₦airaland Forum

Well, Danmasani says wearing a Hijab is a way of life over there in the North, and he and his brothers wants everyone to follow in their culture in order to preserve it (this is absurd). I tell him this position of theirs is wrong. Your Northern brothers need to respect other peoples culture too. I'm very much sure that this Shekarau governor knows that there are people from all over the country whose culture and beliefs are quite different to what they have there in Kano, and would like to practice it where ever they are. He has no right to infringe on this right of others.

I see a situation where every woman, christians and muslims alike, would be forced to wear Hijab to any place of worship (Churches and Mosques) in Kano very soon.

I suggest non-muslims southerners living in the North should go back home to the south and start living a life they are comfortable with. I think their lives are in grave danger if they remain over there.

That said, these are signs that the centre cannot hold again in this country. Things will soon start to fall apart. Our foundation as a country was built on ''sinking sands''. It's just a matter of months and the worst fears of us all will stare us in the face. The US prediction of a break up of the components of this country is imminent.

Ha! If this is true, then I pray the good Lord save us from calamity!

Poor Yar'Adua. I hope his kidneys can withstand all the pressures that will come from every angle for the first two years!

Sha, for me, he should make sure the ''thing'' is limited to his cattle-grazing brothers and sisters in the North, because any attempt to bring the scourge to the South will be met with stiff and maximum resistance from everywhere.

A word is enough for the remote of Fee Dee Fee - as someone earlier called them.

One thing I'll agree with babasin on this one is that: Nigerians sure have very short memory. That's a time tested fact.

ThiefOfHearts:
When you here these people on TV talk about fraudsters, have you ever heard "blah blah tribe of people commited blah blah offence", last I checked when they mentioned that medicaid fraud in Texas, they said NIGERIANS, not certain tribe of Nigerians. So all of you whining and making up crap about other people. No one cares. All they care and consider is the fact that it's Nigerians that are doing these things.

Ke ma to ara yin je ni sho. eyin ole buruku.  

Yeah. They sure don't care where you come from ''in'' Nigeria. Y'all are thesame. Igbo, Kanuri, Efik, Egun and all the likes.

May his soul rest in peace.

Rat,
Abeg go siddon!

Read this site make you know wetin dey happen: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_fraud#Geographic_origin


Anybody who falls for internet scams must have gotten his/her wealth in a questionable way. Read up and know that most victims are the people who wants to make easy and fast  wealth. I just can't believe that with the kind of awareness and the speed with which information is disseminated worldwide about scams, some people still have the time and energy to waste precious money on useless swindlers. After their ordeal, they go to shows like that of Oprah to show how stupid and gullible they are. They then expect us to sympathise with them and learn from their ''mistake''. Idiots. They're on their own. Nobody, I repeat nobody can swindle me of my well earned money with my eyes wide open. No matter the level of sophistication these thieves adopt, they can never scam me of my hard earned money.

That said, what's amazing here is how some ethnic bigots accuse the igbos of ''tarnishing the image of Nigeria''. Some even want them killed. Na wah o! I'm Isoko by ethnic, from the core Niger Delta, and I tell you all that if we continue with this kind of hatred for one another, we're sure heading for doom! We leave the real crux of the matter here, and are chasing shadows. Some outsiders, non-Nigerians are condeming Nigeria, and all we can do is to blame our fellow country men. This is one of the reasons why we cannot develop and progress in this country

I want everyone who have posted some form of demeaning statements against the Igbo's on this thread to tender an unreserved apology for causing these people emotional harm and pain.

Tex,
We need not loose sight of what Oprah's trying to make people believe in her country - and indeed, given the global coverage of her shows, the world. You should know that Oprah's shows is not limited to the US only by now. So, your claims that her audience composed mainly of hardworking but foolish and unsuspecting Americans only is not tenable. No one wants to be robbed of the proceeds of his/her sweat anywhere in the world.

Oprah is a very popular woman. There's the tendency for anyone who knows her to swallow whatever her shows dish out as information, hook, line and sinker, without blinking an eye and thinking about it. And since we know that she wields a lot of influence on the business community in her country, there's the tendency that her shows will discourage prospective investors from coming here to invest.  And that's one of the reasons I have some beef with her.

