@ Kobo, Favor Him because out of All the contestants He is the Only one not yet tainted with Corruption; And Has also made a recorded attempt to fight corruption, Buhari comes next; but his feat was credited to Idiagbon, and he has also the 53 suitcases issue,

Favor him becos even though he might not be a saint or blameless, he can rally the troops once more and that what Nigeria needs, A leader that can get people believing again and who his people trust, the average joe on the street either correctly or incorrectly perceives that Ribadu stands for anti corruption, and he has been able to articulate his message previously by interlinking our lack of progress to corruption.

GEJ would have been a good candidate for me but am dissappointed by his lacklustre zeal, postulation and demeanor, If he had the zeal and had in the past months showed fire in belly; the whole populace would have bought into him, cus his story is compelling,

@ Mikeansy, Did the NA not reject the Uwais Recommendation , whilst not an GEJ fan I believe his decision to appoint Jega who was a member of the Uwais panel was the closest he could have gone towards the uwais recommendation with all the constraint, I also believed that at the time he made the decision to appoint jega he wasn't decided on contesting IMO

We got what we deserve, from when rosicky missed that penalty thought it might not be our day

@ Tewmuch, who cares if Ribadu joining the race is bad for Jonathan, As long as it is good for Nigeria, thats all matters, the more competition for the post the better, so what if Ribadu get the yoruba vote thru AC; how are you sure the North will vote solely for IBB, Buhari is more likely to take the North than any other contestant, So IBB base is already more than weakend, the north is more factured than any other zone, IBB, Atiku, Buhari, Ribadu, Saraki, Shekarau, Tofa, Mrs Jibril ,
SouthSouth- Jonathan, Duke, and Maybe Pat Utomi, East- Orji Kalu, South West-Dele Momodu,

If Ribadu is able to get a solid SE candidate, which is currently difficult as there seems not to be many to choose from, I would suggest either Oby Ezekwesili- currently with the world bank, would have gone for soludo but for there's too much controversy surrounding him,

The Minister of state for Information is chatting poo, How is it Soludo's fault that we are taking one more debt and fritted away $Billions that they saved when oil production was lower and price lower, Is it Soludo sharing responsible for sharing all the money or for our overbloated Cost of democracy expenditures, Let seperate the banking crises from this, even though I believe that Soludo negligence might have aided it, the banks chief's mismanaging funds with the aid of creative accounting and so called auditors should be held more accountable,

What He is saying is possible, He never said replace the 350,000 police men with 5,000 policemen, He is this context of violent crime posturing that with a dedicated 5,000 policemen he would be able to achieve a reduction in violent crime, very very possible,
What I find unbelievable is that we have 350,000 police men in nigeria, Totally Unbelievable, with the amount of crimes wehave going on, and this is just police alone, not including other associated forces and paramilitary forces, As at 22 July 2010 UK has 143,734 Policemen, What is required is honest leadership to initiate change in the police force,

It is not compulsory for her to aspire for the post; and between the field seems crowded already, Amongst those mentioned above, Only Bajomo and maybe Amosun has the antecedent for that post, we need to stop voting or even bring out candidates with little credential for very important roles

Am a silver memeber of the flying Blue program; Airfrance from london; especially london city airport, very pleasant; Airfrance connecting in CDG never pleasant for me, am jinxed with CDG always one drama or another which most likely leads to me missing my flight, so I tend to go through schipol, via KLM if am heading to nigeria, from experience All airlines can mess up , it is the just the way they handle their mess up that differentiate them

You would have thought someone working in the present government knows, well I believe they do, but Now, this thinking does not benefit their pockets in anyway, Did you hear about the fracas in house of reps relating to FG having to pay N6 billion for SIM card registration, Absolute madness,
This project is an oppurtunity to line the pockets for all those involved, We already have data capture machines in use in the country, The Passport Office/Immigration have it; The FRSC have it and they collect close to 1000 data per day presently, all that is required is software modification or pointing the system to a difference Database, It is just dishearthening that solutions to a lot of problems bedevilling the country is so easily solved, yet they remain,

Gbawe:

Not that simple. I don't think anyone can convince Duke and Utomi to be VP candidates to anyone since both men are fiercely nursing Presidential ambitions themselves. Also, the AC will be under pressure to produce a VP candidate who is already a Party member since Ribadu is not a member of the AC party. It is ideologically wrong for any Party to 'import' non-members for the position of President and VP.

