lordswill03: For how long. I don't gerrit. Is it that he paid off the expected amount to be made in a day or what. Does he now have powers to do that? That's one of the major IGR of the state oo
IkemChris: Political Access they might even make it last for one week ,later they will increase it once they are voted into power
johnjay4u2u: is he the Governor to declare free access? and if he paid, whose money did he use?
omo Eko r'onu. lagosians, think.
Eko o ni baje.
You can pay for free access for your potential customers. MTN and Pepsi have done it many times. Instead of paying the toll, commuters are given your promotional material.
Maiduguri Residents Protest Against YEDC For Supplying Them 24-Hour Electricity Daily
“YEDC should go back to the former supply system where electricity was supplied for 12 hours and not 24 hours recently being enjoyed. I work from 7pm to 4pm, so I do not need any electricity until I get home. But in this case whether you consume power or not, you will be billed to pay for it. I think this is not fair," one of the residents said.
Residents of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, have kicked against the 24-hour supply of electricity to their communities.
According to the residents, the constant electricity supply has increased the amount they pay for electricity and has led to "outrageous billings".
They accused the Yola Electricity Distribution Company (YEDC) of giving them high bills and called for a reversal to the 12-hour electricity supply they previously enjoyed.
Speaking with NAN, Ibrahim Suleiman, a resident of Bolori Layout, said: “YEDC should go back to the former supply system where electricity was supplied for 12 hours and not 24 hours recently being enjoyed. I work from 7am to 4pm, so I do not need any electricity until I get home. But in this case whether you consume power or not, you will be billed to pay for it. I think this is not fair."
Esther Chukwuma, another consumer, referred to the billing system as "frustrating", saying: "My bill indicated that I used 605 units in November and they charged N14,000 as against N6,500 for September where I used the same units. They are charging me for what I did not consume because during the day, I spend most of my time in my shop.
"I only use the electricity at night at home. I have a prepaid meter in the shop and I don’t spend more than N2,000 in a whole month. So how come I am not staying at home and I am being asked to pay N14,000. I am here in their office, demanding an explanation."
On her own, Fatima Musa, a widow, said: “I was given a bill of N15,000 monthly instead of the N5,000 I used to get monthly. I strongly disagree with this outrageous charges given without any explanation."
According to Mrs Musa, electricity consumers, especially those without prepaid meters constituted a higher percentage of those affected, as the billing process was “opaque and lacks transparency”.
Malam Abdullahi Bako, who lives in Gwange, accused YEDC of charging between N9,000 and N15,000 for electricity supplied to a one-room apartment in a month.
“We are being forced to pay for electricity we never consumed; this is extortion, we demand for transparency in the billing methodology,” Bako said.
Addressing the issues raised, Alhaji Usman Wakta, the YEDC Maiduguri Business Manager, said: “These complaints may be as a result of the commissioning of the 330kV transmission line which now supplies electricity 24 hours. On the average, we now supply electricity in the town for a minimum of 22 hours in a day, which simply implies that the consumption of energy by residents in the state have multiplied or even tripled itself.
“We took a simple study from our prepaid meters users and we found out that the people that usually came to buy unit of N2,000 or N3,000 in a month now have to spend N15,000 or N20,000 because of their energy usage. One thing we notice about the consumers is that they waste energy. People have this habit of leaving their lights on even in the afternoon.
“Go to some super markets or filling stations, you will see more than 200 bulbs on in the afternoon. So the more you load you use the more energy you consume."
Responding to the allegations of "outrageous billings for those without prepaid meters, Wakta said: ”We go to people’s home to do load assessment based on the gadgets they have in the house and bill them accordingly."
Desire Oparanozie has stated that she is happy and excited to play against France at next summer's World Cup. She stated this in a recent video. Here is a transcript of the video.
Particularly, maybe because I play in France, it’s going to be more or less like playing on home soil for me and er, I’m equally excited because we are playing France in our last group game, you know, because,
I’m excited about that because it will give us the room to redeem ourselves, having lost against them in April earlier this year. It was a disgraceful loss against them and that was because we were inactive for about 16 months before we went into that game and you know, this is a team that has been preparing since last year prior to that game. They’ve been utilising every FIFA calendar date, every international break and all that, so when you are playing against a team like that you don’t stand a lot of chance against them.
But I’m happy we are playing them in the group stage. That will give us the opportunity to let them understand that what happened in April earlier this year was a fluke. With Nigerian Football Federation support on us, getting into the World Cup, if given adequate preparation and all the support we need to get into the world stage, I think. . .I believe we will match them strength to strength, physique to physique, whatever it is they bring on the field of play.
So I’m particularly excited and another motive, I know it’s the same for my colleagues, we want to exceed the previous World Cup record we’ve had in the past, that’s getting past the group stage, probably getting to the quarter-final or the semi-final. We have everything it takes to make this happen and I believe we can achieve this in next summer’s World Cup.
