₦airaland Forum

Some peeps talk with their azzses. Imo state had their festival about a week ago. @Mbatuku, u asked a question and an answer was given to u but u started sounding like a broken record. Everything in life has its origin. Ph just stated theirs some two or three years ago. It gets better every year. Ndi ala!

Nke a bu isi n' efere eji eghe ji adanye n' oku. Chuma Nzeribe!, lawd ve mercy. He's d most devilish polithiefcian in Anambra state. I can't even fathom d rational behind his acceptance into apga. Andy Uba is seriously fr. Tansi to be compared with dis fella. (Aint Uba fan either). On d issue of Obi, his problem is dat, he's focusing on d rural areas, rather dan d real tax payers (urban centres but not bad shaa). Secondly, his projects lasts for decades before being completed. If u mistakenly tell anyone from Anambra north dat Obi aint doing anytin, believe u me, he will smack ur asz for real. For d first time, ndi Anam na ejizi ugbo ala ala be ha, unlike b4. But i think he's now doing somtin tangible in d urban centres. Ie in Onitsha (I mean Otu Nkwo not Nkpor or Obosi comprising Awada n d rest), u won't see un-tarred roads. He's moving down to Nkpor via Omagba but his only shortfall is d slow pace of work. In all, he's now picking up unlike last year he won his second return to d GH. I'm a fan of d both (Ngige n Obi). Why some peeps tends to see Ngige as better is bc, prior to Ngige era, we had a dummy in d person of Mbadinuju as governor. He messed us up with d collaboration of d Ubas, Chuma Nzeribe etc. But with d advent of Ngige, we thought dat since he's of d pheedeephee family, dat d worst has just arrived. He (Ngige) was mourned alive. Some women went around with an empty coffin with Ngige posters adorning themselves on black. But dis dude gave us d shock of our lives by giving d Ubas d middle finger and doing some good work. Obi continued in dat aspect. The two of dem are good. I just hope dat dis development continues in dis direction.

@Mikuz, if u aint happy, then u can try hocking cement on a highway.

What's Keita doing on that list? For playing 90% matches of the season as a sub? And who's da hell is dat Tottenham player? Ok, maybe he's a ball boy coz i ve never seen such a name before. Look at d Demba Ba dats firing from all cylinders by keeping Newcastle afloat in d table. Revelation my foot. Issa Hayatou is seriously on ecstasy at d moment.

Six explosions and gunfire in Maiduguri according to Aljazeera and AFP news agency.

Boko haram have abducted some Nigerian senators,governors & some serving ministers, & they αяe demanding a ransom of 17 billion US dollars, or else they will burn them with fuel, Plz, donate generously so as to save our country! I've already donated 33,000 litres of fuel, pls hurry

It was just a payback time for city. They stopped my beloved blues from going unbeaten in 2006. Cfc ndi kacha agba.

Where's the satellite man?

I don't really know what Ronaldo is still doing in that pitch coz he's just lazing around. Mourinho should ve substituted him instead of Di Maria.

Why is it that big matches dey chop Ronaldo big time?

Ronaldo is making matters worse for the Los Blancos outfit. His footworks tonight has been poor.

I think TBJ should slow down with all these his make-believe show. What i like about him is his kind-hearted self but this one, is certainly the ones dat purge me for real. Someone should tell him to apply his brakes o.

AT POLITICAL gatherings people often spend much of their time talking about other events they have attended. At a conference (organised by The Economist) in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on October 20th a high-level participant related the following story. President Goodluck Jonathan recently invited a group of top entrepreneurs to a cattle ranch to discuss how to generate economic growth. At one point he handed each attendee an unmarked brown envelope. Eyebrows raised around the room. Mr Jonathan frequently speaks out against corruption. He motioned for the tycoons to open the envelopes. Inside they found not cash but blank pieces of paper, on which he asked them to each write the names of three rent-seeking officials who were hurting their business, promising to investigate.

In April the president won re-election after pledging—like every other candidate—to boost the economy. He then spent several months putting together a new cabinet. He lured Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Nigerian managing director of the World Bank in Washington, DC, back home to act as super-minister for finance and the economy. Olusegun Aganga, her respected predecessor at the ministry and once a Goldman Sachs banker, swallowed his pride and stayed on as trade and investment minister.

The outspoken central bank governor, Lamido Sanussi, completes what some call a dream team (others have labeled it a "scream team". Rivalries among the economics tsars were inevitable; turf boundaries are still uncertain. But the three, who have been working together for two months, do generate a palpable sense of momentum in the Nigerian capital. On October 18th, they set up country's first sovereign wealth fund, hoping to limit the perpetual plunder of oil revenues. They seem willing to pull out many stops to create jobs and raise incomes. The economy is growing at around 7% and Standard Bank predicts it will overtake South Africa's by 2015 as Africa's largest.

But so far the president has failed to meet the high expectations that accompanied his re-election. His signature policy, a plan to liberalise and privatise the power sector, has fallen visibly behind schedule. Most Nigerians are unlikely to receive more than a few hours of mains electricity per day for many years—the single biggest bottleneck in the economy. If this is not dealt with soon, Nigeria's hopes of becoming a G20 economy in the next decade will remain fanciful, despite its vast size, plentiful resources and undoubted entrepreneurialism.

The warning signs are there. Unemployment has reached a new record. Inflation has spiked. The currency, the naira, has dropped out of the exchange rate bracket set by the central bank, which in turn has raised interest rates to 12%. This may not be enough to check inflation or prop up the naira but it will surely hinder growth.

The sense of crisis is compounded by the proposed phasing out of fuel subsidies. The move is sound. The Nigerian government spends billions of dollars every year on ensuring that refined fuel it buys on international markets retails for only 60 cents a litre. Smugglers take some of it to neighbouring countries for resale at full value. Better to spend money on roads and power stations. But poor Nigerians fear that savings will instead be pocketed by the corrupt governing class. Subsidies, they say, at least bring us some benefits. Demonstrations and strikes looms. Anyone who expects any fundamental change in the way Nigeria is ruled clearly has no understanding of who these rulers are, and why (or how) they got into positions of power. Mr Johnathan, for example, is a direct beneficiary and product of the very system he claims to want to reform. How very likely is that? At any rate, how can he (or anyone else, for that matter) conceivably effect any such change without first creating the necessary state institutions and infrastructure without which no policy can possibly be translated into results? (When I say "institutions," I mean something in place of the utterly rotten, irredeemably corrupt and sclerotic bureaucratic machine that we call the civil service. I also mean the judiciary, the police, and all those other bodies that currently constitute an impediment to any kind of progress. And by "infrastructure," I mean roads, communications, electricity, water, healthcare, emergency services, etc., not space programmes and airports with no apparent commercial purpose.)

And how can these reforms ever take place when the sole function of every Nigerian regime since independence has been the unrestrained allocation of oil resources amongst friends and political allies within the ruling elite - a cancerous, self-reinforcing and deeply-entrenched culture that clearly cannot possibly lend itself to any meaningful reform?

If a supposedly oil-rich "nation" cannot provide its longsuffering people with electricity or pipe-borne water half-a-century since independence, something is terribly wrong with it - and no number of meetings in cattle ranches or in caves can possibly change that. For, the problem, in sum, is Mr Johnathan himself (and his chums in the ruling party) - and before him, Yar'adua, Obasanjo, and all of those we all like to lionize as the "fathers" of our independence struggle. But if we as Nigerians really wish to bring about the kind of change we always claim we want to see, we need to find a way, very urgently, of ensuring that the very worst amongst us don't keep finding themselves in positions of power.

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nwabu 

Oct 30th 2011 5:15 GMT

I think in general President Jonathan has a slow hand, a soft voice but so far has made smart personnel decisions. He took time in choosing the members of his team but placed some outstanding individuals in key ministries. Apart from Okonjo-Iweala as Finance Minister, Dr. Adesina as Agricultural Minister and Prof Bart Nnaji as Power Minister stand out as strong technocratic minds. With his invitation of sound businessmen into the federal inner circles and on trips abroad it marks a different way of engaging the private sector.

Of course the legacy of corruption and mismanagement Jonathan inherited in Nigeria runs deep and is damning. Its rotten infrastructure makes it one of the world's worst places to do business with its industrial component as a percentage of GDP a miserable 4%.Its chaotic and generally horridly planned cities are choked with a sea of mainly untrained and uneducated youth scrambling for a living.

The Jonathan administration cannot turn Nigeria around in 4 years but it can push Nigeria away from the edge of lawlessness towards economic and political stability.

* The privatization of power may be delayed but as long as the political will is there then its critical to bring industry back into Nigeria together with western capital and expertise.

* The Jonathan administration's efforts in agriculture will do more for poverty alleviation and national savings than any fuel subsidy can do because food constitutes the greatest expenditure for most Nigerians.

* In terms of fiscal management, Nigeria needs quality expenditure not necessarily a sovereign wealth fund and Okonjo-Iweala should rather concentrate on fixing the ridiculous amount devoted to subsidizing indolence in the many federal ministries through recurrent expenditure and improve the budget and project monitoring of road, rail, water, education and health capital projects.

* Fuel subsidies will result in riots because marketers like Oando, AP and Conoil are heavily indebted and a removal of subsidies will result in higher than world prices and in a consequent increase in food and transport costs which will hit the poor heaviest. The jonathan administration should phase out subsidies slowly and tie them to output from new refineries.

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keni93 

Nov 3rd 2011 3:35 GMT

Honestly - don't throw all the blame on Mr. Jonathan. All of this is the result of a long line of unqualified leaders combined with unstable plans, unfilled promises, a bad infrastructure and a failing economy. Before South Africa can blame the leader for all that's going on, I think they need to have a grass-roots change that involves restructuring a lot of things. It's not just the currant leader of a country that holds the fate of his country on his shoulders.

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Mnotho 

Nov 4th 2011 0:05 GMT

After so much looting of Nigerian resources by the previous dictators I just wonder how Pres. Jonathan can transform the economy to redress the economic imbalances and poverty (with over 40% of the population living below poverty line) in this populous and politically divided country. He really doe have a lot of work cut out for him including getting rid of corruption and crime, while put infrastructure and provide more amneable housing, free health services and free education for his countrymen.

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Loko P 

Nov 8th 2011 3:53 GMT

The problem with Nigeria is too complex to be narrowed down to a solution as simple as phasing out fuel subsidies. To start with, I am (hopefully) not the first to scream out the level of corruption in Africa, and with Nigeria standing in first place in the race of corruption and capital flight out of sub - Saharan Africa, one wonders what good eradication of fuel subsidies will do for the poor citizens of the country. In years past, we have seem Nigerian leaders take out huge loans from the IMF and World bank all in the name of making the country better economically but these loans end up in the hands of private bodies and end up leaving the country in the form of capital flight. Phasing out fuel subsidies will only do one thing and that is, hurt the poor Nigerian at the pump. On the other hand, selective private bodies will end up with the money gotten from the removal of fuel subsidies and do well in sending the money overseas to private bank accounts in Swiss or finance their multi - million dollar houses in the UK and or US. It sounds like a cliche today to say the corruption within the Nigerian government is so high that trusting any government official is like placing ones hand into fire and not expecting a burn but the reality is staring us in the face and the future of Nigeria is now.

Nigeria should have enough money as a member of OPEC to cater to the basic needs of its citizens, needs as basic as law and order and health care but these basic needs have been bought in abundance for the wealthy leaving the poor at the mercy of death. So with basic needs out of the picture, I really do not see the possibility of any 'real' good coming out of the removal of fuel subsidies in Nigeria.

If I was in the position of Mr. president, Goodluck, I would rather think of helping jump start the power ministry in Nigeria first and give the country electricity. Nigeria as a rainstorm in the middle of a desert will do excellent if provided with constant electricity (as this would be a historic turn uphill in the economy).

Finally, talking about fuel and subsidies in Nigeria, one would be wise to ask: how are the refineries in Nigeria faring? Maybe instead of directly taxing the poor masses in the form of subsidy cuts, the government should tax other avenues like raise corporation taxes and increase income tax for its citizens (a progressive tax system) and enforce it by law. Maybe these would financially help jump start some of the dead refineries in the country and help create jobs and thus help the Nigerian economy but I strongly would advice the Nigerian government to shy away from any form of fuel subsidy cuts as this might lead to a chaotic Nigeria.

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mikey16@vt.edu 

Nov 8th 2011 21:59 GMT

To me, this article is sad. This country has so much potential and it is being shot down with the poor leaders in charge. They are a corrupt group who make the people believe in change and reform but never come through. They are an oil rich country how has the opportunity for a better economy and more importantly they have the chance to give the people a better life. The living conditions that people are forced to live in are inexcusable for a country which such potential. All the blame can not be put on Jonathan though, Nigeria has had a long line of corrupt rulers.

