This is an important endorsement of Nigeria's economic reforms led by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

Moreover, it helps with international investor confidence in Nigeria which will help drive the much needed FDI.

Lagarde praises Nigeria's economic efforts:   BBC News

Ms Lagarde praised Mr Jonathan's efforts to create jobs

IMF head Christine Lagarde, who is visiting Africa, has praised Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan's efforts to transform his country's economy.

Ms Largarde held talks with the president after meeting the country's finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, earlier on Monday.

She is expected to focus on the fallout from the eurozone debt crisis and youth unemployment during her visit.

Ms Largarde is visiting Africa for the first time as head of the IMF.

On Tuesday, she is expected to attend a forum in Lagos on Africa's economic future before travelling to neighbouring Niger.

Corruption
"My mission is to come and listen and appreciate and understand exactly what economy programme will be implemented in Nigeria, and the initiative and leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan," Ms Lagarde said.

"I was extremely impressed with,  the energy and pace at which he wants to transform the economy, create jobs and focus on agriculture."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16246645

I believe the arguments put forward for and against the creation of State Police in Nigeria are equally valid.

Maybe the way forward is a compromise:

- The Federal Government through the Nigerian Police Force or Service continues to fund the Police and indirectly have centralised control over the service.

- The Police Force is separated into Federal agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Anti-terrorist squads and State based police force which will be recruited exclusively from  the individual states in which they serve.

- That will mean that police officers serving and working in any particular state must be residents of that state but not necessarily indigenes of that state.

- The entire Police Force will under the oversight of a fully independent quasi judicial police serve commission ( Federal and at state level) not appointed at the discretion of the executive branch meaning the President or any of the Governors will not have control over the Police Service.

This is just my idea but i feel we need to start thinking outside the box on such complex issues.

Beaf,
I believe you are being disingenuous on this issue,  eguerrilla posted an opinion written by a legal scholar in which there appears to be no ambiguity on the rights of Nigerian citizens  to hold or contest any public office.

Maybe the way out of this is for the Supreme Court to rule on the issue because the subject is bound to come again in the near future.

My opinion is that it is intellectually bankrupt for anyone to suggest Nigerian citizens should forfeit their right to contest public office based on dual nationality.

The inside story of petroleum subsidy saga
on OCTOBER 28, 2011 · in VIEWPOINT

No doubt elements of subsidy exist in the pricing of petrol and kerosene sold in Nigeria. But before the federal government throws all of us into an unprecedented confusion by an unplanned removal of this subsidy we must ask questions because once the nation starts to burn you never know.

The refineries in Nigeria produce some quantity of petrol, what is the cost of that fuel? Diesel is deregulated already and so nobody bothers about that type of fuel. What of kerosene, called DPK, how much does it cost to produce it in Nigeria and how much is it sold for? What of jet A1, also known as DPK, (the fuel to fly aeroplanes), where is it from and how much is it sold for? The back page article in the PILOT newspaper of October 15, 2011 should interest a lot of readers because it contained a summary of per litre fuel pump price in both OPEC and non-OPEC economies.

The survey says per litre pump price of petrol in Iran is N58.40k; Kuwait N30.66k; Qatar N32.12k; Saudi Arabia N17.52k; UAE N54.02k; Venezuela N5.84k; Libya N15.95k; Egypt N46.72k; Malaysia N73; Mexico N81.76k; Bahrain N39.42k; Russia N90.52k; USA N108.04 and Indonesia N81.14.

As at August 15, 2011 based on its pricing template Petroleum Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPRA) the landing cost of a litre of petrol in Nigeria is N129.21; the margin for transporters and marketers is N15.49; the expected pump price ought to be N144.70 per litre instead of the N65 per litre that is charged. This means a so-called subsidy of N79.70 assumed by government on every litre of petrol sold in Nigeria.

