₦airaland Forum

When it comes to economic development most people tend to focus on physical infrastructure to evaluate the performance of government. While infrastructure is desirable, it's just a fraction of what needs to be done and real development can be measured by how much the government is able to improve the lives of the people.

One single economic policy if well implemented and without costing the government a cent can attract over $100 billion worth of investments into the economy, create millions of jobs, lift millions out of poverty, increase government revenue and transform the lives of the populace.

What really matters is to improve the quality of lives of Nigerians and to do this we must increase the productive base of the economy by implementing the right policies.

Our next president must be able to understand the importance of economic policies and be focused on using it as a tool to unlock our economic potentials. Only one of the leading presidential candidates has demonstrated commitment and belief in sound economic policies and this is the reason I have decided to follow the man who knows the way.

#AtikuOkowa2023
#AtikuIsComing

Kunle Oshobi writes from Lagos.

Anybody that has interacted with Jandor before will know straight away that Jandor is very intelligent so the 'dunce' tag that BOG is trying to label him with laughable and probably more appropriate for BOG himself who has made a big fool of himself with this vituperations on social media. If he was so intelligent himself, I don't think his wife would have kicked him out of their matrimonial home.

thaqib:
Good work and ovenbake of toyota corolla 2004 pls

Thanks so much for the inquiry, It will cost 80k to get it done.

LadyExcellency:
Lagos IGR is simply Nigeria States taxes transferred to and collected by Lagos State for taking care of the center.

Why should Shell be paying taxes to Lagos State without a physical operational presence while nothing to Abia State with facilities here and there? That's the mystery of Lagos State IGR.



You can imagine the unwritten Constitution we have and operate in Nigeria. Taxes meant for Imo State and Abia State from Shell SPDC are paid to and collected in Lagos State.

Petroleum Profit Tax, Company tax and royalties on oil production are paid to the federal government. What state governments collect is income tax of the employees of companies who are resident in their states. What Shell pays to Lagos state is the income tax of her employees who work in Lagos, income tax of employees who work in Imo, Abia or any other state will be paid to their respective states.

Softmirror:
THE OP IS WASTING HIS TIME.

Wasting time or not, what is wrong with setting the records straight?

DEBUNKING THE MYTH OF THE HIGH IGR IN LAGOS STATE

There is this popular propaganda that the Tinubu led Lagos APC has been propagating for years and it is the hallucination that Tinubu increased the IGR of Lagos from N600 million per month to N6 billion per month while he was in office as Lagos state governor and that his surrogates in office have since increased it to N50 billion per month as at today. In my last article I explained that it was the rapid increase in the GDP of the country under the Obasanjo administration that was directly responsible for the increase in IGR of Lagos state as most of the companies in the organized private sector that grew exponentially in the Obasanjo years have their headquarters in Lagos and their staff pay their income taxes to Lagos state government.

Bearing this in mind, if we consider that it was Atiku Abubakar who was in charge of the economy in this period of rapid growth, it is safe to say that even Atiku who Tinubu is contesting against to be president contributed more to the increased rate of IGR in Lagos state than the man that loves to claim credit for ‘building’ Lagos state.

But the question arises; is the IGR of Lagos state really high when we take into consideration the GDP of the state and contrast it with that of other states?

A very conservative report puts the GDP of Lagos at $76 billion and if we convert to Naira using the current parallel market rate, we will get an annual GDP of N54 trillion. If we consider the fact that the current documented IGR of Lagos state is still less than N600 billion per annum, this will mean that the IGR of Lagos state is just over 1% of the GDP of the state. When we deduct non tax revenues from the IGR, it means that the tax to GDP ratio of Lagos state is less than 1% which is extremely low for any state, country or region in the world.

If we do a comparative analysis, states in neighboring African countries have a tax to GDP ratio averaging 15% while in South Africa it is about 25%. For most European countries it’s and average of 30% while states or regions in the Scandinavian countries have a tax to GDP ratio of as high as 40%.

