₦airaland Forum

G1gbolahan:
Sadly, many here fail to agree with you that Aregbesola is not the problem. The writer is actually insinuating that Aregbesola is the root cause of the poor result, which for me is laughable

Let him return the unmerged schools back to their original owners. Government are only good at running things to the ground.

G1gbolahan:
I will be very honest and say this piece is lacking in everything that relates to common sense. So the performance for one year in a state that has been highly rated in education under the same administration now means he is "bastardising education". Even under this same year, if the writer is not aware, Osun still produced the best student in NECO exam nationwide. The article also talks of the quality of teachers which is a nonsense , seeing as Osun as has not sacked teachers that produced great results before.
Are there challenges of motivating those teachers? Yes, because of shortage of funds which is being managed right now. It is only good the writer admits to the building of new standard school buildings which is a crucial as all other factors to educational success.
Please let us be factual in criticisms, there is no bastardisation of education in Osun. Challenges maybe and they have proven to be surmountable

One excellent student while the rest are mediocre is something to write home about?

Aregbesola is not the problem, it's the youths. If you check NECO results of 2009, Osun was 35th out of 36th. A preposterous result! So as bad as 29th sounds, it's an improvement. There is a rot in the South West and if we don't do anything about it your future is bleak.

Issues of teacher motivation is not local to Osun. States like Anambra have adopted a good approach with incentives for teachers willing to go into villages.


The reason south east is top ten and will remain top ten is their leaders returned the schools back to the missions and their students embrace learning while ours have lost it. The kids in the SE are extremely smart and will continue to excel while we defend the indefensible.

Only Tinubu had the balls to return all the mission schools back to the original owners. The rest are pandering and sucking up to Muslim leaders while our standards continue to fall. We should all be ashamed.

Super1Star:
This is the reason we should not all keep quiet.

We need to champion the call to hold these Governors responsible.

i don't know how to send you a private message. But work is in progress. Just not on this platform.

The result was shocking. I was shocked beyond belief with what is going on in the SW in general. We've lost our ways.

Oyegun is useless if he uttered such nonsense.

ChimaAdeoye:
After selling all the properties Nigeria acquired since independence, Buhari will still squander all the money. Then borrow more money to defend his clueless economic policy.

By the time Oga dulllardinho is through with Nigeria, we will be over $200 billion dollars in foreign debt and cannot pay it off even in 200 years.
make i dey watch in 3D

Be positive for the love of God. Buhari's success is our success.

How do you cut your dependence on oil when the country has zero savings to pay recurrent expenditures not to talk of building infrastructure that will get us off oil?

Some of you partisan folks just talk out of your pie holes. You now realize the damage done under GEJ, squandering our oil windfall with little to show for it.

comos:
OBJ start what ?
The $100m rail that 1m even 1m track was never laid
GEJ started the abuja - kaduna railway and commission it before he left.

Go do your research.

jusRadical:
Sure?

Have you forgotten that according to apc e-warriors, gej did nothing?

GEJ did stuff but could have done way more with the unprecedented oil boom. Think that is where folks are coming from.

kernel501:
APC shame!!! So Joe started it?

OBJ started and Joe continued with it. Ameachi too is executing it.

Continuity is key as someone above me rightly ascribed.

As an APC supporter, I've declared Buhari to be a visionless leader for months. Probably 6 months since I made the proclamation.

We need concrete plans to dig us out of this hole and fighting corruption is not a plan. It's a solid foundation though. But of what use is a foundation if you have no plans to build a house on it?

Your list doesn't consider realities of a democratic government. They are too arbitrary without any considerations for reality.

omohayek:
I don't understand why people are complaining about this instead of rejoicing. For all the talk of "selling off our commonwealth" and so forth, one might be forgiven for thinking there were any Nigerian parastatals that were well run! Can anyone give actual examples of such a thing? Not NEPA, not Nigeria Airways, not NITEL, and certainly not NNPC!

Privatization and deregulation are precisely what Nigeria needs right now. Get rid of loss-making, inefficient government enterprises and deregulate the sectors they operate in! If it takes an oil price crash to force the Buhari government to do the right thing, then at least one good thing has come of the current low price of oil.