All the countries mentioned above own functioning and efficient refineries to produce petrol, diesel and kerosene for their domestic economy. Nigerian refineries also produce some quantity of petrol; let the PPRA tell the Nigerian public what the per litre cost of locally refined petrol is in Nigeria.

As a people, we should introduce rigours in our public life so that transparency and accountability can be promoted. If the true selling price of per litre of imported fuel in Nigeria is N144.70 and the government has not found it necessary to invest in refineries who should be blamed? Let us examine the cost components of imported petrol.

But this imported fuel is actually round-tripped because the original crude is taken from the shores of Nigeria and sold to dedicated refineries. When the crude oil is loaded into the ships in Nigeria, there are huge handling charges at the port, plus insurance and haulage charges to cover the cargo as it sails to the foreign refineries, port charges as it enters into the foreign countries and production cost.

Big oil traders

After the refining has been done, the refined petrol now is sold to big oil traders who now sell to Nigerian government big boys and the fuel is then loaded onto ships bound for Nigeria and the cost builds-up again viz: port charges in the host country, excise duties, and then haulage and insurance on the vessel and its content to Lagos plus port charges at destination, demurrage and security charges.

Details of exchange of Sovereign Debt Notes and the off-takes at the ports will not interest readers here. But the cost of locally refined petrol is not the same as imported fuel. The NLC must find out. The matter is beyond the existence of a fuel cartel.

It touches the heart of federal government from pre- President Goodluck Jonathan era and exposes the naivety of NASS members. Two more areas need to be examined. These are the role of the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) and the use and abuse of DPK (dual purpose kerosene).

The main duty of PEF is to ensure that by picking up the haulage charges on distribution trucks from one depot location to another, it ensures that the price of fuel is equalised across the country. To move a truck of petrol from Lagos to Kano, for instance, would cost about N200,000.00 per truck in haulage cost and it is the duty of PEF to reimburse the major marketers for this cost and thereby maintaining a flat rate of N65 per litre in the country.

If a major marketer moves 1,000 trucks to several of such locations in one month, PEF reimburses the company. It is this component that is the subsidy in this case. If a major marketer moves 60 trucks and enters PEF claims for 500 trucks, who cares when everyone is happy?

If this is replicated across the seven odd major and numerous independent marketers, Nigerians can imagine how much is truly lost in haulage claims and where part of the subsidy really ends up.

The pockets of PPMC staff, NNPC staff, government officials and major petroleum marketing companies are full to the brim and bursting. But the nation groans. Let PEF be cancelled today and fuel pricing at different locations in the country should reflect full haulage rate.

The other item in this subsidy saga is the kerosene factor. The Nigerian refineries actually produce kerosene and it is a known fact that DPK is used for household needs and to fly aeroplanes. The government has fixed a price of N50 per litre of kerosene but consumers get it for N95 per litre.

No matter what government does it won’t change anything in DPK. The pressure on kerosene comes from one major source – airlines. The kerosene used by airline has to be very pure because even a speck of dust in a huge volume of DPK can cause havoc in an aircraft. 90% of the kerosene produced by the refineries is allocated to the major oil marketers and it ends up in the tanks of aircrafts.

If PPMC sells kerosene to major marketers at N44 per litre, the major marketers sell this kerosene to the airlines at N165 per litre. The consumption of DPK by aircrafts is quite substantial. A 747 aircraft from Lagos to London uses as much as 30,000 litres of DPK and a 737 aircraft to Kano from Lagos uses as much as 5,000 litres of jet fuel in the minimum.

However, the poor Nigerians are only allowed to buy 50 litres of DPK per transaction, over and above government rate of N50 per litre and yet not enough kerosene for the poor. It is obvious where the kerosene goes and everyone in government and in NNPC knows what the true story is.

The recent statement by Deziane Allison-Madueke, the petroleum resources minister that the subsidy on kerosene is to remain is a fraudulent statement because the games played with kerosene are known and government officials want some subsidy to remain for the boys and their girls.

