₦airaland Forum

Orlando Owoh: It is foolish of the OP to be comparing Rwanda, a country in Africa, to Rivers State, a state in Nigeria. Is there any basis for comparison? No! Why don't he compare South Africa and Nigeria that are both countries?

I didn't just compare Rwanda to Rivers State. I actually compared the last 6 years between Rivers($20 Billion Budgets, 6Million People) and Rwanda($7 Billion, 11 Million People) and the use of resources in that period. If you want me to compare Nigeria in the Last decade with South Africa in the last decade I will do that for you and you'll be beyond shocked that Nigeria has actually recorded greater economic improvements than South Africa. But in all, lets stop defending the indefensible. Nigeria is a wasteful country with pathetic leaders who go around fighting battles that have no bearing on us and we jump from place to place supporting their stupidity while small countries like Rwanda are positioning their country for the future. Amaechi has spent so much of Rivers peoples money fighting a battle that has no bearing for the people of Rivers State.

phantom: op claims to be a portharcourt boy and comes here to tell the world that PH has seen no improvement in 5 years.... very laughable!
papabrowne you are normally a very objective poster and one whose post i 'love' reading,but truth be told you ve flunked this one.no one is saying amaechi is perfect.no one is saying we shouldnt be seeing more based on what this state recieves and makes annually,BUT to come here and say there has been NO improvement, is just not fair at all.i was born here,and i have lived here all my life except for the 8 years i spent in enugu studying at the university.i lived through the hellish odili years and i make bold to say AMAECHI IS THE BEST GOVERNOR THIS STATE HAS SEEN SINCE DIETTE SPIFF. no PH boy will contest that.if odili had done half of what amaechi is doing now,this city would be a lovely place to live in.
PH like every other city is a victim of the nigerian factor.you cant discountenance that fact!you must admit it.
you cannot expect PH to thrive when its part of a larger rot.its like expecting one finger of a leprous hand to be unaffected.

Phantom, I also respect your posts and very much so. I remember the thread you started on Port Harcourt in January 2010 to be precise. Have you noticed that you had to stop putting pictures because there was nothing new to showcase? Many of the pictures you posted then like the light rail project as still the same way they've been since you last posted them. The greater Port Harcourt city project hasn't moved much in 6 years? Is it as a result of lack of funds? What happened to over $20 billion dollars? That is my question.

I am not a Port Harcourt boy in the per se, as in though I was born there and grew up a good number of years there, I dont currently live there but have visited the city time and time again. The security situation has improved a lot but that's the same story for much of the Niger Delta. Warri was worse than Port Harcourt with regards to security, but today Warri is much better than Port Harcourt in that area. You dont even hear of robberies in Warri. However, my reference is particularly with regards to urban development. Port Harcourt is an extremely unlivable city like many other Nigerian cities. However, just like we can see in Lagos and say Uyo, Enugu, Calabar, Benin, there is an on going and very visible plan to reposition places. But not so for Port Harcourt. The is no on going plan. There is no improvement in a certain direction, none at all. If there was Phantom, you will be the first to upload the pictures like you did, but none!!

To think that the governor goes around pontificating about Okonjo's perfomance, something he himnself knows is sterling is just crass hypocrisy and playing politics with the poor intelligence of Nigerians. His complaint is that she has refused to release funds when she has set benchmarks of accountability before funds are released. Amaechi should explain what he has done with $20 billion in 5 years.

Now, I got these Rwandan pictures from a thread that was opened in 2006. That thread had very few nice pictures of Rwanda at the time. The beautiful pictures started coming up as development started engulfing the city.

0lumide: When people criticize GEJ's administration, it is because he is continuing the retarded corrupt practices that has destroyed Nigeria.

Amaechi on the other hand, is building Rivers state from scratch. Rwanda has been developing since the 90s after the war...

Amaechi's 8yrs with Lamido's 8yrs are still the best PDP's 8 years in any state in Nigeria...

