₦airaland Forum

proudly9ja: I propose that the government gives a well known road construction company like Julius Berger, the contract of building Nigeria's own motorway. This motorway should be a wide road net work of at least 3 lanes on each carriage way and should run through all the states of the federation with smaller access roads. So the motorway itself is like a ring going round Nigeria but with 'branches' into all the states.

frosbel: Everyday I wake up about 06.00 precisely, prepare for work and bike to the train station leaving home at 06.45 prompt. At a precise time my train arrives, I board it and off to work I go, always arriving ON TIME and mostly 30 minutes before actual work starts.

On my way back from work, as I wait for my train to arrive, I see the high speed trains whizz past me with incredible speeds of sometimes 120mph, carrying business and first class passengers, company executives and normal commuters and workers like myself. I also see heavy duty transport trains carrying dozens and dozens of containers, cars, building materials etc travelling at not less than 70mph.

As I look I wonder, what about my own country Nigeria ? Why have we not been able to come up with such an efficient rail system, thereby alleviating the serious transportation problems we have today ? With such a system in place, businesses will flourish because goods will always arrive on time, appointments will be met, workers will be more relaxed after an easy journey to the office and most importantly the Roads will be de-cluttered.

midas02: I have pondered about the possibility of the Nigerian Government building a comprehensive and well integrated Rapid Mass Transit System (Metro-System) that is rail based and truly functional in Lagos. I know that what Lagos state is doing now is supposedly called a mass transit system, however, the truth is that it is actually a Bus Rapid Transit system (BRT) and it is limited in its effectiveness (as it is currently being executed) and is grossly inadequate in scope and scale. There is no where in the world where you can find a city or metropolitan area that is the size of Lagos existing without a Metro-System or Rapid Transit System. As a matter of fact, there are very few cities in the world with over 2 million inhabitants that do not have a comprehensive Metro-System. You can go from London to Mexico to Cairo to Bangkok to Shanghai to Moscow to New York to Johannesburg to Rio de Janiero to New Delhi to Sydney to Tunis to Paris to Vancouver to Los Angeles to Berlin to Tokyo - I do not care where you go, the story is the same - all big metropolis are the pride of their respective national governments and they always have an integrated, comprehensive Mass Rapid Transit System (Metro-system).

@seun:its just an opinion, if you dont buy it, move to the next shop.

Managing Director of the World Bank and former Minister of Finance Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala thinks this year’s budget may not work.

Mrs Okonjo-Iweala was delivering a lecture on "Safeguarding Nigeria’s Fiscal Health: Some Considerations for the Present and the Future" at the 24th and 25th Convocation lecture of the University of Calabar yesterday.

She said: "It is hard to justify a deterioration in the consolidated fiscal balance of close to 14 percentage points of GDP in one year on the grounds of fiscal stimulus and we need to pull back.

"I am also concerned about the realism of the 2010 budget assumptions of a reference oil price of US$67 per barrel and production of 2.35 mbd. If oil revenue assumptions are not met, more drawdowns from the ECA would be required on the back of the already substantial depletion in 2009."

Mrs Okonjo-Iweala advised the government to spend money transparently and effectively, ensuring that there is a payoff in terms of faster non-oil growth and future taxes as well as improvement in human capital. It should also eliminate infrastructure bottlenecks in power, transport and ports.

She said: "While the 2010 budget targets a consolidated fiscal deficit of about 5 percent of GDP, I am concerned that the reference oil price and quantity assumptions may be unrealistic, leading eventually to larger deficits and more borrowing than targeted."

She said fiscal deficit must be curbed and the overall debt situation, particularly domestic debt, carefully monitored. The Debt Management Office (DMO) must be given the administrative and other resources as well as the cooperation it needs to build up a comprehensive database for domestic debt, covering all the states in addition to the Federal Government.

In Mrs Okonjo-Iweala’s view, the integrity and centrality of the OPFR must be upheld and "additions to and drawdowns from the ECA need to be handled with the utmost transparency and discipline."

Specifically, she recommended that fiscal deficits and borrowing be restricted to the financing of public investments supporting long-run growth and poverty alleviation; as well as imposing ceilings of say 15-20 percent of GDP on the consolidated domestic debt of the government and an overall ceiling of 30 percent, which is half the level prescribed for the far richer Maastricht (EU) countries".

Mrs Okonjo-Iweala praised the reforms in the banking sector. She said:"While the emergence of distressed banks accounting for some 30 percent of banking system assets is regrettable, the manner in which this situation is addressed represents a huge signaling opportunity. The transparency and evenhandedness with which these banks are intervened and resolved will have a major impact on Nigeria’s reputation as a potential regional financial centre. This reputation took a bit of beating as a result of the way the interbank foreign exchange market was treated early last year. But there is now the opportunity to remedy this".

She noted that the banks became distressed because of connected lending, exposure to the oil and gas sector and margin lending for buying stocks, which led to problems when the stock market crashed. While CBN took decisive steps to avoid a systemic crisis, a big unfinished agenda remains.

According to her, CBN recognises the need for stronger supervision. For supervision to work, Nigeria will have to overhaul and modernise its infrastructure for accounting, financial reporting, collateral registration and credit rating and "any bank bailout raises the spectre of moral hazard. Nigeria must take steps to avoid situations where good fiscal policy resulting in growing ECA assets is undone by bad loans on the balance sheets of banks, as we have already seen to some extent.

While citing bad conditions in order countries, she said: "I am pleased to note that several steps have already been taken to limit moral hazard, including dismissal of the CEOs of the banks receiving liquidity support; publication of lists of all major non-performing borrowers; and pursuit of responsible bank managers and borrowers by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)".

Does the OP's landlord interfers in the running of OP's rented home?

Onuoha targets Nigeria switch

Manchester City defender Nedum Onuoha is ready to turn his back on England in order to experience World Cup football with Nigeria this summer.

Onuoha has been capped 21 times by England Under-21s and has even captained the side under Stuart Pearce, but the City centre-back is keen to play for the country of his birth and insisted a call-up from new Super Eagles boss Lars Lagerback would be hard to turn down.

"It will be flattering to be approached by Nigeria," Onuoha told the Daily Mail. "No-one has spoken to me since the former manager Berti Vogts made an informal approach a couple of years ago.

"I follow Nigerian football all the time. I'm the same as any other person - if you are born there that's where your heart is.

"I have not been approached by any official from Nigeria but if I am, I will weigh up my options and consult my family. But it's more than a possibility that I will agree to play for the Eagles."