₦airaland Forum

Billyonaire: The People of Oyo State deserve an excellent bridge, not this Eye-Sore. That State receives billions of Naira from Federal Government every 4 weeks and generate other revenues internally. Where is the fucking money going to ?

2.2 billion naira bridge deserve more than that.

rodeo0070: Get your facts right please.

I called now to my friend in government, the price is 2.2billion naira, so it is below par as i said, the work done there is less than a billion naira job.

rodeo0070: Get your facts right please.

The fact is not far from you, you can get it from Oyo State Ministry of works, the contract cost is less than a billion naira on paper i think. In fact, let me make a call to Ibadan to get the actual price.

Billyonaire: Let's all condemn what these Politicians dont do right. I can assure you, the budget of that Cow Dung "Amala" bridge, will certainly be in billions and the politicians go home smiling with their loots. What is bad, is bad. I simply call, a spade, a spade. Truthful lies take us no where, let's say the truthful truths.

I think the contract is around 970m Naira, but I can't matched that to the book value because it was awarded directly by the governor to himself and sold it out.

Gbawe: Look, with all due respect, what exactly will you regard as "up to par"? Is the bridge found wanting in terms of structural strength or safety? Is it deficient in it original role of aiding the efficient flow of traffic ? Or do we just declare this bridge not "up to par" because it does not look like the Manhattan bridge or another in Akwa Ibom without any consideration whatsoever for salient engineering considerations that has affected the size, scale and looks of the Bridge?

I'm not here to argue blindly, when i was in Ibadan last year I told my friend this bridge is below standard but manageable. I live in Ibadan for 27 yrs and my house not far from there and that place is where i always pass.
The model of the bridge is just a one way motive to ease traffic, that is number one flop , that place need alternative model to cater for those coming from UCH, and those coming from Sabo, but this bridge is plainly design to cater for those coming from Mokola and those coming from Dugbe, that is one major concerned i have regarding the bridge if you said I should not talk about the structure, this bridge is done with labour intensive and not machine intensive. I was surprise to see GP water tank on it in December which indicates type of crude work done on it.

I'm yoruba guy and I grow up in Ibadan, i was in Ibadan last year December and January, the flyover is below par compare to standard flyover I have seen across the world even in other part of Nigeria.
I commend the governor for good work, but I believe he can do better with tax payer money.
No tax on this flyover like Lagos, so it is manageable but it will usurp maintenance cost within few years.

Liberty Reserve, the leading payment channel for traders in emerging and frontier markets, has come under fire and the firm has been taken out of operation, according to a report in the Tico Times. As reported, the owner of the South American based company has been arrested by authorities in Spain in alleged connection with serious financial crimes.

It is believed that Arthur Budovsky Belanchuk (39), owner of the popular Liberty Reserve, was arrested on Friday 24th of May in Spain as part of an international operation spearheaded by the United States and Costa Rican governments on financial crime. Mr. Belanchuk, a Costa Rican citizen of Ukranian origin, was under investigation since 2011 after authorities flagged his firm for money laundering. Apart from financial and general e-commerce, it is thought by the investigators that the company engages in illicit payments from criminal activity such as child pornography and drug trafficking.

Forex brokers have been benefiting from Liberty Reserve’s vast access as a payment provider, especially in countries where traders face difficulties in transferring funds. “Liberty Reserve was a ‘gift’ for several traders, especially after the State Banks’ (State Bank of Pakistan) changed to international money transfers”, said Masroor Ghoori an introducing broker and analyst from Karachi, Pakistan, in a comment to Forex Magnates. Liberty Reserve is a payment channel whereby people can send and receive secure payments without revealing their account numbers or identities.

Forex brokers operating from heavily regulated markets such as the UK are obliged to use payment channels that are regulated, for example UK brokers use services provided by the likes of Money Bookers. Liberty Reserve (LR) is used by several international forex brokers, such as Marketiva, FXOpen, Markets, Instaforex and others.

Liberty Reserve has been widely used by traders where central banks restrict bank transfers to foreign entities; for example in countries such as Malaysia, Pakistan, Argentina, Nigeria and Brazil the company has been the preferred payment method. The service offers traders a fast and cost effective method with charges capped at $2.99.
Liberty Reserve’s website has been shut down and none of their international representatives in India or Malaysia were reachable for comment.Dery Rusdan one of the largest introducing brokers in Indonesia said in a comment to Forex Magnates: “We always thought that Liberty Reserve could have issues like e-gold but this was a shock, business will suffer.”

