₦airaland Forum

mapet: Thankss Mr. Koruji, I was about positing the same thing. I wonder how feasible is using world back bench mark in a country where the level of uncertainities and risks are very high. I am not too certain that you just work into international banks and source funds quite easily and they simply tell you is 10% over the top..... We should be aware that a consortium put this together, there are counterpart funding, venture capiltalists etc the dynamics are not that simple, or else it would have been put together long ago.

I'm also curious on your conclusion of average of 4 cars per minute stretch over the 30years, knowing fully well that there were periods of glut, when they throw all the gates wide open and all vehicles pass free of charge and there are periods where the traffic is so scanty. I'll be very careful with numbers except it's authenticated

My take on the issue of pricing is that even left to forces of demand and supply and other factors it will follow the bell curve.... Shebi telecoms started with 50naira per minute, when they needed our monies to rapidly establish their infrastructures. The tolling fees will go up and come down with time. It is only that the government will not sit by the sides and watch LCC milk us.

I was conservative in my estimation because i didnt bother factoring in the other sources of income, like adverts and others. I also made a 10% provision for overhead costs . If you doubt my estimation on the number of vehicles per toll point, you can check it out when next you pass there. I have done this routine check more than 10 times, the actual throughput is about 5 cars per toll point per minute. The weighted average toll rate is also above N100 because there are so many SUVs on that route and they pay N150, saloon cars pay N120. Don't also forget that revenue will be on the increase as the year goes by because the population will be on the increase. Again, I didn't factor that into my estimation.

LCCI is not the one responsible for the construction of the alternative route. also, my throughput estimation is very near accurate because 90% of the time, that toll plaza is congested. It is very uncommon to find the toll plaza idle.

How much counterpart funding and venture capital funding will they need ? None. Projects like this are funded with development funds that you can easily access with government guarantee particularly for third world countries. They come at very low rates because it is invested in low risk and it is government backed. You can investigate this further.

Be that as it may, with all the issues you have raised, discount my estimation further by a factor of 50% as you suggested (sick) , you are still left with a 7 times over return on capital invested. That is still very ridiculous and would not happen under a competitive atmosphere.

While I agree that Lagos state is making great strides in infrastructure development, I strongly believe that Lagosians are paying too much for the services. Let me analyze the LCCI lekki-epe rd. deal.

At the toll plaza, the average throughput for each toll point is 4 cars per minute which translates to 240 vehicles per hour. Each vehicle pays N100 on the average. There are about 16 toll point (going and coming) which are always in use from morning till night. Let us assume that the the tolls opens from 6am till 10pm at night I.e. a total of 14 hours of full operation.
Total annual collection = number of toll points * number of cars per hour * average toll fee per car* number of service hours in a day * number of days in the year= N1.96 billion (about $6.5m)

This toll fee is for a journey of about 15km. I.e from Ozumba rd. to the Lekki Admiralty toll gate. According to the world bank, average cost for a standard guage road upgrade is put t $250k per km ( http://www.worldbank.org/transport/roads/c&m_docs/kmcosts.pdf). 2 sides of the road were upgraded. Let us leave the upgrade quality story for another day. About 30km of road was upgraded. It's cost LCCI about $7.5m to fix that length of roads.

Assume the cost of funds is 10% per annum ( they have access to international development funds), and overhead cost is another 10%, total cost of the project is $9m. It means LCCI will break even in about 2 years, yet the road was concessioned for 30 years. By implication, they will be making back their money 15 times over.

That is too much a price to pay in a developing nation.

