₦airaland Forum

stella Dimoko will kill someone!!
one million dollar!!!!!
i beg stella, retract that comment.
stop taking your readers for fools.
that is IMPOSSIBLE.
even for an exclusive lifetime contract, Nokia will not pay her 1 million dollars.
one million naira is more like it.i think that was a typo.

you have a point my broda.

PapaBrowne:
Ateke Tom might be a criminal, but Tompolo is not.

Just for information:
Something strange is happenning in the Niger Delta.
Looks like the Military is planning something mean after October 4th.
They've begun placing sandbags all over the place. In the creeks. they built some strange kind of platforms.
I don't know why they can't see that anytime they increase force, the Emancipation militants grow stronger.

I have proof that he is just a slightly higher classed criminal than Ateke.
They are all one and the same.

Beaf:
What proof do you have that they are criminals? Or have you constituted a kangaroo court?

Does Nigeria need any help toward destruction? Is a country that bombs innocent people at a festival not destroying itself? Maybe you are proud of the current Nigeria; I am not. The country does not value me neither does it value my people. It hates us.

Next thing, you will say Wole Soyinka is so daft that he is negotiating on behalf of "criminals".

God bless Tompolo and Ateke.

look through my profile.i have repeatedly expressed the view that the contraption called Nigeria is a failed state.
The crooks called leaders are raping and milking the entity called Nigeria.ND is not an isolated case.it is just the most obvious.
having said that, two wrongs will never make a right.
Ateke and co are low life crooks, miscreants and criminals.
the only ideology they know and understand is money.
anyone who thinks these criminals are fighting any just cause is deluding him or herself.
go into ND and see how militants are living large and terrorising innocent civilians.
is that the just cause?
who needs a court to ascertain that?
i do not want to go into specific examples for the sake of internet privacy.
the Nigerian elite do not value anyone except their pocket and that cuts across tribe and ethnicity.
i have never seen a set of freedom fighters who have been so enriched by the cause like the ND 'militants'.
i have said it before and i repeat, this 'militancy' is a money spinner and is not about to end soon.
even the govt is benefiting from it.
when you see people like Timi Alaibe playing a pivotal role, you know that the circus is a never ending one.

Epiphany:
Hey Porka:

You should send him an email to ask him directly whether he is an economist. I am sure he will reply you. He usually replies those who send emails to his address. Try his website or his facebook account

Maybe if you do that, he will explain his credentials to you in detail. He is the only one that knows himself and all we can do on this site is speculate and infer

Porka, take this advice and hit him up on Facebook. i have proof of persons who have communicated with him on the issues of the Nigerian state and he has corresponded extensively with them.
I am sure he will debunk or explain the discrepancies to you.on a related note, my only problem with Pat Utomi is that despite all the theory he spouts all over the place, he is the vice chairman of the board of Bank PHB. a bank that in my view is nothing but a cesspool of executive recklessness and typical banking cowboys in the Nigerian fashion.
a bank that deserves the full hammer of Sanusi going by the antecedents of the CEO and his positioning.
I would have expected Utomi's sermons to be practiced in that bank.

Beaf:
There may be trouble ahead. In the meantime, God bless Tompolo and Ateke.

http://www.reuters.com/article/africaCrisis/idUSLT717249

guy, i don't understand you.
God bless criminals?
or is Ateke now a freedom fighter too?
this criminality and banditry that the Nigerian state is treating with levity and seeming ignorance will destroy what is left of the country.
you can't just stand logic on its head just for the sake of maintaining a status quo suitable for looting.
how in his name are you asking God to bless Tompolo and Ateke?

In New York, Foreign Minister Ojo Maduekwe will speak for Yar’Adua tonight in the general debate just before a near-empty hall. According to the UN Journal, Maduekwe will speak last, right after Afghanistan.

i like the new one.
it will take a while to adapt to change but i prefer it to the present one.
the present page is a bit too bland for my liking.

with all the money Ibori looted, i expected him to do better.
The girl fine but no extraordinary assets on display.
all these looters dem no get class even for their choice of babes.
Sahara and Ibori!!!!
i no go surprise if assassins enter this whole drama soon.

slimes:
Nigeria is a place in Africa where everyone is free to visit his pal without invitation, greet a stranger in a bus or along the street, throw parties and close the road, play music to the loudest from your house e.t.c
I love this country

i just love this country!!!

in addition, our women are some of the best dressed by any standard, our 'never say die attitude' and the rhythm in our traditional music,

yes o!!