And even when what she said about internet fraudsters in Nigeria is true, she need not come down heavy on us the way she had done. She dedicated a lot of hours of her shows trying to describe internet fraudsters in Nigeria to her audience (US and the World over). In the end, she succeede in labelling Nigeria a no-go area for investments. There are fraudsters in her country. In any case, I'm not one of her fans, but the Lord knows that the crime rate in the US is one of the highest (if not the highest) in the world. Internet crimes as far as I know started from the US. And indeed, the one being practised in Nigeria is a childsplay compared to what obtains in some major American cities. So, why come down heavy on Nigeria like that? What pained me the most is that this Oprah is an African-American lady. Someone whose roots is from Africa.

What does she stand to gain by describing the most populous country in Africa the way she has done? Nothing! Well, if it's just to alert people of the dangers of doing business in Nigeria, well, CNN, BBC, TI, WORLD BANK, USAID etc etc have all done an excellent job of that already. She's only re-inventing the wheel by coming out on a talkshow to cry out at the roof top about Nigerian scams. I can imagine her white friends laughing their frigging butt off behind her and calling her a stupid woman, for doing what she did. Honestly, she'll get nothing from describing any nation on earth the way she has done to Nigeria.

I look at the total picture. If a Oprah Winfrey quietly reports the fraudulent activities of internet fraudsters (after conducting a private investigation) in Nigeria to the appropriate authorities, does not mean it's a hidden or ''quiet'' thing. Why? because our EFCC and Police people will swoop in on the folks perpetrating these crimes and arrest them. When this is done, it automatically becomes public knowledge. Nothing is hidden again from any one. And in any case, that's what obtains presently in Nigeria.

bod

Yep, it was you I was referring to in my last entry. I could only read the entry by the originator of the thread and a few other responses. Surely, I can't read everything in this more than 20 pages entry thread.

But, I'm happy you know the first thing to do is to fish out who's wrong and blame such one. As for me, the issue here is some talkshow person painting my country black because of some internet fraudsters. That's my beef with Oprah here. She has no right whatsoever to paint my country black because of some internet fraudsters. She should have quietly alerted the authorities in charge, of these frauds being perpetrated over the net in Nigeria, and she would have earned all of my respect if she had done that. Instead, she went on air and called all of us Nigerians low life thieves.

She and her team of investigators are the ones at fault and should be told so. This blame should not go to any ethnic tribe in Nigeria. We should all stand up and tell foreigners who delight in calling us evil people that the devil himself sleeps with them on their beds in their own country. We should tell them to shut their dirty mouth and keep their own country clean before coming over here to tell us what to do.

FYI I'm not Igbo. And it's not that I'll care if I'm one.

Your line of reasoning baffles me. Here we have some people in other country tarnishing your country's image, and all you could think of and do is to in turn, bash your fellow contrymen (even if they're Igbo or whatever tribe for that matter) by putting the blame squarely on them. And the reasons you even advanced for this is at best not tenable in any way.

Instead of facing the problem at hand, from a wholistic point of view, you resort to placing the blame on Igbo people. Well, I tell you that's not the way to fight the problem we're facing now.

Please come up with other methods and ideas of liberating us. I think you can do better than this.

http://www.oprah.com/money/credit/200704/money_20070413_284_104.jhtml
http://www.oprah.com/money/credit/200704/money_20070413_284_103.jhtml

Here's some links to some of the stuff on Nigeria scams.

Reading through the story of Patricia, I could tell that she's the money-doubler type. She likes getting money the easy way. And she lost her moeny the easy way too. So, I see no reason why Oprah would go on air because of some careless Patricia who cannot, in this day and age, differentiate between a swindler and a genuine business man.

All said, these should in no way have any bearing on everyone in the country. We have sincere hardworking men and women in Nigeria who are making things happen in all fields of human endeavour. I suggest Oprah should come on air with such person as Emegwali, Wole Soyinka, Dangote, etc etc.

If she's really after our best interests, she should throw up the good things about the country rather than making some baseless generalisations about a someone who can't keep her money.

We need to start bashing all these Naija bashers. What crime did we commit to warrant some low life Oprah woman coming on air and painting Nigeria black? I don't care how popular or wealthy she might be. She just can't sit way up somewhere in the US and paint another country black and get away with it.

She should search her domain in the US to see all the rotten worms of filthy thieves roaming around her country of birth. Someone should tell her this, if she doesn't know already.

