₦airaland Forum

Dotng:
WHY NORTH’LL CONTINUE TO BE PROBLEM TO NIGERIA –BALARABE MUSA

— 19th March 2017
… Says region can’t produce 100 engineers, but a local government in

South can produce 1000 engineers

From Noah Ebije, Kaduna



GRANTING this interview was a Herculean task for the former governor of old Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, not because he was not willing to talk, but because he admitted, “I am weak, health wise, I don’t think I can speak for very long, but let me try, as long as you will not drill me for too long.”

Alhaji Musa also appeared not to be in a good mood last Tuesday morning when the correspondent went to his house, saying, “Apart from the fact that I am weak, I could not attend INEC meeting in Abuja because they gave only two days notice for the meeting, and I would have loved to attend the meeting myself, but I cannot. So I have asked the national secretary of my party to attend.”

So with this situation, the former governor was not in his usual mood and as such the reporter could not stretch him much on burning national issues. Nevertheless, he managed to release an arsenal, saying, “North is the problem of Nigeria because the region is educationally backwards to be able to help in reconstruction of the country to achieve socio-economic greatness among comity of nations.”

President Muhammadu Buhari returned to the country recently from London where he underwent medical treatment. He admitted that he had not been so sick in his life, but before now, the President’s handlers did not open up to Nigerians as to the true state of his health. What can you say about this?

Well, the handling was very bad, very unexpected, they took Nigerians for granted when they should not because the health of the president affects everybody, every Nigerian, whatever any Nigerian feels, Buhari is president, and Nigerians future is linked to the president’s presence or absence. And therefore people should not be indifferent to the health of the president. And the president’s handlers must make sure that they keep on informing Nigerians about the true health of the president. When they said the president was not ill, unfortunately we did not hear about the true health of the President.

This is not the first time, the same thing happened during the late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua. But fortunately enough, the president has returned in a healthy condition. I said in a healthy condition because, seeing how the president came down from the aircraft, I was confident that his condition of health is not worse than all of us because he came down from the aircraft without being held and in a strong position. So as long as Nigerians are concerned, unless the president is hiding something medically, he has returned healthy and he is carrying out his responsibility.

Hardly had the President returned to the country than Nigerians were told that he would soon go back to London for another round of medical attention. Do you think it is good for our politics, don’t you think our politics will suffer for the president’s periodical absence from Nigeria?

No, certainly it is not good for our politics. But this can happen to anybody. We have all been in and out of hospital, so it is not unexpected, particularly when the president has greatest share of pressure. It is not unexpected of him to go back with the hope that his condition will be better than when he was released from the hospital, and what treatment he got after his return, and later he will stay there for the mean time.

Away from Buhari’s ill health, Let’s talk about the last national conference under former President Goodluck Jonathan. As it is today, many Nigerians are yearning for the implementation of the report of that Confab, particularly, the restructuring of the country. But up till now President Buhari has not looked at the recommendations. What is your reaction to this?

President Buhari is right, not to have approved the report of that confab because the national conference was not legitimate; it did not reflect the wishes of Nigerian people. It was Jonathan himself who dictatorially decided that we should have a national conference. It is he who appointed those who participated in the national conference; it is he who gave them the…, so that national conference has nothing to do with the aspirations of Nigerians, it has nothing to do with democracy, and it has to be dismissed. There may be aspects of it that are progressive. For instance, the call for restructuring. This is an incidental thing, and we should pursue it, but not as a result of the national conference. The confab should be dismissed because it is irrelevant. It has nothing to do with the aspirations of Nigerians, and it has nothing to do with the destiny of Nigerians. It has to do with the will of a president who wanted to continue in office.

From what you have just said, you are in support of restructuring the country. How do you want Nigerians to pursue or go about the restructuring agenda?

Well, in the first place, let’s determine what we mean by restructuring because at the moment now there are various meanings of restructuring. As far as I am concerned, I am in support of restructuring, particularly in two areas; in return to the arrangement of the First Republic, where we had regional governments which were viable, and we should return to that. The 36 states are not viable, and everybody now knows it, and it is not in the interest of the country to continue with it. Let us have six regions, the North-west, the North-east, the North-central, South-west, South-south and South-east. This is the way to transfer Nigeria into three regional governments, each with its own constitution and government. Let also be units and not the statutory states, let any financial allocation come directly from the Federal government to the regions. And let the regions establish as many local governments as they cope with them with regard to financial allocation with the centre. And in fact what they need from centre will be reduced. They will be viable like the former Eastern region, Northern region, the Western region, and even before the Mid western region, they were viable. They needed the Federal Government support just to ensure even development and national unity. But definitely, even without the Federal Government support, they could survive. This is not what we have now.

The second restructure I want is that let us return to the situation before the military came in where the government played the leading role in the economy to ensure, equality, justice, dignity of the human person and progressive even development of the country. It is the major restructure, this is economic restructure. So we should have this political and economic restructures. There are other aspects of restructuring that we can tolerate as long as they keep Nigeria united as one nation and capable of equal development because as long as we have one region not having the equality to participate in the affairs of the country, we will not have unity, we will not have peace. For instance, at the moment now we have major problems which we must face and solve as a country. Free education development is central to any form of national development. At the moment now because of historical development, the North is 40 years behind the South in educational development. If this condition continues, there is no way we can have national unity, there is no way we can have even development, there is no way we can avoid the North being the problem of Nigeria. It is a fact, and we have to face it. If we have people like the Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Ahmadu Bello and so on, their contributions to development would have continued, we will not have problem of even development, particularly in the educational sector. Let’s not forget that because of the colonial policy, the North was left behind right from 1950. For instance, by the time I left school in 1951, there was no single secondary school in the North.

