dayokanu:

Another point is that Akintola was a person who believed in the rule of law.

He sought redress in the court time and again and he won while the Awo faction resorted to war and riots (wetie) I guess this was where Adedibu learnt his trade.

Its on record that Awo because of his overwhelming desire to rule was aligning with the Ghanaian people to attack the country and he was jailed for it. Whether its true or trumped up, The case remained till date.

The Akintola group went to court which is the right channel and won while the Awo group went on the streets employing people like Adedibu to wetie

A proper review of history shows that it was the masses that revolted against an unpopular government which had foisted itself in power by causing misfortune to a person who commanded cult-like followership. The same courage we lack these days to take our destiny in our hands and rid ourselves of visionless governance.

Secondly, on the case of alignment with people to overthrow the government, the subsequent withdrawal of the Eastern government under Okpara and its reversal support of the Action Group after a realization of its misguided belief in the plot should shed more than enough light on the veracity of such a plot. In my opinion, even if such a plot existed and succeeded in giving us a Rawlings-style cleansing, Nigeria would have definitely been a better place.

While not holding forte for any of them, I would have thought a discussion on the policies that they implemented in those days as well as the level of governance which they showed to make the Western Region a place of pride, which we all hallucinate about, would serve a better purpose than digging up ghosts.

Aloy_Emeka:

Is it not possible that he owns the property before becoming a governor?. He bought those properties 5 and 10 years ago. Was he a governor then?

While he may not have been a governor 10yrs ago, he was definitely a governor 5yrs ago. He just needs to show the correctness of the transaction, he is not on trial yet!

@Katsumoto thanks for the clear analysis. Was surprised to read someone saying something about Awo wanting to return to the premiership.

While there are no demons or angels in politics, it remains that unless elected as an independent, an elected official has to follow through with the core of his party's ideas, goals and policies. That is the ideal concept of party supremacy.

The professor can first postulate that to the one he has always so strenously sought to protect on the backpage of Compass Newspaper who has repeatedly been unable to improve his state IGR to a semi-autonomous level and would start blaming the ability to fuel the government cars on the inability to access a clearly unpopular bond, based on an unclear and undisclosed debt status!!

DaLover:

Lagos was initially set up as a federal capital teritory, similar to Abuja today, It was initially meant to be a place for all but this was hijacked and it was turned to a state, there is no denying that lagos is in its present position because of the long presence of the federal govt there, not because of better leadership from Lagos governors, major infrastuctural work and expansions in lagos took place during Gowons oil boom era and truely the foundations of lagos have it roots in huge population draw from over concentration of fgn and oil economy.

Fashola is trying, but so r other state govts likt rotimi and donald duke, but the take off point for fashola is far higher than other governors,

Please don't bring up the issue of allocation because the pdp governors in the ND are not accountable to the nigerdelta people, they r accountabe to the FGN, You saw how OBj spent money from Odili and Ibori whiles pretending to care for ND,

Right now the contribution of lagos to the national economy is actually no where to be seen, despite all the oil money spent there over the years, instead they are grabbibg what should be meant for other states,

This is not the way things are done,
In uk for instance, London is capital and financial hub, aberdeen is oild hub, new castle is industrial hub and so on, development is spread,

In nigeria lagos is made to be hub of everything, aba and onitsha traders now have to come tru lagos, lagos is oil hub, telecoms hub, industrial hub, banking hub so y won't the population grow out of propotion, there is nothing else to do elsewhere,

Of course, Lagos contributes nothing to the FG except the bulk of non-oil revenues. If only you read the monthly publications of revenue allocation, then you would notice Lagos gets the bulk of its statutory allocation from its higher share of non-oil revenues.

Let our other governors take the bull by the horn and reduce the need for everyone to relocate to Lagos, then maybe you'd feel the impact of the money more. After all, we all go back to register in our home states and Lagos gets budgeted in our lopsided federation based on less than 50% of its residents(not citizens).

this is the clearly the fault of the residents who do not construct proper water channels in their homes and pay off government officials to pass their plans without proper examination. The local government is also at fault for not providing a proper channel to collect water from local drainages into a main outlet such as the numerous water bodies around Lekki-Epe. We tend to forget local governments have duties as well in Nigeria.

Evil Brain:

Actually, the reason God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah wasn't the homosexuality as is commonly believed. Homosexuality was pretty commonplace in the ancient world just as it is now and was not considered such a big deal.

Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of the awful way they treated their guests. Instead of offering them food and board, they tried to gang despoil them. Lot (and his family) was the only one showed the proper hospitality (even offering the men of Sodom both of his daughters to "do what you will with" in place of his guests).

Unfortunately, the two guests in question just happened to be angels of the most high god. And God doesn't take kindly to being threatened with gang-despoil, hence the rain of fire.

There's a similar story in Judges (I can't remember the chapter, sorry) involving the men of Benjamin trying to despoil another guest. Instead, the guy gave them his slave girl whom they proceeded to despoil to death. The following day, the guy cut her body into 12 pieces and sent them to the other 12 tribes to let them know what happened. I can't remember the details but it lead to a big civil war between Benjamin and the other tribes. Tens of thousands died and the  Benjamite cities got burned down.

By your same logic, is it not awkward that both sets of mobs were offered female substitutes? and also that both females would still have been gang-raped? If it wasn't so much an offence, I can bet there were no shortage of males in both households.

Just another hoax,

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/wingdings-911.html

While he may be a thief and he has definitely lost my respect since the time he sang that dreadful song in Ekiti, I still believe the group wanting his back is going about it the wrong way. You don't blackmail someone to resign. Whatever documentary evidence you have should be turned in to the relevant agencies and the public, not telling him to resign or risk being exposed.

bawomolo:

guyz its a joke.

Guess the reaction was a natural reaction to the ire the clueless impostor breeds in the dear state. Hope your head is still on your shoulders.

bawomolo:

lmao at oyato governor. oyo people razz

And this generalized statement is based on what exactly. The use of a proper yoruba word or the ignorant acts of a clueless governor?? If the latter, does George Bush being dull make all Americans dull? If the former, why must me phase out words of our native tongue to comport with the supposed world order?

MT:

lol!. Not only that, he is actively using public funds for personal campaign.

For instance, all the taxis that he claimed he bought for the graduates to be driving as means of employment are heavily adorned with his pictures and names. Tell me if Gov. Fashola has his name, not to talk of his picture placed on any of those luxurious buses plying BRT lane in Lagos.

Also, the shabilly-constructed fence at Iwo Road garage has the inscription "Oyato Governor for 2011".

Not to talk of the annoying bill boards being erected every day.

Oyo state seriously needs a change !

Guess you have not seen the Oyato inscriptions on the fence of the Government House. The one close to the Army living quarters, going towards the House of Assembly quarters.

selingel:

Indeed good news, but are these big projects not too many, considering the time limits left for Fashola? Anyway, he will win a second term in Lagos.

Gov't is a continuum, even an Akala would not come in and tamper with such lofty goals. Well I guess tho.

EzeUche:

Awo played both sides. Zik and the North could not trust him, because he talked out of both sides of his mouth. Typical Yoruba. As the article clearly states, Awo main concern was handling the nation's finances for the benefit of his Yoruba people. He gave the same offer to the north, so why would Zik join forces with him?

This article clearly shows how treacherous the Yoruba are. Onye ara.

Either way, I am not a Zik fan either. He believed in the illusion of One Naija. Now Michael Okpara is my hero.

If current matters would give you a better picture, in the UK recently as we all know, Nick Clegg and his Liberal Democrats Party negotiated with both Labour and the Conservative Parties before going into alliance with one over the other.

Parliamentary system of government does not deal with a mindset of permanent friends or enemies, if you consider the numerous clashes between both the Lib Democrats and the Conservatives b4 their present alliance. So negotiating with two parties is not an aberration under a parliamentary system. You can get more info on the workings of a parliamentary system on the internet.

The true point I picked out from this wonderful documentary is the failure of state governments to cater for and better the lives of their people which resulted in most of them relocating to Lagos to live on the dumps. We should focus on forcing our states to work and not necessarily see this as a failure of Lagos state. Watching the documentary was a blessing as it opened my eyes to many facts I ordinarily would ignore. To think I actually criticized the documentary without watching it, I feel so ashamed.

I support the fight for better wages but of what use is it when inflation follows every single wage increase? I believe workers should help lead the fight for better governance by acting as whistle-blowers for every single case of fraud perpetuated through their offices. After-all, even the smartest thieves need to file the records of their fraudulent acts.

Redman44:

However, I'm still wondering where the energy to run the light rail project will come from I feel the Lagos State Government needs to lobby the Federal Government to speed up work on the Electricity Legislation bills that will allow states to generate power individually. Then Fashola and his cabinet can invite foreign power companies to come and invest in the Lagos Independent power Project. I know some foreign Electricity companies are really interested in investing in the Nigerian economy.

