₦airaland Forum

@lalasticlala

Please, I need info on how to get the device when it finally becomes available. Make person change from Samsung small. Thanks!

President Muhammadu Buhari says the Treasury Single Account policy has started yielding results.

He said this while reacting to questions at a meeting with members of the Nigerian Community in Saudi Arabia at the Nigerian House in Riyadh on Tuesday evening.

He announced that his administration had introduced a number of policies and programmes aimed at saving the nation’s economy from collapse.

Buhari cited the TSA and the Zero-based Budget as some of the meaningful financial policies that was checking fraud in the system, saying it had started yielding fruitful results.

According to him, “the nation has so far realised over N2.6 trillion” from the newly introduced TSA.

He, therefore, expressed optimism that with the introduction of the single account, the 2016 budget implementation might not record any form of deficit at the end of the financial year.

In their hearts and minds, he'll always be a hero. Hausas are second guessers, so they'll be faithful to him long as he's loyal as well.

The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) said Federal Government would be collecting N8 per litre as subsidy on petrol imported by NNPC and other marketers.

Alhaji Farouk Ahmed, outgoing Executive Secretary of the Agency, announced this while handing over to Mr Moses Mbaba, General Manager Administration, and Human Resources, on Thursday in Abuja.

Ahmed is among the heads of government agencies that were disengaged and asked to hand over to most senior directors in the office.

“The subsidy as at today came down to minus N8 per litre for PMS.

“ What I mean by minus N8 is that government now will collect N8 for every litre imported by NNPC and marketers as against payment to marketers and NNPC,’’ he said.

He said that at the close of work on Feb. 16, the subsidy on petrol was N13.81k, adding that the landing cost was lower than the selling price by N13.81k.

According to him, it translates to what is called over recovery.

Ahmed said that an Over Recovery Account had been opened with the Central Bank of Nigeria on Feb. 3 and would be managed by the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.

He said currently, about N2.6 billion had been lodged into the account with the December importation by NNPC and the marketers.

“This is just the beginning because some of products just arrived in December; that’s why the subsidy over recovery is low.

“But for those cargo that are loaded in January for example, we want the over recovery to start manifesting; then by calculation, we will begin to know what the price will be for marketers and NNPC respectively,’’ he said.

Commenting on review of template for price modulation in the first quarter, he said the agency was building data which it would analyse at the appropriate time.

He said that the data would look at the trend and analyse how the market had fared in the last two and half months.

He added that the agency would also check what the over recovery accumulated into before advising the minister.

He said that stakeholders in the sector would meet next week to deliberate on the development which would form part of the decision on the price going forward.

He noted that the price modulation review had some challenges but had led to the over recovery witnessed in the sector.

“There are a lot of things and that’s why we are into over recovery because first of all, we looked at the pricing after we reviewed the template.

“The review instilled some efficiency and cost savings and that cost savings translated into reduction of pump price even though it is 50k and N1 but it is an indication that something is working.

“That is the whole essence of modulation; cut cost; be more efficient and let Nigeria enjoy the benefit of that efficiency,’’ he said.

He expressed the hope that with over recovery, there might be price reduction on PMS in March after the review of the template.

He called on the staff to support the incoming leadership of the agency and advised his predecessor to continue with the legacy established by the agency to ensure positive change.

Cc: seun lalasticlala, mynd44, obinoscopy. Pls I'm not looking for likes nor seek popularity, I just want this heard (seen).

Dear Mr president, here's hoping that you had a quite restful vacation.
It hasn't been all good thus far since your assumption of office; our economy has been comatose for a while now, the naira is falling faster than a bowling ball, delayed salaries payments and what not has grappled your regime. But the one thing that stands taller and in your favor than all those despite all odds staked against them is the people.

You rode on a great wave of of support country wide and pulled the unimaginable. You did the unthinkable not because you did something differently, but because the people got you. It was them against the federal might, yet, they pulled through unscathed and delivered well above expectations.

Time after time after time, they've come to your defence in the face of scathing criticism from various quarters. Some have been called unprintable names, while others have been labelled "zombies", yet, their support for you remains unflinching. These are people who have given their all for you, and could offer so much more. Not that they get anything in return, they risk it all because they believe in your cause.

Mr president, the problem is, these staunch supporters of yours are your last defence against your adversaries. Good thing is, it doesn't take much to keep them motivated and raring to go. But you've failed in the simplest of all things--motivating those who put their all on the line for you--and are losing it so fast!

In the wake of you appointing your special advisers, there's has been some miscalculated moves, as regards how lopsided it has been so far. Mistakes you've been making since day one and still do not realize.

