₦airaland Forum

2012 Budget contains N78.98 Billion for Agriculture. This is more than enough to support tomato farmers very aggressively. A Tomato czar should be appointed to transform that industry. Imagine if only 50% of the money we spend by being the world's largest importer of tomato paste, stays inside of Nigeria!!

GEJ, this area alone could produce quick wins for your administration - its not too late sir. You are our President and we want you to succeed.

GEJ's friends who financed his presidential campaign are beneficiaries of the status quo. We can be rest assured that these issues will not be addressed promptly. Their focus is oil, oil,oil, subsidy, subsidy, subsidy!!!

One sure thing is that, Buhari would not cater to these enemies of progress. GEJ on the other hand, though a very good human being is joined at the hips to these subsidized enemies of progress.

SMH

We have a large cotton belt but import textiles from China (thus keeping their subsidized factories open and jobs in china).


We are the world's number one producer of cassava but import cassava starch from Europe.

We have a huge tomato belt in Kadawa, Jigawa and Chad Basin but are the world's largest importer of tomato paste - from China and Italy.


We can produce rice but we import rice from Thailand and India-most of it from grain reserves that have been in stock for over 5 years.

What are GEJ's plans to address these issues? Inquiring minds wanna know.

Statistics appear to grossly under-estimate the immensity of poverty that define Nigeria’s paradox of ‘rich country with poor masses’. More than 90% of Nigerians are poor and exist largely at the mercy of fate.

These realities are much more obvious in rural areas and slums. In these places people die because they cannot afford N500 to purchase needed medication or basic public healthcare.

It is a very obvious reality in today’s Nigeria! As strange as it may sound, this is going on side-by-side with ostentatious living by the 1%

Beaf & Onlylies, get lost, olodo

Callotti, Oh my, I just saw your profile pic. Hope you didn't fall down from tripping. Pele o.

Lets hope Buhari has great ideas and the vision to address this problem.

Femi Awoyemi, in a lucid and thoughtful article in the April 5 Leadership (Abuja) highlights that more than ninety percent of Nigeria’s population is poor “and exists largely at the mercy of fate.” In his “Nigeria: Paradox of the Country’s Economic Growth and Poverty Levels,” he highlights the results of the Harmonized Nigeria Living Standards Survey prepared by the National Bureau of Statistics. This survey shows that that 69 percent of the population fits the “Nigeria poverty profile,” and that poverty and inequality have increased since 2003/2004. Yet, ostensibly the country’s economy is growing at the rate of seven percent a year.

If Nigeria is getting richer, how can Nigerians be getting poorer?

Drawing on the statistical data, Awoyemi observes that much of the growth is related to oil, telecoms, finance, the stock market and real estate. And civil servants and corrupt politicians are also doing well. Yet none of these industries are labor intensive and do little to reduce the country’s very high unemployment rate. A consequence is that the distribution of income is getting worse, not better.

Citing Central Bank governor Lamido Sanussi, Awoyemi observes that Nigeria’s macro-economic policies have encouraged import consumption rather than local production. To address increasing poverty, Nigeria needs a “growth inclusive” model that will emphasize domestic production of goods consumed and that will reduce unemployment.

Source

Below is the photograph of a man, Femi Awoyemi, selling books at a roadside stall as he waits for customers in the Lagos Island district March 26, 2012.

Story on the next page.

Ndu_Chucks has to take over the reign as Eze Igbo NL Gburugburu ASAP. We all know of Onlytruthlies and truth be told, oru ya di njo (his works are bad.)

Ndu_Chucks has arrived and our people talk say, ihe ka-nte bata n'onu nte, nte etefu (when something greater than the pigmy cricket enters its hole, it takes off).

Onlylies, its time for you to vamoose!!!

Vote Ndu_Chucks

Looordy Looor Lod !!!

ekwy nwa: one hour for what? is your network that slow? ndu free me a beg, am enjoying NL, nothing serious.

Free you ke? ngwanu, Kowara m ihe mere.

This was going to be a nice exercise until the OP spoilt it by putting BecomerichR on the list (the OP is the only one who does not know that Becomerichr cannot lose a NL poll.

