₦airaland Forum

Volksfuhrer:
Corruption is the major problem of this country. Is ethnic bigotry not corruption? A looter of the treasury is corrupt! But so is a leader who sees only members of his clan as qualified to fill up powerful positions in government!

Op, I'm afraid the General is right! Lack of unity is not our major problem, corruption is. Is corruption a problem of the FG alone? Is corruption not endemic in our States and LGs, where there's supposedly more "unity of purpose"?

I think we might have a different definition of corruption. Bigotry as corruption? is rejection also corruption. So where do we draw the line. Next if a lady rejects ones advances or vice versa it will also be termed corruption.

pryme:
nothing works as far as corruption thrives, clean up the house first before putting furnitures.
what the General is trying to do is thrash the basics first, and set up a good foundation.
this what we have been ignoring for too long.
i believe all hands will be on deck when the realise what he is trying to do.

by the way any thing is possible,

I

I thought the foundation comes first before the actual laying of blocks then the furniture is the last on the list.

onatisi:
for the first time ,I will have to agree with you. @op, let the man die before you bury him . Let buhari start work before you start critizing or attacking him. Let's understand that even pdp prominent and strong members are already right now making new alliances with apc and buhari so why do u have to spend all ur time stalking buhari comments ?these people simply don't see u . Now concerning the corruption issue , yes buhari was and is right. Do u know what idiagbon told the press in 1984 when he was asked about how they will tackle the nation economic mess created by shagari? He said “discipline nigerians and everything will fall into place”. Indiscipline and corruption is the bane of nigeria economy and system ,if there was transparency and accountability all those yeye oil subsidy scams and fraud wouldn't have been perpetuated likewise many other . My advice is if you can't or don't support buhari ,just sit down and watch . The bitter political struggle and battle during the election is over ,now it is time to wish all nigerians well and pray that things work out for good in nigeria .

Yet we have not come out of the woods after Idiagbo left the stage. The point is not merely focusing on the symptoms which corruption is but systematically dealing with the underlying cause. How many armed robbers have been executed yet robbery is still on the rise.

President Buhari You Are Wrong-- And Here's Why

He warmed his way through the hearts of the citizens of his improvised country by campaigning on the premise that it was corruption coupled with inequality that was the bane of their underdevelopment - and he won. What happened next? In order to fulfill his "perceived" mandate, he started arresting and jailing bureaucrats, company executives that are involved in various aspects of "corruption". The result in a few months was unexpected ( actually was ), unemployment increased, mass unrest, goods disappeared in the markets and emigration surged depriving the administration young and talented citizens. Within months the president realizing his folly recalled the experienced bureaucrats, industrialists and company executives in a conference where a modified Japanese model of development was copted. The model focused on
• universal free education for all citizens.
• Agricultural development and land reform
• Energy development using all source of energy
• Export promotion as against import
• Basic industries ( iron and steel and petrochemical)
In the end, it was agreed that the government should liberalize the market internally with limited government interference and support industrialist who will utilize government incentives (zero interest ) to produce goods for exports. The implementations of these programs made President Park Chung Hee a legend in his native South Korea and the trillion-dollar economic outcome is now the subject of research studies on economic development all over the world.
Surprisingly enough this country is still ranked as the most corrupt in advanced Asia, as exemplified by (http://www.koreabang.com/2013/).

Mr. Chung Mong-Koo who was found guilty of embezzlement, but a court suspended his sentence because he was deemed "too important to serve time." (Associated Press 2011)
Mr. Chung Mong- Koo was the chairman of Hyundai motors.

The example above is to elucidate the flaws in which the President Buhari in his recent interview with TVC premised the FUNDAMENTAL problems of Nigeria as
1. Insecurity 2. Corruption 3. Unemployment.
President Buhari postulated that our developmental problems would be over once the corruptive activities in the country are resolved . What the President is actually alluding to is not the fundamental problem but the symptoms of the problem. A fever is a ( could be ) symptom of a much more serious ailment-- I digress.

Appreciating the fact that Korea is largely a homogenous country in terms of people, language and culture, doesn't negate the fundamental problems of development.

