₦airaland Forum

Govt to stop funding pilgrimages
By Olalekan Adetayo, Abuja
Thursday, 13 Oct 2011
 
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Intending pilgrims should be prepared to fend for themselves as the Federal Government moves to stop funding pilgrimage.

President Goodluck Jonathan gave the indication at the State House, Abuja on Wednesday while inaugurating members of the Federal Government’s delegation to the 2011 Christian Pilgrimage.

The 11-man committee has the President, Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, as its Chairman and Pastor Israel Abba as Secretary.

Jonathan observed that the population of Christian pilgrims had tripled since his election, attributing the development to the advocacy work of the National Christian Pilgrims Commission.

He said with the increasing population, it would get to a point the operation would become self-funding and government would no longer need to spend money.

The President, who said he inherited the system of inaugurating ad-hoc committees for the exercise annually, added that he changed the system because it lacked continuity and institutional memory.

He said, “When we came on board, we brought a bit of change in the system. Before we came on board, it has been ad-hoc committees being established every year.

“In that kind of arrangement, there is no continuity and institutional memory. That was why we decided to have a delegation that will be led by CAN President every year.

“By so doing, they will be learning from past mistakes.”

Jonathan said the decision was based on the need for an independent government body to advise the President to instruct the pilgrims commission to do what was right in case the members decided to look the other way when things go wrong.

The President said the step had started yielding results because no adverse case had been recorded during the 2010 pilgrimage.

He added that the days of pilgrims absconding in the Holy Land in the past had become a thing of the past.

Jonathan described pilgrimage as a serious business to be taken seriously, urging members of the delegation to put in their best.

Promising to do a thorough job, Oritsejafor said the assignment given to members of the delegation came with a great responsibility that must be discharged well.

“We shall be careful to discharge the responsibility and make the needed input to make the pilgrimage worthwhile,” he added.




http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201110132391318

Another junk news, attracting the usual vultures.

PointB:
September 16, 2011 6:30 PM

[size=18pt]Obama's approval rating drops to all-time low; Public split on jobs plan[/size]


Chart - Obama Approval (Credit: CBS)
CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto

https://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2011/09/16/obama_approval_sept11_2011_2.gif

As concerns about the struggling U.S. economy grow, a new CBS News/New York poll finds that President Obama's overall approval rating has dropped to 43 percent, the lowest so far of his presidency in CBS News polling. In addition, his disapproval rating has reached an all-time high of 50 percent.

Views of the president's job performance are marked by a striking degree of polarization along party lines -- the vast majority of Democrats approve (78 percent), while even more Republicans disapprove (89 percent) of how he's handling his job. But only 37 percent of independents approve, with 54 percent disapproving.

Except for a notable spike in approval after the killing of Osama bin Laden in May, P[b]resident Obama's approval rating has been below 50 percent since the spring of 2010.
[/b]
Not surprisingly, the down economy has had a clear impact on Mr. Obama's approval rating.

The poll also found that 39 percent of Americans say the economy is fairly bad, and another 47 percent say the economy is very bad - the highest percentage since April 2009. Meanwhile, 13 percent say the economy is fairly good and just one percent say it is very good.

In addition, 72 percent of Americans think the country is on the wrong track -- the highest percentage so far since the president took office. Just 23 percent think the country is currently in the right direction.

As for Mr. Obama's rating on the economy, just 34 percent approve of the way he has handled the economy, with 57 disapproving. And on the issue of job creation, 40 percent approve and 53 percent disapprove.

In the poll, just one in four Americans thinks Mr. Obama has made real progress fixing the economy, with 68 percent saying they do not think he has. Americans are more skeptical now than they were a year ago, when 35 percent said he made progress.

But half the public sees economic conditions as generally out of a president's hands - 53 percent now say the condition of the national economy is beyond any president's control and 41 percent of Americans have faith that the economy is something a president can do anything about. As a comparison, when this question was asked back in October 1992, 59 percent said the economy was something a president could do something about (35 percent said no).

In addition, for the first time, more Americans have an unfavorable opinion of the president than a favorable one - 39 percent have a favorable opinion, while 42 percent view him unfavorably. Eighteen percent are undecided.