I disagree, both Men can be convinced to be VP in the hope that it would place them in better stead for taking a shot at the presidency than they are at present, Duke doesn't have a party structure in place; same goes for Pat Utomi, how did their last presidential adventure fare, I prefer Utomi cause he is well regarded in the SE; SW & SS,

They should be replace Oshiomole with donald duke or Pat Utomi on that Ticket, Let Oshiomole continue his governorship and prove himself at that stage, cos at present he has yet to achieve much in that position,

Kobojunkie:

Considering the high cost of telecomm service in Nigeria today, I will not be shocked if people are asked to once again pay more money to have their phones registered and tracked.

If any Telecoms coy tries that, they should ideally have their license revoked, This is at no cost to the telecoms coy atall, It is just sheer incompetence that allows such crimes to thrive, All the police needs to do is ask for it, simple, as it is a basic component of the GSM network, without it, mobile phones wont work, as stated by blacksta you have to be connected to a base station,

Atleast he is talking sense, that is what the IG should have insisted on; It is a very easy thing to implement, don't even think it needs implementation as it exist within their network and should be available to the police by law with them needing to request it to locate the kidnappers, anyone that knows anything about how GSM works knows this, It smacks of plain stupidity and ignorance that enables a crime blow out of proportion when it could easily be contained.

A very bad move, They should rather bring in more buses and routes so more people can use the brt hence more revenue, As the OP stated cost has gone up, why increase without valid explanation. Thats why nigerian party politics in vibrant opposition, with elections less than 9months away, it would be scoring an own goal to increase fares or amenities used by the most likely to vote

Good, Right thinking if put into practice,

The Nigerian Police Force, by a long mile

The Above mentioned can be fixed within 2 months if urgent action is implemented, they are not building new airport, how much time does it take to install functioning aircondition systems or repair existing ones, or ensuring that there is working alternative power supply in these airport, if serviced housing estate in lagos can do that, why shouldn't it be possible, except ofcourse the money as usual has vanished in to people's pocket

@ Kobo, I am more inclined to believe this guy's account of event than Ekwueme's account but one thing they both agree on is that there was a zoning agreement in 1999, and that is evident as the PDP two candidates Obj and Ekwueme where both from the South,
Now as he explained this rules were adhered to in 1999; hence the refund of Rimi money,

Following 2003 and 2007 this rules and zoning was abandoned by the party as it became a free for all; like he said no one said anything in 2007 about zoning when Odili and Duke contested, so what has changed,

Like the PDP Chairman stated, if they want zoning inserted in the PDP constitution he stated how to go about it,

Also Jonathan is wrongly considered as a beneficiary of zoning, he did not benefit from zoning but balance of power, the two are different though they may appear similar,
For a country like nigeria, I would actually advocate zoning as it ensures equity and sense of equality amongst the always contending regions of the union, so I dont consider it backward in anyway, as I believe that each region has the human capacity to fill the post of president, Zoning or No Zoning does not guarantee we will have a credible leader and I also understand the uproar against zoning as those championing the implementation of zoning are detestable self seeking politician e.g Atiku & IBB, hence making the zoning Idea detestable,

They are outrageously expensive; the electricity and water story doesn't cut it at all; I think compared to the west# employee wages & taxes definately evens out the overheads for nigerian hotels,

One reason I would like jonathan to declare his intention to contest 2011 even before 1st Oct is so that we can test the strength of our union; no region is stronger than any presently; Obj succesfully divided the north; Let Jonathan Contest 2011 and declare his Intention quick; the heavens will not fall~ if the union has to break then let it, it is my believe that each region can survive independantly, All the sectional talk by this old men is taking us back 50years; If after 50 years of a union we cannot see each other as one then lets test each other strength~ if it leads to the breaking of the union then all well and good~

tkb417:

im talking about premediatetd attacks and reprisals
i cannot be bullied in me domain is what im saying