In our beloved country- Nigeria, the most pressing problem I will surmise is not corruption but the lack of unity of purpose within the polity. I hate to break it to you, we are not yet a united country - evidenced by the last election.

Diversity is strength only when there is unity of purpose but not when all the different sections of the country care much more about "one-upmanship" than actually unite in developing the country.
Recognizing the fact that unity of purpose in the polity will take several years to resolve, if not decades as the gulf is so wide ( I don't pretend to be optimistic about it), it is better to work through devolving development to various "regions" of the country. This means that the "regions" would have independence in their economic , political and social decisions. This devolution would have a lasting and permanent impact than the cosmetics of beautifying by glossing over the fissures of the foundation. ( we have tried it - the beautification for 50 years)

The central role of the government would simply be in securing the country and resolving pertinent national economic issues.

Again one question we should ask ourselves is, after President Buhari's term of office have expired then what?
Disclaimer: General.Buhari is President -Elect.

trillville:
How do you tax something you do not own. How would the Nigerian government tax the corporation?

You said the corporation owns the offshore well yet it is paying tax for something it owns? What's the sense in that?

Yes there is something called corporate tax. The tax that companies like Guiness or Coca cola pays for operating in the country.

Also taxes are merely generic term that encompass a variety of fees that oil companies will pay for operating in the country irrespective of country of origin.

trillville:
Even if its a foreign multinational like shell?

Does nigeria deserve to get any compensation based on the fact that the oil is in Nigerians territorial waters?

It is called tax

trillville:
I agree with all you've just said in principle. From your understanding, who owns the offshore oil and gas?

Within nigerian territorial waters which ever company discovered it


I

edogirl2:
If you are in a family, and you happen to be blessed than others, it seems reasonable and humane to want to extend your blessings to the other members of the family.


My proposal will increase the benefit to the ND whilst ensuring that other members of the 'Nigerian family' also gets something.

The united states we so copy, oil is owned by individuals, corporation and families not by states.

The communities where the oil if found are the rightful owners. The family where the oil is found are the rightful owners.
The scenario you just painted is merely to fly a kite and see where it lands.

Resource control is not about Niger Delta as no such entity exists. Resource control is about fiscal federalism and reducing the overbearing government at the center..

Please...the president irrespective of political affiliation cannot repeat cannot be "the police, the judge and jury". at the same time in a democratic setting.

The least the president can do is tighten all the loop holes to make it harder for corrupt activities to occur. And a good area to look into is deployment of IT technology and political restructure of the country.

The more pertinent question beyond the economic and mathematical assumptions is HOW MUCH ACCURES TO THE FEDERATION ACCOUNT YEARLY. ( actual figures not assumptions)

Every figure Op are merely assumptions. No individual or organization has done any audits of these figures beyond the PWC audits of NNPC.

If anyone out there knows, a link will be appreciated

The more pertinent question beyond the economic and mathematical assumptions is HOW MUCH ACCURES TO THE FEDERATION ACCOUNT YEARLY. ( actual figures not assumptions)

Every figure Op presented are merely assumptions. No individual or organization has done any audits of these figures beyond the PWC audits of NNPC.

If anyone out there knows, a link will be appreciated

Major US Allies to Join China-backed Bank - Reports


Tuesday, 17 Mar 2015 04:22 AM

A senior U.S. diplomat said it was up to individual countries whether to join a new China-led international development bank as media reports said a growing number of close U.S. allies were ignoring Washington's pressure to stay out of the institution.
France, Germany and Italy have agreed to follow Britain's lead and join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the Financial Times reported, quoting European officials.

The newspaper said the decision by the four countries to become members of the AIIB was a major diplomatic setback for Washington, which has questioned if the new bank will have high standards of governance and environmental and social safeguards.

The bank is also seen as contributing to the spread of China's "soft power" in the region, possibly at the expense of the United States.

EU parliament president Martin Schulz said he welcomed the four European nations joining the AIIB, but added the bank must conform to internationally accepted standards.