But seriously, who still listen to foreign jams sef? Na waaoo, 9ja artistes are on cloud nine right now. Hope some of u watched channel O music award some weeks back?. @Op, till we sit our lazy az*z up and ask for our rights, then we shouldn't blab about what dos fo*ols dat call demselves leaders are presently giving to us.

@Alhaji Boko Haram, at times i do wonder whether u ve got some brain cells working in dat ur dum}b skull? Must u always align with someone just for ur senseless name-calling & defensive mechanisms? Small thing u go begin accuse people of being tribal with their post. In dis very issue, u ve forgotten so easily dat d core haterz of Aliko were actually his people. Plz be positive @ times. U are d most demente*d poster in dis forum. Hope}less poster.

@Kobo, u are totally spot on. An unbiased poster knows that they should come to ur state to get d goods. Lagos state benefits more than Osun. Remember these farmers must surely pay tax to lagos state govt. before selling their farm produce. Thereby making Osun state government to be more of a charitable organisation. Benue state is known for yam cultivation, the retail sellers from d se and ss goes to Benue state to buy yam and some other harvested crops and pay some taxes to d Benue state govt and not d other way round. We can remember vividly well (for those of us with d consciousness of history) that the Brits took our raw materials to uk and get them back to us as finish goods for us to buy at exorbitant rate. The Chinese and d Asian tiger economies in d far east asia doesn't send their goods to Africa and other parts of d world, rather they made trading easy for any prospective buyer/importer to do business with them.(By developing their infrastructure and removing some bureaucratic bottlenecks for business transaction). When these retail sellers from lagos goes to Osun to buy these goods, remember that the hospitalism and some other sectors of the state will also benefit from it. Let's remove every clog of ethnic sentiments from our reasoning and set d records straight for our leaders to give us what we want. Not bc i aint from d sw will make me not eulogize BRF for his tremendous achievement in Lagos state or any other part of the country where I'm not from. Let us be civil with our post. We mustn't insult people just bc they hold different opinion with ours.

Ethnic bigotry no dey tire una? @op, u must be madt to ve started dis rubbish thread. Nonsense

@op, make enquiries before submitting to a wrong school of thought. I don't know whether u ve heard of Anam people in Anambra state? These people are natural farmers, they don't ve time like the average Igbo man to engage in trading. They produce half of the yams that are consumed in Onitsha. I did my nysc assignment in Odi Bayelsa state and i was shocked to see dat their land has been taken over by Anambra farmers(Under a mutual agreement). We don't eat foreign rice in my house, rather Achara and Adani rice. The whole of Ayamelum lga in Anambra state are rice farmers. The same thing is applicable to Ogbaru people who predominantly farmers. The people of Isiukwuato in Abia and Abakaliki in Ebonyi states respectively produces 60% of the garri that are consumed in the east. Remember that 70% of Igbo people are subsistence farmers, most people cultivate cassava and yam for their personal use which actually isn't enough for them. I would ve agreed with u, had been u said its not enough for the population in d east. U can aid in containing ethnic bashing in this forum by being civil with ur post.

Its only a fool*ish person that will eulogize Tinubu and his likes for pouring such poo into peoples ears. For fckin 8 years, dis dude did notin to change d lives of ordinary Lagosians. Its only people with good track records dat can come out and say such a thing and not well known rogues. I believe, he will come back next year and drop such poo again. Mtscheewwww!

@Ify, u are totally spot on.

@Alh.Haram, d economic advantage is dat a proper revenue will be generated and accounted for from d mechanic village. Why i said so is bc, mechanics don't pay tax. The funny thing is dat u can't get them (whether with olokpa or not). Most of d time when I goes to d mechanic workshop to get my wheels done, u will see them taking on their heels. Why? cos olokpa is after them coz of tax evasion. So putting them in dis mechanic village will surely help d state government to contain such. My two cents shaa

@Eko "ole", must u tell us dat u ve got no home training? U always sound pathetic with ur delusional post all d time. Someone is celebrating the achievement of his state governor and u all u ve to say was d crap dat u just dropped. Aint u d fool*lish dude dat was eulogizing BRF for buying scrapped Canadian city trains? I think u just escaped from a psychiatric home. Ewu ohia.