Jarus:
If asked to guess who the four going CEOs will be, I will pick Francis Atuche and Jim Ovia. I'm almost sure Francis Atuche of BankPHB will not escape Sanusi's axe. Here is a man that did wuruwuru to make N1billion in one day. Imagine this: He obtained a N1billion uncollateralized loan from his bank, bought a proprty worth N1billion with that loan, sold same to his bank for N2billion, paid back his N1billion loan the next day and pocketed N1billion. This is he wuruwuru that is going on among these CEOs. Cecilia did similar things, collecting loans from Oceanic, erecting structures and leasing same to Oceanic as branches with the bank paying billions to her as rent.

These are the gross abuse of corporate governance going on among these bank chiefs.

These are confirmed stories from insiders.

na today!!!
the same scenario played out itself in the demise of All States Trust bank.
this thing don they happen for a while.
Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph Exodus 1:8

McKren:
[b]What people are failing to realise is that the corruption in the Banking Sector is more fundamental than who the bank bosses or employees are.

It has more to do with how our system works, who we are, and our values.

We are trying to create an economy that is integrated with the rest of the world in the 21st century and somehow we are hoping to do that without having adequate frameworks and these are where Sanusi should be focusing on and not victimising businessmen who did business the way business was done in Nigeria at the time, albeit unethical.

We live in a country where people can walk up to the coperate affairs commission and set up a company with fictitous names and then use that company name to obtain loans from banks without adequate credit checks just because they are prominent in the society.

May be what we should be concentrating on is to create a strong National identity system, setting up credit reference agencies, and other regulatory agencies like the FSA in the United Kingdom. With these organisations like CAC can not register un-existent business leaders, and banks will not be lending money to un-existent people.[/b]

Sanusi can also work with lawmakers to set up the necessary laws to make sure their is hope to correct these in the future.

Instead of doing the small things that matter that will lead to better business practices, what we have seen is a CBN Governor more intrested in talking down the economy, criminalizing lending and borrowing, victimising bank MDs and rounding them up without due process.
All of these hot headed approaches are not solution to anything, they can't solve anything for anybody.

Someone should tell Sanusi to grow and stop trying to make history for the sake of it. At the rate he is going he will make history for the wrong reasons.

i agree perfectly with the highlighted part of your post.
Sanusi cannot solve the problem and i think he knows that.
for starters, which house of Assembly members are you expecting to aid him in designing a framework?
the same ones that cannot have a progressive discussion without money changing hands?(even then, they are unable to have decent intelligent discussions.all they do is shout Aye!!)
or the ones that are owing banks unserviced loans themselves?
or the ones that get assistants and secretaries in the NASS to sign their attendance registers while they junket around the globe?
i doubt he is deluded enough to think that his actions can solve the problem.all he can achieve is to drive the fear of God into the top echelon of the banking industry.hoping that things can be done in a semblance of transparency, order and within the confines of trust and integrity (the foundations of banking confidence).
How a sane person can say someone like Erastus Akingbola and Cecelia are being victimized is beyond me.
all these cowboy banking is ruining the economy more than anything Sanusi has done.

the spam stuff on this site would not let me post this as a new thread.

N796.4 billion
What Nigerians spend on fuelling generators as alternative power supply every year.

N796.7 billion
What the Federal Government budgeted for capital expenditure for 2009.