Thank you.
VIDEO: After being drawn with hosts France, Norway and Korea DPR, Desire @oparanozie9 has said: "I am happy we are playing @equipedefrance in the group stage and that will give us opportunity to prove that what happened during the (April) friendly was a fluke." @FIFAWWC@thenffpic.twitter.com/8lNaIoTrGY
GeneralOjukwu: Well Naptu2, you are the resident historian..... i bow to your vast knowledge.
You, obafemee80, Royalblak007 and Explorers always have great articles. I salute
laurel03
There's a reason why people wrongly assume that no sitting president has ever been involved in a presidential debate. It's because of the following controversies:
1) 1999: There was an election debate in 1999 and I watched both sessions of the debate. Atiku Abubakar debated Umaru Shinkafi in the vice presidential debate, but Olusegun Obasanjo failed to show up for the presidential debate.
2) 2003: The NEDG and BON organised the debate in 2003 and all candidates attended. However, President Obasanjo's ex-wife, Major Moji Obasanjo was one of the presidential candidates and she had spent most of her campaign attacking and insulting her ex-husband. People wanted to see the fireworks that would fly when both candidates met on stage. However, the NEDG announced that there would be two sessions of the debate because there were too many candidates and the candidates would be grouped in alphabetical order. The result was that all other candidates debated in the first session while Obasanjo was the only candidate in the second session.
3) 2011: There was a new television station called NN24. It was a news channel on DSTV and it was not a member of BON. It held its own presidential debate and Buhari (CPC), Shekarau (ANPP) and Ribadu (ACN) were present at its debate. However, President Jonathan said that he did not recognise the NN24 debate. He said that there was already an official organisation that organises debates and so there was no need for another debate. So he boycotted the debate. Consequently, the ANPP, ACN and CPC boycotted the BON debate and President Jonathan was the only presidential candidate that was involved in the BON debate.
4) 2015: President Jonathan attended the BON debate, where he debated against the candidates of the National Conscience Party (NCP), the United Democratic Party (UDP), KOWA Party and the United Peoples Party (UPP). However, Muhammadu Buhari of the APC boycotted the debate.
How We Chose Participating Parties For Presidential Debate – NEDG
Channels Television Updated December 13, 2018
The Nigeria Elections Debate Group (NEDG) has explained how five political parties were selected to participate in the presidential and vice-presidential debates.
NEDG Executive Secretary, Eddie Emesiri, said in a statement on Thursday that the parties for the debate were picked through an independently administered multi-stage process.
The statement was issued in reaction to the criticism triggered by the number of political parties selected by the group and the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON), organisers of the debates.
Emesiri stressed that the decision to select five parties was taken at the beginning of the process to ensure that the debates were managed effectively.
He said, “We wish to emphatically state that the NEDG and BON were not influenced or induced by anyone to include or exclude any political party from the debate.”
“We understand the disappointment of some political parties who would have wished to see their candidates share their visions for the country at the Debates.”
Read the full statement below;
Further to our earlier announcement of participating parties for the Presidential Debates, the organising partners of the Debates hereby reiterate the transparency and independence of the selection process that resulted in the five participating political parties.
Firstly, we would like to state that the Presidential Debates are organised by a partnership of the Nigeria Elections Debate Group (NEDG) and Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON), a broad coalition of over 100 public and private broadcasters in Nigeria with coverage of terrestrial radio, television, direct-to-home, digital terrestrial television and multimedia distribution system. The members of BON are responsible for over 250 radio and TV stations across Nigeria.
The choice of participating parties for the debate was made through an independently administered multi-stage process. The first stage was an independent online poll and the second involved the distribution of survey questionnaires per state, to professionals, artisans, students, etc; respondents were within the voting age and spread across urban, semi-urban and rural classifications. The third stage was to take an aggregate of the stage result and extend invitations to the top 5 parties for the debate.
Following our disclosure of the participating parties earlier in the week, our attention has been drawn to some reactions in the public space over the decision to limit the participation to five parties and exclusion of some party flag bearers from the debate. Considering the vast number of contending parties, the decision to limit to five parties was taken at the beginning of our process to ensure ease of management for the debates. All the stages of the selection process were focused on political parties, taking into consideration the importance of national spread and diversity. Focus was not on specific individuals or candidates.
We wish to emphatically state that the NEDG and BON were not influenced or induced by anyone to include or exclude any political party from the debate. We understand the disappointment of some political parties who would have wished to see their candidates share their visions for the country at the Debates. However, Nigerians have spoken through the multi-stage process and we urge all Nigerians to respect their choice as we abide by the outcome of the independent party selection process.
The Vice-Presidential Debate and the Presidential Debate are scheduled for Friday, December 14, 2018, and Saturday, January 19, 2019, respectively.