Stinking hypocrisy. Building Rivers from scratch. That's quite unintelligent. If you make statements, you come here with evidence. Don't just pontificate. I know you are a communist, so I wouldn't educate you on the impact this administration has had on economic policy, but for the benefit of your intelligence, help me explain in what way Amaechi has been building Rivers from scratch. He has had about $20 Billion in 5 years and all he has to do is pay salaries, build urban and rural infrastructure, create a healthy economy, stimulate the private sector and provide social services. He doesn't have a foreign Affairs ministry with 100 embassies worldwide, neither does he have 100,000 soldiers and an attendant defence budget. He doesn't have to provide power for his people, neither does he have to a customs and Immigration department.
No he just has to make Port Harcourt nice with $20 billion in 5 years and all I see is water logged environments with bad roads and hold up in every corner.

Abagworo: You are more or less criticizing the Federal Government. Why can't you make it clear that the FG has failed Nigerians while the States are deprived from autonomy and inability to develop at their pace. Look at Rwanda and look at Nigeria.

You are running from realities. The FG doesn't stop states from making their cities wonderful. The FG hasn't stopped no state from bringing out its best in areas of development that have no FG control. If I were talking about the parlous state of security in Rivers State, you will be right to remind me of FG's failures. If I were talking about the parlous state of power in the country, you would be right to remind me of the FG';s failures.
If I talked about the parlous state of Aviation, then be OK to point to Abuja.

I am talking about providing basic urban infrastructure. Creating livable cities. Design a proper transit system for a city. Giving access to qualitative healthcare to all you citizens. That's what Rwanda has done with less than the Budget of Rivers State.

For those that think its all just beautiful pictures

Here: Hospitals in Rwanda.
Butaro Hospital
https://www.publicinterestdesign.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/butaro.jpg

https://www.bustler.net/images/sized/images/news2/mass_design_group_named_designer_of_the_year_1_1-530x354.jpg

https://www.bustler.net/images/news2/mass_design_group_named_designer_of_the_year_3_1.jpg

Another one
https://www.archidose.org/Jul12/30/image06.jpg

King Faisal Hospital Kigali
[img]http://www.primature.gov.rw/uploads/pics/KingFaisalHospitalRwandabecomesindependent.jpg[/img]

Symphony007: Only a fool like this poster rates development but beauty.....i guess when you marry a wife: beauty comes before brains, let me retrait what matter here; 250 primary and model secondary schools: 150 healthcenters, over a thousand students undergraduate and post graduate students studying abroad: the RSSDA, the largest state developmental agency in nigeria giving out billions in loans and the setting up of the shonghai fish farm. Every rivers child has the opportunity to go to school with worrying of uniform,sandal,bags,books or lunch because all is provided by the government, how amny states in nigeria can assure this to their kids? Can rwanda assure this to their kids? This is what matters; human development; investing in the future of tomorrow. Giving them all the tools they need to grow. I don't need to outline the other infastructural achievements of ameachi because it speaks volumes of your intellectual maturity when you judge development by beautifull buildings and flower. Harare, zimbabwe is a very beautifull city, even better than lagos or abuja....so by your logic i'm guessing zimbabwe who is in such economic decline they use the dollar and even batter is miles ahead of nigeria?

Like seriously, you just showed Nairaland the capacity of your brain.
I'm more interested in livability as a measure of development. Beauty is good but not the ultimate.
The pictures I presented show the quality of Infrastructure that Kigame has given to Kigali in less than a decade with very little money. And by anyt count or measure, Kilagi is more developed, more livable, more beautiful, more technology inclined, more attractive and the people live by far better lives than the people of Port Harcourt by a long shot. The only thing Port harcourt has more of is the supply of money which is largely a function of the Federal Government as it controls the oil industry.

Now add up all the things you listed:
250 Primary Schools
Billions in loans
Shonghai farm and all you said and did not say and check if it is up to $1 Billion in expenses.


Now can you kindly tell me what has happened to the rest of the $19 Billion?

Thank you.

emiye: @ op, When making such comparisons, to aid the analysis, you must ensure your data is correct and can be referenced.

You claimed Nigeria's annual budget is 22billion USD , i found out it is 31billion usd.