And therefore, a northerner could not go straight to university. He had to go to the South, that was in 1943 when there were about 100 secondary schools in the South. And this disparity has continued up till today, and we are calling on Nigerian leaders to know that this is a threat to peace, to national unity and even development of the whole country. But Nigerian leaders, particularly, the present crop of leaders don’t listen to this. But they now have to listen because we want peace and progress, and there is no way we can we have peace and progress if a section of the country does not have equal rights to participate in the affairs of the country, and you can’t have the equal rights to participate in the affairs of your country if you have this disparity in educational development. I always give an example. Let us say the present government of APC, (just for the sake of mentioning the party) decides to go revolutionary, decides to face the problems of Nigeria in a revolutionary way, in a way that within a short time we can see Nigeria becoming one of the second largest economy in the world. This is possible, it is not a dream. Take the case of the Soviet Union in 1976, take the case of China in 1949, what are they now, they are the leading countries of the world. Nigeria can achieve this within a short period of time because Nigeria is large in every respect, and it has resources.

Let us suppose, just for the sake of mentioning it, that if the present APC government decides to go and do what these other countries have done to bring them to this present position, if that happens, for instance, the role of the engineers will be very vital. Of course, the roles of doctors, administrators, educationists will be vital. But the roles of engineers will be more vital in the sense of changing.

Let us suppose that that government because of the need to reconstruct the country, to rebuild the nation quickly, wants every one of the 36 States, including FCT, Abuja, to produce 1,000 engineers for the sake of achieving this rapid development, how many states in the North can produce 1,000 engineers instantly without deploying the state engineers to the central pool. Now, maybe, if they can, it is Kwara and Kogi states that can produce such number of engineers, but I don’t think they can. They can’t even produce 100 engineers.

But let us take the South, in the South, even one local government can produce ,1000 engineers to the national pool. How can we expect equal development under this condition where there is an unequal role in the society? So let’s face the problem. And that is why we in the PRP who aimed to bring about new and equal Nigeria to its God-given status, advocate socialist reconstruction of Nigeria, starting with the leading role of the state in the economy to ensure peace, equality, justice, dignity of the human person and progressive, even development. If we adopt this, I can tell you that within the next 20 years, even less, Nigeria will be different from what it is today. It will be one of the most developed countries in the world because we have the people, we have the geographical area, and we have the resources.



Sir, you spoke with passion and sincerity about the problems of the North, in this case, will you advise President Buhari to organise a national conference to replace that of former President Jonathan?

I don’t think he can because, I mean, he is not in any way politically different from former president Jonathan. President Buhari won’t do a better job from Jonathan. Let us find ways and means of agreeing for the need of the relevant national conference, and let us decide how it should come about.



You mean President Buhari is politically weak to organise a national confab?

No, I am saying that President Buhari is not different from Jonathan because Buhari is the product of the wasteful system we have been having for so long since the beginning of Nigeria. So you can’t expect him to do better than Jonathan. Maybe marginally, but not importantly because, for instance, he may have the courtesy to say that Nigeria should decide whether there should be a national conference or not, what is the agenda of the confab, Nigerians should elect who should participate in the conference, and so on. If he does that, he will definitely be ahead of Jonathan.



Sir, INEC has just released the time table for 2019 general election. What is your observation about the time table because Nigerians are saying is too early, and others are saying it is not too early?

I think it is proper that INEC has released the time table now because that gives all political parties, at least two years, to prepare for the election. It also gives INEC itself sufficient time to ensure that the time table is followed to the letter, and to conduct free, fair and transparent election leading to a legitimate government. It will also give INEC the time to make sure that the government provides it with the money it requires to conduct the election. So I think the time table is quite good. The only thing is that INEC should know that they are in a privileged position with regards to telling political parties when to starting campaigning doesn’t hold, whatever the law says, whatever INEC says, election campaign should start from now since INEC has announced time table for the election, and INEC should tolerate it.

Kaduna State SIECOM has proposed electronic voting for local government election, are you in support of e-voting system of election?

I am in support of anything that can lead to legitimate election, leading to a legitimate government.

But many of the stakeholders expressed the fear that the powers-that-be may use the machine to manipulate votes in their favour. How do you react to this?

They can use anything to manipulate votes, but it is up to the political parties to organise themselves, and if necessary to unite and make sure that the election is free, fair and they participate equally.



http://sunnewsonline.com/why-northll-continue-to-be-problem-to-nigeria-balarabe-musa/

95% of the Head of State in 9ja came from the North...

Still they lack in Education, infrastructure etc...

The Northern Leaders are greedy and wicked... Accumulating wealth just to be like gods in the sight of their herdsmen..

They will rather give them cows and guns than to train them in school....

That man said some "NONSENSE "...

How can 9ja be like China or the Soviet Union when some section of the country in this 21st Century still parade the streets (even commercial places) with cows and sheeps

In a civilised country, a farmer or cattle rarer whatever they are called must have a RANCH... The animal will never cross their property...

The problem of the North is their leaders...
The problem of Nigeria is the North...

Other Regions can't do a thing about it because countries like America, England, France etc are with the Northerners... The people they can control...

Nigeria is a time bomb...

decatalyst:
The boobsgoddess wins the milk!

Respect Sam Loco... Don't put the picture of a dead honourable man in a stupid post like this...

What has big boobs given those two shameless women... Na only dem get big boobs or ass Can u see their level of stupidity

Rather they have become home base prostitutes...

R.I.P SAM LOCO

Col. Joe Achuzia who is a Biafra warlord has said that Biafra is a name for people in the south east part of the country and insists they are still Nigerians.

In an interview with The Sun, Achuzia spoke about the agitation for the Biafra and the continued incarceration of Nnamdi Kanu.

He said: "The word Biafra is a name, everybody has the right to a name. The people who are asking for Biafra preferred to be called Biafrans rather than being called easterners, Igbos, Efiks, Ibibios, Urhobos because they come from the same ethnic groupings within one location of Nigeria known as South-Eastern Nigeria. And they are Nigerians.

