₦airaland Forum

ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Best album (solo or group) in year under review, that meets judges’ requirements of excellence (in every realms: songwriting, production, rendition and promotion) and acceptability (sales, popularity)
MUSHIN 2 MO’HITS
Artiste: WANDE COAL
Producer(s): Don Jazzy
Record Label: Mo’Hits Records

ARTISTE OF THE YEAR
Most critically and commercially adjudged artiste in the year under review Overall most successful artiste for the year under review
WANDE COAL
Real Name(s): OJOSHIPE WANDE JNR.
Album Title: Mushin 2 Mo’Hits
Record Label: Mo’Hits Records

SONG OF THE YEAR
Most popular song from an album in year under review. Decided by voting
“YORI YORI”
Artiste: BRACKET
Album: Least Expected
Producer: Dekumzy
Record Label Ape Planet

RECORDING OF THE YEAR
Best single recording (on-air only or released) by artiste or group in year under review. Originality and production very essential
“HEAVEN PLEASE”
Album – TIMI (Unreleased)
Artiste – Timi Dakolo
Producer – Cobhams Asuquo
Record Label – (Unreleased)

PRODUCER OF THE YEAR
The individual responsible for producing the most acclaimed songs/album in the year under review. His CV for the year includes top notch tracks and production credits no one can fault.
DON JAZZY
Album/Song Title – “Banana”, “U Bad”
Artiste(s) – Wande Coal

BEST MUSIC VIDEO (AWARD GOES TO DIRECTOR)
Best conceptualised, best edited, best picture, best directed and most exciting video in year under review as voted by fans and decided by the jury.
CLARENCE PETERS
Music Video Title – “Finest”
Artiste – Knight House Ft. Sauce Kid & Teeto

BEST R ‘N’ B SINGLE
Best R&B single in year under review (by single individual or group)
“STRONG TING”
Artiste(s) – Banky W
Producer – Cobhams Asuquo

BEST POP SINGLE
Best pop single in year under review (by single individual
U BAD”
Artiste(s) – Wande Coal
Producer – Don Jazzy

BEST R ‘N’ B/ POP ALBUM
Best R&B or pop album in year under review (by single individual or group)
MUSHIN 2 MO’HITS
Artiste- Wande Coal
Producer(s) – Don Jazzy
Record Label- Mo Hits Records

BEST RAP SINGLE
Best single released on-air recording of a rap song
“SAMPLE Remix”
Artiste(s) – Terry Tha Rapman Ft. Stereo Man & Pherowshuz
Producer – Pherowshuz

BEST RAP ALBUM
Best album by a rap artiste or group in year under review
CEO
Artiste – Dagrin
Producer(s) – Sossick, T-Frizzle, Dokta Frabz, Sarz
Record Label – Missofunyin Entertainment

LYRICIST ON THE ROLL
Rap Artiste with best lyrical depth and performance on a single song or album
MODENINE
Song Title – Bad Man
Album Title – Da Vinci Mode (Not released in year under review)
Record Label – Red Eye Music

BEST COLLABO
Best R&B, Pop or hip hop collaborative track (including cameos) in year under review
“KOKOROKO”
Artistes – Kefee Ft. Timaya
Producer – K Solo

BEST VOCAL PERFORMANCE (MALE)
Single male artiste with most outstanding vocal performance on a single song or album
DARE ART ALADE
Song Title – “NO STARS”
Producer- Cobhams

BEST VOCAL PERFORMANCE (FEMALE)
Single female act with most outstanding vocal performance on a single song or album
LARA GEORGE
Song Title – “KEEPER OF MY DREAMS”
Producer – Wole Oni

BEST STREET HOP
The most popular street-hop single in year under review
“FREE MADNESS Pt. 2”
Artiste(s) – Terry G

NEXT RATED
Most promising upcoming officially unreleased act in the year under review
SKUKI
Song Title – “BANGER”

HIPHOP WORLD REVELATION OF THE YEAR
Best New artiste in the year under review
WANDE COAL
Real Name(s): OJOSHIPE WANDE JNR.
Album Title: Mushin 2 Mo’Hits
Record Label: Mo’Hits Record

I wonder why MTN wastes money sponsoring this crap?
Ayo just cooks up silly award winners list and expects an idiotic public to just accept it.
What the heck is the meaning of 'voted by fans and decided by the jury'?
If Da Vinci code was not released in the year under review, why nominate mode 9 for the award?
How senseless is that?
Wande Coal, R n B/Pop?
Whoever came up with this lists must be high on 2 day old feremented urine.
Why can't we do things thorougly and devoid of mediocrity?Don't get me started on that Skuki - Banger joke.
When MTN stops sponsoring crap like these, hip hop heads would start complaining that companies are not supporting the entertainment biz.

