₦airaland Forum

When you consider that in this same country there are insurgents hell bent on destroying anything moving forward having invented crude but effective weapons which we all acknowledge why then dismiss any force for good.

A few months we were rubbishing the laudable efforts and achievements of Innoson only to complain about the billions to be spent by legislators to import vehicles. Utterly unbelievable. I pity this country. Government has seen the peoples' confusion so thoroughly that even in the face of fuel scarcity it will destroy local built and run refineries to maintain their hegemony while we stand by and applaud.

A country that cannot even produce underwear for its citizens and whose biggest commercially available industrial invention is the pepper grinder (without engine) should celebrate not their own but perhaps China for keeping them alive.

Even if we cannot achieve let the coming generations know that at we tried one thing. How can one fault an attempt but for the folly in my people.

BigBenoski:
C4? Hell no!! Infact the companies' acquisition ogas should be arrested asap. Who told them 2 use c4? Whatever happend 2 dynamite!

Just my thoughts. Haba C4 to blast rocks. That is wrong. The wrong type of explosive to quarrying. It has a higher detonation speed than conventional dynamite. You get more frag and less volume. Good as military ordnance, bad for engineering.

What is the point of discussing this issue when the outcome of this country is certain. Everywhere in the world they are cutting the size of government and here we are increasing the size of government everyday and selling our souls to politics especially at the centre. My mum used to say if you cannot do anything for yourself you can pay for it but by all means you will pay for it. Welcome to the end times with Nigeria leading the charge.

Hmm, let me guess. Perhaps since medicine is an imperfect science scribbling can aid disclaimers when mess up has happened. Joking.

First thing. Do not renew that rent. Quit that apartment and postpone the wedding. You're a banker so financial advise should be on your cuffs. Crash your expenses fast and bagin to replace every item of critical expenditure with income. Even if you breakthrough in a week (which I hope) this experience will only have served to reboot your system.

My serious concern as always is the cycle of destruction of our institutions as in this case by the ugly vices of sectarianism. If a Federal institution begins to fracture along lines of religious bigotry then the force as a whole is undermined. Where is the honour when you free a member of a sect that has killed hundreds of people who you swore to protect and worse murdered scores of your colleagues. What more can undermine morale when you cannot trust your fellow officer. I will not be surprised if these moles have given out the details of the top officers and detectives at the cutting edge of the counter-insurgency. No wonder they are frequently ambushed and caught up in IED's. No wonder informants find it hard to step forward. It is terrible. The penalty for this sort of crime should exceed anything given to the very terrorists themselves and in some other societies this means capital. And it has to be to send out a strong message to the rank and file before the bad eggs completely destroy the force. They do it frequently with armed robbers but this is taking it to a new and highly dangerous level.

That's the paradox of Nigeria and the reason change will not be easy.

faithin9ja:
[color=#006600][/color]
:Right on point

one of the cars I use right now, 2008 Toyota Corolla was financed by Oceanic Bank, since my first monthly repayment 2 years ago I have not paid a penny, na my local bank manager arrange am for me!!! (with special arrangement devil will meet God), with that kind of attitude why won't the bank go bust and people lose their jobs.

Meanwhile the guy has got a job in another bank, yes I paid a bribe to sort myself - Na Nigeria we dey !!! let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

Nutty boy. . I hope you're kidding.

Chei Naija. We like to lie and deceive ourselves. Instead of failed banks and slain bankers comparing themselves to the likes of GTB and Zenith they are comparing themselves to other failures like Unity asking why are they not dead too . If you know the true owners of Unity Bank you will rather compare yourselves with your mates. Cecilia v Jim Ovia, Erastus v Tony. High powered CEO's. While one decides to build his bank and conduct business legitimately the other is busy robbing his bank.

