₦airaland Forum

I'm just happy in the leadership of Fashola and vision of Tinubu. Tinubu most likely shadow-mentored fashola and prepared him for leadership. I believe both have replicated themselves in people that form part of their team, I mean the General Manager of Lagos State Electricity board is probably in my age range (Under 40), so you can imagine the delight when we have continuity.

I urge well meaning, analytically sound minded and focused folks to continue to develop themselves and prepare for leadership. Kayode Fayemi brought to limelight the brilliant Akin, that made mince meat of the whole PDP youth debate team. That guy will most likely get a place in governance of this country, following him from a distance, I am tempted to believe he either joggles a banking career with a mentee program in leadership, politics and governance and will soon be saddled with one.

Finally, Aresa;
1. You have simply done our world a whole deal of good with this painstaking effort. Unfortunately the narrow minded did not see that you're not just pasting picture, you're connecting the dots on Fashola's delivery and the impact on human well being.
2. You stand tall for me in your capability to competently engage in intellectual arguments. You challenge assumptions, and support your position with veritable facts. You're not afraid to take postulations from opposing views and deconstruct it when you can.

You're one of the folks that give me some iota of hope that this forum still has some intellectual relevance

tammie24:

BarryX: There is absolutely nothing to compare here! Both dwell more on Media propaganda!
The facts we should be looking out for are does these gigantic projects translate to better lives for the residents?

Somebody is even posting a tolled bridge as an achievement!
Anyways, are Lagosians better off with the projects? Or are Akwa ibomites better off?
Not posting mumbo jumbo pictures all around

I cant believe anyone would this kind of question
Really??

You know some people reason from their arse

dammytosh:

denko: :
He should not tell us what we know , (according to APC), he should focus his energy on resolving the issues & if he find the problems bigger than him then he should be honorable to resign his position PERIOD.

And this made front page ?

This site must be desperate for front page content.

Read the nonsense you posted again and ask your self why you are this dum-b

The dullar-d would be so proud of himself knowing that after typing the nonsense another dull mode mod will push it to front page.

....the oponu that put this on the front page is way more ridiculous than the brainless poster

I remember I mentioned Ibese road (one of the best I've seen in the country) and another NLer said I was lying

arresa:
The Oshorun/Ibeshe road, handed over by the Lagos State Governor


https://starconnectmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Road-ibeshe.jpg

Sorry Bro,

I was simply drawing a parallel to the jab on Tinubu's "smarts". Take back. But please note that, your hatred for Tinubu aside, you will need some mine search to find 3 top politicians of Tinubu's intellect.

OK on issues,
1. conventional economics, requires the reserves to manage the printing and "burning" of money. Increasing liquidity is an initiative and part of an economic strategy and not the whole. I am tempted to believe that many of you are taking this in bit parts and missing the whole
2. The challenge with SAP in my opinion was the inability of the government to live and stay true to the tenets and aspiration of the program. You don't tell people to sacrifice on one hand, yet your institutions were weak and could not stem waste and corruption on the other part. But the bigger lesson is that the SAP era gives us a reference antecedents to learn from........
3. The Monetary Policy should be in unison with the Fiscal policy, I agree. That's one things you and I and other true debaters in this discuss can xray in Tinubu's submission. I personally think we will need to sacrifice and truly this time around. Yes, increase liquidity to address some target sectors - (Refineries, Power projects, Agriculture, Small Scale Industries, Road and Transportation network), control imports, Strengthen institutions, etc.
4. We should as a people realise that pump price will go up, transportation will go up, taxes will go up, spending power will reduce a bit, cost of electricity will go up, some modified rationing may kick in, tuition will go up, some white collar workers will need to go blue collar etc. We need to build up our reserves, strengthen our chamber of commerce and other institutions.

voltron:
Focus on the issue bruv not my smarts - ok. What then do you call the Ways and Means Advances (if not printing money) the CBN made available to the FG. you cannot have a Fiscal Policy that ius undermined by a Monetary Policy the two don't work together well.

@Meiji,

Your argument did not elucidate why you opposed Tinubu. That would have been a good flavour to it. You simply laid another line of arguments which is opened to debate.

1. You're right on the money, all the notable economists from Pat Utomi to Henry Boyo and co has all said it. Our rent-based economic system is our biggest downfall. The only state in Nigeria that is worth calling a viable state is Lagos. It is funny and instructive to know that the same Tinubu laid the platform for the Lagos of today and it was under his government that a true test of Lagos capability to exist and thrive without the FG allocation was carried out.

2. It would seem to me that your second paragraph just reecho the essence of Tinubu's piece.

3. Downsizing the workforce without providing an alternate "industry" this laid off workers can fall into will create more complex problems. Many states in Nigeria are simply "civil servants" states and the multiplier effect on families will be wanton. You may want to consider a modified approach in that. Governor Bisi Akande in Osun state did same with devastating effects.

cheers

Meiji:
For me, I'm a small government conservative, so I oppose Tinubu's suggestion in principle. You can't talk about the failures of state government to pay salaries, for instance, without highlighting the fact that we operate a flawed structure (aptly named "feeding bottle federalism" ) where states gather in Abuja every month to share oil money.