On what the Igbos should do to be politically, he said: “What they have to do is what every other Nigerian is doing – join the right kind of political party or help to promote your own political party that you know that the support will be sufficient to place you there. You don’t get it by being verbose or writing so much English in a newspaper, no! Mobilize your people, mobilize others because to get to the apex position in Nigeria, it is not one ethnic group or one tribe.”

Concerning President Muhammadu Buhari’s health, the Biafra warlord said the president was entitled to his privacy.

“I don’t agree with people who are talking about his health status, it is he himself that is in a position to know how healthy he is or if he is not healthy enough. It is not proper for people to be caricaturing people over their health, it is only God who is the keeper of health, He gives good health, He knows those who have bad health. It is only Buhari who has to decide whether he is healthy enough or not. But as far as I am concerned, he has the right to aspire towards contesting the next election, it is his right as a Nigerian citizen.”


https://www.naij.com/1094474-biafra-warlord-urges-igbos-politically-active.html

Chairman, Senate  Committee on Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and Senator representing Kogi West, Dino Melaye has said that following the Senate’s rejection of the nomination of Mr. Ibrahim Magu as chairman of the Economic And Financial Crimes Commission  (EFCC) on two different occasions, President Muhammadu Buhari cannot validly re-nominate the same candidate again.

Melaye while commenting on the debate in the media about whether Magu can continue to act as EFCC boss in spite of his failure to be confirmed by the Senate or if the President can renominate him, said there is a provision of the Senate rules which would not allow members consider Magu for the same position again.

Citing Order 131 of the Senate Rules, Melaye said after the rejection of Magu’s nomination, his candidacy is considered lapse and therefore advised the President to consider a fresh nominee who is qualified, in terms of experience, integrity, knowledge and temperament to lead the anti-graft agency.

Order 131 of the Senate Rules states that “nominations neither confirmed nor rejected during the session or within 21 working days in the case of Ministerial nominees shall be returned by the clerk to the National Assembly to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and shall not again be made to the Senate by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.

The Senator who insisted that Magu did not impress anybody including those Senators who would have been sympathetic to his cause during the confirmation hearing in the Senate urged President Buhari to look for a replacement and avoid actions that may result in violation of the laws of the land.

“Those suggesting to the President that after failing to scale the confirmation process twice, the President should leave Magu to be acting are only recommending violation of the law, disrespect for due process and perpetration of illegality. All these will only undermine democracy and constitutionalism in our country.

“Those drafters of the law who made the provision that the Senate should confirm the nomination of the EFCC chairman did not make any mistake and nobody should observe the law in the breach by getting a person into that office who has not been confirmed. Magu is not greater than the law creating EFCC. Magu is not the last messiah. He can’t be the only competent person for the job out of 170 million Nigerians. Should he voluntarily decline the appointment today, will EFCC fold up?”, the Senator asked.

Share

http://sunnewsonline.com/why-buhari-cant-re-present-magus-name-to-senate-by-dino-melaye/

Policemen allegedly beat woman, lock her up with her 2-month-old baby for refusing to give them bribe

- A woman, her two month old baby and her younger brother have reportedly been brutalised by police officers in Ekiti

- According to the woman, they were maltreated because she refused to give the officers bribe

- The police officers are however claiming that she assaulted an officer and tore his uniform

A US returnee, Mrs Toyin Adeyeye, her two month old baby and her younger brother were reportedly brutalised and detained by police officers for allegedly refusing them bribe.

The Incident which happened in Ekiti state, reportedly occurred at few meters away from the official residence of the state Commissioner of Police Mr Abdullahi Chafe.

Daily Post reports that Adeyeye was arrested with her baby and a brother at the checkpoint in front of Ekiti pavilion, where they were allegedly beaten by about five policemen, who later took them to the New Iyin police station.

Adeyeye reportedly just returned from the United States where she had her baby, 10 days before the unfortunate incidents.


Adeyeye was arrested with her baby and a brother at the checkpoint in front of Ekiti pavilion, where they were allegedly beaten by about five policemen

The woman’s husband, Mr Akanni Adeyeye, decried the alleged brutality meted out to his wife, with bruises on the her body.

He said: “My wife and her brother were returning from the market at about 3.00 pm on Friday and on arrival at the checkpoint in front of the Pavilion very close to their station, they asked for all vehicle papers and driver’s licence which were produced and they are valid.

“After checking all the documents, the policemen were demanding for money to be given as ‘settlement’ which my wife and her brother refused. My wife drew their attention to the baby that was crying in the car.

“Five of them were beating her at the point of arrest and on getting to the station, the beating continued. After thoroughly beating her, they obtained her statement around 10.00 pm. There are wounds on the back of my wife and face to show for it.

“On getting to the station, they now cooked up a story that my wife slapped one of them and tore his uniform which is a lie. They are telling this lie to justify their action of cruelty to my wife, my baby and my brother-in-law.

“Neither my wife nor her brother slapped any policeman or tore any uniform. The question to be asked is how would somebody who is not armed attacked an armed policeman? They got this falsehood to cover up their brutality.”

The state chapter of Federation of International Women Lawyers (FIDA), has launched an investigation into the matter as the state chairperson of the body, Mrs Funke Anoma, stormed the station in connection with the incident at about 12.30 pm.

When contacted on phone, the state Commissioner of Police, Abdullahi Chafe, claimed that Mrs Adeyeye was detained for allegedly slapping a policeman on duty and tearing his uniform, adding that the matter was still under investigation.

Chafe said: “Those people slapped my policeman on duty and tore their uniform. Uniform is an authority and what those people did was against the law and it is not good for a civilian to slap a policeman.

“It is not good for somebody to prevent a law enforcement officer from carrying out his lawful duty. Somebody wearing the uniform? It is not about his age but the authority he carries. I don’t allow my men to do something contrary to the law.

“I don’t want a woman to be detained with baby or with pregnancy. I don’t want an old woman or a minor to be detained. I have taken note of this and we will take the right action on the matter.”