We are interested in volume supply of jathropha seeds, locally know n as botuje, okpokporu, ewe lalapapa. We will buy at N500 per 50kg. We have capacity to buy 100 tones per day. Interested suppliers should contact us through lajirots@gmail.com. We take delivery both in Lagos and kwara.[sup][/sup]

this guys have simple hot spots, not base stations in the real sense of it. what they have in place is are wireless radios sitting on iron poles. this costs about 50k per point. forget about the N2m base station you are talking about.

methodman: You are very wrong bro. U dont need to judge a book by its cover. I know of a company in Lagos that has a small office yet the average daily turn over profit is like N250k. You know as Naija environment be na. If u wan show off den dont be surprised wen dem visit ur office or even kidnap u sef. U better wise up

I gave four parameters upon which i based my evaluation. you picked out only the office outlook. stop being sentimental and face facts.

emmatok: You are wrong, I use Oxygen any time I go to Otigba.
1. The network is WiFi based, any WiFi device can connect.
2. You do not need any office to register, I registered throug my phone WiFi and got 5hours free browsing.
3. According to thier engineers thier main office is at Surulere.
4. 80% of guys at the village knows Oxygen, and 60% use the network.
Oxygen is the cheapest and best ISP within that area.
But the problem is that they lacked good network coverage.

what am i wrong about ?

that the company is not worth N1b ?
that the company has 20,000 customers ?
that the company has $2m investments ?

i did not say they are non existent.I said they exaggerated their capacity. how much have u spent on buying their vouchers ?. you only told us how us used their internet service for free. remember also that registeration is a prerequite for internet service in Nigeria.

I was fascinated when i read the story of Wande this morning. I was particularly curios about his $2m investment claim, the company's claim of net-worth of N1billion and the customer base of 20,000 subscribers. I quickly set out to investigate the story and to learn from their practice.I went to the computer village and made enquiries about the company. Not so many people knew about them. eventually, i was directed to one of the vendors that sells their voucher. I asked to buy a voucher, he told me the different product offers, i settled for the N200 voucher. he said i could not use it until I register, however the person to register me was not around. i offered to go to the company's head office to do my registration. he gave me a flier that bears the head office address. before leaving i asked him how many such vendors like him existed for the oxygen network, he estimated it to be about 20. i also asked how much his daily sales is, he said it was between N1k and 2k. By implication, the total sales within the computer village for 26 days by 20 voucher resellers and at an average sales of 2k per reseller will be about N1m. i eventually locate the company. The company was situated in a small shop on 12 Francis Oremeji st. They share office with another small company called Jolasons Nigeria Limited. the company does not in any way reflect a N2m sales company talk less of a N1billion worth. I met 2 staff eating ice and beans in the office. the office is barely empty with no signs of activity. i asked to register for their service. he directed me t go and look for vendors around. so much for a N1billion Naira company

The lesson in all of this is that:
1. you should look before you leap.
2.don't believe all that you read in the papers, particularly punch.
3.you can achieve your dreams and attain greatness, but dont build on weak foundations.
4. Be honest to yourself and to others. lies can only go so far

A staff of PHCN today gave testimony in church that a mighty goliath (prof. Nnaji) has been defeated after intense prayer. The congregation ( perhaps mostly naïve) responed with a thunderous halleluyah. What the testifier refused to tell the gullible congregation was how much postive impact the "Goliath" has brought to the once commatose PHCN. Who really is the Goliath ? I ask. Is it PHCN or prof. ?.

What has Prof Nnji really done wrong other than to try to protect his going concern business. He did not do this secretely but made it known to all those that matters, this in my opinion is the best of ethical conduct in that situation bearing in mind his fiducial responsibilty to Nigerians.

May God save us from ourselves as we keep destroying the same people who should be our heroes.

The new

specco: I noticed dat d sidewalk for pedesterians is not elevated. It is of d same level wth d road surface. I thnk this will endanger pedesterians lives. The normal practice is to make sidewalks higher than d road surface for some reasons (1)safety (2) to prevent cars from parking on d sidewalk.

In a bid to maximize space particularly on narrow roads that carries a lot of traffic, The new model of road construction in lagos makes the covered drainages to be at the same level with the road and thereby made usable by vehicles (as seen in the pictures). the sidewalks comes behind the drainanges. e.g bode thomas

my emphasis is putting in place an anti-trust law as it is done in other climes, HiTV and StarTv may have done somethings wrong or may not totally be Nigerian, that still does not justify a monopolistic tendency. I stand on the side of consumers, we need competition to get best value for our money.