Dunno exactly what the plans are but I do know Lagos does not need permission for an IPP solely to power this program. It only needs the FG if it intends to distribute and sell the power generated to its citizens. If Oando can be tempted enough to build and operate the IPP for the Lagos WaterWorks project, I believe it would be more than enticed as well to work out that for the rail as well.

nex:

Chinese firms are the best for this contract. The price though is what I think is outrageously low.

"LAMATA is currently tendering a design build contract for fixed infrastructure and a 25 year concession for operations and maintenance." (http://www.lagosrail.com/home/index.php)

If I'm not mistaken, it shows that they have split the rail contract into two, one for the fixed infrastructure and another for operations and maintenance.

@labiyemmy:

Why must everything that is developmental in Nigeria receive so much talk down and pessimism? Why then do we talk when things are not initiated? When they are initiated, we talk it down and condemn it so much more before even allowing it to take off? I am amazed.

it is even worse that such pessimism and negativity lacks objectivity based on the facts of such developmental plans.

The foremost companies in China are developing a track record for improved and cheaper facilities as evidenced by the following major contracts a simple search on google would bring up:

1) China Railway Construction Gets Libyan Railway Contract (http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2140511/)

2) US High-Speed Rail: China To Bid On Projects (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/13/us-highspeed-rail-china-t_n_497854.html)
this includes these lines "China produces high-speed trains using French, German and Japanese technology. Its manufacturers have developed a homegrown version but have yet to produce a commercial model.

Chinese rail authorities have signed cooperation memos with California and Russia and state companies plan to bid on a line in Brazil linking Rio de Janeiro with Sao Paulo, Wang said. He said Saudi Arabia and Poland also have expressed interest."

3) China Railway secures $4.8bn Indonesian coal line contract (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/831c4220-3876-11df-aabd-00144feabdc0.html)

This includes these lines "China's state rail groups have been winning rail projects across the world, including in the Middle East, south-east Asia, Latin America, Africa and Australia."

The Chinese may not have the years of experience but the truth is they are sitting on their butts waiting for a miracle to happen to improve their expertise.

Not inferring that this contract would be similar to the above-listed but have we studied the contract details. Do we as individuals intend to liaise and monitor the project as it goes on to ensure it meets the contract specifications?

It'd be better to read the contract details first before coming up here to discredit the project offhand.

Before the construction of the IPP solely to power the waterworks, I bet it would have been thought that diesel would have been used. Not holding brief for Fashola or LASG, just think constructive criticism based on facts would suffice.

PapaBrowne:

^^^
There is no way 8.05 billion can be 70% of the cost of this project. I thought this project was to cost close to a hundred billion Naira.
Abi these Chinese people wan construct tracks when go pack up in  2 weeks, just like that missing satelite they sold to Nigeria.
Or is it punch newspapers that can't get the figure right?

If I am not going to be misinforming you, I actually think it's the purchase of locomtives that constitute the bulk of railway infrastructure cost and not the tracks themselves,

old news!

Reading through the governor's comment properly would be better to understand the use of the website. It is primarily for unemployed youths to link up, exchange ideas on becoming self-reliant and further promote LASG's PPP.
A typical example is an unemployed building engineer, architect, accountant, etc coming together with a business plan on how to build quality low-cost housing units in Lagos in partnership with LASG.

They should focus on repositioning the region first instead of chasing shadows. It's just a shame they have been able to manipulate Awolowo's wife for a cause doomed to fail due to its irrelevance in the state things are.

I strongly believe this is one of the most misquoted statements in Nigerian history. To start with, this statement was part of a much longer address to Western(Yoruba+Edo+Delta) leaders of thought in 1967 when speculations were rife about the then pending secessions. Thus this was merely the thought and idea of one man who, despite his great popularity, was not a supreme leader but who merely proposed his own ideas which may or may not be accepted.
Superior arguments would have come to bear which made his position unacceptable and thus influenced the stand thereafter taken by leaders of the Western Region of whom Awolowo was one, albeit a powerful one. But to expect his position to always be taken is an anathema to his democratic credentials and tendencies.

it was not even the freak's senatorial district, shameless man, absentee senator,

Till I read from a credible source as Punch, I'd forever treat this as junk from Compass as is the practice of Compass. There would obviously be frictions as occurs even in families but that was a shoddy piece of journalistic writing. First Banire, then Ikuforiji then two of them acting in tandem, even when telling a lie, you should do so coherently and without such petty errors and pieces of falsehood.