Aj'okutamamunmis also thwarted it by their antics. Kedu kordi; Igbo kwenu na dis place

ekwy nwa: ndu o gini? am i the only one on this thread?, cant i laugh again? stop taking life too seriously

That was not an ordinary laugh. You must have searched for at least 1 hour brfore you found the hilarious gif, no?

Beaf, aboki na, cut your losses and disappear, don't let these babes disgrace you for hia.

@ekwy nwa, O bialu be onye abiagbuna ya, mgbe o ga-ala mkpumkpu apukwana ya n'azu. make u no talk say I no warn you.

Nna, these Yoruba babes are strong willed, tough, and aggressive. Me likey.

You people should have known that the "election" was over as soon as you included Bicomerichr in the list of candidates. BecomerichR, mo ri owo e o.

auwal87: It is unfortunate that the sultan involves himself in this public deception and propaganda. Building of classes will not solve the menace of Almajiri in Nigeria, the problem of Almajiri is not lack of classes or schools, it is parents who gave birth to children they cannot take care of and they send them to cities in the name of seeking Islamic education, that is it! Ban Almajiri and make it illegal, take care of the schools located in villages, build more classes there and the alaramma can teach them in those classes as extra lesson after normal school hours. There is nothing good in establishing Almajiri education, this is absolute error and it will not go anywhere.

You identified a problem which needs to be solved - i.e. adults who are having children without the ability to raise them hence sending them away under the pretext of Almajiri education. I agree that this problem needs to be addressed very urgently.

Would you agree with me that the children who have already been born, be given the opportunity of good education, even if it is in the form of the 400 Almajiri schools being planned by the government?

DaLover: Ndu_chucks please close ur eyes, pretend this is the 1960s, cocoa is a major export earner for the country, and all operational, financial, contracting, employment, investment decisions are made in cocoa house located in kano!
Meanwhile the natural resourses are coming from the southwest...
Is it too much to ask for simple rational thinking here?

Please do not close your eyes and invoke sentiments in order to make any business decision in real life. We are in the 21st century for goodness sake.

If you can come up with a business case for moving the HQ to Port Harcourt, let's hear it.

What are the specific business activities which take place at the Lagos HQ?

Beaf: ^
Do manual labourers fly by helicopter?

Good, so what percentage of these flyers travel on a regular basis and why? If only a handful of them need to travel frequently because telephones, emails, other electronic communications devices are insufficient to meet their needs, why can't those employees relocate? Why move the whole head quarters.

Again I ask you, what percentage of the staff at the Lagos head quarters have to travel on a regular basis to necessitate this move. If you don't know, simply state so, we don't have to know everything.

I hope you are not supporting this move due to tribal interests? I await your sensible response.


@odumchi, are heavy trucks used in exploratory activities parked in Lagos?

Beaf: The oil sector has grown tremendously over the past couple of years. The article is just marketing propaganda for the benefit of foreigners.

The bolded is not accurate. Economic growth remains strong in Nigeria, because non-oil real gross domestic product (GDP) estimated to have grown at 8.3-8.6 percent in 2011, while we've had negative growth in the oil sector.

Here's a link to an article which you may find quite informative. The article contains some selected Economic and Financial Indicators covering 2007–12.

Beaf: People have already told of how they needed to board Bristow helo's and aerocontractor planes like taxi shuttles between Lagos and the ND.
That sort of thing only makes sense when there are underhand deals to fund such stress.

Cut out the deals and business sense takes over.

How many of the employees have to travel and what's the frequency of the travels? I still await an answer to my question:

"Given that business operations can be managed from any part of the world, these days, I'm interested in the real reason for this move. What are the activities of the employees of NLNG at the current Lagos location? No guesses please, if you know the answer, please inform me."

Are these travelers manual laborers and if not, why can't they communicate with ND employees electronically and telephone? I bet these travelers make up less than 0.1% of the Lagos employees - do you know the numbers or are your guesses based on heresay?

This thread has quite a few posts and I haven't had time to go through every post, but I will shortly. What is the real reason for relocating the NLNG headquarter to Port-Harcourt.