By Festus Owete and Ini Ekott


June 3, 2010 11:42PM


Barely 24 hours after his public brawl with a trenchant opponent, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, yesterday sacked the chairmen and deputy chairmen of some standing committees in the House and reassigned others.

Mr Bankole had on Wednesday been involved in a scuffle with his colleague, Independence Ogunewe, and it took the intervention of other members to stop the duo from coming to blows. Mr Ogunewe is said to have consistently opposed the Speaker since 2009 when Mr Bankole removed him from the chairmanship of the Aviation committee.

Those sacked include Gbenga Oduwaiye (chairman, Inter/Intra Party Affairs); Kayode Amusan (deputy chairman, Housing and Habitat); Gbenga Onigbogi (deputy chairman, Ministry of Niger Delta) and Asita Honourable (deputy chairman, Poverty Alleviation).

Both Messrs Oduwaiye and Amusan, like the Speaker, come from Ogun State but they are said to be strong supporters of the state governor,

Gbenga Daniel with whom the Speaker has had a running political battle. Mr Oduwaiye was removed as chairman of Committee on Foreign Affairs in 2008.

The new chairmen include Khadijat Bukar Abba Ibrahim (Privatisation and Commercialization); Chinedu Eluemonor (Cooperation and Integration); Patrick Ikhariale (Power); Umar Jubrin (Capital Market) and Onyema Chukwuka (Works). Others are Rufus Omeire (Inter/Intra Party Affairs) and Mohammed Tahir (Army).

Those redeployed are Mohammed Al'Makura, who moved from House Services to Urban Development; Abdullahi Umar Farouk from Urban Development to Customs and Excise; Aliyu Wadada from Capital Market to Information and National Orientation; and Yakubu Dogara from Customs and Excise to House Services.

Mr Bankole said the reconstitution of the committees will continue at a later date.

A surprise move

The exercise came only a day after Mr Bankole held a two hour closed-door meeting with the chairmen and deputy chairmen of the 84 standing committees. He reportedly assured them that although the leadership of some committees deserved to be overhauled for efficiency, he was not committed to carrying out the exercise.

Members were therefore shocked when he announced the new changes at the end of the plenary yesterday.

However, on March 31 this year, the leadership of the House had announced that it will appoint new heads for some committees.

The deputy speaker, Usman Nafada said at the end of that day's plenary that the Selection Committee, which includes all principal officers, would be called back during the recess to consider those to be appointed chairmen and deputy chairmen of the vacant committees.

"Let me inform members of the Selection Committee that their attention may be needed during the break for the reconstitution of the committees lying vacant. The leadership and membership of the committees may be reconstituted during the break. So, they (members of the Selection Committee) may be asked to come back for this purpose," the deputy speaker had said.

Although he did not name the committees, those without chairmen then were Information and National Orientation, Power, Privatisation and Commercialization, Lake Chad, Women in Parliament, Cooperation and Integration in Africa and Works. Their chairmen had either resigned, died or were removed.

Yesterday's exercise was the second time Mr Bankole would reconstitute standing committees since he assumed office in November 2007. He had, on October 9, 2008, reconstituted the 72 committees he inherited from his predecessor, Patricia Etteh. He had dissolved them on July 31, 2008.

During the 2008 exercise, he raised the number of the committees to 84 - apparently to compensate members of the Integrity Group who played a major role in his emergence as Speaker.

The composition, among the parties, showed that out of the 84 committees, PDP got 74 chairmanship slots; ANPP 7 and PPA 1. The Labour Party (LP) is the only party that did not secure any committee chair. Nine percent of the former chairmen and deputy chairmen were dropped, while 27 per cent were new chairmen and deputies and 60 percent were redeployed from the different committees to others. Six percent of them retained their seats as chairmen but not necessarily of the committees they headed before.