Eddie Emesiri Executive Secretary Nigeria Election Debate Group Dateline: Abuja, December 12, 2018
The vice presidential debate ahead of the 2019 general elections will take place today at the Congress Hall of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja. The debate is being organised by the Nigerian Election Debate Group (NEDG) and the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON). It will be shown live on all BON stations (NTA, Channels TV, AIT, Silverbird TV, etc.).
obayaya: Bishop Kukah is the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese and not Abuja as stated in your write-up
Yes, I saw the error just after the thread got to the home page, but I can't correct it because the post is locked (because the thread is on the home page).
There has been an uproar due to a report that INEC will allow IDPs in Niger and Chad to vote in the 2019 general elections. INEC has made it clear that the report is false. There will be no diaspora voting in the 2019 general elections.
The Super Sand Eagles of Nigeria have qualified for the Beach Soccer World Cup in Paraguay despite having the worst preparation possible (in fact they had no preparation at all). They defeated hosts Egypt in the semi-final of the Beach Soccer African Cup of Nations this afternoon to book their ticket to the World Cup.
12 Dec 2018
Nigeria first team to qualify for the World Cup in Paraguay
Egypt were beaten to the final by the Sand Eagles, who become the first to qualify for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Paraguay as Abu scores goal 100 for Nigeria
After beating their hosts Egypt in the semi-final of the CAF Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations 2018, Nigeria become the first side, excluding the automatically qualified hosts, Paraguay, to make it to the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2019.
Elsewhere, there were wins in the play-off for Madagascar against first-timers, Tanzania, as well as Côte d’Ivoire, who beat Libya by six goals to three.
But first, let's look at how today's semi-final went down, where Abu Azeez scored his 100th goal for Nigeria...as well as his 101st, 102nd and 103rd!
Egypt 6-7 Nigeria (SEMI-FINAL)
Victory against two-time champions Nigeria today, would see hosts Egypt make it to the final on home sand, guarantee their best ever finish in the Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations, and of course, a precious place at the FIFA World Cup 2019 in Paraguay.
However, Nigeria were not about to go easy on their hosts and Abu Azeez struck his 100th goal for his country after a period of high pressure from the men in green. Then Taiwo ran on to a long pass to arrow a low shot past Mohamed Fawzy in the Egyptian goal.
Trailing by two already, the hosts had to come up with something soon and stop the previous edition’s runners-up. And they did exactly that, when Moustafa Aly drove a freekick home to pin Nigeria back to just one goal ahead.
The crowd revitalised, Egypt kept up the attack but importantly defended furiously to make sure that the first period ended with the game within sight, at just 1-2.
As the second period started, Egypt were looking the more dangerous of the sides and Paul, the Nigeria goalkeeper, was kept busy, pulling off some impressive stops. But another goal eluded them, until Costa found a sliver of space to pelt a low shot into the corner, giving Paul no chance this time.
Aware of their dominance, Egypt were moving over the sand with confidence, but when Ogbonna sent a cleanly-hit chip into the top corner, Nigeria were leading once more. Abu then made it 2-4, grabbing his second of the day. But Samir, a minute after missing a penalty, dragged Egypt back once more, by scoring a freekick.
The third period got underway with the hosts just one behind Audu Ejo Adamu’s men. As Abu completed a hat-trick, Samir was there, once more, to volley home after a sublime piece of teamwork, and the difference remained the same.
And then, a penalty, and the chance to draw level. Mohamed stepped up, took a deep breath and powered the shot past Paul to equalise - 5-5! With the prospect of a place in the FIFA World Cup ahead of them, Egypt were throwing everything they had at the Nigerians who were suddenly looking vulnerable, lunging into tackles and giving away valuable freekicks.
Abu picked the defender’s pocket to take the lead yet again, but just a minute later Egypt were level when Mohamed scored a beauty of an overhead. Extra time was snatched cruelly from them, when more defensive complacency saw Ogbonna nick the ball, calmly finish and take the game 6-7 for Nigeria.
The heart-broken hosts sank to the sand while the ecstatic Nigerians celebrated wildly. These sides will have to wait until tomorrow to see who they face in the 3rd place play-off and who will join Nigeria in the final, and Paraguay.
Goals: 0-1: Abu, min. 6 (1); 0-2: Taiwo, min. 3 (1); 1-2: Moustafa Aly, min. 2 (1); 2-2: Costa, min. 6 (2); 2-3: Ogbonna, min. 4 (2); 2-4: Abu, min. 3 (2); 3-4: Samir, min. 1 (2); 3-5: Abu, min. 10 (3); 4-5: Samir, min. 9 (3); 5-5: Mohamed, min. 7 (3); 5-6: Abu, min. 5 (3); 6-6: Mohamed, min. 3 (3); 6-7: Ogbonna, min. 0 (3);
Politics › Re: Sanwo-olu Provides Free Access Through Lekki Toll Gate by naptu2: 7:11am On Dec 19, 2018