Effectively speaking if Lagos was matching up to states in neighboring west African countries in terms of IGR, then the IGR of Lagos state should be in the region of N8 trillion per annum and if it were to match up to the performance of her South African counterparts, then we should be talking of IGR in the region of N13.2 trillion per annum for Lagos state based on the size of the GDP of the state instead of celebrating a paltry amount which amounts to less then 1% of the state’s GDP.

One begins to wonder what is responsible for such a wide disparity between the IGR of Lagos and that of states in other African countries but the answer is not far-fetched. Contrary to the popular perception, Lagos has been doing a very poor job of collecting IGR with their fixation on the organized private sector that employs less than 5% of the citizens in the state while leaving the informal sector that employs the remaining 95% for their party loyalists and cronies to extort. This is apart from the fact that a huge part of the revenue accruing to the state are not accounted for owing to the opaque system the state operates and the use of dodgy tax consultants.

Regarding the revenue losses in the informal sector, the transport subsector is easily the biggest sector of the Lagos economy, however it remains mostly unregulated and the control left under the care of touts and agberos who also double as political thugs for the ruling party during the time of elections. Various reports indicate that these touts extort as much as N180 billion per annum from transporters in Lagos and this money is shared with their political godfathers who look the other way while they have allowed them to institutionalize their crime of extorting transporters in broad day light. In a well-structured system taxes, permits and licenses
levied on transporters should accrue to the government as part of the IGR but in Lagos, it ends up in private pockets.

Another major revenue source is from levies and taxes imposed on market men and women in the state but instead of allowing the agents of the State and Local government to collect these taxes for the benefit of all, the collection has been privatized and turned into the personal benefit of the daughter of a prominent politician in the state thus making the state lose another major source of revenue to personal greed of a few.

Yes given the pathetically low standards that we have been subjected to in the country and lack of information by many of us, the IGR of Lagos may seem high but the reality is that the IGR of the state is extremely low compared to what it should be and a huge chunk of the revenues that are meant to be accruing to the state are finding their ways into private pockets.

It is only when we as Lagosians say enough is enough and join hands together to vote out the ruling APC hegemony that has turned itself into a parasite hemorrhaging our state, that we will be able to put our resources together to build the Lagos of our dreams. I can’t wait to breath a breathe of fresh air in Lagos state.

sunnymighty:
Pls can I send a dm for some of your recent works to be sent to me?

I haven't been taking pictures of our jobs of recent because over the years we have taken so many pictures many of which are on this thread. You can reach me on 0802-733-8500 to DM me.

sunnymighty:
Sorry just seeing this now, is it inclusive of the body work or just baking alone?

Yes it's inclusive of the bodywork as well.

sunnymighty:
How about Toyota Camry (Big Daddy) with original factory paint?

It will cost 90k to get it done, thanks.

EmveeP:
How much to oven bake 2008/2009 Benz C300 and how long will it take?

It will cost 90k to get it done, thanks.

This Ajuri guy is an accomplished mo.ron, only fellow miscreants will take him seriously.

Chae:
How much wil it cost me to paint my Honda civic 08 and when is it gonna be ready?

It will cost 80k to get it done and take five days. So sorry for the late response.

Jonn119:
Good evening I need a professional factory paint if possible the highest grade in my car door that got bashed days ago, I want it to be painted in a way it will still look like the factory standard

Good day, kindly reach me via 0802-733-8500 so we can discuss. Thanks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mpncSJxGr0

In the run up to the 2019 elections, the then governor of Lagos state Ambode accused Babajide Sanwo Olu who was being positioned to be the next stooge of Bola Tinubu in Alausa of having a criminal record for spending counterfeit money in America. He further revealed that Sanwo olu had been battling with drug abuse and that he had to be rehabilitated at the Gbagada general hospital. Till date neither one of these allegations has been refuted and we are rest assured that they are factual because it came from a credible source who had access to Sanwo Olu's records given his position at the time.

Given the mental health issues Sanwo olu has been battling with as a result of drug abuse, one is tempted to think that this is what is responsible for his poor performance as governor in the past three years otherwise why will a governor connive with the military to kill youths that he is supposed to protect just because they were having a peaceful protest at the lekki toll gate? Why will he ban well structured bike hailing services that can even generate taxes for the state like Gokada, Maxikada said O'ride while leaving the unruly and reckless freelance okada riders to continue wrecking havoc in the state?