Nigerians spend about N796.4 billion on fuel to generate electric power every year, the National Electricity Regula-tory Commission (NERC) has said.
This figure is strikingly similar to the federal budget of N796.7 billion for capital expenditure for the current fiscal year.
A breakdown shows that N540.9 billion is spent on diesel and N255.5 billion goes into the purchase of petrol annually for power generating sets.
These facts were contained in a document authored by Assistant General Manager, Project Monitoring Office, Ify Ikeonu.
Although all the details were not available at press time, THISDAY investigations show that of the amount, industries operating under the aegis of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) spend over N350 billion to fuel their generating sets.
Early in the year, the Federal Government came under heavy criticism for budgeting N2 billion to buy, maintain and fuel generators this year.
According to the details of the budget passed by the Senate in December 2008, the Presidency will spend N27 million to fuel its generators and N14.3 million to maintain them.
Other details were: the National Assembly, fuel, N233 million; National Assembly Office -fuel- N63 million; maintenance, N57.2 million; the National Assembly White House, which houses Chambers of the Senate and the House of Representatives - N58 million for fuelling and N55 million for maintenance; the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC), fuel and maintenance - N25.8 million; and Police formations nationwide - fuel and maintenance, N110 million.
THISDAY did not gain access to the number of generating sets currently in use in the country as contained in the survey report.
There was also some controversy over the actual estimate of what Nigerians spend to fuel their generators because of a recent report that the entire amount was N50 billion.
It has since emerged that the recently reported figure was for Aba, Abia State, alone.
THISDAY gathered that the amount concerning the monetary value of fuel used in Aba was contained in the report of a survey commissioned in 2007 by Geometric Power, Aba. The survey was conducted by National Rural Electricity Cooperative Association (NRECA) in Washington, U.S.A.
Making the clarification about the amount spent by consumers in Aba in the course of THISDAY investigation, Senior Manager, Public Affairs, Geometric Power Limited, Oseloka Zikora, said: “According to statistics, Nigerians spend about N540.9 billion on diesel and N255.5 billion on fuel (petrol) to generate power and not N50 billion as ascribed to Prof Nnaji in newspaper reports.”
According to him, “the (about) N50 billion quoted is only the share of Aba industries, commercial and residential consumers’ expenditure on fuel and diesel to generate power.”
His reference was to a newspaper report which he said quoted the Chairman of Geometric Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, as saying Nigerians spend about N50 billion for fuel to power their electric generating sets every year.
He said the former Minister had to clarify that aspect because it was understood in some quarters to mean that the figure represented what was spent around the country.
Nnaji had explained at a meeting with the Director-General of Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Dr. Christopher Anyanwu, that the expenditure pattern in fuelling generators was that residents/small commercial entities spend N14.4 billion on generator fuel while the large industries part with N43.2 billion for the same purpose.
However, in the publication, the fact that the figures were limited to the expenditure in Aba was not expressly stated.
Unreliable power supply in the country has seen most households resort to the use of power generating sets as their primary means of electricity, while the state utility company, Power Holding Company of Nigeria, (PHCN), which is essentially a monopoly, hardly meets up to 20 per cent of the nation’s demand. It generates between 2,000mw and 2,500mw.
This has led to a situation where power supply from PHCN is viewed as a standby source, to be used when available, while generators are seen as the principal mode of catering for power needs.
To make PHCN more efficient, it was unbundled into 18 successor companies comprising 11 power generating companies, GenCos, six power distribution companies, DisCos, and one transmission company, Transmission Company of Nigeria.
The country is moving towards a situation where other means of generating power that will involve less expensive fuel, such as solar, are being explored.
Although the initial financial outlay in setting up a solar-powered plant is astronomical, it can last for 25 years without fuel other than solar energy which is captured by the solar panel.
The government also recently signed a contract with a French outfit to establish a wind-fuelled plant in Katsina as a mark of its seriousness to diversify public power supply sources from the traditional hydro and thermal to wind, solar and coal, among others.
To improve power supply however, it has been realised that the private sector must play a critical role, which has led to NERC licensing about 29 independent power producers, IPPs, which are in various stages of completion.
A gas master plan has however been put in place to make gas more readily available to fuel the over 70 per cent of power plants that depend on thermal source of energy.

khanye:
I'm feeling SANGALOW,HALLELUYAH,GBOSA,FREE MADNESS pt.1
The ALbum is tight!

why you dey fall my hand like this?
you of all people.

N796.4 billion
What Nigerians spend on fuelling generators as alternative power supply every year.

N796.7 billion
What the Federal Government budgeted for capital expenditure for 2009.

