While the same security agencies that supposed to prevent this ugly trend rather choose to heavily militarize the southern borders.The northern approach are just leeway for fulanis, bandits and BH to freely do whatsoever they want.
Badagry reeks of all features of the trans-Atlantic slavery era.When my aunt late husband took me to visit some historical sites in the town in 2016, I really wept because of how humanity were treated by these western imperialist especially @ the slaves harbour-"place of no return." Gosh!
And some haters gathered but God didnt allowed them to succeed.What have become of them today? They thought they are conquering us but alas they were wrong. Armed insurrection is the order of the day with so much blood being spilled on their own land. I bu ezigbo nwafor Igbo.Greatly proud of my heritage.God continue to bless the land of the rising sun and umu Chineke nile.
The National Publicity Secretary of Arewa Consultative Forum, Emmanuel Waye, has said that he has lost faith in President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday, Waye lamented the worsening level of insecurity in the country.
“How can I have faith in someone who presides over this kind of thing? I had faith in him when I followed him as a reporter and he chased away some foreigners who were coming to kill us,” he said.
“When he was coming to be President, I had faith in him. I witnessed how successful this man was in chasing enemies out of our country in 1983. But now, 300 people kidnapped in his home state.”
While noting that the entire north isn’t secured, Waye said no northerner is happy with the spate of killings and attacks in the region.
For the Arewa forum’s spokesman, fear has gripped him now that he no longer feels safe travelling to his country home in Taraba State following the frequent report of killings and attacks.
“I can’t go to my home state of Taraba. The whole place is in chaos, they are killing people every day.That one is not publicised because there is no oil in Taraba.
“All over the north, there is insecurity. I have never felt unsafe like I feel now. What can I say? You have seen what is happening to our people,” he added.
Insecurity has been a burning issue in the country following attacks and killings ranging from banditry, terrorism, armed robbery among several other security threats.
The National Assembly had recently passed a vote of no confidence on the service chiefs, calling on President Buhari to replace them and overhaul the nation’s security architecture.
Nigeria's corruption and lawlessness started from antiquity.To think that the same trend have taken a more sophisticated dimension as @ today is so discouraging. This nation is doomed.
Was it PDP that was negotiating with bandits or granting BHT amnesty? Always shifting blame, passing the buck but never being responsible for once while the government is still clueless about proactive governance.Too bad!
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Abba Ali, has reacted to the worsening state of the insecurity in the country, saying President Muhammadu Buhari inherited the problem from the former government of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Ali, who spoke from Katsina, disclosed this on Wednesday during a phone interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
“The insecurity we inherited in the country was not the making of the All Progressives Congress (APC). It is from other parties, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) when they were in power,” the member of the APC National Caretaker Committee said.
“The Chibok girls were taken away for quite some months; they did not do anything until this regime came in.Boko Haram in the past occupied 17 local government areas of Borno State.
“The government in the country is doing all they can to make sure that the people are secured, catered for. This government has done a lot, is doing a lot and will continue to do a lot to make sure that this country becomes a secured country.”
Nigeria has been fighting the insurgency war for over a decade following the killing of Boko Haram founder, Mohammed Yusuf allegedly by the police authorities in 2009.
The terrorists have launched a series of attacks in the northeast bordering Borno, Yobe and Adamawa with tens of thousands said to have died from the insurgency.
On November 28, the terrorists invaded Zabarmari village in Borno State and slaughtered no fewer than 44 rice farmers, a situation that drew condemnation from many, including the United Nations, United States, and Pope Francis.
Three weeks after, the insurgents stormed four villages in the southern part of Borno State and had a field day during the over 8-hour attack, despite military operations ongoing in the region.
Just today, seven local hunters died from a landmine left by Boko Haram militants in a village near Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
The ill-fated hunters on a routine patrol with the military drove over the explosives that killed them instantly beyond recognition, a local vigilante source said.
Boko Haram and a splinter group known as the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) have launched a series of attacks in Nigeria for more than a decade now.
More than 30,000 people have been killed and nearly 3 million displaced in a decade of Boko Haram violence in Nigeria, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
According to the UN Refugee Agency, violence by Boko Haram has affected 26 million people in the Lake Chad region and displaced 2.6 million others.
Improvement in transportation especially the train services is a welcome relief in respect to what have becomes of travelling via Nigerian roads.