And we Nigerians sef, I tire for una. Don't we have enough troubles on our hands already that we'll start listening to some crazy fools who don't know what to do with their money coming on air and bashing this country? Una get time.

Well, as far as I know, there are criminals all over the world. And I believe there are worst criminals in some places, including the US, than we have here in Nigeria.

Oprah and her team had better searched other places on the planet for criminal minded people and should stop focusing on Nigeria only.

I posit that the US alone has 100 times the number of criminals in Nigeria (including internet fraudsters)

Erm, Atiku worked so hard as a customs officer that he used all his emoluments and salaries to buy shares in several companies. He only depended on what others gave him due to his kind nature at the Customs. He was so so good that some people offered to cover his personal and family expenses throughout the 20 years he was at the customs.

When he retired from customs, he had enough money to buy 10 companies actually, but he opted for 7. He didn't want to paint a greedy picture of himself by buying so many companies.

I hope that explains how he got his stupendous wealth.

The One:
Oil companies should stop flaring the gas, AGREED. That is what all the companies are working towards with the deadline being next year. Or do people want them to perform magic? You guys don't know how difficult it is to carry out any project in the swamps of the Niger Delta now. The technical aspect is minute, your main problem is security and logistics. You'll have nightmares incorporating all these into your work plan.

Donzman,
I repeat, who told you they can't fish no more? You sit in Canada and come to your conclusion while people that have been on the ground tell you things and you stubbornly hold your position. Are you telling me your research on the internet supercedes what I see with my korokoro eyes?
Guy, learn to be able to open yourself to ideas that challenge your beliefs.

The One,
Have you thought about how peaceful it would be to execute projects in the delta if the federal authorities had followed due process in gaining entrance into any location in the delta?

1) Due process requires that the FG should not lay claim to anything anywhere in the delta, except with the consent and approval of the elders and people of the area

2) Due process requires the FG to bring whatever proceeds they have from the sale of the resources of that area to a round table where allocation of the proceeds would be shared according to a sharing formula stated by the owners of the area only

3) Due process requires the FG to make the area where oil companies operate to be safe for everyone

4) Royalties and other benefits that goes with oil exploration ought to go to the people of the area where the resource is gotten from and not to some thieves in Abuja

If we have followed the paths stated above, we would have peace and there would have been no need to fight militants in the creeks of the delta. Don't talk about leaders of the area because the present crop of leaders were foisted on us by the powers that be.

That said, your claims that we can still fish in the delta is true. But that's just a limited number of places comparedto what's obtainable in  the past. The ecosystem in the delta has been altered. A large portion of the area is polluted - mind my words, a large portion, not all the area. And we have to fight now to get our environment back to what it used to be, or else, we shall all die from pollution.

texazzpete:
I wrote this some time ago on Chxta's blog. . .I didn't take time out to proof-read or check for errors, and the target audience was to laymen in general, but it gives you an indication on what i feel about gas flaring. . .