Kgdavid:
the sorry truth is that Anichebe will never be good enough to play in any of those clubs

I guess Yakubu plays for or played for those clubs you are referring to?
The boy may not be spectacular, i am not even a fan of his but the truth is that he was not dropped on merit.the boy should just book his flight to the carribeans or Malaga for a good holiday with his babe.
It sure would be a better experience than this ship wreck waiting to happen.
what is the need of caling up players if they will not be judged based on merit?
why not just call the 23 you want and aonly rteplace if their is an injury?
the NFF setting has always been mediocrity infested and Largerback is not interested in ruffling the nest.

Ibime:
@tkb. . . . abeg save me a space in both leagues. . . . these buggers no want send me activation email so I no fit activate my team just yet.

tkb, same problem here o!
i have reregistered still no activation email.
the username na mbulela1
btw, the code in page 1 is the promotional code init?

RICHIE BOI:
source pls!

go and buy today's NEXT newspaper.

naijaway:
Aba state is a disturbing thought or vision from any country trying to move forward. It shows a height of stupidity and lack of honest intelligence. Instead of the lobbyist to hold the feet of the governor and the federal govt including civilians to their respective responsibilities. Who doesn't want an umuahia state, okigwe state, isukwuato state, arochukwu state, festac state, lagos island state, nnewi state, etc.
Is so sad that daftness is ingrained in more than 85% of nigerians maybe including me too but i doubt that because i can see that more states are not the solution.

Gbam!!

tkb,
abi i register for the wrong thing?
how come i no see my name?
i registered last week.
i must have done something wrong.
I beg check up and get back so i can rectify it.

By Festus Owete and Ini Ekott


June 3, 2010 12:03AM

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, and a member of the House, Independence Ogunewe would have exchange blows yesterday, but for the quick intervention of three other colleagues who held back the raging Speaker from hitting Mr Ogunewe.

The duo, who have been sworn enemies since 2008, insulted each other until the Speaker was pulled into the chambers.

Trouble began when Mr Bankole, who was returning from Room 231 of the House’s new wing where he had hosted some agitators from Aba State, was accosted by Mr Ogunewe who shouted at the Speaker, “why are you blackmailing me, what have I done?” The Speaker ignored the tirade and tried to exchange pleasantries with Mr Ogunewe, who showed no interest in Mr Bankole’s overture.

Bothered about the response, Mr Bankole explained to Mr Ogunewe that he had been to his (Ogunewe) house with a view to sorting out their differences, but only met his wife.

Mr Ogunewe shouted that the Speaker may have gone to see his wife and not himself. He was also heard saying, “what is this mad man saying? Is that all?”

The response angered Mr Bankole who turned back and charged at Mr Ogunewe but was restrained by the Minority Leader, Mohammed Ali Ndume, the deputy minority leader Abdulrahman Kawu and Khadijat Abba Bukar Ibrahim. The Chief Whip, Emeka Ihedioha and another member, Benard Udoh also moved to stop the Speaker.

The duo, who were now raining abuses on each other, created a scene which attracted passersby before Mr Bankole was taken into the chamber where he took over from his deputy, Usman Nafada. He had stepped down for Mr Nafada midway in order to receive the delegates from Abia State who came to lobby the House for the creation of Aba state.

As soon as the Speaker took his seat, he dissolved the House into an executive session which lasted for more about 90 minutes. The session aborted the planned voting on the harmonized version of the report on the constitution review.

Speaking after the session, chairman of the Rules and Business Committee, Ita Enang denied that the issue was discussed.

“Absolutely nothing like that, nothing concerning the Speaker and Independence was discussed,” he said. Mr Enang merely said that some crucial issues such as the amendment budget bill, 2010 Supplementary budget, the Human Rights Commission amendment bill and the legislative staff salary were discussed since the House would proceed on two week recess today.

He said, “We have agreed to vote on the constitution as well as to begin the consideration of the first, second and third reading of the supplementary amendment bill and to consider the human rights Commission amendment bill because of the sanction that is likely to be placed on Nigeria on the 11th of January among others after which we will go on two weeks break.

“We have also agreed that tomorrow being the end of session we must definitely have a two weeks break. The issue of the minimum wage is a matter that is an Act. Even if the President agrees to pay and we make provisions for it, we will definitely come and amend the Act. We didn’t want to discuss some of this in plenary that is why we went in for an executive session.”

