₦airaland Forum

Xena15:
The main reason behind so much poverty in the northern part of the country, is becos of the same corruption, as noticed in the south. Theirs is even worse, because they are all illiterates. No one challenges these thieves, unlike the southern part, where there is so much hostilities.

Education remains one of the fastest measure of curbing violence in the north and corruption. If these guys are educated, they are bound to ask questions about where their monies are going to.

Oboma1:
Until they begin to carry guns against their leaders, and stop behaving like morons, poverty will remain.

This is another solution, but we need not create another problem while using same measure to solve another.

Oboma1:
But I can not believe my eyes, that someone can be denied visa, just becos he is called an "Imam". Anyway, it is good for them, and their religion. It is what they sow, that is what they must reap.


As for the Special Adviser, it is good also for him, becos it is just waste of tax-payers funds.

Thats how they waste our money on unnecessary trips abroad. That serves him right.

Xena15:
This is just the beginning. Very soon, Alfa, Ibrahim, Yusuf, Musa, Abdul-Mustaphar, and even Musa Yar'adua etc will stop being issued U.S. visa.

I know the way the whites reason sometimes, can be a bizzare!, but it is not a solution.

The issue have gone beyond banning or do I say, stopping people with Islamic names from going to US. The real issues are still there. Let them close all those Islamic schools and send all these Almajiris back to school. That is just one long term solution, as against stopping those with Islamic names from going to US.

Abekeade08:
@ Selingel

I am interested in your story and I wish you goodluck. Keep us updated and let us know how it goes. Don't worry about all the yeye people making light jokes out of this.

Thanks.

Oboma1:
I hear Arik Air have suspended their regular flights to Uyo, due to non=payment of mutual agreement they had with Akwa-Ibom government to pick some bills if they airline cannot cover cost of flights to Uyo.

The Governor have given assurance that the airport will be opened again for traffic, by ending of January.

fynewaka:
You sure have multiple identity! This is a public forum and you sold out yourself cheaply in one of your post when you were trying to prove something to another user. I just asked for the fun of it, though I don't need a rocket scientist to know you are the same and one person. This quote below from one of your posts could help. Some of us have been in NL for a couple of years and can't be fooled by cases like that. I will advise you to exercise restraint in how much you reveal of your true identity in a public forum. With this, I can go ahead to tell you that you belong to the Pirate confraternity, did NYSC in 2001 etc.

A word they say. . .


Can you reconcile both highlighted posts from you? Nairaland has far gone beyond that piece of trash you are trying to sell. Next time, draw the line between real business and cyber business!

Kol:
The reason Africans are not moving forward and will not move forward is our silly adherence to certain verses of the Bible and Koran.

The stories in these books are like fairly tales. They were written to make people behave according to the tenets of the ruling bodies and head of religious groups.

If you have to follow verses in the bible to live in the modern days then you are simply silly.

Can anybody tell me what make and model of telephone Jesus or Mohammed used when they were alive? What type of Jeep did they drive? What airlines did they favour?

If we are foolish enough to think that we would follow the verses in Koran and Bible to live in these modern days then we are truly silly.

Truetalk is feeling the page with nonsense from both Koran and Bible.

Why don’t we look for more constructive things to discuss about ………. Mutallab thinking he will be given virgins in a non-existent heaven, Yar’Adua and his cohorts holding Nigeria to ransom etc….

Who is this one for Heaven sake?

Whaoh!. I guess is a username I just took for myself. I heard of that name in (Polytechnic of Calabar) Polycal sports week, between between 1998 and 2000. Indeed, I am not the guy you think, I am, but the name emanated from the same venue. How I wished I was the one. Take Care!.

davidylan:
Andoakaa is most likely right. Muttallab could not have obtained his bomb-making parts in Nigeria.

Hmmm!.

okunoba:
The duty of any reasonable government is to stimulate business growth which in itself increases the tax base revenue of the government. Excessive Land charges will not stimulate growth in the housing sector but will rather slow it down. This  in turn will contribute to unemployment, shortages of houses 4 sale thereby driving up prices and government will also be losing out on tax revenues that would have been genereted from these housing developments.

