₦airaland Forum

[quote author=ndu_chucks]Her 'good works' as a minister is a separate issue from these moral and possibly criminal acts. You agree that she was morally complicit, but conclude that she has done nothing illegal. i would have expected you to wait until all the facts are out before you reach the conclusion that she has done nothing illegal. You should not have an issue with admitting that several people under her supervision committed crimes in this matter and that the buck stops with her, at the very least.[/quote]Interesting how you expect me to wait until facts are out before reaching my conclusion on her being legally complicit or not, but you totally refuse to wait until facts are out to reach your own conclusion. And here lies the bias I talk about. I was taught to view potential culprits as innocent until proven guilty and not vice versa. But that is not my interest. In this Nigeria, I have learnt that Tinubu is a saint and Donald Duke is a Thief and vice versa depending on whether you are Yoruba or Efik. I have learnt that Fashola is performing and Akpabio is a failure and vice versa depending on whether you are Lagosian or Ibomite. This is pathetic and silly.

In light of all the mess, I have decided that sleaze/sanctity/morality/intergrity etc are not one of my criteria for judging performance. None of the fellows deserve any saintly expectation. They are all corrupt(with exception of very few), and have no moral bearing when it comes to dipping hands in the collective till. So my judgement is strictly based on performance. And Stella Oduah is a great performer and has done in the aviation sector in 2 years what up to 20 ministers couldn't do in 40 years. Worse still, many of the folks accusing her today have deliberately chosen to ignore these facts. I am not going to accept anything that would slow or stop the completion of the 5 new terminals being built. And the least reason would be the purchase of 2 bullet proof cars.

[quote author=ndu_chucks]Oduah's case and this Lagos State/Cosharis arrangement both smell very fishy. PapaBrowne, open a thread on the Lagos State/Cosharis issue and help expose any fraud and/or corruption.

For you to come here and indirectly defend Oduah's indefensible acts, is irresponsible and very unexpected of you. What a disappointment!![/quote]I am not and would not defend any frivolous expense!! It is pathetic that we are all being taken for a ride. Do I think Stella is complicit? Morally, yes. Legally, No.
My support for Oduah is two pronged. First on the premise of the wonderful works she is doing at the airports. Secondly and very importantly, on the premise of the ridiculous bias presented by one section of the country that has led to extremely virulent attacks on her person despite the fact that the documents presented have nothing of her name on it.
I like the attacks for one reason though. They would make public officers more circumspect in thier dealings with public funds. But when these kind of attacks are directed at only people from a particular part of the country, then I'm afraid of the consequences.

payless: There was no money spent on the part of Lagos. It would have been a different reaction if it was reported that Lagos State Government spent money to buy the said 300 vehicle. So no crime commited here. I would have criticised Lagos government if it spent money buying 300 cars for mere sport festival. Yorubas would have crucified Fashola for that.

Yes I know the story. Lagos State didn't buy the cars. Cpscharis supplied them. So to the loud mouths, no problem.

Now Let me put things in perspective.
And please help me understand why this is not a serious case of Corruption/abuse of office by the Lagos State Ministry of Sports.

I purchased a nearly new car from the US last year. I paid import duties of 570,000 Naira.
Now I don't know what kind of cars were purchased for the festival but I'm pretty sure they were BMWs which I know are a premium brand with the cheapest version selling in Coscharis for 6.9 million. Now duties on those cars are upwards of N600,000.

So lets be conservative and assume duties of 500,000 Naira per vehicle. That comes to a whooping 150 million naira that should have accrued as taxes for Nigerians. So for a two week event the Lagos state Government signed off 150 million accruable to tax payers for the benefit of one company. Now how many more of these kind of deals go on daily? And the loud mouths don't have a problem with this?? Like seriously?

So while the Taxman in Lagos is forcing, prosecuting and punishing Lagosians to pay taxes and tolls on everything from bridges to signage, it is granting import waivers for something as frivolous and wasteful as the importation of 300 cars for the National Sports Festival. And the loudmouths dont think it is an issue to be discussed extensively? And you think the people defending Stella cant see the hypocrisy??

payless: Those cars were bought by Cosharis Motors with import waiver facilitated by Lagos State. The cars were used within two miles radius of the sports venue and returned to Cosharis to be sold as new cars. Lagos State did not spend money on those 300 cars. Lagos State used the cars for free and Cosharis got it cleared from the port free of charge.

