₦airaland Forum

My dear, ask them. The juju don dey clear!

Dahveydson:
PDP think tank touts at work.

Story! cheap, outdated propaganda!

if its Rivers state now APC warlords will be screaming Wikes name, how come the Governor, chief security officer of the state is doing nothing, please a state of emergency should be declared. it no concern the President sha!

Check the list of Governors,Apc governors are the ones giving their citizens hell from Imo State to edo to osun infact, you guys wanted change! Here you have it!

Obiodunukwe:
Another IPOB YOUTH


The man has not spent one year they are shouting like imbeciles

Buhari has 3 year and a few months to complete his term and he would be judged at the polls.

From current indications, he will EASILY win a second term

You must be living in dreamland

NgeneUkwenu:
Wike Will Be Taught A Lesson...

Trust Me!!

Someone posts a random picture, without a source and its Wike that burnt that person abi. Please use your head!

Image123:
i'm not a politician, and nobody is paying me to express my views. It is naive and myopic to always assume that anybody not castigating government must be paid. Like AlJazeera aptly captured it, Buhari's travels aim to boost Nigeria's standing abroad, seek support on his crackdown on corruption, to talk on oil(its sale and pricing) and to encourage much needed investment on the country's ailing economy. These are the basics of governance that you have refused to see. Government is not magic, it is practical. Nations don't make agreements and sign bilaterals with ineptitude and lack of direction. Hurling insults and whining unreasonably is not the way forward. You forgot to tell what groundwork you think should have been done that is yet to be done.

And his saintly ministers are not fit to do all the things you mentioned? You clearly have no point....

Some sincere Nigerians open Eye enter One chance!

Image123:
Calling others rude names does not make you smart, get smart. Travelling is not a FIRST option, it is something that can be done while you dialogue on solutions and other options. What ground work do you think should have been done that is yet to be done, pushing wheelbarrows or climbing electric poles?

You and your paymasters know nothing about governance, you can't give what you don't have and the people your ogas are travelling to see can see their ineptitude and lack of direction!

Rip..,and they said Goodluck was bad luck! One of this dooms day prophets had predicted this though!

Image123:
Sure, the "world tour" is not a sight seeing or shopping spree, is it? If you had a crises, say a fire or a medical emergency, would you sit at home or go out and get help? Nigeria obviously needs help and restoration. You don't get that sitting in Abuja and making calls or 2go chats. Ordinary admission, i'm sure you will go to the school as if you are the one going to type the admission list. Nigeria's needs are greater than academic admission.

You zombies never cease to amaze me. So what has his travelling done so far? You have a crisises and the first option Is to travel not dialogue on Solutions and send your ministers out while you do mo're ground work. Let him keep travelling 4 years will soon be over

fulanimafia:
It's amazing how IPAD touts equate a battle between illiterate okada riders on both sides into Hausa/Yoruba disharmony.

These guys are still butthurt about the joint kick their ineffectual buffoon received from these two great political heavyweights, and will clearly do anything to amplify this conflict among touts in a bid to break our winning alliance.

Pele.

Everything does not have to be about Jonathan!

Image123:
OBJ's travels had not paid off then. Paris Club forgave us our debts like 2005 but OBJ was always travelling round and nobody knew what he was up too. Unlike now, we all know what Buhari is up to, and we can see from OBJ's example that travelling round can have some good effects. Moreso, Buhari will not continue travelling round for 4 years, things will settle down. We are currently in a CRISES.

You Aare in a crises and the best thing to do is a world tour?

Change!!!!

Dminister:
You called him a tout? A graduate of law?
I smh!! I think your Bubu the APC president is the tout with nepa bill certificates.

Gbam!

jane0000:
And only a bitter Ipob/wailer will not understand all dis problems r not mr president fault.

no oh its my fault! zombie

Harwehroh1:
Its very easy to criticize..... U need to wear d shoe to know wia it pinches

How come you didn't say that when Jonathan was ruling? Hypocrite

tempem:
Really Old... One thing you guys havent realised is that, these leaders are all the same..

I need to give you a hug for this statement.... They are all the same, it just depends on how much they can deceive the masses and rubbish the opposition.

Ok oh it was done to Gej and will be done to Bubu! Simple

Wailers sighted!!!

Fashola where is the light?

