. Investor 1 is so pleased, that he might take out a 2nd mortgage and max out his credit cards. Now he places a total of $200,000 with the company. He can now quit his day job and collect $20,000 a month. Of course, he's a nice guy and tells everyone he knows so they can all share in his success. Some are skeptical, but it's hard to keep doing the 9-5 thing when 3 of your relatives and 5 of your neighbors have all quit their jobs and are making huge amounts of money with no effort.

Incentives to recruit new people can be monetary (cash bonuses and/or higher interest for the investor who recruits others) or more personal. I don't know about you, but I'd love to be able to tell my family and friends, “Put your life savings with this company and all your financial worries will be solved forever.” if there really was a company that could always return 5% a month or more per month every month, under all market conditions with no drawdown ever. Wow! I'd be the great fiscal hero to everyone who would listen. This is part of how people get drawn in. People want to believe that they've found the perfect solution to all their money problems. Sometimes, they are cautious and just put in a little money to test it out. Once they get a few payments, it's easy to justify borrowing money at a low interest rate to invest it at a high rate of return.

A well run Ponzi can become huge (current world record - $50 billion), but at some point, it has to end. Either the supply of new investors runs out or the authorities step in – assuming the scammers haven't already decided just to grab the money and leave town beforehand.


Ponzi Warning Signs

1. Many large promises are made about the skill of the traders or the special trading or investing method (could be forex, could be anything), but details are scarce. Trading statements (if any) are unlikely to give information on what brokerage was used to place the trades. Attempts to get details will be gently deflected. Any serious attempt to get details is likely to result in the scammer threatening to not let the potential investor take part in the investment plan.

2. A web search for the people in charge of the company reveals little or nothing about them, despite claims of having long and successful careers managing other people's money. Worse yet, the search may show some civil and criminal legal difficulties, but these will be explained away as “misunderstandings” by people who didn't understand the business. Most of the positive information available is by word of mouth from friends or relatives who have invested.

3. The company will often try to claim that it has a long and solid history, often on Wall Street. There might be a virtual office in New York. There may or may not even be a very nice local office. Asking for information about registrations with the CFTC, NFA, BBB, local, or state authorities will be turned aside, either with excuses about how this isn't necessary, or with threats to keep anyone who would not take the investment seriously won't be allowed to invest.

4. An investor who wants to take some time to consider the investment will often be pressured to place money as soon as possible. Of course a legitimate investment manager will want your business soon in order to collect commissions, but excessive pressure to invest now can mean that the scammer is getting short on cash to pay off prior investors or else is getting ready to run off and wants as much money as possible before disappearing.


A serious investor needs to apply logic. Any legitimate company will be very happy to provide information about which regulators, government agencies, and business groups they belong to. Anyone who asks for your money and says that you aren't entitled to get a full disclosure about the company and how the investments will be handled is either a criminal or a crazy person who thinks that normal rules of investing don't apply. Anyone who threatens not to accept your investment money if you require basic information about the company is a criminal. The company my IRA is with sends me way too much information about my investments and they are happy to answer any question I have by email or phone. Investment companies should want to give you information, not hide it. Any serious managed investment company that claims to have a long, solid track record will be easy to look up online. Lack of bad information is not the same as the presence of good information. Just because your Aunt Mildred has been getting 10% per month for 6 months is no reason to throw all of your money in without researching the company first.


One special note about the Madoff case. He got a lot of very big names to invest in his scam. He even managed to slide under the CFTC's radar many times when they checked his company (yes, he really was registered with the CFTC). The reason he got away with it for so long is that he only offered 10% per year. This made his company seem a lot less suspicious, so many investors as well as investigators didn't examine his books as closely as they should have. Still, some smarter investors who checked things out closely did avoid getting involved.

One other thing about Ponzi schemes. Those who get in early and who don't add to their investment can end up with a significant profit. So, do you think it's ok if you got in early enough to have recovered your initial investment and made a profit? Think again. In the Madoff case, the authorities are working to recover any profits made by early investors to help partially repay the losses of later investors. Just because an investor didn't know it was a criminal enterprise doesn't mean that the investor can profit at the expense of others. Also, there's almost no way to predict when a Ponzi will collapse, so trying to invest with the plan to profit before the scheme fails is dangerous and foolhardy. Knowingly taking part in such a scheme can also attract quite a bit of attention from the authorities and other investors after the scheme falls apart.


Free Money from HYIPS?

HYIP stands for High Yield Investment Plan. I can't prove that they are all Ponzi scams, but am willing to bet that at least 99% of them are. Some HYIPS have FAQs claiming that they aren't HYIPS, so let me explain some of the more obvious warning signs that something is a HYIP.