For those feigning ignorance about the widespread looting going on in the bank that is simply not true. I know lots of people who worked in some of those banks and they knew of the mismanagement going on at various levels, some as far back as the pre consolidation period but like many things Nigerian, private sector corruption is acceptable or simply doesn't exist. Only public office holders and politicians are corrupt. The ignorant believed then and still do now that a man cannot corruptly enrich himself from his own business. There's nothing further from the truth. Unfortunately unlike public officers who steal from perhaps an unending flow of crude oil, private sector graft is finite. Thousands lost their investments in these bank stocks so it is not only workers that should be sorry.

Take heart. Next time pay attention to the details of the people you work with and the company you work for. Believe me it matters.

[quote author=musiwa,,. link=topic=872396.msg10209898#msg10209898 date=1329407434]first of all Justice alfa Belgore report will not be acceptable to the people  of nigeria and other group in Nigeria.   So jonathan Goodluck is wasting his time.

The 6 zone is not acceptable to the Yorubas. Please quote me. And with no disrespect to Chief clark. There was no time in Nigeria that the people of nigeria created 6 zones. And be assure that leadership have change hand in Nigeria.

And to be honest with you, that why there is crisis in Nigeria. The population of Nigeria post independent of Nigeria is 80% of Nigeria. And their opinion and believe is different from the pre independent Nigeria. And there is no way the pre independent nigeria will determine the future of Nigeria for the pro independent Nigeria.

You cant not expect us the Yoruba people to accept having kwara or kogi state in a different zone or the itsekiri, what you do is you make them minority in a country, where they are majority.

And I want to point it out to you, if you refuse to conduct a National Conference, this government will be overthrown by members of  of army Nigeria soon.  In order to save your job , I will advice you to conduct a National Conference.

I want to point out to you, there is no age mate of chief Clark in nigeria army. And he does not have any friend he will loss in the army if Nigeria goes to a civil war. I want to say bola ahmed does not have any of his friend in the army that will loss his life.  And none of this people can determine our future for us.

And I will like to tell them if any of them have forgotten that the power of the Nigeria nation is reserve not in the hand of Jonathan Goodluck and not in the hands of Clark or any of the politician. but in the hand of the Nigeria army  and the army have the guns. and I will tell you, we have more than enough friend in the Nigeria army that will loss their life, if there is a civil war.  So you better listen carefully. there must be National Conference or you will all loss your jobs.  And when our friend is more than 10,000 members of the Nigeria army, i say you better listen very carefully to Godly advice. You will loss your job.  THE NIGERIA ARMY HAVE CHILDREN AND ARE NOT READY TO DIE FOR GREEDY POLITICIAN.

In simple word, Jonathan Goodluck will return to bayelsa state if he fails to conduct a National Conference.  And a national conference where pre independent will be representing  post- independent will not be acceptable to the people of Nigeria.  because the population of post independent Nigeria is 80%, and there is no way 20% of Nigeria, will be representing the interest of the majority 80%.  

We would put up young post independent nigeria , who will represent our interest. Because this is the future of our people . In less than 10 years pre independent nigeria , total population will just be about 7% of Nigeria population.   chief Edward clark may not be around in 10 years.

And if any politician have forgotten who is your master, please kindly see this pictures of the nigeria army, they all have koboko. And they use koboko on politician too.

If you dont want to loss your jobs as politician you conduct a National Conference. If not the army will have no other choice than to overthrow you. nd under nigeria law, they are require to protect the people of nigeria and not the politician of nigeria.  they are not your slave.
https://www.eagleenstyle.com/files/2011/02/na-pic2.jpg[/quote] Really I thought under Nigerian law they required to uphold the constitution and wage war against enemies of the constitution whether foreign or domestic. Where does your President lie and where is the point of entry for a SNC. I'm totally for structural reforms of this country. I believe it is the main cause of all our problems and there is no going forward in ANY issue of national importance including the vexed issues of the economy and corruption but the fact remains that there is a grand canyon between that utopia and where we stand right now. The biggerst challenge to the SNC is the very democracy we all agitate for. To be quite honest what are the chances of obtaining a SNC is this kind of democracy. Ordnarily it should take two-thirds of Nigerians in sound agreement for the show to take place. We are still far from that position. The factors that will make 110 million Nigerians actively tired (not passively) of this present system is are not in place yet so the call all looks elitist and sectional. Sorry to say so we are yet to reach the level of suffering and despair to trigger a wider call. My two cents.