You claimed Rwanda s annual budget is 1.67 usd, i found out it is 2.2 usd http://www.kpmg.com/eastafrica/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/Documents/KPMG_Rwanda_Budget_Brief_2012.pdf coinmill.com/RWF_USD.html#


what other wrong claims have you made ?

If you were wise, you would have asked what year was referenced. Go to CIA Factbook for reference Mr.

Every figure I stated is fact. Even at 2.2 Billion, Rwanda's Budget is still much lower than Rivers Stat budget of $3.01Billion.

But Abagworo are you seriously showing these pictures as evidence of $20 Billion in expenditure. Even poorer states have much better pictures to show. Are these the kinds of roads that $20 Billion in expenses should show. I opened a thread on Rwanda vs Rivers to show the extent of Amaechi's evil hypocrisy. Port Harcourt is punching way below its belt as against Lagos which is now gaining international reputation.

Why are there no investments going into Port Harcourt despite all the money present in the city. Lagos is attarcting the likes of Intercontinental, Marriot, Four Points et al, but Port Harcourt is getting nothing. Have any idea why? Notice what is happening in Calabar and how it reciebed over $2 Billion in 2012 alone? Why is Port Harcourt with so much potential going off the radar- The answer is simple- Horrible infrastructure and no sign of visible improvement.

More Rwanda

https://www.igihe.com/IMG/jpg/Izi_ni_zimwe_mu_nyubako_zigaragara_Kacyiru_iyi_foto_yafashwe_Hotel_Top_Tower_itaruzura_.jpg

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4055/4444843323_6e81374c5d_z.jpg?zz=1

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8084/8302574156_8c17110f33_b.jpg

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8362/8342865229_586db9dc20_z.jpg

careytommy: @op, you have to understand that the federal form of govt/laws to be the major clog in the wheel of progress for most states especially southern states.
Lagos would have been doing well in terms of power generation...including others like abia, akwa ibom and rivers but for our useless power distribution law.

Yes you are right. But look at it this way. Since the states don't have to invest in power, shouldn't we see even more wonderful urban infrastructure like we see in Kigali given that more money would be available to invest since they aren't investing in expensive things like power. Why are the roads in PH still a mess. Why is there no area that PH and Rivers State can brag about. Why for crying out loud does Port Harcourt still look like it is Congo having spent almost $20Billion in 5 years.

Spiff20: @op i hav a question for you. Is dia any nigerian city apart frm lagos nd abuja datz mor developed dan port harcourt?

Ans: There is no Nigerian city besides Lagos and Abuja that are more developed than Port Harcourt forever. As in even when I was borne in PH yeears ago, it was the second most developed city in Nigeria.

But there are numerous Nigerian Cities that have been better improved than Port Harcourt over the last 5 years. Infact, PH has actually deteriorated while others have improved.
Uyo, Benin, Calabar, Enugu and a host of other have experienced much more improvements than Port Harcourt.

I repeat, I'm a PH boy of sorts as I was born there, grew up a little there and visit quite often. And PH is an Eyesore. The places that should give the city pride are not nice at all. Even GRA and its surroundings nothing to right home about. I was in Enugu around February this year and I met a pleasant surprise. There is pictures of beautiful Cities accross Nigeria and there is no Picture of Port Harcourt. Even Warri, PH's younger sister is beginning to be more impressive than Port Harcourt.

So my question to you: Amaechi has spent $20 Billion in the last 5 years. Can you show me a sinlgle picture of PH that says, money in billions of dollars was spent on me.

Symphony007: leave them, they think PH city is like uyo were to clear bush to build new road, in Ph, you have to demolish structures and pay compensations to build new or expand roads within the metropolis, yet the pressure on the road is still much. Do you know how many cars move around Ph? You build clear bush and build a road in uyo were a few cars, goats and chicken ply.

I was born in Port Harcourt and I lived there for some years and I visit too. So I know the city wella. Truth is PH has deteriorated while places like Lagos which has even bigger problems have improved tremendously. I've been asking people to show me pictures of an improved city and I can't see any. Every governor has worked on some roads. Infact even Governors like Orji have some roads to show. I want to see pictures of an improved city. An improved city. And I haven't seen anyone on PH.


