₦airaland Forum

An Israeli researcher, Dr. Joseph Shevel said low investment in education by Nigerian politicians is attributed to the fact that the sector takes a long time to mature and getting returns requires patience.

In a keynote address he delivered at the third international conference organized by the Faculty of Social Sciences of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Shevel, who is the President of Galilee Institute, Israel and a member of Israeli Prime Minister’s committee on Social Policy, described education as the future for any nation because of its ripple effect on all sectors of human endeavour.

According to him, to be on the right path for development, a country’s budget for education must meet the basic international standard in line with the Dakar Recommendation. He expressed regret that while the recommendation was that budget for education must not be less than 5% of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Nigeria’s budget for education has been hovering around 1.5%.

Shevel said the economic crisis facing Nigeria is an opportunity to go back to the basics, noting that the country’s problem is an interim situation that could be overcome with hard work and determination.

He said there was no reason for Nigeria to be among the world’s poorest nations going by the enormous resources she is endowed with.
“The rivers in Nigeria are enough for the country to have enough fish and for export. The land resources are enough to grow crops that can feed the whole of Africa.
What is required is the will to do what is necessary,” Shevel said.

http://www.theinfostride.com/2015/12/israeli-researcher-reveals-why-nigerian-politicians-dont-invest-in-education/#ixzz41UJiX69d

Not surprised the least by Fashola's comments on the reactions to the hike
If you lived in Lagos when he held sway, his achievements were more elitist than populist
While we might have to pay more for electricity due to the MYTO, how come the tariff went up by 45% in one fell swoop?
In the lead up to this increase, figures of between 20-40% were bandied in the press, yet 45% is now been forced upon us
Let us not forget that the ruling Nigerian elite and their cronies own the energy infrastructure
This are the very people who have impoverished many with their rape and pillaging of this land
Shame on you if you think it is about Fashola or Buhari
Nah!
It is about an elitist structure who get fat on you and your generations while they perpetuate and replenish on the good of the land.

It is clear this intended loan thing wasn't thought through by the present government
While the CBN $11 loan to the banks may create liquidity problems if the government insists on its immediate repayment [like the TSA did], the other outstanding receivables can immediately generate beyond the sought $3.5b loan and even add to our foreign reserves
You can only wonder how many more of such FG monies that have 'gone' with the wind
Non the less like Captain1Nigeria infers, hope the FG listening

A Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), has warned the Federal Government against obtaining loan from the World Bank to finance the 2016 budget.

The Federal Government had disclosed plan to borrow $2.5bn from the World Bank and another $1bn from the African Development Bank.

But Falana, who wrote to the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, on Friday, argued that there was no need to obtain $3.5bn loan to finance the budget when the Federal Government could recover about $66.5bn it was being owed.

The lawyer urged the Federal Government to drop its proposition to obtain World Bank loan, noting that it required the endorsement of the International Monetary Fund, which he said, usually imposed stringent conditions on borrowing countries.

He lamented that the debt profile of the country had now grown to $64bn after it took much effort in 2005 for the country to exit the London/Paris Club after struggling to repay a loan of $12.4bn.

Falana urged the Federal Government to make effort to recover the over $66.5bn accruable to it, rather than obtain loan to finance the budget.

According to him, part of the said $66.5bn was the sum of $20.2bn in form of underpayment/underassessment of taxes, royalties, levies and rents, which a former Executive Secretary of the National Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, called on the Federal Government to recover.

Falana also recalled that there was about $11bn which the Central Bank of Nigeria injected into the banking industry between 2006 and 2008 as bailout to commercial banks, which had yet to be recovered.

Besides these, Falana also recalled that the Federal Government had on September 6, 2015 announced that the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation was in the process of recovering the sum of $9.6bn in “over deducted tax benefits from joint venture partners on major capital projects and the legacy OPA/SWAP oil contracts.”

He also made reference to the $750m of the late Gen. Sani Abacha’s loot, which the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), said arrangements had been concluded on it to recover.

Finally, he also recalled that the a recent probe by the Senate revealed that the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria had accumulated about $25bn which, according to AMCON’s Managing Director, Ahmed Kuru, was owed by “big men who fly in private jets, live in big mansions and they have taken money and they are not paying back.”

Falana said, “From the foregoing, you will agree with us that the hapless Nigerian people should not be made to pay for the gross mismanagement of the national economy by the Federal Government and the profligacy of the pampered members of the ruling class.

“Instead of taking a loan of $2.5bn with dangerous conditionalities from the World Bank, the Federal Government should recover the aforesaid loans and revenues of not less than $66.5bn with the assistance of the anti-graft agencies.