Your supporters cut across the 6 geopolitical zones of Nigeria and would wish nothing more than see that they are ably represented in your cabinet. Not that they stand to benefit in any way, but it gives them a sense of belonging and bragging rights of some sort. 'Least they could say that their efforts count for something.

You, sir, are a confident man and that confidence stands you in good stead, I must admit. But the idea of appointing only core Northerners into major top position in your government doesn't sit well with most, and this step, I implore you to retrace quick before your reputation come crashing even faster than the defenseless naira you are trying so hard to shore up.

Whatever criteria you may use in appointing people into various positions in your government, our southern siblings meet and even supersede. Should you claim to not know as many people from the southern region who possess the qualities that you seek, ask your trusted southern hands, they sure know a handful. It's high time we shunned divisive politics and adopt an approach which reflects equal representation. No government in this country has made as much lopsided appointments as yours, and it's quite alarming. That's something even your staunchest supporter will find hard to defend in the wake of criticism. Because no sane mind will allude that capable hands are found only up North in a country as densely populated as ours.

Please do not mistaken this as an attempt to talk down your appointees or dictate to you ways to run your own government, I'm an ordinary concerned citizen who's only worried about those decisions which might hamper the smooth running of your government. A few disgruntled elements can be handled, but the murmuring of a crowd from all corners, you can never suppress.
Act now while you still have ample time, or regret a wrong you had enough time to make right.


Yours sincerely,
Malton.


Ps: I'm of Northern origin, before you all go beserk on me.

Earlier this week, in the course of answering a question in an interview in London with British newspaper The Telegraph, Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari gave an insight into his thinking that promptly kicked off a firestorm on Nigerian social media.

Here’s the relevant section of that wide-ranging interview:

A number of Nigerians use the migrant routes to come to the UK to claim asylum, saying their lives are at risk from Boko Haram. Is is legitimate for them to do so?

“Some Nigerians claim is that life is too difficult back home, but then again some Nigerians have also made it difficult for Europeans and Americans to accept them because of the number of Nigerians in different prisons all over the world accused of drug trafficking or human trafficking. I don’t think Nigerians have anybody to blame. They can remain at home. Their services are required to rebuild the country. If their countrymen misbehaved, the best thing for them is to stay at home and encourage the credibility of the nation.”

Do you think that Nigerians have an image problem abroad?

“Certainly. But we are on our way to salvage that. We will encourage our countrymen to stay at home, work hard and make a respectable living at home.”

The comments were translated by some Nigerians on social media and in the press as Buhari having called Nigerians “criminals”, which as the transcript shows, he did not.

But what he did say when asked about Nigerians using the Boko Haram crisis as cover to claim asylum in the UK, revealed a lot about his thought process. For one thing, he did not actually answer the question he was asked. This is the working definition of a gaffe—saying what you actually think as a politician.

The $21 billion sent home by Nigerians abroad in 2015 far exceeds the $15 billion the government expects from oil revenue in 2016. The journalist’s question was about the current situation with Boko Haram. That is, are things bad enough in Nigeria’s north east to warrant anyone making the dangerous trek to Europe via the Sahara desert? Whatever you think about the question, you will have to agree that millions of Nigerians have been internally displaced as a result of Boko Haram and continue to live in camps around the country. Various newspaper reports (paywall) about the migrants heading to Europe have also revealed Nigerians make up a significant number of those making the crossing.

For the most part, these are desperate people, who have decided to take their chances on a treacherous journey even with the odds stacked against them, than tough it out back home. For a president battling a terrorist group that’s ready to die for their questionable cause, there is no shame in admitting that. While gains have been made against Boko Haram in the last eight months, life is not yet back to normal for people who have been on the receiving end of terror for the best part of the last decade.

Rather than answer this question, the president launched into a somewhat bizarre segue about the well-worn image problems of Nigerians abroad. Certainly, by including the United States in his answer, he either did not hear the question correctly or he was eager to get this particular point off his chest.

To be fair, this is common among Nigerian politicians when they come visiting London. Back in 2011, I attended an event for Nigerians in London with the then Lagos state governor, Babatunde Fashola as the speaking guest. Someone asked him a question about tapping into the talent pool of Nigerians in the diaspora. Just like Buhari, he launched into a rant on not needing to beg any Nigerian to return home. It was as if to say it should be obvious to them that Nigeria is a glorious place for them to return. That was my cue to leave.

President Buhari’s comments follow in a long tradition of a certain tension between some Nigerians at home and Nigerians in the diaspora.

The Single Story of Nigerians Abroad

It is certainly true that Nigerians have an image problem abroad. In the 1980s, after then prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s ‘Big Bang’ reforms widened access to finance for the British population, fraud spiked. As financial institutions tried to get a handle of what was going on, Nigerians, in particular, were targeted because it was believed fraud was widespread enough among the community it was safer for the banks to blacklist all of them. Even till now there are still stories of Nigerians running scams to defraud pensioners or scamming people on a dating website.