Nigerians spend about N796.4 billion on fuel to generate electric power every year, the National Electricity Regula-tory Commission (NERC) has said.
This figure is strikingly similar to the federal budget of N796.7 billion for capital expenditure for the current fiscal year.
A breakdown shows that N540.9 billion is spent on diesel and N255.5 billion goes into the purchase of petrol annually for power generating sets.
These facts were contained in a document authored by Assistant General Manager, Project Monitoring Office, Ify Ikeonu.
Although all the details were not available at press time, THISDAY investigations show that of the amount, industries operating under the aegis of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) spend over N350 billion to fuel their generating sets.
Early in the year, the Federal Government came under heavy criticism for budgeting N2 billion to buy, maintain and fuel generators this year.
According to the details of the budget passed by the Senate in December 2008, the Presidency will spend N27 million to fuel its generators and N14.3 million to maintain them.
Other details were: the National Assembly, fuel, N233 million; National Assembly Office -fuel- N63 million; maintenance, N57.2 million; the National Assembly White House, which houses Chambers of the Senate and the House of Representatives - N58 million for fuelling and N55 million for maintenance; the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC), fuel and maintenance - N25.8 million; and Police formations nationwide - fuel and maintenance, N110 million.
THISDAY did not gain access to the number of generating sets currently in use in the country as contained in the survey report.
There was also some controversy over the actual estimate of what Nigerians spend to fuel their generators because of a recent report that the entire amount was N50 billion.
It has since emerged that the recently reported figure was for Aba, Abia State, alone.
THISDAY gathered that the amount concerning the monetary value of fuel used in Aba was contained in the report of a survey commissioned in 2007 by Geometric Power, Aba. The survey was conducted by National Rural Electricity Cooperative Association (NRECA) in Washington, U.S.A.
Making the clarification about the amount spent by consumers in Aba in the course of THISDAY investigation, Senior Manager, Public Affairs, Geometric Power Limited, Oseloka Zikora, said: “According to statistics, Nigerians spend about N540.9 billion on diesel and N255.5 billion on fuel (petrol) to generate power and not N50 billion as ascribed to Prof Nnaji in newspaper reports.”
According to him, “the (about) N50 billion quoted is only the share of Aba industries, commercial and residential consumers’ expenditure on fuel and diesel to generate power.”
His reference was to a newspaper report which he said quoted the Chairman of Geometric Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, as saying Nigerians spend about N50 billion for fuel to power their electric generating sets every year.
He said the former Minister had to clarify that aspect because it was understood in some quarters to mean that the figure represented what was spent around the country.
Nnaji had explained at a meeting with the Director-General of Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Dr. Christopher Anyanwu, that the expenditure pattern in fuelling generators was that residents/small commercial entities spend N14.4 billion on generator fuel while the large industries part with N43.2 billion for the same purpose.
However, in the publication, the fact that the figures were limited to the expenditure in Aba was not expressly stated.
Unreliable power supply in the country has seen most households resort to the use of power generating sets as their primary means of electricity, while the state utility company, Power Holding Company of Nigeria, (PHCN), which is essentially a monopoly, hardly meets up to 20 per cent of the nation’s demand. It generates between 2,000mw and 2,500mw.
This has led to a situation where power supply from PHCN is viewed as a standby source, to be used when available, while generators are seen as the principal mode of catering for power needs.
To make PHCN more efficient, it was unbundled into 18 successor companies comprising 11 power generating companies, GenCos, six power distribution companies, DisCos, and one transmission company, Transmission Company of Nigeria.
The country is moving towards a situation where other means of generating power that will involve less expensive fuel, such as solar, are being explored.
Although the initial financial outlay in setting up a solar-powered plant is astronomical, it can last for 25 years without fuel other than solar energy which is captured by the solar panel.
The government also recently signed a contract with a French outfit to establish a wind-fuelled plant in Katsina as a mark of its seriousness to diversify public power supply sources from the traditional hydro and thermal to wind, solar and coal, among others.
To improve power supply however, it has been realised that the private sector must play a critical role, which has led to NERC licensing about 29 independent power producers, IPPs, which are in various stages of completion.
A gas master plan has however been put in place to make gas more readily available to fuel the over 70 per cent of power plants that depend on thermal source of energy.

the best; Basketmouth by a mile.
the worst; Gbenga Adeyinka.

N796.4 billion
What Nigerians spend on fuelling generators as alternative power supply every year.

N796.7 billion
What the Federal Government budgeted for capital expenditure for 2009.

Nigerians spend about N796.4 billion on fuel to generate electric power every year, the National Electricity Regula-tory Commission (NERC) has said.
This figure is strikingly similar to the federal budget of N796.7 billion for capital expenditure for the current fiscal year.
A breakdown shows that N540.9 billion is spent on diesel and N255.5 billion goes into the purchase of petrol annually for power generating sets.
These facts were contained in a document authored by Assistant General Manager, Project Monitoring Office, Ify Ikeonu.
Although all the details were not available at press time, THISDAY investigations show that of the amount, industries operating under the aegis of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) spend over N350 billion to fuel their generating sets.
Early in the year, the Federal Government came under heavy criticism for budgeting N2 billion to buy, maintain and fuel generators this year.
According to the details of the budget passed by the Senate in December 2008, the Presidency will spend N27 million to fuel its generators and N14.3 million to maintain them.
Other details were: the National Assembly, fuel, N233 million; National Assembly Office -fuel- N63 million; maintenance, N57.2 million; the National Assembly White House, which houses Chambers of the Senate and the House of Representatives - N58 million for fuelling and N55 million for maintenance; the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC), fuel and maintenance - N25.8 million; and Police formations nationwide - fuel and maintenance, N110 million.
THISDAY did not gain access to the number of generating sets currently in use in the country as contained in the survey report.
There was also some controversy over the actual estimate of what Nigerians spend to fuel their generators because of a recent report that the entire amount was N50 billion.
It has since emerged that the recently reported figure was for Aba, Abia State, alone.
THISDAY gathered that the amount concerning the monetary value of fuel used in Aba was contained in the report of a survey commissioned in 2007 by Geometric Power, Aba. The survey was conducted by National Rural Electricity Cooperative Association (NRECA) in Washington, U.S.A.
Making the clarification about the amount spent by consumers in Aba in the course of THISDAY investigation, Senior Manager, Public Affairs, Geometric Power Limited, Oseloka Zikora, said: “According to statistics, Nigerians spend about N540.9 billion on diesel and N255.5 billion on fuel (petrol) to generate power and not N50 billion as ascribed to Prof Nnaji in newspaper reports.”
According to him, “the (about) N50 billion quoted is only the share of Aba industries, commercial and residential consumers’ expenditure on fuel and diesel to generate power.”
His reference was to a newspaper report which he said quoted the Chairman of Geometric Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, as saying Nigerians spend about N50 billion for fuel to power their electric generating sets every year.
He said the former Minister had to clarify that aspect because it was understood in some quarters to mean that the figure represented what was spent around the country.
Nnaji had explained at a meeting with the Director-General of Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Dr. Christopher Anyanwu, that the expenditure pattern in fuelling generators was that residents/small commercial entities spend N14.4 billion on generator fuel while the large industries part with N43.2 billion for the same purpose.
However, in the publication, the fact that the figures were limited to the expenditure in Aba was not expressly stated.
Unreliable power supply in the country has seen most households resort to the use of power generating sets as their primary means of electricity, while the state utility company, Power Holding Company of Nigeria, (PHCN), which is essentially a monopoly, hardly meets up to 20 per cent of the nation’s demand. It generates between 2,000mw and 2,500mw.
This has led to a situation where power supply from PHCN is viewed as a standby source, to be used when available, while generators are seen as the principal mode of catering for power needs.
To make PHCN more efficient, it was unbundled into 18 successor companies comprising 11 power generating companies, GenCos, six power distribution companies, DisCos, and one transmission company, Transmission Company of Nigeria.
The country is moving towards a situation where other means of generating power that will involve less expensive fuel, such as solar, are being explored.
Although the initial financial outlay in setting up a solar-powered plant is astronomical, it can last for 25 years without fuel other than solar energy which is captured by the solar panel.
The government also recently signed a contract with a French outfit to establish a wind-fuelled plant in Katsina as a mark of its seriousness to diversify public power supply sources from the traditional hydro and thermal to wind, solar and coal, among others.
To improve power supply however, it has been realised that the private sector must play a critical role, which has led to NERC licensing about 29 independent power producers, IPPs, which are in various stages of completion.
A gas master plan has however been put in place to make gas more readily available to fuel the over 70 per cent of power plants that depend on thermal source of energy.