I vote this thread as the most hilarious thread of the year. @op, God will surely bless you for making my evening awesome.

ATTENTION! Kaduna - Abuja Road is unsafe @ the moment they are slaughtering people @ Gonin Gora pls pass the message around,
Pls confirm from others.

Nwanne mmadu ndemee o. Biko ahize gi maka omaricha edemede a. Jisie ike na mbo ina agba maka asusu anyi bu ndi Igbo ighara efu ma oli.

NL bastarddddddd don enter. Ewu ohia

@Alhaji Boko Haram, i have never seen a stooopiiidddd poster in this forum other than you. Must you be snooping around every thread to spit trap?. U are really a disgusting poster. Mtsheew

Good people, great nation. I dey laugh in Libya

Fella is a real legend. 9ja people na sidon dey look. God won't come down from heaven to fight our course. I weep uncontrollably when i see NL peeps casting ethnic aspersions on each other. Where as the megalomaniacs in power are busy looting the hell out of our sovereign fund. Only if bh will channel their attacks on these heartless leaders, coz we don't have balls made of steel to fight this menace.

Again, Nigeria has recorded another abysmal performance having been ranked 41st out of 53 countries in the 2011 Mo Ibrahim African Governance rating report released recently. The report shows that the country’s overall governance quality has consistently deteriorated over the past five years, between 2006 and 2010.

For instance, out of the 48 ranked countries then, Nigeria was 40th in 2010, 35th in 2009, and 39th in 2008.
In terms of good governance, Mauritius clinched the first position, while Cape Verde came second. Among the 16 nations in the West African sub-region, Ghana was rated first in the sub-region and 7th in Africa, while Nigeria, the giant of Africa, maintained the 13th position in West Africa, the same ranking it got in 2010. In all, Somalia maintained its usual last position in Africa, the same ranking it has maintained for the past four years.

Nigeria was assessed by the Index on four categories of governance namely: Safety and Rule of Law, Participation and Human Rights, Sustainable Economic Opportunity and Human Development.
However, the 2011 Index includes new indicators for assessment like physical and telecommunications infrastructure; gender; health; welfare service provision; and economic management.
Out of 100 marks, Nigeria scored 41 for governance quality and scored lower than the regional average for West Africa, which was 51 and lower than the continental average, 50. Its highest rank was in sub-categories of Rights and Education (26th) and lowest in Health (51st).

The report noted that the most striking improvement had been achieved by Liberia and Sierra Leone, two countries that have emerged from protracted civil wars. While Liberia improved across all four categories and 13 out of 14 sub-categories, Sierra Leone also improved across all the four categories.
Similarly, countries that had consistently ranked in the top five for overall performance, Mauritius, Cape Verde, Seychelles and South Africa, performed highly in all the four categories.
The report is, indeed, a damning verdict on the quality of leadership in the country, which keeps deteriorating despite assurances by our leaders that all shall be well. It is a true reflection of what is happening in Nigeria and should be of utmost concern to our political office holders.

It is regrettable that we are not even improving generally on our past performance. While we bemoan the below average performance in this year’s Mo Ibrahim African Governance Index, we think that it is a wake-up call on President Goodluck Jonathan and other elected leaders to rise to the occasion and begin to govern well. It is a shame that Nigeria is taking the back seat in the continent’s development index. Our leaders should show more governance commitment and ensure that they deliver on their promises.
The report has shown glaringly that Nigeria has not yet started on the path to good governance as we are virtually found wanting in practically all the indices of development. That we came 41st in Africa in a race we are supposed to be among the top five speaks volumes of the type of leadership we have.

We call on all Nigerian leaders to seize this opportunity of the report to ruminate on how to turn things around in the country in order to improve on our rating next year. If the current rating is anything to go by, there will be no country that would want to invest in our country. A country that does not make progress has no place for potential investors. Actually, most foreign investors hinge their investment decisions on this type of report, which is largely unbiased. This honest report on Nigeria is a big challenge to our leaders. They should wake up from slumber. Culled from www.sunnewsonline.com

I was given the shock of my life during my service year, when two of my colleagues(from Yobe and Niger state) then said that, they won't marry any girl with post secondary school certificate. And that there female wards wouldn't go for post secondary education. Honestly, i was unable to eat that evening. Like Beaf said, it has more of a cultural and religious undertone.