₦airaland Forum

Luchitec:
Some of you will just open your mouth and talk rubbish. I guess, Donald Trump is also causing the low-turnout in Canada and Mexico too? Please, the blame lies squarely with greedy FIFA.

It's FIFA that sets ticket prices not the host country.
It is FIFA that acted a little greedy.

The probably looked at the fact that a combined Mexico, USA and Canada is probably their biggest potential World Cup market till date and wanted to exploit it to the fullest.

Then there was Donald Trump.
Then there was a certain war with Iran and the ultra security fallout.

Maybe they should add that to their hosting guidelines in future.

'If you intend to go to war or to provoke any nation to attack you in the run in to any FIFA tournament kindly do not apply as a host nation....'

Naaa...this is becoming as embarrassingly serious as our internal security problems.

And I think some spare attention has to be given to this drug trafficking epidemic involving Nigerians before it morphs into something even far worse for both foreign nations and Nigeria.

If you've watched the Sollima movie, 'Sicario: Day of the Soldado', you get to see how the drug trade can easily cross paths with terrorism to devastating effects where two completely unrelated criminal enterprises can leverage on themselves to completely breach national security.

Let us not dare to think about what will happen to Nigeria if these drug runners team up with the international fundamentalist insurgents wrecking havoc across the country.....

I dare not think that way.

Bahamas95:
Coaching job is very sweet.

You can get fired today and get hired tomorrow.

Not if your name is Wayne 'Relegation' Rooney.

iLoveYouToo:
Brooo!!! How times have changed. This isn’t the AC Milan I grew up watching

The Bundesliga was the first foreign league to hit Nigeria screens in the 70's, followed by the EFL, then in the mid to late 80's came the Serie A on NTA2 if memory serves me right. Was always a pleasure.

iLoveYouToo:
The rejected stone. Congrats to him

Such a storied club, now a complete shadow of it's greatness, a ghost club where no world classer wants to go. Silvio must be lamenting in his grave.

I agree partly with Oshiomhole about this.
I myself cannot see what governance issues Mr. Obi and/or Mr. Atiku for instance are confronting with thought through, planned solutions, as leaders in waiting.

Granted campaigns have not officially commenced but opinions out there for public consumption and assessment are never banned in a democracy.

Think-tank and townhall. Hear out the people, hear out experts, visit NGO's and Advocacy group and tap the expertise their collective expertise. You are bound to hit nuggets of wisdom.

The advantage the opposition has is that the present leadership is not listening to the people, is not responding to them. It is doing it's own thing the way it wants, so there is a huge forest of political capital that can be harvested to get the people onside.

Just don't understand this tired cliche of, 'oh, when I get there I will....' Our politicians should work harder, be more cerebral and definitely be more assertive of their alternate views about governance.

This country badly, badly needs viable opposition.

Some other report the other day said they have identified the location of the captives but security forces were strategizing on how to get them out without collateral.

Means this was not a true report.

That last paragraph is what the Presidency should open a special task force in Aso Rock about.

To ensure the 'further' investigation and interrogation is concluded within a specific time period and the fellow moved over to prosecution.

A minimal time should be allowed for all the processes from arrest to sentencing to minimize opportunities for sabotage and recrimination. Pipeline him as fast as possible to the hangman's noose and end the story.

Average individual.player, though good squad member. Real is really paper thin on functional talent at the moment particularly at the back.

And this will be seen throughout the world....
A world they expect will rush to Nigeria to invest....
This is deep, deep demarketing....

Mandate1:
why are they borrowing debts that are not sustainable? Tinubu removed subsidy yet had borrowed more than those that paid subsidy. Borrowing trillions to build a coastal road we do not need. All states in Nigeria are already connected by FG roads, why then do we need a coastal road?

Ask me, they will say it is hate.
Left the investment in electricity that will reduce cost of living and spur business to invest in a road that will help just a small fraction of citizens.