A reduced or reasonable land charges would reduce cost of development and this will increase the number of investors with the financial power to em berk on such projects. This will trigger an increase in housing development which will reduce unemployment and increase tax revenue which will come from  sales profit, rent income, council tax and personal tax that these development will generate. I think the high land charges is bad from an economic point of view and very short sighted.  The state can and should try to increase it`s tax base but it as to be done sensibly.

Businesses that will increase employment should be encouraged with incentives not discouraged by ill thought out charges. I blame his economic advisers.

Please make it as an open letter, and send to Fashola. He needs to read this one.

emans:
if you will ask me i will tell me the girl in question enjoyed the deliverance

There is no two way about. In fact, I just concluded, that was not the first time. Perhaps, she is trying to blackmail the man, after the show went wrong!.

Oboma1:
In fact, one happened right in my presence. I want to believe that, the one I saw had charm, becos the girl never understood what was happening until the lady left. It was when the shop owner came, that the girl regained her senses. The sales girl that gave the woman those materials too was confused. She did not know what happened. It was as if, the shop owner was the one that gave them consciousness.

In fact, they nearly killed the innocent child, until someone who knew her came to her rescue and called the father who came and pay the money, for what the other woman stole.

That is the latest in town now.

eldee:
She was 17, sent out of her uncle's house in Lagos and hired to help.
Africans take silly things like curses and oaths really serious. . . added to the fact that living in Lagos without any help at that age means just one thing . . . prostitution.

Does that mean becos there was no help, so prostitution is next?

Spyker:
London - More than 3 years and was recruited there
Yemen - How many years has he (Farouk) being there?
Ghana - 3 Hours
Nigeria - 30 minutes
Schipol Airport, Amsterdam - on transit (he was arrested there)

So, from all this time variations, Farouk spent the shortest time in Nigeria yet because he is a Nigeria, the hammer is hitting hard on us. So, if he was an America but spent more time in Nigeria or was recruited in Nigeria, what then would happen.
The US is not sincere though our nation is not secure at all. Not for local, not for foreign nationals, every one on your own. It is so pitiful and we don't even have a sitting President but a Bedridden one. Chei, what a Nation.
I am sure Lie Lie Dora must have run out of lies to tell us.

I wonder why she accepted the post of minister of communication.

Enjoyment1:
Until a drastic measure is enforced on any culprit in the Nigeria Police force, it will remain same of the same. Besides, the Police itself needs to purge itself of criminals that they employ yearly, and raise the standard of recruitment from where it is now, to a situation whereby only credible members of the public are recruited.

The Nigerian Police is a sham. Their heads need to be formatted.

The level at which crime is happening in Nigeria these days, calls for prayers.

Enjoyment1:
Please Nigerians, who knows this man called Michael Aondoakaa, he should please beg him not to ridicule Nigeria further. You and I knows our Lagos Airport, and what it can do. Any computer manipulation will be detected, and will embarass us the more. Abeg, Aondoakaa,drop this issue.

I know Aondoakaa very well. He is an epitome of shame, lies and disgrace to this nation. I am not surprise.

sjeezy8:
tru dat close dem schools down and teach real stuvs, that will make Nigerian youth well rounded.

Those schools are breeding suiciders, and Almajiris. The north does not need them.

Another merciless police killing!.

Pandemonium as policeman kills citizen at road block
By Emmanuel Obe, Awka, Published: Friday, 8 Jan 2010



Business activities and vehicular movement came to a halt on Thursday afternoon in the heart of Awka, the Anambra State capital, following the protest by youths in the neigbhbourhood against the killing of a young Nigerian by a policeman at a checkpoint.

The man was shot and killed by a policeman from MOPOL Unit 14, sent to Anambra State last year to fight the then worsening wave of kidnappings and bank robberies.

The identities of both the policeman and his victim could not be ascertained before press time. The dead man was said to have hailed from Nibo in Awka South Local Government Area and had only recently returned home from his base abroad.

The deceased who was said to be driving his Red Toyota Camry, with registration number, Lagos DF 231JJJ was stopped by policemen at the Ukwu Orji checkpoint.

Eye witnesses claimed that the deceased had offered N60 to the policeman who had demanded a tip for himself and his colleagues at the checkpoint.