Below is Abagoro's picture of an improved PH. And the other picture is one of an improved Benin. Spot the difference. Yet one has earned trillions and the other only billions. Go figure!!

Improved Port Harcourt
www.nairaland.com/attachments/1317776_1ntaroad_jpg467f87684aede85ac99563cb5ea484a5

Improved Benin City
https://img.naijapals.com/gallery/23/640202_16_01_13_4_25_36_23383278.jpeg

Abagworo: Give him a four year score card. I've not felt much of the impact from FG in Rivers State. The 18hours power I'm enjoying is courtesy Rivers government, the road I travel on whuch is PH-Owerri is work of Rivers government. East-west road and Aba express are the worst major roads in Rivers State. A journey from Port-Harcourt to Obigbo which is 5km takes up to 4 hours. Choba to Eleme is not a better story.

Because by design, the impact you should feel in Rivers State should come from your Governor and his Local Government Chairmen. The FG has been here for barely 3 years and if you go across Nigeria, you will know things are happening. I specifically stated that the FG has just 7 times the Budget of Rivers state($22 Billion vs $3Billion) yet it has 30 times the population( 6 Million vs 170 Million) and about 100 times the landmass(923,000 sqkm vs 12, 000 sqkm) and dozens more in responsibility.

What for crying out loud have you seen in PH that says the Government has spent $20 Billion in the last 5 years?
All I see anytime I'm in PH is jeeps upon jeeps upon jeeps. The suffering in the city is intense. At least unarguably, we all know that Fashola has done a good job in Lagos and we can see the pictures of that improvement.

Now Abagworo, can you show me any pictures of PH that says $20 billion has been spent in this city?I want just a few nice pictures like we have of say Lagos, Enugu and Uyo or Calabar.
I've used Kigali because it has slightly similar stats with Rivers State in terms of financial availability ala landmass and population.

abagoro: What has your Oga done for Riverine people in particular and Niger Delta in general? Let us start with that. I'll list Amaechi's contributions outside Port-Harcourt.

1) Ogoni-Andoni-Opobo road with several bridges. By December this year and for the 1st time in the history of mankind my Opobo brothers can drive their families home by road with their family car which they use in Aba, Port-Harcourt or Yenagoa. http://www.nigeriannews.net.s2.gvirabi.com/index.php/sid/215283906/scat/8db1f72cde37faf3

2) The Rufus Ada George ring road in Okrika which is ironically Patience Jonathan's hometown.

3) Ogu/Bolo link road. Ogu-Bolo LGA is inhabited by same Okrika people.

4) Trans-Kalabari highway which will link all Kalabari communities is under construction as I write. This is something many considered impossible in the past.

All these projects are in riverine areas which has same terrain as Bayelsa.

Who is my Oga??

If you are talking about the FG headed by Jonathan, I would not join issues. I know his minijsters are working hard and getting global accolades.
I know whats happening in Agriculture. I know what is happening in Aviation. I know what is happening in power. I know what is happening with regard to how much investments are trooping into the country.
I know how slowly but steadily infrstructure is coming back up. I saw Julius Berger trucks on Lagos- Ibadan Expressway. I saw intense work on East west road. I attend conferences globally and I know the kind of accolades this government gets in the areas it is working wonderfully and most importantly, despite the immense security challenges it has faced since inception.

Now watch this video: And you'll understand why Amaechi should be working and not talking!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=myu5vRa6cvE

PICTURES OF THE CITY OF KIGALI
And all these have been happening in Rwanda over the last six year, during a period which Amaechi has been Governor of Rivers State with a budget of $20 Billion vs Kigali's meagre $7 Billion

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7456/9258529525_ecd5c6cbcf_b.jpg

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5514/9319984772_94ee28335d_b.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7304/9319983118_80549fdba3_z.jpg

https://static.panoramio.com/photos/1920x1280/65980294.jpg

https://sphotos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/408440_10151597347934802_1135045734_n.jpg

RWANDA VS RIVERS STATE


[size=13pt]RWANDA[/size]
Population: 11 Million
GDP: $16 Billion
Budget: $1.67 Billion
Size: 23,000 SQ km



[size=13pt]RIVERS STATE:[/size]
Population: 6 Million
GDP: $19 Billion+
Budget: $3 Billion+
Size: 12,000 Sq KM.