“While acknowledging the concerted efforts to recover the looted wealth of the nation through the anti-graft agencies and the Arms Procurement Panel, the Buhari Administration should embark on the immediate recovery of the aforesaid loans and accrued revenues with a view to financing the 2016 budget and the infrastructural development of the nation.”

http://www.punchng.com/dont-take-world-bank-loan-falana-tells-fg/

call

call

Inception:
IT IS WELL

Its really not that simple!
Seeing realities on ground have been overtaken by events and the government's economic pu-ssyfooting
Oil ain't rebounding to $50-60 any time soon and the dollar's strength is hitting even well run economies
Its now no longer a question of IF but that of WHEN
However IF an IMPROBABLE ECONOMIC MIRACLE happens, we'd hail Buhari
And that's a big IF

Makes sense!
Deal cast Nigeria in bad light internationally in the first instance.
None the less, you must ask if Buhari's silver bullet i.e. fighting corruption and loot retrieval ONLY will take us to economic Eldorado?
What about sound fiscal and monetary policies to compliment the loot recovery?
What about building up of and effective capacity strengthening of our broken down institutions rather than just the use of his body language?
Obama noted Africa needed strong institutions rather than strong men when he visited Ghana in 2009
IBB was a strong man
Abacha was even stronger
Obasanjo was a civilian dictator
But what was the state of our institutions when they left?
What will Buhari turn out to be?
What will be the state of our institutions when he leaves?
The answer is blowing in the wind

.

.

Although experts have clamoured for the devaluation of the naira in the light of the nation’s depleting foreign exchange reserves, the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Monetary Policy Committee may not do so during its first bi-monthly meeting for this year, it has been learnt.

Sources close to the CBN and members of the committee said the two-day meeting, which commences today (Monday), would only review policy measures taken so far in the past year, adding that key policy issues, especially as regards the need to devalue the naira, might be delayed till the March or May meeting.

It was further learnt that President Muhammadu Buhari’s stance of not devaluing the naira would influence the voting pattern of the 11-member MPC when issues that border on the exchange rate policy are considered.

The CBN has in the last one year adopted a number of administrative forex control measures to safeguard the naira in place of devaluation.

Although the naira has been pegged at between 197 and 199 at the interbank official market against the United States dollar, the local currency has fallen as low as 295 to the greenback at the parallel market.

The immediate past Governor of the CBN, Mallam Lamido Sanusi; Managing Director, Financial Derivatives Limited, Mr. Bismarck Rewane; and other local and foreign economists have called for the devaluation of the naira, insisting that the current forex control measures were counterproductive.

The forex control measures, which have to do with rationing the dollars, have hurt the economy amid slow growth.

But economists said although the way forward was for the MPC to adjust the exchange rate, they said this was unlikely considering the mood of the Federal Government.

“The mood of the Federal Government is that the rates will be kept unchanged. The Cash Reserve Ratio and the Monetary Policy Rate will be left unchanged, while the exchange rate will also be left unchanged,” the Managing Director, Cowry Asset Management Limited, Mr. Johnson Chukwu, said.

The Head, Research and Investment Advisory, Afrinvest West Africa Limited, Mr. Ayodeji Ebo, also predicted that the exchange rate, CRR and MPR would likely be left unchanged.

He, however, said the MPC might choose to adjust some of the forex control measures, saying, “The list of banned items may be reviewed considering the fact that the naira volatility became serious when those 41 items were banned from the official CBN window.”

Currency strategist at Ecobank Nigeria, Mr. Kunle Ezun, said it was unlikely that the MPC would take any major policy decision, adding that the committee might delay major decisions till future meetings within the year.

Analysts at FBN Quest Research in their economic note said, “The next meeting of the MPC takes place in Abuja on Monday and Tuesday. Judging by the intensity of the media commentary, we could be forgiven for thinking that its only decision is whether to adjust its exchange rate policy.

“The depletion of official reserves, the slide in the oil price and the intermittent global market turmoil emanating from China and elsewhere could make a good case for devaluation. We are not so sure. The preference of the CBN and the MPC is to deploy administrative measures.

“We would not be surprised by some new measures. In any event, the committee may well want to assess the impact of its recent steps before announcing a devaluation, or even introducing some new ones.”

Meanwhile, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry has asked the CBN to urgently articulate a comprehensive framework for the autonomous foreign exchange market.

According to the LCCI, the autonomous market is currently the major forex market and its scope needs to be clearly defined.

In a statement signed by the Director-General of the LCCI, Mr. Muda Yusuf, on Sunday, the chamber noted that the move would ensure a deeper forex market.