People like me had warned for years that such stupidity would cost this nation dearly when oil prices witness a downward trend. The reason is simple: states that keep collecting oil rents every month would inevitably get lazy and refuse to the hard work of developing and expanding the human and material resources they have.

Look for the states in financial difficulty there's only ONE way out: Downsize the workforce. Lay off workers until their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) can take care of the civil service personnel costs and other recurrent expenditure. Then ensure that all FAAC allocations are devoted exclusively to capital and infrastructure spending as well as grants for small businesses that will boost the economy and create jobs.

Any suggestion for proper economic management that doesn't mandate the Federal and state governments to bite the bullet and downsize their bloated workforces is a ruse and a hoax.

My two kobo.

Bros,

A word of advise .......

...........It is better to say nothing and look like a fool than to say something and be the fool...............

Texcoco:
[color=#1980BC] Don't see what the fuss is about.....Jes use half our foreign reserves to purchase gold bullion, then peg a new national currency on the bullion before printing and distribution via the mechanics of soft loans to aid industrilization and export. [/color]

Unfortunately your "smarts" is not convincing and at very best basic here as well.

1. The SAP era, as many of us will vilify it as we like came out with some positives and has helped our economy. A very classic example is the privatisation journey of the banking sector, which has its roots in the policy of that era. Today you have Nigeria owned banks grown and stimulating the economy, dominating the West African space, making presence in Europe and ability to fund capital projects that was not thought of back in those days. What we fail to realise is that, we can learn from our past mistakes, refine it and get better at it rather than throw the baby and the wash water away.

2. I was fully aware in the SAP era and some of the things you wrote seems a distortion of facts. Please provide us with evidence that as part of SAP measure of IBB regime, they resorted to printing money. Note that the proposal and execution of the SAP policy was led by the secretary to the FG then, an LSE trained economist Chief Olu Falae........

voltron:
I sincerely doubt Tinubu has the smarts for this write up but worse, the motivation to see it through. Lest we forget the Austerity Measures introduced by the IBB regime. Fiscal Polices aimed at curtailing the demand for Naira.. It would have worked but what did IBB through the WAYS & MEANS Facility of the CBN do? He started printing more money for corrupt intentions.. this is the reason why we are where we are today.. and some he-goats will praise IBB, worse; praise his advocates.. If it is Tinubu.. he reeks poisonous corruption - we all are aware that there is a liquidity squeeze but the people are worse hit than the government.. cut recurrent expenditure by 70% to reflect the reality of the times and see what happens.

Ok, while I try to get your drift, the problem many of you make is that you can't keep yourselve within the context as laid out by the author. Tinubu right said he wanted to stimulate a debate, as such inviting you to contribute. The issues of True Federalism and SNC are issues outside the purview of this debate and one would have though a basic understanding will suffice to explain that to you...........no wonder may of you fail English comprehension

cocoduck:
useless man
I read everything but found no solution to the economic problems of the Zoo
the solution is this Nigerians should quit running away from their demons and run to them instead and thereby conquere them. He said nothing about True federalism which is the only solution to the problems, He used to make a lot of noise about SNC but now is the time to organize the one he thinks is the best and implement the resolutions reached.
it is very simple, precise and clear even to the common man
anyway common sense is the only thing that is not common in the Zoo

and to think it is receiving attention six month after Tinubu published the article....
If it's about Genevieve sexy wear to an event or Omotola's throwback foto, or some cleavage revealing stuffs.....you can be it speed it takes to make the front page. You wonder why on the average NL struggle with intelligence?

Meiji:
...and a thread for debate on the economy is, quite predictably, as dry and barren as Nairaland's science and technology section.

I guess most people have nothing to contribute because threads like this actually require them to use their brains.

Check my reaction in blue

PBundles:
On a serious note, printing money for a country like Nigeria would be a terrible idea, because it has no merit and will only lead to further devaluing of the Naira and cause exponential corruption. we can barely manage our government, how much more when we throw open the printing press. Can you imagine the airplane loads of fake Naira that would be coming in from all corners.

It surprises me ( though when I think about it not really, they all need to chop abi) when so-called leaders have no idea what they are talking about and have a lack of ideas. Let me IMHO give the top three things that need to be done:

Stimulate the small and middle businesses by granting well manged loans to ensure the business ideas are fostered. This will lead to an strong internal market, which Nigeria lacks whereas we have a large population. This in turn will spin off jobs etc. - This is already being done by Bank of Industry will little impact or limited success. You might want to ask where the source of monies to stimulate the small and middle business to that scale to impact the economy and the "strong international market" will come from. First off, we have decapitated our external reserve, which China had used to achieve the same thing way back. Secondly as Tinubu (and the economist Henry Boyo) had argued, our dollar dependent economy is subservient to the risk Oil price is exposed to, so in this context, we can only do this in the post $100 crude benchmark era.....which is not realistic and sustainable. My thoughts, you will need a stronger argument than this to rebut Tinubu's proposition