With just over a year before Mr. Obama faces voters again for re-election, it should be noted that Mr. Obama's overall approval rating is similar to that of Bill Clinton's (43 percent) and Ronald Reagan's (46 percent) about a year before their presidential elections when they won re-election. Conversely, George H.W. Bush had a 70 percent approval rating about a year before the presidential election but then lost his bid for re-election.

Obama's jobs plan

As for Mr. Obama's latest proposal to lower unemployment, the American Jobs Act he presented to Congress last week, the public is split. While 64 percent say they have heard about the bill, Americans are divided as to whether the plan will actually create jobs. Nearly half of Americans are at least somewhat confident that Mr. Obama's proposals will create jobs and stimulate the economy --12 percent are very confident and 36 percent are somewhat confident. But about the same amount -- 47% -- are not confident his plan will do that.

There is a wide partisan divide on views of the jobs plan. Four in five Republicans don't have confidence that the plan will create jobs - while about as many Democrats do. Fifty-two percent of independents are not confident.

However, most Americans support some of the specific individual elements included in the president's plan. Among the policies measured in this poll, support is highest for cutting taxes for small businesses and spending money on the nation's infrastructure, such as bridges, airports and schools. Fifty-six percent like the idea of a payroll tax cut, and 52 percent think providing money to state governments so they can avoid layoffs of public employees is a good idea.

(Credit: CBS News/NYT Poll)

Some of these proposals even receive bipartisan support. Large majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents alike think cutting taxes for small business is a good idea, and most also think a payroll tax cut is a good idea. Majorities think spending money on the country's infrastructure is a good idea - but Democrats (90 percent) support that to a far greater degree than Republicans (62 percent). One area in which Democrats and Republicans do not agree is providing money to state governments -- while 72 percent of Democrats think that is a good idea, just 29 percent of Republicans do.

However, Americans express considerable doubt that the two sides in Congress can come together and agree on a job creation package. Just 31 percent have at least some confidence that this will happen (only 3 percent are very confident), while 45 percent are not very confident and 22 percent are not at all confident.

On the other big issue in Washington this fall -- how to lower deficit -- most Americans would like to see both tax increases and spending cuts to lower the deficit, and most (56 percent) also support increasing taxes on households with incomes of $250,000 or more.

More from the CBS News/NYT poll:

Most think U.S. on wrong track as fears about economy grow
Perry leads pack in Republican presidential race
Just 12% happy with Congress
Read the complete poll (PDF)

This poll was conducted among a random sample of 1,452 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone September 10-15, 2011. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher. An oversample of Republicans was also conducted for this poll, for a total of 781 interviews among this group. The results were then weighted in proportion to the average party distributions in previous 2011 CBS News and CBS News/New York Times Polls and in the random sample in this poll. The margin of error for Republicans is plus or minus four percentage points.


http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20107584-503544.html

Good leaders will always face opposition from myopic, and often times irrational individual. Throw ignorance, fear, bigotry into the mix, then you have a recipe for hatred!

Investors grumble as Fashola delays C-of-O issuance
By Akinpelu Dada and Ronke Badmus
Wednesday, 12 Oct 2011


click to expand image
Governor Babatunde Fashola

This is not the best of times for subscribers to housing schemes created by the Lagos State Government. The subcribers are grumbling over the delay in signing thousands of ready Certificates of Occupancy by the governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola.

Checks by our correspondents at the state Land Bureau revealed that thousands of applications for the vital land title document, which were processed and sent to the governor for his signature since 2009, had not been returned.

This development, it was gathered, had made the bureau to refrain from forwarding processed files for 2010 and 2011 to the office of the governor.

Anxious applicants are counting their losses as a result of the development because those who want to use their C-of-Os for financial transactions like obtaining loans from financial institutions, and those who want to build houses are unable to do so.

Before building plan approvals can be granted by the government for construction of houses, an applicant must present a valid C-of-O among other criteria.

By the provisions of the Land Use Act of 1978, any individual person or body who wants a piece of land for development purposes, especially in the urban centres, must go through the official channel to obtain plot(s) with the Certificate of Occupancy issued as proof of ownership/leasehold of such land.

By issuing the C-of-O, the government officially transfers the ownership of the land to the applicant for a specified period of time, usually 99 years.

The governor is the sole signatory to C-of-Os on plots of land within government schemes and his inability to process files sent to him on time is frustrating many land-based transactions in the state.