Yes I know the story. Lagos State didn't buy the cars. Cpscharis supplied them. So to the loud mouths, no problem.

Now Let me put things in perspective.
And please help me understand why this is not a serious case of Corruption/abuse of office by the Lagos State Ministry of Sports.

I purchased a nearly new car from the US last year. I paid import duties of 570,000 Naira.
Now I don't know what kind of cars were purchased for the festival but I'm pretty sure they were BMWs which I know are a premium brand with the cheapest version selling in Coscharis for 6.9 million. Now duties on those cars are upwards of N600,000.

So lets be conservative and assume duties of 500,000 Naira per vehicle. That comes to a whooping 150 million naira that should have accrues as taxes for Nigerians. So for a two week event the Lagos state Government signed off 150 million accruable to tax payers for the benefit of one company. Now how many more of these kind of deals go on daily? And the loud mouths don't have a problem with this?? Like seriously?

So while the Taxman in Lagos is forcing, prosecuting and punishing Lagosians to pay taxes and tolls on everything from bridges to signage, it is granting import waivers for something as frivolous and wasteful as the importation of 300 cars for the National Sports Festival. And the loudmouths dont think it is an issue to be discussed extensively? And you think the people defending Stella cant see the hypocrisy??

Clerverly: I on behalf of incorruptible and hardworking Igbo men and women on this forum, will like to apologize thus:

Please Dear Nairalanders,
For some of us who abhors and detests corruption, Stella Oduah is Not the "essence of a proud Igbo lady!" , she's a shameless lair! She belongs to a motley crew of very corrupt technocrats responsible for holding Nigerians down in a choking headlock for over 14yrs. Please ignore the self acclaimed Igbo representatives here on nairaland. They are doing their jobs for which they are recruited for (save for few who they got brainwashed). An average Igbo man hates and abhors corruption and will always be the first to cry out when he notices such. These hired net killers have done much damage to the conscientious Igbo people, all in a bid to enrich their pockets. I trust on the law of karma to do the needful(not with armoured Cars) if not now certainly hereafter but they must smell it, whether you are Igbo, Yoruba, hausa, ijaw or Fulani, you will never know peace.

You are deceiving yourself. You think being politically correct equates to being well read. Maybe except for those with self esteem issues.
Selective justice is no justice. Lets scream about all corruption no matter whose ox is been gored. Not scream one and let the other lie.
Many people that support Stella do so because they believe in her works. I've been regular user of the Nigerian Aviation sector for the past 15 years and in the last 2 years the sector has expoerienced more changes than have been witnessed in the last 40 years. It will be foolish to let the good works vanish because the press has screamed loud about an event that happens even in the poorest local Government areas.


Again I say, selective justice is no justice!!!
While you are at it, ask yourself why the loud mouths failed to talk about the whooping revelation that 300 cars were ordered by the Lagos State Ministry of Sports for just one event- National Sports Festival!! 300 cars and everything seems normal. Nobody is asking why? Nobody is wondering where those cars are? Nobody is even wondering who would have ridden those cars. 300 cars for an event that lasted just 2 weeks.

But the loud mouths are screaming about 2 cars that albeit extremely wasteful, followed due process.

ketoprofen: I visited the airport 3 days ago, they have plastered the international terminal building, done the roofing skeleton; It remains the windows, doors and painting.
They are also doing the landscaping.

Next time please do some pictures. I'm sure you've got a smartphone. We'd really love to see the work in progress!!

Very well delivered speech.
Do I agree with all of it? No.
Do I think the corruption in Nigeria is crazy? No. I think its beyond insane!

Looks to me like a deal that although wasteful , went through all the due processes required. With the testimony given, it would be hard to press corruption charges here. And to the lawmaker who say he got a quotation for 42 million for the same car from America, my question is what the heck does he Need that car for as a house of repper.

So Lagos state got 300 cars for national sports festival. Omo see wastage oh? And seriously why do all these governments have to buy new cars every year. Is the lifespan of a car 1 year? What happened to all the cars that wee bought last year?

A pathetic commentary on what free speech. Suddenly, the Abacha days seem like they made sense as all these useless kind of journalism wouldn't have existed.


The BASA agreement was signed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of both countries which is the norm in such cases.
Now the question is: Was the Israeli minister of Foreign Affairs also under a probe for bullet proof cars and therefore barred from signing the BASA agreement??