Had it been a private enterprise, fine. Had it even been a PPP so the cost can be spread out over decades, no. They want it now and are collecting hot cash for executing it. Who does that.

givedemwotowoto:
Fight corruption first. The economy is struggling, raising taxes will reduce the people's purchasing power and slow down the economy further, which could lead to more borrowing.

Before asking people to pay more, focus on reducing waste and blocking leakages. Fight corruption fiercely first.

And prioritizing expenditure to what is critically needed for national survival.

Not wasting scarce tax naira on bogus recurrent expenditures even if they are legal, or bogus capital projects even if they are appropriated.

People who earn millions in government cannot be the final arbiter of how we spend our money as a nation because they do not feel anything.

Their salaries are paid by the public, their business is politics so they do not KNOW or FEEL the effects of their decisions on the real economy.

WriterX:
The IMF's recommendation may look attractive on paper, but Nigerians must examine what it means in practice and the dangers it carries.

The IMF says taxing fuel, telecom services, and increasing VAT could raise government revenue by about 4.6% of GDP over time. The obvious question is

revenue for what, and at whose expense?

Nigeria has already removed fuel subsidies, resulting in petrol prices increasing by several hundred percent in many areas. Transport costs surged.

Food prices followed. Inflation remains one of the highest in decades. Now the same citizens who absorbed the shock of subsidy removal are being told that fuel products should face additional taxation.

If fuel is taxed further, who ultimately pays? Not oil companies. Not government officials. The final cost will be transferred to transport operators, businesses, farmers, traders, and ultimately the ordinary Nigerian consumer.

The telecom proposal raises equally serious concerns. In today's Nigeria, mobile phones and internet access are no longer luxuries. They are tools for business, education, banking, communication, job searches, and even government services. A telecom excise duty effectively becomes a tax on economic participation itself.

The IMF projects significant revenue gains, but where is the evidence that previous revenue increases have translated into equivalent improvements in citizens' lives?

Since subsidy removal, government revenues and FAAC allocations to states have risen substantially. Yet Nigerians are entitled to ask:

Have public hospitals improved proportionately?

Have public schools improved proportionately?

Has insecurity reduced proportionately?

Has electricity supply improved proportionately?

Have roads improved proportionately?

Has corruption reduced proportionately?

Before demanding more taxes, government must explain what happened to the additional revenues already generated.

Even more revealing is the IMF's own admission that administrative reforms alone could generate roughly 3.1% of GDP through better tax collection, compliance, electronic invoicing, database integration, and enforcement.

So therefore If improved administration can generate almost as much revenue as new taxes, why is the conversation focused on taxing struggling citizens rather than fixing leakages, waste, tax evasion, and inefficiency?

Just the summary of everything.
Thank you for deep thinking like this.
These additional taxes are nothing but inflationary.
They look at only one side

Yes it will increase GDP by 4.6 percent but what will inflation do to that projected GDP rise.... draw it down again. At the end nothing is achieved, government revenue receipts will still remain poor as people further cut their expenses on even these basic services.

And you are absolutely correct.
Telecoms have been a massive subsidy for high transportation costs. People are increasingly substituting physical appearances for meetings, social events, educational programs, etc; with communication driven technology.

I was speaking with an interstate transporter a couple of weeks ago who intends to return his vehicle and free himself from the operate to purchase contract because he just cannot meet up. Passenger numbers are drastically down due to the two evils of inflation and insecurity.

I just do not understand why the government cannot put the horse before the cart AND PRIORITIZE WHAT WILL raise personal and business income levels. What will make for productivity rather than killing it.

It is a terrible vicious cycle. The more people are put out of work and the more business fold up, the more consumption falls. And with all that, the less taxes revenues will be realized by government. Meaning they will have to keep on raising and raising and raising rates just to maintain a certain collection.