HYIP Warning Signs
1. The website will often go on and on about the company having a large team of experts in a wide variety of fields, but when you check the services offered, it's usually just a set of 2-5 “Plans” paying interest in a daily/weekly/monthly basis for anywhere from a few days to 12 months. Sometimes the interest rate is fixed, sometimes it's listed as a maximum or minimum. It's always far more interest than can be had from any legitimate investment. The alleged investment can be just about anything, but forex is very commonly listed. Some of them have names like Real Online Forex, but are just real online scams.

2. A very steep increase in daily/weekly/monthly return as the amount of investment increases. I'd expect to make a little more interest with a legitimate account manager if I place $100,000 instead of $1000, but not somewhere between 2 and 10 times as much. Many also pay investors a percentage to bring in other investors.

3. They usually only accept deposits via one or more e-currencies (Liberty Reserve, e-Gold, StrictPay, etc.), not check, credit card, wire transfer, or anything else easily traceable. Those few that do offer wire transfer almost never have the money sent to a bank in a country with strict regulations. I'm completely in favor of offering a variety of methods to fund and get paid back on investments, but when all of the funding methods are virtually untraceable, this is not a good sign.

4. Minimum investment amounts are typically very low – almost always under $100 and sometimes as little as $1. This is done to lure people in and pay them some huge percentage of profit in order to convince them to invest larger amounts and tell their friends about it. Some people have lost hundreds of thousands when a HYIP disappears.

5. There is usually little or no contact information on the website. Contact is typically only by a web form or an email address. This might be fine for a low-cost or free service, but not for some place that claims to be investing significant amounts of your money.


Try to think about this logically. Some of these HYIPS promise over 5% interest per week. Take a moment to do the math. Even uncompounded, that's over $250% per year (5%, 52 times). Compounded weekly, that would be over 1000% per year. If this was all there was to investing, why isn't anyone talking about how great it is in the financial news? These things are very easy to find on the web, so they aren't secrets. Do you really think there's a service that gives away virtually unlimited free money with little or no risk? If these really work, why didn't Bernie Madoff just place a small percentage of the money he had into them and fix the problem he has paying off his investors?

Some people play what I call HYIP games. There are HYIP rating sites that tell if HYIPs are paying out to investors or not. Some of these sites are honest, but many are owned by the HYIP companies and are completely fake. Those who play HYIP games look for sites that are fairly new and are currently paying out while trying to lure more people in. They invest modest amounts and try to recover their initial investments as quickly as possible. They leave some money in and try to get as much as they can from the HYIP before it collapses and takes all the remaining money. Sometimes they lose everything, but they can make enough on the profitable ones to have at least a chance of coming out ahead. Personally, I consider this to be unethical. Every dollar placed with a Ponzi scheme makes it possible for that scheme to continue a little longer and steal more money from more people. Those people looking for that “golden moment” to put money in, grab some cash, and get out with a significant profit are only assisting the criminals and taking money from others who still are falling for these scams.


Take action and save yourself from these scams
In conclusion, keep your eyes open, ask a LOT of questions before placing even 1 dollar with a company that you suspect might be running a Ponzi scheme. Don't let a desire for high returns cloud your judgment. Don't place any money with anything even resembling a HYIP, and be very cautious before turning your money over to a person or company that claims to be able to produce stable high returns.

I've said this before and I'll repeat it here. Do some serious research before placing money with an account manager. There are people out there who will spend more time checking out the features of a new TV or stereo system than looking into an account manager or investment funds manger before handing over their life savings. If it takes you a whole month to check out a company, the worst thing that happens is that you've lost one month of lucrative returns. If the company turns out to be a scam, you've given up nothing and saved all of your money. If you don't have the time or skill to investigate, spend some money and pay someone to do it for you. You may end up spending a couple thousand dollars, but could save your entire life savings, your home, and more.

It's your money. Invest it wisely. Learn to trade for yourself or else do the research needed to find a suitable investment plan. Most of these scams are easy to avoid if you know what to look for.

wise words but i doubt if something for nothing society like nigeria would hear this

women are the best friend a man can have if you know how to respect them and keep your trousers/zip up. it wont hurt you to always make sure you introduce your partner to them properly.

Druss:
All I know sha is do not get female enmity - Females who hate you will do anything to destroy you even if it means their own downfall.

this is so true.

Pinkrosey:
[size=18pt]its not true that all men cheat [/size]

blessed and happy are thou for knowing this.

