₦airaland Forum

kernniejay:
Instead of the Imam to use the golden opportunity to tell Tinubu and his entourage that he should lessen the burden on the people, he was telling Tinubu that he cannot satisfy everybody. Sycophant preacher. They would rather be saying what their leaders would like to hear probably to gain favour, instead of telling them the naked bitter truth.

Told you guys.
In black Africa there are no horizonal relationships, only vertical. This is the source of the feudalism we have so prevalent today and our failure to grow real great leaders, leaders Nigerians can look back in a generation and say that person sacrificed all to make for this and that.

The average Nigerian cannot relate horizontally with his fellow man, cannot emphatize with him, cannot see to his survival and progress. His only allegiances are vertical to what he can get from above (his gods, his benefactors) and what he can pass down to those at his feet (his subjects, his seed, the beneficiaries).

It is Nigerians that have made this country this way, no one else.

Even criminals, bandits will not attack those they perceive to be above, but will gladly roast their fellow strugglers in this boiling cauldron of a country.

Back to Lagos where.
Where I am right now that is a traffic mess even on holiday season....

All their own na elections.
If we infer that the inaction against those brigands was a search for political correctness some will cry 'hate'.

But how do you send fighter jets into another country at a moments notice but cannot summon the will to deal decisively on your own territory.... elections...?

It is like a teacher and whose kids are all illiterates or a clergyman who raises drunks at home. We bomb our neighbors, we need our neighbors to bomb us....

EngrHumble:
Reshuffling corrupt officials is not reform, it is deception. Anyone found guilty of corruption should be sacked immediately and handed over to the EFCC.
Nigeria cannot move forward while looters are recycled into power. Enough is enough.

Life imprisonment or the death penalty should be enforced for corrupt public officials.

I don't just understand this country.
You can see an accident waiting to happen and you go to bed. There is nothing those officials will do from now forward than to sabotage the institution.

That rotten tomato you blended into your ingredients is the food poison that will send you to the ER.

The grace God gave you is that you saw it.

If you want to cook your Christmas jollof, about to process the veggies and see a rotten tomato for instance amongst the bunch, do you 'reshuffle' it or drop it in the bin...

And what will become of your tummy if you decide to continue using compromised ingredients.

Funny country. Funny citizens who think they can ignore what other advancing countries take extremely serious and hope to ever prosper like them.

Can our nation, our economy, governance structures learn from a system such as this to create wealth and effect the much needed horizontal linkages in society.

Yes, it is a precedent. One for the history books. The first since the civil war (since munitions from foreign platforms have struck Nigerian soil).

But it is a necessary precedent.
There are significant political cards on the deck but there is no real hand to be played here. We are talking about lives.

Over the past couple of years lives in the hundreds have been lost round about this time of the year/season in communities in Benue and Plateau, trends that I am sure has not been lost on the foreign intelligentsia.

GenFunction:
Over to you Netanyahu,how far do ur own for New year things.
We don't mind eh.
Trump don deliver Christmas.

Israel doesn't involve itself in other countries internal affairs that have no link to it's own security. It only carefully watches the activities of it's avowed enemies.

The only time it came close to Nigeria was during the Buhari regime (if memory serve me) when it warned of Iran clandestinely sending arms to radical groups in Nigeria. Am allegation that was proven when raids were made on some shipping containers at the ports.

tnerro1:
We need state police to block them from coming south cause you can’t trust the Army cause dem full inside, but the south governors are just talk no action

Absolutely.
You also call a governor Chief Security Office of the state but has no means to secure his state. No law backing his desire to stop foreign invasions.

Then why is he to blame. Why bother to give him so called security votes if he cannot use it to secure. Little wonder these funds are often mismanaged.

Riversides2003:
Imagine 300 hundred miscreants on bike going to strike and no action from the military. Nice one Trump. Na just bottom dem go Dey press from pentagon.

You can imagine Pete Hegseth shaking his head as he watches hundreds of bike carrying terrorists galloping towards a settlement on candid tv from reapers circling above like eagles stalking a cluster of rats....

Give me that phone....'Mr. President, you've got to see this'...

nairalanda1:
The old man has no choice...knowing Nigerian politicans and our leaders, they would rather not charge any tax, because they love to get elected, and they love power.

But this time, our country is between a rock and a hard place. Our lenders the IMF and world bank have been showing some reluctance to borrow us more money and have been passively agressively telling us so. Oil, which forms 80% of government revenue, has had dropping prices, and it was even predictied a year ago that it won;t go above 70 dollars per barrel for a long time. We need to fix illegal mining , but that won't be done in a day, even if our government was serious about it. And VAT...no matter how we shout about it, can at best raise N6 trillion naira per annum for now.

And MDA's revenue generation this year was godawful. For the first time in my life, I heard, on radio nigeria, a economist blasting the government for not raising enough revenue via MDA's.

So, the apc has to charge tax. The alternative is to borrow and borrow...and even borrow more. Subsidy removal removed some of the pressure, but didn't solve the income issue at all.

The even effing horrifying thing is that the tax law at best will reduce our dependence on borrowing. At best. If we were a serious nation, we would forget about oil, even hand over control of the oil revenue to oil producing states, and focus on using our other resources to make products the world needs.

This is not a support for apc, I never voted for them anyway, but a look at the big picture.

(Yes, we have to fight corruption, and it is shameful we have a government that is not serious about it. But fighting corruption won't solve the problem of low revenue.)

So tax revenues will be.
Because tax revenues come from the same place as MDA revenues, the people, the public.

When you starve the goose that lays the golden egg this is the result. instead of two of three it lays a day, you get only one a week. That is the ignorant way this government has chosen to walk.

Let me say one thing.
The successes Mr Tinubu experienced in his time at Lagos that thrusted him into national heroic limelight was ALSO on the back of a more progressive, dynamic national economy back then. Now that the macro economic picture is dark we can see that Mr President really doesn't have an economic magic wand. Certainly does NOT KNOW HOW TO BRING THIS ECONOMY BACK ON TRACK.

We keep on saying. Invest in industry, invest in job creation, invest in people, invest in enterprise creation. Leave all these worthless projects and schemes that drain the public purse. Spend your money on what will bring money back DIRECTLY.

Cut down the size of government, privatise as many government institutions that compete with the private sector, commercialize as many institutions that offer goods and services to the public so that salaries and wages are off the books.

All what the APC government should have done this first term is REAL structural reforms that changes the way government conducts it's business of governance and economic leadership.

But no they have increased the size of government, increased their perks and compensations, front loaded the budget with all manner of ridiculous capital spendings completely disregarding the state of revenues.

In a nutshell this government has no idea whatsoever how to bring this economy out of the debt trap and anywhere near a balanced budget because by its nature it is profligate.

Honestly this traffic thing is a headache in Lagos. Can't see any improvement these past few days since I came in.

I just.....hate, hate, hate traffic jams.
A few places I planned to visit are off completely.

I was thinking the tram infrastructure will help reduce traffic in the city but this is not so. And it is as if the more roads are built the worse the situation gets.

SlavaUkraini:
Kaliningrad aka WriterNg aka WriteerNg....

So na una plan to finally destroy the planet be this abi ?

You guys have carried your land grabbing appetite to the Moon 🌙

Without thinking of what would happen to the earth if anything goes wrong with your imaginary lunar nuclear reactor...

You better tell your daddy Putin to stop that rough play and idea

I really cannot see what the benefit of having a high output power plant in space provides.

Nuclear propulsion is still science fiction. Spacecraft will still depend on wet fuels for the foreseeable future. And except they have detected, found a large body of water on the moon and plan to extract hydrogen and oxygen via electrolysis, what is all the energy from even the smallest nuclear reactor for.

Solar is a lot safer, cheaper, more sustainable and on the moon had less problems from the weather.

Mirasteel:
Russia broke? what are you high on?

Actually Russia is operating a wartime economy so there are serious structural problems that will only manifest when it has to switch back to normal, peacetime economic productivity.

You cannot be spending around 500 million dollars a day on war without effect. The money has to come from somewhere particularly when their main staple, energy exports are fickle.

One of the big problems is that once the war ends and sanctions are lifted the price of oil will fall even further. It is then it will enter a full blown recession with uncertain consequences.

That is why some observers have said Putin just has to continue the war at all costs and even if he doesn't want to, to continue to destabilize the global energy markets to keep oil prices high enough for him to make a margin on his bootleg crude oil exports.

lordm:
Russia is broke. They should be thinking of how to end the stupid war they started

Their space program is generally insulated from the politics and economy of Russia. ROSCOSMOS has a strong tradition of business ventures even during the communist era that bring in a lot of foreign cash and before Space X was the go to company for commercial satellite launches it dominated the market. They can go quite a way before needing government funding.

Anyway it when it comes to doing absurd things the Russians always seem to find the resources.

malali:
I am in support of Malami being dragged to court. But how did Malami have access to such funds, there must have been a lot of people culpable. They should all be arraigned. Even the civil servants complicit should be arraigned. We need to send a stern message, that the corrupt and the partaker will never rest in peace.

But what happened to Yahya Bello
What happened to Emefiele

Emefiele should release the names of people he gave subsidized dollars to....Let him release the top 100 names, that got the most dollars from CBN.

Why is EFCC only prosecuting on partisan basis ?
Are you telling us there is no APC corrupt politician ?

All those state governors that have been receiving FAAC allocations for 2 years, and have nothing to show for it, do you need a fortune teller to tell you they are looting the funds ?

Is Tinubu administration using EFCC,ICPC to haunt and destroy opposition and those who stand in their way ?

Agreed.

A proper forensic investigation should be made on every aspect of these incidents. A money trail showing where the money came from, how it was intercepted and diverted including all those involved.

It is not enough to recover government resources and return them. Such exercises should also go towards strengthening the system, making it more resilient to breaking and entry.

And we should not forget the dark horse in this race. Banks. Still cannot understand how they are not able to flag suspicious transactions involving government to private/commercial accounts and report these immediately.

Honestly a determined President in a sea of pirates will commission a server right there in the villa and place a eunuch right there to observe all daily inflows and outflows from government accounts 24/7. It is that bad.

Wonder if all that will change once he leaves for the Saudi Pro League.

It's terribly exploitative. 50k MM2 to Admiralty. Ended up paying 30k. But then again they tell you FAAN takes a mean cut.

Rindo69:
You will not rest, sir?

What have they done with the money from the ten million individual taxpayers ? Everyone is a taxpayer...when you consume you pay a value added tax. In Nigeria, when you transfer money, you pay a tax and everyone transfers money. When the taxi man or delivery bike is accosted on the road by LG people, they pay a tax. The market sellers pays a tax to their iyaloja so dear sir...

Sha start collecting your tax and let us see what you people will do with it and what excuses you will have for not delivering on public services that benefit the citizens

We have a serious accountability problem in this country.

Even as a kid going interstate to school I used to see drivers pay N50, N100 naira at motorpark gates and even back then I used to wonder what the money was used for. Five years in school, many, many trips through the parks and yet the same dusty red dirt in the dry and red muddy water in the rain. No restrooms, no baggage lock up, nothing. For years and millions collected. No one asking any questions yet they faithfully pay or are coerced to.

This is the story of Nigeria.

nairalanda1:
I


Okay, keep supporting apc economics of borrowing

You are far more interested in abusing me subtly than having a discussion.

Kai, my guy.
No, no, no.
Been on his forum for more than a decade. Hundreds of posts.
I don't do insults.

One of the reasons I reply your posts it that you are objective and emotionally intelligent

Debates are not just inter personal. They also aim to expose broader views of any subject matter. They help to see every side for a safe journey.

No one is discounting your views. They are objective. Pls, take no offence.

nairalanda1:
That means you want your government to borrow and keep borrowing. Simple and short, and don't argue.

He told you what to do, what is necessary FIRST.

The only reason a vulcaniser will pump a tyre first is to identify where the leaks are before repairing them and sending you on your merry way.

Will he just pump it up and tell you, 'oga if e go down again make you bring am, my pump dey here kampe', without plugging the leaks.

That is why all the pumping of subsidy savings, crazy loans and recovered loot has not raised the economic tyre one inch. Is it kobo, kobo taxes from the hapless citizens that will balance your bloated budgets...abegi.

I ask again.
Where is the 'Government Efficiency, Transparency and Fiscal Responsibility' GETFREE equivalent of taxation czar, Mr. Oyedele. Where is the strenuous pursuit to patch the leaky purse.

They no wan talk dat one.
They want business as usual.

omoredia:
Arabs took more black slaves yet have few black population than Europe and america. They used black people till death

Most were made eunuchs so they could not multiply or interbreed with their owners.

Helinuse:
Will that now make Africa prosper?

Aha, that is another matter and where I part ways with these 'restitutionists'.

For heaven's sake this is 65 years since most African states got their independence. Is that not more than enough time to have become equal in stature to those colonial powers.

Other continental colonial states in Asia and the Americas have grown into second and first world countries where the Britain's and France's of this world go cap in hand for trade and investment today.

Why can't Africa power itself into being a 'Master' and seek to enslave the north for once. All these cry baby things just show the deep flaws that remain in African societies and when you are perceived as being weak, you are seen as prey.

Little wonder China is the new 'Master'. So, will our children's children be asking for reparations from this new colonial powers in generations to come. And what will they think of this generation that permitted the Chinese for instance to plunder the land...

Yes, divided, weak, greedy and corrupt. That is what our future will call us. Indeed that is exactly what I call the people of that time when Arabs from the East and Caucasians from the West came our way over 200 years ago. We have not changed.

Incognito403:
Stop lying in broad daylight.

But it is true.
Ten million negros were sold into slavery to Arabia.
Read. Read. Read.

How do you think there are indigenous blacks in the Arab world from Morocco all the way to Oman... slavery.

Ezekiel2122:
Only in Nigeria will they empower a lion and blame it for eating meat. This same man now might come out tomorrow for presidential race and once is against someone they don't like, he [Malami] becomes their first choice and when he steal again, they wail... and, the circle continues

Exactly just as the present government is chock a block with felons.

Now, what will Mr. 'Taxman' Oyedele say about this.
Na to organise seminar to gaslight the public he sabi. Funny country suffering from DID - Dissociative Institutional Disorder.

As detached as the FRSC is to the state of the roads that ruin vehicles so is government from the corrosive nature of corruption to their maddening revenue quest.

nairalanda1:
All right, stop complaining when borrowing continues.

And you can call me agbero, and apc supporter, but if your party was in power, I would say the same thing. We are not earning enough from tax and we are using poverty as an excuse.

Borrowing for what or for whom.
Let the people know.
Transparency, participatory government is the panacea for all these drama.

Let me know what you are spending my money on and let me decide if it is worth borrowing for. That is REAL democracy.

But here a good chunk of expenditure goes to things elements in government want, not what the people need.

You leave roads you should be repairing and go and be building ones nobody asked for and go borrowing to fund it. Who sent you.

If you conducted a poll and asked Abuja residents if 86 billion of their hard earned tax naira should have gone to renovate ICC for example. How many will have raised their hands when they don't have running water in their homes.

Now you berate them for resisting more of that.
You must be joking.

If government wants more money it should come to equity and see the people as partners not as fodder.

In other climes people don't just vote people into power. They also vote for what they do in power (through representation) with their resources and are part and parcel of what and how government spends.

Porksupplyib:
Enjoy ur moment of Fame Mr oyedele. You are about to be the most hated man in Nigeria. I do not envy you a bit.
Revenue generation is never Nigeria's problem, neither is increasing revenue generation the solution to Nigeria's problem. Proper spending devoid of corruption is the solution.
Even if we make x10 of what we make today, we will have nothing to show for it if the main problem is not addressed.

Malami is now alleged to have looted over 200b, how much do u think other politicians have looted?

If you continue to pay for services I don't render and you don't ask questions, why should I render any services.

If Nigerians want to end waste and corruption in government they should resist increased taxation so the government puts two and two together and fights it FOR THEIR OWN GOOD.

That is how developed countries got to where they are. No one wants pay out of the abundance of his poverty, need or hard work for government services and have the money stolen, wasted and services not delivered.

Well this helps, but still not quite there.
The next challenge for auto landing will be incidents involving aircraft systems failures. The degree to which a compromised aircraft can safely make it down.

Not until the government after this says so.
Nigeria is littered with fairy 'Mai Gaskiya' tales that only proved false under the x-ray of an incoming government that particularly dislikes it.

Same goes for departments saddled with economic reporting, statistics and so on. They are never really independent and seldom honest in their public dealings.

ntyce:
Through birth, you can claim Nigerian citizenship, you don't need a passport to justify it. A government issued id card is enough

But immigration does not know you 'from birth'.
It only knows documents like you said. I tell you It is better you provide a civilian ID card than a foreign passport.

The moment you do that you expose yourself to long talk.

Just travelled a week ago with family. All duals dropped their foreign passports if you want to avoid unnecessary delays.

jaxxy:
Millions of Nigerians don't have passports

But they have some sort of government ID indicating they are nationals. If all you have is a foreign ID, my friend you are not a Nigerian.

And after all the hullabaloo of NIN why should an adult Nigerian not have one in 2025. You can't even operate an account properly without one these days.