Meanwhile, in Ikorodu area of Lagos, a soldier reportedly brutally beat up a young woman, after she allegedly challenged a soldier who slapped her brother for no reason.

The soldier whose name wasn't given is reportedly said to be attached to the 174 battalion, Nigerian Army Barrack, Odogunyan Ikorodu.

https://www.naij.com/1094476-police-officers-reportedly-beat-woman-child-younger-brother-ekiti.html

DSS on their way to your house Mr Man...

Better run 4 cover...

Freedom of Speech according to the Constitution but Nigeria is a Lawless Zoo...

Hell-Rufai is tired of being Bubu's Zombie...

No matter what Hell-Reufai does, he will neva be President in this country...



Second thought, it can happen since 9ja is a ZOO...

I love this man

Dull Afonja woman...

Where is Tinubu

APC is about to go into crisis like PDP...

His insensitivity to Nigeria's diversity and parochial focus are already well known... i like that part... First time i agree with Hell-Rufai...


Hell-Rufai is a snitch

Editor’s note: The agitation for Biafra has reached a very level especially with the incarceration of Nnamdi Kanu, the director of Radio Biafra.

In this opinion by Abdulrazaq Magaji, he points out that the agitators need to understand that their mentality of marginalisation is false.

The arm-chair revolutionaries

Dear segregationist

Let me begin by reminding you of what some of us think of your agitation. Some of us think, and honestly too, that rather than dissipate energy campaigning for Nigeria’s break-up, it is time you joined hands to end the Osu caste system in Igboland and emancipate the stigmatised members of the caste who, till date, are still victims of hate, discrimination and despising!

You may have succeeded in programming the members of the caste to join your hate campaign of seeing other Nigerians as sub-human but, truth is, in the unlikely event you succeed in your segregationist campaigns, the world will soon have another South Sudan and Burma to contend with. Tell me, what place has the Osu in the Biafra of your imagination? What guarantees are there that Osu will not become the target of ethnic cleansing in your imagined Biafra?


Biafra agitaors

Do you even understand the antics of the arm-chair revolutionaries who claim to be your well-wishers? From their comfort zones, they feed you with so much hate and incite you to carry arms.

It may sound blunt, but the only way to put it is that Nigeria has to remain one, united and prosperous country! Professor Chinua Achebe captured the essence when he said ‘there was a country’ that we all know lasted 30 months! This is a fact we must accept. We have to move on, and to move on is to build a great, united and prosperous Nigeria. As it is, we all have grouses, valid or otherwise, against the fatherland. Even the lecherous Boko Haram bandits reel out grouses!

The IPOB/MASSOB issue

If what I hear is true, there has never been a common ground among the arm-chair revolutionaries who pose as well-wishers, at home and in the Diaspora, in finding real solutions to the problems of Nigeria. Yes! I am referring to the constant deadly clashes between supporters of Nnamdi Kanu’s IPOB and Ralph Uwazuruike’s MASSOB! Is that right?

You may not believe it but very few people advocate a break-up to redress perceived injustices. See what is happening in South Sudan! In just five short years, the people of ‘Africa’s youngest sovereign country’ have become refugees among former compatriots they were programmed to hate! As I write, thousands of South Sudan refugees say they feel happier and safer in among the Sudanese they were told to regard as mortal enemies! In other words, what the people of South Sudan formerly called a zoo has become their sanctuary! And, the people they were programmed to see as beasts and cannibals are now their protectors!

Truth is, the people of South Sudan were deceived by the elite into believing that the only way to cure a headache was to cut off the head! Just as you and other segregationists are busy deceiving innocent Igbo people of South East Nigeria to hate their compatriots!

While you reflect on the pathetic condition of the people of South Sudan, let me take you down memory lane. If you take a quick look at the recent history of Nigeria and, you wish to be honest with yourself, it is the Yoruba-speaking people of South West Nigeria, more than any other zone, that should complain of marginalisation. You know the South West was home to the candidate who was denied the presidency in 1993! Yes! I am talking about late Chief MKO Abiola and the June 12, 1993 election.

What the South West did and why other Nigerians and indeed the whole world supported their stand was that there was never a time the Yoruba people threatened to pull out of Nigeria over June 12! Never! Of course, misguided roughnecks otherwise known as Area Boys made noise to that effect but no persons of substance in Yorubaland supported the call. The underground Radio Kudirat and NADECO struggled to actualise June 12, but not to pull Yoruba out of Nigeria! That brought about President Olusegun Obasanjo.

You also recall that, as recent as the Goodluck Jonathan presidency, there was no way any politician from the South West could have constitutionally ascended the throne in the event of vacancy. Of course, you know the South West did not feature in the top four positions in that government. In fact, the South West did not feature in the top 10 in the Goodluck Jonathan government! Check the facts! You could not have forgotten that President Goodluck Jonathan literally cleared all the votes in the South West. It was only Osun State that voted for the adopted candidate ( Nuhu Ribadu) of the defunct ACN or Action Congress of Nigeria party in the South West. The South West did not threaten secession!

The case for Yoruba people

It is strange, dear segregator, that the reason you give for your agitation is that Igbo people are marginalised in Nigeria because they do not get to occupy strategic positions in government!

And, let me take you a little back in time! You could not have forgotten that a prominent Igbo, HE Dr. Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme was elected vice president of Nigeria just nine years after the civil war Now, when Dr. Alex Ekwueme occupied the number two constitutionally recognised slot, no Yoruba politician from the South West featured in the top four positions in the country! The Senate President was Dr. Joseph Wayas while the Speaker of the House of Representatives was Chief Edwin Ume Ezeoke, another Igbo! The only prominent Yoruba politician, Chief Adisa Akinloye, was NPN chairman.

Nobody from the South West complained of marginalisation or threatened to tear up the country!

As you know too well, there is no group that is deliberately targeted for mistreatment in Nigeria!

The arm-chair revolutionaries, the same commissioned agents who pretend to be your well-wishers live in affluence in Europe at the expense of gunrunners. It is from their comfort zone that they sneak into Nigeria to pollute the mind of people with hate campaigns.