"I find it good that they join," he told reporters while on a visit to Beijing. "If more member states would join I would find it even better.

"There is one additional element. Such new organizations must answer to the requirements of international standards. That is quite important."

China's state-owned Xinhua news agency said South Korea, Switzerland and Luxembourg were also considering joining.

However, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei would not comment on which countries had applied to join, and repeated that the bank would be "open, inclusive, transparent and responsible".

On Tuesday, Washington's top diplomat for east Asia signaled that concerns about the AIIB remained, but the decision on whether to join was up to individual nations.

"Our messaging to the Chinese consistently has been to welcome investment in infrastructure but to seek unmistakable evidence that this bank...takes as its starting point the high watermark of what other multilateral development banks have done in terms of governance," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel said in Seoul.

"Every government can make its own decision about whether the way to achieve that goal is by joining before the articles of agreement are clarified or by waiting to see what the evidence looks like as the bank starts to operate," he told reporters.

WORLD BANK RIVAL

The AIIB was launched in Beijing last year to spur investment in Asia in transportation, energy, telecommunications and other infrastructure. It was seen as a rival to the Western-dominated World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

China said earlier this year a total of 26 countries had been included as founder members, mostly from Asia and the Middle East. It plans to finalize the articles of agreement by the end of the year.

A finance ministry official in India, one of the countries that has joined, said the members of the AIIB would meet in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on March 29-31 to discuss the articles of agreement.

China has said March 31 is the deadline for accepting founder-members into the organization.

Japan, Australia and South Korea remain notable regional absentees from the AIIB, although Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said at the weekend he would make a final decision on AIIB membership soon.

South Korea has said it is still in discussions with China and other countries about its possible participation.

Japan, China's main regional rival, has the biggest shareholding in the Asian Development Bank (ADB) along with the United States and the Manila-based bank is headed by a Japanese, by convention.

Japan is unlikely to join the China-backed bank, but the head of the ADB, Takehiko Nakao, told the Nikkei Asian Review that the two institutions were in discussions and could cooperate.

"We've begun sharing our experience and know-how," Nakao was quoted as saying.

"Once the AIIB has actually been established, it's conceivable that we would cooperate," he said.


Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com/Finance/Economy/allies-united-states-china-bank/2015/03/17/id/630554/#ixzz3UgpARyJx

In defiance to US, Britain Joins China-Led Bank

Posted: 03/16/2015 4:18 pm EDT Updated: 03/16/2015 4:59 pm EDT


SINGAPORE -- Some events are epochal. The decision by Great Britain to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank was one such event. It may have heralded the end of the American century and the arrival of the Asian century.

A clue to the epochal significance of this event came from a senior U.S. government official interviewed by the Financial Times. His sharp words were very telling: "We are wary about a trend toward constant accommodation of China, which is not the best way to engage a rising power." No ally has been as faithful to the U.S. as the British. Only they would follow the United States into the Iraqi quagmire -- and that was only 12 years ago.

Today, that same ally has decided that history has turned a corner. The U.S. can no longer dominate world history. A new power has also arrived. The British, like most other middle powers, have decided to hedge their bets and work with China as well as the U.S. But this is also a matter of survival. If London does not serve the financial and economic interests of a rising China, it could become sidelined in the 21st century. Hence, the British have no choice but to work with China.

The petulant White House reaction was predictable. Sadly, it was also unwise. Any objective and calm assessment of the Chinese decision to launch the AIIB would show that this is a bank whose time has come. The Asian Development Bank has estimated that Asia needs to spend at least $8 trillion in infrastructure investment. The American-dominated World Bank and related institutions cannot possibly fulfill this demand. China's decision to use its reserves to boost Asian infrastructure investment was clearly welcomed in Asia. Given its spectacular success with developing world-class infrastructure in record time, China has a lot of expertise in this area. Asia needs this.

Until the British joined the AIIB, America had been publicly denying that it was discouraging countries from joining the new bank, even though it was well known that America was doing so. Australia and South Korea held back from joining the AIIB because of direct calls from Washington. Now that the British have joined, there is no reason for them to hold back any longer. America should wisely accept their decision.