Recently there was a new pay TV launch in Nigeria called Gotv. GOtv is owned by Multichoice, the owners of the almost monopolistic DSTV. This new product is created to "kill" StarTV same way they killed HITV, a fully indigenous payTV company. StarTv had since inception started a price war, which had helped to bring down the cost of payTV subscription, Multichpoice doesnt feel happy about this, having been used to carting away huge ROIs in the past years without any challenge. Multichoice's only way of guaranteeing a continuous flow of the "crazy" return is to kill any semblance of competition.

The GOtv introduction goes to further prove why the federal government of Nigeria and the National Assembly urgently needs to do something about introduction of an anti-trust law to check the unhealthy business practises of South Africans (and any other countries) in Nigeria and protect Nigerian consumers from this draculian South African capitalists who are not interested or committed in any way to long term development of our economy. It may surprise you to know that MTN owns no property in Nigeria, most are leased, meaning they can walk away with their investment at will.

Until the entry of Glo during the early days of the GSM introduction, MTN (another South African company) made us believe that it was impossible to do per second billing. MTN today, still smiles back to its south African bank with huge foreign exchange having made the kind of profits no one could imagine in other parts of the world in spite of very poor services. No thanks to their unfair competitive advantages.

Let us protect what is ours, let us know our true friends and the pretenders. Its time for Anti-trust law in Nigeria.

Written by Yusha’u A Ibrahim, Katsina Friday, 15 June 2012 05:01

Ahmed Ubale Mai-Nama yesterday set ablaze an Upper Shari’a Court in Funtua town of Katsina State over alleged dissolution of his marriage.

The estranged husband, according to a witness, Malam Shu’aibu Garba, set the court on fire in the early hours of yesterday and stood watching as it consumed the entire building.
Garba told Daily Trust that the man was letter arrested and handed over to the police by the court’s local guards and some passers-by. The man is now being held at the Funtua police area command, it was gathered.

Daily Trust learnt that about two weeks ago Garba was said to have filed a case before the court seeking it to safeguard his marriage. A senior court official, who pleaded anonymity, told Daily Trust that “when the man realized that he would not win the case, he demanded all he spent during the wedding from his wife’s family and the court granted his prayers; so he was paid all the expenses incurred”.

The man, it was learnt, was said to have serious quarrel with his wife over alleged demand for divorce.

When the dispute persisted between the two, Garba took the matter to court in order to safeguard the marriage.

“Unfortunately for Garba, the judgment favoured his wife as the marriage was dissolved by the court,” according to a source close to the court.

In the early hours of yesterday however, the complainant went to the court and set the building on fire resulting to the destruction of the judge’s office, the chamber and the registrar’s office, Daily Trust gathered.

Hundreds of case files, some over 40 years, were also lost to the fire, an official of the court, who craved for anonymity, said.

Deputy Public Relations Officer of Katsina State Police Command, ASP Shehu Koko Muhammad, referred this reporter to the Police Commissioner, Abdullahi Magaji, for confirmation. But several calls to the CP’s mobile number ended unanswered even though the phone kept ringing.

http://dailytrust.com.ng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=165199:husband-sets-court-ablaze-for-dissolving-his-marriage-in-katsina&catid=2:lead-stories&Itemid=8

Collosal fraud, he spent N7.4B removing a hill. Hill removal is common place in constrution and could not have cost that much. It even comes with benefits providing bi-products such as granites for the run-way construction and a hardcore foundation which saves them money. How much did d quarries on lagos ibadan express rd spend pulling down massive hills to make granite.

Congratulations on your loss my Bro., You are off the rat race, lieing ahead of you is an opportunity to define your future. What you make of this opportunuty is in your hands. like someone already said, pursue you passion. That is though not sufficient to guarantee success but its agood starting point. What ever you set as your passion must have a willing market that will pay for it, otherwise its all a shadow chase. One low hanging fruit you can invest in is food business. Do it the "mama put" way. Make it classy. Apply the 4 Ps of marketing; price, place, promotion product. Do your due diligence, find d right spot, create a nice ambience, size the market, fix the right price, provide a good product mix. Promote your business. Leave an experience with your customers that will make them want to come back. Most importantly, innovate !!!!. Best of luck

freecocoa:
I didn't go to the link but if they were born by different women,how come they all look so tiny and wearing the same clothes? Did the eleven mothers deliver the babies at the same time in the same hospital or what?