Finally, dear segregator! You should realise that IPOB and MASSOB are not being honest with you. The moment to reflect is now!

Prove them wrong. Free your mind! Turn your back to hate and do not allow it to consume you! After all, there is enough room in the sky for all birds to fly in. Remember that the task is to make Nigeria a great and united country. This was the message of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu as it was of Dr. Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe. It has been the message of Ohaneze Ndigbo!

It’s a task that must be done!



This opinion first appeared in The Guardian






https://www.naij.com/1094291-opinion-open-letter-a-segregationist.html

Somebody's wife

She is 45 years old...

There is an adage that says a fool at 40 is a fool forever

2019 propaganda?

Please where are the pictures of the other rooms??

Atiku2019:
I Stand With Atiku2019

In ur dreams...

An Hausa - Fulani man will not win the 2019 election...

I pray d Ajonjas wil hav sense by den

FunkyMetahuman:
enough to make the world hate us.

U have issues

FunkyMetahuman:
how many hausas have been caught in south africa, cambodia, indonesia or india.

Abegi.

How many Igbos?

FunkyMetahuman:
Fhuck no

Once we are done with this contraption called nigeria, I don't wanna live in the same country with any other tribe. Especially not the ibos. anyone else but ibos.

They will start giving the new country bad name with their usual colourful/drug business. Plus the amount of hate in those people can sink any form of alliance.
They can go to their biafra and turn it to a new cuba or mexico, that's their problem but I don't want my tribe to be a part of that sheit.

I want a yoruba country for yorubas alone.

In your mind u hav said somtin intelligent...

The Hausa people deal wit drugs in this country... go to the North and see for urself and stop bein ignorant...

Please tell me the countries where there are no drugs...Nija still dey learn...

Afonja and Igbo...

Well i call it "Cold War"...

There is no doubt that every person at least once thought over about population census, why it is conducted, what is the importance of population census. Now you are given a unique chance to read and find out more about this.

So, what is population census?

Census is a population counting conducted at a specific point in time for a special program and organizational plan, it is the largest ever statistical work of a national scale, allowing us to obtain information about population quantity. The census is held for the purpose of studying population, the settlement on the territory of the country, population density, composition by gender, age, nationality and socio-economic structure, level of education etc.

Why do we need population census?

It provides an opportunity to assess the dynamics of changes in these parameters over the time elapsed since the previous census. This information serves as the basis for future calculations of population and main characteristics of the socio-economic situation in the country in the subsequent years.

Basic principles of population census:

1. Census covers the entire population;

2. It is conducted throughout all the country at the same time: the information collected is linked to a certain day and hour;

3. The census program (questionnaire, rules, methods, documentation) is unique throughout the whole country.

4. Similar speed - the population counting is made within a very short period of time through direct interviews, filling in questionnaires according to the respondent answers. All this can be conducted in specially equipped census stations where everyone can answer the questions from the questionnaires.

5. Censuses are conducted during those seasons of the year when the movement of population is the smallest.

6. All persons residing in the country will answer the questions. It is traditional for all population censuses to have some questions on gender, age, place of birth, marital status, education, citizenship, nationality and knowledge of languages, sources of livelihood, employment and position at work, also the question of finding work.

Importance of population census

The results of the census are of great importance for current and future planning of changes in the sphere of national economy, the development of the economy, health, culture. Census data is used to calculate health indicators: physical development, morbidity, mortality; development of a network of institutions of preventive and curative care, the right number of doctors, beds; for the study of reproduction, fertility indicators, life expectancy, to calculate the perspective of the population, etc.

Our authorities take management decisions which are based exactly on this data including and most specific problems. For example, do we need to build a new school? - taking into account the amount of younger generation? Is there a need for the building hospital, kindergarten and so on.

Census is a nationwide event that brings people together. During the census no one is opposed to others, no one fights and does not compete as, for example, during the elections. We cannot underestimate economic and social importance of census. If the leadership of the country has reliable data concerning the age and gender structure of the population, its employment, migration, they can predict what our citizens will need in a few years.

What are the guarantees of protection of information about the population?

An important aspect of the census is confidentiality of information received. All information received from the public during the census, will be protected from unauthorized access, theft, loss, falsification or other distortion during processing. During the appliance of machine-readable forms, we use a unique protective complex with special equipment that provides high quality and necessary level of protection of questionnaires. Primary processing of census data at the federal level is carried out by specially trained personnel, familiar with the methodology of statistical surveys and many years of experience.

( Nigeria’s population now 193.3 million - NBS)

Have you convinced in the effectiveness and importance of population census?


https://www.naij.com/1093709-what-population-census.html

Ajonjas and Ndi - ugu make una come o...

Another one from Biafra..

come show ur hate by comments...but who send una

tchimatic:
They told us in primary school that we are the leaders of tomorrow.. Now am grown up but my grandfather's mates are Still in power.
Ayam not understanding.

That is because the youth of your generation are lazy and scared....


This men have been around since the 50's and were involved in bloody politics

Another Kwara State tale...

The Hausa Community must have an Emir...

Afonja

That was how it started in Kwara State...

An Emir is on his way to Osun state....

Another Afonja tale...

Mekus68:
Buhari's work on his first day in office after his return from London.



A government that will pass a bill and still turn around to sue the people the bill was meant for, is that one a government.

Bubu signed it under the influence of whatever sickness....

The government haven't found the cure for the disease that is feeding on dem....

Editor’s note: Femi Fani-Kayode published a piece titled “Buratai, Biafra and the Guardians of Empire Nigeria” where he berated the chief of army staff for his comment that Biafra will not be achieved while he is still in charge.

In this opinion by Ola S. Sanmi, he lashed out at the former minister of aviation for attacking Buratia insisting that his tirade of insult further confirms the position that he is not a true Yoruba man.