Publicly, America said that it could not support the AIIB because it could only support an institution with high standards of governance. If America truly wants these high standards of governance, it should welcome the British decision to join. The British can and should lobby for the position of vice president of corporate governance at AIIB. If high British standards of the rule of law and corporate governance are embedded in the AIIB, the bank could provide a role model of a new kind of international institution.

Sadly, the American-dominated World Bank cannot serve as a model for the AIIB. It is now well known that the World Bank has served as an instrument of American foreign policy. Joe Stiglitz has documented how the World Bank punished Ethiopia just for doing the right thing and forced it to pay high-interest private loans to American banks in full. If the U.S. wants high standards of governance in the AIIB, it should serve as a role model and agree to relinquish control of the World Bank. It should also allow true meritocratic governance, instead of insisting that only an American can run the World Bank.

At the end of the day, this new competition between America and China to produce better multilateral institutions will be good for the world. This will be a race to the top in corporate governance, and not a race to the bottom. It does not matter whether America wins or China wins. Either way, we will see an improvement in the standards of managing institutions of global governance. In the process, the Asian people will be better off. And the Asian century will arrive faster.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kishore-mahbubani/britain-china-bank-america-decline_b_6877942.html

Scholes007:
that's where you get it wrong Afikpo that still practice most of the tradition never regard Obasi as living on|in the ground but the worship the go of the land omakaejeali and their believe Obasi is the main god that sent omakaejeali to the earth...there are other gods like .njoku ji....

Sent to earth does not necessarily mean from heaven to earth. Sent to earth meant gave birth to. O muwa kpo ta gi na uwa. Does not mean I sent you from heaven .

Scholes007:
*like i said gods are spirits in Igboland and among the gods there is only one god that is more supreme (chukwu or chineke or obasi bi nigwe)...he (chineke) controls other other gods.
*there are good gods like njoku,amadioha etc
*And there are bad gods like Ekwensu,uke,agwu,ogba nje etc
*Ekwensu controls other evil gods but all of them are are under the supremacy of chukwu abiama or chineke kere uwa or obasi bi na elu

Igbo's never ever referred to chineke bi na elu..that was a co opted literal translation of god in heaven. Ever wondered why we have ..ome na ani not ome ne elu. The gods of the Igbo's are here on earth never , ever referred to a heaven or elu until the christians arrived with that concept.
The Igbo's lost a critical aspects of their language and inadvently supplanted it with literal translation from the colonialists.

A person who lacks tradition is referred in Igbo land as ,,,ome ne elu...that actually tells one a lot

Scholes007:
traditionally Igbos have Ekwensu as a bad spirit...like in my village(clan) Ekwensu is regarded as a heartless and cruel god which controls other evil gods and spirits (ajo mmuo)

Ajo nmmadu is a bad person does not mean that he/she controls you and me.

Nwanyi a or Nwoke a bu onye nmmuo does not confer evil to the said man or woman.
Please nmmuo in Igbo land does not confer anything bad. Christianity merely propagandized it as bad...which is not the original meaning.

After all there is nmmuoneke

donbenie:
The Igbo traditional religion might be multi-diety, on the face of it,but all the dieties are all under the One Supreme Diety,Chi-ukwu,the Supreme Chi,from whom all else was created,so can as well be assumed to be Mono Diety in concept..

Beg to disagree Chukwu or chi merely means god does not refer to anything supreme about it as no one god is mightier than another

Scholes007:
Ekwensu was a Trickster God ( Alusi) of the
Igbo people who served as the Alusi or God of
Bargains and the tortoise. Crafty at trade and
negotiations, he was often invoked for
guidance in difficult mercantile situations. Like
most Trickster Gods, the deity was a force of
Chaos and Change, thus in his more violent
aspects, Ekwensu was also revered as a God
of War and Victory who ruled over the wicked
spirits and the chaotic forces of nature. His
companion was Death . With the advent of
Christianity, the more beneficent aspects of the
deity were supplanted by missionaries who
came to misrepresent Ekwensu as Satan . [1]
He was the testing force of Chukwu , and along
with Ani the Earth goddess, and Igwe, the Sky
God, make up the three highest Alusi's of the
ancient Igbo people. Ekwensu is also the Igbo
word for Satan.
©wikipedia

