₦airaland Forum

Nchara:
Edo state is a power political group in the SS that you ignore at your own peril.  IMO, I think they are more powerful than even the Ijaw.

That said, I still think the SS should take a shot at the presidency first (2015) before the Igbo.

you wish,the Ijo people number about 10 million.

akwa ibom.

hummmmmmm

http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geu510ZR1L4QwBcSRXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEycjNzNDZjBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMgRjb2xvA2FjMgR2dGlkA0g0NDdfNzI-/SIG=12ccvg996/EXP=1260304116/**http%3a//childwitches..com/2008_12_01_archive.html

Gov Imoke turns former Okada riders into car owners
From JUDEX OKORO, Calabar

[b]Monday, December 7, 2009

The recent ban on commercial motorcycles (a.k.a. okada) in Cross River State, popularly known as “Alalok” in Efik, has turned out to be blessing in disguise as Governor Liyel Imoke has turned most of the riders into car owners.

Over 5,000 of the former commercial motorcyclists are expected to benefit from the state new taxi scheme driven by Public Private Partnership, PPP. For the first batch, about 1,000 of them have been given cars and buses to enable them ply various routes within Calabar metropolis and also benefit from the scheme.


Senator Imoke had on November 27, 2009 banned the use of motorcycles as a means of public transportation in Calabar metropolis. In its place, a taxi scheme was introduced to enable former motorcyclists migrate to a new programme.

Flagging off the first batch of the metro taxi scheme in Calabar, Governor Imoke said “the new scheme made up of 250 AVEOLT Chevrolet model cars and 50 buses so far, is expected to improve public transportation and benefit its operators, mostly okada riders.”

Explaining that the new transportation system will not only be commercially effective, less costly, safer and add dignity to Cross River as a preferred tourism destination, but will add more economic value to the former motorcycle operators as they transmute to become motor vehicles owners.


In this arrangement, “motorcycle operators or owners are expected to mobilize themselves into cooperative societies with four previous riders owing one vehicle in a joint business and in a situation where none of them is a qualified driver, they could employ one.”

He reminded the pubic that it is not an outright ban, but a gradual winding up process has been done in many states.

The state government, he said, has distanced itself from being the owners of the vehicles in order to make it work and the owners are expected to make a regular monthly payment to cover the cost of procurement.


Describing motorcycle transportation as an aberration in any part of the world, he noted that while other states outrightly banned commercial motorcycles, Cross River remains the first and only state that has a migration programme for former cyclists as all the former registered operators have been accommodated in the new scheme.

The cabs will carry inscriptions, painted in the state colour of blue-white-blue and fitted with tracking mechanism to detect theft.


[/b]
http://nigeriaworld.com/cgi-bin/axs/ax.pl?http://odili.net/news/source/2009/dec/7/514.html

hehehehe.thank God for oil.

13volts:
if it were in the north, we should be , i guess page 12.

double standard.i guess this is our boko haram.

money money.

S’East Senators Tackle Omotoba over Enugu Airport
[b]From Christopher Isiguzo in Enugu, 12.07.2009
Monday, December 7, 2009

Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu yesterday dismissed the recent statement credited to the Aviation Minister, Babatunde Omotoba to the effect that the Akanu Ibiam airport has not been designated as an international airport by the Federal Government, saying that the minister was being economical with the truth.


Ekweremadu’s remark is coming even as the South East Caucus of the Senate has vowed to pursue the internationalisation of the Enugu Airport to a logical conclusion, insisting that since President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua had already approved the new status of the airport, it remains irreversible.


Briefing newsmen in Enugu yesterday, the Deputy Senate President, described the statement by the Aviation Minister as not only misleading and mischievous but was intended to paint lawmakers from the zone who made concerted efforts to prevail on the president to approve the airports new status in bad light.


“I want to believe that the minister was misquoted by the media because as the aviation minister, he ought to know that the President had since 2007 approved that the airport be upgraded to an international airport. We are not disturbed because we are already done with that and are currently facing other important issues that affect the people of the south east zone,” he stated.


On its part, the South East caucus of the Senate in a statement issued by Senate Committee Chairman on Information and Media, Ayogu Eze noted that the statement from the Aviation Minister came to them as a shock.