Its OGD and It's Ogun State where he his the Gov, He can bully anybody bar Obj; All those names mentioned above are not lightweights and they and people around them would have thought along the same line, A relation of mine is on that list; I would have staked my houses on a bet that such can't happen to him in his own hood~ 5years gone no corpse~gone with the wind from his own house~

Abeg no cross OGD

Good Decision; Also people should realise that the ban on okada is not a blanket ban ~ but a restriction on the routes they operate in, Even though some people may argue that it should have been a blanket ban; the government realise that okada fills a service where no quicker alternative exist.

@Kobo, enforcing discipline of the okada raiders is a tall order; not in the current nigerian climate, Heck my recent holiday to naija went to the FRSC to get myself a naija license saw first hand how people are being given licenses; a few of the okada riders who came to collect riders card ~have absolutely no clue~ I sat through a good driving lecture which I must say is a good idea but fails as a quarter of it recipient have no clue as to what was going on~ being illiterate~ but they where still issued with a rider license and a host of other people who couldn't be bothered to attend the 1hr lecture being brought in ahead of us who attended to finger print for their license, vented my annoyance on a few of the frsc guys there and a lengthy discussion with one of the senior guys there and I realised that we will get there someday~ we are still a developing country~~

It is a fact that Jonathan is a benefactor of the Zoning arrangement and he is a pdp member, to now abandon it to contest for presidency in 2011 is Selfish. It would be only fair if he was to contest on another Party Platform e.g AC, IMHO This would be suicidal,
My work around of this delicate issue is for jonathan to send a bill to NASS to make zoning constitutional; a 5 year one term of each president/region; taking into account the region that has led previously; if the north has a go in 2011 they are bound to vacate the post for a southerner who will go for a 5year term. It is now upto to each region & party to put up their best for the post, People should stop seeing the worst of the north for every IBB or Abacha there is an Obj; Is Jonathan the best the South South can present the nation with

I personally dont believe that zoning is backward; if it will ensure our fragile peace as a nation and guarantee equity amongst members of the union, then I can't see anything wrong in it,

mikeansy:

Don't mind Jarus, it simply shows you that even the most brilliant amongst us can be sentimental at times.

Jonathan's Nominations so far is no where comparable to that of Yar'adua.

If Jega was an Ijaw man who went to perhaps the same University as Jonathan and probably read geology and never had any experience whatsoever of running anything then it would have also been fair to accuse Jonathan of Ijawnization of Nigeria. (this behaviour is usually Yar'adua's playbook and it got so bad that even El-Rufai [himself a Northerner] has admitted).

But Jega is a Professor of Political Science (most importantly); has no history of private relationship with Jonathan (at least to the extent we know), a current University Vice Chancellor and thus will have experience of running people-oriented
systems and designing them, and as a former ASUU chairman he is by default a former civil society leader and thus should have an appreciation of Nigeria's democratic struggles in which he Jega has been a kingpin of those struggles.

Jega has all the tools at his disposal to succeed except he Jega chooses to be your cynical Nigerian by collecting money or playing to sentiments or nepotism; I have every reason to think he can do his best if he wants to. I also think Nigerians in general will also have to rise to the occassion because it is not all about one man.

Good Analysis
To those seeing Jega role or relationship to Iwu as an issue; may I remind you that Fashola was Tinubu's COS; I believe Jega's selection is faultless, the guy was the on the Uwais Panel whose recommendation most civil society are clamouring for; and the full implementation of its recommendation was voted down by the National Assembly, short of appointing Uwais ~who was discounted due to his age ~ I think Jega is the best option,

Kobojunkie:

No, they do not. Please, can we stop thinking that the poor we find in places like Lagos are all the poor there are? There are villages in the same Nigeria where all the villagers use only one cell phone, which is usually in the care of the village head. In addition, these cell phones are provided them by international orgs, and not our government.
There are poor people who live day after day in the dark with NO PLANS of any kind to purchase your generator, let alone fund one. They can barely afford cost of taking the bus, their only form of transport to and fro the markets where they do all they can to eke out a living for themselves. They go back home each evening to their kerosene lamps which they grudgingly refuel with kerosene they feel is somewhat out of their budget. I really hate the way we just write off issues concerning the poor as if they are all crooks, invisible freaks, or closet-rich individuals’ thieves, which they are not. Step outside of Lagos, outside of your comfort zones and see what is all around you, in to the rural areas. These people exist out there and they are not trying to TRICK THE SYSTEM or USE THE SYSTEM as some are all too willing to conclude is the case.