Calls for suspension

But our sources said the matter was discussed and some members demanded that Mr Ogunewe be suspended. Others, however, prevailed on the House not to suspend the lawmaker.

Mr Bankole had earlier in the day held a two-hour meeting with chairmen and deputy chairmen of the 84 standing committees of the House .

Sources at the meeting said the Speaker pleaded with them to allow peace reign in the lower legislative chamber. He also reportedly assured the committee leaderships that he would no longer dissolved the committees as earlier announced. The meeting, it was gathered, also discussed the issue of members quarterly allowances which they want increased to N42 million.

It was learnt that efforts were made at resolving the differences between Messrs Bankole and Ogunewe, who has never hidden his disdain for the Speaker’s leadership style.

Mr Ogunewe, a Peoples Democratic Party member from Imo State, fell out with the Speaker in 2008 when the latter removed him as chairman of the House Committee on Aviation. Bethel Amadi, Chief Whip of the House under Patricia Etteh, was appointed in his place and Mr Ogunewe was redeployed to the Committee on Cooperation and Integration in Africa.

Angered by the redeployment, Mr Ogunewe joined other members of a group called Transparency Group to demand for investigation into the N2.3 billion car scam allegedly involving the Speaker. The Speaker and members of the leadership were absolved from the allegation by the Committee on Ethics and Privileges to which it was referred.

Following the agitation for probe, Mr Ogunewe was on February 26, 2009 suspended for two weeks. He returned in March 2009 and later joined another pressure group in the House, Nigeria First Forum (NFF), which was floated to canvass the installation of Goodluck Jonathan as Acting President. The group also initiated a move last month to impeach Mr Bankole.

By Ayo Okulaja


June 2, 2010 01:05AM


Former Delta State governor, James Onanefe Ibori, has rejected the judgement of the Southwark Court, London. His spokesperson, Tony Eleumunor, said this was because of the ‘the failure’ of the Crown Prosecution to establish any proceeds of crime and evidence, despite the Judge’s directive of last week that every charge must be proved beyond reasonable doubt. His statement reads:

“It is difficult to understand how his sister alone could have been found guilty of money laundering without proof by the London court.”

“Several persons were charged with the same allegations; only one person was found guilty of such charges and others were declared innocent. Ibori recalls for the record that his sister, Mrs. Christine Ibori-Ibie, Ms. Udoamaka Okoronkwo, and Ms. Adebimkpe Pogoson were faced with the same money laundering charges of counts one to four during the trial. The charges against the others were rightly dropped for want of evidence. The rest charges against Mrs. Ibie were mortgage-related. To Ibori, this is a clear notice that every member of his family is under the same political attack that has been buffeting him, and that the rules would be bent to do his family members in,

“Owing to this, Ibori has totally rejected the verdict returned by the jury against his sister because no evidence of any crime, corruption, or money laundering was established against his sister. That she chose to remain silent should not be the reason why she should have been so punished, that is why her lawyers have served notice that they will appeal against the judgement.

“Ibori said that though a mighty international attempt orchestrated from Nigeria is on to make his family members pay heavily for the public service he rendered to Delta State just because of crass politics, through distortion of facts and media lynching, he nevertheless remains confident that in the end, justice would be done and the innocent would not be unduly victimized.”

paddy lo,
good argument again and relevant stats at that.
You are still ignoring the fact that the infrastructure deficit is nolt just a result of low relative public debt but a result of waste, corruption and a lack of continuity in poicies.
If you measure the the value of infrastructure against public debt for each of the countries you mentioned, you get a clue to what i am talking about.
Increasing public debt is not directly related to better infrastructure.It might be in classic economic models but you and i know that the Nigerian case does not follow.

If i was a buying these bonds, the soverign risk inherent would drive me to request for higher rates as a lack of accountability and rampant corruption makes the state too unstable for the rates quoted above.

anyway, Naijaking1 is on his way for a dose of the usual.

Jarus:
Knowing you very well, I wont give a detailed reply to you. I've gone beyond replying a dumbhead bigot like you. Your only problem with me is that I'm a Muslim. And if you cross my path, I'll finish you on NL.

Jarus, no do this thing wey you do again o!
the guy just set trap for you and with all your intelligence you go fall inside.
You don big pass that kind thing.