“For it is on record that between year 2000 -2008 the allocation figures are: - the South-South States - N3.2 trillion, North-West N2.1 trillion, South-West N1.7 trillion, North-Central N1.5 trillion, North-East N1.3 trillion and South East N1.2 trillion; without commensurate impact on the people on whose behalf the monthly Federal Allocation is meant for."

the lady at Ibori's case in London said to the persons in the Gallery; NA ONLY IBORI THIEF??
that statement sums up my opinion on this case and similar ones;at least he stole.
all these talk of witch hunting will not lead us anywhere.
Ribadu is no saint and i am not one of his biggest fans but the fact is that non of those he persecuted or prosecuted have shown any proof that their hands were clean.
infact there is proof to the contrary.
i have said it before and i will say it again, no person in the Nigerian political space is clean.they are all dirty in differing manners and degrees.
As long as the innocent are not hounded and victimised, i don't care.as long as thieves are caught and the fear of God is put into the crooks in power such that they are discreet in stealing,steal less and provide a measure of service to the people while looting.
their is corruption in all societies but ours is too brazen and easy to execute.
because the law is almost ineffective and easily abused,thieves strut around and rub our collective wealth in our face while pretending it is a result of their hard work and ingenuity.
anyone who thinks that Ribadu is a saint is deluded as i have heard top level info that prove otherwise.
ethnicity and tribalism is a deception used by the elites to deceive the masses while they loot and rape the country.
in my view they are one and the same.
Ibori, Odili, IBB, Kalu, Daniels,Akala, Andokaa and Abacha all belong to one ethnic group in my view.

[quote author=Aloy.Emeka link=topic=329565.msg4622933#msg4622933 date=1254097449]What if his children fled abroad as adults because of hardship in Nigeria , does he have control over that?[/quote]are you kidding me

foolish man and senseless comments.
was he and his children forced to give birth to their kids abroad?
are their no hospitals in Nigeria?