It'd be the eighth wonder of the world to build and start operating a rail system in a year as the OP is insinuating. Even ordinary rail station maintenance work in London takes 12-18months.
We may all have different yardsticks for measuring success in public office but I think he has done well enough in arguably the most important aspect of good governance- human development. He has succeeded in reorientating a greater aspect of the Lagos populace as to the right purpose of life and power, he has helped improve self-discipline by using his own self as a foremost example. He still has a lot to do to transform Lagos in the true sense of it but I daresay he has the will to and it's only our CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM and VIGILANCE that can help spur him to stay in line and not mindless criticism!

The promises are very flowery and enticing but like many have asked before me, how does he hope to fund them all? One aspect of the late Awolowo's election campaign policies was how he intended to raise money to execute his sometimes seemingly outlandish programs as well as a detailed compilation of future expected earnings and work to be executed with the funds. Anything short of that to me is just another opportunity to appeal to the youth without really doing a solid groundwork on the task he wants to undertake.

The Minister of Information and Communications, Dora Akunyili, yesterday got more than she bargained for when Enerique Fernando Arrundell, the Venezuelan Ambassador to Nigeria, used the opportunity of his visit to her office to tell Nigerians some hard lessons on how to manage, develop and utilize their God-given natural resources for the benefit and good of all.

The envoy, who was responding to an appeal by Mrs. Akunyili to help woo some of his country’s investors to come in and establish refineries under the federal government's planned deregulation of the downstream sector of the nation's petroleum industry, advised Nigeria to rather look inwards and to take full control of the industry.

Though, he acknowledged Venezuela as a prominent member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) like Nigeria, he said his country will be willing to collaborate with the federal government to develop the industry.

The hard truth

[b]Mr. Arrundell said, “In Venezuela, since 1999, we’ve never had a raise in fuel price. We only pay $1.02 to fill the tank. What I pay for with N12,000 here (Nigeria), in Venezuela I’ll pay N400. What is happening is simple. Our President (Hugo Chavez) decided one day to control the industry, because it belongs to the Venezuelans. If you don’t control the industry, your development will be in the hands of the foreigners.

You have to have your own country. The oil is your country’s. Sorry I am telling you this. I am giving you the experience of Venezuela. We have 12 refineries in the United States, 18,000 gas stations in the West Coast. All we are doing is in the hands of the Venezuelans.”

The envoy said, “Before 1999, we had three or four foreign companies working with us. That time they were taking 80 per cent, and giving us 20. Now, we have 90 per cent, and giving them 10. But now, we have 22 countries working with us in that condition.

It is the Venezuelan condition. You know why? It is because 60 per cent of the income goes to social programmes. That’s why we have 22,000 medical doctors assisting the people in the community. The people don’t go to the hospital; doctors go to their houses. This is because the money is handled by the Venezuelans. How come Nigeria that has more technical manpower than Venezuela, with 150 million people, and very intellectual people all around, not been able to get it right? The question is: If you are not handling your resources, how are you going to handle the country?

“So, it is important that Nigeria takes control of her resources. We have no illiterate people. We have over 17 new universities totally free. I graduated from the university without paying one cent, and take three meals every day, because we have the resources. We want the resources of the Nigerian people for the Nigerians. It is enough! It is enough, Minister!”[/b]

Government’s plea

Earlier, Mrs. Akunyili thanked the Ambassador for his visit, saying it is a demonstration of his love for the African continent, pointing out that there has always been some level of bilateral trade between the two countries, though very skeletal, as a result of the low awareness of the latent potential of Nigeria as an investor’s goldmine.

Drawing attention to the huge potential in the nation’s telecommunications sector, which is being exploited optimally by South African investors, the Minister noted: “There has been trade between the two countries actually, but we do not have many Venezuelans setting up manufacturing outfits in Nigeria. I want you to use your good office to send a message across to your people that Nigeria is a goldmine for genuine investors. We want them to come invest just as other investors are doing in the telecoms sector.”

She gave the assurance that government will give them the full cooperation, adding that President Yar’Adua’s administration is working hard to ensure that the country’s economy is taken to the next level through the initiative of the seven-point agenda and Vision 20-2020, designed to make Nigeria one of the largest economies of the world by the year 2020.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Money/Business/5485512-146/story.csp

some very hard home truth that but sadly they never listen,