@ Kobo the above painted picture ~These people are in not affected by the cost of electricity because they are already living their life without it~you seem to have gone off tangient ~And moreso their energy need would be minimal; and I would assume that if the same usage pattern as painted above is practised~ factoring in energy saving bulb; electricity bulb for them will be cheaper than kerosine lamp ~ You are making me feel am anti poor~For the bolded portion~one off solar light bulb installation would be more cost effective beneficial to them than being connected to the grid.

Kobojunkie:

I am sorry, that is not true! How in the world does government considering subsidizing cost for the poor make 24/7 electricity unrealistic and unprofitable? Governments around the world heavily subsidize one program or another. Has that stop investors of any kind?
I am an advocate for subsidies for the poor in our society. I do not believe we are anywhere close to the point where we can start arguing, reasonably, against helping lift the poor in our society. For one, they are the majority, and will continue to be so if we do not do something about it. It is being done in advanced societies .
Corruption in a seriously corrupt system is not a good enough reason why we should thumb our noses at the poor. The Government does not have a system in place that greatly benefits the poor --- Most of the subsidies we have today apply across the board and the rich seem to benefit more from it than the poor. I mean are you going to tell me that a poor farmer somewhere in Uturu, Abia, whose only form of transportation is a old raggedy bicycle he rides back and forth to his farm benefits from the fuel subsidy, or the telecomm subsidy( I still believe there is one), or any other programs out there?

You seem to have overlooked my mentioned context of subsidy in the naija corrupt environment~Ask the same farmers what use to happen to Fertilizer subsidy~ ~ would rather such funds be expended to improve education (free quality education till university level) ~and provision of water & medical care~ as these will help the poor uproot themselve out of poverty ~ of what use is electricity to those that fall into the picture you painted ~apart from light which a solar lightbulb provides a better alternative than both what they are currently using and electricity~Is it to power a tv or videos that they cannot afford~

@ Kobo~ the poor that we are arguing on; right now spend money on electricity or alternative form~ Am All for it being affordable but the poorest of us should not be used as the benchmark if electricity affordability by them will make realisation of 24\7 electricity unrealistic and unprofitable a venture that will discourage investors~ am also not an advocate of subsidyin present day nigeria ~ as it is an avenue for corruption~someone on the first page of this thread mentioned the cost to be around $70 Billion well we are already spending double that amount to fuel our generators annually~ Just the business sector alone spend $70 Billion on fuel for their generator annually,

According to figures released by Omoh Gabriel and Hector Igbikiowubo (Column written by John Moyibi Amoda published in the Vanguard newspaper of May, 6 2008 Lagos)
''Nigerians spend N16.408 Trillion ($140 billion USD) to fuel generators annually''
1. ''The telecom sector spends N6.7 Trillion per annum to purchase diesel''
2. ''Filling stations spend N43.98 billion''
3. ''Factories spend N191.08 billion''
4. ''Banks spend N11.7 billion''
5. ''Insurance companies spend N80 billion''
6. ''Residential N7.812 trillion; and commercial enterprises, N1.57 trillion''
''This amounts to 300,000,000 litres of petrol per day''.
The report further estimated that we might have up to five million commercial enterprises operating in the country including barber shops, hair dressing salons, restaurants, supermarkets, boutiques, block molding factories, recording studios, dry cleaning services, night clubs, casinos, offices etc. utilizing an average of eight litres of petrol per day on different capacity of generating sets. Furthermore, Ogbuotobo Chuks in his write up feature in the Nigeriastockmarket.com stated that Nigeria is the largest importer of generators in the world with Nigerians spending close to N1.31 trillion on the purchase of electricity generators over the last few years.

Kobojunkie:

I am simply advocating we go for AFFORDABLE 24/7 electricity rather than just 24/7 electricity.
Majority of our small businesses today cannot afford electricity costs and that is why many are closing the doors. Naira 6000 to a company that barely makes N15,000 a month is a lot of money. Many of our civil servants today barely make over that amount each month( assuming the recent change made by Jonathan has not already kicked in).

The term affordable is relative~and can be used loosely as one wishes~Everyone would want it to be affordable no matter how well off one is~In the west even the wealthy with large homes complain about the cost of energy~ hence most seek alternatives ~ Hence the reason i stated consumption~and based my assumption and comparation with the 3bed home in the west.pays €40 for lectrcity ~N1500 for a room household,

Also Majority of our small businesses can afford electricity cost but what they cannot afford is the cost of doing their business with having to generate their own energy~ generator cost; maintainance and cost of fuel~read an article somewhere that the market rate user will pay in nigeria for electricity without subsidy is a third of the cost they will spend to generate same energy themselves~ Also It is possible to charge business users medium to large businesses a prenium as they consume~ like the day time energy cost be higher than night time in the west~thus making it cheaper for household~but the problem is that people are not willing to pay~hence my insisting on the prepay method~

Kobojunkie:

Do you happen to know how much compact-florescent bulbs currently cost in Nigeria?  The last time I discussed those bulbs, I got told that it was too expensive for Nigerians. Even solar is considered too expensive by folks who currently run huge generators down there. It is absurd but after researching, I figured out it is likely the case.

.
Thats not the case but it is only false economics that is the issue~say at most the cost Naira 750 and last for 5years~its a no brainer~ the case for solar is different cause of the substancial initial investment~if we had a system like they do in german whereby you connect your solar to the grid and the government pay you a prenium for the +Ve difference between your usage and your generation most people running even medium size generators would be scrabling for solar~as an additional cost being storage of solar energy in batteries is removed,

Kobojunkie:

When you speak of electricity cost to low income households, what other appliances are you saying they ought not to have in their homes if they are unable to afford footing the bill for it?

Refrigerators? Light bulbs?Irons( for ironing cloths)? . . .  do you have a list?
I do not think it is fair to doom the other members of the household to a life of poverty for having an uncontrollable drunk in the house with them. ROFLMAO!!!
But prepaid meters do not guarantee that all persons will have 24/7 electricity. The issue of affordability still comes in to play whether you prepay or you do not.

In the US households with children get their energy turned off for failure to pay~so nothing new~ In the Uk the government dont pay for electricity for those on welfare~ So the member of the family in this example will know that its a member of their own family that is dooming them to a life of poverty and not the state~hence will ask question and seek resolution~And to be honest I seriously doubt that we will have a noticeable amount of such cases as nigerians we known to be proud~ nobody will like the house to be without electricity because they fail to topup~ ~or better still ration their usage~ heck for all of my friends and myself included could relate to having all the TV and Videos and Games but we were only allowed to switch them on at weekends only~

Kobojunkie:

I am glad you have 40% of the WORKING POPULATION and not 40% of the POPULATION OF NIGERIA up there. How many businesses can afford that amount right now? Many businesses have been forced to close shop because they cannot afford running their biz on diesel, and the Naira 6000 is a conservative estimate here.

Any Business that cannot afford to pay Naira 6000 ~per month simply has no business conducting any business that will consume Naira 6000 worth of electricity, Same applies to any household~It is that Simple~ If a 3bedroom family home in the west pay like £40 on electricity per month with all its electrical equipment e.g fridge; freezer; aat least3TTVset; computer; wwashingmachine ; microwave etc then if we are to follow same thinking a low income household where both parent are at worst petty trader should not have energy usage of more than Naira 1500 per month~ The same household u will findout that the man of the house probable downs Naira1500 worth of beer in a month~ We need to be realistic~Electricity should be sold to end users on Prepaid Meter mainly~ If Telecoms in nNigeriadepended on pay monthly it would have been a failure~ Non Payment of Bills was the bane of nitel~we the population ran NNiteldown not only its management~Your Postulation that Electricity is should be a basic affordability of the average nNigerianWhile am not arguing against that they key is making electricity available 24/7 and like earlier stated household should use what they can afford~~the number of times I had to turn off lightbulbs and unused appliances when am with families in naija u would think am an eEcofreak~ u would have thought seeing the deficiency in production capacity of PHCN(NEPA) that most homes in naija will be using energy saving bulbs and be more energy saving conscious than those of us  living in the west~

Kobojunkie:

But how many Nigerians can currently afford the generators and paying of diesel? If Government spends 72 Billion to generate electricity for all the country, how many people will be able to afford the uninterrupted electricity then? How many people can afford 6000 Naira a month today(in Nigeria) to afford electricity, assuming that will be the cost when we finally fix the power issue? Unless we are advocating Government not only supply electricity but also subsidize the cost for seriously low income households(which happen to be the majority in our country), the cost issue is a real problem that we need a solution to, in my opinion.

@ Kobo; I would say about 40% of the working population would be able to afford N6000 per month towards electricity but we all are not going to use the same amount of energy~~I dare say that most people living in face me I face you rooms accomodation should not be paying more than N1500 each  based on their consumption; and if they can afford the nice things electrical equipments that would consume N6000 per month energy then they should be able to afford paying such as amount~ example I went on holiday for a month; had my fridge and freezer running and also left a few lights on ~ and my bill for that month including standing charges was less than £15.
Moreover~pricing patterns canbe used and business users would pay more as in the west~ we energy charges during the daytime is more expensive~ affordability cannot be used as an excuse to lack of investment for 24\7 electricity.

This bridge is the best that has happened to that area in 20years, I seen the bridge and it would definately bring relief to the commuters living around the area if well maintained as the improptu market around it could cause a nuisance

This is just a charade; it is common knowledge that Fashola enjoys immunity, so he cannot be arrested; The only thing that can come out of this is he can be impeached if found culpable; hence while people are skeptical of the intent of this probe; due to the publicize rift between Fashola and Tinubu and the 2011 elections,
Also I doubt if anyone would say that fashola is squeaky clean; but what people are saying is that here is a proven performer; and in a country where none of the 35 thieving governors are on par with him in performance or any previous thieving Ex-governors including Tinubu, it reeks of political undertones for him to be probed by fellow AC members,

Sky Blue:

What exactly did you read? For a start, did you actually read the other posts on this thread or did you just choose to ignore the ones that explained that work has actually started on the light rail project which is also a PPP project? Did you fail to read a list of all the other ongoing projects? Did you fail to read that work has already started on the Lekki project? Over a period of time in 2008 over hundred different road projects were ongoing in Lagos, information you could have obtained from basic research? So what exactly did you read because what I am informing you about has also been partly formed as a result of "reading". The last part of your post is simply absurd, since when has multi tasking become a crime? Apologies but I find this to be another exercise in futility and your posts are beginning to get a tad irritating especially since you keep asking questions which have been answered a million times already on this thread (which you claim to have read) as a substitute for debate. I will not indulge you any further, arguing is not a hobby of mine. Have a nice day  

Where Exactly has the work started; the last I heard was that they were waiting for approval from FG; regarding access the Lagos Badagry road, along which the proposed line would run, It is sheer naivety to shout Uhuru on ground breaking exercise regarding any project especially in nigeria, enough examples abound,

Also that a project is PPP does not mean govt money\funding is not going into it; so no PPP is privately funded, both entities both Public & Private have a stakes which can be monetised,
Also quite trying to be smart; no one is ignoring the fact that there are road construction going on in lagos; It is also a fact that 3-4 hours are still lost daily due to bad roads,
Anyway, lets agree to disagree here; I have my own opinion as to where\what Infrastructural priorities of the present lagos should be, And I definately believe it is not in in building airports, Moreover am not keen on arguing with people that lose their decorum in putting forward their opinion