Former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, yesterday replied former Governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori on the allegations he made against him on Friday. He said his position on the Ibori case is based on his conviction that those who stole Nigeria’s funds must be brought to justice.
Ibori had told journalists in Lagos that Ribadu and former President Olusegun Obasanjo were among those behind his prosecution for corruption charges in courts in Nigeria and the United Kingdom.
Reacting to the accusation yesterday, Ribadu in a statement titled: “Why I am after the Iboris of Nigeria”, states: “Ordinarily, I will not like to dignify Mr. James Ibori, former governor of Delta State, with a response to the tissue of lies and cheap fabrications that he let loose in the press conference he held over the weekend. But it is important to set the records straight, particularly against one of those who perpetrated the worst heist against the treasury since Nigeria’s independence.
“That Ibori is finally finding his voice after two years since his prosecution both at home and abroad started is a testimony to his desperation as the cases, particularly the ones in the United Kingdom, move toward legal resolution. I will address Ibori’s fabrications one by one.
“First, he lied that I solicited his assistance to become the Inspector General of Police. I had it on record, while in office as the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) that James Ibori was a double convict. First, as a police officer and also as an anti-corruption campaigner who was committed to doing his part to rid Nigeria of rogues, how could I have been seeking the assistance of a convicted felon for the highest police position in the country? If I wanted to be IG, he would be the last person I will consider to help me.
“Ibori, just like the others we tried to bring to justice, is desperate and would do anything to escape justice as he has always done. Nothing emphasises Ibori’s capacity for falsehood and felony than his claim, at the press conference, that I “framed” him for attempting to bribe me with $15 million dollars. As he told the lie, and as I write this, the $15 million remain as an exhibit deposited with the Central Bank of Nigeria.
I must state however that I am used to these types of allegations and fabrications by those who are struggling under the present circumstances to find a way out of their advertised felonies and crimes against the people. It has now become fashionable for all sorts of morally-bankrupt people to try to use me to do one thing or the other.
“Any close observer of the events in Nigeria in the last decade would agree that what we were able to achieve as founders and operators of the EFCC was of a more fundamental nature, in the context of our urgent national crisis, than becoming IGP. But that is a matter for another day. People understand what we tried to do and recognise that the felons must be brought to justice so as to allow millions of our compatriots to enjoy their God-given resources.
“Ibori claimed that he could trace “the genesis of his ordeal to his staunch and uncompromising stance on a major electoral promise he made back in 1998 to the people of Delta State that he would champion the cause of redressing the injustice associated with resources derivable from their land.” I will only like to ask if it is in keeping with this “promise” that he became a billionaire overnight “on behalf” of the suffering masses of Delta State?
“As regards the allegation that Ibori made on the 2007 presidential election petition, let me state clearly that it is totally untrue. However, I am also aware that there is a whole industry of seeking favour from President Umaru Yar’Adua based on the legal tussle over the 2007 presidential election. Already, many fortune and favour-seekers have imagined many plots and many plotters in their attempt to deceive the man in power that I tried to scuttle the Appeal Court case on the election. Many got offices, positions, and others and even got me out of the EFCC telling this lie to Aso Rock Villa. They continue to use it. If Ibori claims that I sought his support to truncate Yar’Adua’s contested victory at the Appeal Court, is he claiming to have the power to influence the judges and pervert the course of justice?
“Finally, Ibori said he remained my “loyal friend”. I am also still open to his “friendship”, but that will never be at the expense of my loyalty to my fatherland and commitment to transparency and honesty in public office. I have a friendly advice for Ibori, though. Instead of wasting the money of Delta State people that he stole to pay lawyers all over the world, isn’t it better as a “Christian” that he claims to be to return his loot to the people of Delta State and have peace with his God? If he fails to do so, at the appropriate time, no matter how much the Iboris of this world run from the law, they would one day be made to atone for their sundry crimes. If they are able to bribe their way through in Nigeria and get men and women of questionable character appointed into office to shield themselves from prosecution, they cannot do the same in the United Kingdom and before God. But even in Nigeria, the protection that they enjoy today is temporary. Wait, James, still on our friendship, since I couldn’t see you when I visited Lagos recently, why don’t you visit me in London to catch up with your other friends!,” Ribadu said.
Ibori had at last Friday’s press conference told newsmen that Ribadu’s assault on him followed his refusal to be recruited into a plan to have the president promote him to the office of Inspector-General of Police.
He also said former president Obasanjo was witch-hunting him because of his initial opposition to the second term bid by Obasanjo, spearheading the campaign for resource control and payment of the 13 percent revenue derivation fund to the oil producing states and his staunch support for Yar’Adua’s presidency in 2007.

that last post is not original but courtesy of Guardian newspaper.

Imagine: Newspapers yesterday published our President's photograph as he arrived in Saudi Arabia, looking very happy, being received by the Governor of Makkah! A Governor! Where was the King of Saudi Arabia who reportedly invited him? The King of Saudi Arabia invites our President to the opening of a University of Technology and Science and he jets off and ignores a UN function? And he gets there only to be received by a state Governor. How did Saudi Arabia become so overly important in Nigerian affairs? Our President goes there for medical treatment. Government officials of all ranks visit the same country at least twice a year, for hajj and umrah. When they are not in Saudi Arabia, they are in Dubai!On nearly all fronts in the the past two years, we have consistently played badly in the international arena.

you can say that again.