Busy_body:
Hmmn, I just can't understand all these rampant cheating stuff and people pleading weakness I don't understand why we human beings can no longer be satisfied with what we have, or wait patiently before going after what our heart desires

God will be blamed for making them like that. it is the era of rights without responsibilities

Busy_body:
Hmmn, I agree with your imput, and according to her story, she has been enduring for years, going back to her husband, hoping he would change, hoping things would change, and hoping things would work out, but how much can someone take?

I am not usually an advocate of divorce, and IMHO, when someone cheats on you once, I believe you should find it in your heart to forgive the person. But when they make a cold and calculating decision to have an affair, you forgive them, they still go back, get the girl pregnant, then rub it in your face that they would leave you for her, enough is enough.

Rominiyi, I know you did not just wake up this morning and decided that you are going to court tomorrow, you have had years to think about this, so I respect your decision, BUT what I would like you to do is not go into a relationship with your ex, as soon as the ink dries on your divorce papers.

It is vital you find out why his marriage failed too, because you know you were not to blame for your marriage breaking down, but how sure are you that he is not the guilty party in his?  

Give it time, don't use him as a rebound, get to know one another first, explore what happened that made his own marriage to break up too, find out what his ideals about marriage is/are, discuss both your future goals and expectation, etc

i have been wondering where you wazzz when your services was highly needed. i dont feel settled with the guy at all.

have mercy plsssss

bilms:
why are Nigerians denying there country of origin and instead claiming other countries when they travel?



why will a nigerian born father and american born mother be claiming american.

what is your problem with that sir? why wont they. what does nigerian passport offer the child that american passport wont?

touchmeder:

Wonders will never end just like that? straight to the court, all in one day is this for real or what?
is this marriage not even worth fighting for?

if na you get romeo on stand by you will be fighting

essentialB:
You live in Abuja and probably with your husband. Then where did your husband meet the Whity that he wanted to leave you for? Abi he lives in another country?

I pray you don't regret your actions at last.

benin and lagos wey cheap sex dey like pure water. i will say no more. wish you luck becos u will always need it

wonders of NL. why cant we get this guy side of the story.

are you nigerian? there is a film about this i cant remember the title. it has mama G as the ma in-law.

igaro:
Hi there,

You have a loving and very hardworking wife. Your job is whack, , and you haven't been paid salaries for some months, you r broke
and you need to move house, eventually your wife paid the rent for the new crib amongst other things,  [size=1[b][/b]8pt]why do you need to move house? what is the urgency and why couldnt you pay for it?[/size]
How should you feel in that new house when you guys eventually move in?  [size=18pt]i am sorry you shouldnt feel very comfortable. you must never place the burden of providing things like shelter on your wife. it is a NO NO situation[/size]

Free  or restricted  , owing to your financial and emotional situation?

tpia:
must the in laws be present in your home? Or who's giving them blow by blow accounts of what goes on in your marriage?

my ma inlaw said if i get to hear only what her daughter knows from a 3rd party i dont have to fast for any revelation.  this is an insider job

wbb

where a u guys based?

mukina2:
She is now ur wife . .your habibi They are getting are ready, she'll soon be with you

Now who's next?

e-delayed abi? you are so funny

1) jensinmi
2)pixiraver
3)Kenezi
4)Charlesmud
5)latox
6)Naijex
7)youngies
proudly9ja
9)Busy body
10)amosexy
11)ajadrage
12)agaba123
13)innocentoh
14)sashbaby
15)B.O.S.S
16)beneli
17)ohaechesi
18)Sky Blue
19)cvibe
20)Honeric01
21)Bhola
22)Sam Milla
23)brein
24)fe32
25)Zangief
26)jjyou

kokorunna:
@JJYOU

I agree but it also sound like the wife is not pulling enough weight at home. 

tks my brother. that is so obvious. you know you dare not say that on NL.  the guy wasnt telling all the lady came to tell all.  i smell some rat.

Ebiz4real:
Never in the history of Nigeria has there been a situation where a man of humble beginning like Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole will assume the exalted position of governor not to talk of being a Governor of a State like Edo with is arrays of godfathers.
Before this time, Edo State which used to be the pride of Nigeria in terms of development, especially in education, is in a state where nothing works; where youth migration to wonderland is the order of the day, where cultism, prostitution and internet fraud is on the increase.

The state which used to pride itself as the "Heartbeat of the Nation" became the headache of the nation as this could be witnessed in the high rate of unemployment, high crime rate, election thuggery and rigging.

This was the situation of the state when Comrade Oshiomhole contested as governor; not only was history made when Oshomhole was elected by the majority of the people of Edo State and declared winner by the election tribunal and affirmed by the Court of Appeal but a new beginning was created for the state which has witnessed the worst administration in the past.