How can a sitting President undermine the constitution he swore to uphold. Friends, that is barking up the wrong tree. The power to change the constitution lies in the with a group called your representatives. They represent collective interests not the Executive and certainly not the Presiednt who was elected with a manifesto which I don't remember contained such a promise to establish or conduct such a conference. Military, regimented mentality again which we find hard to shed that places all powers in the hand of the President. Totally mistaken. The day he moves on that issue is the day he will be impeached and any other President that follows if you and I through our representatives resist the calls. On the other hand if the both Houses are able to agree and pass a motion no sitting President will be able to resist it. That is how democracy works.

Except of course it is SNC by SMC (Supreme Military Council). The 64 dollar question in this whole debate is how to chage democratic settings democratically. No one has ventured an answer.

But the defence budget was substantially increased to amongst other things procure counter insurgency tools and there was widespread outcry against it. Where is the benefit of doubt dear flagging Nigerians.

jmaine:
I see



Now let us spot the difference


www.nairaland.com/attachments/638479_amosun_funke_daniel_funeral3_JPGe202c65c45ec94c7ba4dcc72a2c41aa3 www.nairaland.com/attachments/392598_Love_Nwantintin_jpgcf5563ac8363724c770f0de67f92182e

Okay let me try. Short sleeves for OBJ, long sleeves OGD, pic below cap OGD, no cap Amosun. Pic below bald head below - OBJ, receeding hairline OGD. Every other thing is uncannily similar. White and red combos.

Yes Chuxyn, you understand where Eldorado is and what goodies awaits. The strange challenge is, just how in the world do we get there. The how is the question.

nagoma:
@badesco
You can add ignoramus to the name badesco.
1) Buhari after PTF was more investigated than anybody in Nigeria and the PDP government could not find any wrong doing.
2) Buhari has asserted (boasted if you like) that in all his time in office as a Governor of the NE (now 7 states) , as oil minister, as Brigade Commander, as Head of state he had never taken money that did not belong to him. For a man with so many enemies why cant they go to court and prove the contrary?
3)This explains why he cannot afford a house , either owned or rented in Abuja. Is it really important for everybody to own many houses?I think it depends on what you see as your objectives and values in life.

Who are the enemies of Buhari. Another myth. I believe this is a personal matter that some here and other places are trying to make political capital out of. Just leave the man alone. He himself knows his corruption status. They all know. It is only at this level we speculate. What has been proven against any othre Head of State. With the exception of Abacha (for obvious reasons - he was assasinated after crossing the rubicon) has there been any other C-in-C in the dock. Does that make them corruption free. Does it mean Gowon (we know what he did in the CBN during the war), Murtala (I will not speak of the dead), Obasanjo during his military reign, Shehu Shagari, Babangida, Abdulsalam and OBJ version II did not steal and mismanage because they have not served time or fight in the open market. The information is all out there. I don't know whether there is a statute of limitation in Nigeria but any and everyone of them can be brought back to trial with documentary evidence. It is a matter of putting the various evidences together.

It is not a Nairaland thing. People have information on these guys its just that no one is asking for it. No one will do anything about it. No one is fighting. They don't fight themselves. It is their supporters that 'stoop so low'. If Buhari was 'fighting' OBJ why did he not also bring out information about him which he has. He cannot do that. He cannot escalate it to that level without bringing the house down on himself and killing others. The Supreme court is the best he can do because the supreme court will NEVER upset the apple cart. They know. Infact it is the safest way of expressing your greviance and a convenient exit door. One of the closest events these folks have gone to breaking the pact was the OBJ v IBB mud bath last year but they were pulled back from the brink. Study those who called for peace very carefully and you get the gist.