Fiscal and corruption management. Nigerian dont pay tax period,but we complain about the government not doing anything. On one hand I understand since if you see the stealing that goes on and salaries are not paid whereas most high ranking officers are looking plumpy, then its hard to reconcile the two. - Taxes are simply part of the internally generated revenue. I want to believe that taxes are fixed and will stay somewhat constant in the context of this argument. We need to look beyond taxes to stabilize the economy, especially when those revenues are in the threat of decline as proportional to a decline in labour force

Last but not least. Cut down the Government expense by at leats 70-80%. You may think its high, but this is possible. when you see that some offices and departments have been created simply to employ friends and acquaintances, while they serve no useful meaning to the masses, why keep them open. Also reduce the salaries and allowances of the elected officers by 60-70%. The amounts are ridicoulous. Why would a House or Rep or Senator make more than Obama ( Nigeria, we hail thee).

felixuzuh:
Tinubu is not being truthful to himself. The truth remains that the only way through which nigeria can come out of her economic woes, is by reducing the salaries of political office holder. Increasing the taxes payed by the rich and wealthy in our country, and also fix the electricity problem we currently experience in nigeria. Believe you me, once uninterrupted power supply is provided for the common man. Nigeria's economy shall automatically be revived and joblessness shall be reduced to the biarest minimum. Tinubu is just beating round the bush, because he knows he's one of those nigerian elite, holding the waelth that is supossed to circulate among the masses.

Bros, your argument is weak. Check

1. Reducing salaries of political office holders - There salaries is the least of their expenditures. More money is spent on recurrent expenditure, even by Jonathan's government. So even if you reduce their salaries, the difference and more finds their way back into their pockets via recurrent expenditures.

2. Increasing the taxes paid by the rich and wealthy - This is the classic ignorant assumption that has been explained over and over again. the rich pay themselves little salaries, hence little taxes. The companies they own shoulder virtually all their tax requirements; as it is taken from the company's gross income. In other words, the taxes the companies of the rich pay becomes a constituents of the cost of doing business. When the cost of business of the rich increases, the market price of their products marginally increases. Guess who pays to marginal increase - the poor. So increasing the taxes pay by the rich is tantamount to increasing the cost paid by the poor.

3. Fix Electricity problem - You right in part here, but if you read and understood Tinubu's argument you would have realized that this falls under his proposition to cut the additional government expenditure to infrastructural development project that will stimulate economic growth

And dont kid yourself, Nigeria's economy CANNOT automatically be revived. It was progressively worsened and will take twice the effort to bring back.

Your pun at Tinubu, smacks crass ignorance on your part

Texcoco:
[color=#1980BC] Hope they aren't innocent bystanders now framed up to be fugitives from Delta,Ondo and Ogun?.[b]The Nigerian police isn't that sophisticated to conduct a nationwide manhunt....[/b] [/color]

.....and you know that base on.....what?

....better still don't say what you don't know.......

gists:
I have a similar hypothesis and I have not seen why it should not work. I stated this on another thread a few days ago.

gists: :
I am pretty sure this perennial problem is more of political will than technical know-how.
:
:
I know for sure some private companies are already generating electricity from gas. I strongly believe this can be replicated by the discos. It is only when it comes to IPP that gas supply becomes an issue. The discos should be given a "partial" license to generate a fraction of the electricity demand for their area. All legislation barring them to generate electricity should be relaxed. Imagine kaduna disco or eko disco or phed generating about 30% of their respective demands. Add that to what is already being supplied to them from the grid. It should come to about 60%. At an individual level, this translate to about 16 hours of electricity for everybody.

Their is no miracle Buhari can perform if we have to wait for the national grid. The discos needs to be given a bit more role.

Bros,

The current regulation that birthed the privatisation i.e. the Discos, allows them to either have or partner with embedded clusters. This means, as you had suggested, the can generate power in limited capacity, distribute and sell same. The major problem is that power pricing is still regulated and investors are not disposed to doing this cos, they are not guaranteed of recouping their investment in reasonable time with the current price regime

My Brother,

Let's educate ourselves with fact and leave "bad-belleism" out of it.

1. Lagos is the only state currently that has show a capability, plan, strategy and made real a sustainable implementation of power generating capacity.
2. Your argument that Grid system is the best falls flat when we compare Nigeria. I understand that as at 1988, Bayelsa was hardly on National Grid, but Bayelsa is hardly reflective of the collective demand profile of Nigeria./
3. Talking about Grid system, let me lay some simple facts. Nigerian's power demand capacity is in the excess of 150GW. Nigeria's generating capacity is less than 3GW. Shockingly enough, the total transmission (Grid) capacity is 11GW. In other words, even if we produce much more, we only have enough grid capacity to take care of 9% of our national demand capacity............

vanunu:
The grid system is simply the best, that is why it is used through out the whole world, it is cheaper, and when one power plant is undergoing maintenance, consumers will not even notice it . I remember what bayelsa state use to surfer in those days when they were not connected to the national grid.