Rivers State has more money, less responsibilities ala Land area and Population than Rwanada. Yet the pictures below would tell you why Amaechi should shut up and work. He has amongst the highest Budget per Capita in the country and yet he has failed to impact his little state.
While Rwanda has had barely $7 Billion in Budgets for 11 million people over the last 5 years combined, Amaechi has had almost $20 billion Dollars for just 6 million people.

The Nigerian FG's budget is just 7 times the size of Amaechi's Rivers state budget($22 Billion vs $3Billion) despite have more than 30 times the responsibility in population and almost 100 times the size in landmass and another multiple times over in responsibility ala Defence,Security, Foreign Affairs, Power, et all.
So why is Amaechi failing and yet having the effrontery to pontificate. There surely is something wrong with Nigeria where an obvious failure stands on a stage and shamelessly calls people who are working hard to resign. Pathetic.

Before I returned to Nigeria in 2005, I was weighing my options on what city to settle in. The options that looked endearing were Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt for obvious economic reasons. They were about the only three cities in Nigeria at the time that had any semblance of economic activity.
Then I came to Nigeria and visited all three cities. Lagos was a hell of an experience teething on the brink of suffocating collapse. Abuja was a relief. Beautiful and serene but pretty much a boring place at the time. Port Harcourt on the other hand appeared like a better alternative than Lagos. It had a Night life with lots of expatriates everywhere you turned. It looked very promising plus it had lots of money. This was just before the Niger Delta crisis snowballed and engulfed PH.


Fast Forward 8 years later>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


Lagos has seen tremendous improvement. Infrastructure has been and is continually being upgraded. Commute time has reduced. Economic activity is impressive. The city is becoming more international by the day. The city tough still a difficult place, you get the feel that the Government is really working to improve the lives of the citizens. Scattered across the internet is pictures of the new Lagos with improvements all over. And one good sign: International Hotel chains scrambling to take a pie in the cities landscape. And the credit for this must go mainly to the very excellent Administrative style of Governor Fashola.

Abuja also has seen tremendous improvement. The boring tag has been erased. The city remains the most livable and continues to see tremendous improvement both in infrastructure and economics. Abuja is know for the excellent real estate scattered across the city. More than enough pictures of the city everywhere on the internet.

Port Harcourt on the other hand is nothing to write home about. The city is as unappealing as it gets. There is literally no coordinated infrastructure development in the city. Every corner is littered with traffic jams that aren't caused by the number of cars on the streets but by the parlous state of the roads. Visit the city and you leave it overtly uninspired. There is still lots of money in the city as a result of the oil industry no investment are pouring in from the private sector because there is no framework to support it.

In the days pre 2005, numerous international Hotel chains were looking to get in on the city- Novotel, Le Meridian, Best Western,Protea. However, while Lagos continues to scoop many new chain, Port Harcourt has not had a single new Hotel development.
Finally, there are no pictures of new and wonderful looking PH scattered on the internet like you have of Lagos, Abuja, Enugu, Uyo, Benin and the likes. Development doesn't hide. If it is happening, people will snap pictures and show it proudly.

Truth is nothing except the building of schools has happened in PH in the last 6 years. And the failure is attributable to the Governor. He receives the highest allocation of any state, presides over a small landmass, has only one urban area to deal with and yet the city of PH still looks like a cesspit. Yet he moves from place to place making noise as if he has created an Eldorado out of Port Harcourt. His speech on the state of our economy was the height of his hypocrisy. If Okonjo should resign, then Amaechi should be jailed because while she has obviously brought real sanity and confidence to the Nigerian economc system, Amaechi has overseen the decline in the state of Rivers.