The Anambra State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Emeka Chukwuemeka, said the killer policeman had been arrested and taken into custody, but he did not give his name.

For several hours, the police battled the youths as they broke bottles and threw stones at the policemen. The busy Nnamdi Azikiwe Avenue was closed to both business and traffic.


http://www.punchontheweb.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20100108424773

Otobroto:
This is one election that will make or mare Anambra state. It is another do-or-die situation. A must win for PDP (People Deceive People).

I know that PDP wants to take over Anambra state at all cost. Fine, the IG knows about this ploy, what is he going to do to curb the effect of these?

Honestly, I will not doubt this claim. Nothing happens at Lagos Airport in terms of searching with any machine before boarding.

Mutallab received explosives from Nigeria, Yemeni govt claims

By Our Reporter - 08.01.2010

THE young Nigerian accused of attempting to bomb a transatlantic airliner on Christmas Day aquired the explosives used in the failed attack over Detroit during a stop-over in Lagos, Nigeria, Yemeni government claimed, on Thursday.

Yemen’s deputy prime minister, Rashad al-Alimi, denied emphatically that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who flew from Accra, Ghana, on December 24, and transited the airport in Lagos, Nigeria, on his way to board the Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight in Amsterdam, left Yemen with the explosives.

Alimi also told a news conference, on Thursday afternoon, that Abdulmutallab was recruited by al-Qaeda in London.

He also told a news conference, on Thursday, that Abdulmuttalab joined the terror group during his three years as a student at University College.

The claim came hours after United States authorities charged the 23-year-old with six offences including attempted murder and trying to use a weapon of mass destruction to kill nearly 300 people.

But a Briitsh Home Office spokesman insisted no new information about the suspect’s links to Islamic militants in Britain had been uncovered.

The spokesman added that Abdulmutallab views only became serious after he left the United Kingdom in 2008.

But Rashad al-Alimi, Yemen’s deputy prime minister for defence and security, told a news conference In the capital Sana’a: “The information provided to us is that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab joined al-Qaeda in London.”

He also revealed that Abdulmutallab met with radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen.

American-born al-Awlaki was linked to US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the alleged gunman who accused of killing 13 soldiers at Fort Hood in November.

The deputy prime minsiter added that a number of al-Qaeda elements who had contact with the Abdulmutallab had been arrested.

In a separate development, it emerged that US intelligence services only discovered extremist links to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab when he was already on board the flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.

Border officials finally learned of his suspected terrorist ties from an intelligence database after he had taken off from Amsterdam en route to Detroit, but had decided to question him when he landed, it emerged, on Thursday.

A senior US law enforcement official told the Los Angeles Times: ‘The people in Detroit were prepared to look at him in secondary inspection. The decision had been made.

“The database had picked up the State Department concern about this guy –– that this guy may have been involved with extremist elements in Yemen.”

If the intelligence had been acted on sooner, Abdulmutallab could have been stopped and questioned before getting on board the plane.

The official added: “They could have made the decision on whether to stop him from getting on the plane.”

But making the link would not have resulted in more scrutiny before the suspect left the Netherlands, he added.

Abdulmutallab was in a database of around 500,000 names of people with suspected links to extremists, but who are not considered threats.

Security officials would therefore only have attempted to question him when he arrived in the US.

“The public isn’t aware how many people are allowed to travel through the US who are linked, who intersect with bad guys or alleged bad guys,” an official said.

“It makes sense from an intelligence perspective. If they are not considered dangerous, it provides intelligence on where they go, who they meet with.”

The window for identifying potential threats travelling on board flights is very limited, the official added.

Officials have access to passenger data based on the lists of those who made flight reservations. But in-depth vetting only begins once the flight manifest has been generated just hours before takeoff.

On arrival in the US, inspectors can put passengers through a secondary inspection which involves more extensive questioning and searches.

The White House is carrying out a review of security measures at US airports and expects to introduce tougher restrictions in the wake of the failed bomb plot.

President Barack Obama held a meeting with senior staff, on Wednesday, and blasted intelligence agencies for not joining up the dots and preventing the attack.

