alsudan:
Atiku and Thiefnibu are two of the most selfish politicians alive, and it’s a good thing they will both be retired in a space of 2 days Max next month.

Seriously, I wonder how people think. Desperation should not be in Tinubu's profile at all. He's one politician that refused to occupy any office for the past 15 years after he left Lagos House as the governor. While he was busy building a formidable networks for this life long ambition(which is not bad for anybody to aim high) Other governors were busy going to the National Assembly. He prepared the platform for 3 presidential hopeful which PMB later won, you never see him contesting primary with them. If Atiku that has become a regular customer with INEC is desperate, using that same words for a man that has stayed cleared of any position for the past 15 years is not misplaced of words.

Instead of using the word DESPERATE use STRATEGIST, MASTER PLANNER etc

Primary Election is the real politiking. The men will be separated from the boys.

The Vice President invited 72 APC Senators yesterday for Iftar, only 23 came and out of the 23 Senators that honoured the invitation 17 are Tinubu boys�

In fact the 17 senators are known to be campaigning for Tinubu openly since. One of the Senator said yesterday at the Iftar right in front of VP Osinbajo "Asiwaju is the candidate and Osinbajo is an Aspirant" �� Hope you know what that means... They will teach Yemi Osinbajo a bitter lesson he will never forget in politics... I don't want Yemi Osinbajo to be disgraced and embarrassed oh because I like him. But I see heavy defeat, disgrace and embarrassment in front of him.

Come May 30th, Nigerians will know Tinubu is a Political Juggernaut and the Niccolò Machiavelli of Nigeria politics.

Party politics is different from Main politics...

ASIWAJU ON YOUR MANDATE I STAND..

donaldking10:
I'm not disputing the fact that's not his real ago oo, but my dad is almost 80 years, yet he looks younger and more healthy than a billionaire like tinubu.
How many billionaires all over the world at the same young age with him look that frail, sickly and old?.
That alone should tell you there's a problem somewhere.
Please we don't need another sick vegetable in Aso-Rock who would be going abroad on medical leave every 2 months.
We need vibrant and intellectually sound young men like Osibanjo, Jonathan or Peter Obi.
We should forget about tribe or party politics & do what's best for our darling nation Nigeria.

Your father is not 20% engaged as BAT is, only if you know the relationship between mental, psychological stress and aging out, you'll understand. Quick check Sha, check Obama and Fashola before being and during their stay in government, you'll understand.

BUHARI SPENT 7 YEARS BUILDING THIS FINAL APC EXCO OF PDP BRANCH. WHAT A CHANGE!

1. Sen. Abdullahi Adamu, Chairman, PDP

2. Sen. Ken Nnamani, Deputy Chairman (South), PDP

3. Sen. Iyiola Omisore, National Secretary, PDP.

4. Hon Victor Gaidom, Vice Chairman (South-South), PDP.

5. Osita Medener, Vice Chairman (South East), PDP

6. Once GEJ accept to contest now, the team becomes complete, PDP.

The question is, after the APC National Convention and PDP elements have taken over leadership of the party, will they still tell Nigerians that PDP is bad?

WHO IS STONE AGED IN THIS ARRANGEMENT? PDP THAT HAS SMARTLY WALKED INTO BUHARI'S HEART WITHOUT HIM KNOWING OR BUHARI HIMSELF?

Just asking ni o.
Hissssssssssh

BUHARI SPENT 7 YEARS BUILDING THIS FINAL APC EXCO OF PDP BRANCH. WHAT A CHANGE!

1. Sen. Abdullahi Adamu, Chairman, PDP

2. Sen. Ken Nnamani, Deputy Chairman (South), PDP

3. Sen. Iyiola Omisore, National Secretary, PDP.

4. Hon Victor Gaidom, Vice Chairman (South-South), PDP.

5. Osita Medener, Vice Chairman (South East), PDP

6. Once GEJ accept to contest now, the team becomes complete, PDP.

The question is, after the APC National Convention and PDP elements have taken over leadership of the party, will they still tell Nigerians that PDP is bad?

WHO IS STONE AGED IN THIS ARRANGEMENT? PDP THAT HAS SMARTLY WALKED INTO BUHARI'S HEART WITHOUT HIM KNOWING OR BUHARI HIMSELF?

Just asking ni o.
Hissssssssssh

In a free and fair election without thuggery, Wike can't defeat TINUBU in Rivers state. It'll end up draw.

I remember how Wike even treated the traditional fathers of Rivers state

Spandau:


So the proliferation of hoodlums, thugs and lowlifes is what you want for the country, Kadoso? Your prayers on this will never be answered insha Jesus.

You can do better. You only see what your head and mind want to see.
Lagos is an haven of opportunity, Lagos is the economic hub of the country. Every Nigerians feel safe in our Lagos. We just need a state in each geopolitical region to emulate Tinubu's developmental strategy, then we can be proud of our country

NothingDoMe:
Tinubu isn't the only Yoruba man. First of all let's test his popularity at the Convention. No point arguing about anything while that is pending.

Note that the chances of Tinubu becoming president gets slimmer if he leaves APC. He's not that popular enough to survive without that party structure.

If Tinubu leaves APC today, none of them will win come 2023. Both are important for each other to maintain the relevancy.

Tinubu is building a movement. A movement that doesn't have to do with political party. He can easily decamp to any party an still win as things unfold. It'll be difficult for APC to reject him in primary.

I love C. Ronaldo for such hardwork and independency nature.

Tinubu also have this quality, reason I so much respect and love him.

Goldbw122:
Lol, I wish he can barb his hair.

That's his identity and his selling point. Just like saying Nike, Puma, Mercedes Benz et. al. should change their logo. It's not possible

Good morning guys,
So straight to the point, they are two young lovers and they are very intentional about their relationship, the relationship is going to one year and they're having issues on communication with their exes.

The guy said he doesn't want the girl to talk to her ex anymore because he is not comfortable with it due to the following reasons

1. There was a time the girl once told the guy that if her ex had come back 2 months into the relationship, she would have found a way to end the current relationship.

2. There was a time the girl came to the current boyfriend crying to him that she chat with her ex and her ex told her about how he has moved on, and she feel bad she so much crier that it was difficult to console her by her current boyfriend.

3. There was a time the girl lied to the guy that she's hanging out with her friends and apparently it happens that she went out with the ex, she still denied until the current boyfriend pushed further with evidence.

4. There was a time the girl told the current boyfriend that she has once promise the ex that she will not leave him.

5. The so called ex and the current boyfriend had spoken sometimes and the ex said there's something special between him and the girl that the girl won't even tell the current boyfriend, that he's sure he can still get the girl back.

6. The guy sent message to the girl telling her how the current guy is not good for her

So the current boyfriend was upset, though the girl told him that her ex is bygone that she doesn't have any feelings for her ex.

So the current guy now said he wants all form of communication to end with the girl and the ex, the girl keep blocking all the ex contacts but the ex keeps using another number. Recently the girl sent a message that she's married and she can't continue having conversations with the ex boyfriend, the ex registered his disappointment but keep sending greeting messages so the current boyfriend now instructed his babe never to repsond to any of the guy messages that at this point it is either she chooses responding to the ex message or the current relationship.

So the girl feel the current boyfriend is being selfish because there's one of the guy's ex that the guy didn't feel the need to discuss with the current girl because the ex has no meaningful feelings in him and the girl is even married. In fact the guy's ex got married even before the guy met this babe.

The guy only gave her a comprehensive details about the girl when the girl sent a message that she has given birth, so the current girlfriend got angry and the guy apologize. Though the guy and his ex talks once a while last year before he gave the current girlfriend full details but their conversation for a year was based on...

1. The guy do call her once in 2 months to check on her health because she had an accident and the guy felt he shouldn't let the fact that they're not dating affects his being human

2. The guy once told his ex that the girl she's with is a lawyer so the ex called him to help her get compensation through her lawyer babe but the guy said the girl hasn't been called to Bar so he gave the ex another contact

3. The guy wanted to relocate and engaged the ex to help him buy some materials because the girl has connection on how to get it way cheaper, though it was at the approval of his current girlfriend though the current girlfriend doesn't have the details as at then and the last communication between the the guy ex and the guy was when she informed the guy that she has given birth.

Though the girl has once told the guy that she can mmarry him again if destiny brings them back and the guy told his current girlfriend and gave her the confidence that no issue he's committed to his current relationship.

So the recent issue where the guy said he hasn't been talking to his ex unless when she informed him of her birth that he also doesn't want any form of chit chat between his babe and her ex.

So the girl said the guy feels insecure, the guy is selfish, why will the guy put her on the spot of choosing between her talking with her ex and the relationship, that the guy also talk to her ex also so they should not be issue. And the guy responded that considering the circumstances around her own ex he doesn't think their issue is of the same thing. And the guy said his communication with his ex is different than that of the girl's with her ex, that if not for him trying to get a cheap product, the girl contacting him for his girl service and sending message of her good news with him that he doesn't have anything to discuss with his ex but her own case, the guy send good morning and good evening blablabla every time to just get her attention.

1. Is the guy really selfish feeling that whatever he do is right but if the partner does the same thing then there's problem?

2. Is the guy insecurity justifiable?

3. What should they do to solve the issue?

A friend of mine saw the attached chat on his fiancee WhatsApp, and he's furious about it and started changing his mind on the relationship. After we talked to him, he said his fiancee is also use to giving everyone that approaches her contact and he has been talking about it but the fiancee see nothing wrong about it, he picked offence in the fact that his girlfriend have to ask if the guy is responsible and the fact that the cousin knows that they're both committed to the relationship.

Onyiiobi7735:
Peter Obi would make a great president if he contests and wins.When he was governor in Anambra, he handled the state's economy and finances so well,and built up a robust financial reserves.

Obiano denies Obi’s N75bn handover

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/11/obiano-denies-obis-n75bn-handover/

Not like my sister in the uploaded picture

lexy2014:


Bros, u haven't answered my question:

how will tinubu make Nigeria better and improve the living standards of Nigerians?

Use your comprehension skills to connect the dots

lexy2014:


This is nice but how will tinubu make Nigeria better and improve the living standards of Nigerians?

We need to look at CV as non of the contenders has never been able to lead from Aso Rock.

So what we have before us is BAT as Governor Vs ATIKU as Vice president.

I have come to the conclusion that others who are against him are not in any way more competent than him.Tinubu has the Eagle eye for identifying competent people so he will surround himself with capable hands to govern and the best leaders are those who can get the right hands to do the job on their behalf. No one is a saint and as Lamido Sanusis said it’s better to get a competent hand that lacks integrity than a man of integrity who isn’t capable. As you can see he brought technocrats into Governance. I do not believe in Moghalu such people talk too much theory and in the long run not deliver as promised like BBuhari, what was his achievement as CBN deputy governor?
We need visionary leader. Tinubu is visionary though no longer young, What Tinubu projected as a union and interaction of states in the South Weet is what we are suffering from today,if it had worked Lagos would have helped Ogun state grow fast which was Awo idea of Oodua investments and it worked as at then. Lagos helped sponsor old Bendel free education under Awo UPN like we saw Lagos take over Ogun state UNA primary school in ishaga and rebuild it to modern standards which is now a blessing to both states. Economic and social integration,there is a phrase used for it by politicians and I have forgotten it.
Tinubu is more visionary than Obi and Atiku as yourself,where did Atiku innovate as Vice President? What did Saraki innovate in Kwara to actually accelerate Kwara to develop?
Obi is brilliant but still a theorist
Theoretician I mmean. Obi was over exaggerated because Anambra is more of a do it yourself sstate.He boasted and said he generated billions in Anambra but Obiano went to the assembly to seek opportunities to take loans and he was told to go use money Obi left behind which was when Obiano voiced oout. We used to look at the Tinubus alone as thieves but Panama paper has shown the likes of Obi are no better ooff [.Have you ever seen anyone of them come up with ideas that tilt towards true federalism and regional autonomy mote than Tinubu?That is why Tinubu is better off than them all,he started canvassing for state fiscal autonomy as Lagos state governor asking for more empowerment of states.MHe forayed into IT and software engineering to administer Lagos ahead of other governors in Nigeria,what were the others waiting for by then?
PSP in Lagos,Poverty alleviation and skill acquisition under Joke Adefuire as commissioner for women affairs and later deputy governor is still the best ever all over Nigeria unlike the money dashing out scheme of other ssstates. Joke was with Tinubu as commissioner by then,Lagos environment management still the best ever
The others what sort of such did they have in their states?:Am each is the only capable one among all these
: Akinwunmi will fail don be moved by these world body theories Nigeria is a peculiar country with peculiar challenges
Even Ngozi will fail
Only Amaechi has understanding of politics to survive We play more politics than governance which is why you see excellent brains failing to deliver in Nigeria
Tinubu is more politically savvy to guide Nigeria but both of them are capable to rule Nigeria

Tinubu is just an hardworking politician. If he chooses to stay in private practice instead of joining politics, he'll be very successful, he might have become the first black GMD of Mobil.

I laugh when people say BAT will not win next election. If APC refuse to give him the ticket, BAT can use any political platform to win the presidency, he has done all his assignment before coming out to declare. If you notice his strategy, he is building a force that can never be defeated in any election, and APC will have to think twice if they want to remain relevant after 2023.

The most annoying thing is to compare a man who has never work in private firm with Tinubu. ATIKU was custom officer and there's no any brilliant record of him out there. Tinubu CV both in private and public life will beat ATIKU's CV. When it comes to corruption, I don't know of any reliable court that has accused BAT, even OBJ tried all his best but could not, but ATIKU privatization crook way is out there for everyone to see. When it comes to age also, record have it that ATIKU is older than BAT, soni really don't know the basis of comparison between BAT and ATIKU.

It is an embarrassment to ingenuity, to compare a man that raised the bar of governance in the most populous state in Africa with a man that only boast of owning a private University that can't make top 5 best private University in Nigeria. It is a disgrace to hardwork to compare a man that raise people of calibers with a man that only boast of owning a farm land in Adamawa state.

The hatred people have for Tinubu is just the type people have for the best in a team.
The question they ask is ..
Is he the only one?
Must he get all he wants?

He is a strategist, he is a reformer, Tinubu has all it takes to Make Nigeria better.

AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED THERE'S NO BETTER PERSON THAT CAN COMPETE WITH HIM YET.

They should tell that to ATIKU. The most relevant politician is west Africa presently is BOLA AHMED TINUBU

In the next 25 years, we will now be wailing online about the tribe of who becomes the Inspector General of Police Force.

Blackfire:
Who killed her??

God the custodian of life, the giver and taker of life.

This is my first time of commenting on this issue. Most people are just being emotional on this issue, I somehow inclined to that Olunloyo submission, if you know what the rich kids does behind the scenes, you will be on the fence on this issue.
Go and see how the rich kids order their maids around, Go and see how mothers impose their female maid to have sex with their teenage sons.
At the end of it Science will always bring limelight to the issue. I stand with Autopsy report on this issue

1. The Civil servant who steals public fund.

2. The security personnel who collects bribe at the detriment of national security.

3. The teacher who organizes special examination centers.

4. The parents who pay for exam malpractice for their children.

5. The students who practice exam malpractice to pass exams.

6. The lecturer who gives out grades for money or sex.

7. The Citizens who shunt queues and disobey traffic rules.

8. The Politicians who Embezzles Public Funds.

9. The Boss who give unmeritted favours to his subordinates on basis of religion, tribe, political and other social affiliations.

10. The good's sellers who hoard goods to create deliberate scarcity.

11. The judges and lawyers who make ways for criminals to escape facing the wrath of the law.

12. The Doctors who refer their patients to private facilities for personal gains.

13. The engineers who construct below agreed standard facilities for personal gains.

14. The youths who believe shady and fraudulent acts are ways of hustling.

15. The common man who is waiting to be in any of the above mentioned situation and do the same if not worse.

Our individual actions makes a summation of our society. Think deeply about it and amend your ways if you really want Nigeria to be like the Countries Overseas.

Little wisdoms from the little brain.

This gender can reject proposal but can't take a bit of what they offer. A lot of drama full their body

Leverage2021:
As he is burying his head in shame malami should be joining him for been an accomplice to the unlawful invasion of justice odili home

As the vegetable is joining tilumbu would follow suit for foisting this disaster in hope of becoming president that buhari is sidling him from

I won't have a problem if this statement is coming from a patriotic Nigerian mind, but the tone of your message is sounding tribalistic.

So from my own patriotic mind. Everyone should be prosecuted even the President himself.

The pre-interview engagement was though short, it however gave some inkling it would be an incisive interaction, of course, with the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN. The confidence was one; speaking stricto sensu to the issues was another. His takes about public concerns have always been different and that’s what many believe, distinguishes him from the lot. From his stout defence of the Muhammadu Buhari administration to clearing the air of misgivings about his ministry and the need to start focusing on the states for “real developments” that directly affect the people, Fashola, in this two-hour interview with THISDAY, held his grounds for the stretch, but mindful of the challenges of the administration and what might have led them thus far. Excerpts:


As governor, your brand equity was very high and there was this consensus that you were the poster boy of your party then. Can you Compare your tenure as governor, which earned you accolades across board and the offices you’ve held afterwards, because people feel that at the federal level, you have not particularly done well, compared to your track record in Lagos? What is the challenge?

One thing you must accept is that the longer you stay in public office, the more enemies you make. Oftentimes, you see that the longer politicians or public servants last in public positions, staying popular becomes a very difficult thing. If we use numbers seriously, you will see that the honeymoon period that births a new leadership and popularity that comes with it, wanes as you begin to take decisions that affect the people’s lives.


Then the temptation to compare Lagos and Nigeria as alluring as it is, is not smart. 3000sq kilometres? I can cover it in two to three days – from Epe to Badagry to Ikorodu. But, even that, its nooks and crannies are still difficult to reach. Compare it with over 900,000 kilometres . Don’t also forget that as an appointed person, you have delegated authority and it’s different from being an elected person. And then, more importantly, the economic seasons have changed.

I was also governor at a time when we had some revenue windfalls from oil, which was trading at about $100 per barrel at that time, and we used our own little share of the allocations from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) and we were also very aggressive with our Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). We also contracted debt against our IGR. So, the comparisons are not apposite; they are night and day. That said, of course, at this level, people expect certain things to happen. Then, of course, what were the longest routes in Lagos?


They were Lagos-Badagry, sixty-something kilometres; Ikorodu to Epe, sixty-something or forty-something kilometres, then, LASU-Iba road, about 27 kilometres. But here, we are dealing with four hundred and something kilometres from Tambuwal to Yauri to Kontagora and you are dealing with 570 kilometres from Maiduguri to Kano or 127 kilometres from Lagos to Ibadan and so on.

So, the dynamics are just different and then, of course, in parliament, you have 40 House of Assembly members to negotiate with, but you have 360 House of Representatives members to negotiate with here; you have109 senators.


Is that to say that the work is overwhelming at the federal level?

Again, I think it’s important to understand the role that a minister plays. With all thanks to those that once did a good job, as I always say, I do not take all the credit for what happened in Lagos. If I did, many people would say, no, I had a role to play. So, I must acknowledge them. All I can take responsibility for is what we didn’t do well. I will tell you, because I was the team leader. So, I think that we’ve acquitted ourselves very well. In spite of the fact that we can’t finish the work that Nigeria needs to do in one administration.


That’s the bottom line. If you look across the country today, roads that had become dormant, where contractors have moved away, we literally brought them back. Now, the real challenge is the construction time and the revenue challenges and governance is becoming more complex contrary to what people know. Using roads as a metaphor for discussion, I don’t know if people know that we have to enumerate communities to pay compensation before we can pass? I was in Akwanga in Nasarawa recently and those are some of the issues.


We have a post-assessment, post-visit report and the different departments involved. People don’t see that; they just want to see a road and I understand that. So, we just came back from Bauchi. The national council assessed some roads under construction and also our housing project. So recently, I was in Oyo State, from Ibadan and drove through Lagos, stopped at Lotto junction on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. Now, we need to acquire massive land to construct the interchange; people have to move.

I can’t do that because as a minister, I don’t control land. So, I had to appeal to Governor Dapo Abiodun to meet me there, because under the land use act, he has responsibility over land. These are the exchanges that ultimately define when the result will come. The contractor is there and this is a road that is substantially well funded. Now, we have peoples’ issues. I was just reading a report from Governor Kayode Fayemi on environmental impact assessment for 46 kilometres for Ado-Akure road. The people in Ado-Ekiti can’t be bothered by this report. They just want to see a road. Before we can raise money, we have to enumerate all the communities there.


These are now the global governance standards for funding and this is the hallmark of democracy, getting people involved, even animal life, climatic conditions, we have to go through all that checklist. So, you have an environmental impact assessment that’s about 46 pages. People don’t know that this is going on. So we may look to them, to be slow but these are the hurdles we have to cross before we can get to the final place, where the rubber meets the road and where they like us to be. We want to be there, like yesterday.


But as governor, peoples’ issues were also there or weren’t they?

Yes, I was their governor. I was the one elected by them. Let us take another example. We had compensation issues on the Lekki Free Zone, when the Dangote group bought the land. It took one or two meetings and we resolved it. So, here in some places, we need to call some senators to go beg their people and to the benefit of some of them, we are seeing some results. I’m just giving you examples. I’m not giving you excuses. I’m giving you real life situations that we deal with.


Two days ago, I was talking to the Governor of Bayelsa, we have had extended correspondences and he was telling me that they’ve made progress for us in terms of compensation so that we could finish the Yenagoa-Otuoke-Kolo road, because it was stalled by compensation issues. So, this is going on across the country. That’s just one problem. In some other places, contractors can’t blast, because they don’t have access to dynamite to be able to blast the rock for quarry and that is a controlled substance even before we had these security challenges.


Now, it is even more controlled. So, again, people don’t know that I have to write to the National Security Adviser to say exempt these people and he has to exercise his own independent judgment to decide whether or not to approve. In some places, where they could get quarry to do their work, within 50 kilometres of the site; if that is a high-risk zone for blasting, they have to go as far as 400 kilometres. So, these are some of the things we are dealing with. We are also dealing with the realities of the economy. Some of these projects, many of them were inherited. So, they were awarded as far back as 2000. For instance, Lagos to Ota to Abeokuta was awarded in 2000. By the time I became minister, the contractor had left the site.


They were not funded. But during that period, we went to pay $12 billion for debt forgiveness. That’s a policy choice. By the time I became a minister, the rate had changed, so we had to renegotiate and re-award the contract. Now, it’s a N56 billion contract, but how much is in the budget? I don’t make the budget. We propose and what comes out finally is by the other arm of government, that’s what the constitution says. So, we have over N100 million for a N56 billion contract. Once the contractor sees that, the enthusiasm dies. We have managed to get some Sukuk funds of about N4 billion now. That has been spent, so the man is waiting.


Recently, you announced plans to re-introduce tolling on some federal roads. How far has the ministry gone with this plan? As a follow-up, during Obasanjo’s time when they abolished tolling, the government said then that tolling was already factored into the price of petrol we buy in filling stations. That there was no point charging another. So does this not amount to double taxation?

Let me start from the last one. In the series of exchanges that we’ve had because the purported income in lieu of toll was to have accrued to the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), the agency has tried to operationalise that provision in the Act. We have asked the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and they have said there’s no such provision in their pricing template.


So, what it simply means is that at the time they were making all of these noises, what ought to have been done had not been done. We took up this matter last Thursday at the National Council on Works in Bauchi and I made it clear to all the commissioners from the states that look, NNPC has said this thing is not in our template. Which one of you is ready to step forward and go and impose that levy on the people in your state and everybody said, “This is a dead horse; let’s leave it. No need to flog it.” It is different from a toll fee, which is a user charge, because if you don’t use it, you don’t pay. We need to separate the two.


Now, yes, when we did a tolling policy and announced it, it caught a lot of attention. But the tolling policy is only a very small part of what we wanted to do. What we want to do actually is to see if we can really entice the private sector to take over some of our major highways. You know, oftentimes, we hear this PPP, and it looks easy and it sometimes appears to people on the outside that we don’t seem to know what we’re doing. But I am always quick to remind them that many of us in government today came from that sector, so we know that there’s no magic wand there.


But we know that some people can do some things if we put some things right. So, we launched a programme called the Highway Development Management Initiative (HDMI). That’s the programme. We have gazetted the entire Right-of-Way on 24 routes spread across the six geo-political zones. But we think 24 is heavy and the appetite and capacity of the private sector is limited and therefore, we said let’s do it in two phases and so, we started with 12 and in specifics, we issued a request. We issued a request for pre-qualification and we had 75 applicants and we have pre-qualified 18 companies.


Now, they can’t go about making financial proposals without a tolling policy, which will define for them what kind of vehicles can be tolled and what are the tolling rates. So, that was also a work-in-progress at the time. And where we are right now is that policy is now out with classified vehicles from six axle trucks, flat trucks to heavy duty buses, to light bosses to Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) to private cars and commercial vehicles – all of those are liable to pay tolls.


We have, as a matter of policy, said tricycles, bicycles, motorcycles, diplomatic and military and police and related stuff – ambulances – will be exempt from it. So, we think that those pre-qualified companies now will have a basis to now make plans. But, beyond tolls, there are other services around a highway that really for some time have been like unoccupied spaces if you like – advertising, trading on the highway. When you’re going to Benin-Ore or anywhere you are buying something by the roadside, all of these things can be organised into much more prolific businesses.


So, the concessionaire, who ultimately wins this, is the person we think can do these things. Then ambulance services, weigh bridge, vehicle towing services and so on and so forth. This is the kind of governance we expect, but the tolling is just a small part of it. Our highway is just about 45.7 metres from the centre line on each side, so we have about 100 metres and that is a space that can be put to very prolific use.

In December 2019, you told Nigerians that you were building 500 roads across the country. This is 2021, how many have you completed and inaugurated and what is the state of others?


Let me first explain to you, when you say inaugurate, how do you inaugurate a 500 kilometres road and at what end? You are comparing us to a state, where we build a 2-kilometre road, you will go and cut tape. It’s not the same.

Does it mean you now better appreciate the challenges of those you criticised when you were not a part of the federal government?

I criticised them not for not inaugurating roads, but for not building them. Things are relative. At a time, given what we know, the policies they pursued were different from the ones I would have pursued. For example, if I had $12 billion at the time, I would not have paid creditors; I would have invested it in my country’s economy, because what was the point of paying creditors only to borrow back? At that same time, UAE, Angola, and other oil-rich states invested the same resources.


Then, what did we do when the next windfall came after we paid the debt? By the time it came, Dubai had built a super-efficient airline, a functional city. What were the policy decisions then? The policy decisions were that, no, we don’t want to hurt the people. Keep the dollar at N120. Use oil resources to support consumption, exchange rate, and where was the money going? Shopping in Dubai mall. It’s all gone now.

Those were the things we criticised. You can use your revenues and your resources to do two things: defend your economy or defend your exchange rate. I will use it to defend my economy. So, I can point to what we did in Lagos with that prolific oil resource and our borrowings. You will see the Lekki bridge, you will see seven kilometres of rail, you will see road infrastructure. That’s investment when extraordinary income comes. That didn’t mean we were not borrowing, but as those things were kicking into life, each time you crossed that bridge, we were saving you 30 minutes from the other route. Time saved is money and we will accrue it back in taxes.


Property values went up, we saw land use charges coming back. So, those were the things I criticised. You see, I never believed and I don’t expect that the president should be inaugurating roads, that’s my own view and I’ve shared this view with President Buhari. Just penultimate week, I went to meet him and I showed him Obudu-Vandekier road, I showed him Sokoto to Kontagora, I showed him sections two and three of Kano-Maiduguri,which has almost 300 kilometres of completed, marked roads. So, I said look, I was recommending to him to allow me nominate my colleagues in the cabinet from those states just to go and do the ceremonial, because it seems as if some people will not believe that it’s finished, until we have that ceremony. But I am clear in my mind that the people, who are driving on that road know that it is completed and in December, we did a survey where people were moving – going home for Christmas or returning after, and the word that came back was that this place has been completed, they know.


So, those are some of the roads that have been completed, you see me going round the bridges that have been completed: the Loko-Oweto bridge, we finished the bridge; we have finished the road to Oshogbedo to Oweto, but the part that we have not finished is the Nassarawa-Loko link road of about 74 kilometres. That was the one you might have heard about two weeks ago. We asked FEC to allow us to limit the contract to just 10km for the main contractor, because it’s slow, so that the two other contractors, who have finished their own, can take up the remaining part of the 74km, which was approved.


But people are already driving through it because it saves you the journey from Otukpo to Abuja, which would have been six hours to three hours. You cut off Lafia completely and land in Keffi. The bridge to Cameroon is finished; the bridge to Ikom is finished; Kano-Maiduguri too. Where does the president want to stand in Maiduguri to talk to the people of Kano? So, what we’re trying to do now is to get the minister from Kano to deal with his section, the minister from Bauchi to deal with his own, minister from Yobe to deal with his side. There’s one that passes through Sambisa and it’s the one that’s most challenging.


And these now have fibre optics. Katsina Ala/Ogoja, Tambuwal, Sokoto, Niger, up to Yauri, there’s Uduma in Enugu State, linking Ebonyi, this is 40 kilometres. Just to make sense, on Lagos-Ibadan for example, when we are constructing, we don’t construct 100 kilometres at once. Sometimes, there’s a place where you have to relocate pipes. You have to relocate cables, gas lines, so we’ll close five kilometres. So, we can close this section and divert everybody to the other side. And when we finish the 5 kilometres, do you want us to come and inaugurate it?


So, across the aggregate of Lagos-Ibadan for example, we have done a cumulative of about 38 kilometres on section one before Shagamu and the total of that is 44km. We have done about 50 kilometres on the Ibadan bound, which is eighty-something, so we are almost 90 kilometres now, out of 127 kilometres and that’s why the journey time is reducing. But if you want us every 5 kilometres to come and then cut tape, of course, that will cause more traffic when we come.


https://www.thisdaylive.com/

INTERVIEW: Six of 10 children in Nigeria brought for DNA testing not fathered by supposed fathers – Geneticist

‘‘From experience in DNA testings, most firstborns are not fathered by the husbands at home, because these ladies have a prior relationship before getting married. Most times, they continue with that relationship, they don't leave it after marriage…’’

Abiodun Salami is a senior geneticist with DNA Centre for Paternity Test, Allen Avenue in Ikeja, Lagos. For over 10 years, DNA Centre has provided comprehensive DNA testing services in three main areas: paternity and other family relationships, Immigration, and DNA tests during pregnancy – Prenatal DNA test. In this interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Abiodun speaks about paternity fraud and the practice of DNA testing in Nigeria.

Excerpts:
PT: There appears to be renewed interest in DNA testing in Nigeria. Why do you think this is happening?

Salami: Well, there are several reasons. The first reason is immigration purposes because when you are travelling abroad, you will be required to carry out a DNA test on the kids who would be accompanying you, especially if you say you are the parent. The second reason could be child trafficking. At the airport, if you are a woman and you are traveling with a child less than six months, you will be asked to go for a maternity test to confirm if you are the mother of the child.

PT: Oh, there is a maternity test too?

Salami: Yes. We do maternity testing to ascertain the mother of a child. The third reason is a major reason – infidelity in marriage. There are so many issues online, I mean, we have read and seen cases of fathers raising children that don’t belong to them. It has always been like that, sincerely, but because of social media, people can now share and we know what is happening. People are getting to know that they can actually do DNA testing to know the father of the child, instead of raising a child for more than five, six years only to discover he is not your own.

PT: What was the patronage like at your facility prior to this renewed awareness?

Salami: Let me give you the statistics. Before now, we do an average of 100 DNA tests in a month, but now we handle as many as 400 cases monthly.

The statistics are mind-blowing. You discover that almost 60 percent of the tests that people come to do are negative. In fact, 6 out of every 10 paternity tests turn out negative. Statistically, in DNA paternity testing, most times, in Nigeria, we see that six out of every 10 children might not be fathered by their biological father.

PT: The statistic is baffling.


Salami: Yes, but it is also a biased statistic. Because for someone to walk in here, he already suspects that there is an issue. There is really a doubt already and most people won’t believe that statistics until it happens to them. I always advise men, it is good to trust, but verify. Things are happening. If everyone starts doing DNA tests, the whole country will scatter. There will be no marriages again.

Most female undergraduates now have one man or the other sponsoring their education aside from their father. These are the men that will eventually be the chairmen at their wedding. These are the men they are actually sleeping with. From experience in DNA testings, most firstborns are not fathered by the husbands at home, because these people have a prior relationship before getting married. Most times, they continue with that relationship, they don’t leave it after marriage.

PT: How would couples who welcomed their kids via assisted reproduction manage privacy, especially when a DNA test is required of them for immigration purposes?



Salami: We had a case of a family that did IVF and used a surrogate mother. When they wanted to travel out, the embassy sent them here to carry out a paternity and maternity test to discover that they were not the real parents of their babies. We discovered that the fertility clinic they used actually mixed the man’s sperm. They had triplets, two children were from the man’s sperm cells and one was not from him. The two other children were from the mother’s cells and one was not from her. They had to go back to the agency to find out what happened. Probably, there was a mixture of sperm cells or eggs. But normally, even if they used a surrogate mother, the children will take their DNA from the egg or sperm donor, so it doesn’t really matter.


PT: This means there shouldn’t be any form of secrecy if the parents conceived via IVF, for instance. They need to open up to the geneticist right?

Salami: Yes, they should open up because we will detect. Normally, it should be a perfect match. If you are doing a paternity test for a child and samples taken from both parents, it should have a perfect match. This is because each child will take half of the chromosome from the father and another half from the mother. If there is a mismatch, there is a problem. Now, if we are having a perfect match for the father and an almost imperfect match from the mother, we will ask questions.


Abiodun Salami
Abiodun Salami
Most times, when a woman is the gestational carrier – she owns the egg. But in rare cases when fluid passes through the uterus, I mean the fallopian tube, there is a mixture of blood going from the mother to the baby. And when there is a mixture, some parts of the DNA of the gestational mother will go into the baby, just a few. So when there is a mismatch, we know it was an IVF that occurred.


PT: Cryptic pregnancy appears to be a thing in Nigeria.


Salami: You know cases where couples that have been trying to conceive for years then go where they tell them they can give them baby, they pay, the mother will tell them the sex she wants.
In most cases, they inject a sex hormone into the woman and they tell them not to go for a scan. Eventually, when they give birth and they come for a test, we discover that the husband or wife does not own the child. So, she feels she is actually pregnant because she exhibits all the signs of pregnancy and they will be the ones to tell her she is due. But when she wakes up, she’ll see a baby— the people claiming to cut off the umbilical cord from her, whereas it is another baby they brought from the labour room. So, when we do a maternity test, we discover that the baby is not hers. So, we tell them to go back and tell them the child is not theirs. So, we have seen cases like that. This is what we call cryptic pregnancy.

PT: What is the craziest you’ve experienced?

Salami: A lot. Let me see. We have had cases where two men fight over a child. They were a childless couple before the wife got pregnant for her childhood boyfriend. She gave birth to twins boys, who incidentally looked a lot like her husband but the man outside was pressuring her to bring the children, saying he was ready to marry her. It became a big issue and when it came to the issue of child custody the court brought them for a test and we discovered that the man at home and her childhood boyfriend were not even the father of the child.

PT: Can a mistake occur during DNA testing?

Salami: It is possible to make human error, especially when there is a mix-up with the sample. That is a human error but it is very rare. But there are also cases where we have Chimera’s syndrome, but it is also rare. This is when a woman’s DNA does not match that of her child. It is very rare, probably one in a million cases.


PT: How much does it cost to undergo a DNA test? Please take us through the process.

Salami: It costs about N60,000 per person, which is about N120, 000 for father and child. We use different samples like the mouth swab, hair, blood, wax, sweat, chewing gum, and toothbrush. But the best is the mouth swab where you just use cotton wool, it is those lose cells from the mouth that we extract the DNA from the nucleus of those cells. Once the DNAs are extracted we then compare the genes. As a human being, I inherit half of the genes from my father and another half from my mother. So, what we do is to compare half of my father’s DNA with half of mine and there must be a complete match. If there is a complete match, then the probability of paternity is about 99.99%. If there is a mismatch in one or two or three places, it will automatically come down to zero. That means we are not related and the results are ready within a week or at least seven working days.

PT: Do you counsel couples before you carry out the DNA test?

Salami: Yes, we do that a lot. Even post-testing, when the result comes, we see some men crying and saying that they have made a mistake by not taking care of a child because he thought he wasn’t his. Some men also break down when they discover that he has been raising another man’s son.

It’s worse when the wife isn’t remorseful. We have seen a lot, we counsel. There have been cases when a man will come for a DNA test and the result comes out negative and after lots of talk and counsel, the wife insists that she didn’t have any extramarital affair. We then conducted a maternity test and discovered that the woman was also not the mother of that child. We then ruled out infidelity and realised that the baby was switched at the hospital shortly after birth. Most times this occurs when the wrong name tag is put on the child’s hands.


PT: How can hospitals avoid this costly mistake?

Salami: Well, training of the nurses. Then the name tag, maybe they will use another technology and not using a biro to label baby. If they can use scan – scan the mother’s and baby’s hands. It is much better than using biro and paper to tag baby A and B and it falls off and they slap it on another baby. That happens a lot.

PT: Do couples walk into your hospital or do you meet them at their preferred location?

Salami: Most times, it is the fathers that come without informing their wives.

PT: Do you encourage this?

Salami: It now depends on their own decision. Let me give you an instance of what happened recently. The man came around recently and according to him, he was ill. So he left his car at the office and a pool car brought him home and he was resting downstairs in his home. Later in the evening, he overheard his wife’s phone conversation with her lover. She was breastfeeding their seven-month-old baby and was saying, ‘‘Kayode, your baby will resemble you, your baby is biting my nipples’’. Then she said the baby should take the phone and talk to his daddy. Our client didn’t say anything to his wife – he was so surprised and then brought the baby for a DNA test. In that case, would you tell the wife? And when the result came, truthfully, he was not the father of the child. These are reasons why men will not want to tell their wives.

PT: Do you also have cases where the women themselves come behind their husbands to do the test?

READ ALSO: Passengers stranded for second day at Kano Airport
Salami: Yes, they come. But this time, they come with the father’s sample. Most times, they come with the man’s toothbrush to know if the child is their husband’s. They don’t tell the man – we extract the DNA of the man and compare it with the child and they take the result.

Sometimes, the finding could be that their husband owns the child, and sometimes, it could go the other way.

PT: I’m sure during the course of this your job, you’ve seen many marriages crash?

Salami: I would only assume because once we do the test, we counsel and the decision is theirs, do you understand? But it is always good to know the truth than live in deception, you will agree with me. It is best to allow the children to have a relationship with their real biological parents, because most times, the truth will always come out, one way or the other.

Except it’s a case of assisted, every other process should be as transparent as possible.

PT: What other tests do you carry out at your centre?

Salami: Well, strictly, we only do DNA testing. But there are different types of DNA testing. We have the paternity test to determine the father of a child. We have a maternity test to determine if the mother of a child. We have avuncular testing to determine paternity when the father is not available for testing. An avuncular test will also determine if a sibling (a full blood brother or sister) of the father in question is related to a child, and thus prove paternity. We can do also an uncle-child or aunt-child test in avuncular testing.

We have DNA profiling whereby the people will do their DNA test and keep it in a file for 15 years so that they don’t need to exhume their body when they are deceased because of paternity issues. So once you have the genetic profile of the deceased, we just have to compare it with that of their children.

We do blank parenting testing when the parents are dead. If the late mother for instance was an only child, you can use her parents. We test the samples of the grandparents to see if there is a relationship between the grandparents and the child.

The male lineage or Y-STR paternal lineage test can confirm a father-son relationship by determining if a child is related to an alleged father’s other male relative, for example, his brother, father, or grandfather. We do the male lineage or Y-STR paternal lineage test mostly to resolve kingship tussles.

PT: Is the practice regulated in Nigeria?

Salami: Yes it is, but not many people are not aware of the possibilities in DNA testing. We need to keep sensitising people. Did you know that genetics can help curb corruption and solve high-profile criminal cases?

When it comes to fighting corruption in this country, for example, the government can pass a law mandating that every child born in Nigeria must have their DNA profiles done. If you have the DNA profile of every Nigerian, all these issues of theft and armed robbery will be minimal because they know that their genetic footprints or fingerprints will always give them out. People will no longer rape and go scot-free in this country. What if I told you that some of these crimes are committed by the same criminals who should be in prison. If the government can pass a law, for instance, mandating the creation of a DNA database of all the prisoners in this country, the crime rate will greatly reduce in Nigeria.

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/485520-interview-six-of-10-children-in-nigeria-brought-for-dna-testing-not-fathered-by-supposed-fathers-geneticist.html

Kperogi is a great writer and crusader for a just system to be established in Nigeria, but he is a bit out of touch with the new Nigeria. He may read all and listen to all that is passing around but he cannot unravel the riddle in the Nigerian academia. The systematic erosion of the system started long before he joined the academia and it has been going on ever since. He wants NUC to sanction Owerri for making Pantami a Professor. May be his knowledge of our university laws and the various statutes is limited. so also his understanding of the level of autonomy universities have vis a vis NUC. A University can decide to appoint an individual to a position either through promotion or straight appointment based on the criteria they set up indipendent of NUC. We that spent our working lives in in the First generation universities cannot comprehend the happenings in the new universities. Most of our Senior lecturers with little prospects of becoming Professors have migrated to newer universities and became Professors. NUC does not create professorial Chairs or determine the mode of appointment of a Professor. If I were to cite cases that would surprise Kperogi, I would write a book. Yet the cases are legally right. One may disagree with the criteria for such appointments or promotions but cannot challenge their legality. It may erode the status of professors who had to obtain their promotion through the British system where you had only one Professor and Head of Department, others had to wait until he retired or died or until a new chair is created, but what obtains now is legal and cannot be challenged by NUC or Ministry of Education until a Bill giving them the powers are passed by the National Assembly and is accented by the President. Kperogi should be familiar with the US system having been there and may be still teaching there. In many disciplines, especially the technology or professional areas such as Architecture, Engineering, Medicine, Fine Arts etc. an individual who has made tremendous contribution to the discipline by his practical work may be offered and invited to occupy a chair without ever teaching in a university. Harvard Graduate School of Design is known to practice, unless it has been discontinued. But as of 1990 I witnessed it. Great Architects from Japan, Latin America and Europe, whose command of English left a lot to be desired were invited to occupy profesdorial chairs. Their mastery of the practical skills in their areas was in no doubt. Let those who obtain professorship by writing papers and publishing in peer reviewed journals, get their professorship by writing about these practical men and their works, but they remain men of creativity and skills. Even in Nigeria I was a witness to one such incidents in University of Lagos, whose system of assessment for Professorship involved the hosting the assessors to do the work insitu. Architect Godwin of Godwin and Hopwood fame decided to retire from practice and impart knowledge to young Nigerians. Unilag offered him Senior Lecturership. He declined and instead that he applied for a professorial position. Take itbor leave it. I was invited among others to do the work insitu and interact with the candidate during the process. You see, I respect professors from Lagos more than most other Universities because of this format in their assessment. You will read all what he claimed to have published while you stayed in the University Guesthouse. During the interaction session you will know whether he actually wrote these papers or was it communal effort where academics do the so called group research and publications, when in fact is one talented individual who did the work and understood what went on and was willing to help colleagues come along by putting their names on the paper? You will also assess the quality of the journal, was it really a referred journal or was it like let say "Samaru Journal of Architecture" vol. 1 no 1. where group of academics cutting accross many universities in the country in a particular discipline will float a journal and pressure the University to accept it as a refreed journal through intimidation by ASUU? Let me go back to Arc. Godwin's case. Some of the assessors took a stand similar to that of Kperogi on how Professors were made. But with my Harvard experience of 1990 when I went on Sabbatical I cited cases and names of practicing architects with no University teaching experience occupying a Chair. I also cited the case of my Hungarian colleague who was recruited at ABU as a LECTURER I, but who had been a star architect in Hungary winning a lot of national and international competitions just looking for an outlet from the suffocation by the then Communist system of his country, by taking a contract in ABU Department of Architecture. From Zaria he applied for a professorship when it was advertised in Alabama State University and got appointed, by 1990 we linked up in USA he was already the Dean of Architecture in Auburn for some years and was about to move to Pennsylvania State University as the Dean of the Architecture School, a more prestigious school. His mastery of English still left a lot to be desired for a Dean in a highly rated school of architecture. His publications in architectural theory consisted of numerous miniature sketches with annotations. A very novel and unique way of transmitting ideas in the academia. Kperogi can check it up if he is interested. His name was Peter Mygar. With my superior argument backed up by facts the other assessors holding similar arguments to Kperogi gave up. So Lagos was lucky to get a Professor with practical skills and knowledge. I am not saying that Pantami can fit into the examples that I gave, but that Kperogi should be flexible in assessing an issue, as an intellectual when faced with a situation. Unfortunately, the journalist in him usually takes over when he hears or sees things. He wants to be the one with the "breaking news" and the Front page story. I rest my case.

Since the VAT conversation began few days ago, I have read a lot. Many said Lagos, Rivers, Abuja, Kano and Kaduna states were directly and indirectly developed by either Federal or Regional governments of the past. Hmm! It sounds good and true to some extent.

But let me start with a Yoruba proverb that says, "TI A BA BI NI, A NG TURA ENIBI NI" literarily means when you are born, then you need to reborn your self through personal efforts.

Let me kick off with this by laying some facts bare, one after the other. As at 1999, Lagos state and all other states were on the same level. What exactly is the magic? Please follow me.

1. When Tinubu won the 1999 governorship election and was given the certificate of return by INEC, he setup a broad committee to look into LAGOS STATE, past, present and future. All this happened before he was sworn in as Governor.

2. The committee presented their report and it was 25-Year LAGOS MEGACITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN. A comprehensive development blueprint to develop the entire Lagos state from EPE to BADAGRY, in all areas and sectors of Lagos lives.

3. He received the report as swung into action. He discovered in the report that POWER is essential to power the industries in Lagos state, so he partnered with ENRON on IPP and ENRON brought power plant badge to Lagos and birthed well. But OBJ stopped it. That was the beginning of animosity between Tinubu and OBJ.

4. A spectacular thing Tinubu did was to recognize the importance of INFORMATION i.e. information gathering, processing, interpretation and dissemination. Therefore, he embarked on robust IT INFRASTRUCTURES and SOLUTION deployment. Those who can remember ORACLE Center within Alausa back then can bear me witness. Nigerian Professionals from CANADA, US, UK were brought in and started coding.

5. When Lagos civil servants saw that Tinubu has come to disrupt their plans, they refused to cooperate. Tinubu didn't fight them, he simply employed CONSULTANTS for all ministries and worked with few that cooperated. That is what birthed all AGENCIES (LASSA, LAWMA, LAWA, etc) you see all over Lagos state today. Tinubu never stopped their salary, he simply created a replacement within the system to bypass their bureaucracy in order not to distract him.

6. In that first year, Tinubu was called "BABA GO SLOW" Why? Because there was no visible activities on ground apart from ORACLE. CENTER and the deployment of IT infrastructures in all 20 local government and linked them to Alausa. During period, Tinubu was busy collecting data. DATA! DATA!! DATA!!!

7. Tinubu released data enumerators in Lagos, they were busy capturing data of many types, company data, association data, even PROPERTY data. That is, there was PROPERTY CENSUS in Lagos. All buildings and properties in Lagos were enumerated. As at this time, many Lagosians didn't know what was happening.

8. Part of the initial data on TRAFFIC was used to solve the traffic logjam on Allen and Agidingbi by introducing the road median that forced everyone to remain on their lane. The success of this was replicated throughout Lagos state. Likewise educational data processing which I was directly involved in year 2000.

To cut the long story short, all these data processed into meaningful information led to the development of today's Lagos State.

The information about Lagos and basic statistics about Lagosians, property, businesses, etc helped the TAX CONSULTANT that was employed to collect tax for and on behalf of Lagos. The state government never involved the civil servants in the IGR drive. That was what helped Lagos to increase their IGR from paltry N600million per month to N2billion in the first month of operation. Today, Lagos gross well over N30 billion monthly.

When TINUBU saw this, they intensified their efforts and brought more to the REVENUE dragnet. He didn't stop at that, he started LASSA on advertisement and many others. Before he could say Jack Robbinson, the IGR of Lagos started climbing. When OBJ tried his resolve by stopping monthly state allocation, he wasn't perturbed, he just rebuffed him. He told his team that OBJ is helping them to save the money. He immediately asked his Commissioner for Justice, now Vice President Osinbajo to kick start a legal battle. As at this time, Lagos was already generating more revenue internally than the monthly allocation.

Now on VAT, Lagos via Bola Ahmed Tinubu changed the entire business landscape for tax collection generally in Lagos state which FG benefitted tremendously from it in other taxes. The Lagos of 1999 till date is not the Lagos State FG developed and left for Abuja in 90s after the Orkar Coup incidence that made IBB to run away.

Many forgot that MAROKO and the entire today's Lekki axis were on ground zero as at 1999. Tinubu started the NEW LAGOS DEVELOPMENT that attracted millions of Nigerians and thousands of corporate citizens to Lagos state who now increase the VAT. The entire LEKKI, IBEJU LEKKI and EKO ATLANTIC CITY were the creation of Tinubu.

Therefore, can we now say FG developed Lagos of today? Far from it. If Tinubu had behaved like his counterparts from other states in his class, Lagos would have remained the one FG left behind in early 90s.

Consequently, Lagos state deserve to collect her CONSUMPTION TAX or VAT generated and collected in the state. Let others borrow leaves, look inward and do something positive for their state. Let us test our laws in the court for mineral resources OR mobilize NASS members to initiate bills to take control of resources in their lands. Let the CHANGE we voted for also come at the state level.

Let us stop this beggarly attitude to Abuja every month and the time starts now. This will really make us to hold our governors accountable to the resources that truly belong to the state and not the national cake being shared monthly.

MAY ALL THE STATES SUCCEED.

GOD BLESS NIGERIA.

Hmmm, you can see that the problem in Nigeria can't be solved by we splitting. Imagine having a rotational headache in a gubernatorial election, even if we divide by senatorial, we will still ask for more division. Abeokuta, Yewa and Ijebu will be clamouring for division in Ogun state. Same applies to others. At the end the fight should be between masses and elites, not between ethnic group. If we divide along ethnic group, the elite in the group will still overshadow the masses. We need to work on our innerself

University and Polytechnic are suppose not to be in competition and no one should be inferior to the other, unfortunately the country we found ourselves ain't helping. They're both created for different purposes and employer if labour needs to first understand the position and determine the best fit. Polytechnic graduates are trained on HOW TO DO THINGS, while University graduates are trained on WHY TO DO THINGS. once that different is established they won't be need for comparison.

They better beg Tinubu to come to their aid and negotiate with their loyalty comes 2023

stephanie11:
POLITICSNIGERIA.COM



https://politicsnigeria.com/2023-ibb-reveals-7-qualities-nigerias-next-president-must-have-list/

1. Must be a good Nigerian leader

2. Must be a person who is well travelled across Nigeria

3. Must be someone who has friends everywhere

4. Must be very verse in Economics

5. Must be a good Politician

6. Should be able to ‘talk’ to Nigerians

7. Should be in his Sixties

Atiku and Tinubu filled this void unfortunately Atiku is in his seventies as we speak so IBB is indirectly saying Nigeria needs BAT, the Jagaban of Borgu, A very good Nigerian leader who's knowledge of economics has made Lagos to be the only self sufficient state even the likes of Delta and Rivers that boast of oil and gas can't compete and someone that has been talking to Nigerians through his colloquium for the past 20 years. BAT knows people from everywhere, he spoke at Chatham house far before Atiku, the consulate of great nations has been visiting BAT since after last Election. The hand writing is everywhere for the blind to see.