It added that sources of foreign exchange such as Diaspora remittances, export proceeds, forex sales by foreign investors and multinational companies as well as forex sales by donor agencies and other non-governmental organisations should be allowed to be freely traded in the autonomous market.

jokesmaster:
How do I fix BSOD?

Final Solution

- Download this program: Blue Screen of Death Fixer - http://www.datafilehost.com/d/74dcf5ba

- Run Installer

- After Installation, run the program.

- Click on SCAN and allow the program to find all BSOD errors.

Now, click REPAIR button and patiently wait for the program to do it's job.
After that, restart your PC and your BSOD error is gone!

This is where I have issues with
WHY DO I HAVE TO DOWNLOAD SOME UNKNOWN SOFTWARE PROGRAM UNTO MY PC?
An unknown executable file to run on Windows
It could be a backdoor, trojan, logic bomb etc
Most people would who are computer savvy fall to computing security vulnerabilities
How much more non-techies that don't understand digital 1's and 0's?
I don't blame the op but the moderator who rushed it to the home page without vetting it

Call me

Call me

Smile!

If this figures doesn't churn your stomach
If this grand larceny don't anger you, i wonder what will?
But we need to build strong institutions else this financial haemorrhaging will continue

How some people can play politics when the economy is in dire straits beats me hollow
Such people need psychological evaluation at Yaba left turning
Its the economy we are talking about here, stupid!
While Buhari seems to have an obsession with fighting kwaruption, other economic stimulating activities must not take a back seat
Like I said prior, where are the government's fiscal policies?
Non the less, I doubt if even the well managed economies would have survived the grand larceny which took place under Jonathan
BTW, Trillville is making some very sound contributions
Kudos!

Season's greetings

Season's greetings

Fulaman198:
In regards to virtualization, Intel chips should hold the advantage thanks to hyper-V.

Just to clarify,
Are saying AMD-V has no Hyper-V advantages?

happney65:
Did you watch the video where the Generals where begging miscreants to give him way?Miscreants who where wielding cutlass and sticks threatening Generals of the Nigerian Army over a road that belongs to all us.Please go and watch the Video first..Even in the US,Nobody dares do such..I guess you know Americans are even being killed by the Police and they are discharged and acquitted by the Court..

If I am the Nigerian President and my Chief of Army Staff was made to turn back on a Nigerian road blocked by some hooligans, I'd sack him. The day the Chief of army staff is prevented from moving in this country, then who else can move around freely?

Thank You

And thus they had to massacre this miscreants?
Have you ever heard that those who are strongest ought to show restraint the most?
Is the Army just knowing about the activities of the Shias?
From what we have read about this people, its not the first time they've blocked the road?
The Army chief flying to the Army depot to do his function is not a show of cowardice
Rather, it would have been wisdom for the way many Northerners reason is baffling at times
Afterwards, the political and spiritual leadership of the Shias would have been approached with the government firmly impressing on the need for curtailing of their followers to act within ambit of the law
But what to we have?
Nigeria: Stars on their shoulders: Blood on their hands: War crimes committed by the Nigerian military part 2
And then you wonder if Amnesty International wasn't spot on with last's years report on the Nigerian military and their use of excessive force
Take a chill pill

Fresh details have emerged on how members of the National Assembly Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution withdrew N7.75 billion purportedly to amend Nigerian constitution.

PREMIUM TIMES had last week exposed how the federal lawmakers collected the money in tranches to purportedly alter the document between 2011 and 2015, but which former President Goodluck Jonathan refused to sign into law.

While the 49-member Senate Committee on Constitution Review led by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, withdrew a total N4,500,000.00 for the exercise, the 53-member House of Representatives Committee headed by the former Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha, spent N3,250,000,000.00.

The documents, exclusively obtained by this newspaper, also showed that the Committee withdrew money from its account few days before the 2015 general elections. The presidential and National Assembly elections held on March 28.

While on March 2, it withdrew N83.33m, it withdrew the same amount 21 days later, precisely on March 23. Yet, on April 13, two days after the governorship election, it withdrew another N83.33m.

The fresh documents exclusively obtained by this newspaper which exposed bank transactions showed that the two committees transferred various sums of money from two National Assembly accounts – 321/212/606/1/1/0 and 321/212/606/1/1/3 domiciled in Guarantee Trust Bank to their own accounts in different banks.

While the House Committee transferred funds to its account in Zenith Bank, its counterpart in the Senate transferred monies to its three accounts domiciled in Bank PHB (now Keystone Bank), Oceanic Bank (now EcoBank) and United Bank for Africa.

According to the documents, the House Committee transferred to its Zenith Bank account N500m on December 16, 2011; N500m on May 17, 2012; N250m on August 6, 2013; and N250m on November 11, 2013; N250m on February 20, 2014; N250m on May 27, 2014; N250m on August 21, 2014; N166.5m on a date not specified; N83.5m on December 5, 2014; and N83.33 on March 2, 2015.