However of what use is such a welcome development when this country is bring bedevilled by many signs of ill governance with deteriorating widespread insecurity, kidnapping, political assassinations, mass annihilation criminal element that government have no solution to, abject poverty, religious fanatism, bastardized economy/ Healthcare/Educational(ASUU strike) system among many with a rpresident that cant address or reassures his citizens?
Nigeria have a bigger problem than celebrating a train innovation that is another source of worry giving the ugly situations wherein they are now targets of bandits attack or breaking down in dangerous places?
So what has happened in the past 64years or 60years of attaining the so called independence thereafter? Is the north not still parasitic on this nation?
There are indications that the Federal Government may be on course to meet and perhaps, surpass the projected oil revenue target in the 2021 budget if the recent rise in the prices of crude oil is sustained into the new year.
Investment analysts observed that besides meeting the oil revenue target, Nigeria also stands the chance of reducing the budget deficit estimated at N5.2 trillion and government’s borrowing to fund the budget if the ongoing surge in the international oil price is sustained for the rest of 2021.
The prices of Brent Crude surged above $50 per barrel last week (20% above the budget benchmark) following optimism that the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic on the back of vaccine discovery and hope of distribution and also reflects the ability of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) plus Russia (OPEC+) to enforce some level of collective production cuts.
Meanwhile, the federal government has estimated that revenue from oil sales would contribute not less than 25.5 percent to its 2021 revenue target after setting oil revenue projection at N2.01 trillion.
Following the projections, the federal government had also set oil price benchmark at $40 per barrel, while daily oil production is benchmarked at 1.86 million barrels per day.
Vanguard Public Finance analysis shows that collections from oil revenue for third quarter ended September 30, 2020(Q3’20) stood at N953.09 billion, N1.06 trillion or 52 percent and 63.9 percent short of the 2020 and 2021oil revenue targets respectively.
Despite the shortfall, investment analysts have said that the FG may still attain the target but stated that realisation of the target would also depend on maintaining the oil production target throughout the year.
Further breakdown showed that collections from oil revenue in Q3’20 was 25 percent and 28.9 percent lower than receipts in Q2’20 and Q3’19, respectively, but represented a 7.6 percent increase above the revised benchmark of N886.16 billion for the period.
Experts’ opinion
Financial experts who spoke to Vanguard Public Finance explained that global oil price above US$50 would enable the country achieve the oil revenue target and would lead to improved dollars inflow into the country.
Victor Chiazor, Head of Research, FSL Securities, said: “The rise in crude oil prices remain positive to the Nigerian economy. Given the 2021 oil benchmark price of US$40.00 per barrel, a global price above US$50 per barrel will effectively enable Nigeria achieve its oil revenue budget once our oil production volumes are not affected during the period.
“A higher oil price for the fiscal 2021 period will also help reduce the budget deficit and reduce government borrowing needed to fund the 2021 budget.”
He, however, said that the government needs to focus on revenue sources to cushion the impact on any unforeseeable occurrences in the oil market that may negatively affect the revenue target.
He said: “We, however, need to remain cautious with regards to oil prices remaining above the US$40 budget benchmark for the entire fiscal year 2021, as there remains significant headwinds which may drive oil prices lower in the short term and therefore we need to focus on other revenue sources for the federal government outside of crude oil.”
Corroborating him , Ayodeji, Ebo, Senior Economist/Head, Research & Strategy, Greenwich Merchant Bank, said: “The uptrend in crude oil prices is positive for Nigeria given the high dependence on oil revenue and historical shortfall in non-oil revenue. With the oil price above the budget benchmark, the government should be able to meet up with its projected revenue from oil,
“However, the downside risk is the OPEC + production cut which is significantly lower than 2021 budget projection. Recall that the excess above the budget oil price benchmark is kept in the Excess Crude Account which is the savings for the raining day. To avoid continuous revenue vulnerability to crude oil prices, there must be increasing effort towards improving the non-oil revenue target.”
In their own views, analysts at Coronation Merchant Bank, said: “As a rule of thumb, Nigeria’s public finances work well when oil trades consistently above US$50 per barrel. Oil provides (in a good year), the federal government with upwards of 60 percent of its revenue and supplies the country with over 80 percent of its export earnings.
Since much of these earnings are banked by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), this is a crucial source of foreign exchange (FX). So, for example, the long period of low oil prices from the end of 2014 through to mid-2017 (the price of Brent averaged US$45.10/bbl in 2015 and US$56.09/bbl in 2017) led to a depressed level of CBN FX reserves.