Chxta
nice piece, but i'd like to correct the statement you make about oil companies doing a half hearted effort to stop gas flaring.
see, we've got two kinds of gas coming from down below; Associated Gas (AG) and Non Associated Gas (NAG). in simple terms, AG is the gas that comes out when oil is extracted( from gas dissolved in the oil or from gas caps), NAG comes purely from gas reserves alone (these are layman's definitions o!).
anyway, the gas being flared is 99% AG, because no one would want to tap and produce a purely gas reservoir just to burn it up. Nigeria has an OPEC quota to meet, and major oil companies have to keep producing oil to meet that quota and make cash for themselves! Our increased production translates into cash for Nigeria, which means 13% derivation gets bigger bla bla bla.
There's no way to prevent the production of some quantity of Gas with oil, except we cease production altogether. and we can't do that, can we? so we have to find a way to handle this gas.
Nigeria's civil infrastructure is so poorly planned, no one saw fit to provide underground Gas mains and pipes, so we can't process and distribute this gas to every household. Many people don't even use cooking gas anymore. The gas power plants can only take so much gas, NLNG gets all the reliable gas supply from purely gas wells, and this has to be because there are contracts signed years ahead for the stable supply of gas to the LNG plant. besides, the plant has a finite capacity and can only take so much. Even if the gas could be piped, many producing locations are so far away that building pipelines to convey the gas would be an immense financial and engineering task. add that to the problem of getting permission to route pipelines through communities without being beaten/extorted. pipeline harvesting and vandalism are also rife.
so we have lots of gas being produced without any means of disposing of them. it would be unthinkable to vent these gases in the atmosphere so we just have to destroy it by trying for complete combustion of the gases through flaring. hence the numerous gas flares.
the federal government has given a 'flares down' target to the oil companies, and they are struggling to comply in time. Power plants are being built to consume some more gas, pipelines are being built to route and gather the produced gas, the capacity of the NLNG plant is being increased, and more and being built to handle more and more. But this isn't enough yet. we need more consumption of the gas in nigeria. meanwhile, millitants attack and community troubles delay the implementation of many of these projects and vandals disrupt pipelines. the vandalisation of the gas pipeline supplying the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC) meant that more gas still remains unconsumed and must be flared. service companies are afraid to go to work inthe niger delta for fear of kidnapping.
Through it all, the Nigerian government remains pristine, the nigerian people remain unstained by these failings, preferring instead to point accusing fingers at the major players inthe oil and gas industry. If we vandalised less, threatened less and even heckle the federal government to do more to promote local gas consumption, we'd be better off. at least Shell has taken over the Afam power station and is improving and expanding it to consume more gas and produce more electricity for Nigerian consumers. In the PR war, the federal government constantly blames the oil companies, coming out cleaner than clean. it's a joint venture and the federal government always is tardy to play its part.
Meanwhile, the hunt for new oil continues, and invariably with the oil, some dissolved gas is liberated,increasin g the problem. The federal, state and local government (and even the niger delta) benefits greatly from this windfall. but the gas becomes a problem for the oil Majors. That's Nigeria for you. Vintage Nigeria! So there you have it!

This is the write up of an insider. But I should correct your statement as regards NAG (Non Associated Gas). NAG are gas accumulations trapped in purely gas reservoirs - as against your NAG comes purely from gas reserves alone . NAG in itself is purely gas. You should know that reservoirs are natural geologic structures that holds oil/gas in place until oil wells are drilled into them to exploit these accumulations. Talking about gas reserves is a different issue entirely, and I don't think I'll want to dwell on that at this time. I just thought our people on this forum should be well informed.

Most of us have been talking technical here. I personally know what's happening at Afam, OKLNG, Obigbo, Oso, Brass and Bonny. As a matter of fact, I know the volume of gas each of the JV partners in the Bonny LNG project contributes to the palnt on a daily basis. I will not discuss the bits and pieces here. It's against my company's policy. A bit of who should do what and at what level has been discussed too. You all fail to realise that the Niger Delta people now know what is going on in their lands. They are not happy one bit. Except the injustice meted out to this people is addressed, we will continue to have pipeline vandals on the prowl. Saboteurs will continue to plague the oil industry!

Address the problems we have with the owners of the lands and all will be well. You can pipe your gas to Sierra Leone or the Gambia or anywhere. Just make sure you carry along the people whose resources you're tapping and all will be well.

Afam:
Having worked and lived in Bonny Island, Eket, Warri and PH I can comfortably say that the problem in the ND can be attributed to the leaders in the ND from the time they supported the FG in the Biafran war to subsequent policies that laid the framework for the current state of affairs there today.

Afam Umuosi, please tell me how on earth our leaders supported the FG in the Biafran war - Is it because we felt we should Go On With One Nigeria against the wishes of the seceeding Igbos? Besides, even if they supported the FG during the war, how does that translate to total ownership of our resources by a clique sitting somewhere in the Sahara? I don't think there's a written agreement somewhere that states categorically that we've forfeited the ownership of our resources to some folks in other parts of the country.

OK, we, the new generation of elders in the Niger Delta wish to state categorically that whatever pact our past elders made with some roguish thieves in the Sahara and other areas is cancelled forthwith.  We agree to a round table to discuss this matter all over again!

To every problem there's a solution. The solution, most times, involves a bit of rewinding the records, taking a look at where things went wrong and making amends.

In the case of the Delta, rewinding the records and taking a look at the starting point, you will agree with me that the fact that government and oil multinationals (together) fraudulently and violently gained entrance into the Delta, without carrying the people along, initiate draconian laws that pauperise the owners of the lands, and also initiated the process of causing disunity amongst the people of the area has led to the violence that we now see in the place.