Upon all the noise that the lagos have been making for 16yrs, they have only been able
To generate only 64mw despite the fact that billions of naira have been spent.

This system they are proposing for buhari is very expensive and consumers will not be able to pay. The cost of laying gas pipline alone will consume billions of naira

Hardly do many of you understand the article in my own opinion. The writer chose a Satire approach and many buried analysis is lost on you lot.

dmandy:

RevDesmondJuju: :
Seun, you need to call your mods to order!

There was a thread this morning that stated FG intention of screening Civil Servants under their payroll to ascertain the authencity of their academic certificates.

The thread was deleted for no other reason that the discuss may eventually turn to Buhari's fake waec statement.

This site is being reduced to rubish everyday by your janjawiid moles.

I suspect that ram malctunji to be behind the censorship!

Please stop premature eja-ulation

You mean he should stop taking marijuana.......

1. I'm very impressed with the project.
2. This is a mid-term solution (if not longer term) of making power accessible to remote areas, critical infrastructures like health centers and schools.
3. They can leverage on this to connect all schools to the information super-highway to improve learning.
4 I'm impressed with the collaboration with UKaid and DFID

kettykings:
How really can he marginalised igbos, by denying them fair share of projects or killing their businesses.

If igbos can form a think thank that can insulate the eastern economy from Nigeria policies apart from that I don't see much buhari can do to the igbos.

Igbos should warm up for the worst and prepare for the best just in case.

Now this is some of the weirdest thinking I have ever seen. Please explain how you can "Insulate" eastern economy from Nigeria's policies. The eastern economy is at the bottom pedestal on the based on some recent analysis. Majority of Easterners are transacting business outside the east, Natural resources from the east contribute near zilch to the national treasury........

obailala:

stabillo: :
Professor Wole Soyinka has released a statement denying reports that he trashed the Igbos during his lecture at Harvard University last week. Soyinka was quoted to have said 'the Igbos voted based on their stomach and suffer from incurable money mindedness'. The Nobel Laureate says he never made a statement like that and anyone who believes he did is a slowpoke. Lol. His statement below...


"I have just read a statement attributed to me on something called The Cable, a news outlet, evidently one of the Internet infestations. My lecture at the Hutchins Centre, Harvard University, was video recorded. Anyone who believes what I am alleged to have said must be a slowpoke – repeat, a slowpoke. It is demeaning, sickening and boring to have to deal with these cowards who cannot fight their own battles but must fasten their imbecilic pronouncements on others. Only the mentally slow will credit this comment attributed to me regarding the Ndigbo voting pattern in the last elections. I strongly suspect the author of this despicable concoction, and may make a further statement, once the source is verified.” the statement read


source: http://lindaikeji..nl/2015/05/soyinka-denies-blasting-igbos-says.html?m=1

I carefully refused to comment on the other thread until I heard from the horses mouth. Definitely, a major lecture of that nature would be recorded on video and very soon, the videos would be out on Youtube. I never believed Prof Soyinka could have made such a needless statement in public; some individuals are just well above certain things.

It is really sad that some unscrupulous entities would just sit behind a desk and conjure inflammatory statements to disturb public peace and cause disaffection... and now someone would tell me it is wrong if such a website is closed or the publishers arrested?

1. The same scenario played itself when a journalist published that GMB mentioned at a forum the Islamization of Nigeria......... for me the problem is not with the useless journos that concocted the fabrication. The problem is with many of us as a collective. We are damn too lazy to do the simple....Verify.
2. Just like GMB told Father Kukah back then, Soyinka had to do same now - Get the damn video, Audio and textual recordings
3. But are some of us here so stupid and ignorant, not to understand that at an intellectual forum like the Havard, you cannot just say anything of such?
4. We have mumus here and the shame is that they do not realise the level of their idiocy. How can a news like this come out and we cannot collectively condemn the source?

But we should know news that sounds idiotic na.......

Meanwhile, my tots on Alibaba's submission are these

1. It shows Alibaba himself is lacking in spiritual knowledge and understanding.
2. Tithe is an injunction from God, "Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house......." and not from the pastor.
3. Tithe is primarily acknowledging God in worship and not a substance to appease any man or pastor
4. Where Korede Bello pays his tithe (If he does) (his name suggests he's a muslim) is not anybody's preoccupation, not the pastor and not even Alibaba.
5. The condition to be "rapturable" and join the saints triumphant is clearly stated. Pay your tithe religiously if you like, if you fall short, then.......

So I state again, Alibaba just made a steeeeewwwwwpppppidddddd goofffff of a statement

Hello,

Please wake up from your slumber. What has Korede Bello contributed to the Christendom to justify a "fluke God-song", God win as a model song to be sung in church? Is it because it has God win in it? What scripture is the song espousing that we can tell christian-folks to learn from? I donget alert You think we just sing songs in Church because it has God in it?