Seun:
If the CBN is giving loans to companies now, I wonder what commercial banks are for.

commercial banks will give loans to individuals, especially nannies

Beaf, how far now?
Where you dey since?
Aso rock or militant creek?
na our town o!
south-south!!

By Okechukwu Nnodim


June 1, 2010 01:06AM



Ibrahim Babangida, Nigeria’s former military dictator, yesterday said that he was willing to have the late Moshood Abiola, the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 general elections “immortalised.”

Mr. Babangida, while responding to questions from aviation correspondents at the presidential wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), disclosed that Abiola fought for Nigeria’s democracy and his efforts should be recognised.

“I think it is good at long last that somebody is trying to acknowledge the efforts of Chief M. K. O. Abiola. We cannot deny him the fact that he fought for democracy, and I am glad that the government is accepting it.

“Also, I want to see a situation whereby he will be immortalised as a person who fought for democracy in this country,” Mr. Babangida said.

Babangida’s doublespeak

Ironically, Mr. Babangida annulled the June 12, 1993 election, which was adjudged as the country’s freest and fairest election. The annulment was the catalyst for a series of events which forced Mr. Babangida to “step aside” and hand over to an Interim National Government, headed by Ernest Shonekan, who hails from Abeokuta, like Abiola. Three months after, Mr. Shonekan was deposed by the late Sani Abacha, a General and Chief of Defence Staff, who later arrested Abiola until he died in detention.

The former Nigerian leader, who has expressed interest in running for the 2011 general elections, disclosed that he would prefer that an institution be named after the late Abiola, adding that it would be a lasting bequest to the 1993 general elections winner.

“Well, there are so many things, but I will leave that to government. I want to see maybe an institution named after him that talks only about democracy. That is the most enduring legacy we can give MKO,” he said.

Dropping presidential ambition

Asked about his response to calls by Nigerians and especially that of former Nigerian Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Maitama Sule, who said that Mr. Babangida and former head of state, Muhammadu Buhari, should not contest the 2011 presidential elections, the former military helmsman said that everybody is entitled to his or her opinion.

“This is democracy,” he said. “You may have 150 million opinions. I have my own opinion and he has his own, you cannot deny him.”

He disclosed that when it is time, Nigerians will know. “The time has not come; when we get to the bridge we will cross it,” he said.

Regarding the number of political parties, the former president said that the lesser the number of political parties in the country, the better for the nation’s democracy.

“I am not a believer in 51 parties. The smaller, the better for democracy, and then everybody will have a place to be accommodated. But you see, there are so many little ones and everybody moves towards the winning party,” he said.

“I think it is better for this country to run a manageable party, than maybe three, four, or five.”

By Bassey Udo


June 1, 2010 02:16AM




Mathew Kukah, a Catholic priest, has urged Nigerians to be ready to embrace the wind of change that is blowing across the country’s political firmament.

Mr Kukah, the Vicar General of the Kaduna Archdiocese of the Catholic Church said during a sermon in Abuja that Nigerians should see the Goodluck Jonathan presidency as a clear indication that God is ready to change the country’s political equation for good.

During the service held in honour of Ojo Maduekwe, former foreign affairs minister, Mr Maduekwe, rededicated the rest of his life to the service of the prison ministry in the country.

“Sometimes God is ready to do something when Nigerians are not. At other times, Nigerians are ready when God is not. But now it is clear God is ready to change Nigeria for good. But it depends on what Nigerians want,” Mr .Kukah said.

“What God has done for Nigeria has never been done in any other democracy in the world. A situation where one man has become deputy governor and governor of a state, vice president, acting president of Nigeria, and now president, without standing for any election, is neither ordinary good luck nor mere coincidence.

“Goodluck Jonathan has never stood for any election into any of the offices he has occupied. He has never spent any money to campaign to be voted for in any election. Nobody has ever cast any vote for him in any election. Yet, he has become the president of Nigeria without spending any money.

“My argument is that God is ready to do a new thing for Nigeria. God went to the Niger Delta region, where they say there is lot of kidnapping, hostage taking and other vices that give the country a bad image, and picked Jonathan to take over the presidency, against all expectations. One does not need to be happy or accept (it), but it has happened,” he said.

According to Kukah, the coming of “the Goodluck effect” has also brought with it the “collateral benefit” now being enjoyed by the people of Kaduna State, who, he said, were not only having a Christian as governor of the state for the first time, but also its indigene as vice president of Nigeria.