It is ceaseless angst across the nation that Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusufu Buratai became the focus of the latest article by the Nigeria’s odious and demented former minister of aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode (FFK). His cursed, unrestricted senselessness and confused emotions are unleashed on anyone his madness is prodded to hate any day. Visit the nearest psychiatric hospital and you decode the gist appropriately. FFK titled the article, “Buratai, Biafra and the Guardians of Empire Nigeria.”

It’s sometimes preferable to overlook FFK’s deranged ranting, because it’s difficult to completely cure an insane person. But a response to this one is spurred by the twisted intention to dwarf the credentials of Gen. Buratai, an internationally acclaimed icon in military circles and the czar of anti-terrorism campaigns, whose exceptional impact is unreservedly feted in Nigeria, Africa and the globe.

Any genuine indigene of Yoruba descent in Nigeria would be shocked to hear, read or watch FFK insult and abuse elders or everybody with such recklessness and impunity. It’s not permissible in Yoruba culture. But unfortunately, it is not debatable that FFK is not of Yoruba ancestry and his behavior is garnered from this perspective.

FFK is yet to disprove the deconstruction of his un-Nigerian genealogy by Engr. Fabiyi Rotimi (COREN), which was widely publicized in March 2015. It traced his roots to a Temne tribe in Sierra Leone, after his father was rescued aboard a slave ship from Sierra Leone in Lagos, designated for the slave market in the western world. And thereafter, his father was salvaged by the Nigerian Yoruba Bishop Ajayi Crowther. So, claiming ancestry from Ile-Ife is offending enough, but traducing the cherished traditional values of the Yorubas who picked him, a homeless boy on the street and breathe life into him is sacrilegious.


Opinion: FFK, a voice imperiled by deranged senses

But FFK’s dilemma is not far rooted. With certainty, Nigerian prisons are not necessarily reformation homes. They are about the worse places of confinement of any person anywhere else, even for a day.

Those who have passed through the misfortune of a romance with Nigerian prisons end up with two paralyses – diminished reasoning and intellectual capacity. Also, a date with any Nigerian prison cascades you speedily to premature senility. FFK’s words and actions depict the comportment of an escapee lunatic from a psychiatric home in extreme deranged senses.

This appears to be the fate of FFK who has obviously been imperiled by the Nigerian demons of incarceration. His odious and polluted tenure as a minister in Nigeria has made him a jailbird in Kirikiri and Kuje prisons at different intervals.

Though naturally gifted in disreputable conduct, abusive utterances and mental imbalance, FFK’s jailing worsened this innate capacity for sound reasoning. Nigeria has many examples of jailbirds in the mould of FFK. But they are remarkably different from FFK because conscious of their weaknesses, they prefer to be more reflective and less vociferous, unlike him.

But FFK’s proclivity to abuse, insult and denigrate prominent Nigerian leaders confounds, but the least, befuddling, when judged on the pillar of his Nigerian prison experience. Every notable Nigerian leader has had a douse of his mental instability. He once publicized that former Nigerian President and his political benefactor, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo (OBJ) was an ingrate for stoutly opposing the 2015 doomed re-election of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

And when FFK became the Director, Media and Publicity, PDP Presidential Campaign Organization for Jonathan in 2015, and OBJ furiously tore his PDP membership card publicly, he said, “Such behavior is provocative and unacceptable.” In Yoruba tradition where he claims known artificialized ancestry, its rudeness and abusive for a younger one to use such abusive vocabulary to qualify the actions of an elder like OBJ.

However, before this hour, FFK at a book launch in Lagos once described the administration of Jonathan as bequeathing a legacy of “destruction and disaster” in the country. But when he became Jonathan’s bootlicker, he had to brazenly abuse an elder statesmen like OBJ for kicking against the political agenda of Jonathan in 2015. At another instance, FFK ironically agreed with contents of OBJ’s open letter to Jonathan about “bleeding Nigeria to death,” and canvassed for change. But when OBJ set the process of leadership, he became FFK’s deadliest foe because he was cozied in Jonathan’s bosom.

During the hot campaigns for the 2015 presidential elections, FFK said Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu; “… belongs in a sanatorium for the mentally unbalanced and a maximum security prison for the power obsessed rather than in any political party.”

This arrogance of an alien, habitated in Nigeria on sympathetic grounds once referred to President Muhammadu Buhari as a leader who has lost his senses. Typical of the often rioting demons in his system, FFK once branded the Igbos on an international news medium thus “…the Ibos of Nigeria are collectively unlettered, uncouth, uncultured, unrestrained and crude in all their ways…” But today, he claims to be in the vanguard of MASSOB or IPOB’s quest for Biafra. What pyrrhic love.

Therefore, when his tormented soul added to his list of traducers, the revered and internationally acclaimed soldier and nemesis of Boko Haram Terrorists (BHTs) in Nigeria, Gen. Buratai, Nigerians felt saddened that he was treading on the familiar path on another wrong side. FFK’s crude and barbaric instincts became unchained against Buratai because the latter advised self-serving and violent separatists camps in Nigeria to shelve the unworkable idea for the future, as today’s Nigeria does not embrace such hooliganism.

In FFK’s lengthy response to Gen. Buratai and the Northern oligarchy, he thoroughly misplaced and miscalculated history. His asinine postulations of facts betrayed him more as a foreign spy on Nigerian soil. But he forgot easily that the people he has chosen to caricature in his berserk senses have far better grasp of the history and the events he rehearses every time than himself.

An anonymous scholar in 2017 quieted FFK’s disingenuous historical outbursts on Gen. Buratai, this great soldier of history in these endearing words; “The man Buratai as holder of PhD in history is a better historian than the one-sided pedestrian collection of historical half- truths you represented. You have not ventured into even the simplest historical detail of the last Nigerian Civil War here at home, otherwise you would have realized there was ‘no victor nor vanquished’. There was only wanton destruction, human suffering and despair. You are miscalculating by presuming the willingness of those fictional Nigeria’s factional interests to go their separate ways.”