Government schemes are popular with investors in landed property because it is far more secure to lease them than to buy from private owners, who may sell committed government-acquired land to unsuspecting members of the public, or sell the same plot to different buyers.

It was gathered that only few of the processed files sent to the governor since 2009 were returned, with thousands of files processed gathering dust at the Lands Bureau.

An officer at the bureau, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak formally on the matter, told one of our correspondents that the delay in signing the ready C-of-Os had put a lot of pressure on the bureau.

The officer said, “Yes, it is true that we have not been releasing as many C-of-Os as we used to do because his excellency (governor) has not been signing the processed ones sent to him for some reasons. We are just getting back some of the files sent to his office since 2009.

“The situation has made a lot of applicants, who thought we are the ones delaying the issuance of their C-of-Os, to daily throng our office or write petitions demanding to know why their title documents are not released after completing payment for their plots of land.”

A senior official of the Bureau explained that Fashola, being a lawyer, usually scrutinised every file sent to him thoroughly. He said that files with queries by the governor were often returned to their point of origin for clarification and for representation at a later date.

“For instance, somebody may buy a land worth N10m from the state government and submit evidence of tax payment that shows that he pays the same tax that petty traders pay. In such a situation, the governor will not sign the C-of-Os until the commensurate tax is paid,” the source added.

A lawyer, who was at the bureau to check on the progress of his client’s application, told one of our correspondents that officials had been giving him various excuses in the past 18 months as to why the C-of-O had not come out.

However, the Permanent Secretary, Lands Bureau, Mr. Hakeem Muri-Okunola, said it was not true that the governor had not been signing processed C-of-Os sent to him. But he acknowledged that a large volume of applications had not been signed.

He said, “That position is untrue. His Excellency has been signing files but we have a large volume. Also, he recently delegated the signing of C-of-Os to six commissioners, so the outstanding ones will be out before long.”

When reminded that the governor actually delegated the commissioners to sign private C-of-Os processed by the Directorate of Land Regularisation, Muri-Okunola said, “Like I said before, that position is not correct. He has been signing. There may be outstanding ones for one query or the other, but it is not correct to say he has not signed any for 2010.”


The President, Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, Mr. Bode Adediji, said, “I will be surprised if the allegation that there are many C-of-Os that have not been signed in Lagos State to be a very serious matter and I know the governor will take an immediate step to correct it.

“Let us look at it from the simple angle of youth unemployment. The problem we have in Nigeria is that people don’t relate certain actions and inactions to much more serious things. If you don’t have C-of-O, developers cannot develop, bricklayers and other artisans cannot be employed and if people have businesses that require funding from the banks and C-of-O is not available to serve as collateral security, then that business will be kept in abeyance.”

“So, it is important that governors all over the country are sensitised to their obligation of signing and making available C-of-Os for different classes of citizens.”




http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201110123563537

September 16, 2011 6:30 PM

[size=18pt]Obama's approval rating drops to all-time low; Public split on jobs plan[/size]


Chart - Obama Approval (Credit: CBS)
CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto

https://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2011/09/16/obama_approval_sept11_2011_2.gif

As concerns about the struggling U.S. economy grow, a new CBS News/New York poll finds that President Obama's overall approval rating has dropped to 43 percent, the lowest so far of his presidency in CBS News polling. In addition, his disapproval rating has reached an all-time high of 50 percent.

Views of the president's job performance are marked by a striking degree of polarization along party lines -- the vast majority of Democrats approve (78 percent), while even more Republicans disapprove (89 percent) of how he's handling his job. But only 37 percent of independents approve, with 54 percent disapproving.

Except for a notable spike in approval after the killing of Osama bin Laden in May, P[b]resident Obama's approval rating has been below 50 percent since the spring of 2010.
[/b]
Not surprisingly, the down economy has had a clear impact on Mr. Obama's approval rating.

The poll also found that 39 percent of Americans say the economy is fairly bad, and another 47 percent say the economy is very bad - the highest percentage since April 2009. Meanwhile, 13 percent say the economy is fairly good and just one percent say it is very good.

In addition, 72 percent of Americans think the country is on the wrong track -- the highest percentage so far since the president took office. Just 23 percent think the country is currently in the right direction.