Correctamondo!

Governments are inefficient in running businesses. Margaret Thatcher got UK off that road in the 80s and they all attacked her for it. Now, they have every reason to eulogize her soul. The best thing to happen to Great Britain after years of Government bureaucracy and decay.

**And some call it witch hunting**



How ex-NIMASA boss paid me for job undone

By Innocent Anaba

lagos—A prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of a former Director-General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Patrick Akpobolokemi and six others, Uche Obilor, yesterday, told a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos how his three companies were paid N905.8million, by NIMASA under Akpobolokemi , for a contract he did not execute.

Obilor, Managing Director of Ace Prosthesis Limited, Seabulk Offshore Limited and Southern Offshore Limited told the court that the money was paid into the companies’ two bank accounts though he did not bid for any contract for NIMASA nor executed any.

Akpobolokemi is standing trial before Justice Ibrahim Buba alongside three others, Captain Ezekiel Agaba, Ekene Nwakuche, Governor Juan and three companies, namely Blockz and Stonz Limited, Kenzo Logistics Limited and Al-Kenzo Logistic Limited.

In the charge against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, they were alleged to have converted the sum of N2.658billion between December 23, 2013 and May 28, 2015.

The accused persons pleaded not guilty to all the counts of the charge.

In his evidence-in-chief, Obilor, led by EFCC counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, said that the sum of N437million was paid to Ace Prosthesis Limited, while N402 million was paid to Seabulk Offshore Limited and N66.8 million was paid to Southern Offshore Limited respectively.

On how his companies got the contract, Obilor said that he was approached by Captain Ezekiel Agaba (2nd defendants) that his companies had been awarded a contract to assist NIMASA meet the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code for 2014.


http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/02/how-ex-nimasa-boss-paid-me-for-job-undone-witness/

Sell it. Even Saudi is selling off theirs.

Governments should not be running companies. Period!

Only thing they should run are defense, some schools and nipost.

The case just got a life line after GEJ killed it.

Wait. Wait. Wait. WHAT!!!



The trial of a former member of the House of Representatives, Farouk Lawan, over allegations that he received $620,000 bribe from oil magnate Femi Otedola, resumed Tuesday at an Abuja High Court, with Mr. Lawan’s co-accused turning against the former lawmaker as the key prosecution witness.
Mr. Lawan also lost an all his applications before the court on Tuesday.
The former lawmaker chaired a House committee that investigated a multibillion fraud associated with government fuel subsidy. He allegedly received bribe from Mr. Otedola, to exclude his firm from the list of indicted companies.
Mr. Lawan was first arraigned in 2012 alongside the secretary of the House ad hoc committee, Boniface Emenalo.
But docked before Justice Angela Otaluka of the FCT High Court, Lugbe, on Tuesday, Mr. Lawan was informed of fresh amended charges against him alone.
Mr. Emenalo, who was a co-accused served as the main prosecution witness for the Independent Corrupt Practices and other matters Commission, ICPC.
Sources at the commission told PREMIUM TIMES that a deal was reached with Mr. Emenalo to serve as prosecution witness for his charges to be dropped.

The duo were formerly facing a seven-count charge of bribery, an offense that violates Section 10 (a) (ii) of ICPC Act, 2000 and punishable under Section 10 of the same Act.
They were alleged to have conspired in April 2012 to demand $3 million gratification from Mr Otedola.
In the original charge, Mr. Emenalo was accused of collecting $120,000, while Mr. Lawal received $500,000.
The new charge read Tuesday, accused only Mr. Lawan of receiving $500,000.
Before, the trial began, the counsel for Mr. Lawan, Sekop Zumka, told the court of the application before it challenging its jurisdiction based on the amended charges.
“Jurisdiction is fundamental to any criminal proceedings especially where the defendant is ready and willing to defend the charge against him,” he said.
Mr. Zumka asked the court to set down the motion for hearing which was filed on January 28, 2016.
Dismissing the application, Justice Angela Otaluka cited extant laws of procedure of Criminal Justice Act (CJA) 2015 and stated that amendments made to the charges were meant to ensure speedy dispensation of justice to all parties.
She said Mr. Lawan was standing trial in a court of the Federal Capital Territory and was being prosecuted by a Federal Government Agency, the ICPC, which was a creation of an Act of the National Assembly.
The judge ruled that the plea made by the defendant could only be considered when the court was heading to judgment stage.
Another loss suffered by Mr. Lawan and his team was the oral application by Mr. Zumka to adjourn the commencement of hearing to Wednesday February 3.