[img]http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/image/804380[/img]
[img]http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/image/804380[/img]


On an afternoon in late July, Tony Eastham sat in a half-built office outside Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia. A table, a few chairs still wrapped in plastic, a desk, and some white settees occupied the room. Outside, the whines and growls of construction heralded the rise of a university in the desert.
These facilities are part of the hardware that makes up the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, an ambitious graduate-level research university with a multibillion-dollar endowment. Known as KAUST, the institution will open its doors to students for the first time this month, and Eastham, the director of laboratories, has quite a few labs left to build. ”What’s happening here is an experiment, one that is only possible because of the resources available in Saudi Arabia,” says Eastham, an IEEE member and until recently an engineering professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
The new university is the brainchild of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, and its mission is to extend the country’s technical prowess beyond the domain of oil. Doing so will be an uphill battle: Pupils in Middle East and North African countries score far below the world average on international math and science tests, and even within the region Saudi Arabian students underperform, according to a 2008 World Bank report on education in the Middle East. This is in spite of the fact that Saudi Arabia’s government devoted approximately 30 percent of its annual budget to education through 2003, says the report. Since KAUST’s inception in 2006, education spending has almost certainly skyrocketed.
Once completed, the university will include a top-notch nanofabrication laboratory and a visualization and virtual reality center designed by the University of California, San Diego. The crown jewel is Shaheen, an IBM Blue Gene/P supercomputer capable of 222 teraflops and ranked 14th in the world.
The university’s first batch of faculty was recruited by the same people who designed KAUST’s course programs—namely, partner universities such as the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, and the University of California, Berkeley. Stanford University professors patterned the curriculum for applied mathematics after their own and then interviewed the prospective faculty, including David Ketcheson, a newly minted doctor of applied math from the University of Washington. ”I never thought I’d graduate and go to Saudi Arabia,” Ketcheson says. ”But what KAUST has invested in applied math I don’t think exists anywhere else in the world.”
The inaugural class of 350 students is drawn predominantly from China, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. A committee from the Institute for International Education, which also selects students for the Fulbright program, admitted the students. To accommodate the expectations of newcomers thrust into one of the world’s most restrictive cultures, the campus and its immediately surrounding community will abide by different rules from the rest of the country. Women will be allowed to drive, and male and female students will study together. Students and faculty will be surrounded by most of the trappings of a Western college town. But a vastly different world lies just outside the university gates, where male guardians oversee many aspects of women’s daily life, Internet filtering is extensive, and corporal punishment is a legal tradition. ”It’s going to be a very bewildering experience for just about everybody who arrives on campus,” says David Keyes, KAUST’s chair of mathematical and computer sciences and engineering, formerly of Columbia University.

kindly post related links.
i stumbled on one of such and assumed i was not following the thread correctly as it was a very long thread spanning over 7 pages.