To understand the failures of Amaechi, I have opted to do a comparison between Rivers State and the Country of Rwanda and to show what it means to grow an economy. Rwanda experience a brutal civil war and had its country destroyed. But its has bounced back tremendously and continues to out-stand analysts and economic watchers.

[quote author=bashy_demy]No mind those eediot jare, They are showing same pictures from the same place and taking that for the whole of River states. Some people are stewpid to judge even something like this is in US[/quote]If you believe Port Harcourt is nice, why not show us some pictures of nice port Harcourt with wonderful roads that Amaechi has built.

I'm a regular PH visitor and the city is disappointing. I mean what happens to all the allocation that accrues monthly.
If you visit Uyo you can see the obvious impact of the governor and thats why the internet is filled with pictures of the city.
Same with Enugu. Same with Calabar and even Benin City is coming up.
If you go to Lagos, you will see the Obvious impact of Fashola on the state.

But Port Harcourt, a complete mess. The only thing Amaechi did was the schools he built. However, you never see students at the school and I wonder why.

Palm Oil is in everything on the supermarket shelf. As the world's population grows and as the emerging economies sees industrial growth, Palm Oil is going to experience increasing importance globally. The picture below shows an array of goods that contain Palm Oil.

https://www.forestjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/PalmOilProducts.jpg

This pathetic quaff should shut his trap. Who told him he is the owner of Niger State. Some folks just sit down and arrogate to themselves some stupid powers. Every Nigerian under the law has the right to visit or abide in any state in Nigeria. Worse still a minister whose job description covers education in all the states of the Federation. The quaff should shut his trap. Instead of them to focus on the work they've been given.

agbameta: Abeg spare us your usual ignorant nonsense,

Oga olodo, ba oni?

ilugunboy: I knew something was just not right with the list...

The way they smuggled Orji Kalu into it raised adequate suspicion...

Totally agree! When I saw his name on the list, I knew something was totally wrong with it. Forbes uses verifiable income to assess it's rich list. Orji Kalu and verifiable income are not to be found in the same book. Rather he should be found on a book with the names of money launderers and in that same book would be the likes of Ibori, Tinubu, Odili and Alams.

Impressive. That would be big as it will give Lagos the title of the city with the second highest number of skyscrapers.

Do I see this as possible? Why not. But it might take another 50-200 years to hit that number. Hong Kong has the highest number of scrapers with 1250. New York- 582, Tokyo- 410 and Dubai- 285.

Actually and factually, I wouldn't expect that much given that VI which should currently have a good number of scrapers has only built 1 structure above 20 storey in the last decade despite an intense oil boom. Scrapers are expensive and you would need a real international economy to achieve that. If Lagos can seek to be the future Africa's financial hub, then it surely would place itself in the running for such a feat.

My only fear be say, make the ocean no go vex one day oh.

These gutters are very unsightly. I have always wondered why top class infrastructure has not been given the the likes of VI and Ikoyi as well as Lekki given that the Property values in these areas are humungous, probably some of the most expensive on the globe.

Many states are beginning to adopt the closed drainage policy. At least I know of Akwa Ibom and Benin City. All the new roads being built are now with covered drainage and side walks.

[size=14pt]BENIN[/size]
https://img.naijapals.com/gallery/23/640202_16_01_13_4_25_36_23383278.jpeg



But VI is really a mess for a CBD with the value of land amongst the most expensive in the world.

ilugunboy: You are not looking at the bigger picture.

What you are insinuating is tantamount to anarchy and chaos....a perfect recipe for a military coup d'état .

You are also not looking at the bigger picture.

What you are also insinuating(impeachment for no reason) is tantamount to not just anarchy and chaos, but a complete grounding of of the single source of our earnings. I don't support it, but it is the reality on ground and the politicians know it and know not to try anything like an impeachment.

But more importantly, the laws regarding impeachment make it literally impossible to sit a sitting president. Literally impossible. Go read the constitution. The power to impeach doesn't lie in the hands of the legislature alone. You need the Judiciary and a couple other. Pretty tough law.