Well except I am to assume I am having a discussion with a person of another level of spiritual understanding, obviously like Alibaba, then what's the issue. Femi Kuti, the Shoki guy and all the likes can as well "smuggle" God into their lyrical lines and we should adopt them in churches and in the name of "they are glorifying God"

emorse:
Steeeewpeeeed and dumb ass question. Are the songs you mentioned above gospel songs? Is Korede's song not glorifying God? Or are you over righteous and self serving bunch just being judgemental of his personality?

Steeeewpeeeed and dumb ass question....... so we should sing songs like Shoki, etc dey pain O, Bang! Bang!! Bang!!! In church once we can establish they pay tithe from the song?

omenka:

Chief Uwazuruike further alleged that the
incoming administration was planning his arrest in order to keep him in prison custody till after the swearing in on May 29.

If anyone were to arrest you before 29th of May, who would it be??

I was almost reeling in disbelif. Can the leader of MASSOB be this ridiculous

aresa:
He's trolling. You can not have a conversation with a senseless troll.

I have to agree with you..........

O boy! Is it that dumbness just hugs you all the way or can't you just figure Ok what is the relevance of your comparison of 2000 government owned schools to the 14000 schools in the state? and how is that a measure of performance

anonimi:
We must add award for massive FAILURE for a state governor who has 2,000 PUBLIC schools out of 14,000 schools in the state






Despite annual budget of almost N500 billion and 16 years of progreTHIEF administration by Thief'nuibu cabal.

Abi is 2,000 not 14% of 14,000
What else could be massive FAILURE?

This OP and the source are patent falsehood and misapplication of facts. I refer you guy's to Akinoso's article.........and anybody working in the industry can also verify the points