No light, fuel Is scare, the exchange rate is raging and our President is burning fuel and resources travelling, contributing to the failing naira, cos the last time I checked naira is not accepted in Saudi....

This is a beyond clueless President! Smh

No truer words 've ever been spoken!

And they said Jonathan was bad luck!

We clearly have a confused president with misplaced priority. What's your bother with Palestinian Israelie conflict..,, do you know where Help for Nigeria will come from, why comment and align yourself with Palestinian, calling them brothers and sisters.

I am feeling really sorry for where this country is headed under this man's watch!

Remote Presidency! That's exactly what we have, no cabinet meeting, no proactive ministers, everyone is waiting on Buhari while he is globe trotting.

Zombies keep consoling yourself, with fuel at 130/litre, no light, raging exchange rate and a non existent government, no budget and Nigeria in free fall, your eyes will soon clear!

alcmene:
As usual, President Muhammadu Buhari’s media aides were last Sunday struggling to justify to the citizens why his foreign trips were necessary after announcing that their boss was off to Saudi Arabia and Qatar for a week.
I thought that by now, they ought to have been fatigued by this same old story.
To be honest, these presidential spokespersons should find more profitable things to spend their time on instead of this dreariness. Many are fed up being told over and over again that the president’s numerous trips are in the interest of the country. Within nine months, our globetrotting president has visited 26 countries in search of foreign investors, looted money and other humdrum things for poor Nigerians. There are no results to justify these trips while state resources are being depleted on them.
Last year, we were told that he went to the United States and Europe to recover our stolen money stashed in foreign banks. So, how much of the loot has the United States and other European countries returned to us in the last nine months? I very much doubt if they have any positive story to tell us in this direction.

This time around, Buhari went to Saudi Arabia and Qatar to discuss how to halt crumbling crude oil price so that Nigeria can earn more from oil. It is obvious that our president did not take anything new to the negotiation table to warrant the visit to Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. There is really nothing to discuss with Saudi Arabia on the issue of production cuts that had not been addressed by OPEC. The Saudi government had made its position very clear at different fora. This country is prepared to cut back on production to raise price only if non-OPEC production countries lead in this direction. Just as I had expected, nothing came out of the meeting on Tuesday with the Saudi monarch. By Wednesday, Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister, Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi again emphatically ruled out crude oil production cuts by his country. Al-Naimi, who spoke at the 35th Annual HIS Energy Convention holding in Houston, Texas, added: “There is no sense wasting our time seeking production cuts. That will not happen.” Al-Naimi simply alluded that our dear president ought to be talking to non-OPEC members; not Saudi Arabia and Qatar. I am horrified. It is either Buhari genuinely does not know this or he is pretending not to know. The meeting with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani was also a tea party. Nothing new came out of it.

Our president also seeks to attract investors to Nigeria from these Arabian countries during his one-week visit. According to his media aides, the president is scheduled to meet with leading Saudi and Qatari businessmen in Riyadh and Doha, and “invite them to support his administration’s efforts to revamp the Nigerian economy by taking advantage of the great investment opportunities currently available in Nigeria’s mining, agriculture, power supply, infrastructure, transportation, communications and other sectors.” Haba! Foreign investors from Riyadh and Doha? What a preposterous agenda. How many of such foreign investors have Buhari attracted to this country from Europe and the United States in all these months of globetrotting?

It is a surefire fact that a country needs to first put its house in order, before talking about attracting foreign investors. The operating environment must be conducive. Electricity supply, security and infrastructure must be of world-class standard. The tax system and ease of doing business must be attractive. All these attractions have deteriorated in Nigeria in the last nine months of this administration. It is an illusion to expect foreign businessmen to bring their money into a country where they will have to struggle to operate and also struggle to take their profit out. No foreigner will bring his hard-earned money into a hostile environment.

This is what exists in our country at present. Existing foreign investors in this country are gasping for breath because of unfriendly working environment. Many are even pulling out. Just last week, South African retail giant, Truworths shut its four outlets in Nigeria as a result of the economic crisis in the country, coupled with Buhari administration’s muggy policies. The company’s Chief Executive Officer, Michael Mark said: “We were unable to operate the stores properly any longer because we were unable to send merchandise to the stores; there’s regulation preventing that. Aside being unable to stock our shelves, we were struggling to pay rent and get access to foreign exchange which has dried up. We can’t get money out, so there was no point staying any longer.”