I don't know about them all coming from the same womb but they look like twins atleast.

Why is it so conveneint for you to believe something so ridiculous when you could verify. Nigerians are so so gullible. no wonder so many fake churches all over the places

the story is untrue. the babies were born on same day 11.11.11 by different mothers. stop the rumour. here is the link to the story
http://www.afternoondc.in/nation/indias-team-11-on-11-11-11/article_39690

Any 2 words ending in an animal type

Examples:

Scape goat
Guinea pig
Bush rat
Scare crow
Sacred cow
Lame duck
Hungry lion
Black sheep
Red Herring
She goat
Sacrificial lamb
Bull dog
Mother hen
Dark horse
Mickey mouse
Green snake
Fat Cat
White elephant

See diagram

This are additional reasons why the volume went up.
1. The mathematical relationship between exchange rate and value of
imports is not linear. For example between 2007 and 2011, there was a 20% increase in exchange rate
whereas there was a 400% increase in imports ( see attached figure). The main factor responsible for value of imports in Nigeria is forex
availability. If you extend this to the import of vehicles and generators, the inference is clear. That is to say that the volume of generator imports and SUVs may have doubled.
2. The prices of petrol generators have declined by more than 100% within the
last 6 years. SUV prices have also been on a sharp decline. Some SUVs sell for as low as 800k now. The high demand for SUVs is influenced by the deterioration of our roads.

This are additional reasons why the volume went up.
1. The mathematical relationship between exchange rate and value of
imports is not linear. For example between 2007 and 2011, there was a 20% increase in exchange rate
whereas there was a 400% increase in imports ( see attached figure). The main factor responsible for value of imports in Nigeria is forex
availability. If you extend this to the import of vehicles and generators, the inference is clear. That is to say that the volume of generator imports and SUVs may have doubled.
2. The prices of petrol generators have declined by more than 100% within the
last 6 years. SUV prices have also been on a sharp decline. Some SUVs sell for as low as 800k now. The high demand for SUVs is influenced by the deterioration of our roads.

See the attached figure to buttress my point.

Let me make an attempt at answerimg this very important question:

1. The mathematic relationship between exchange rate and value of imports is not linear. For example between 2007 and 2011, there was a 20% decrease in exchange rate whereas there was a 400% increase in imports. The main factor responsible for value of imports in Nigeria is forex availability. If you extend this to the import of vehicles and generators, the inference is clear
2. The prices of petrol generators have declined by more than 100% within the last 6 years
3. As the gap between local price of petrol and that of our neighours increases (due to rise in international price) the volume of smuggling will increase because the incentive to the smugglers (profit) has increased.

bismack is a respected economist and here are his views on fuel subsidy removal http://www.m.allheadlines.com.ng/readNewsItem1.php?nid=8243

NLC/TUc seem to have lost focus. This is d best opportunity Nigerians have to restructure our economy and stamp out corruption. Is NPC/TUC out on some private agendas. Nigerians should know who their true friends are at this time. This is my proposal. The strike action should be moved away from agitating for a return of subsidy and directed towards the following:

The government should commit to a 50% reduction in recurrent expenditure across all arms of government, executive, legislative, states and local government.
1. They should cut down all allowances.
2. If they could achieve a 60% reduction in police salary (from N1.5B to 500m), I believe they can achieve same across board. They should accelerate the process of bio-metric data capture
3 They should downsize their upper management. The real harbingers of corruption
4 They should embark on a public tender process for all capital projects. An online bidding process should be implemented for all projects
( Transparency)
5. They should immediately sack the current NNPC boss, the general comptroller of customs and any one involved in d subsidy charade
6. They should arrest and prosecute all members of the petrol cartel and get the refunds from smuggled petroleum products.