President Buhari almost seems to have some kind of disdain for Nigerians who leave the country to seek a better life elsewhere.
Whether or not the image problems Nigerians have abroad is justified, there is certainly evidence to back it up if that’s the ‘single story‘ you’re looking to tell.

But if you leave the argument at that point, like president Buhari clearly did, you will miss the most important part of the story of what’s going on with Nigerians abroad and the UK in particular. The president almost seems to have some kind of disdain for Nigerians who leave the country to seek a better life elsewhere. His comments suggest that he views them as shirkers who have abandoned the task—with apologies to Donald Trump—of making Nigeria great again.

He is spectacularly wrong.

New beginnings

Nigerians have been migrating to the UK for at least five decades mostly as students and as economic migrants. Many of these people were forced to remain in the shadows in the UK doing odd jobs. But over the years that fixed image has changed gradually both with long-term residents and more recent migrants in the last couple of decades.

Take for example of the wave of 2002 migration. The UK launched the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme visa. The visa, crucially, allowed you to live and work in the UK without being tied to a particular employer. It also offered a very straightforward path to citizenship with about seven years. The programme attracted a lot of professional Nigerians out of Nigeria—the more work experience you had in Nigeria before applying, the higher your chances of qualifying.

Once in the UK, to have the visa renewed, you then had to demonstrate earnings at a certain level as well as various other things like additional degrees or professional qualifications. The HSMP visa was a massive boon to Nigerians and they grabbed it with both hands. People left good jobs in banks and oil companies in Nigeria and moved to the UK. After finding their feet for a couple of years, they began climbing up the income ladder.

These were by no means lazy shirkers; they were hard working people who responded very well to their talents being recognized and rewarded in a new environment.

Follow The Money

If you take the World Bank figures for remittances to Nigeria as a proxy, you can see this playing out. According to the World Bank, the pattern of remittances to Nigeria from the diaspora can in the last 15 years is shown below.


To be clear, not all of this can be attributed to Britain (After 1995, Nigeria became eligible for the US Visa Lottery programme and it had a similar effect to the UK’s HSMP) and it is possible that the World Bank was previously undercounting. But what happened from 2004 was nothing short of spectacular. The highly educated Nigerians who left Nigeria in the early 2000s had begun to find their feet abroad and started sending money back home.

The estimated $21 billion sent home by Nigerians abroad in 2015 is far more than the $15 billion the Nigerian government hopes to earn from oil sales in 2016. At a time when Nigeria is desperate for every dollar it can lay its hands on, remittances are a lifeline for the economy.

This is the part of the story president Buhari has clearly missed. There are still plenty of Nigerians abroad up to no good. There are also plenty of Nigerians in prisons all across the world. But you don’t get $21 billion remitted back home from prisons around the world. You get it from people who earn a decent living abroad and have the disposable income to remit home.

It is disappointing and frustrating to see that Buhari’s views of Nigerians abroad is of the same vintage as his economic ideas.
Far from doing damage to the image of Nigeria, they are quietly repairing years of damage by showing Nigerians can integrate into an orderly society and earn an honest living. It is almost as if Nigerians abroad only exist in extreme characterizations. They are either fraudsters and hustlers or they’re super wealthy arrivistes featured in Tatler and Daily Mail spending money like it’s going out of fashion.

But in between those extremes lie a quiet class of Nigerians who, to borrow a British phrase, just get on with it. You’ll find them working in every bank in the UK just as they also form an integral part of the National Health Service (NHS).

Much of President Buhari’s thinking on the economy, and the naira in particular, betrays a man whose views were formed before the Berlin Wall fell down. It is disappointing and frustrating to see that his views of Nigerians abroad is of the same vintage as his economic ideas.

Do keep up, Mr President.

Feyi Fawehinmi moved to the UK in 2004. And every month, without fail, he sends some money home to Nigeria.

http://qz.com/615040/nigerias-buhari-needs-to-avoid-telling-the-single-story-about-nigerians-abroad/

Tells just how influential the guy is. Never knew he wields this much force. At least, he stands for a cause he believes in. I'd give anything to have a guy like that on my team. Most of those bashing him don't even know what they want for themselves!

Dunsin89:
Abia, Anambra, Imo hmmmm, so the Ibos don dey abadon bisness for book now shay? Wonders shall always hapun.

They are just so excellent at whatever it is that they do. They give 100%!

This one wey dem sabi procrastinate so, unna sure say no be for June dem go dey pay January salaries?

LordAdam:
Because PMB is a partisan bigot.