A Dubai based brokerage firm who wished to remain anonymous told us: “We average around $250,000 to half a million in monthly deposits, mainly from Asia and Africa.
Forex traders have faced issues with payment providers in the past, like with e-gold, a digital currency provider that was found guilty of money launder by US authorities”


http://forexmagnates.com/fx-traders-stunned-as-liberty-reserve-shuts-down/

CBN governor, now you know GEJ not spending beyond capacity on war.

By their statement you will know them, if CBN is active on money laundering, the backbone of BH sponsor would have been identify with illegal transfer of transaction within Nigeria bank, but Sanusi is not care until now, no amount is big to bring peace back to Nigeria as a whole

bravedude: Oga i quote you wrong,there has never been a case of robbery by Nigerians except the cultism issues that is random.Stop passing wrong info please.Your other info are correct anyway.

On the robbery, this is only link i can see now because i don't have time to find others, if i tell you something, it is not hear say.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/4/27/nation/8557392&sec=nation

bravedude: Oga i quote you wrong,there has never been a case of robbery by Nigerians except the cultism issues that is random.Stop passing wrong info please.Your other info are correct anyway.

if i have time i will post you a link of Nigerian caught in robbery, though not harm robbery but burglary and other related offences, this happens in 2010 and it will take me a lot of time to get the link out.

Gorrbachev: Did hear of the three Ugandan girls that were mutilated? Nigerians even do their cultism nonsense in some places here.

I heard about one Uganda girl, i don't know of three, yes there is cultism here and thank God it has been reduced, last year it was alarming. Meanwhile, some are kidnappers and that is the only job they do here, if business deal goes wrong, called them they will collect your money for you. If i want to narrate, i won't sleep till money and it is late in the night now.

pro01: I don't see how your disjointed post is 'baseful'. It is preposterous to suggest that people who come back from Malaysia with riches made their fortunes in Nigeria (through "money ritual") before travelling to Malaysia to launder their money as it were. The fact remains that 99.9% of them made their fortunes IN Malaysia, now the question is HOW? That is what we are interested in knowing.

Let me give you basis analysis of how people make money here, I can't say i'm not aware of it.

1. Expatriate with Shell and Petronas
2. Lecturers, mostly PHD student etc, education wise we are better.
3. Personal business like importing and exporting of automobile parts.
4. Selling of african food stuff (raw)
5: African restaurant and barbing
6.Hotel work of $2/hr and you cant make more $200 in a month
7. Fraud
8. Rituals
9. Robbery

All this can be confirm online with google.

N:B, when Nigerian student first arriving here in time past according to people i have met here, they do business like selling watch , belt and compact disc, but immigration will arrest them and let them know that as a foreign student they can't not engage in ant form of trade of business except studies, that was where the loopholes of sitting home and scam started because they don't care, so far you have not been on the street making money from trade, all work should be for their citizen.
Selling of recharge card is illegal for you as student.
So the blame is partly on their government and parent sending their kids to wrong country to make money at all cost, if you don't have spirit of God, then you can go into sin, Asia get shrine and their rituals also, people do go there for power and money.

If you are here, you will see level of suffering among Nigerians and nobody can help because we have been tagged rich because few use big cars and they believe we can are all same and treat everyone same.

I have never experience racial discrimination here, i don't have more than 5 friends that i know they have good work, I don't club, nor drive or smoke. If you know what you are doing you can attain your goal and move out of here as soon as you are ready to move.

pro01: I don't see how your disjointed post is 'baseful'. It is preposterous to suggest that people who come back from Malaysia with riches made their fortunes in Nigeria (through "money ritual") before travelling to Malaysia to launder their money as it were. The fact remains that 99.9% of them made their fortunes IN Malaysia, now the question is HOW? That is what we are interested in knowing.

Don't misunderstand me, some not all, I have seen in the news someone brought his mother here for rituals and my point is still that, those you are referring that makes it in Malaysia, they are just 5% of Nigerian here. Majority are here suffering because they were deceived to come here that they will see work or move to Europe, here is new destination for benin girls now.
If you want fact, i will tell you base on what i know not assumption, guy makes money here illegally which everybody knows, but sincerely when you go out, average Malaysian belive Nigeria is a rich country and so we are all rich.