If the haulage subsidy is removed and DPK from refineries is coloured there will be kerosene all over Nigeria at N50 per litre and it won’t be diverted to jet fuel. Colouring kerosene for domestic use is the answer not subsidy retention. Let DPK for aircraft be priced appropriately.

Removing subsidy on petroleum products must be done correctly and within the proper context. Experts say that 200,000 barrels per day refinery can be built in nine months at a cost of US$4.0 billion. Let government partner with Nigerian and foreign investors and oil majors such as Shell, Exxon-Mobil etc, draw from its foreign reserves, as was done to pay foreign creditors in 2006 and build two of such refineries within 2012 in readiness for subsidy removal.

The management of these new refineries can be contracted out to the technical partners for 50 years while Nigerians acquire technical and managerial competence in the interim.

On the existing refineries federal government should assign the responsibility for their maintenance to those companies that built them in the first place. The output of the local refineries will then be sold at local market rate- no PEF, no imported inflation! If new refineries are built, old ones are working and crude oil is available at market rate; fuels from them are sold at market prices, private investors would be persuaded to invest in refineries.

But there is a huge challenge. If fuel subsidy is removed, savings of N1.2trillion be made and to be used for what? It is very clear in my mind that the governors, ministers, legislators and politicians will ultimately embezzle the money. The number of ex-Governors and former ministers in court over corruption charges justifies my expectations. National Assembly members will earn N30 million a month for the very hard work they do.

Proceeds of subsidy removed will now end up in the pockets of politicians rather than in the hands of the private sector boys; it is mere abracadabra! Fuel subsidy removal in Nigeria is always preceded by so much turmoil. Government then promises palliatives to calm frayed nerves.

When President Ibrahim Babangida removed subsidy in 1987 he set up DFRRI and it failed. He then set up OMPADEC and it also failed. It was only General Sani Abacha that succeeded in transferring subsidy removal benefits to Nigerians through the instrumentality of PTF. All the promises made by President Olusegun Obasanjo on the use of subsidy proceeds failed to materialise. So President Goodluck Jonathan needs to tell us what he wants to do with proceeds of removed subsidy and the framework to apply. State Governors must pledge to remove the inglorious immunity clause before subsidy is removed.

We have to police governors more closely. But is it timely to remove fuel subsidy? Are we inviting chaos of the Arab type? My honest advice is to ask federal government to properly run existing refineries and build two or more refineries in the next 12 months before it fully removes subsidies. It should abolish PEF in the first instance and sell locally produced petrol at its true cost plus graduated marketers’ margin to take of distance from refineries’ location.

Oil majors and independents can import fuel by themselves without interfering with Nigeria’s crude export and such fuel is acquired by PPMC based on need and sold the same price as locally produced petrol, thereby reducing the subsidy elements in fuel price. When other preconditions are met subsidy can be finally removed.

Lawson Omokhodion is former MD, of Liberty Bank

A lot has been written in the press about the planned fuel/petroleum subsidy removal by the Federal Government, but what is puzzling is the lack of specific details in terms on numbers involved.

The Presidency has failed to outline its case in a coherent manner, the semi professional press in the country has not seen it fit to explain to us Nigerians in specific details what fuel subsidy and its proposed removal actually mean.

How is one meant to form an opinion on the matter if all we hear from the President and his team is that the removal of fuel subsidy will benefit the country and private sector .

The time has come for us to have all the facts and figures and not just rhetoric's.

I

Can we have the mottos adopted by these schools as an expression of their guiding principles, including their meanings since most these are written in Latin.

Examples are:  Kings College-    Floreat
                       Ijebu-Ode Grammar School-  Non nobis Domine

St Finbarr's College, although used be a good school but still doesn't make the cut when you consider schools established pre - 1945.  

We should be looking at schools with great academic tradition with a lot of history to boot.