He is a Fulani and would do nothing. He is also a Sunni muslim, and sees the Shiites as infidels. I have not forgotten how he was against GEJ militarily responding against Boko Haram. If GEJ had not started this war, he wouldn't have started it himself.

He changed tune from "any attack on Boko Haram is an attack on the North" to "I will crush Boko Haram in 3 months" because of his greed for the presidency. Little wonder why 9 months on he has not defeated BH and is letting the Fulani herdsmen continue on their killing spree.

PMB has nothing to offer Nigerians. All those who voted him did so because they hated GEJ not because they wanted a better Nigeria.

-Lord

...of the foolish!

Anambra taking top spot is much deserved. They take education very seriously over here much so it's hard to tell a private school from a public one. Obiano has really done well! I'm full of admiration for the giant strides he's making.

Jonathan: pacesetter on anything corruption.

PoliticalThuG:
Lagos is nothing compared to what Anambra has to offer.

lol. Such a clown! I take it as a joke though. The way you guys hype this Awka, one would think it's Beverly Hills of some sort, alas, it's just a below average town getting a facelift! Before you go rapping, I stay in Awka...there's just nothing here.

Yet, that's a man who claims to have come from nothing!
Corruption personified. That guy made absolutely no impact on the FCT at all.

@lalasticlala

miniziter:
Who on earth will want to choose North before if not that NYSC gave us. Imagine a state that has no Corper welfare in mind. No state allawee, no ppa incentive and no accomodation. I know its your home but I believe one of your family members (if not all) or even you must have enjoy yourself in my home (state). Now you understand why am paraying. Nobody has hatred for you state but you people are not just nice. Now proof me wrong before you start shouting "op grow up".

Go learn English first before attempting to disparage what you do not understand! Like your home state is better than any Northern one. Dunce!

Long live the king! This man for me is success personified, the emblem of what most people should strive to be!

Information is power! I remember during my undergraduate days at ABU, how an Hausa friend of mine who had no Internet access nor radio was the first to inform us, accurately, about happenings 'round the globe. I'd be like, "but guy, you have no accessibility to the news media," and he goes, "kai malam, abin na jini" (hey Mr, it's in the blood!).

erico2k2:
Why attack the guy?let the cow defend himself. Any public figure or ruler is subject to abuse and ridicule. Even Jesus and the prophet mohamed where.so U insulting his Dad is just plain silly to be honest.

But he just referred to somebody's dad as a cow. Where in ur post did you advise him against doing such?

The problem with Anambra state, especially Awka, has always been the road networks. There aren't good enough roads as compared to what's obtainable in other states. That notwithstanding, Willie Obiano really tried. I was at Oko last week, the roads linking other parts of the state aren't quite as bad. But OP, did you actually mean what you said about Anambra being the most densely populated state, second only to Lagos? You sure say me and you no dey stay different Anambra so?

jmichlins:
See the most backward region in Nigeria. Emir look glamorous but the subordinates and subjects look impoverished. That's why when my Igbo bros say that we are marginalised, I begin to wonder by whom. Sanusi May your Reign be Long anyway.

>: You sure don't mean Kano, do you? If so, a visit will convince you to the contrary. Roll Awka, Onitsha, Nnewi, Owerri, Umuahia and Abakaliki into one and Kano will still be better by far in terms of capital/social infrastructure and beauty. Notwithstanding, Kano lags behind in terms of human capital development. But that's something they can catch up upon should they decide to become serious. I'm in Enugu atm, and have seen it all in the SE, you don't measure up even close!

Eko oni baje o! Beautiful dreams! We shall get there someday. Even Rome wasn't built in a day...

Slikbae:
The clueless ones said "our oyel" is no longer relevant. South South is Nigeria, period!!!

What people do not realise is that oil will remain the mainstay of the Nigerian economy for a long time. Only the ignorant underestimate it's importance in any economy. But trust the naysayers, they're drawn to bad news like moth to a flame!

Clowns!

If he actually did, we wouldn't have heard even a rumor of it. You know these people and money!

Such a pity!

modath:
Soludo is a kunu sipping efulefu!!

How dare he besmirch hero's name!

Hero is a saint, he is infallible, his Nobel prize is loading!

Lol.

kilode100:
Meaning?
A womanising man is a full LovePeddler in the bedroom.. They know the right places to touch and I love being touched..
Who cares whose bed he crawls out from??

Loving money more than me only means he's gonna be super duper rich and That's a nice thing abi?

I also smoke substances.. It all works out very well.

This one na real olosho!

I lost an uncle to that very attack. Wonder why the army denied any such incident for as long as they did. Never again...never take those pot bellied men seriously. Most of them are jobbers where dignity should reside.