Given that business operations can be managed from any part of the world, these days, I'm interested in the real reason for this move. What are the activities of the employees of NLNG at the current Lagos location? No guesses please, if you know the answer, please inform me.

400 Almajiri schools will require hundreds or even thousands of good teachers. I'd also recommend that well trained government agents be embedded in the schools to make sure that teachers who may be agents of foreign governments, Al Quaeda, or anti Nigeria extremists are rooted out promptly.

My own be say, who gave tenisuga(f), a person that cannot urinate while standing up (well without issues), the audacity, the pomposity, the chutzpah, the boldness, the authority, and the temerity, to set the rules, pick the number of people to put on the polls, decide on who to disqualify and who not to disqualify? I say WHO??

Women are supposed to be barefooted and pregnant in the vicinity of kings' compounds! Abi the Yorubas have westernized ni?

Shehu Sani is simply drawing more attention to the plight of the youths of Nigeria and in particular, the Almajiris. He is very passionate about the urgency with which we need to deal with any issue, as a matter of fact.

The fact remains that this step by GEJ will achieve much more than those of others Presidents before him, if the program is actually carried out and 400 of those schools are established as promised by GEJ. The most important element of Shehu Sani's statement is below:

If President Jonathan is seriously committed to addressing the root causes of poverty and violence in Northern Nigeria and other part of the country, he must demonstrate with the same spirit, zeal, passion,speed and interest as wesee him in action in the Niger Delta states.

He is simply keeping the heat on the President to make sure that he fulfills his promise completely. I cannot fault the man for that, the heat is necessary.

error

Beaf: If we are to be real, it would take superhuman effort to break up Nigeria (the reason is below), so its best we learn to live together as one.
In global politics, Nigeria is seen as a country that is too big to fail for the following reasons:

1. Nigeria accounts for 20% of the entire African population.
2. A break up will see at least two thirds of our 167 million people nosedive into extreme poverty.
3. Extreme religion and al qaeda will take firm root in the core-North.
4. Desperation will force the disadvantaged two thirds into an all or nothing war with the priviledged (potentially affecting US oil flow).
5. The wars from the break up will distabilise the entire West and Central Africa, as well as vast swathes of North Africa.
6. Raw greed. The movers and shakers of the World see Nigeria as a future investment haven, breaking up will rubbish their projections.
7. It is in America's security interest that Nigeria remains united to blunt extremism in parts of the North.

^^^^+1000 It appears that the Pre-Election Beaf may be returning. Its a miracle!

sizzlers: gud move by gej but what of those almajiris dat has outgrown primary school age?

Excellent point. A comprehensive program like the one provided for the rehabilitation of the former foot soldiers in the SS, many of who were marginalized and abused children, just like many Almajiris are, is in order.

These youths are worth saving, they are our brothers and our future.

Sweetlemon: I must say that this picture is soooooo heartwarming! I just pray this actually turns out well and I desperately hope he continues to do good things like this throughout his remaining tenure.

Good things will come out of this. I believe millions of Almajiris will ultimately be brought outof the current delipidated schools and off the streets.

Thanks to the Islamic bank, the marginalized and exploited God's children, the Almajiris, will be delivered. Only last month, President Goodluck Jonathan approved the establishment of 400 Amajiri schools across the country., according to the Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu

Additionally, the new [b] Islamic Development Bank Group (IDB) belingual education programme will support the Nigerian government policy with $98million [/b]to integrate and modernise Almajiri and Tsangaya schools.

This is great news.

cogitoErgo: are these really almajiris, where are their bowls?
girls dont do almajiris, they are married off!

The children, the Almajiris, who your are quick to make fun of, are some of the most marginalized Nigerians. They suffer from neglect by the government, at all levels, and this neglect is made possible because of enablers such as you.

They are God's children who are victimized and should not be ridiculed as you are doing above. You should feel ashamed of yourself. dolo

The man is photogenic. Handsome boys and leaders of tommorrow. Everyone and everything about this photograph is beautiful.

But come o, where are the schools for the girls?

PointB: lol, your antecedent precedes you!

Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh!
By their fruits, yea shall know them!

Coming from you, I am vindicated. Ewu efulefu, ofe mmanu wannabe.