Giving back

The erstwhile National Secretary and member, Board of Trustees of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Maduekwe, said he was grateful to God for sustaining him throughout the difficult years in his political career, which saw him occupying various top positions.

He said his decision to invest the remaining part of his life in the ministry of those who have found themselves behind bars is his own modest way of giving back to God in appreciation of His favour to him politically.

“When I told my father, who was a committed reverend minister of the Presbyterian Church, that I was going into politics, he did not support the idea initially. But when I explained to him that I was going in to render service to the people, he changed his mind and gave me his blessings. That blessing is what has made it possible for me to have this record of over 11 years in service,” he said.

Though he said the father did not live long enough to see him make a success of his dream career, he not only wants to erect a befitting structure to his memory, but also to go into a ministry that would show how grateful he is to God.


Back

it takes one,to know another.

naijaking1:
You're so sick

According to Warren Buffet, "the best way to become a millionaire ,start as a billionaire and buy an airline".

before you attempt to crucify me;
i think this is a wrong move.the inherent nature of aviation business means that governmnet should keep away from it.
in a capitalist system,if you can't stomach the competition or market, close shop.
the government should be more interested in creating an enabling environment for airlines by strengthening FAAN, improving facilities at the airport,etc.

davidif:
Thank goodness for another republican like you. omo, he be like say you would become Nigeria's Ronald Reagan. We seem to have too many socialists in Nigeria, so sad.

David irrespective of the man's view on this matter which might be correct anyway,you need to understand his history before you crown him one thing or the other.
The guy has a personal score with Sanusi and seeks out every avenue to attack him.
The correctness of the matter at hand is very secondary in his fight with Lamido

paddy lo,
without joining sides with the comment you are attacking above, the problem is not the economics of a local bond market for fiscal measures.
The problem is the problem is the utilisation of such funds for the purposes meant.
If such funds are not utilised for rightful purposes as is the case,we find ourselves in a continous loop where our income (either throughj tax, which is not much considering Nigerians do not like paying taxes or through commodity and resources sales are used to service the bonds).
Secondly, with the sovereign risk inherent in our political system,i ask a risk averse investor will ask for a higher interest rate.

anichebe would obviously feel he lost to politics.
tomorrow you expect another of this foreign bred boys to come and play for Nigeria?
Anichebe stood no chance whatsoever with England but now he would wonder if it was not worth going to the carribeans with his babe on summer holiday instead of all this charade.
lager whatever is just here to collect his own pay.
who no like maga?

All this one na side show.
I always knew this man was doomed before he began.
working with NFA or whatever it calls itself now is a like joining nigerian politics.
the only way you survive is by becoming corrupt and biased.
irrespective of how pure you were before joining.
Utaka has been woeful for the past 18 months and i doubt he suddenly found form in camp.
Anichebe is not spectacular but way more useful than Utaka at present.
what is the essence of calling 100 players to camp?
when you end up with a list that could have been drawn up at any beer parlour four months ago?
they could not even spare a space or two for one or two upcoming lads.it's not like we are going to win the thing.
why not groom a few successors?
after all kanu and co will not play for ever.

surugede:
Lager beer dropped Ike Uche and Apam cos " they is just coming back from injury" u go fear excuse. what is M. obi coming back from

He is coming back from madness.

excluded

What kind of guarantee do you want?
Better factor in the sovereign risk before you buy o!
in response to your question, let me check the interest rate and get back.

From Kunle Aderinokun in Abuja, 05.31.2010

Finance Minister Dr. Olusegun Aganga said at the weekend that Nigeria’s total domestic and external debt stood at N4.104 trillion (about $27.36 billion) as at March 31, 2010.


Also, the Director General of the Debt Management Office (DMO) Dr. Abraham Nwankwo put the total outstanding Federal Government Bonds as at April 30 2010, at N2.248 trillion.
These facts were contained in a report of proceedings of the recently-concluded International Forum on FG Bonds for Nigerians in Diaspora organized by the Debt Management Office in Houston, Texas, United States.


Aganga argued that the level of debt is still within the internationally accepted benchmark for measuring debt sustainability.
However, Nwankwo told Nigerians in the Diaspora that bonds were used to raise capital to finance deficits in the FG budget as well as raise funds to execute infrastructural projects: power, electricity and roads and social services such as health and education.