His father had warned US officials he was worried his son had been radicalised, but that threat was never identified fully by intelligence officials.




http://www.tribune.com.ng/08012010/news/news2.html

Fire and hire like Union Bank of Nigeria. Nigerian Banking sector is on fire!. Oceanic Bank too?

John Aboh.

John Aboh.

Oceanic Bank sacks 1,200 more workers, slashes salaries by 30%
WEDNESDAY, 06 JANUARY 2010 00:00 KENNETH MOKWENYE

THE gale of retrenchment hovering on commercial banks has descended on Oceanic Bank Plc, which withdrew the meal tickets of some 1,200 employees yesterday, raising the figure of the those so far sacked by the bank’s management to 2,700.


A similar exercise carried out by the bank about three weeks ago sent 1,500 workers into the already saturated labour market.

It was in line with a reported directive from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that all the banks, especially the seven rescued ones, should trim their workforce as part of cost-cutting measures aimed at shoring-up their liquidity.

The development prompted the National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees (NUBIFIE) to direct its members to stop accepting disengagement letters from their employers without its authority.

The latest sack affected 500 workers employed under the subsidiaries of the bank, namely OSIL and VLA, while the remaining 450 were core employees of the bank, comprising bulk tellers, drivers and those in the e-business unit, as well as other departments.
It was gathered that the management of the bank with a workforce of over 7,000 was contemplating to reduce the strength by half, a decision that may result to the closure of about 30 per cent of the bank’s 420 branches nationwide.

Also, some of the departments have been slated for rationalisation.

For instance, the management was said to be considering the merger of the corporate affairs and brand communication departments into corporate communication.

Sources revealed that more than half of the sacked workers have received their disengagement letters, especially those at the headquarters and those in Lagos branches and environs.
The letters were dispatched through a popular courier firm.

Those affected by the purge were immediately denied access into the bank’s intra-mail services, as they have been disconnected from the electronic intra-mail services.
It was learnt that the 1,500 sacked earlier were yet to get their separation benefits as promised them in their letter of disengagement.

Some of the separated workers have been making inquiries on why their entitlements have not been lodged in their bank accounts.

Feelers from the management indicated that the delay in the payment of the severance benefits was not unconnected with plans to reduce the salaries of the retained workers by 30 per cent.
The salary reduction will take effect this month.

All attempts to obtain official comments on the development proved abortive, as virtually all the officials in the bank’s corporate affairs department have been sacked, leaving the organisation with no official spokesman.

The NUBIFIE President, Mr. Hassan Adeleke, told reporters in Lagos yesterday that the directive was necessary because of the mass sack of bank workers since August, last year.

Adeleke urged the affected banks to respect labour laws by recalling workers that were sacked without due process.

According to him, the banks must adhere to laid down guidelines and negotiate good severance packages before throwing the workers into the unemployment market.

He said that a major objective of the union in the New Year was improved relationship between workers and bank managements to ensure job security.

He said: “We believe in dialogue and collective agreement. Anything that is alien will be unacceptable because we will not support plans that will not be in the interest of workers.”

Adeleke spoke of a plan by the union to meet with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) before the end of this month over the problems in the financial sector.

He said that the mass sack had been a source of worry to the union and that the union would continue to dialogue with banks over the exercise.

The NUBIFIE president advised the relevant authorities to involve stakeholders and follow due process in the merger and acquisition of the banks affected by the CBN reform.

He assured the workers that the association would strive to stop further violation of due process and ensure that their conditions of service were improved.


http://www.compassnews.net/Ng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=37932:oceanic-bank-sacks-1200-more-workers-slashes-salaries-by-30&catid=43:news&Itemid=799

debosky:
Don't be silly - the Jordanian medical doctor that killed 7 CIA agents last week - didn't he go past Primary 6?

What about Mutallab? After a degree in Mechanical Engineering and his British High School education, did that stop him from attempting to blow up a plane?

Do you really have to call one silly? Have you been to Northern Nigeria, before assuming they are Doctorate Degree holders and Professors? Find time and visit the Northern Nigerian mosques, and you will know how far!.

Kaydamus:
"The religion of peace" has done it again. Why wld any sane person want to fight 4 God? Is he a handicap like they make themselvs all in the name of Shariah? Or Jihad, isn't that the reason for this sect's actions? Still wondering what the naughty person was going to get in return.