As for Mr. Obama's rating on the economy, just 34 percent approve of the way he has handled the economy, with 57 disapproving. And on the issue of job creation, 40 percent approve and 53 percent disapprove.

In the poll, just one in four Americans thinks Mr. Obama has made real progress fixing the economy, with 68 percent saying they do not think he has. Americans are more skeptical now than they were a year ago, when 35 percent said he made progress.

But half the public sees economic conditions as generally out of a president's hands - 53 percent now say the condition of the national economy is beyond any president's control and 41 percent of Americans have faith that the economy is something a president can do anything about. As a comparison, when this question was asked back in October 1992, 59 percent said the economy was something a president could do something about (35 percent said no).

In addition, for the first time, more Americans have an unfavorable opinion of the president than a favorable one - 39 percent have a favorable opinion, while 42 percent view him unfavorably. Eighteen percent are undecided.

With just over a year before Mr. Obama faces voters again for re-election, it should be noted that Mr. Obama's overall approval rating is similar to that of Bill Clinton's (43 percent) and Ronald Reagan's (46 percent) about a year before their presidential elections when they won re-election. Conversely, George H.W. Bush had a 70 percent approval rating about a year before the presidential election but then lost his bid for re-election.

Obama's jobs plan

As for Mr. Obama's latest proposal to lower unemployment, the American Jobs Act he presented to Congress last week, the public is split. While 64 percent say they have heard about the bill, Americans are divided as to whether the plan will actually create jobs. Nearly half of Americans are at least somewhat confident that Mr. Obama's proposals will create jobs and stimulate the economy --12 percent are very confident and 36 percent are somewhat confident. But about the same amount -- 47% -- are not confident his plan will do that.

There is a wide partisan divide on views of the jobs plan. Four in five Republicans don't have confidence that the plan will create jobs - while about as many Democrats do. Fifty-two percent of independents are not confident.

However, most Americans support some of the specific individual elements included in the president's plan. Among the policies measured in this poll, support is highest for cutting taxes for small businesses and spending money on the nation's infrastructure, such as bridges, airports and schools. Fifty-six percent like the idea of a payroll tax cut, and 52 percent think providing money to state governments so they can avoid layoffs of public employees is a good idea.

(Credit: CBS News/NYT Poll)

Some of these proposals even receive bipartisan support. Large majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents alike think cutting taxes for small business is a good idea, and most also think a payroll tax cut is a good idea. Majorities think spending money on the country's infrastructure is a good idea - but Democrats (90 percent) support that to a far greater degree than Republicans (62 percent). One area in which Democrats and Republicans do not agree is providing money to state governments -- while 72 percent of Democrats think that is a good idea, just 29 percent of Republicans do.

However, Americans express considerable doubt that the two sides in Congress can come together and agree on a job creation package. Just 31 percent have at least some confidence that this will happen (only 3 percent are very confident), while 45 percent are not very confident and 22 percent are not at all confident.

On the other big issue in Washington this fall -- how to lower deficit -- most Americans would like to see both tax increases and spending cuts to lower the deficit, and most (56 percent) also support increasing taxes on households with incomes of $250,000 or more.

More from the CBS News/NYT poll:

Most think U.S. on wrong track as fears about economy grow
Perry leads pack in Republican presidential race
Just 12% happy with Congress
Read the complete poll (PDF)

This poll was conducted among a random sample of 1,452 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone September 10-15, 2011. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher. An oversample of Republicans was also conducted for this poll, for a total of 781 interviews among this group. The results were then weighted in proportion to the average party distributions in previous 2011 CBS News and CBS News/New York Times Polls and in the random sample in this poll. The margin of error for Republicans is plus or minus four percentage points.


http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20107584-503544.html

At least he was able to commission a magnificent and extensively long 115-metres ramp at a just paltry (chicken change) of N2.5 billion Naira! You can't say that for other governors, can you?

The current crisis faced by the Naira has greatly exposed Sanusi's lack of vision and understanding of basic economic principle of demand and supply? Why deplete the foreign reserve in the first place to defend the indefensible naira?

After wasting our foreign reserve all these while defending the naira, he just woke up and realised it was a  pipe dream. Now all those money were simply a waste, What exactly did it achieve?

Going forward, I think the naira should be left to the forces of demand and supply - market forces. And Sanusi should be 'regulated'.