I'm not denying the scam part, but the kidney issue is incredible.

Ricky_Ross: Our brothers nor dey hear word, They have turned Malaysia to another South Africa. Malaysia used to be a very good place, but now you feel ashamed to be black in Malaysia because everyone thinks you are a scammer or drug baron.

Some of our brothers are even selling their kidneys for money, some can trick you, drug you and sell your organs if you are not careful. the kind of things we do is unthinkable. Sometimes I blame our society. If you travel overseas and come back without Porsche cars, people will think you are a failure. That is why guys are doing everything possible to make money no matter what it takes.

Sometimes I wonder how guys manage to make all the money in Malaysia. Since 3 years now Malaysia is the hottest country where one can make mega bucks within few months. Last Xmas Malaysia guys in my village were the hottest and richest. I know a certain guy that traveled just last year, within 6 months he has build 2 hostels in owerri and 1 standard hotel. I value his properties in Owerri more than 400 Million Naira, how did he get such money within few months? This is a guy that used to copy me back in primary school. When i ask they claim to be importers? But I have been importing goods into Ghana and Nigeria for many years now and I do not own the kind of hotel this guy built under few months.

Bro, everything you said is baseless and without proof, i have been in Malaysia since January 2009, selling of kidney is total joke because if there is market for it, it can be more than $5000, so no one is interested in selling kidney.
I can see from message you are from the east, Malaysia belongs to them, not that the west are not here, but the west are involved in scamming as you said but a lot of them are research assistant and lecturer. I have seen Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo guy working here without scamming anyone. The population of Nigerian living good here is 10% compare to other 90% and i mean 10% scammer and they glorified it.

To buttress my point, some people do money ritual in Nigeria before they moved here and used the name of Malaysia as source of their wealth is not true, don't be envy of Malaysia boys, just know that the house built with saliva, dew will collapse it.

Malaysia still a lawful country and can never be like South Africa, every time i have read a case or sentenced of drug crime, they are from the east, if that scam is easy, i think no one will over stay here in Malaysia, majority can not even afford tuition and thereby over stay and be homeless.

Diasporan: @OP haven't you heard of cost and factors of production?It varies from country to country so please go consult your Economics textbook by PN Okeke

Remember transfer pricing also, so they might be ripping customers off, but it is by choice to buy it.

got similar experience like 3 times from 3 different people

hornipipe: that's not jay z miss.

Eko Ile: While I agree with you about fashola, same goes for buhari so ultimately, it should be Buhari/Fashola..

Justify reason why he should be Buhari/ Fashola, i'm not saying AC/APC have muslims agenda, but they have not promote any christian to a specific position in case of time like this. Ekiti is predominant muslim state and that is why Fayemi is a christian cos no muslim candidate to use and they have Ngige, but i don't think he can put enough weight cos I would have prefer Fashola/Ngige ticket, but since a northerner should be the presidential aspirant, I would be waiting for the ticket from APC.

Toktee: Wake up man,Robert mugabi iz older than buhari,italian prime minister iz older than buhari,indian prime minister iz older than buhari,how old was mandela wen he became s/african president;wakeup bro we need a leader that iz capable of redirecting the ship of thiz great country toward the promised land,the picture is there for you to see what a young man has done to thiz country,he promised minimun wage but paid it with subsidy removal,promised to fight corruption but grant pardon to looters etc......................church tins on my mind,later pls

All those you have mentioned are not a serial loser like Buhari, i'm independent observer, but any ticket in APC without Fashola won't justify the merging, it wil lead to political suicide for the yorubas

People perish for lack of knowledge

What do these celebrities have in common? Socialbakers, a social media analytics website scrutinised the twitter accounts of various celebrities, and discovered something shocking.

http://www.digitalone.com.sg/multimedia/photo/multimedia/1952

For some travelers, getting off the beaten path is a point of pride, a way to see the parts of the world that don’t make it into glossy guidebooks.
But how many of those same adventurous travelers would be willing to visit, say, Somalia?
About 500, it turns out. At least, that’s how many tourists found their way to the war-torn east African nation last year.

That makes Somalia the second-least visited country in the world, after the tiny pacific island nation Nauru, according to a recent list compiled by travel writer Gunnar Garfors from UN statistics.

Little Nauru – 8.1 square miles in size, population 9,378 – got just 200 visitors last year, and it’s pretty clear why.