Some insight and contribution to this list will be appreciated as it appears a few schools have been missed out albeit unintentionally.

Qualifying schools should be pre-1945.

@ eGuerrilla

Thanks for providing some extra data on the subject, however my initial intention was to highlight the oldest 10 but i guess it's OK to find out at least the 25 oldest secondary schools in Nigeria to give them some sort of exclusivity.

These schools are the foundation of education in this country and they deserve due recognition. On a side issue i really doubt if Sapele Urban District Council School and Bida School were de facto secondary schools at the time of their formation. I remain to be corrected on this.

So which secondary schools are the 25 oldest in Nigeria ?

(1) CMS Grammar School, Lagos:    1859

(2) Methodist Boys High School, Lagos :  1878

(3) Methodist Girls High School, Lagos :   1879

(4) Baptist Academy, Lagos  :    1885

(5) Abeokuta Grammar School, Ogun :   1908

(6) Kings College ,   Lagos   :                1909

(7) Ijebu-Ode Grammar School,  Ogun :  1913

( Eko Boys High School, Lagos       :     1913

(9) Ondo Boys High School,  Ondo     :    1919

(10) Dennis Memorial Grammar School,  Anambra: 1925

I believe CMS grammar school in Lagos is the nation's oldest secondary school but i can't remember when it was founded.

Which Secondary Schools Are The Ten (10 ) Oldest In Nigeria

Fellow Nairalanders,

It will be interesting to know the ten oldest secondary schools in Nigeria and where they are today in terms of academic excellence.

@ Naledi14

I believe the acts of a terrorist org like al qaida should condemned at all cost.

It must be made clear that the US Government's decision to terminate the life of any al qaida operatives like al walaki is justified both morally and legally.

This is clearly a disgraceful act of nepotism and it should be condemned by all right thinking Nigerians.

If there is no law against such fraudulent decision, now is the time.

What a scandal .

For all its apparent merits and deficiencies, I think now is not the right time for such a controversial bill and as such the bill is likely dead on arrival at the National Assembly.

** Olympic hopes of Nigeria canoeist **
British-born Johny Akinyemi tells the BBC's Jeremy Walker why he gave up
his place at the top of the British Canoe rankings to compete for Nigeria, his
father's home country.
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/news/world-africa-14252191 >

It will be interesting to know what it is about the Late Chief Awolowo's family members that it is sacrosanct to criticize or disrespect them with good reason.

She is only one of several including soon to be indicted Speaker Dimeji Bankole who fraudulently claims to be an Oxford University graduate.

Shame on all these fools .

@ Emeka_gh,   your input is well appreciated.

In terms of Geo-political zoning, I believe Africa has more in common with the folks in the Middle east so it is a starting point to group the 2 regions together as a single Geo-political bloc.

I do take your view that the proposed arrangement appears skewed in favour of Europe but the reality is that the European Union will always demand more than their fair share in view of their collective economic and political power.

Moreover, it will be difficult to make a case for more than 3 countries from Africa for inclusion on a reformed UN Security Council. it will be nice to hear any arguments against this view.

This is only a starting point in the general and important discussion as to how the Security council can be reformed to reflect today's realities.

NLders,  your comments.

As a humble observer on important global issues, I would like to present a proposal which may go a long way in addressing the issue of equitable representation at the UN Security Council.

In my proposal, the world is divided into 5 geo-political zones or blocs with each zone having countries to represent their interests.

The 5 zones are

(1) The Americas
(2) Europe
(3) Africa / Middle East
(4) Asia
(5) Pacific / Australasia / Oceania.

The 5 geo-political will be represented by 25 countries to be called the G25 Group of Countries. This new body will replace the current membership of the UN Security Council. No country will have a veto power and council decisions and resolutions will be ratified by affirmative votes of at least 17 of the 25 members (roughly a 2/3 supermajority).

This arrangement will allow for greater co-operation and transparency between countries and no single country will be able to hold the rest of the world to ransom by the use and abuse of the power of veto.