Beaf may be right afterall read the highlight in bold

http://www.thepostwebedition.com/Content.aspx?ModuleID=1&ItemID=7364

Boko Haram Clampdown: Nigeria Shuts Borders With Cameroon
Sunday, January 01, 2012


By Divine Ntaryike Jr

Nigeria has temporarily shut down its borders with Cameroon, Chad and Niger in a flaring offensive against the radical Islamic militant group, the Boko Haram.  

President Goodluck Jonathan said in a televised nationwide broadcast on December 31 that the land boundary closure is intended to check presumed cross border activities by members of the sect. He also decreed a state of emergency in 15 local government areas in the Borno, Plateau, Niger and Yobe states.  

President Jonathan did not divulge how long the measures will last. “The temporary closure of our borders in the affected areas is only an interim measure designed to address the current security challenges and will be reviewed as soon as normalcy is restored.

I therefore urge the political leadership in the affected states and local government areas to give maximum cooperation to the law enforcement agencies deployed to their respective communities to ensure that the situation is brought under control within the shortest possible time,” he said.

He has also ordered the establishment of a special unit within the Nigerian Armed Forces tasked with combating the terrorists.  Security forces have been conferred additional prerogatives to arrest and detain suspects as well as conduct stop-and-search operations in the concerned areas.

The Boko Haram has been blamed by Nigerian authorities for a Christmas Day bloodbath in Nigeria in which close to 50 people perished.  The group has claimed responsibility or been imputed blame for a spate of savage terror attacks across Nigeria in recent months.  Essentially, it has targeted and killed Christians, police, politicians, local government officials as well as blown up churches and government institutions.

In August last year, a Muslim religious leader in Cameroon’s largest city Douala warned the increasing clampdowns on Boko Haram militants in Nigeria was compelling them to seek refuge in Cameroon.  Sheikh Ibrahim Mbombo Mubarak said Cameroon no longer served only as a sanctuary for fugitives of the terrorist movement, but was fast becoming a station for recruiting converts.

The administration has been served several indices confirming that these people are in Cameroon and are even propagating their doctrine in various chapels and mosques.  There are other indicators like CDs with their doctrines being distributed across the country,” the cleric reiterated on January 1.

According to him, the Boko Haram fugitives initially sought refuge in Cameroon’s predominantly Muslim northern regions.  He says they have steadily infiltrated other Muslim communities elsewhere like in Douala and are even sheltered naively or knowingly by extremist community leaders and organizations.


“The No. 2 and No. 3 strongmen of the sect [Mohammad Nour and Mohammed Kahirou] are from Cameroon and precisely, are people who actually grew up in Douala.  We are investigating reports they have been spotted here after they were chased from Nigeria,” Sheikh Mubarak noted. Meantime, the Conference of Imams of Cameroon indicated in the course of 2011 it had alerted the government on looming threats to public peace and order posed by the swelling influx recruitment of Boko Haram militants in the country.

On November 28, the government appeared to have heeded the warnings.  The prefect of Douala, Bernard Okalia Bilai convened Imams and Muslim community leaders in the city and tasked them with elaborating a blueprint to fend off the installation of the sect.

“We have been informed of attempts of Boko Haram infiltration.  Their doctrine is anti-social as it condemns western education.  It’s a doctrine that persuades young graduates to rip their degrees because it’s satanic.  It’s a doctrine that condemns what today constitutes the values of our society and top authorities of the country don’t accept that such hateful dogma is established in our communities, and thus the necessity of this meeting.  We must be vigilant,” he warned.

On December 26, Chadian President Idriss Itno Deby paid a daylong working trip to Cameroon.  Terrorist threats featured on the deliberations agenda with his host, Paul Biya.  “We must remain very vigilant to the consequences of the upheavals that have occurred in the north of our continent.  It is of no interest to anyone that a zone of instability emerges close to our northern borders.  In that light, our solidarity is of utmost importance,” Biya told his guest.