Mr. Zumka based his application on the fact that the lead counsel, Ricky Tarfa, and co-lead counsel, Mike Ozekhome, both Senior Advocates of Nigeria, who were absent in court, were “both interested in taking the trial personally”.
He also stated that even the prosecution counsel, Awomolo, who is also a Senior Advocate “would prefer to face an equal match”. The lawyer said the two lead counsel were not in court based on the assumption that trial would not commence Tuesday since there was an application challenging the jurisdiction of the court.


“He also said it was only “fair that the defendant, who hired the services of Senior Advocates is allowed to enjoy their services,” Mr. Zumka assured that the request to adjourn commencement of trial was not intended to delay prosecution in anyway.
The prosecution counsel, Adegboyega Awomolo, objected to the application arguing that Mr. Zumka had earlier introduced himself as a counsel to the defendant “not holding brief for anyone”.
He also said all counsel on the matter were aware of the commencement of trial over 30 days ago. He said the prosecution had brought in witnesses “everywhere”.
Justice Otaluko, agreed with the prosecution and ruled that trial should commence immediately.
She said there was nothing before her to show that all counsel who should have been in court were not round for any admissible reasons.
Following the ruling, the prosecution called its first witness, Mr. Emenalo, to the stand and Mr. Awomolo asked him to identify a document, which was a subpoena to the Clerk of the House of Representatives asking him to release some official documents in his possession to the plaintiff, the ICPC.
When Mr. Emenalo identified the subpoena, Mr. Awomolo sought to tender it as evidence before the court. The defence counsel however, objected to its admissibility.
The prosecution thereafter submitted seven documents which were also identified by the witness, Mr. Emenalo, as order paper for a special session of the House of Representatives which held on Sunday January 8, 2012, the votes and proceedings of the special session, also dated Sunday January 8, 2012 and another Order Paper of the sitting of the House of Representatives which held on Wednesday 18 April 2012.
Other documents identified by Mr. Emenalo include the votes and proceedings of Wednesday 18 April, 2012 as well as an Order Paper of the sitting of the House on Tuesday, April 24, 2012; the votes and proceedings of the sitting of April 24 and a report of the House of Representatives ad hoc committee set up to verify and determine the actual subsidy requirement and monitor the implementation of the subsidy regime in Nigeria.
Justice Otaluka agreed with the prosecution and admitted all seven documents and marked them as evidence.
Citing Section 104 of the Evidence Act, Justice Otaluka said the documents are all relevant to the criminal trial and thereby admitted as evidence.
The judge however ordered the prosecution to make payments for certification of the documents within seven days.
She then adjourned the matter to Tuesday, February 9, for the prosecution to continue its cross examination of its first witness, Mr. Emenalo.

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/197887-farouk-lawan-trial-co-accused-emenalo-turns-star-witness-ex-lawmaker.html





A snitch from that part of Nigeria? Hell no!!! Buhahaha

Real2020:
Call it stupidity...go and ask Warren Buffet why he drives a Lincoln Town Car worth $15,000 when he is worth over $30 billion. Tomorrow you will start hating Uchenna why he bought your father's house in Oshogbo and made you a perpetual tenant.

Lolz

mandax:
What is what replication by other eastern governors is near equal development of their senatorial districts.
Flyover is no sign of urbarnization.

In my Imo state, the state capital has everything modern in the state, including all the five universities and polytechnics in the state.

Only modern infrastructure out of the capital - the teaching hospital - has been gradually thwarted, today it no longer admits students. It's a horrible state.

But it's a good start. Development will eventually get inland. Just a matter of time.