This precipitated two devaluations in the interbank exchange rate, from N199/US$1 to N316/US$1 in mid-2016 and from N316/US$1 to N357/US$1 in August 2017.
“Therefore, the recent rise in the price of Brent comes at a good time for the CBN. This year the CBN has avoided the fate it suffered in 2016 and the first half of 2017, namely a level of reserves below US$30.00bn (the current reported level is US$34.97bn). The cost of this preservation has been a sharp reduction, starting in March, in the CBN’s supply of US dollars to the NAFEX market.If an oil price above US$50 per barrel takes root in 2021, it will be tempting to think of the nation returning to normal.
Normal, in this instance, means a healthy inflow of US dollars from oil that supports the revenues of the government and allows the CBN to be supplier of last resort to the foreign exchange markets.Therefore, an oil price above US$50 per barrel brings the prospect of improved US dollar inflows.”
The death of the then MBA chair-Barr.Banabas Igwe his wife and others who were assassinated during the governorship of Chinwike Mbadinuju is still fresh in our minds.
F-16, F-17, Augusta or Apache Heli, they are all useless as long as BH and the army share the same commander in chief.Is it not in Nigeria that a president said a fight against BH is a fight against the north? Make una continue to deceive una self there.
This ugly trend just continue in the north especially the president's home state without any aggressive demonstration of outrage by these affected people, community or arewa youth simply shows that they're all in agreement with these monsters the created & nurtured Too bad!
Sagay simply is clever by half as he was even trying to exonerate the president who the buck stops @ his table.He should just say Bubu have failed in the so called anti corruption fight because corruption have worsened under his regime...........
All these charade was glaring from the beginning because the govt denied the transparency international rating of Nigeria's performance but they have now confirmed them to be right.
John Ayoade, an emeritus professor at the University of Ibadan (UI), says the 1999 constitution needs to be replaced not amended.
Ayoade, who was a member of the 2005 national political reform conference, rejected the ongoing efforts by the national assembly to amend the constitution which he said is “totally flawed.”
He made his views known while delivering a recent lecture at the 2020 Senator Abiola Ajimobi Foundation (SAAF) programme at the International Conference Centre in Oyo state.
The lecture, which was organised in collaboration with the university’s Institute for Peace and Strategic Studies (IPSS), was titled, “Nigeria: A nation of states or a state of nations”.
Ayoade said what Nigeria needs is a new federal constitution, faulting the current one as giving insufficient powers to the states.
“The 1999 constitution is long overdue for replacement. It is not a federal constitution except in name. It is a constitution that gives insufficient power to the states and uses financial power to neutralise even those powers. What we need is a total replacement,” he said.
“Secondly, the constitution is not written in a market-place. We never produce a good constitution. How many people wrote the US constitution? Was it written by the entire world?”
He said the 1979 constitution is the best constitution we had so far, adding: “A group of 49 selected experts produced the 1979 constitution.”
“The national assembly should not have anything to do with the amendment of the constitution. The servant cannot write his own scheme of work. Otherwise, he will write for himself,” he added.
“It is only a matter of time before the strange amalgam of a unitary federation becomes full blown. The tradition of orchestrating a pandemonium in the name of making a constitution must be avoided.
“Our experience has shown that a small panel of experts who are conversant with Nigeria and the aspirations of the people will be more appropriate to draw up a constitution than the hodge-podge that are usually empaneled under the guise of representation.
“What is recommended is a slim government, which will permit the states to attain their highest political potential. Federal-state relations must be based on the principle that whatever can be done at any lower level is constitutionally assigned to that level.”
Ayoade also recommended that the states should be financially empowered “to function as governments and not as outposts of the federal government.”The states must enhance their ability to deliver governance to the people,” he said.
True! However, has the government help by providing the ideal environment for people to thrive well economically especially the SMEs?
All Nigerians have seen is government's choking and somersulting economic policies leading to folding up of companies, sustained double-digits inflation, FOREX flight, lack of feasible economic blueprints among other reason.
Picture or it is another audio.The government is fond of dishing out sensational propaganda to shore up its already battered image once their foot soldiers have done maximum damages.We will soon hear of how NAF bombed BH hideout without any evidence.
Politics › Re: Certificate Forgery: Judge’s Health Stalls Hearing In Suit Against Obaseki by Paperwhite(m): 8:58pm On Dec 31, 2020
Lawless people in a lawless government.