And rather than reply to the very critical subject at hand, you lot above are talking about unrelated issues.
Amazing how you will choose to ignore the gross nepotism of Tinubu and rather discuss whether or not saharareportes is bias.

A display of hypocrisy as usual by the willing slaves of Tinubu himself. I'm certain Fashola is totally disgusted by the man Tinubu.

Akinmail: The Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, who is also in Jerusalem is conspicuously absent at the signing of the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA). Oduah, who had left Nigeria for Israel ahead of Jonathan, is facing a probe over her role in the acquisition of 2 overpriced armoured cars valued at N225 million.

Oduah is said to have gone to Israel with the hope that she could use the opportunity of the visit to explain her position on the controversial car deal to Mr. President and take part in sealing the air deal with the country. Go below for more photos:

And you didn't notice that the Israeli minister of Aviation is also missing. Or is he also undergoing a probe for bullet proof cars?

Blackteeth: But what will happen if the government does it?

Visit any Government office and you will understand exactly what will happen if Government ran companies. And it is not the fault of the politicians but the civil service.

I visited the tax office today. All I needed was a TIN number. It can actually be generated in 5-10 mins. I got to the office and it took more than 15mins for the staff present to answer my greeting. They couldn't be bothered. They were gisting and laughing and I just held my cool. Some lay on the couch and the others were either eating or watching televison. They couldn't be bothered. We were about 4 waiting for them. To cut the long story short, I left there 45mins later without the TIN number.


I left there and went to the bank. I needed to open an account as well as pay in a few millions. I did it all in less than 30 mins and the staff were so polite despite the hundreds of people they had to attend. And guess what? The salaries of the bank staff(GT) are not as high or just about the same as those working at the TAX office.




AZnd thats the exact reason why Government has no business running business!!

Just one question:


What does the man do??

Does he own any companies that run businesses that give him the ability to live in that kind of opulence

bloggernaija: Not unexpected from that part.
Makes you remember YOUTH EARNESTLY ASK FOR ABACHA
That guy called Daniel Kanu.
No principles, No values.
ONWARD TOWARDS REGIONALISM OR OUTRIGHT PARTITION.
like I said before, let every region control her own aviation ministry.
If they like ,Stella odua can control SE .
The SS ,SW and the north can control theirs respective aviation sector too.
THE FACT REMAIN THAT THE SW has nothing to lose as we easily dominated the core routes US,canada,Australia,UK .
Add to this the regular movement of pilgrims,jewelry and textile merchant to the middle east .
Lastly the potential benefits from increased tourism as a result of improved security that will ensue.

While you are at it, Tinubu robs you of your resources everyday and worse still makes you pay to get it back. There is no better slavery than one in which the slave is a willing accomplice. Keep slaving.

Dominate core routes ni dominate core routes ko.

Just a piece of info for you:
Enugu airport alone flies more passengers than all the airports in the 5 states of the south west put together.
Warri Airport the same thing.
Benin Airport, the same thing.
Calabar Airport, the same thing.
Uyo Airport, the same thing.
Owerri Airport, the same thing.
The new Asaba Airport, the same thing.
Port Harcourt Airport, the same thing!

These airports and Abuja account for 90% of all the flights landing in Lagos. The rest of the country(SW, NE, NC and NW) provide the rest 10%

Check the facts: [url]http://www.faannigeria.org/documents/statistics/2012-Annual%20Traffic%20Report_first%20half.xlsx[/url]

That is each and every one of these 8 airports, fly more passengers than the airports serving the entire 5 states of the south west with a population of over 50 million. Infact, add Kwara with Ilorin Airport to it and the statistics stay same.

Dominate routes ni, dominate routes ko. Please dominate the local routes first before you dominate international you hear.


I hate tribalism!!

Go and read the Kano state gov's threat to Stella oduah today.

Read through the posts of many nairalanders from a particular section of the country concerning Enugu international airport.

Go and read an article on how internationalization of Enugu airport would kill the aviation industry written by a purported aviation expert from a certain part of the country.

Ask yourself why the attacks on Stella even before the BMW scandal was extremely high and increased immensely after Ethiopian airlines touched ground in Enugu.

Ask yourself why the BMW scandal of is so loud despite the minute figure in comparison to say the pension fund scandal or even the fuel subsidy scandal that ran into trillions or sanusi's university donations running in billions that vanished. Funnily Amaechi bought a jet worth $50m. Fashola bought bullet proof vehicles worth 600 million naira. Noboby complains in all these crazy cases. Infact, if this happened b4 Enugu airport, nobody would have complained.