The committee, on different occasions, also withdrew huge amounts in cash, serially violating Nigerian money laundering law.

Part 1, Subsection 1 of the Money Laundering Act 2011 provides that “No person or body corporate shall, except in a transaction through a financial institution, make or accept cash payment of a sum exceeding- (a) N5,000,000.00 or its equivalent, in the case of an individual; or (b)N10,000,000.00 or its equivalent in the case of a body corporate.”

It withdrew N250m on October 29, 2012; N250m on May 8, 2013; N83.33m on March 23, 2015 and another N83.33m on April 13, 2015.

The Senate Committee, the documents revealed, transferred the sum of N125m on April 21, 2010 to Bank PHB; N250m on June 10, 2010 to Oceanic Bank; N125m on a date not specified; to Oceanic Bank and N250m on October 13, 2010 to Bank PHB. The transactions were made before the Committee was inaugurated in the 7th Assembly in 2011

It also transferred N250m on a date not specified to Oceanic Bank; N250m on February 9, 2011to Bank PHB; N500m on December 16, 2011 to Bank PHB; N250m on May 17, 2012 to Bank PHB; N250m on July 23, 2013 to Keystone Bank, N250m on November 5, 2013 to Keystone Bank; N250m on February 5, 2014 to Keystone; N250m on May 22, 2014 to Keystone; N250m on August 18, 2014 to Keystone; N166.6m on November 25, 2014 to Keystone; N83.4 on December 5, 2014 to Keystone; and N83.33m on February 27, 2015 to Keystone.

It further withdrew N250m on April 20, 2012; N250m on February 27, 2013; N250m on May 8, 2013; N83.33m on March 17, 2015; and N83.33 on a date not specified, in cash.

This again was a clear violation of Nigeria’s money laundering law.

PREMIUM TIMES could not reach Mr. Ekweremadu to speak on this story last week. He did not respond to calls to his mobile telephone nor replied a text message sent to him.

Mr. Ihedioha directed this newspaper to the Clerk of the House, Sani Omolori, who did not respond to our enquiries by phone.

The management staff of the National Assembly, including its Clerk, Salisu Maikasuwa, did not also respond to our enquiries.

Uche Anichukwu, the media aide to Mr. Ekweremadu, however issued in a statement on Saturday, denying that members of the two committees judiciously spent the huge sum on the fourth alteration of the Constitution.

“The Office wishes to state categorically that there was no “pocketing” of N8 billion by members of the Committee on Constitution Review in the 7th Senate chaired by Senator Ekweremadu,” the statement said.

The statement also claimed members of the 7th National Assembly and the 36 state assemblies did not fail in their legislative duties towards the realization of the fourth amendment of the 1999 Constitution.

Mr. Anichukwu said, “Members diligently and successfully piloted the most elaborate amendments to the 1999 Constitution through all the legislative due process. They were indeed amendments that held great promises for the nation’s democracy”.

The statement did not attempt to explain how the several billions withdrawn by committee members were spent or why committee members were withdrawing as much as N250million in cash, serially committing money laundering.

Source: http://saharareporters.com/2015/12/17/fresh-evidence-expose-how-ekweremadu-ihedioha-withdrew-n8-billion-laundered-funds-failed

I think that is alarmist...500 naira
Maka why?
Is the Nigerian economy in dire straits?
Yes it is!
Also you cannot rule out a lot of speculators and financial sharks are baying for blood
While I'm no economist nor financial expert, CBN has to relax its monetary policy rules
Secondarily, I'm yet to see fiscal policy at play, so one must ask madam Kemi Adeosun what's up because the buck stops at her table for Emefiele can only do so much and I'm yet to hear any pronouncement from her about the economy
She needs to earn her pay
However, it is no doubting the Nigerian economy will face turbulence in the coming months because the PDP badly mismanaged it
But that's what Buhari signed up for
Innit!

ambassadorgozie:
Its funny jare

You are free to believe that
However in hindsight the response of the military was rash
Nigeria doesn't need the backlash from Iran, UK, US and the EU on this matter
Hope it doesn't turn out a pyrrhic victory when the dust settles
Hope you can comprehend this
Or you probably are still too busy laughing

Not funny!
Even though the Shites should not have blocked his convoy
Call genocide by what it is

Sunny harmattan day

Sunny harmattan day

Intel HD 5500

Sunny day it is

T-bills rates are so so poor now
GTB quoted me 4% today
I was like WTF? cos GTB fixed deposit is 4% too
Biz na the way to go now then

USB 3.0