Thats a Wikipedia written by a christian. In traditional Igbo there is no God of tricks or whatever you may name it. Traditional Igbo religious man/woman prays to many gods depending on what he or she wants to accomplish there is no one encompassing god of good or evil.
E.g Amadioha could be a good or bad god depending on ones appeal to "it"

IyfeNamikaze:
nope alusi means god. have you ever heard this words ... "alusi na eje uka".. meaning " a deity going to church "

Does Uka as church have a meaning in Igbo besides the christian interpretation.
Here christanity is inserted into the traditional religion .. hence changes its origianl meaning

IyfeNamikaze:
alusi is the equivalent of god .while nmuo is the equivalent of spirits.

Is alusi not a place where you worship the Gods. Its like saying that the church is a god. No alusi is not a god

Scholes007:
No it is not , it's among the mmuo ojo (evil spirits) that are believed to cause havoc on earth .Ekwensu is just god of tricks and feeds on evil deeds... so there is nothing Christian about it...

Spirit is not a god.
What is equivalent of spirit in Igbo language is it not nmuo. Is nmuo a god?

Ekwensu as a god or "god of evil" does not exist in any traditional Igbo religion. Its purely a christian creation to serve as an equivalent to Satan. Please do your research.

@Op are you not passing the christian concept of diety as that of Igbos who traditionally believe in multi-diety religion not single diety as you are implying.

As a former Vancouver ( a very beautiful city ) resident

In Canada it is BYOJ....that is bring your own job.

Canada has first class infrastructure but a lousy economy overall.

If you have a good job here and a prospect of a good job don't leave it leave for Canada

As a former Vancouver ( a very beautiful city ) resident

In Canada it is BYOJ....that is bring your own job.

Canada has first class infrastructure but a lousy economy overall.

If you have a good job here and a prospect of a good job don't leave it leave it for Canada

Privatisation bill for Nigerian railways approved
Written by Kevin Smith


NIGERIA's Federal Executive Council has approved the Nigerian Railway Authority Bill 2014, which will open up railway operations to the private sector and relinquish government control of railway infrastructure, which dates back to the 1957 Railway Act.



The bill allows the private sector to build, operate and maintain the 3557km of 1067mm-gauge infrastructure which is currently the guise of Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC). The bill has been sent to the National Assembly for debate and final approval before it is implemented.

NRC says it requires private investors and modern technical expertise to revive Nigeria's poorly-maintained railway, which consists of two main lines from Lagos to Nguru and Port Harcourt to Maiduguri.

Nigerian presidential spokesman, Dr Reuben Abati, said the railways bill is part of the Cabinet Committee's report on the draft transport sector reform bills. "The existing laws governing the transport sector are mainly public sector driven and largely constrained by limited autonomy, conflicting and sometimes overlapping functions," he says.

The approval of the bill now revives the delayed plans for three separate concessions of 25-30 years for private firms to operate the western, central and eastern railway corridors.

http://www.railjournal.com/index.php/policy/privatisation-bill-for-nigerian-railways-approved.html

A professor of contradiction.... On one hand Soludo sees the rebasing of the economy as a mere " statistical exercise " and here he is using the "mere" statistics to buttress the claim of the "missing 30 trillion".
Again he complains that we rely more on world bank figures to provide legitimacy yet he is quoting the Financial times and the Economists.

I think Soludos forte should be theoritical economics and not in actually running one.

Until Soludo undertakes a comprehensive research of the Nigerian economy as NOI did to get to the " mere rebased GDP " no one will take him serious

Rawani:
Could you kindly elaborate on this observation?

If you'll permit me, having lived in so many places in the country I would impose some comparisons.

The rural poor in the north rarely question the authority or leaders in their community. Their words are final ...

Secondly, in some of the communities, the leaders spend so much of their capital(not necessarily financial) on moral albeit culture as against formal education.