The jailbird undoubtedly has hazy recollection and disjointed knowledge about the Nigerian civil war. But the Mr. Anonymous has reminded him, to perish the thought that a victor emerged in that conflict. The dimensions of the war and the premise upon which it ended cannot be re-invented by FFK.

So, when a celebrated war veteran in the capacity of Buratai, advises the spineless groups in the Southeast and elsewhere in Nigeria, the counsel is informed by his historical knowledge of the truth. FFK is incompetent to concoct fraudulent historical collections to dare Buratai, an army officer who would ordinarily tutor him in history and particularly, about events of the Nigerian civil war.

Therefore, it is laughable when FFK claims passion and fondness for every tribe or region of Nigeria today, when he abused and reduced the same people to nothingness in his lunacy of yesterday. How could the Igbos, which his mutilated senses described as, “… collectively unlettered, uncouth, uncultured, unrestrained and crude in all their ways…” suddenly become his idols for the Biafran agenda?

When he got the undeserved appointment as aviation and later culture and tourism minister, how many Igbos or his adopted kinsmen, the Yorubas, or Middle Belters did he assist to make life better for them? Or, is anointing himself, the advocate of violence and ethnic warlord-ship for unwilling people the better life he is offering them when he has no mandate to render service?

Ordinarily, FFK should be the last person to accuse anybody of killings in Nigeria. His hands are conspicuously stained in the blood of the innocent Nigerians. He allegedly embezzled public funds voted for the improvement of facilities and upgrade of Nigerian airports, as minsiter. The resultant effect of failure to service these airports under his watch led to frequent fatal plane crashes. The air mishaps massively killed Igbos, Yorubas and every other Nigerian.

Yet, it could not assuage his bloodthirsty appetite. He proceeded in 2015 to partake in the Dasukigate’s $2.1 billion arms procurement fund by “fetching” large sums of money from it to promote partisan campaigns for Jonathan. The intention of purchasing weapons to fight insurgency in the Northeast was frustrated by characters like FFK. And the number of Nigerians Boko Haram terrorists murdered in cold blood as a result of his fraudulent actions with other collaborators, surpasses the isolated killings he frequently mentions in his lunatic outrages.

He once proclaimed that “…the cause of all the problems in Nigeria and the whole world are Muslims…,” and yet today, FFK sanctifies the extremist and violence-prone, Iran-backed, Shiites in Nigeria (IMN).

Nigerians know FFK has no conscience and that he is a Sierra Leonean, very ungrateful to Nigeria. But the privilege of domiciliary in Nigeria these decades and the hospitality, the good people of Nigeria have offered him should not be misconstrued and abused to the extent of boldly working for the foreign agents, plotting the destabilization of Nigeria. If Nigeria goes into flames, he will run to his home-country, Sierra Leone to take refuge. Aware of his roots, and excusing insanity, he has no mandate to speak for the Yoruba race or prod any other group in Nigeria on any issue or to instigate anarchy in the guise of separatism.

FFK should not forget this admonishment from the Holy Scriptures in Proverbs 6:16-19 thus; “There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.”

This opinion was written by Ola S. Sanmi.


https://www.naij.com/1093347-opinion-ffk-a-voice-imperiled-by-deranged-senses.html

Banks are seeking customers to buy surplus foreign currencies they hold following the flooding of the banks with dollars by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

In an effort to support and shore-up the value of Naira, CBN resolved to flood commercial banks with dollars.

The banks are reported to be holding excess forex and were seeking customers to buy the foreign currencies.

The banks have cleared the backlog of requests for foreign currencies for basic travel allowance, school fees and medicals.

A banker said that his bank had so much dollars that its marketers were asked to encourage customers to request for the greenback.

The source said that the bank wanted to avoid a situation where it would be forced to return excess Forex to the CBN.

Doing so would force the CBN to reduce the quantity of Forex sold to the bank.

Another source from First Bank said following the CBN intervention, the bank had succeeded in clearing all pending requests for Forex as far back as September, 2016.

Also, a source in Guaranty Trust Bank commended the decision of the CBN to flood the market with Forex, thereby allowing the banks to meet legitimate requests from its customers.

It was also gathered from Heritage Bank that prior to now, the bank published the names of individuals and companies it disbursed forex in the  newspaper.

“Right now, we take two or three pages in the newspaper to publish names of legitimate individuals and companies that we disbursed forex to.

“We have more than enough foreign exchange to meet the request of our customers for school fees and others.”

In a data released by the CBN, the apex bank, within three weeks, injected more than 1.4 billion dollars for both wholesale and retail intervention into the interbank Forex market.

Mr Ayo Teriba, Chief Executive Officer, Economic Associates, is optimistic that the CBN would be able to sustain its intervention on the forex market.

Teriba said that increase in oil production and high oil prices had increased the foreign reserve base of the country.

“We are back to a situation where the forex at the disposal of the CBN is likely to go up.

“The CBN could not intervene in the forex market in 2016 because of low oil production, prices and because foreign reserves were also low.

“Today, oil price is up, reserves have also gone up, the outlook of the oil prices is stable and production in Nigeria is going back to capacity; so it has the capacity to intervene.

“In a couple of months, the apex bank should be able to meet all of the demands and all the multiple exchange rates will converge.”

 

The post Come buy forex, we have surplus now, Banks beg customers appeared first on Vanguard News.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/03/come-buy-forex-surplus-now-banks-beg-customers/

Editor's note: Olalekan Waheed Adigun, the NAIJ.com partner blogger, in this piece, explains why Federal Executive Council members is in the best position to assess the state of the president’s health to determine his fitness or otherwise to continue as President or not. He also wonders why some Nigerians want the president dead, rather than pray for him.

Mr. Adigun could be reached via: http://olalekanadigun.com/

Some weeks ago, I wrote an article titled: “When President Trump spoke to a Ghost”. In the said article, I wrote about Trump’s call to President Buhari who was then in London for medical attention. Some unprofessional journalists (if they are not so-called) went to work claiming the US president never spoke to the Nigerian leader.