The struggle for the restoration of Oshiomhole's mandate was a victory for the common people, including the Okada riders, market women, students, artisans and workers. Never have the people spoken with one voice. They saw him as a leader they can trust and they gave him all their support.

As the son of a farmer, Oshiomhole has tested poverty and like Barack Obama he has benefited from the society who offered him scholarship and gave him an opportunity to serve. Like he stated in his acceptance speech, that his victory belonged to the hardworking and determined people of Edo State who despite all urge and intimidation stood by him. Never have we held such an acceptance speech in Edo State.

No historian of worth can allow this moment to slip by without notice. In fact, Oshiomhole has proved that the sons and daughters of the poor can aspire to any position in life through hard work and determination. To prove that government is a collective process, Oshiomhole has set motion in place to demystify the protocol observed in governance by renouncing the title “His Excellency”. This is a sign of seriousness in governance.

Nevertheless, it is important for him to build a sound future for Edo State. As he enjoys the goodwill of majority of the people he should be conscious of the need to evolve a blue-print to tackle the myriad of problems facing the people.

Oshiomhole's government should mobilise the people towards establishing cooperatives in the area of micro-finance, agro-marketing, farm mechanisation, storage and processing, and entrepreneurial development.

Only a proactive investment in agriculture and a growing rural sector would reduce poverty and improved food security.

There is need to set up agricultural processing centres in all local government areas in Edo State. He should adopt blue-prints for each of his programme of Production, Infrastructure and Education (PIE). On Production the emphasis should be on revitalizing ailing industries scattered in the state. This could be done through collaboration, especially through public and private partnership.

On Education his government should not only concentrate in physical development of schools but rather on content development. The public schools do not equip the children to face the problems of the real world. Any programme of education that does not prepare the children to be able to apply their learning in the wider society is not worth cultivating. In this regard our education should be related to the reality of our collective experience as a people.

However, there is need to exercise patience on the side of the people towards the realisation of the expected dividends of democracy. But the need to build synergy between the government and the people is the panacea for accelerated development.

To this end, it is the duty of Oshiomhole to use this wide support which he enjoys from the people to mobilise them to achieve a developmental revolution. The people should know that it is not only what government will do but also what they will do to make Edo State great.

his wife is busy doing NGO as if that is what we need most

there goes some of us but for the grace of God

rominiyi:
I understand all what u are trying to say ,  but MAY U NEVER LIVE WITHOUT LOVE, Until you marry love you are not married,

well you are 32 you still have loads of time to waste be very careful. naija men/ women can take you on a journey to no where without your knowing it

rominiyi:
we dont have to abuse each other,  we are after all matured! I know your opininon matters a whole lot , to me in this time . but whatever I make up my mind to do is Final,  
pls stop calling each other names and [b]call me all the names u wan[/b]t,  It might or wont bulge me at all.

you are a very nice person. pls find it in your heart toforgive and move on.  i dont know why things like this happen to nixce kind people like you.

if you can pls watch the  Fireproof video  @  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpuRpjPSFpc.

may God save you and your marraige

dontexe:
This is what happens when people get married for the wrong reason. I can't believe a married woman can be talking like this. You are just a confused soul, and I'm not sorry to say that. There's no relationship without challenges, what makes you think that this is still the same guy you've always known. What if he has changed. Why did u allow him into your life when you already know what could happen. It shows you wanted out of your marriage all along. There's no excuse for infidelity, be it in relationship or marriage.

Madam, you've got no point. If you think you still love (love my foot!!) your ex, divorce your current husband and go for him, but you must be ready to face the consequence of your actions. Do you think it's easy to build a successful marriage You don't love your current husband and that's the truth. I doubt if you guys communicate enough, otherwise you should have been able to resolve whatever differences you have. Instead of doing that, you rather want to go for an ex that you virtually know nothing about again. It shows you are desperate to get out of your marriage. I can't advice you to go neither will I advice you to stay. If you decide to go and your new husband decided to take a worse path than your current husband, I wonder what your next decision will be.

my brother this can happen to the wisest of people.  she didnt call for it. it nearly happened to me just this last year. it takes just the click of the mouse on face book/ myspace or a chance meeting.  i my case an ex show up on a tagged photo taken almost 17yrs ago.

you  learn to say to NO and avoid tricky situations. she still hasnt given up. my number 1 priority is to protect my mrs.  to be tempted is not the sin. it is the yielding.   we all have our own temptations this is this ladys own if she overcomes it becomes a testimony and so we counsell and pray for her to overcome this cos it aint worth it.