An example was one community where we went for some studies and the lamentation that kept coming up was the large number of single girls in the community. Telling us he can't have more concubines.

Third rarely do members of the communities tax themselves to build schools for their children as some did and are still doing in parts of the country.

Though the abuse of the "almajiri system" is contributory it does so within a 10 percentile spread.
Op elucidated why the almajiri system came to being, its elimination while leaving the system that created it intact will merely be an exercise in rebranding.

I would like to see a system where educated men from the region through an NGO type setting reach out to these rural poor with incentives much better that the mallams use to entice them into "almajiri".

I would like to see a system where the powers of the Emir (or who ever lords) over the rural poor is severely curtailed so that both cultural and financial impediment are somewhat alleviated.

Its is only the educated from the region that can successfully do these as " outsiders" are viewed with suspicion.

While Not holding brief for oduastates, I think that what he was get at (I might be wrong) is that there is a very dysfunctional relationship between the elite and the masses that's needs to be redefined before any headway can be made in tackling illiteracy in the region.

Having lived in Kaduna. My observation is that the beyond religion, the cultural impositions on the masses are/ is the greatest impediment to achieving literacy in the region....Which oduastates sees as a feudal system.

20 investors indicate interest in Ibom deep seaport
Wednesday, 11 February 2015 00:00
Written by Moses Ebosele

NOT less than twenty local and foreign investors have indicated interest in the proposed Akwa Ibom Deep Seaport.

Already, the ministerial project development and steering committee has submitted a copy of the final Outline Business Case (OBC) to the Federal Ministry of Transport and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).

Members of the committee comprise officials of the Federal Ministry of Transport, NPA and the consulting firm, Felak Concept Limited.

Secretary of the Committee, Dikko Bala, who spoke during the submission of OBC to NPA in Lagos, commended the Managing Director of the parastatal, Habib Abdullahi, for “his support and unflinching commitment to the project”.

He explained that the project would be executed under the Long Term Amortization Scheme (LTAS).

Highlight of the event was the presentation of the OBC to Abdullahi by the Managing Director of Felak Concept, Dr [Mrs] Aisha Achimugu.

Abdullahi also used the opportunity to reiterates what he described as the “unflinching commitment of the Authority” to the successful take off and timely completion of the Ibom Deep Sea Port.

According to the Managing Director,NPA as a stakeholder and a technical regulator has much to gain from the success of the Ibom Deep Sea project, adding that the Authority’s participation in such projects, under the Private Partnership Projects [PPP] has been very beneficial “as demonstrated in the Onne Port project”.

While appreciating the zeal and hard work of the committee members, Abdullahi commended the Governor of Akwa Ibom state, Godswill Akpabio for initiating the project “considering its enormous economic potentials to the well-being of the state and the nation at large”.

He enjoined other states in the federation to emulate Akwa-Ibom state in this direction by embarking on projects, which according to him will promote the well being of their citizenry and “improve their economic empowerment.

Abdullahi was also quoted in a statement signed by NPA’s Principal Manager, I.A. Suwaid as saying the Federal Government desire to encourage state Governments invest in the maritime sector, under PPP prompted NPA’s current involvement in other proposed deep sea ports projects in Lekki Deep Sea Port, Badagry Deep Sea Port, and Olokola Deep Sea Port.

The Minister of Transport, idris Umar had recently announced commencement of the procurement procedure for the Ibom deep seaport project.

Umar said: “The necessary evaluation will be carried out with the transaction advisers. We have to work assiduously with the OBC document to ensure that the procurement processes commence as soon as possible.”

The State Governor, Godswill Akpabio recently reiterated the commitment of his administration to the construction of the project.

The Governor said: ‘’The Ibaka Seaport would be an avenue for job creation. And Nigerians must know that a port in Akwa Ibom State is not to create jobs only for Akwa Ibom people, but for all Nigerians.

He added: ‘’I am determined to correct the mistakes of the past where industries were created or located only where prominent people came from; and nobody thought of job creations or of economic activities that would sprung out of the companies.’’