Truth is that when Shell discovered oil in commercial quantities at Oloibiri in 1958, Shell cared little about what gets to the people in the area eventually. The thinking was that the government of the area will take care of that. But what did the government do? They set up the Land Use Act Decree in 1978 and claimed ownership of all that lies on/under all lands in the country, but with emphasis on the Delta lands for obvious reasons. I bet the government thinking then was that the area is sparsely populated, and that the people in the area will put up a feeble challenge to whatever law they come up with.

And who are these people in government: The majority ethnic stock: Hausa/Fulani; Yoruba and Igbo. Of course, they must protect their interest and seek way to better the lot of their own people. So they craftily came up with draconian laws that will permanently put out any means designed by the Niger Delta indegenes to claim what rightfully belonged to them.

How do you explain a situation where the people of the Niger Delta - owners of the lands where the oil companies operate, do not even have a say in what goes on under their lands. People (composed mainly of the majority ethnic stock) sit way up there in Abuja - a hitherto dry and arid land, and carve up the lands in the Niger Delta as juicy oil blocks sold to the highest bidder without the participation of the owners of the lands. The land use act decree of 1978 is still very much in force and has not been abolished by its initiator.

Miscreants have cashed in on the opportunity afforded by the problems caused by govenment and government alone, to cause violence and untold hardship.

Until the government revert to the constitution that favours every constituents of the country, which ultimately will address the lopsided developmental projects spread in the country, there will always be agitation and problems in the Delta.

Well well well, I see some folks here knows how good Ijebu Garri tastes.

For the very first time in my stay here on this section of the Land, I got my eyes hurting. My friends said they noticed I've got red eyes now. LOL.

As per Mugabe and Zimbabwe, I could only say that Mugabe should have handled issues in his country in such a manner that everyone would live in peace while achieving the aims of his reforms.

And for a change, I'll love you all to proffer solutions to the problems ravaging that country on this board, rather than casting blames and aspersions! - even when Mugabe won't listen. Just keep on telling him what he ought to have done to better the lot of everyone in his country

Peace.

Well, I've never had a break in transmission from DSTV during/after any weather change. But, if HiTV is good, I'll like to try them out. Do they have any base in Portharcourt?

All these ones wey una dey yarn about DSTV, na tory.

With the new DSTV PVR decoder, I'm just in a world of my own as regards TV viewing. I believe I'm getting value for my money. What with the very clear sound, top of the range picture quality and excellent download package offered from the DSTV? Other folks (SPs) have got to get their acts right to beat DSTV to it. With the SCART outlet, I've been able to connect my PVR decoder to my Home Theatre. Guys, you've got to go for it, there's nothing compared to what I see and hear thereafter. I go for quality (local or international). I don't like watching some blurred images on ART, injuring my eyes!

Erm, local folks will have to provide same service (or better) as DSTV for me to even think of going for them. Even if they take their (DSTV's) rights to air all the sports station in Nigeria, my kids will have their eyes strained from watching too much Cartoon Network, DISNY, Boomerang and go TV. I will have breathing space to do other things, than worrying on how to keep the kids busy. And as far as I'm concerned, DSTV from South Africa is local enough, compared to the ones from India, US and UK. So, lets help develop them too, they're doing a good job.

More importantly, would HND and Bsc, BEng folks be allowed to compete for jobs now in all companies (including banks and oil companies) without fear of any form of discrimination by the HND graduates?

davidylan:
Una don kill me with laughter.

Now those on the north of the naija are pretending to be ardent followers of the constitution, the same constitution they have held in contempt for 47 years?
Is it the same constitution those who instituted state religions flouted and everyone kept quiet? The same constitution that Atiku violated by remaining in office after cross-carpeting to another political party in his own selfish interest?

My brother, that constitution should be thrown into the dustbin of ready-to-be-recycled waste paper basket.

What if a poly is approximately equidistant from two Universities, which of the two will it be affiliated to?

Well, I'll like to see Isoko, Urhobo, Ijaw, Itsekiri, Ikwere, Bini, Ika, Kalabari, Okrika, Ogoni, Efik and Ibibio in there too.