When I read some comments here I just smile. Nigeria is not about these fellows and our problems are not about them. They all participated and helped to escalate our problems but they are certainly not the solutions. They are all the same. I will never go further than that becasue they are not willing to do so. If tomorrow they break their pact and it becomes a free for all then I will venture what I have.

Kai, this Barca team is running on reserves. They look fatigued. Messi is just not himself.

This is a policy statement I believe and will take time to implement. Those who hold him accountable on his previous promises should know that things will not happen overnight. Some will take months and other years and yet others may be totally realised in another regime. What follows is the implementation roadmap and a time to debate and assess how and in what form the policy will be implemented. This is where you and I will get involved because this is where the bill for such a policy will be made manifest. People will get to know what they will have to sacrifice to have free education. So the pace of implementation is not always controlled by government alone. This is one of those misconceptions.

Hey, why manhandling Okija here. There are real and fundamental facts in what he is saying. He is not against the principle of free education. Indeed it is very commendable but the structure of the present educational system will not advance the bigger picture. I think when something is made free there has to be an objective, a pay back to government by way of development so its not the paper certificate that matters but courses and competencies that will distinguish Imo state.  That's what Okija is talking about and not castigating the principle.

On Rochas himself I think he is turning out to be one of the best leaders we have now. People should not be suspicious of his policies. Even if eventually some don't turn out as expected personally I will give him an A for ideas and effort. To guarantee success we must rally round and support him.

I can even venture a presidential shot in a few years down the line. You can imagine an alignment of current opposition with someone like Fashola as Vice. Hard to imagine now but six years is a life time of possible change in the world of politics.

dustydee:
Classic. From the police to the civil service.

Police concessions security to robbers complete with weapons, bankers round trip, sell currency and loan out money to their interests knowing there's no hope of repayment, civil servants give out contracts to themselves without the requisite competence or capability. Oil companies export crude and give out LPO's for the supply of fuel for their use. NNPC has mortgaged the treasury of the country to oil pirates who import one consignment for six and dare to call it selfless service. Now managers in GSM outfits own call centre concessions, haba. Certainly not strange that salaries are split 1 to 3. This country and corruption is a hand in a glove. We have not suffered enough yet.

Is this a question of who gets power or what he or she does with it. If Falana is questioning how our leaders use power I really doubt he will get very far. If he wishes to address how power is shared which in turn affects how resources are distributed then he has a case. You cannot. I repeat cannot change the type of thing SLS has done within the present system we run.

showbobo:
shelsee(chelsea)
sheesharito(chicharito)
penaiity(penalty)
fawo(foul)
and he once said"I dont know why John Terry was just standing there like a Yellow Fever"

Ha, ha, ha. Classic. Great fun. More please. Why are folks here getting hot under the collar. Lighten up. Its SuperSports fault. They wanted star power, unfortunately in Nigeria it doesn't mix well with the silver screen. It makes for great fun though.

mukina2:
when was the last time west africa won the afcon sef?

from North to south  

The arrogance of the West Africans knows no bounds. It may yet be a while.

All networks are on average the same. The main problem they have is that of congestion which is impossible to predict. If you can afford it go for both. I have all of them and maintain a minimum of 3 at any given time. I currently use GLO, Airtel and Etisalat. Just came off Starcomms. GLO has been fiddly these past two days so I won't renew. MTN comes back again.

When Xavi and Iniesta are not there Barca is just not the same. Their patchy game time may be Barca's greatest undoing this season and their diminishing presence may not be entirely unconnected to Guardiola's hesitation to go long with the team. Messi is the best player by a country mile no doubt but it is clear he is that good because a chunk of the top five players in the world play no less than ten yards from and for him. When he plays with average players it sort of balances out.

Great act until the day that boy walked into her life. What a tragedy. RIP.

alj harem:
Ok, The government does not have to go into Oil business per se. All the government needs to do is encourage the indigenous companies in whatever way she can even if it means building the refinery and privating it later.