The North Does Not Control Nigeria’s Oil Blocks, By Toyin Akinosho

Senator Ita Enang’s spirited claim at the National Assembly Wednesday to the effect that 83% of the country’s oil block is in the hands of northerners appears to be inspired from assertions contained in an old article by a newspaper commentator, Mr. Ross Alabo-George whose famous essay was titled Poverty And Deprivation: Why The North Is Poor.
In the excerpted refutation below, Toyin Akinosho, a petroleum geologist with over two decades of work at Chevron and now publisher of the well-regarded Africa Oil and Gas Report, argues angrily that such lines of thought canvassed by the likes of Senator Ita Solomon Enang and indeed Mr. Ross Alabo-George are merely hysterical, and tendentious, designed to mislead the public. Mr. Akinosho characterizes the arguments as crappy and crummy. It is excerpted from the African Oil+Gas Report for the value it brings to the current debate about Nigeria’s oil resources and the National Question.
Alabo-George’s article plays up so well the sentiments that a good number of Nigerians, especially middle class types excluded from the spoils of the petroleum subsidy, and allied deliverables, nurse about the kind of leadership we have suffered since independence.
But it has gone around so far and keeps being forwarded so rampantly, largely because it plays to the ethnic schism; the suspicions that each of us harbours, in our different silos, about “the other”.
It’s largely a response to the disingenuous claim by Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the Central Bank Governor, that the Boko Haram insurgency is a response to the 13% derivation allocated to the oil producing states from the federation account. “There is clearly a direct link between the very uneven nature of distribution of resources and the rising level of violence”, Sanusi told The Financial Times of London.
Alabo-George’s piece is compelling when he contrasts what non oil-producing Southern states have been able to do with their supposedly meager allowances with what their Northern counterparts have done with their own allocations.
“Ekiti State has about the same revenue as Yobe and Gombe”, he contends, “but only 17 students passed WAEC and NECO in Gombe state last year, while Ekiti State is known for its high literacy level”.
I find two beautiful quotable quotes in the article: (1) “Borno State has a bigger budget than that of Cross River, a Niger Delta State. While the leaders of Cross River over the last decade have transformed it into the nation’s leading tourist destination, those of Borno have transformed it into a Somalia”.
(2) “Gombe State has a bigger budget than Enugu and Anambra, why has MASSOB not bombed anyone”?
But once Alabo- George ventures beyond the political economic analysis and starts to list who owns what oil and gas assets, his article is a litany of inaccuracies and lies. He gets it totally wrong.
He writes about the estate of the late Mai Deribe, the Bornu State born businessman, supposedly owning a huge oil field; Rilwanu Lukman having controlling shares in Afren; Atiku Abubakar being the stupendously rich beneficiary of the profits of Intels, the logistics company; Aminu Dantata’s Express Petroleum. He ties Amni Petroleum to only Sani Bello.
So much conspiracy theory.
Oil acreage ownership in Nigeria does not have ethnic colouration. What’s more important, sustaining production from oil and gas assets, whether or not awarded by the state, is determined by how much of a businessman you are.
When Jibril Aminu handed out oil prospecting blocks, in the first comprehensive effort “to encourage indigenous participation” in 1991, he gave blocks to companies owned by Folawiyo, Abiola, Adenuga, Udoji, Ibru, Igbinedion,(all Southerners) as much as he gave to enterprises set up by people like Saleh Jumbo and Mai Deribe.
Between 1991 and 1993, we suddenly had over 25 companies, that were Nigerian E&P companies and they took themselves so seriously that they set up an association they christened “Nigerian Association of Indigenous Petroleum Exploration Companies”. But what did these people do with the acreages? They were mostly clueless about how to progress things.
Out of that class of awardees, only Mike Adenuga created what you could really call an E&P company. He is the only one producing oil today, from his own block.
It’s bad enough that Nigerian indigenous private acreage holders don’t produce, as a collective, up to 150,000 Barrels per day, or 7% of the national daily production, so why are we fighting ourselves?
And I am less keen on how much you’re getting as rent from the asset you are holding, than the capacity you are building as manager of a Nigerian oil company who is awarded the asset, in trust for the rest of us.
I am for an ongoing, earnest debate on the National Question. But false information misleads all of us into false conclusions, which reduce the complexity of the solutions we ought to be proffering.
The author cites a number of hydrocarbon acreages belonging to Northern elites, but ignores the fact that holding an acreage is one thing; getting value out of it is another.
That so many people believe the poorly researched article, and so instantly forward it that it becomes one of the most travelled essays on the National Question, is testimony to poor knowledge of how the oil industry works.
The first field the author mentions is Obe field, which, he rightly claims, is held by Cavendish Petroleum, a company set up by Alhaji Mai Deribe. Alabo- George lied by saying that the Obe field, the main hydrocarbon pool in OML 110, contains 500Million barrels of oil reserves.
The Obe field does not have a proven 20 Million barrels. I am not sure it has 10Million barrels. It is not producing as I write. The Obe field has not produced for five years, since 2007, when Tranfigura, the last technical partner engaged by Cavendish, walked out.
I don’t know what discipline Mr Alabo-George belongs to, but this point I am about to make is well known to every junior petroleum geologist with three year experience in the crummiest E&P company: If a field holds 500Million barrels of oil, proven, in shallow water Nigeria, it won’t lie fallow. Investors would rush it.
In countries where you don’t have the complications that the NNPC brings to the table here, fields that haven’t proven much more than 500Million barrels are “rushed” through to development.
Ghana’s Jubilee field didn’t prove a billion barrels before the country’s authorities approved a field development plan. Apart from Nigeria, Angola, Libya, Algeria, Ghana (now, since 2008) and perhaps Equatorial Guinea, no African country has a billion barrels in proven reserves. 500 Million barrels is half of that.
Mr Alabo-George says that Obe has the capacity to produce about 120,000 barrels of crude oil daily from its OBE 4 and OBE 5 wells. What sort of numeracy is this? Or is he dreaming these figures? How can a field with less than twenty million barrels “have the capacity” to produce 120,000 barrels per day?. What’s capacity?
Alabo George’s second example of a wealthy northerner swimming in oil money is Mohammed Indimi, “a Fulani and close friend of General Ibrahim Babangida”. He says “Oriental Energy Resources Limited runs three oil blocks: OML 115, the Okwok field and the Ebok field. OML 115 and Okwok are OML PSC, while Ebok is an OML JV. All of them good yielding offshore oil blocks”.