Moreover, membership of the group will be up for review and renewal every 10 years depending on prevailing circumstances and the decision as to which countries leave or join as replacement(s) will be made a majority of 20 countries.

Now which countries should belong to the super G25 Group of Countries?

The Americas will be represented by

- USA
- CANADA
- MEXICO
- BRAZIL
- ARGENTINA

Europe will be represented by

- UNITED KINGDOM
- FRANCE
- GERMANY
- ITALY
- SPAIN
- RUSSIAN FEDERATION
- TURKEY

Africa / Middle-East will be represented by

- SAUDI-ARABIA
- EGYPT
- SOUTH-AFRICA
- IRAN
- NIGERIA

Pacific / Australasia / Oceania will be represented by

- JAPAN
- AUSTRALIA
- INDONESIA
- MALASIA

Asia will be represented by

- CHINA
- INDIA
- SOUTH-KOREA
- PAKISTAN

The new G25 Group include all the members of the existing UN Security Council and other countries which are members of the G20, N11 (Next 11), D8, BRIC.

The group will also include the world’s 20 most populous countries ( China: population 1,338 M, India: 1,188M, USA: 310.3M, Indonesia: 237.5M, Brazil: 193.5M, Pakistan: 170.6M, Nigeria: 150M, Russia: 141.9M, Japan: 127.7M, Mexico: 108.3M, Germany: 81.8M, Egypt: 79.08M, Iran: 75.07M, Turkey: 72.56M, France: 65.24M, UK: 62M, Italy: 60.4M, South-Africa: 49.9M, South-Korea: 49.77M, Spain: 46.072M ) except Bangladesh, Philippines, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Democratic republic of Congo, Thailand and Myanmar .

Moreover, the G25 includes the top 15 largest economies in the world

So it is very representative in terms economic strength, human capital and geographical balance.

UNITED NATION SECURITY COUNCIL: NEED FOR REFORM

Recent events around the world and the global economic downturn have focused the minds of several world leaders and opinion formers on the need for reform and better representation at such global organisations like the United Nations Security Council.

The UN Security Council in addition to other functions and powers is primarily responsible under its charter for the maintenance of international peace and security.
It presently has 15 members out of which 5 (United States, China, France, Russian Federation and United Kingdom) are permanent members.

Although each member of the UN Security Council has one vote, decisions on procedural matters are made by an affirmative vote of at least 9 of the 15 members but decisions on substantive and important matters require 9 votes including the concurring votes of all 5 permanent members. This is the rule of great power unanimity called the ‘’ Veto Power ‘’.

Under the UN Charter all UN members agree to accept and are under obligation to carry out the decision of the Security Council whether they like it or not.

The UN Security Council has maintained the same 5 permanent members since its inception in 1946, this arrangement may be right for the first 50 years of its existence but it is no longer tenable in today’s world. The Security Council needs to be reformed and restructured to reflect the political and economic realities on the ground.

For instance, countries like India, Japan, Germany, and Brazil are not permanent members of the Security Council in spite of their present economic strength. The UN needs to move away from its present US-Eurocentric position; a new world order must replace the present disposition.

I believe it is time for the United Nation Security Council to reform its membership to reflect the present day reality on the ground.

The opinion of NL political analysts like Beaf, Jarus, Sagamite, Gbawe etc, is welcome.

Lawyer,

Thanks for your informative post,

My simple request is , Please do you have a map of lekki showing where Ogombo is relative to the surrounding areas of Okun Ajah, Okun Alfa, Abraham Adesanya estate , Lekki lagoon and the Atlantic ocean etc. If so can you publish it on NL so one can have a visual picture of this promising investment.

Why is INEC silent about the company responsible for non supply of ballot papers ?

I wonder why NL software changed the name Richard Jackson to Manliness Jackson.