That is classic stagflation. And it is a terrible place for an economy to be in.

nairalanda1:
Tinubu should listen to the IMF and do it, and if he doesn't , whoever is taking over should listen to the IMF and do it, alongside fighting corruption

I know people will abuse me, and will call me names for my opinion, so let me drop some facts.

Our budget this year is: 68 trillion naira

Actual revenue available to fund this budget is : 33 trillion naira
Deficit: 29 trillion naira...and to cover that deficit, that is where the loans come in.

Yes, oil revenue rose, but remember that we have a debt of about 150 trillion naira to pay for.


People like to abuse me on this site and call me agbadoe, but if it was Peter Obi, or Atiku in charge, based on what I know, I would give them the same advice. We all shout that we want government to stop borrowing, but when it comes to measures to stop borrowing, we suddenly become allergic to good advice


Tinubu is a bad leader, and I am not voting for him next year, by the way.


Nigeria has had this deficit problem for decades. Everytime earnings do not meet up with the budget, meaning we have to borrow. This is because of the fact that we rely on resources WHOSE PRICES WE DO NOT SET. We cannot set oil above the international price to fund our budget because our buyers will go and meet the cheaper option. Back when we had cotton, cocoa, palm oil, same thing. (Ghana some years ago raised prices of its cocoa to meet up with budget funding and buyers went to other countries, Nigeria included, to buy cheaper stuff).

Most of the rich and poor do not pay taxes, only people in formal employment pay PAYE taxes, and revenue from VAT was about 8 trillion naira , plus revenue from bank charges was around 4 trillion naira...for this budget.

And the 68 trillion naira is not enough for a nation of 230 million people. You can abuse me, but we are too big for the budget. And that budget is the money available before stealing and looting happens.

Y'all can abuse me, but we have to face cold reality.

Either we start listening to the IMF and fighting corruption, as well as improving taxation, or else, even if we vote Obi tomorrow, as i hope we all do, or Atiku tomorrow, or even Sowore, I guarantee that our debt would be 800 trillion naira in eight years time.


You are free to abuse me and call me names now, thank you. I no longer care.



If una no wan hear, then that means you should stop complaining about borrowing, because refusal to support improved taxation and anti-corruption measures means you support borrowing.

Again, I am voting for Obi next year, and in reality, I don't care about all your politicans. IF Obi fails, out he goes in four years, and so forth, until we get sane leadership. Maybe we go wait till the debt is 10000 trillion naira before we get our own MIlliei and LKY...it took Argentina to get into such severe debt that it was defaulting on payments, for them to wake up. Now their currency is strong and fiscal performance better, and eventually other areas will improve.

Governance does not require all this stress and strain, all the fears of abuse and recrimination. It requires openness, solidarity. Participatory governance via the instrumentality of functional institutions is the key.

You make FOI and it works. You make a budget to do a thing but it costs more money than you have and you go to the people with open arms and open books and an open mind.

They are bound to accept to pay more if they understand the value of what you are doing, if they can see it profits them and if they are assured no one is inordinately profiting from their sacrifice.

Reduce the way you govern to that of any association on the streets where people vote to do things having fully understood the books, and their associated obligations. When the people say no, you stop and change or cancel your plans. That is participatory governance.

So it is not only about corruption. It is about the way politics is played and the country is governed. People in general think their participation starts and ends with electing leadership into office but when the bill comes as the IMF is pressing they then realise they should be rather be at the negotiating table instead of at the golf course.

Omalicious1:
Please the window of surrendering should have a deadline. And as regards the vow not to succumb, this is the second time.

There should be no windows, no bargains, no red lines, nothing. The security forces should go after them. Anyone of them lucky to be alive should be interrogated, stripped of Intel, sent before a serious judge and capital punishment conducted, all within a specific minimal time frame.

The government needs to set up special courts if necessary, liaise with the NJC to appoint competent judges to handle these cases rapidly and ensure through the Legislature that all cases of banditry are 'Federal' cases so there are no biases and death warrants are 'Federal'.