What pains me most is that, a blind Moslem leader, that cannot even write his name, will be accepted to know so much, to the extend that, he will tell morons what he feels is right, and yet, mumu's will rush out to execute his will, while the maggot sits somewhere watching the impact.

All these Moslem clerics should atleast, attempt primary six, it will help them

The Kala-Kato mayhem in Bauchi
By Punch Editorial Board, Published: Tuesday, 5 Jan 2010



It was yet another bloody eruption in Bauchi State when armed fundamentalists took on the nation’s security forces, causing deaths among soldiers, policemen, women and innocent citizens, including children. At the time the situation was brought under control on December 30, 2009, over 70 persons were reported to have died, while fears heightened that cities like Kaduna and Zaria, among others, might come under assault by remnants of the same sect or other extremists.

The Kala-Kato disturbances came as the third in a sequence within 12 months in Bauchi State alone. As with the Boko Haram uprising in Borno, Yobe and Bauchi itself, last July, which caused over 700 deaths and large-scale destruction of property, the December 28-30 violence exposed the inadequacies of the nation’s internal security apparatus, in terms of intelligence gathering, scenario planning and combat capability.

The Nigeria Police Headquarters in Abuja noted in a statement on December 29 that there had been internal disagreements within the sect, leading to disaffection between its leader, Mallam Badamasi, and some other ranking followers. The dissenting members were reportedly killed, and, in the escalation of the crisis, non-members became victims – some killed or maimed or had valuable property destroyed.

Much as the Police tried to impress the public with records regarding events within the sect, they failed to demonstrate dependability, because they were unable to act proactively on the strength of the information at their disposal. The notoriety of fundamentalists for irrational behaviour and violence is well documented, so the very least the Police could have done was to have a pre-emptive plan. The cost of that failure is the lives and property destroyed, which is most unfortunate, indeed.

Before all Nigerians today is the irrefutable proof of the vulnerability of the state to bloody sectarianism that has persisted from the era of Maitatsine in the early 1980s. Religious sects have mushroomed over the years in parts of the country, espousing doctrines that are irreconcilable with those of the mainstream religions or traditional belief systems. At will, these groups confront the state in armed conflict, apparently convinced that they could overwhelm the state and impose their parochial world views and doctrines on the rest of the society.

Clearly, the proliferation and daredevilry of the sects have been encouraged by the public posturing, attitudes and activities of the elite in those parts of the country where the disturbances are common. It is known, for instance, that the murderous hoodlums arrested during and after religious uprisings are regularly shielded by powerful men in government from criminal prosecution in the law courts. It is equally known that politicians desperate for power commonly whip up religious sentiments to achieve their aims.

The governors of affected states, notably Bauchi, Borno, Kano, Yobe and Gombe, among others, need to do some soul searching. They need to examine themselves to see if there is something in their conduct or activities that fosters the growth of these groups or emboldens their members. They have to bear in mind that they are as vulnerable as anyone else in the country, as the dimensions of sectarian strife and social anarchy can never be predicted with certainty.

Children and youths should be provided access to educational opportunities and vocational training to equip them with necessary skills for income-generating jobs. Universal Basic Education was designed to achieve related objectives, as were some other schemes embarked upon but abandoned because of greed among corrupt public office holders who continually divert public funds into private use. Almajiris and other vulnerable groups will not be available for recruitment by extremist sects when they have opportunities for self-advancement.

The federal and state governments have to act decisively to check sectarianism before it gets out of hand, as is the case with countries like Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere. Agencies like the State Security Service and the Nigeria Police need complete overhaul as they have proved to be ineffective in performing their statutory functions. Such institutional overhaul, coupled with empowerment of youths, is imperative if the country is to achieve the internal security and stability required to make it a favourite destination for foreign investments.

Above all, the perpetrators of Kala-Kato mayhem and their sponsors should be apprehended and brought to justice. All hoodlums and miscreants who hide under the veil of religion to kill and maim others need to know that Nigeria is a nation governed by law. A government that cannot guarantee an environment of law and order does not deserve to be in office.

http://www.punchontheweb.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201001058174460