“There is almost nothing to see there,” writes Garfors, “as most of the island … is a large open phosphate mine.”


The 12th-century Minaret of Jam in Afghanistan. (Photo: AfghanistanMatters / Flickr)
Indeed, most of the world’s least visited countries seem to fall in one of two categories. There are the Naurus, where you’ll puzzle over what to do, and the Somalias, where it’s simply too dangerous to do much of anything at all. (As Somalia’s Wikitravel page aptly notes, “the easiest method for staying safe in Somalia is not to go in the first place.”)

Most of the “nothing to do” countries are the crumbs that dust a map of the Pacific Ocean: the Federated States of Micronesia, the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, and Tuvalu. The latter shares with the Maldives the dubious distinction of having "highest elevation points" that are the lowest on earth – 15 feet above sea level. Visit while you can, as rising sea levels could make the island uninhabitable within a century.

As for the “too dangerous” countries, the list reads like a global primer in political conflict. For instance, despite its pristine national parks full of wild gorillas and elephants, the perpetually ungovernable Central African Republic (#23) is an unpopular destination for tourists. And its stock will likely continue to plummet – last week a rebel alliance seized the capital, Bangui, and the president fled to neighboring Cameroon.

Afghanistan (#10) also suffers from tourism-deflating instability, which keeps visitors away from its rugged peaks, ancient Buddhist monuments, and Islamic holy sites, including the 12th-century Minaret of Jam, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

“The Taliban have a message for foreign tourists who come to Afghanistan, especially if they are from any of the 50 countries that are part of the NATO-led coalition supporting the government: Big mistake,” writes The New York Times.

Other countries on the list, like Guinea Bissau (#14), Libya (#15), and East Timor (#18), have seen their reputations – and infrastructure – hobbled by recent wars or uprisings.


North Korea's repressive tourism laws help make it No. 16 least visited. (Photo: Matt Paish 2012 / Flickr)
But not every country on the list is too dangerous or boring to visit. A few are simply effectively sealed off to the outside world.

All foreign visitors to North Korea (#16) are limited to a state-curated itinerary and must have an official government “minder” by their side at all times. But for the few Western tourists who venture into the country, that’s part of the appeal. “You will rarely get to see propaganda done more explicitly,” Garfors writes.

Except, perhaps, in Turkmenistan (#7), where visitors who brave the onerous Soviet-esque visa application process are rewarded with sites like a 50-foot golden statue of former dictator Saparmurat Niyazov in the capital Ashgabat, which rotates throughout the day to face the sun. But the country’s most indisputably impressive site is a massive flaming crater deep in the Karakum Desert. Measuring 230 feet across and almost 70 feet deep, the so-called “Door to Hell” has been burning continuously since Soviet scientists lit it on fire in 1971.

http://travel.yahoo.com/ideas/least-visited-countries-in-the-world-201146242.html

The economic downturn that hit the US economy has left many families struggling. For those who were already living on the edge of economic security the impact of the downturn has been a devastating tipping point.

" The first day being in a homeless shelter, I couldn't imagine being there. And to actually being there I was just mad. Its like prison, you can't bring food up to your room, you can't talk to nobody ... it's just all wrong , its hard. "

- Lamont, a 17-year-old high school student

In This Room is a personal look at how one Chicago family, forced into living in a homeless shelter, is navigating through this turmoil.

We see this journey through Derrell Gray, a father of four, trying to find a job and restore his family's dignity.

He says: "We became homeless when we were evicted from our apartment, the sheriff knocks on the door on the day, and I am very grateful that it was not as traumatic as evictions can be. Not one piece of our belonging was out out on the street. As man and as a father, as a husband to have to say to my wife: We now have nowhere to live."

We will also go through this experience with 17-year-old Lamont, who is striving to be seen as just another kid in high school despite his family's homelessness.

"I really don't know how we ended up here, the sheriff came to our apartment and we had to pack our bags and leave. The first day being in a homeless shelter, I couldn't imagine being there. And to actually being there I was just mad. It's like prison, you can't bring food up to your room, you can't talk to nobody ... it's just all wrong, its hard," Lamont says.

Moreover, we look at the issue of homelessness and evictions from the perspective of young Malachi, who is caught up in the chaos with little grasp of why this happening to the people he loves.

He says: "Sometimes I just feel uncomfortable like a whole world full of people, but I feel safe here because there is no shooting, nothing. Where I used to live was a sad place with bad things going all around ... like shooting, then we came to this place, the shelter."