The government needs to match this disaster with all the seriousness it can muster. Enough of pussyfooting.

And what are the 'colleagues' of the bandits doing in custody. This is where the President can start, can start his own investigations from.

Are they incarcerated, are they in detention, what are they doing there.

Because if they are not being interrogated and are not standing trial, they become another problem just as we see played out here.

Apprehension, interrogation, trial and sentence to END the circle of justice. Mr President should move for SWIFT action on these processes. And I am aware the sentence for banditry is capital punishment, which if these felons are tried in a Federal court the warrants should be signed at the Federal level and in the atmosphere of security emergency executed swiftly as well.

The General was abducted because these bandits too are looking for company, perhaps leadership, certainly solidarity. They want their people out of custody as a priority. The government should realise this is a weakness and ensure a regrouping NEVER happens.

By keeping them in detention the government is opening the door for speculation that the prisoners are being used as bargaining chips.

Mr. Government, these people are not prisoners of war, they are felons of the vilest kinds and should face capital punishment. No bandit should be in custody if investigations/interrogations are over.

WatchYourSix:
Dismissed foreign workers?? So they just started firing any one who’s not south African from their place of work?

Again, I don't get it.
Who is doing the firing....the owners of the enterprise knowing that it will cripple the place....or what.

I don't understand... tell me.

Factory workers protesting the dismissal of foreign workers that management/ownership did to cripple their own factories.

Do the workers love their jobs more than the owners love their business or is someone trying to pull the wool over my head here.

Ask those who have been married for upwards of twenty-five, thirty years....who are in love....when lust has long faded.

I can tell you for free that if your relationship is held together by physical attraction alone then it is on a clock and in a matter of days, weeks, months or a few, short years it will be all over.

dominique:
This is the wake-up call the military and people on power needs. Nobody is safe, not even them.

Not too sure whether it will wake those in power up. They will classically tell you they have seen worse. How many Generals this year alone....?

Have you ever tried to drag your pet goat away from your prized Ugwu shrub. You will be shocked how a dwarf goat can stretch to the height of a giraffe.

That is how alarmed you will be that these present leaders will not be taken away from their primary focus and desire, power. Every other thing is irrelevant, secondary, of rudimentary consequences to them.

As someone said, even if the country burns down they won't care. They will simply use the ashes as eye liner.

Has any other thing, any, any, anything at all paused or stopped so that they can focus on insecurity....no.

[quote author=kole22k post=139711099][/quote/]

He is contributing meaningfully to his country by exposing it's ills and he is a hero if he does so again and again and again.

He is more patriotic than someone who sees the ills and pretends they don't exist, hoping they will just go away so that the country BY ITSELF will become great.

Oga, judges taking bribes and a judiciary supporting autocracy will never go away by itself. It has to be flogged out of the system.

The great America as some call it is a hotbed for protests and vile criticism. Don't take relative calm you see today for granted. They have a storied history of internal wars to rid themselves of everything from foreign war mongering to racism (which they are still fighting today).

Their working institutions did not just fall from heaven. They and their ancestors fought and died for those things to work and the person whose name Trump wanted to trump on the wall of that memorial is a classic example of a democratic warrior. Go read his history. He died for his beliefs about freedom, about equality and about liberty.

Yes, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

Good one.
A judicial system that is FOR THE PEOPLE, not a branch of the Executive.

You just wonder what our judges think when they see what their colleagues in saner climes do to grow democracy while they are busy aiding and abetting it's destruction back home, helping the powerful become even more notorious.

Racoon:
Just imagine what the minister of state for defense is telling a nation a beleaguered nation. Then the govt and all the apparatchik of govt as far as security is concerned should resign.