Pay every Kobo you owe. Then you can take them up for endangering your life. You have to pay for what you used.

Its good you have the picture of the damage. Now find out from a lawyer what next you should do.

Four reasons you should not let this pass include
1)They are not remorseful of the potential damage they could have cost you. Imagine it actually fell on you, wouldn't the story be different.
2)To protect other potential clients from eventually becoming victims.
3)The owner of the Hotel in Question has a reputation of being very mean. My first experience with his actions was when I visited a bank in Warri which rented one of his properties. During banking hours, he blocked the entrance to the banks door with a heap of sand for whatever reason I have no idea about.
4)The owner of the Hotel in Question has just built a similar Hotel in Warri that is extremely large but in my opinion not well built. I'm not comfortable with the way the structure looked during construction even though it has been covered with aluminuim.

Take up your complaint even if it is to protect other consumers.

THIS THREAD IS A WONDERFUL CLASSROOM. I LEARN NEW THINGS ANYTIME I COME HERE.

For you guys that have planted already or are looking to plant soon, the future is bright. I've been reading article upon article about the increasing demand for palm oil globally and how companies are switching from other kinds of oil to palm for their industrial production. The future is surely bright.

Read New York times article below.

You may have never set eyes on an oil palm tree, but it’s probably an intimate part of your everyday life. Whether you start your day with a shave or an application of lipstick, you are probably putting the oil from the tree’s fruits on your face. You buy a donut on the way to work, and with each bite, you swallow some of the palm oil in which it was cooked. After work, you stop at the supermarket, and about half the products on the shelves contain palm oil. Before bed, you scrub your face with soap and brush your teeth with toothpaste. They’re both palm oil’s way of wishing you good night.

In just the past few decades, the oil palm tree Elaeis guineensis has become a huge global industry. In 1961, the world’s palm oil plantations produced 1.7 million tons of oil; today that figure is up to 64 million tons a year. A single acre of oil palm trees can generate up to $4,500 annually. Those prices will probably stay high in decades to come, as demand for the oil increases. China and India are now shifting to using palm oil for cooking food, for example, and some countries are exploring palm oil as a biofuel.


But the oil palm tree industry is also an environmental disaster, according to many conservation biologists. The tree “grows best in those parts of the world that support tropical rainforests,” said Ben Phalan of the University of Cambridge. “Oil palm expansion in recent decades has been one of the main drivers of deforestation in Southeast Asia.”

That expansion has helped push many species, including pygmy elephants and orangutans, closer to extinction. The palm oil industry is also leaving its mark on the atmosphere. Some farmers use fire to clear land for plantations, and swampy forests converted to stands of oil palm trees become more prone to burning. The forests, which store huge amounts of carbon, release it into the atmosphere after they are replaced by plantations.

On Wednesday a team of Malaysian and American scientists published a pair of papers in Nature on the genome of this profoundly important tree. In its 34,802 genes, they have been able to reconstruct millions of years of its evolution. They hope to use that knowledge to grow better trees that can yield more oil — and possibly reduce the pressure on the world’s remaining rain forests.

Conservation biologists hail the research, but caution about its potential to help the environmental crisis. The solution to the palm oil problem, they say, lies beyond its DNA.

The ancestors of oil palms split off from date palms about 70 million years ago. They grew across Africa and South America, which were still joined at the time. Over millions of years, the two continents split apart, taking their oil palms with them. And along the way, oil palms got oily.

Most flowering plants grow oil in their seeds as a way to supply their offspring with an energy supply. But some also grow oil in their fruit to attract animals, which eat the fruit and spread the seeds in their droppings. The genome team uncovered some of the molecular changes behind this evolution. Oil palm trees switch on some seed-oil genes in their fruits, for example.

The researchers discovered that a single gene, called SHELL, has a powerful effect on how much oil is produced by different varieties of the tree. Mutations to SHELL can raise the yield of the palm by as much as 30 percent.

Tree breeders will now be able to test seeds to see if they carry the high-yield version of SHELL, for example, rather than waiting for six years for the seed to grow into a tree that bears fruit.