Lets not deceive ourselves. I previously used to assume South eastern complaints about hatred from the west was exaggerated. But after this incident, I have concluded that there is a real war against south east and south south progress by the previous blocs that held the ante of power and have now lost it to the previously marginalized who ae now lords of the manor.


And by the way, I'm not Igbo. I am from edo state.

oyb: Fraudulent topic reported

Mods please change the desperate lies of rossik. From nigeria approves to johnatan builds.

All we need now is a picture.

I'm here wondering why it is OK when Lagos approves something and it is said that Fashola Builds...... But totally absurd when Nigeria approves, Jonathan builds.

Is it that Fashola is an Architect and Jonathan is a Zoologist, hence Jonathan should not be building?? Is that the point you are trying to make? Cos I really don't get it. Learn English. Future present tense. And incase you dont know, budget approval is a huge part of a building process.


Haters of progress always angry when Jonathan chooses to do something great even when they would be beneficiaries.

TOPIC CORRECTION

[size=14pt][s]NEW TAX LAW: Lagos to lose N6.25Billion monthly[/s][/size]

[size=16pt]NEW TAX LAW: TINUBU to lose 6.25 Billion Naira monthly[/size]

Humanbeans: This is another great thread in the making. @papabrowne, why not create another thread for this, so we won't derail this other thread. I'm so interested in it

I will do just that. And I will keep you informed. Stay Tuned bro.

MANGAM: Nice one@papabrowne and I onced advocatd for something like all of us coming 2gether to discuss issues dat affects us all and coming up wit an association which wil help in d acquicusition of loan and other farm implements. Furthermore,on dis thread some1 came up wit d idea we come up wit a common oil palm farm. Good thinking good product @papabrowne

Thanks!! You've been one of the best inspirations!!

Yes I support them. But only after they have finished prosecuting Tinubu!!!

Truthfully, I underestimated the amount of hatred towards Ibos by a certain section of the country until the vituperation started pouring towards someone who has obviously been the best performer in the aviation ministry ever! I used to think Ibos were complaining unneccesarily and should just chill, unite and develop the extraordinary potential in Human resource God has given them.
But now I understand, its a battle. Some folks have lorded over Nigeria for ages and have suddenly lost power to the South South and South East hence the massive campaign of calumny against anything Jonathan and his performing South East ministers. They want to use the same strategy they used in kick out Barth Nnaji to kick out Stella Oduah. Thier next target would be OKonjo. They tried it with Diezani.


Well, nothing dey happen. The woman is here to stay until the transformation of the aviation industry is complete.

If this woman is as little as suspended, I would simply vote for Buhari in the next elections!!

That figure has to be a typo! At $1million per MW, $160 billion would be required to achieve that figure. Even if Eistien were to be the minister of power, that is an unrealistic projection.

The height of brazen tribalism. I am getting tired of this crap and seriously all this is really potraying Yorubas in a very bad light.
I have loads of Yoruba friends and relatives and they are not as bad and tribalistic as many online urchins are beginning to make them look.

If Dele Momodu really snapped this picture, then he is a calous snake because he is a frequent user of that airport and knows that this is the first time ever that any attempt whatsoever has been made to give any sense of sanity to the Airports accross Nigeria.


The toilet in the picture I have used at least 30 times(to pee only) in the last 5 years, Majority of which have been since 2011. Pre 2011, I always stepped in with my nostrils and eyes closed, take a lick and run for my life. Stella Oduah came in and gave that toilet some sanity. The place is a million times better and any frequent traveler can attest to that even though the place is still a mess mainly because we have a very crude culture in Nigeria.



No matter what anyone says, the Aviation sector has experience the biggest improvement it has ever witnessed in 50 years of its existence.

Only tribalists would see the improvement and speak negatively of it. Its just pathetic what jealousy causes people to do. Surely Dele Momodu is a tribalist. Nobody should come here to tell me the man is Edo!!

Some people just write stuff for the sake of writing!!

Oshiomole is my Governor and I respect his efforts at road construction in Edo State.

But I am here wondering why he hasn't set up his own conference on youth unemployment. Edo State is riddled with a massive amount of unemployed youth doing little or nothing despite the fact that the state is blessed with so much potential in various areas.