Taking turns, President Deby requested the holding of a Cross-Border Security Mixed Commission session soon to outline ways of dealing with increasing Boko Haram and AQMI (the Maghreb branch of al-Qaeda) threats.

Both countries are yet to formally react to the border closure by Nigeria.

Sheikh Mubarak says without prompt action, the Boko Haram exportation from its birthplace in Nigeria to neighboring countries will continue.  He has recommended that governments in concerned countries streamline the activities of Muslim communities by shutting down unauthorized mosques, ban the face veil [or niqab], ensure that only accredited clerics preach in mosques and above all, join forces against the terrorists.

He says Cameroon remains a favorable destination for the Boko Haram sect members, owing to gross laxity regarding freedom of worship and Islamic doctrinal disputes.  He nonetheless adds that Cameroon’s over 250 ethnic groupings as well as cohabitation between Christians and Muslims [even the predominant Muslim north] has contributed in hindering overt outings by the sect members.


Reports from Cameroon’s northern regions which share porous borders with Nigeria’s Borno state mention increased monitoring of Quran instruction centers by government intelligence operatives.  Sheikh Ismael, a Quran teacher in Marouatold the French-language daily, Le Jour last week that following the Christmas Day attacks in Nigeria, the authorities have sealed over a dozen Quran teaching centers and intensified surveillance of the activities of Muslim leaders.  He says he has been grilled countless times over the contents of his lessons.

Meantime in Douala, some Muslim leaders argue that some clerics may be using the Boko Haram infiltration hypothesis as a score-settling weapon and a means of capturing government esteem.  The subject easily triggers fiery debate and division among Muslims in the city.

FG declares 24 hours curfew in Adamawa state . streaming on Sahara reporters

Shame on the TUC, shame on the NLC, Shame on the Nigerian Press who will see the truth and bend it on its head (Reuben Abati and Segun Adeniyi). meanwhile this same corrupt individuals are members of the TUC and NLC. All too powerful criminals. Subsidy must go and the time is now!!!!!!!!!

Subsidy Should Be Converted to Social Security

The benefits that will accrue from the deregulation of the down stream sector cannot be wished away. We cannot allow our resource to filter into neighouring African countries. We should also stop subsiding consumption while creating employment for other countries other than Nigeria. We should focus on subsidizing the productive sector

My proposal
, 
1.Government should collate the demogrpahic information of Nigerians using bio-metric approach.
2. Convert the subsidy to Payment of allowance to the unemployment and aged. This will be in form of electronic cards that will be automatically loaded with funds every month
3.Create a private sector institution that will manage the process
4.This allowance should not be in cash but should be in forms of Tickets with which they can shop for goods and services made in Nigeria.

Benefits

1.This is a win-win situation in that it will immdeitely address the issue of smuggling and achieve all the deregulation purposes.

2.This will have a chain effect of creating employment and fostering the productive sector because it will increase the purchasing power of Nigerians. Aggregate consumption will increase.

3. The subsidy will reach those for whom it was mearnt unlike under the current scenario that benefits the rich and middle class.

Your proposal will not address the smuggling of fuel across the borders. Full deregulation is the solution.What Nigerians should be fighting for is social security. Government should take the bio-metric database of Nigerians. Convert the subsidy to Payment of allowance to the unemployment. this will have a chain effect of creating employment and fostering the production sector because it will increase the purchasing power. this salary will not be in cash but will be in form of mill tickets and housing subsidies, so that it will not be spent on imported goods.

Oando claimed to have sold 1.6billion litres in 2010 translating to 4.3million litres per day. That leaves us with 12.7million litres per day unaccounted for. is NNPC saying that MRS supplied the balance

@Beaf, my point exactly.

See the attached data. Between 2001 and 2007, Consumption of PMS was steady at 23million litres per day, it suddenly jumbed to 35 million litres by 2011, a whoping 35% increase. What has changed since Jonathan came in, are Nigerian's earning more or suddenly consuming more?, Meanwhile diesel consumtion within the same period had declined by more than 50% after it was deregulated .