@topic

Igbo fought a war to prevent their annihilation;
North and West been the oppressors are afraid Igbo might raise again.

So the North use sheer intimidation and brutality to keep them down

The West used sly, con, and treachery to support the North in their systematic evil scheme.

However, like water, the Igbos seeped through the dragnet and escaped into every corner.

Now the North and West are keeping themselves down (and Nigeria) in their futile bid to stop the now very ubiquitous and permeating Igbos.

Moral of the story:

You can never keep a good man down!

Lol. Tinubu is finished - the most criminally minded yoruba man. Na wa o. Is this interview from BBC Hard Talk? Na wa o.

^^^^
Not my figure ooo. It's aribisala0 quoting a nebulous census figure to drive home his bigotry o. I have nothing to do with that fictitious figure.

^^^^

I laugh too. I can't imagine I am that funny.

nku5:
@namfav - wetin u dey smoke? Gum or gbana. Hmm?

U dey mind the guy. What do you expect from an aboki?

@Topic,

Sad. May his soul RIP!

@Poster,

Good work. Can we have more recent picture pls.

dayokanu:
So HIV Awolowo and her prodigal sons are whining?

God Punish them. Awon iran were, Your demise has just begun. Those that cant even win their own wards posing as Yoruba leaders

Naijababe,

Agbalagba ti o ba so agbado mo idi ti so ara re di alawada adire. SIMPLE

If you join forces with the oppressors then You are not our leader.

Yorubas know their leader.

[size=28pt]Our leaders are Ashiwaju Bola Tinubu, Bisi Akande, Babatunde Raji Fashola, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Iroko Segun Mimiko, Kayode Fayemi, ,  Abiola Ajimobi etc[/size]

We know OBJ and HIV are the father and mother of OGD, Akala and other outcasts

Like they said OBj is the father of bazztardss

Ashiwaju Bola Tinubu - This one will soon be leading from prison. Lol 

Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, you mean ArigbeNsewer, the double SYMBOL of mediocrity and rascal! 


Ibikunle Amosun -

X-factoria said:
Quote

I don't know why people are surprised about the character of Amosun. I blame the Nigerian media for not shinning light properly on the character of this man. Amosun was a cultist when he was in Ojere i.e. Ogun State Polytechnic now Moshood Abiola Polytechnic. In the days preceding the 2007 governorship election in Ogun State in which Amosun contestd against OGD under the umbrella of ANPP, Amosun was shown on Gateway TV in the midst of youths raising machets and cutlasses and chanting "O n f'iku sere o, o n f'iku sere, OGD o n f'iku sere" meaning "he is toying with death, he is toying with death, OGD he is toying with death". The point I am making is that, this guy is not different from OGD in terms of malevolence and all. They are birds of like feathers only seperated by ambition.

With these character been bandied around as Yoruba leaders, I think yorubas are better off with the old stalwarts. The characters of the new ones are apology to a tribe that prides itself as 'intelligentsia.' Something drastic need to be done to bring these fellow from the the brink for Nigeria sake!

^^^
Oga stop derailing the thread.
The SE governors have made a very serious, responsible, and meritorious case for equalization of states based on the current 6 geo-politiacl Zones, that i sthe essence of this tread. Reasonable posters agreed that their request is fair enough. Attempting to derail the thread is typical of the entrenched bias and ethnic bigotry masked as intelligentsia, frequently exhibited  by certainly segment of a supposedly enlightened zone!

aribisala0:
now if you look at it from the perspective of land mass the old western region is much bigger than the old eastern region and on population

yea you guessed right

western region 35 million = 7 states


eastern region 25 million = 9 states


so can we have some QUIET please

How did arrive at these figures? On population figures based on nebulous census, that has no Ethnicity?

aribisala0:
let us not rewrite history

nigeria did not come together on the basis of zones

zone is a PDP terminology

rather we were based  on regions
on that basis this so called south east and all other zones is a fraud

the western region now has 8 states while 

the eastern region has 9 that is the reality

the northern region has 19

on that basis the west is lagging behind

lol, neither did Nigeria come together on the basis of region. Regions were military creation!

^^^
This is no time for frivolities!

Link?