It has now been widely reported that INEC Chairman Jega along with his chief of staff and someone representing the Presidency were responsible for the award of contracts for the printing of 375 million ballot papers to be used for the elections.

The companies that got these juicy contracts are

- Tip 3 - a Spanish company represented by a proxy named Hashim Dikko ( is he by any chance related to Umaru Dikko )

- Graphic Inline Gi represented by Sanni Lamido ( no indication of where this company is based )

- Kalamazoo ( a UK based security printing company ) represented by Dick Jackson

- aerovote ( also a UK based printing company ) fronted by a certain Yerima.

- San Frano ( an apparent German-Polish company which is doubtful ) fronted by Sanni Musa

- VI Solutions ( sounds more like an IT outfit ) probably owned by Yahaya Sani.


The questions Chairman Jega must answer are-

- Is N13 billion for375 million ballot papers value for money as this translates to N34 per ballot paper ?

- Do these people : Hashim Dikko, Sanni Lamido, Dick Jackson, Yerima, Sanni Musa and Yahaya Sani have any background in printing logistics and publishing ?

- Is it a coincidence that almost all the above contractors appear to be from the North or is there any explanation why, what happened to the principle of federal character ?

- Why is someone from the Presidency involved in the contract award process if INEC is meant to be independent ?

- Of all the companies involved, Kalamazoo and aerovote appear to be the only transparent companies involved in the business of security printing. If San Frano is indeed a German-Polish company why did they have to go as far as China to a third party to print our election ballot papers leaving the printing process exposed to compromise ?

The country needs answers to these questions.

Its amazing that the US state department through its embassy in Nigeria had to rely on sahara reporters to get an accurate picture of the moribund state of Yar 'Adua's health in late 2008 and early 2009.

Most of the facts contained in the leaked diplomatic cables from the US Mission in Nigeria had already been published by Sahara Reporters during the time in question but a lot folks in Nigeria doubted the authenticity of sahara reporters then.

The question now is, will action be taken against the principal fraudsters revealed by Wikileaks i.e Turai , Taminu, Rima and Turai's brother who was then a GMD at NNPC.

I feel compelled to comment on this gentleman's claims.

He claimed to have submitted a cure for diabetes to NIPRD. The fact is that at this moment in time there is no known cure for diabetes either type 1 ( Insulin dependent diabetes ) or type 2 ( Non- insulin dependent ).

I am at a loss to comprehend how he can make such a bold claim. This is a disservice to those suffering from the disease in Nigeria by attempting to give false hopes.

He also claimed to have perfected toothache medicine to eradicate toothache in the world, give us a break. Surely he doesn't know the basic patho-physiology of toothache.

This guy is clearly an illiterate who has no clue about what he is claiming. The term charlatan comes to mind because this is nothing short of quackery or worse a 419 scam.

Is this another Philip Emeagwali in the making ?

It is safe to assume that Amos Adamu, the suspended FIFA executive member who is widely known in Nigeria to be very corrupt, is a party to DAAR communication's ( Raymond Dokpesi ) attempt to illegally scam the Federal Government to the tune of N3.04 billion.

After all Amos Adamu was the chairman of the National Sports Commission until he was fired by the late President Yar 'Adua in November 2008. Until then he was heavily involved with the Local Organising Committee of the FIFA Under 17 2009 and as such would have been involved in all financial transactions relating to the football competition.

Chief Raymond Dokpesi needs to furnish the Government with legal documentation to back his claims, but one can only speculate that he must have done a shady backroom deal with the LOC and the National Sports Commission officials in which they plan to share the loot.

Paule.

If you are bent on correcting someone else's grammar, at least show you have a good command of the language.

BTW, a person can only deal in drugs and NOT on drugs. Also the person making allegations about drug dealing can only show some proofs and NOT proves.

Don't take this personal.

Nigerians should learn to heap praise only on those who deserve it.

Philip Emeagwali is a big fraud and an embarrassment to us all.