The author just doesn’t care to verify his claims. True, Indimi’s Oriental Resources holds the three assets. OML 115 is not producing as I write. No one has certified that there’s a producible field in the acreage. Ebok is being produced, on Oriental Resources’ behalf, by Afren, a UK listed company. Last year, the field delivered an average of 8,000Barrels of Oil per Day(BOPD), according to Afren’s website. You can google it. Okwok, as I write, is still in development. Translation: it has produced nary a drop of oil.
Aminu Dantata’s Express Petroleum holds the Oil Mining Lease 108, with technical partners Shebah Petroleum, which bought out Conoco, the original technical partners. Fine.
The Ukpokiti field, the main asset on the acreage, produced for quite a while; and should have made the Dantatas quite rich, over a period of more than seven years. The field died out at some point and is being revived as I write.
“NorthEast Petroleum is owned by another Fulani businessman from the North East, Alhaji Saleh Mohammed Jambo”, Alabo-George testifies. “The license was awarded to him by General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida”.
Another truth: North East Petroleum has NEVER produced a single drop of oil since that award in the early 90s. There, simply, hasn’t been a discovery worth the while for operator TOTAL.
I agree that Theophilus Danjuma, also a Northerner, is entitled to contest for the award of the man who made the most fortune, at a sitting, on an oil acreage in Nigeria.
Alabo-George’s article, in his rush to conclusions, even understates the significance, by claiming that Danjuma’s company, South Atlantic Petroleum Limited(SAPETRO), made $1Billion from the deal.
The truth is that China National Overseas Offshore Company(CNOOC ), signed a definitive agreement with SAPETRO to acquire a 45% working interest in OML 130 for $2.268 billion cash.
I don’t know how much the broker of the deal took, but I am yet to confirm if the Nigerian government earned any withholding tax from that transaction. In spite of what he has earned “upfront”, Danjuma’s SAPETRO gets 25,600Barrels of Oil per day for its 15% of OML 130 from the Akpo field, which is delivering 175,000BOPD.
But if you complain about Northerner Danjuma, what about the Alakijas, a Yoruba couple whose company, Famfa Oil, is “entitled”, every day, to 25,000BOPD from Chevron operated Agbami Field, located in deepwater OML 127?.
These two companies are two of the four largest producing Nigerian companies today. The other two are Adenuga’s Conoil(25,000BOPD) and Seplat Petroleum(37,000BOPD, operated, 16,000BOPD, equity).
Only one of those four companies is Northern owned. And it is outright falsehood that “ 80 per cent of crude oil and gas produced by indigenous companies is controlled by the North-East”.
But, as I said again: which technical and managerial capacity are we building on the back of the rent collected from these leases. It’s the real job.
The last example I’d touch, before the concluding commentary, for space purposes, is the case of Rilwan Lukman, who Alabo-Gorge cites as having controlling shares in Afren, the UK listed company. Lukman was there on the ground floor of the construction of Afren, around 2004, no doubt, but the key founders of Afren are Ethelbert Cooper, the Liberian businessman and Osman Shahenshah, who is the current Chief Executive.
What people like Lukman and Egbert Imomoh, the other Nigerian on the company’s board in the founding days, did, is the kind of thing I urge Nigerians in their positions to do.
Use your knowledge to access and create value, not to grab and destroy value. Cooper and Shanenshah knew that Lukman(then out of office both from OPEC and as Nigerian special adviser), and Imomoh(then recently retired as Deputy Managing Director Of Shell Nigeria) knew the Nigerian oil industry deeply and could access oil and gas fields that were lying fallow.
Shanenshah, coming from a financial services background, knew how to raise funds: the most important thing in oilfield exploration and development. Indeed the first piece of news by which most people knew of the existence of Afren was that the IMF had agreed to give a 5Million dollar loan to this company, which was only just about starting. It pays to have Lukman on your board.
Yet, in spite of Lukman’s influence in the Nigerian polity, Afren had never accessed Nigerian acreages via government awards. Afren, cash in hand, running a technically proficient company, approaches Nigerian indigenous owners of assets-like Ndimi’s Oriental Resources, Amni and several marginal field holders, and signs agreements with them to be technical partners.
After Afren has recovered its investment via cost oil, Afren and the company continue to share the proceeds from the field 50:50 for the life of the field. Afren uses Nigerian technical capacity to a large degree and it trains a lot of people. But it can do more.
Afren has never benefitted from bid round or government-sanctioned discretionary awards, so why would anyone link Lukman’s involvement in Afren in a list that has a number of Northerners supposedly benefitting from government largesse? That is part of the trouble I have with Alabo-George’s essay.
I wouldn’t compare Lukman’s relationship with Afren to the benefits that Atiku Abubakar derives from being a part owner of Intels, the logistics company which takes advantage of the free trade zone in Onne, near Port Harcourt.
This particular example helps us to locate “the Nigerian tendency”, beyond “the Northern tendency”, in this discussion. Because, really, we are just all the same.
A foreign company comes to Nigeria to set up for business. Because of the difficulties we invent as barriers to entry, this company requires the services of some big Nigerian men, preferably those who have worked for government, for access.
What Atiku Abubakar has done with Intels has parallels in other sectors of the economy and is comparable with what Yoruba chieftains, Ijaw leaders, Igbo High Chiefs, Idoma overlords, etc, etc, have done with many other companies operating here.
That’s how people became key shareholders of companies like Julius Berger. As I write, the key sentiment underlining the complaints against the tolling on the Lekki Expressway is that “most of the money will go to Tinubu’s pocket”. That’s the word on the street.
Brokerage is not a bad thing on its own, but what we need to stress is a level playing field, rule of law, security of tenor and equity and fairness as much as possible, for all.
If I really want to be mischievous, I’d focus on the recent deal in which Shell and Agip have had to pay in excess of one billion dollars to Dan Etete, a south-south man, for stakes in Oil Prospecting Lease OPL 245. And I would ask “Is that necessarily right”? Should the president, a south-south Ijaw man, have waded in to ask Shell and Agip to move the deal forward? But that’s a story for another day.
In my book, people from everywhere have taken advantage of the unstructured way we have dispensed with oil and gas acreages. Naming names about which Northerner got what size of the pie is less useful than a focus on how government is insisting on open and transparent bidding, but more importantly, on Nigerian technical know how and management.
You can’t hand over an acreage and walk away. You have to monitor what the holder is doing. How he is ensuring employment. If we can’t, with all the treasure, build five private E&P companies that have the internal competencies that Shell has and can go out and buy and operate assets the way that UBA and GTB and Ecobank venture into Ghana and The Gambia, then we have wasted all of the 56 years we have spent since the hoorah at Oloibiri.
Akinosho, a petroleum geologist, former news reporter, and one-time community newspaper editor, is now publisher of the well-regarded African Oil+Gas Report