The researchers also hope that their public release of the genome will allow other scientists to pinpoint more genes that might be useful for improving oil palm trees, such as resisting drought and diseases. “We’re not going to stop here,” said Ravigadevi Sambanthamurthi, a biochemist at the Malaysian Palm Oil Board and a co-author of the papers. The board, which is financed by the Malaysian government, paid for most of the research.

Genome-driven improvements to oil palm trees, the researchers argue, could allow farmers to produce more oil on less land. Writing in Nature, they claim that the genome will “help to achieve sustainability for biofuels and edible oils, reducing the rainforest footprint of this tropical plantation crop.” (As a food, palm oil is high in saturated fats, considered unhealthy by the American Heart Association.)

The new study is “a major breakthrough,” said David Edwards, a conservation biologist at James Cook University in Australia. “The only way that we will be able to feed the projected human population of 9 to 10 billion without huge waves of deforestation is through increases in crop yield.”

But Dr. Edwards and other conservation biologists doubt that genome-driven improvements can protect forests on their own. If plantations become more profitable, agricultural companies and small farmers will have an incentive to plant more trees. “This increases pressure on converting land for plantations,” said Lisa Curran of Stanford University.

“What is also needed is the political will to ensure that forests are in fact protected,” said Dr. Phalan.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/24/science/looking-at-oil-palms-genome-for-keys-to-productivity.html

Virgin Finder: Trash!

It's Edos that won't let us be. They keep bearing Yoruba names and speaking Yoruba from time to time.

Have you ever seen any Yoruba give their child an Edo name? Nonsense!

As regards the LAGOS royal family, though it may have been initiated by the Benin,by providence, it eventually passed to the Yorubas via Alagba, an Ijesha man in the 3rd generation.

No sir. I have never seen an EDO man claim Yoruba. But countless number of threads have opened on Nairaland with Yorubas saying "EDOs are with us". I sincerely don't have a problem with it. I actually see it as a wonderful complement knowing that they say that out of Love for the Edos. But what is is what is. The british tried to punish us because of our hostility towards them during colonialism so they lumped us in the western Region. We backed out 3 years later to form what I think was the smallest region: The then western Region.
Now we are happily and content in the South South. Anything short of that would see us form as Singapore-like entity.


As per Benin's bearing Yoruba names, I have two things to say.
1) Not only is the title of the King of Lagos a Benin name, the city itself Eko is a Benin word for camp.

2)Benin and Yorubas intermarry a lot, like they do with other tribes. The result is a mixture of names. I have many Yoruba cousins. And they bear Benin and Yoruba names. Plus how come a lot of ondos bear Benin names too?

People are not happy power road map is being implemented successfully. They know how successful this has being but want to discredit it by joining the presidents wife's name in it. Very pathetic.

To the very sad Nairalander that posted this article, don't worry constant electricity would reach your side, no matter how much you love darkness. I repeat, constant electricity is coming your way whether you like it or not. If you don't want the light, you can opt to disconnect from the grid.

Ola Johnson: Governor Adams Oshiomohle has always identified with the regional integration of the South West, and the Oba of Benin doesn't see anything wrong in it.

Please kindly exclude us from this Odua dream. Why are we Edos so special like this. People would be dragging us like say na we fine pass.
Oshiomole has never identified with any Odua thing. Oshiomole is the only ACN governor that doesn't pay homage to Tinubu.

Yorubas might have some cultural similarities here and there with Edos but that is simply because of the influence we had over the entire region before the british came thru. And FYI, other tribes have very stronger cultural similarities with us than the Yorubas. And most of these others are in the south south region. Lagos is a different case though as the Lagos Royal family is actually from EDO, just like the Itsekiri and Asaba Royal Families.

Please for the umpteenth time, can you kindly try stop the EDO-ODUA association. I understand that we are very fine and intelligent people and you'll like us in ODUA, but thanks. . . we are fine in SS. We love you back though.



I have spoken as a Bini with Royalty running thru my veins as in IGUN Street things.