BP ( British petroleum) is indigenous to England and was just recently privated around 1979-1989 but they still pay their tax to the British government and also employs a good size of British people all over the world. Same with Shell and co

Now today, different oil producing countries have their own indigenous oil companies which MIGHT not be run by the government  but by private investors with the aid of the government and that is why they are global and are ready to explore a country as (I am sorry) dumb as Nigeria and refine, steal and cheat from her land and oil and destroy her environment. These companies cannot easily be brought to books why ?? because they have their government backing.

We need to leave "the bubble" and start seeing things from a new preceptive as human beings that have evolved and have learnt some few things over the years.

We cannot keep doing the same thing and expect a different result. If you want something, you have to do it yourself. No one, I mean no country would spoon-feed Nigeria because she is Oil producing. Nigeria is not the first oil producer and would certainly not be the last.

Ogoni land today is suffering from oil spillage by Shell and co, Have they been brought to books ? NO

We have indigenous Car maunfacturing company like Innoson, why have we not supported them ? Why have our government not done policies that support the company ?

We have Onado and co, why are we not supporting them ?

Hitv why are we not supporting them ?

Lets be real with ourselves, over the years, we meant to have learnt that this world is every country for herself and we are meant to support indigenous companies even if it means the government building some infrastructures for them then so be it.

Shell and others started with the government, why is ours different ?

We keep deceiving ourselves to think things would get better after each successive government by it is a plain lie. Until we wake up and support our own companies that can go to other countries as well. We would remain in this quagmire.

When Nigeria wanted to bar BA, why did the british government talk to Nigeria immediately ? Ofcourse to protect her interest .

Haj, You know what you're absolutely right. It is demeaning and strategically dangerous for your core industries to be 'out of your hands'. The problem is that we were never in control at any time. They have always exploited, transported and sold the stuff. The US buys the bulk of our crude. It will not surprise me if SPDC transports the stuff directly to their monster refinery in Houston. Granted America has better infrastructure and more profitable markets, we are talking about development here. We will never develop selling only base materials and commodities. The greatest benefit our resources will purchase for us is technological transfer. It weighs more than any financial benefit.

No one is saying new indigenous players cannot paticipate. That is a core essence of the PIB, to empower Nigerians to actively participate. It recognises the lopsided nature of the industry in favour of the IOC's. That is destination. Fact remains the IOC's have a forty year headstart. Telling them to refine is trying to weaken their strnglehold by subjecting them to our tough business environment for the purpose of using them as a springboard for our internal development. Just like the telecoms. MTN and Co had a great headstart over GLO and much later Visa. That key move has greatly helped the telecoms industry. If it was the other way round I tell you telecoms will have been in a mess like other industries deregulated and privatised perhaps similar to what we are seeing with the Dangote line of businesses. Investment without impact. Totalitarian monopolistic price regimes with little emphasis on service delivery.

Nigerians need economic emancipation from both government and multinationals but there is a huge paradox here. You need foreign investment as well. We need to grow but we need to learn as well. We have not developed adequate capacities in corporate governance, technology and best practices. We shouldn't kid ourselves Oando and Co can and should build refineries but I insist like with MTN and GLO, Oando will not beat Shell or Chevron in the short term. But government as the referee should cheat in our favour as it did for GLO.

alj harem:
[size=14pt]And after you chase them out, what would you do ? drink your oil or what

people why not ask your government to build her refinary for his indigenous government oil company at least 1 so we have a bargaining power.