Wife of the President, Aisha Buhari presenting gift to her husband after his return from medical vacation in London

Even after the White House spokesperson, Sean Spicer, confirmed his boss spoke to several world leaders, including the Nigerian president, these chronic doubting “Thomases” continued to pull their “Breaking News” through that the US president probably spoke to a dead man in his grave.

Never in my life have I seen the kind of hatred for an individual than I have witnessed on the past few weeks for Buhari on some sections of the social media.

A simple content analysis on these matter reveals these elements wishing the president dead probably intended to inherit the man’s property of some sort. Aside from this, I do not know why anyone, for that matter will hate someone so much that they will wish such a person dead.

Even when lions fight, they don’t wish each other dead. In event that one dies in a fight, the other does not resort to celebration after his rival dies. If beasts understand life more than some of us do, I honestly do not understand why some people count themselves part of the human community!

Like most Nigerians, I received the news that President Buhari was to return to the country on Friday 10 March, 2017 in a State House press release signed by the President’s media adviser, Mr Femi Adesina on Thursday night.

I was so happy, not because I support the president or that I have any tangible benefit I will derive from his arrival, but simply because I am human and part of the human community. The question of “how” he will “arrive” was raised by those who had earlier reported him “dead”.

Was he to arrive in an air ambulance that will land straight in the Presidential Villa without anyone seeing him or hearing from him? Will he arrive under the cover of darkness to cover his “lifeless” body? Were the airports closed just because the “cabals” are trying to hide the president from public view?


I couldn’t provide immediate answers to these questions when one of the chronic doubters sent me this message: “how was your day, hope all is well, Lekan? I just want to let u know that there is something I want to ask u now which I’ve been hiding from u for a very long time, sometimes when I tell you I feel discouraged because I don’t know if you’re ‘gona’ respond negatively, I just want to let u know that what I’m about to tell has been a burden to me for a very long time and I just can’t keep it in my mind any longer, so please don’t feel upset when I say this to you, just know that it’s from my heart and it’s real, please be sincere and tell me the truth, Is Buhari back?”

I did not bother responding to him because this young man has made a nuisance of himself before me since our first contact when he read my article, Self-determination: What if we all have it? I knew where he was coming from, so responding to him is like flogging the dead horse.

Leaving frivolities aside, what are the implications of Buhari’s return considering his fragile health? My simple suggestion is that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) should be in the best position to assess the state of the president’s health to determine his fitness or otherwise to continue as President or not.

There are those suggesting the President should resign. While I have no problem against this position, we must realise it is Buhari’s sole responsibility to know whether he will resign or not since the Nigerian Constitution did not at any point state at what point or the number of days the President can absent himself from work on health grounds.

The only thing the Constitution stated is for the President to “transmit’ a message communicating his decision to proceed on vacation to the National Assembly which he has always done.

I honestly do not see any problem or power struggle arising between the president and his deputy, Professor Yemi Osinbajo. The Constitution states that the Vice President should act when for whatever reasons; the president cannot perform his constitutional responsibilities.

Those creating “division” in the presidency are obviously ignorant of the constitution or simple administrative procedures.


So far, while I do not have issues with President Buhari’s extended leave, my position has always been the poor ways his communication team has been going about it.

They should simply have come out clean ab initio saying: “The president is proceeding on medical leave to return soon.” While it is true there are those who will make some noise, let us wait to hear from those gods who have never fallen ill all their lives to question why Buhari is proceeding on medical leave!

Aside this, there would have been no need of trying hard to explain a simple issue all the time.


Olalekan Adigun

Olalekan Waheed Adigun is a political analyst and independent political strategist for wide range of individuals, organisations and campaigns. He is based in Lagos, Nigeria. His write-ups can be viewed on his website http://olalekanadigun.com/ Tel: +2348136502040, +2347081901080

Email: olalekan@olalekanadigun.com, adgorwell@gmail.com

Follow me on Twitter @adgorwell.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the editorial policy of NAIJ.com.




https://www.naij.com/1093346-why-nigerians-hate-buhari.html

gadgetman:
Talented American singer, Robin Thicke, celebrated his 40th birthday with his 23 year old girlfriend April Love Geary at Catch Restaurant in Los Angeles and guess what the youngster wore! A very revealing short dress without underwear. See more photos: http://trendshood.com/2017/03/omg-robin-thickes-girlfriend-steps-skimpy-dress-without-underwears/

If ma babe tries it....na break up

The white people are losing it !!!!!

HI-TECH sex robots may be in line to get human rights as scientists prepare to release the first robot with a programmable personality.

European Union mandarins last month began discussing whether robots with high levels of artificial intelligence (AI) should be given human rights.
But now cyborg developer Realbotix is set to unveil “Harmony” – the first sex robot which will give lonely men a “real human connection”, according to her creators.

Top experts in the field of sex androids say robots may be able to achieve a simulation of the human mind.
The humanoids will be able to think and make decisions in a similar way to fictional robot Eva from 2015 hit Ex Machina.

Robotics professor Murray Shanahan, of Imperial College London, said the idea human consciousness comes from social interaction is "more attractive”.
Speaking live on BBC Radio 4's Rise of the Robots, he said: “There are big questions about the evolution of human consciousness.

“I think some of the more attractive ideas are to do with social interaction.
“That the ability to perceive somebody else's mind will be of great advantage.

“Ava's intelligence is not human. It is derived from the internet – the way it is described in the film.
“She looks at search algorithms equivalent to google.”

An EU report into AI stated: “Robots would be equipped with certain rights and responsibilities and held responsible for any damages caused.”
But it warned cyborgs could “surpass human intelligence within a few decades”.


The first sex robot with a 'personality', Harmony, will be unveiled this March.

www.express.co.uk/news/world/772499/sex-robots-harmony-artificial-intelligence-human-rights