Found it.

http://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/frus/nixon/e5/55258.htm

Biafra (3, 000 sq. miles, 4-6 million). Colonel Ojukwu -- 35, British-trained, erstwhile playboy -- presides over the popular support and military morale of a people convinced that defeat means extinction. The Ibos are the wandering Jews of West Africa -- gifted, aggressive, Westernized; at best envied and resented, but mostly despised by the mass of their neighbors in the Federation.
They have fought well (by African standards) against heavy odds; their cynical public relations use of the starvation has been brilliant.

Current Position: Ojukwu says in one breath his sovereignty is not negotiable, yet in the next talks about a compromise "confederation" or "commonwealth" which he never defines. He has ruled out the British as mediators and distrusts the OAU, just as the Feds accept-it, because of its pro-Federal stance. Biafra proffers a "ceasefire" knowing that neither Gowon nor his coalition could survive a hiatus which only gave a respite to the rebel-lion. The rebels seem more aware than before of their desperate food situation, but are convinced they can hold out (or will be bailed out) until the Feds collapse. Short of that, Biafra is almost certainly unable to win the war militarily. If Gowon (as he likes to see himself) is Lincoln fighting it out in the Wilderness with draft riots and copperheads back home, Ojukwu is Jeff Davis before Gettysburg with time on the side of secession.

Relief and Diplomacy

The immediate food crisis is on the Biafran side, which has been reduced to a 70- by 40-mile enclave in Federal-held territory. The only relief access is to the one working airstrip used for both arms and relief flights at night only. The planes come from two small islands off the coast. The religious voluntary agencies (some U.S., some European) fly from Portuguese Sao Tome. But Portugal has been sympathetic to Biafra and occasional arms flights also go in from Sao Tome. The Red Cross had been flying from Fernando Po until stopped last week by their landlord, the government of Equatorial Guinea. That problem is a mixture of high-handedness by the Swiss Red Cross people, perhaps some pressure on the Guineans from the Feds, and mostly the urge of a new and uncertain black regime to show the white men in their midst who's boss. State is hard at work on this. The Red Cross should be able to "rent" a grace period to continue flights until an agreement is negotiated.

For the moment, deaths have probably gone down in Biafra as a result of the 300 tons or so of protein concentrates flown in per week before the block on Fernando Po. But the fall harvest in Iboland is being consumed, and they face a carbohydrate famine which will have still greater impact on the population and require much greater bulk than the present relief airlift could possibly handle. The tortuous politics of relief boil down as follows:

-- Both sides have obstructed relief, but the balance of guilt rests with Biafra. In part, there are military priorities over food, but in the last account the rebels know well there's political profit in going hungry.

-- Biafra blocks daytime relief flights (which could substantially increase deliveries) because they're afraid Fed MIGs will tailgate and knock out the airfield (which the MIGs avoid at night or in daylight when anti-aircraft is free to shoot at anything in the air.) The rebels also enjoy the "cover" their arms flights get from relief planes at night, should the Feds grow bolder after dark.

-- The Feds endorse daytime flights in principle (to isolate the night arms run and maybe get a daytime crack at the field despite pledges to the contrary). But they regard (with reason) the voluntary agencies flying from Portuguese Sao Tome as pro-Biafran potential gun-runners, and thus illegal. And they don't want the Red Cross, which they do accept, flying in the fuel necessary to distribution of food.

-- The Feds want the airlift to operate from Federal territory, which would let them inspect the food for hidden arms. Biafra argues a Federal-based airlift means poisoned food (a potent fear in West Africa) and at very least that relief would be hostage to their mortal enemy. The relief people contend a Federal base will (a) hamstring their flights where military operations would take precedence in already overtaxed facilities, (b) cripple what does go out with endless bickering over what's relief (fuel, spare parts, tools) and what's military.

-- The Biafrans oppose an overland corridor unless it's policed by an army as big as the Feds' to prevent a sneak breakthrough. The Feds talk about a corridor -- again, in principle -- but manage objections to specific proposals and usually demand prior agreement by the rebels.