^^^

very interesting question. In any case, Nigeria has evolved to zones for many years now. Dont tell us have not been following trends. In any case, what the SE governors are asking for is equal number of states in all the zones. I think that is fair enough. Nigerians need to let go of the bitterness of the civil war, and embrace peace, justice, and fairness.

mathskill:
PointB i guess you must have noticed that the majority of respondant's to this thread are against the removal of fuel subsidy.without further arguemnt i believe majority carries the day.

That the majority support an argument does not make it right my brother. Besides, I am just giving my opinion on this matter, not that my opinion is more important than that of other poster. This is an online forum where people are free to express themselves. And I can see clearly that many are resisting change due to fear of the unknown - a basic human instinct.

However, the worse of our fears may not actually materialize, if the subsidy is removed Nigeria will survive, if it remains Nigerian will also continue to inch forward. Whichever way the policy makers decide to go about it, the only thing I know is that - we will find a way. We are humans!

^^^

It is not my government.  GEJ is not a president over only me. 

But joke apart, removing the subsidy is a visionary move! Besides what is there to deregulate in Agricultural Products? Educate me please.

jason123:
For petrol?
For where?
It only happens when there is fuel scarcity and people are forced to go to the black market for fuel. Usually around the holiday period.

@ Your post
Point B, I want you to take your time and think about the socio-economic implications. Then, I want to know if the you can still tell us that the benefits of subsidy removal out-weighs the disadvantages. I am not ridiculing you. I simply want to know your opinion after calming down.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying there wont be soci0-economic implication, but can you also honestly tell me of any era where people have not complained of social economic problem. 'The poor will always be with us' - says Jesus Christ himself!

Besides, there are other places that need subsidy - manufacturing, hospital, agriculture. That is where the subsidy should be going, Paying some government cronies for imports and alleged import of fuel is not the way to help the populace. Subsidy in agriculture aimed at making food cheaper, subsidy in health bill aimed at improving health, and subsidy in some manufacturing concern (perhap in term of electricity subsidy) might also be good.

But the bottom line is that no matter what you do, the poor will remain, continuing to waste resources and fuel corruption for PDP chieftains, government cronies, and other 'smart' business people is not the best for the country.

Nigerians want government to fight corruption, but are not willing to make any sacrifice. How can we move from here? Maybe we should just keep quiet and enjoy it. We are all beneficiary of the corruption.

Interesting. Some of you have fallen for Alj Harem ploy to twist the tread around me, and make it look like I was the one that proposed the removal of subsidy in the first place. Secondly, the issue of where I live or not is purely academic speculation. Personally, I enjoy the speculations, and would definitely do noting to douse it other than say, I am more Nigerian than many of you that are posting, or attacking my person, heeding the clarion call of the discredited Ahj Harem.
So we can either continue to rake and rave at PointB, or deal with the issue at hand.

Now back to the issue at hand. I personally think it is mischievous to think or pretend that the issue of deregulation of the pump price (or downstream sector) as it sometimes called is a recently muted idea. Many of the past president muted the idea, and eventually let it go. Furthermore, the past presidents (delibrately) refused to fix the oil refinery, and some of them became Petroleum Ministers. Have we ever bothered to ask, why?

My unconfirmed theory is that, it is very sweet to import refined petroleum. Present a couple of authentic looking paper to the power that be, grease a few palms here and there, and you are paid for oil you did not import. There is a very good possibility over-quoting, etc and different layers of fraud, that even forensic examiners will find it difficult to pin point. I tell you this, not because I know, but simply because, it is highly possible.

Now a sincere government might invest so much time and energy trying to plug the loopholes, and cage this fraudsters. but such a highly sophisticated fraud machine will fight back. Including using sentiments, fears, willing and unwilling tool like Alj Harem to fight back, and maintain the status quo. Honestly, every petroleum 'importer/marketer' will do everything in their power to frustrate this attack on their easy money. Let us not allow ourselves to be used as an excuse to continue to enrich other private citizens, who could care less about you. If it is easy to simply eliminate fraud and continue subsidy, that would have the case since Abacha, Obj. These presidents simply enjoyed the 'benefit' of the fraudulent practice, and enriched themselves, when they could not stop the oil mafia. I am wont to say we are lucky to have a president who does not want to 'enjoy' easy money.