Filmmakers view:
By Tod Lending

The statistics on the number of children in school who are homeless are stark and unsettling. Having a home and a family and enjoying the promise of security and opportunity are central to the American Dream.

But for hundreds of thousands of kids in America’s schools that dream is being denied them.

In Chicago alone there are 16,000 homeless students in the school system. There are organisations supporting these kids and their families. They struggle to find solutions, both in the immediate and for the long term but this tragedy has no easy or quick solution.

What causes someone to be homeless? Is it strictly economic or are there different more insolvable reasons? One can make generalisations about the systemic reasons for why so many are homeless.

There is the economic anaemia that is still dragging down hopes for economic prospects for so many. There is the vise grip of dwindling affordable housing in large urban centres and then there is troubling reality that some families simply lack the skills to govern their own lives successfully.

While each is a cause, in none of these is there an obvious answer. The line between these different causes is porous and mucky. A swampland. It lacks clarity and more often than not it is nearly impossible to navigate successfully.

To tell a story about homeless students in Chicago we selected the Gray family because they represented a different kind of homeless family. As with so many, they are the face of the “new” homeless who are trapped by diminished economic opportunities.

Derrell Gray, an associate pastor, father and patriarch of his family, is very articulate and educated. In 2008, he lost his job at cable television operator as a result of the economic downturn and had been unemployed ever since.

His search for work led him only to minimum wage jobs, which are far too little to support his family and he feels will deny him the opportunity to find more substantial employment.

For one year, at least, after losing his job Derrell collected unemployment benefits. For the past year he and his family have lived in public housing and collected public assistance money.

What all this searching means for his family however, for his wife and his children, is something else. With no job, Derrell, his wife and their four children all share a single room.

There is no privacy, there is no room for anyone to establish or impose their own personality in this space. There is no socialising, no space to relax or unwind or simply just be alone.

This coupled with the constant pressure to find someplace else, as they are limited to being in this family shelter for just a few months, is a strain that presents itself in very different ways from Derrell as the family leader, to Lamont facing all the challenges of being a teenager and being homeless, all the way down to Malachi who is just now starting school and seeing more of the successful reality of his peers.

Won Bae, my co-producer/editor worked for months to delve into Lamont’s and Malachi’s experience of being homeless. Most of this was captured through conversations and scenes of them at school and in the shelter. We explored their thoughts and feelings about being homeless, making friends at school without revealing their living situation.

We interviewed their teachers, principals and counsellors. It was very challenging to get Lamont and Malachi to open up about their deep feelings and we wanted to be careful not to push them into emotional places where they were not ready to go.

In the end, our story became one that was focused on several issues of homelessness. We looked at how being homeless impacts a student’s education, what it is like for a family to live in a homeless shelter for an extended period time, how homelessness affects relations between family members and we also attempted to break the stereotype of who the homeless are by focusing on a high functioning family that is homeless more for economic reasons than anything else.

This is not a film about homelessness but a story about those caught up in the powerlessness of circumstances they cannot control.

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/witness/2013/03/2013311104246641460.html

I was surprised when GTB debited me almost 5000 naira for using online transfer on my current account, and after calling them i was told every 1000 naira debit attract 5 naira and I have vowed not to use their current account again. The charges would be understand on cheque but never on online transfer.

I doubt this ranking especially Malaysia as tenth, Malaysia military can't not even handle 200 Zulu militant from Philippines since last month.

Poster: If you have access to online account you can see that your account is debited but the money has not been transfer to 3rd party, it takes 24 hrs before GTB transfer debit card payment transaction to 3rd party. Be rest assure your payment will be reverse because all the banks hate negative publicity.

@ 82?

If Fashola is not on the ticket, so why is AC merging ? I think opposition are not ready to take on PDP and if this is the best they can bring, GEJ will have another landslide victory.

Maybe number only, the rest i don't think i have that privilege from her, happy mothers day to those that are proud of their mum...that is the rule.

Callous

It seems like angry Biafran against Nigerian high commission.
I don't meant to offend anyone, peaceful demonstration would have been better.

frosbel2: Yes Bro ( Did I just call you Bro ) !

There are those who are really doing the work of GOD with all their hearts and minds, with no desire for material gain or wealth, we MUST and should support such, not through tithes but gifts and financial support.

We agree !

We are saying the same thing from this perspective.