You have no constitutional basis shining your lazy asses on those seats. Nigeria have promote a culture of no accountability or responsibility, that is why public office holders can be bold to make this kinds of grevious statements

Abi oh, so that we can vote for God Almighty to help us since those we claim he put there (you hear some folks with this notorious notion of, 'no government can come into existence without God's permission...') are completely failed.

Lukuluku69:
IBB started one during his tenure, ask them what happened to it.

If it is DICON you are talking about, it was established many years before IBB's time.

As a matter of fact, when we were transiting from the G3 to the FN, they were all produced here in Nigeria.

Willy2025:
That's not a palatable news. Why these Asia countries always get hit with one natural disaster or another. If it is not earthquake, it will be tsunami.

Because the Asia Pacific region is host to the largest number of countries on or close to geological fault lines. They are trapped between the two torments of earthquakes and volcanic activity.

It is always heartbreaking to see poor countries hit by natural disasters. How many years will it take them to recover from this now.

Kemetian:
POWER CUTS ARE A DAILY OCCURRENCE IN INDIA AND PAKISTAN, AND A REGULAR OCCURRENCE IN VIRTUALLY ALL DEVELOPING COUNTRIES TODAY.

DEVELOPING COUNTRIES MAKE UP 80% OF THE WORLD'S COUNTRIES.

HOW COME NONE OF THESE COUNTRIES ARE DEMONISED BECAUSE OF POWER CUTS EXCEPT NIGERIA?

Is the hard criticism of the lack of stable power and making it a centrepiece of national advocacy demonizing the country? I don't understand.

If it is a thing we cannot possibly do and is a thing we should come to expect cannot be changed then we should all agree to that and continue to wallow.

But I cannot see how this country can develop if it cannot tackle electricity. And by development I mean from the basics of being able to feed, cloth, treat school, protect ourselves.

There is no endeavour today that can be successfully undertaken sustainbly without electricity. Nigeria didn't invent that, the world did and if we cannot or will not quest for stable, affordable electricity, poverty will make this country untenable for everyone.

You can already see the signs, the collapsing security architecture in the face of escalating criminality, all fueled by desperate poverty.

nwirinedu:
Liar. In the 70s , 80s and 90s electricity supply was decent. You didn't need to own a generator. Privatization under OBj led to govt selling it's assets. Who brought the crazy idea? Corporations in the UK, so the nations blackout is by design of external for forces, just like the fraudulent revamping of the apapa ports.

Nigerians through their sufferings are subsidizing the lifestyles of people in the UK including herself.

Let her shut up.

What are you talking about.
Decent electricity which 70's, 80's or 90''s.
The first generator I can remember in my household was bought sometime around '79 when we moved houses. Cannot remember anything before that.

But I clearly remember NEPA 'taking light' right in the middle of Nigeria's second game at the 1985 U16 World Cup game and I cried my eyes out because no one was around to put on the genset.

For years after that Saturday trips to NEPA and NITEL complaint offices was our steady diet especially during the rainy season.

So please just rule out 80's and 90's at the very least, it was the same heat and hell.

MarketDispatch:
Just imagine! People with guns telling people without guns to take the lead on security....

Laughable if not for the tragedy of the whole thing.

The wording 'lead fight' is highly disappointing and smacks of leadership failure.

A father does not tell his children to lead any fight in his household even if he has a hundred and he is only one.

Please word it properly. The whole concept of democracy is participatory. So ask for solidarity, not leadership from amongst the led so they don't misconstrue it to be a greenlight for a revolution.

Queenext:
Greed is what I can say . USA thought that the world cup is a time to vent their anger on nations, individuals and co

Visa and entry wahala, yes
But ticketing is entirely FIFA's business.

Funny leadership.
You promise to provide constant electricity.
Dared the citizens to kick you out if you could not deliver.
After elections your top priority is not electricity, but a trillion naira coastal road. Saying it will develop the country.

Ask me between electricity and a road bordering the Atlantic ocean, which will develop a nation of 200 million people....and we call that cerebral leadership.