Someone mention [b]Ghana [/b]as oil producer. As a matter of fact, Ghana has started producing oil, but their refining capacity at Tema Oil Refinery is next to none existent. Ghana imports both crude and refined oil. In some instances, either there is no crude oil for the refinery to process: http://www.ghanabusinessnews.com/2011/09/06/tema-oil-refinery-shuts-main-unit-runs-out-of-crude-report/ - Sept 9, 2011 or their Refinery cannot refine their own crude oil - http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=208228 Even at this the current President of Ghana against earlier campaign promise successfully removed subsidy in Ghana. Ghana is not even as wealthy as Nigeria, in terms of wages and others.

So please, leave Ghana out this, let's face our country - Nigeria. Many of Nigerians are paying beyond 200/liter even without deregulation, I am sure they will be happy to pay less, when artificial scarcity is caused by 'paper' import is dealt with. Nigerian government has not built a refinery in several years, I dont see them building any today, especially in the new era of privatization. We can either continue to allow a few people to benefit from our collective commonwealth, or continue to bury our head in the sand of excuse. Again some of you that have decide to adopt little mind about the issue, by wrapping it around me, quit wasting your energy, I am just a single Nigerian saying, if Ghana can survive without subsidy, Nigeria will thrive!

How about spliting the country in two or more nations. Surely the will us look inward.

^^^^

True talk!

No heaven will fall if the subsidy is removed, Nigerians will simply adjust!

Johndoe100:
The subsidy should be removed only after a lot of things are in place. For now they are absent so the subsidy should remain.

Indeed, but in the long run, fuel subsidy is not the way to go! It's should not be a way of life. Too much 'waste' in the system, that amount to robbing peter to pay paul! I believe that is why the Finance Minister talked about safety net.

naijaking1:
Yes, Beaf, help us beg GEJ.
Beg him to remove the subsidies ASAP
It will be a big step in reducing corruption along the chains of oil distribution in this country.

Abi ooo!

jason123:
The people that are FOR the subsidy are mainly the rich or the "foreigners". Most don't really understand the full ramification of this move. Even GEJ does understand. Iweala does not.

I disagree

DrummaBoy:
OP
PointB and Beaf are one and the same person. U've got your response
We'll cripple his govt wit strikes; let them try it

Very correct!

^^^
Below is the essence. maybe you shld read again!

Chyz*:
Southeast governors insist on new state

By Chris Oji



Southeast governors yesterday gave a condition for backing the planned constitution amendment: an additional state in their region.

They threatened to withdraw support for the exercise, if they are not given another state.

The Southeast has the least number of states – five – among the six geo-political zones.

To perfect their plan, the governors met in Enugu yesterday.

They resolved to present their report for discussion at the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) meeting in Abuja tomorrow.

The governors said it was high time all geo-political zones in the country had equal number of states in the interest of equity, fairness and justice.

Chairman of the Southeast Governors Forum Peter Obi of Anambra State told reporters that they met to articulate a common position and present their demands at the NGF meeting. Constitution amendment was the main agenda at the Enugu meeting.

Obi said if the Southeast’s request for additional state fails to receive priority attention, its five governors would back out of discussions on constitution amendment.

He said: “Basically today (yesterday), we discussed one issue, the issue of constitution amendment, especially as it concerns the creation of an additional state for the zone, to have the same number of states in all the zones of the country.

“We are not asking for a particular number of states. We are only calling for equality of states for all the zones and that is what we want.”

Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha said: “If the Northwest zone could have seven states, the Southeast zone could as well have seven. In essence, the Southeast governors are calling for additional states.”

The Seventh National Assembly has kick started the process for constitution amendment.

The Senate and the House of Representatives has each constituted Constitution Review Committees.

The committees will collate the position of Nigerians on the amendments in addition to leading the process of amendment.

While Deputy Senate President Ekweremadu chairs the Senate Committee on constitution review, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Emeka Ihedioha chairs the Reps’ committee.

Both of them are incidentally from the Southeast.

http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/22360-southeast-governors-insist-on-new-state.html

aribisala0:
my argument is to decouple the link between political power and the number of states and give the zones the power to create as many states as they like. this should not result in any benefits whatsover of power/revenue.

Unfortunately I doubt if that is what is being considered or will ever be considered. So as long as states remains the on channel to attract development from the center, these agitations for state will remain.