Why do we reason like this in Nigeria [/size]

Because government does not drill oil and NNPC's own contribution through NPDC is microscopic. Why would you insist that the man who knows next to nothing about a business be entrusted in creating and running one while leaving those with the expertise to be marketers only. That is the lopsided argument. Shell should be doing the refining while government does the administration not the other way round. If I am a cattle rearer I am in the best position to produce milk not a middlemen who hires my cattle to milk them. It is scandalous for Shell, AGIP and Co. to be giving out LPO's for the supply of AGO for their own use and billing the country by way of JV funding whereas they burn free gas willy nilly after powering their own gas turbines at our cost. party violation is better than that. If the government is up and doing they should set targets for total refining of all the crude we produce in this country say over twenty years. No more crude export. This country should be littered with refineries  by now with supertankers on queue in the high seas.

By the way the British and American governments own no refineries or oil companies. They have divested eons ago. The refineries owned by IOC's are built by the IOC's using amongst others profits garnered from less than right thinking countries such as Nigeria. If you have a couple of hundreds of millions go ahead and build one. But I can't see how your tomato puree will be cheaper than that produced by a tomato farmer in the business for generations. After forty years of exploration there's nothing on ground to show for it. We used to accuse government of laxity and ineptitude. Now they are beginning to wake up and are calling these companies to higher responsibility we the people are now turning to support the IOC's. Tired.

Beaf:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/10/us-nigeria-sect-idUSTRE8190OL20120210

Hmm, fly him to Abuja ?? They should chain him to the fuselage well well oh. We don't want to hear - he received his pilots training in Florida alongside Attar.  

[quote author=ekt_bear link=topic=867140.msg10165444#msg10165444 date=1328874500]How is it possible to force them to build refineries?

Who will supply the billions of dollars to build the refineries?

Wetin concern producer of crude oil with refining of same?

They are entirely separate businesses.

May as well compel them to build roads, power plants, provide security, etc too[/quote]Who gave them the billions to build power plants for themselves and the infrastructure to support their exploration activities. If they cannot comply with the conditions they should not bother to bid in the future. We own our resources not them and have a right to set whatever conditions we deem fit. The oil industry like many others is shifting east no longer to be dominated by Western Europe and North America. They should dismantle their refineries in Houston and send them down here or China will do the job like it did in Equitorial Guinea.

belabela:
@ chmod777

There is no best form of government. Democracy is not better than military governement and vice versa. It depends on the leadership. As a matter of fact when the idea of democracy came philosphers such as Plato and Aristotle were against it. Plato was quoted as saying " Tyranny naturally arises out of democracy"

Unfortunately we live in the age of the worst tryanny in the history of mankind. All in the name of democracy. I hope you can see through it but in 10 years time it would be clear to the whole wolrd that there is no democracy in the world.

the idea of democracy is the best I think man has come up with but we have not been able to make it work. It ends up serving the interest of the elites. US congress just suspended SOPA but have incooporated it in a new bill, the EU is run by technocrats, Public opinion in the US and UK showed that the people were against the Iraq war but Bush and Blair who claimed to be running the government of the people sent young Americans and british to die for what the people were against. And so is most democracies. If you care about history you would discover that more crimes have been committed in the name of democracy than military rule. To rephrase the words of Marie-Jeanne Philippo (Madame Roland) “O Liberty! What crimes are committed in thy name!” we can say “O Democracy! What crimes are committed in thy name!”

Having said these. I don't think name calling would bring any meaningful progress to Nigeria. if we must practise democracy we have to get the electoral process right. If there is proper reforms such that real  votes are the ones that count. I think our problems would be half solved. Whoever is voted by the people would be responsible but as it is today election is a business. We practise "jungle democracy" and so we get jungle welfare

This is also not very correct. The worst democracy on record (if you will call it a democracy) was Hitler's Nazi Germany resulting in 20 million deaths. Stalin an autocrat doubled that within the same age. Let's not go into the military regimes of Latin American, the Franco's of Spain, the Pol Phut's of this world or the Napoleon's of ages ago to mention a few. The chances of military regimes suceeding and producing leasers less than beasts are like finding a needle in a haystack. When people get tired of fighting they take a break. Soldiers under orders don't take a break no matter how tired they are. If Buhari was the pilot of a plane flying into the ground will you be able to talk to save yourself.