Edo State has about the highest amount of Nigerians in Diaspora per capita in Nigeria.
Oshiomole should be holding/organizing in Milan, Frankfurt, Atlanta, Montreal, London, Houston and the other cities populated by Edo globally to see how they can come back home and set up factories that would employ the teeming youth.

Oshiomole should be organizing to see how the huge agricultural opportunities in his state are harnessed to create jobs for the huge swaths of unemployed.

Oshiomole should be organizing to see how IT hubs could be started in Benin City so the youths can replace their crave for yahoo yahoo and replace it with a crave for coding/programming.

Oshiomole should focus on his own enclave and allow other people work on theirs. The way he spoke you'll think the unemployment rate in Edo state is amongst the best in the world. Edo has so much competitive advantage with regards to economic development that havent been harnessed.

I knew Orji Kalu was very wealthy before he become governor.
Does that mean he didn't steal Abia's money. No. It simply means he could easily have afforded those things even before he was governor.

^^^^
Isn't it interesting that for a lack of quality pictures, you have to present the same dental facility you've presented for the last 4 years?
Isn't it interesting that you have to take pictures of a building that was built in the 70s as proof of Amaechi's work. I remember in the 80s going to Airforce Primary school and I passed the building you posted in the last picture every morning. To think that nothing much has changed since then is surely an indictment.

Amaechi should be probed. Amaechi has had a budget of over $20billion in 5 years and many major roads are in a horrible condition.
In Deltastate where the Governor is critisized, the roads are 10 times better than PH. The governor built an airport and renovated all the schools to very high standards. In Akwa Ibom there is not a single road that looks anywhere like the ones in the pictures and the governor built and is building a good number of major projects.

Amaechi on the other hand built schools that cost less than $1billion. What did he do with the rest of the $19 billion??

While I understand that many people aboard the flight had many business engagements, I usually appreciate when the sanctity of human life is upgraded above seemingly important but in reality trivial issues. When the life of that mother and baby becomes more important than the million dollar deals people had to attend to, then that's a triumph for humanity and the things that bind us together. Kudos to Delta Airline taking the brunt and going as far as accomodating you guys just to ensure the life of a mothe rand baby are in good order!!

Katsumoto: Nigerian satellites are launched from China using Russian rockets. Nigeria is the proverbial 'a fool and his money are soon parted'. You mean Chinese and Russian scientists?

70% of Nigerians live on less than 70 pence per day. Nigeria should be spending money on programs that will aid development and infrastructure.

If you believe this crap of 70%, you will believe anything.
7 questions I'd ask you:

1) What is the cheapest cost of commuting in Lagos from one point to another using the most acrid transportation methods frequented by the poorest Lagosians. About 150 Naira daily on the low side.

2) How much does an average hawker earn on a Lagos or Warri or PH traffic jam daily? Average 1800 Naira daily.

3)How much is a plate of food in a dinghy mamaput? Average 150 Naira

4)Who constitutes this imaginary 70%? Is it bus conductors, or market women or street hawkers or builders or agberos or suya sellers or Okada Riders or gatemen or barbers or shop owners or tailors or carpenters or bread sellers or mamaput vendors or fruit sellers or who

5)Who are the owners of the 120 million active mobile phones lines in Nigeria? Do they include this 70%? If they do, I would like to know whether the government at anytime provided free handsets since these fellas would have to stay off food for at least 30 days to be able to buy the cheaopest handset at 3000 naira.

6)And finally, if 70% of people live on a dollar a day, please tell me what they do with their lives since in that $1 they have to load their phones, buy food, commute, watch english league, drink burukutu, pay rent, buy clothes, and a whole lot other things. They have to be genius to compress all these activities in one dollar.

I totally disbelieve the possibility of the posters story for 2 reasons:

A large number of young Binis do no speak the language. I'm Bini and a proud one at that, but I cannot make a full sentence in Bini language.
If I were in the event as described by the poster, I would have been lost as I would not understand what they had to say.

Secondly, Edo is such a multicultural state and I think the most liberal in the whole of the country. The Esan population which is almost as large as the Bini population do not share exactly the same language with the Binis. If they were at that event, it will make no sense to speak Bini.




Now, it is important to note that Edo is both a language and a tribe before it became the name of a state.Edo tribe has been for centuries while the state just came into being in 1991. Edo is the language spoken by the Bini people. It is possible the poster attended an event that was meant not for Edo as a state but for the Edos as a tribe.

However, Physicsqed has presented evidence that shows that the poster was not entirely truthful.