Why will he continue to empower touts and agberos to extort Lagos commuters and make life unbearable for Lagosians while ignoring the other street urchins who routinely rob people in traffic?

His criminal conviction for trading in counterfeit currency also reveals the content of his character and perhaps explains why Bola Tinubu who is reputed to be the most corrupt politician in Nigeria felt comfortable appointing him as his stooge in Alausa and this is the reason why the unrestrained looting of Lagos state revenues continue to this day.

Under Sanwo Olu's watch, various reports indicate that at least 50% of the revenues meant for the state are stolen through various means like the dubious use of tax consultants to replicate the job of LIRS and being paid huge commissions for adding zero value. This is apart from the fact that at least 30% of the taxes generated in Lagos are not even declared but stolen at source.

Lagos is definitely the richest state in the country but the truth is that Lagos state can be doing at least five times better if only we have good governance. Lagos desperately needs a breath of fresh air and an end to the twenty four years dynasty of institutionalized corruption and mediocre governance in the state and this can't be achieved with someone who is just a stooge for a criminal godfather and who also has mental health challenges.

More details on this link:

The current bleating from the Camp of the Shaking and Falling is now Yoruba Ronu in futile attempts to shore up his chances.

Today, we will deconstruct it.

If you drive into Ikoyi via dolphin estate, there is a massive building on your right that has been left to decay.

The said building is also very visible from the Obalende Passport Office Axis. The

building is the old federal secretariat office that was being built just before General Babangida decided that the Orkar coup was too much of a close call and the idea for FCT went into full force.

Around the time OBJ was selling off FG assets that where underutilized he put up this building for sale and Baba Agbado bid for the property just like every other bidder. Interestingly, Wale Babalakin won the bid.

His plan to turn the building into a five star luxury apartments was scuttled by Baba Agbado because he did not get it.

Baba Agbado used state government legal apparatus to file a suit insisting that Lagos state should have has a right of first refusal and when that wasn't making any headway, he got his surrogate governor to enact the Lagos State Model City Development Authority Law as a direct frustration of the project. Thus requiring that project obtain a fresh C of O, Governors Consent and Change of Use, Which we all know they would not grant.

The end result as we speak today is that the building is still wasting away, as a den of snakes and rodents, the thousands upon thousands of Lagosians that would have gotten their daily bread from the construction of the projects to the running of the finished apartments have been denied such by a single man's greed.

The Yoruba Brother of His that he threw under the bus for a decade is still trying to pick up this his business years after with ensuing battles with Firstbank and then AMCON all because Baba Agbado was greedy.

Fellow Nigerians, Is this the man you folks want to make your President?

If Baba Agbado becomes President, no matter your bleating of Yoruba Ronu, your grand mothers pepper garden is not safe as long as it catches his fancy.

Nigerians be guided.

#Copied

The choice of Funke Akindele aka Jennifer will definitely be a game changer for PDP in Lagos. Apart from the fact that she is a popular actress, she is a youth that brings female representation, an accomplished entrepreneur and lawyer.

Congratulations to Jandor on this excellent and well thought out choice he has made as he pushes forward to rescue Lagos from twenty years of stagnation.

#jandor
#itistime

Danielbrave08:
Video of Pastor Enoch Adeboye saying members not paying tithe is going to hell fire resurface online.

Nigerians shocked after seeing the video as they say it is not right for pastor Adeboye to be say such.

Pastor Adeboye boldly told all of them that they are all going to hell fire for not paying their tithe.

Watch video below


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpVdNb_o6KU

Adeboye needs to repent from preaching this fraudulent doctrine and ask God for forgiveness. There is absolutely nothing in scriptures that even remotely begins to suggest that Christians are meant to tithe out of their income. To arrive at the type of tithing being preached in our churches today, you will have to twist scriptures and mis-apply it to believers and this is a very serious sin in itself.

Orukomeno:
Atiku is a thief ,I Don't know either Obi or Sowore so I go give Tinubu

But Tinubu is actually the biggest thief in the history of Nigerian politics, Atiku is a saint compared to the jagabandit.

IjawRep:
Tinubu should be the President of Oduduwa.
Not Nigeria.
So that Yorubas can have a taste of the medicine they are sending to others.

God forbid bad thing, Tinubu doesn't represent the interests of the Yoruba. He is just an selfish and greedy slowpoke that wants to use Yoruba sentiments to get power through the back door.

Sheuns:
Enron had nothing to do anything tangible. The company was in debt and hid it from investors. Click the link I supplied and read up on the scandal that was on going for years before it was introduced to Lagos. Maybe Obj saw what we later saw and that’s why he frustrated the deal to avoid us loosing money. Obj did the right thing.

All the talk about Obasanjo frustrating the deal is mere political talk. The truth was that the Enron power plants were diesel powered and obsolete plants that were very expensive to run and the price that they asked Nepa to pay for the electricity that they would have been generating was like four times the amount Nepa was selling electricity to the general public. It was Nepa that refused to do business with them because of their ridiculous pricing and not Obasanjo contrary to what the propaganda merchants want us to believe.

fyneguy:
Show us proof that he came to meet Bolaji directly, without the involvement of Tinubu. Make it make sense. Did you interview Bolaji and/or Masiyiwa, and they denied Tinubu's facilitation? We need proof! Not your yeye unproven claim

On the contrary it is Tinubu that should bring the evidence that he facilitated the deal. As I said earlier in this thread, I was a staff of MTN at the time of rollout in 2001 and I later became a dealer with econet. I aslo know Bolaji Balogun personally along with Oba Otudeko who was the chairman of Econet then. I was not only in the industry, I had direct access to the major players and was very conversant with what went on then and I can tell you as a matter of fact that neither the jagabandit nor Lagos state government were involved in bringing econet to Nigeria. Lagos state was just one of 22 investors brought together by Bolaji Balogun to invest in Econet.

Mikolo70:
I'm telling the truth Bro... Google it please.

I was an active part of the process and I witnessed it live myself, there is nothing to Google about what I personally witnessed and played a role in. Google will at best come up with fraudulent claims made by econet that they started first but this is a pure lie.

Mikolo70:
ECONET WAS THE FIRST BEFORE MTN... MY UNCLE GOT HIS OWN IMMEDIATELY ECONET STARTED...

That is 100% impossible, I was a staff of MTN and I know for a fact that we started selling our lines two weeks before econet started. What econet did then was just a ceremonial launch without any lines available to sell until after two weeks. In MTN we started sales the same day we launched our operations.

rottennaija:
You have no provided any legitimate arguments. I don't know how enron got to Nigeria but you simply stated they were in Nigeria and bankrupt in 2001. So how did they get in?

Enron was never in Nigeria and I never said that they were. It was after the company got bankrupt and they were being liquidated that Lagos state Government bought one of their obsolete power plants. Enron itself never came to Nigeria and the company doesn't exist anymore. Tinubu was telling pure lies.

Iwalk:
How do u know all dis?did u work with the two companies
Do u know who Bolaji Balogun is?
Most times Govt use an individual to seal deals
dont b sentiment get ur fact clear Oga
weda Tinubu or Osibanjo,i no fit vote for Atiku.

Yes I was a staff of MTN when they started operations in 2001 and later became a dealer of Econet in 2003 after I resigned from MTN. And yes I also know Bolaji Balogun very well and I am very conversant with the history of GSM in Nigeria.

Buckeyemedia1:
READ BELOW I BELIEVE THAT IS BOLA TINUBU.

Strive Masiyiwa, founder of Econet Wireless, took to social media to narrate the early days at Econet Nigeria, and spilled the details on what eventually drove the Econet team out of the country.

The first GSM operator in Nigeria, Econet Nigeria usually gets the butt end of jokes due to the multiple name changes, changes to management as well as rebranding campaigns we’ve seen over the years but we had no idea it had such a storied beginning, the kind that would make Shakespeare envious.

Reading through Strive’s post, on the one hand, it’s not really surprising. We’ve always sort of known that things like that take place. On the other hand, reading about the events from a major player feels like reading a political thriller. This is the stuff good movies are made of.

Let me show you:

In screenwriting, there’s a thing called the three-act story structure which divides a story into three parts, ie the Setup, the Confrontation and the Resolution (my creative writing teacher would be proud I still remember). Using that model, I’m going to summarise the story so far in this promised quintology.

The Setup

“I managed to assemble a consortium of 22 investors to put up the money needed to bid…. The license cost us $285m and was the most expensive license ever issued in Africa at the time. This was 2001.”

“We were one of the winning bidders and they gave us just six months to set up business and get our network operating. We were under a lot of pressure but our network was live two days before the others! Customers were pouring in. We were number one in the market with an estimated 57% market share.”

The Confrontation

“Then came the fateful day when I was told that our company must pay a total of $9m in bribes to senior politicians (in state government) who had facilitated the raising of the money to pay for the license.”

“I refused to authorize the illegal payments.”

“James Ibori, the Governor of Delta State, was demanding $4,5m be paid to him in his personal capacity. He was one of the most powerful men in the country and had a reputation for violence. When he heard that I was refusing to approve payment he issued an ultimatum: ”Pay or I will chase you and your people out of the country.”

And the Resolution

I’d love to post that but maybe you should head on to Strive’s blog and find out for yourself.

Strive Masiyiwa keeps repeating this lie anywhere he goes that econet was the first GSM company to start operations in Nigeria. This is a pure lie. I was working in MTN then and we started operations two full weeks before econet started their own operations.

fyneguy:
It's possible Tinubu attended a telecoms conference (I attended one in Dubai), where he met Musiyiwa of Econet and initiated it.

Most of those doubting it are ignorant of investment facilitation. They think it's impossible lol

Tinubu never attended any telecoms conference. Strive Masiyiwa came to Nigeria himself and approached Bolaji Balogun who was one of the leading investment bankers in the country to help in bringing together investors to finance the company.

They eventually brought together 22 institutional investors inclusive of 3 state governments namely Akwa Ibom, Delta and Lagos state.

Lagos state was just one of the investors and was not the promoter. They were not even amongst the three biggest investors so Tinubu should stop lying that he brought the company to Nigeria.

In his characteristic manner, Tinubu made two statements that were pure lies at the screening of APC presidential aspirants yesterday, the first lie was that he brought Enron to Nigeria while the second lie is that he brought Econet to Nigeria.

While I won't accuse the geriatric of deliberately telling lies because of the obvious dementia symptoms that he has been exhibiting over the years, I will set the records straight.

Concerning Enron, after the company went bankrupt in 2001 some of their disused equipment were put of for sale. Lagos state government under the leadership of Tinubu without doing due diligence bought one of their old power plants.

This power plant was diesel powered, obsolete and very expensive to run and as a result of this they couldn't reach an agreement to integrate it into the national grid and it ended up being a wasted investment. It is dubious to claim that you brought a company that was already bankrupt to Nigeria just because you bought obsolete and disused equipment from them.

On the issue of Econet, Tinubu never played any role in bringing the company to Nigeria, the credit belongs to Bolaji Balogun and Strive Masyiwa who worked together to bring the company to Nigeria.

Lagos state government only invested in Econet after they got their operating license and needed funds to rollout. Delta state and a good number of other institutional investors also joined in investing in the company so it's very fraudulent for Tinubu to claim that he brought Econet to Nigeria just because Lagos state government joined others in investing in the company.

Even though I didn't expect any better given his questionable character, one would have expected that a man of his age and experience would not resort to obvious lies that can be easily exposed in his desperation to achieve his lifetime ambition.

If indeed he had any real achievements after his 23 years hegemony in Lagos state, he won't have had to resort to lies to market his presidential hallucinations. Let's all remain vigilant.

Cc: seun lalasticlala

Unfortunately a thorough study of Islam through the quoran and Hadiths contradicts your statements. Your post can at best be described as being inspired by the need for al taquiya.

baralatie:
Okay
Which species of crocodile is this?

It's most likely the West African dwarf crocodile species.

baralatie:
How far would a baby crocodile go from it's safe zone compared to a monitor lizard

It's not even a baby crocodile, there are species of crocodiles that their adults are even smaller than the one in the picture.