I'm not asking for too much, am I?

alabiyemmy,
You now have two first degrees. Good luck.

Yeah, the real crux of the matter is:

"The HND certificate will remain a legal tender in Nigeria and holders of such certificate will continue to be recognised as the equivalent of first degree holders without discriminatory remunerations and limit to progression in the work place. ''

mo wapa:
To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.
Voltaire (1694 - 1778)


Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.

Sometimes, it's better not to listen to the sayings of some so-called wise people. You might find yourself in a different scenario (situation) different to what they experienced in their time.

well well jaybaby, your signature reads ''80% of men are impotent''. Hmn. Interesting. How in the world did you get to know that?.

Did you talk to all these men, or you did something else to get that figure?

The full gist from Guardian news papers. The real crux of the matter is in bold midway to the write up.

[b]Govt scraps HNDs, merges polys with varsities
From Madu Onuorah, Abuja[/b]THE Federal Executive Council (FEC) yesterday approved a comprehensive reform of Nigeria's tertiary education system, scrapping the award of the Higher National Diploma (HND) by the nation's polytechnics.

In effect, the award of the HND will be limited to only the students currently admitted for the programmes.

Also, all the programmes currently being run by the polytechnics, which are not technology-based, and which are about 70 per cent, will be scrapped.

Under the new rule, the polytechnics will now become campuses of the proximate universities with the Vice Chancellors of those universities appointing provosts for the polytechnics, subject to the ratification of the Universities Councils.

The polytechnics will now be limited to award of the National Diploma (ND) while those desirous of further education will be awarded the Bachelor of Technology (B. Tech) by the proximate university.

To kick-start the new policy, the nation's two most prominent polytechnics - Yaba College of Technology and Kaduna Polytechnic - will henceforth be known as City University of Technology, Yaba and City University of Technology, Kaduna.

And to give legal teeth to these approvals, the FEC approved the submission of two Executive bills to the National Assembly for enactment into law.

With education being on the concurrent list, the states may wish to consolidate their tertiary institutions. But if they do not wish to follow the federal example, their programmes will continue to be regulated by the relevant agencies of the Federal Ministry of Education.

The first bill will concretise the setting up of the two city universities while the second will approve the preparation and consolidation of all federal polytechnics and colleges of education as campuses of proximate universities.

The Ministry of Justice will do the preparation and submission of the two bills to the National Assembly.

Minister of Education, Mrs. Obiageli Ezekwesili, told journalists after the weekly meeting of the council that under the reform measures, her ministry would, however, continue to licence private polytechnics and colleges of education for the award of qualification at ND and National Certificate in Education (NCE) levels.

She said: "There will be no more award of HND. After we have exhausted the current students under the programme, there will be no more award of HND. This means that there will be no fresh admission for HND programmes. And in addition, any programme that is not technical will be out of the polytechnics. About 70 per cent of polytechnic graduates are in the non-technical courses. It is going to be a rigorous implementation programme."

A ministerial committee to ensure the smooth implementation of all that is required for the take-off of the reform initiatives is to begin work immediately.

Ezekwesili said: "The HND certificate will remain a legal tender in Nigeria and holders of such certificate will continue to be recognised as the equivalent of first degree holders without discriminatory remunerations and limit to progression in the work place. The NCE certificate will be retained as the minimum teaching qualification at the basic level of education. Any higher qualifications by these private or state-owned polytechnics will be only affiliation with a university. So, HND is no longer in existence, but existing HND will be respected and considered legal tender."

The council also approved the Federal Government's formal take-over of the Waziri Umaru Polytechnic, Birnin Kebbi, which will be the College of Technology campus of the Othman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto, as well as the Hussein Adamu Polytechnic, Kazaure, Bauchi, which will be a College of Technology of the proximate university in the state.

Also, the Alvan Ikoku College of Education, Owerri, Imo State, has been taken over as a campus of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri. A state that had never had any federal institution, like Bayelsa, is to have a College of Technology as a campus of the College of Technology of the University of Port Harcourt. Also, Bali, in Taraba State, is to have a college of technology as a campus of the proximate university.

The Council also approved a New National Gender Policy, which is to handle issues of concern to men and women.

The Council also approved contracts for the expansion of the air cargo apron of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, at a cost of N822 million, as well as the installation of simulation training and fire-fighting equipment at the National College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria.