₦airaland Forum

kai, not again....

'.....After his sudden exit as chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Muhammad Nami went on to approve N6 billion as payments to several contractors and consultants, TheCable can report....'

That is what we constantly say.
That is all what Abuja is about. Without contracts the city is virtually empty, soul-less.
That is all what politicians are elected to do, nothing more.
That is what every civil servant pursues, all in the name of work.
That is what our modern day government exists to do.
The country with the largest number of poorest, yet with the largest number of contractors.
No work, just call someone to do it and the person will call someone else to do it and that person will call someone else to do it and.....

Contracts, contracts and more contracts.
The former government borrowed trillions of naira and people ask, where is all the money.... contracts of all kinds.
Nigeria, the Contractor's Paradise.
Where shady folks bearing briefcases flood into the city and in just a few short weeks or months leave with millions and billions.

Ask the Director exactly what goods were delivered or services rendered for such enormous amounts paid and you will barely see anything to have and to hold or any problem the 'mental contractors' aka 'Consultants' have helped Nigeria solve.

Anyway, not that the citizens who are being robbed in broad daylight are bothered.
They have been given a few bits of sentimental bones to struggle with.

If it is as a result of non performance or corruption, that is the way to go.
Umahi should take note.

Instead of only blaming 'Contractors' for shoddy jobs he should start reforms and house cleaning from his Ministry.
From the very people who supervise these shoddy jobs, approve payment and pay for jobs either not done or badly done.
If he can do this he needn't travel through mud and dross to get things moving.

The primary reason why governments come and go is the state of institutions, whether they are being refreshed or are being killed.
Once again if the Minister cannot reform his Ministry, a governor cannot reform the Ministries under his care and the President of Nigeria cannot institutionalize good governance then no legacy will be founded.

It is clear that the past government superintended over a very rotten system in which its operators went about their duty with utmost disregard for good governance.

Because you have taken the power out of their hands to decide who governs them and handed it over to one person called a judge presiding over a tribunal.

The black man is feudal in nature.
He needs a king to rule over him.
He cannot decide for himself.
So democracy does not work well.

Karemarealty288:
https://www.thecable.ng/edwin-clark-to-sheriff-oborevwori-youve-started-well-by-siting-projects-in-warri/amp

'.....has started his tenure well by awarding some contracts in Warri....'

To Nigerians this is the definition of good governance... the award of contracts.
This is why they vote and 'hope'.
But is this real leadership.
Does it take politics and democracy to build roads and schools and hospitals.
It this not the statutory function of the civil service.

We have so reduced governance to a point where it takes the President has to publicly order the security agencies to pursue after criminals, even non state actors of subterfuge. It takes a Federal Minister to order for highways to be maintained or they will be neglected.

And other basic but key issues of governance that should never be heard by the public are now great and grand undertakings requiring political grandstanding.

And because they feast on the mundane, majoring on the minor, they have no idea whatsoever of how to do their mandate which is to bring ideas, policies and programs to create wealth, security, a good structure, a strengthening of institutions, the evolution of law and justice and the prospering of the people that vote them into responsibility.

Politics is Nigeria is reduced completely to contracts and contracting. Go to any State of Federal parastatal and that is practically all they do. Salaries payment and contracts awarding. Yet development is often far.

A poser. The Federal Minister of Works has been in the news speaking a lot about the poor state of public works. I have followed his positions a bit but no where have I heard where he has openly criticized the structure of his Ministry or the operators, his staff that are supposed to ensure things work well. All he does is to berate the so called 'Contractors' for the failed state of infrastructure.

But are these works not supervised. Are these works not paid for. Who approves payment for shoddy jobs that will not last a decade. He has thousands of staff under his lead. How many has he or will he query for these things. How many 'Consultants' will get the chop for passing valuations for shoddy works....

This is where governance meets politics. And this is where democracy is supposed to bring out a better way forward. Unfortunately when politics is in cahoots with governance to run the whole system down and politicians are in bed with Contractors, then governance suffers.

Abeg. The award of contracts is not why any citizen should vote.

Hmmm.... despoite the multi billion naira palliatives shared....

Naso. They have exchanged on king for another.
Things haven't changed since the days of Solomon and Adonijah.
Unadulterated Feudalcracy.

DMerciful:
Where are the people shouting that Bubu built infrastructure?

Find them out and call them in for questioning.
They say he excelled in infrastructure,
One major bridge, one major rail line and trillions in debt.

VeeVeeMyLuv:
Inflation or devaluation? Is this inflation also caused by the devaluation?

The devaluation means of naira for dollars.

Had it been the salaries and wages were also inflated everybody for dey alright las las.

Some countries with devalued currencies minimum wage are already running in millions already. Now imagine what their higher level workers would be earning, that would be tens of millions.

Imagine our own high level workers still earning 100k per month at this present times. Na only food the person fit buy. This is horror movie. That's why things choke dey squeeze neck.

To compound the problem, theifs called leaders are just packing the scarce resources, looting, embezzling, diverting funds, scarce billions of dollars into their personal private account abroad and into their pockets without any mercy or remorse.

There is a symbiotic relationship between inflation and devaluation. The word that holds both forces together is productivity or work that earns value and sustains worth

Value without work will cause inflation and will cause to devalue worth..... in a nutshell.

In our case we have been leveraging massively to create value without earning enough to sustain the worth of the naira.

Something must give by sunset.

bluebay:
This is when failure starts germinating . You don’t need to say what you want to do. Shut the bigger hole in your face and do just get it done

Why should they not say what they want to do. Is the CBN a private enterprise or a public regulatory agent?.

They want to make policy we should know so that we know what rules to follow. When there is clarity in direction there is an immediate end to the darkness of speculation.

Are you not tired of the kind of 'invisible' and 'inaudible' governance that has brought Nigeria to her knees.

As you sit in your house or business premises government is active 24/7. It is in your interest to ensure you know what they are doing.

kettykings:
No clarity on how the endemic economic issues will be resolved

Thought I was the only one turning.over every word to find out HOW? they will fight inflation and the cost of 'existing in Nigeria' crises.

These are the proposals that should have formed part of the vetting process at the National Assembly so that we are not just employing for employing sake but engaging a team that has all its ducks in a row, ready to implement what he/they, his team has spent weeks preparing.

Because the truth as I constantly put it is that inflation is like a wild fire consuming precious artefacts that insurance will never be able to replace. Like a cancerous growth that consumes organs that may never regrow or can be transplanted.

Just like the unfortunate currency misadventure of the Emefiele era, inflation will close businesses that may never return and lead to job losses that will not be easy to recover.

There has to be a solid plan on ground for immediate execution like yesterday. Wishing them all the best. They will need more than that. Nigeria is on the brink.

What I will advise my fellow private sector people is to start thinking of expanding your various business interests abroad in whatever shape or form you can.

Not saying Nigeria should be abandoned but earning foreign exchange by every viable citizen in whatever way should be a national call. A call government should be making but is incompetently unable.

This is a more reliable way of the country earning foreign exchange that hoping on any illusionary foreign investment.

The government may lose a bit of tax naira but so be it. The balance of payment appears to be a more serious problem than government revenue in my opinion. They are not justifying what they earn.

People should understand the nature of sports as 'performing arts' where appreciation is reserved for the last call.
Haven't they heard of the saying about the 'beautiful game' that, you are only as good as your last performance.
Haven't they seen managers lose their jobs the following season after winning titles.
Haven't they seen club legends leave the park in tears as their shirts were shredded by ungrateful supporters who recognized not the inevitable decline age and time brings.

The States should increase taxes and levies mercilessly to repay the loans. They should twist the necks of their citizens to wring out the money. I dare them.

So that the people will groan, wail and be purged of their sentiment, to do their duty of superintending over the activities of the people that rule over them. So that the people will stand up from 'pray for government' to, 'what are you doing with our money'.

That is how democracy works for good governance.
They should stop disturbing us.

Karemarealty288:
Chaugory Chaugory , Dangota, bla bla bla bla...

Is it the same Chagoury that is about to 'capture' the Federal Ministry of Works to build a private highway to El-dorado.
Nigeria, a Contractor's Paradise, a nation of vested interests, of secret deals and midnight rendezvous.
They have started flooding Abuja after a hiatus for the elections.
A different group this time.

Just passing.... no comment.... make una enjoy abeg.

valentineuwakwe:
I know what this will entail is amnesty too for the bandits and terrorists......same thing the Niger delta militants are enjoying.

Then it should do with the subversive elements in the east as well.

Not against negotiating when your house is not in order but it should be a principle applied across board.

They know this and that is why it is done secretly.

Perfume for some, insecticide for others.

Lazy citizens, lazy journalists. Always weeks, months, years behind issues of concern. Never able to guide, direct, order government along the right paths. They wait till the horses have bolted then begin a vain pursuit from pillar to post.

The horse of inflation has long bolted the moment deregulation was announced with lazy people looking for palliatives instead of demanding for immediate and emergency anti-inflationary measures by government like their counterparts in other climes.

Unfortunately the ship of economic stability has long sailed, hit the iceberg and sunk. It is too late to fight inflation. The cancer is stage 4 now and affected the entire economy.

The malaise which stated with just gasoline, just gasoline and the dollar market unification has spread since May to hit cement this week ( a basic and essential commodity of industrialization) with obvious consequences of a slow down in the construction sector and more job losses.

The very sector (together with agriculture and mining the bricks and mortar, brown collar sectors) government needed to create jobs en-masse and the third leg of any economic stability.

There was once upon a time when discussions were a viable option with the largest industrial and commercial operators to delay price rises pending when government arrives with its vision and mission to address the various factors creating a cost of production crises but to our knowledge nothing was done. It just sat back doing nothing while the cancer metastasized.

Instead of Oga to be meeting with them on a weekly basis to synergise government policy, synergise industrial production and assure the Nigerian people of whatever support they can provide, he is busy abroad..... while inflation rages on here.

WHAT IS THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT ACTIVELY DOING RIGHT NOW TO FIGHT INFLATION.
This is the basic question everyone should be concerned about.

It appears public debt is becoming an ideology, an institutional identity of the ruling APC.
Just waiting for the 'even America borrows' crew.

Wow, Doccie has left the building.
A true legend of the silver screen.

Jorussia:
The question i ask myself since umahi started inspecting federal roads is what did pmb achieve in terms of road construction with all the reckless borrowings? I thought it was only Edo state that had terrible federal roads until umahi started going round.I think we need to pass a legislation that from henceforth, minister of works must be civil and construction engineer with more than 10 years practice experience.

In looking for what to sing about that reckless government and justify the economic calamity brought upon this country by financial recklessness of unprecedented order, fans and fanatics alike claimed 'infrastructure' to be the root, branch and fruit of it all.

Every passing day this is proven to be no more than smoke and mirrors.
Endless borrowings, Abacha loot, and tax/tariff rises throughput the regime yet.......

3 cups of rice ....hahahaha.... They should call a priest to do the miracle of the five loaves and three fishes to survive these next four years..... hahahaha.

obinna58:
All the loans they took was simply to service their huge salaries and maintain their flamboyant style of living

Light I no see
Good Roads no dey
Social amenities is nothing to write about
Industries no Dey
Hospitals is a place to die instead
Employment no Dey
Tax is on highside
Education is on the lowest level
Even our crude can not be refined


I refuse to accept my responsibility to the government cos they’re all criminals

But our people said they used it to build 'world class infrastructure'...
Where were you when the talk was on.
Today we have one 'world class bridge over the Niger', one 'world class railway' from Lagos to Ibadan and both at the expense of a completely damaged economy.

One bridge and one rail line has crippled us, yet no one is calling anyone to come explain how come?

Svoboda:
Most of the stadiums built by south africa and brazil for their world cup hosting rights are all lying idle and unusable, all white elephant projects, which are now considered a huge waste.

Why does Lagos need a bigger stadium when it has 3 usable ones already.

This is simply not true.

Praxis758:
Is it possible to add another deca at the top of this stadium without demolishing the present one?

Possible, but a very expensive venture, almost as expensive as knocking the existing one down and starting over.

Moreover multi-sport arenas such as we love to build in Nigeria have a limiting capacity due to spectator viewing distance issues. Adding another tier will worsen the spectator experience.

If we were more technologically oriented then capacity can be increased around the running track for on pitch sports such as soccer with the use of temporary stands.

By and large the design of the Surulere stadium is an old one and its compatriots the world over have long been pulled down and rebuilt/modernised.

Fight, fight, fight. But the good governance that will end the poverty that fuels crime, the good governance that will create effectual structures and stablish institutions of law and order, good governance that will make religious and ethnic extremity of no consequence will be ignored.

Anyway every challenge to a carpenter is a nail to be hammered.

erico2k2:
FG Please import your own cement make we rest

Na so. Government that is looking under every stone for dollar to repay the gbese pa Buhari left as inheritance.

Shey 'even America borrows' crew have been disbanded as we no longer hear their voices. When they were yakking about they didn't know that productivity has levels.

Comparing themselves to a country where Will Smith will crack some dry blockbuster jokes or Niki Minaj will wobble her plastic posterior and bllions of dollars will come tumbling into the treasury from hapless citizens of the world.

I just laugh. Be waiting for goverment.

aklid:
BUA’s dropping to 3500
And some people that are hating for things to be better are hoping for it to reach 9000k?

I always say the worst Nigerians that makes us suffer most, are the dealers of all these things we use, they’ll just feel like hiking prices just like that and can do it, no one will stop them, no one

You believe BUA but disbelief the Association he may belong to....I.think it is you that has his knickers in a twist.

Just cool down and watch the effects of inflation. It is not emotions but reality. Reality to those who will not learn.

Ykc2:
Lagos to Ibadan which 45 kilometers is going to 10 years and you want to built concrete road from lagos to calabar which 750 kilometers ?keep dreaming

Well they say they are funding it so it may not be out of taxpayers pockets. But the proposal is to run it as a private enterprise to recoup their investment.

Here should come tye Legislature to ensure two things.

That the business plan has a human face. So they need to know the details before such proposals are approved.

Nigeria has a bad habit of allowing it's government to enter into all sorts of agreements with private concerns that end up biting us in the butt several years later. Mr Tinubu wil not be President forever. His enemy may rise and what becomes.of a defacto 'private' arrangement.

That is why in sane climes everyone (through the Legislature) is involved when issues around important and significant undertakings arise.

The second reason is that the Legislature will guarantee that the existing federal road network isn't abandoned and Nigerians are all railroaded into passing through Mr. Chagoury's road at unforseen cost.

If Nigerians don't talk this is exactly what will happen. As we have heard they are already planning to meet on a significant project we know very little about.

Typical wonky, underhand, clandestine governance. Tomorrow they will wake up totell us Nigeria is owing Chagoury 1 trillion dollars.

Khyrvxjzy:
i want to engage someone so i quote you

marine is expensive i mean running it, it has limit to what it can carry
nigeria not building ship, so we go import(spoiling naira)

now this project is good, its too big but i wish they can do it

you remember umahi said 4 hours lagos to abuja na still same project ooo

listen, the Nigeria main road lagos to north is on road so no shortcut, that over one day lagos to north should not be up to one day if coastal

now lagos ogun island will link ondo straight to south south then to up north again with train


i think tinubu want legacy. i can imagine movement on lagos north in short distance food will be cheaper

Marine transportation is the most coat effective method of transport. Just Google cost per weight per distance. That is why it has the lion share of global trade.

In terms of cost outlay it is a significant step up from coach transport but it is way cheaper to own and operate than air transport which Nigerians invest in.

Moreover we have been building and assembling barges, houseboats, crew boats and tugboats for over 50 years. Coastal vehicles will not be a giant leap forward in capability.

But like I constantly say, the first benefit of marine transportation will be an economic one involving the effecient movement of goods.

Just three large barges can stop all the trucking between Lagos and the south on a daily basis at far lower cost and this will save the wear and tear in the highways, save a lot of fuel and lower the cost of doing business.

Frezhkid10:
Sea transport is slow..do you want to spend 2days traveling from Lagos to calabar??

What are you saying.
The coastal distance between any two states along the Atlantic is shorter than the road equivalent.

For passenger services (which is not a priority) sea ferries that do up to 30 knots which can get you from Lagos to Calabar in 10 hours. Hydrofoils are even faster.

The only problem is the link between port and city centre in some coastal states which is far. Only Port Harcourt and Calabar ports I think are right in the middle of town.

I think the Lagos ferries are the standards by which you judge. Those are dated models with little or no technology.

Blakjewelry:
Marine transport is one money making venture been overlooked in Nigeria, I have my eyes on but it is capital intensive. I don't expect government to invest in it because the money realized will end up in someone's pocket but private business can benefit from it.

Well also since the road will integrate a railway system, it's not a bad idea.

Absolutely true. Instead of crowding and ruining the roads with all the heavy duty trucks, coastal traffic can better be served by barges.

I was watching discovery channel sometime ago about transshipment of containers from one of the southern portts up the Mississippi river by a huge barge that carried up to a hundred box containers.

That is a hundred less semis on the highway seriously reducing incidents and prolonging the lifespan of the roads and of course reducing the cost of business.

These are the out of the box thinking, ideas that a communicative, interactive, argumentative, virile democracy spurs.

But our system of government is always constrained and restricted to the skills and competencies of one trick ponies.

As a policy statement government can direct that in the next two decades no heavy duty vehicle be permitted to ply Federal highways. That all states be linked by rail and all states bordering the Atlantic and up the Niger and Benue rivers be equiped with sea and river ports.