He said that it is used to manage the domestic debt portfolio of the FG more efficiently by elongating the tenor profile from predominantly short term (NTBs) to a combination of short, medium and long term.
Other purposes, according to the report, include “to contribute to the development of domestic financial markets in line with the Financial System Strategy (FSS) 2020, through, introduction of new products to deepen the market; increasing the range of instruments available to investors and creation of a sovereign yield curve to serve as a benchmark for other bond issuers."
Nwankwo said “bonds are generally recognized as instruments that can be used to diversify an investor’s portfolio to achieve stability in value and income."


He listed other benefits of bonds to investors to include “safety of principal and interest as these are guaranteed by the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN); availability of a range of tenors which provides investors with the opportunity of choosing the bond that matches their investment horizon and relatively high returns.”


Nwankwo continued: "The bonds are tax exempt, implying bigger income in the hands of the investors; the bonds provide an alternative investment to equities, real estate and bank deposits; bonds can be used as collateral for borrowing from banks and discount houses and bonds can be sold either through any of the 21 PDMMs licensed by the DMO or on the floor of the NSE."
Nwankwo assured that the FG bond is a good instrument to invest in towards a target project such as property, children’s education, retirement and home-coming for Nigerians in the Diaspora.


In the report, Aganga, who was represented by the Nigerian Ambassador to the US Professor Adebowale Adefuye was said to have assured Nigerians in Diaspora that “FGN Bonds are high grade instruments that offer you many of the benefits other investment products in the market do not have."
He therefore, recommended it strongly.


Adefuye argued that apart from restoring sanity in the management of the country's debt, the DMO has gone beyond debt management by assuming a strategic role in mobilizing resources for national development.
He added: “In this respect, the DMO has succeeded in raising funds for the provision of critical infrastructure in Nigeria , thereby demonstrating its capacity to collaborate with not only the government but also the private sector. This is indeed commendable.” he added.


“Today, I urge all Nigerians in the Diaspora, especially those of you in the US, to give a concrete expression to this theme by seizing the opportunity of this forum to network and exchange information and ideas about the FGN Bonds and investing in them”, Adefuye advised.

By Emele Onu, 05.31.2010

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is providing financial assistance to airlines to end the crisis rocking the aviation sector.
A competent CBN source told THISDAY yesterday that the monetary authority has concluded arrangements to include airlines on the list of target beneficiaries for the N500 billion small and medium scale (SME) intervention fund. The CBN had announced that the fund was to cover SME activities in manufacturing, agricultural value chain and educational institutions. It however added that the fund was to apply to any other activity as may be directed from time to time.


“The CBN has decided that the airlines can now partake from the fund so that those that are indebted to the banks can refinance their loans and amortize them over a period of 10 to 15 years,” said the CBN source.
The banks have recently battled a number of airlines over huge non-performing loans, with some if the banks going to arbitration or the law courts for the winding up of the airlines or any other processes that will permit the recovery of the loans.


“The decision by the CBN to bail out the airlines is based on the fact that most of them are heavily indebted to banks in particular and by extension the banking sector. It is also to assist prop up the demand side to facilitate continued economic growth. That we believe, will help put off the feared finance crisis in the aviation industry,” THISDAY was further told.
According to the guideline for the operations of the N500bn SME fund, as released by the CBN recently, the SMEs that can participate are enterprises with asset base (excluding land) of between N5million and N500 million and labour force of between 11 and 300.


Besides, the borrower, said the CBN, can be a legal business operating as sole proprietorship, that is a start-up company with satisfactory cash flows indicating a Fixed Asset cover ratio of 100: 150.
The guideline also specified that the guarantee cover shall be 80 per cent of principal and interest and shall be valid up to the maturity date of the loan with a maximum tenure of 7 years inclusive of a 2-year moratorium.

PART 2;
Kirk Franklin - Lamb of God.
John P Kee - Show Up

lady and gentleman (i choose to call you that irrespective of your childish antics),
Kindly put an end to this discussion.It was illuminating and educative when it started as one could see extreme view points.
At presents you folks are just pulling e-punch and e-slaps all over the place.
This is unbecoming for folks who have decent careers of any sort.
In summary: e don do.make una go rest.
fight dismissed.
I use God beg una.