Many can now see why I said Buhari should stop deceiving Nigerians with stories about going to attract foreign investors with his numerous foreign trips. His media aides should also think of other ways to justify their boss’s fascination with foreign trips. For now, this country lacks the enabling environment for foreign investment. The hefty $5.2 billion fine levied on MTN Nigeria is one of such disincentives to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). It could have dire consequences on the country’s economy if not resolved quickly because it is currently making investors a little bit more wary of Nigeria. This administration’s economic policies are hurting foreign investment. If we do the right things, foreign investors will come on their own. Our president needs not travel abroad to attract investors. With new media, foreign investors get the true picture of developments in Nigeria and other countries on a daily basis daily. They will come once they know that the environment in any country is conducive. It seems most of them even understand Nigeria more than our president does.

Again, Buhari needs to understand that foreign investors are not charities; they are profit optimising and risk minimising capitalists looking for good environment for the investment of their cash. Places like Hong Kong, Malaysia, UAE and Singapore that are favourites of investors are known for their world-class facilities. The most attractive destinations for FDI also have unwavering macro-economic environment.

It is very sad to note that we are fast losing the gains of FDI made under the Jonathan administration. For five years, Nigeria was the leading destination for FDI in Africa. Global confidence in the Nigerian economy soared during this period. The undisputable facts are there. Between 2012 and February 2015, the Jonathan administration received a net Foreign Direct Investment, FDI, of over $21 billion. In 2012, former United States Assistant Secretary of State, Johnnie Carson confirmed that the second-highest recipient of American direct private sector investment in Africa was Nigeria. Again, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD, Nigeria emerged the fourth in the world in 2014 when investment destinations are ranked on the basis of returns. Under Jonathan, South Africa energy firm, Stefanutti kicked off a partnership with One Nation Energy Platform, to build a 500 megawatts (MW) coal-fired power plant in Enugu.

Also, Cantor Fitzgerald, a United States-based global investment firm with strong expertise in asset- backed mortgage securities, concluded plans to invest $1 billion in the Nigerian mortgage sector. Unfortunately, money that flowed into stocks and bonds in Nigeria under Jonathan, which McKinsey & Co. says could become one of the world’s 20 biggest economies by 2030, is now fleeing as growth prospects diminish.

I strongly believe that Buhari should spend quality time engaging the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) on how to encourage existing investors and save our economy from ongoing crisis instead of looking for imaginary foreign investors. The MAN has already raised the alarm that many of its member companies may shut down operations at the end of the first quarter of this year due to raw materials scarcity. The President of MAN, Dr. Frank Udemba Jacobs, said that since the introduction of foreign exchange restrictive policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria about eight months ago, their members were finding it difficult to import raw materials. “The policy seems to be like throwing the child out along with the bath water,” remarked Jacobs.

Buhari should spare a thought for the suffering masses of this country by spending quality time at home to tackle the countless problems facing us instead of wasting our limited resources on these worthless trips. Our federal lawmakers have failed to do the needful in this direction. Our fate is in our hands. Going forward, at our different levels, we all have to mount pressure on our president to reduce his foreign trips.

Again, our president should do less of propaganda and face the economic realities on ground. The rise in the number of media aides for this purpose is becoming worrisome. Buhari recently added Tolu Ogunlesi to his team as Special Assistant on Digital/New Media. Bashir Ahmad is also on board as Personal Assistant on New Media. Of course, Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu are still there as senior media assistants. There are now four men working on the media for our president. This is clearly not justifiable in an era where emphasis ought to be on reducing the cost of governance. For me, Buhari has simply strengthened his propaganda machinery instead of economic management machinery. This will not get him anywhere. Only the truth and pragmatic actions will make the desired change in the perception of this administration. After nine months with a prostrate economy, our President still can’t appoint a Chief Economic Adviser. Yet, the number of media aides keeps mounting. Something is clearly wrong somewhere.


By Yemi Adebowale, 27 Feb 2016

God bless you!

see oh!

Zombies food is ready! Come and praise Buhari and heap all the blame on Jonathan.

KINGwax007:
Dude still pained he was never a president.

ask ur people to vote for u na...

try again, loose again!

Must everything be about politics, cant you guys be reasonable for once. This is a renowned economist by the way and elections were over a year ago, so wake up!