Gawd! so this guy is 9ja. I love this guy die!!!!

kay29000:
Also, Donald Adeosun Faison, from movies like Clueless (1995), Remember the Titans (2000), and Kick Ass 2 (2013)

Was 1 year my senior in secondary school.............. Did comedy skits on social night a lot, small wonder he made it big.......

literarymathy:
David Oyetokunbo Oyelowo (pronounced "oh-yeh-lo-wo", a classically trained stage actor, has quickly become one of Hollywood's most sought-after talents. He was born in Oxford, England, to Nigerian parents; his father, Stephen, worked for an airline company and his mother for the railway. Oyelowo graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), and received the "Scholarship for Excellence" from Nicholas Hytner in 1998.

David received numerous accolades for the recent independent film, Middle of Nowhere, which screened to rave reviews at last year's Sundance and Toronto Film Festivals. The emotionally inspiring film portrays the universal dilemma of how a person maintains oneself as they commit to loving and supporting someone through hardship. David has received nominations for "Best Supporting Actor" for the 2013 Independent Spirit Awards and the 44th Annual NAACP Image Awards on behalf of his work in the film.

He also was seen recently in Steven Spielberg's critically acclaimed drama Lincoln, with Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones. Lincoln has already been the recipient of many awards which include being named one of the top films of the year by the National Board of Review and AFI Awards. It has also received nominations for the 2013 Critics Choice Awards for "Best Acting Ensemble" and "Best Picture." Lincoln also leads the 2013 Oscar race with a total of 12 nominations, including "Best Picture."

This past winter, he starred opposite Tom Cruise in Jack Reacher, a drama based on a book in Lee Child's popular crime series. The film tells the story of a homicide investigator who digs deeper into a case involving a trained military sniper who has shot five random victims.

Films awaiting release featuring Oyelowo include Lee Daniels' drama, The Butler, alongside Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey and Nina, the story of the late jazz musician and classical pianist Nina Simone, which also stars Zoe Saldana. The British television movie, Complicit, also debuted this year.

In The Paperboy David stars opposite Nicole Kidman, Matthew McConaughey and Zac Efron. Directed by Lee Daniels, the film follows a journalist and his writing partner (David), who return to a small hometown to uncover the truth about a death row inmate, whom they believe was wrongly convicted. The film screened to a 16 minute standing ovation at the Cannes. Additional film credits include the George Lucas produced, Red Tails, which tells the story of the heroic Tuskegee Airmen who fought in WWII and won Best Picture at the NAACP Image Awards, Rise of the Planet of the Apes alongside James Franco and Frieda Pinto, the Academy Award nominated drama The Help, 96 Minutes which premiered at the 2011 SXSW Film Festival, Default, a thriller directed by Simon Brand, Kevin MacDonald's The Last King of Scotland opposite Forest Whitaker and James McAvoy, Who Do You Love in which he played the iconic Muddy Waters, A Sound of Thunder for Warner Bros., Derailed, for Miramax, The Best Man for Redbus and one of his most challenging screen roles to date, the acclaimed BBC2 film Shoot the Messenger.

Oyelowo first impressed audiences on the stage when he starred in The Suppliants at the Gate Theatre playing King Palasgus, for which he received the Ian Charleson award commendation. Following this he played the title role of Henry VI, becoming the first black actor to play an English king for the RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company). The role won him The Ian Charleson Award and an Evening Standard award nomination. Other theatre credits include an acclaimed performance in Richard Bean's The God Botherers at the Bush Theatre and the title role in Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound, which was off-Broadway and for which David received rave reviews.

Beyond theatre David starred in the BAFTA-award winning series Spooks/MI:5 playing Danny Hunter. MI:5 also aired in the US on BBC America. Additionally, he won the Royal Television Society Award for Best Actor and was also nominated for a BAFTA for the same role for his work on Small Island. David also starred in the BBC1 original television movie Born Equal opposite Colin Firth. As well as ABC's 2008 production of A Raisin in the Sun alongside Sanaa Lathan, Audra MacDonald and Phylicia Rashad.

David made his U.S. debut in two HBO productions. First starring in the Kenneth Branagh directed As You Like It, in which he played Orlando opposite Bryce Dallas Howard, which aired in August 2006. In October of the same year he was again seen on HBO as the lead in the mini-series Five Days, for which he won the Satellite Award for Best Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for his performance. In 2008, David guest starred in an episode of the acclaimed adaptation of the Alexander McCall Smith novel The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency directed by the late Anthony Minghella.

David resides in Los Angeles, CA.



https://d1oi7t5trwfj5d.cloudfront.net/00/fc/c13c525046598b4e0f3e73872277/david-oyelowo.jpg

I do not begrudge you for your choice of candidature, I'm simply pointing you to the implications. Meanwhile, do you realise for instance that voting a candidate of choice implies that you're voting for a course? So you needed to know that we that voted for GMB voted something and reality is that by default, those of you that voted the other way should not even be heard at this stage, talkless of making demands

kraftykc:
Simply because I vote another candidate doesn't mean I stop being a Nigerian. And he remains the President of all Nigeria, not some.