By Abimbola Akosile, 09.25.2009

Nigeria’s banking sector has been criticised for “corruption”, which was described as partially responsible for the collapse of many banks in the 1990s and losses to depositors and stakeholders.
This was contained in a country report on Nigeria, which formed part of a new Global Corruption Report (GCR) 2009 released yesterday by Transparency International (TI), the global civil society organisation leading the fight against corruption.
The 496-page global report, with a theme “Corruption and the Private Sector”, said the massive scale of global corruption resulting from bribery, price-fixing cartels and undue influence on public policy is costing billions and obstructing sustainable economic growth.
In the country report on Nigeria, TI said the failures in the banking sector were ascribed to fraud “committed by bank owners and managers, who had granted unsecured loans, resulting in high levels of bad debt and a loss of liquidity”.
The bank owners and managers were also said to have “failed to maintain a strong capital base, granted unsecured loans to friends and bank owners or managers; and in some cases, embezzled funds outright”.
Interestingly, the report does not cover the tenure of Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the current governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) who recently removed five bank CEOs over the huge non-performing loans of their banks and other alleged financial abuses.
TI, which admitted that a few cases were brought to court in 2008 under the Failed Banks Decree 1994, however said none of the cases has reached a conclusion.
“Their successful conclusion would show the law’s ability to bring corrupt individuals to justice, but the persistent number of abuses, even after the collapse in the 1990s, raises the question as to whether there is currently adequate oversight in the system,” the report said.
Highlighting a few cases involving banks such as the defunct Triumph Bank and current Wema Bank, TI maintained that the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 has the potential to improve budgeting and in turn reduce opportunities for corruption.
The Global Corruption Report 2009 presents perhaps the most comprehensive and multifaceted selection of case studies from around the world on corruption risks and anti-corruption measures in the private sector, according to a statement by the organisation.
TI’s global movement of national chapters contributed 46 detailed perspectives, representing all regions and levels of economic development.
The contributions cover events in 2007 and 2008 and provide a country-specific approach to a sector that increasingly transcends national boundaries.
As such, the case studies highlight not only the similarity of major corruption risks that echo throughout the world, but also the interdependence of states often linked primarily through trade and commerce.
The collection as a whole illustrates how difficult it is to talk about national economies without considering how they interact with the global economy; the same goes for corruption in this sector and, consequently, efforts to combat it.
“In the last two years alone, companies have had to pay billions in fines due to corrupt practices. The cost extends to low staff morale and a loss of trust among customers as well as prospective business partners,” according to the report.
Under the Regional Highlights on Africa in the Global Corruption Report 2009, the informal sector amounts to more than 40 per cent of the economy in many countries, reaching well over 50 per cent in Nigeria and Tanzania.
The lack of legal protection and the desire to dodge regulations makes the informal sector easy prey for extortion and the solicitation of bribes by corrupt officials.
According to the Executive summary, the private sector can be a source of dynamic innovation and growth.
“The scale and scope of bribery in business is staggering. The consequences are dramatic. In developing and transition countries alone, corrupt politicians and government officials receive bribes believed to total between US$20 and 40 billion annually – the equivalent of some 20 to 40 per cent of official development assistance. The cost is measurable in more than money.
“When corruption allows reckless companies to disregard the law, the consequences range from water shortages in Spain, exploitative work conditions in China or illegal logging in Indonesia to unsafe medicines in Nigeria and poorly constructed buildings in Turkey that collapse with deadly consequences,” it added.
On recommendations, the report urged businesses to join and actively promulgate collective action frameworks for corporate integrity, which exist for anything from individual tendering processes and sectors to supply chain integrity, or multi-stakeholder action in key development areas from extractive industries to health and construction.
“Governments and regulators need to make enforcement efficiency and effectiveness more transparent and accountable. They need to pay more attention to ensuring that adequate resources for regulators and enforcement activities are made available,” it stated.
On the global Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2008, which was released on September 23 last year, Nigeria moved up 27 places ranking 121 out of 180 countries surveyed by TI the global anti-corruption watchdog.
According to the detailed Index, which was released in Berlin, Germany, Denmark, New Zealand and Sweden shared the highest score at 9.3, followed immediately by Singapore at 9.2. Somalia was ranked at the bottom at 1.0, slightly trailing Iraq and Myanmar at 1.3 and Haiti at 1.4.
Nigeria, which TI described as having improved significantly in her corruption perception ranking, obtained a score of 2.7 out of a possible 10. She was also ranked 22nd out of the 47 nations surveyed in Africa, in terms of level of perceived corruption, having placed 148 in 2007 and 153 in 2006, out of 180 countries globally.

From Chuks Okocha in Abuja, 09.25.2009

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in Anambra State in the 2007 governorship election, Dr. Andy Uba, seems to be employing a two-pronged approach in his bid to emerge governor of the state in 2010.
Uba is back at the Court of Appeal in Enugu seeking to be recognised as governor of the state on the basis of 2007 election voided by the Supreme Court.
But yesterday, he wrote PDP asking to be part of the process towards next year’s governorship election in the state.
Uba specifically asked PDP National Executive Commit-tee (NEC) to adopt him as the consensus candidate of the party for the February 6, 2010 governorship election.
PDP’s move to pick a consensus candidate from among the 47 aspirants of the party cleared for the primary beginning next Monday had collapsed like a pack of cards as the aspirants insisted on the primary election.
In his letter to the party’s NEC dated September 16, 2009 and copied Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, and all members of NEC, Uba asked the party to adopt him as the consensus governorship candidate.
Uba said in the letter: “I urge our great party to place my case in same scale as my colleagues whose election were voided but were allowed to re-contest in the re-run elections as flag bearers of our great party.
“I believe that it is in the greater interest of our great party to safeguard and defend the decision of the party as it relates to 2007 mandate /flag bearer to the governorship office in Anambra State as this accords with the constitution and 175 NWC resolution on the issue of candidature and re-run of elections.”
According to him, “let me appeal in the most solemn manner that justice should be manifestly done in my case in accordance with our party’s constitution, equity and good conscience.”
Uba pledged his loyalty to the party, saying “at times such as now, when God has placed so much responsibility on our party, a great zeal for justice, equity and fairness should be in great dose. As always, my commitment and loyalty to our great party remain unflinching and untainted.”
He said that some members of the party misconstrued his going to court at the apex level to challenge the annulment of his victory in 2007 but did not elaborate further on it.
Uba was Special Assistant on Domestic Matters to former President Obasanjo.
He contested the 2007 governorship election in the state on PDP platform and won.
But the Supreme Court voided the poll on June 14, 2007 on the ground that the tenure of the state Governor Peter Obi had not expired.
The apex court also berated the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for conducting the poll in the first instance.
In what could be termed a locus classicus in law, the apex court restored Obi as governor of the state and ordered Uba to vacate the Government House as, according to it, Obi’s tenure would lapse on March 17, 2010.
But as Obi’s tenure was coming to an end with a new poll to be conducted on February 6, 2010, Uba again approached the court to affirm that he is the governor-elect on the basis of the same 2007 governorship poll.