Over all this are two hard facts about the total relief picture:

1. Without either (a) a major enlargement of the present airlift (air drops, building another "neutral" airstrip inside Biafra, etc.) which would bring a break between the Feds and the relief operation or (b) a land corridor, we can only scratch the edges of the food crisis soon upon us.

2. Of the 4 million people ,now existing on outside relief and medicine, easily half are dependent on the continuation of the International Red Cross (read white - foreign) operation in Federal-held territory.


TAB A
BASIC REALITIES

1. We must not be enmeshed in irrelevant experiences of our past involvement in Africa. Others -- most notably the Congo -- have put down secession and minimum U.S. help (a few C-130's in quick operation) made a difference. Unlike most in Africa, this is a real war.

2. At the very minimum -- for moral reasons let alone domestic politics --we must mount every reasonable effort to get in relief. But we must decide what is "reasonable" in terms of long-range damage as well as the immediate disaster.

3. Our role is important but it alone will not ensure a solution. We have little leverage beyond threats or promises of greater embroilment. Neither national interest nor national security justifies U.S. military intervention. There is no prospect that U.S. military intervention -- with the political disaster it would bring -- would solve the relief problem.

4. To the degree we have leverage, we have it only with the Feds. We need their active cooperation in one half of the relief effort and at least their tacit acceptance in the Biafran half to avoid a military clash. We need their trust for any peace-making role we might assume. The relief effort and our political influence can survive the continuing displeasure mixed with hopeful expectation about our role in Biafra. Neither relief nor influence would survive a break with the Feds.

5. There is at least an even chance an outright Fed military victory would bring some slaughter of the Ibos. The rebel charges of genocide are exaggerated and unproven. Gowon is an honorable man who knows Nigerian unity would be lost if victory led to mass murder. But he may not be able to bridle his Northern troops fresh from the bush. "One Nigeria" is probably still possible, but we must be prepared to deal with some possibility of atrocities as a result, or scuttle the concept as carrying an unacceptable risk of "complicity" in supporting the Feds even diplomatically.

6. The passage of time as starvation grows and Fed coalition weakens --only reduces our options. A rapid end to the war is the best way to save most of the people now threatened by starvation. We simply don't know how long the Biafrans can live with current prospects, or how long the Fed coalition will hold together. The odds are now that the coalition will outlast the food, but it's close.


The link is juicy

This is great. I'd enjoin other governors to replicate what is going on in anambra state. If they have any money.

quid:
You have not answered the question clearly.

When you lease a land and pay for the mineral rights on that land, then what you do with it is yours during the tenure of the lease. The government also has the right to takeover land as they see fit. In the USA, it's called eminent domain rights.

So between the local indigenes leasing the lands and/or the government implementing some sort of eminent domain, the rights to oil is relinquished to the lease owner. Some form of compensation can be arranged signed as part of the lease. Anything after the lease agreement is just good will.

Real2020:
Yes. Extremely disciplined and focused young men who were raised not to impress but to plan for the future.

I admire that about igbos in general. They are very hard working and industrious. But for some, the extent of the drive as it relates to matters of conscience gives me pause.

IPod don join terrorism as part of skill set. Una well done o.

So we can add terrorism in addition to treason.

uwantsome:
U want to burn this country down abi? U are one of the people that dont want peace to reign?

Tell Kanu and his militants

kernel501:
WHY DO YORUBAS GET ANGRY WHEN IGBOS REFER TO LAGOS AS "NO MAN'S LAND" SINCE IT WAS DEVELOPED BY OUR COMMON WEALTH, WHILE THEY DON'T FIND IT OFFENSIVE TO REFER TO NIGER DELTA OIL AS "NIGERIAN OIL"?

LETS NOT INSULT OURSELVES, THANKS.

You are not the sharpest tool in the shed heh?

Let me enlighten you. Niger Delta land belongs to the tribes of the delta. They lease their land and the resource deep inside their land belongs to people that paid for the rights of the resources. It's a concept called eminent domain. The Yorubas own Lagos, but does that mean they own Zenith bank? The owner of the bank leased the land and owns what's on the land and will surely renew the lease when it gets to term.

So the government can include terrorism as one of his charges and then do the needful.