The Governor said: ‘’If you look at the map, we are located within the Gulf of Guinea, which would improve the economic activities, security of the country. Other African countries would also benefit from the port.

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/business/maritime/197443-20-investors-indicate-interest-in-ibom-deep-seaport#sthash.1ZyNdRKQ.dpuf

FG Unveils Take-off of High Speed Train from Abuja to Lagos

• Full operation from Abuja to Kaduna begins in March

By Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja


Nigerians who often feel unsafe in Nigeria’s airspace and yet cannot endure a nine-hour road trip between Lagos and Abuja, have received cheery news from the federal government who announced the planned take-off of a three-hour high-speed train project between the two cities.

Announcing this in Abuja on Wednesday, the Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar, disclosed the federal government’s partnership arrangements with private firms within and outside Nigeria towards the commencement of the project.

Umar made this disclosure at the public presentation of a book, “Showcasing Goodluck Jonathan’s Monumental Strides: A Third Party Perspective,” authored by the Director-General of Citizens Network For Peace and Development in Nigeria, Mr. Dressmann Preye.

According to Umar who also said the Abuja-Kaduna rail project would commence full operation next month, the federal government equally carried out a number of feasibility studies with the plan to construct more standard gauge lines across the country.

He disclosed that the government had also successfully completed feasibility studies in seven new corridors including, the Abuja-Lagos high speed train adding that different private firms within and outside Nigeria have expressed interests in the project. The project, largely expected to be private sector-driven, according Umar, would formally take-off in 2018,

“The consultants who carried out the feasibility studies have submitted their reports. Part of the report contains the involvement of the private sector to drive the project. This is because we want to develop these lines under a public, private partnership arrangements.

“We have already received a lot of expression of interests even ahead of advertisement for the purpose from various companies in the country and indeed, in other countries of the world.

“The idea is that, if we have this in place, the trains can move from Abuja to Lagos and from Lagos to Abuja in a maximum of three hours. We are intending to compete favourably with other transportation systems in carrying passengers from Abuja to Lagos.

“When fully actualised, a train will leave Abuja to Lagos and Lagos to Abuja, every hour. The feasibility studies had been completed, it is not a question of story. The trains will start running within the next three years, say by 2018.”

He further explained that the federal government had completed the rehabilitation of western rail lines through the administration’s revivalist strategy in the rail transport sector, insisting that Jonathan’s government is working towards the completion of the eastern line.

He said: “At the moment, the trains are moving from Port Harcourt all the way to Gombe - a distance of over 1, 000 kilometres but as soon as the security situation improves around Borno State, we will complete the line from Gombe to Maiduguri.

“While that is going on, we have constructed the standard gauge from Abuja to Kaduna. We have completed the laying of the track and very soon, President Goodluck Jonathan will inaugurate it and by March this year, we are going to commence full operation on that line.

“We have placed orders for the procurement of locomotives and coaches that we are going to deploy on the track. It is a standard gauge. The trains can move on an average speed of 150 kilometres per hour.

“That means that in a maximum of one and half hours, you can leave Kaduna for Abuja and from Abuja to Kaduna by rail. It is the first standard gauge to be completed fully in the whole of West Africa.”

He used the forum to drum support campaign for the re-election of the president for another term of four years, saying his re-election, would offer him the full fledged opportunity to complete the projects in the works.

Also speaking at the occasion, Preye, the author of the book, said the contents were drawn by a team of independent media practitioners as well as representatives of civil society organisations whom he said carried out an on-the-spot assessment of all projects executed by Jonathan’s government.

“I am convinced that this book, will serve not only as a research material but also, a proof that the transformation agenda is working and is yielding fruits,” he claimed.

In his submission, the book reviewer, Dr. Casimir Anyanwu, accompanied by his wife, Senator Chris Anyanwu, said the book embodied the landmark achievements of Jonathan’s government in 15 critical sectors of the economy.

Such areas where he said federal government’s footprints had been visible were macro-economic management strategies; trade and Investment policies; infrastructure development; agricultural transformation; oil and gas industry reforms; power and renewable energy; education and health reforms, among others.


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