“That statement came to us as a shock because when the caucus of the senators of the South East went to see the President, he said he didn’t know there was no international airport in the south east zone and promised us that he as going to do something about it,’ he said.

Subsequently, we wrote to him and he acknowledged and wrote to the Aviation Minister directing that the airport should be made an international airport.

“It is unfortunate that this has become another thing today, but be that as it may, we are not relaxing on our oars, we are sourcing for airlines that will come and make Enugu a hub and then convert it to an international status, because all over the world, it is airlines that own airports. It is only in Nigeria here that we find government owning airports. So we are making effort to ensure that we get airlines that will make Enugu a hub and then bring the fund and necessary infrastructure that will make it international.

“I believe that it is very unfair and rather unfortunate that Nigerian people have continued to treat the South East as if we are the underdogs of Nigeria and that is completely unfortunate and if you see the way they speak about Enugu not being an international airport, they speak about it with a lot of interest and we have taken it up, we see it as a challenge, we are going to make sure that we surmount that challenge and make Enugu an international airport, with or without the support of the Federal Executive Council because I suspect there is a conspiracy to make sure that that project does not become realistic and we are going to make every effort to surmount that conspiracy,” the statement read in part.

It would be recalled that the Aviation Minister had while flagging off the N4.1 billion contract for the upgrading of the Akanu Ibiam airport in Enugu declared that only four airports were international airports in Nigeria, he named the airports to include, Abuja, Lagos, Kano and Port-Harcourt airports.[/b]

http://nigeriaworld.com/cgi-bin/axs/ax.pl?http://odili.net/news/source/2009/dec/7/209.html

Ijebu-Ife crisis: death toll hits 35.
http://thenationonlineng.net/web2/articles/27983/1/Ijebu-Ife-crisis-death-toll-hits-35/Page1.html

guyman job.

NDLEA Seizes Illicit Drugs Worth N2.2b at MMIA
By Chinedu Eze, 12.06.2009

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About 507.935 kilogrammes of illicit drugs worth about N2.2 billion, has been seied by the National Drug Law [b]Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport , Lagos (MMIA) in the last nine months.
This was made known by the spokesman of the agency, Mitchell Ofoyeju, who said that the breakdown of the drugs seized between January and November show that cocaine has the highest quantity with 172.930 kilogrammes, cannabis is next with 170.554 kilogrammes, psychotropic substances 121.100 kilogrammes while heroin is 43.352 kilogrammes.
According to him, a total of 139 suspected drug traffickers were arrested within the period under review, comprising 127 males and 12 females.
“The month of July has the highest seizure of 135.066 kilogrammes with 15 arrests while in February 19.04 kilogrammes of drugs were seized with 13 arrests,” Ofoyeju disclosed.
Reacting to the spate of seizures and arrests made by the agency, the Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade vowed to make drug trafficking unattractive and encourage the principle of diligence.
“It has become pertinent that we increase our commitment daily to the anti-narcotic campaign as every seizure made translates to incapacitation of drug syndicates. If we fail to stop the drug barons, deny them the illicit proceeds and place a commensurate sanction on them, we will end up aggravating the problem of moral decadence in the society”
He therefore called for more public support in the agency’s drive for a crime free society and warned drug barons that the agency would go the extra mile in halting the obnoxious trade in narcotics and psychotropic substances.
Ofoyeju also disclosed that the oldest among the suspects was the 64-year-old Folayan Elizabeth, a mother of seven that ingested 1.060 kg of cocaine who was arrested on November 17, 2009 during screening of passengers on Iberia flight.
The youngest suspect was the 19-year old student, Adetola Odufuwa studying in Cyprus who was nabbed on August 23, 2009 with 5.050 kg of cannabis concealed in powdered milk container in his luggage.
“One Ukoh John Ifeanyi, 45-year-old business man, however, broke agency’s record on April 4, 2009 when he excreted 3.349 kilogrammes of cocaine on his way to Germany . Ukoh John is the first suspect to ingest a whopping 3.349 kg of narcotic drug in the history of Nigeria ’s drug control,” the agency’s spokesman said.[/b]


http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=161221