Get rid of the bola hat - provide uninterrupted electricity for the masses, and complete the dredging of the Niger, with a major port at Asaba or Onitsha, this way Lagos can be decongested. Otherwise, he'll be looking for work in 2011.

VALIDATOR:

@$poOne,
Analysis is for smart grown ups even with opposing views. Go suck your pacifier boy !

ode!

Smart move, Fash! unfortunately, your counterparts in other states are contemplating on their next treasury loot.

Good to hear that a young person like you is inquisitive enough to want to do something to save our beloved country - The problem with Nigeria is everything; anything that stops or impedes progress is predominant in Nigeria. The only people that can save the country are young people like yourself - those above 25 are too far gone; too scared of reprisal; or have become part of the same corrupt machinery that will eventually move the country into obscurity, or at best a failed state status. Unfortunately, the very few progressive states will be swallowed by the resultant mass migrations from the first few casualty areas. These states will need to breakaway before it is too late.

I guess my question to you would be, what are you willing to sacrifice to get this country on the right path – because it might just require you to make the ultimate sacrifice. But the best way to go about it is to start a grass root movement of just young people like you, and start picketing governmental agencies at all levels for jobs creation, adequate education, and healthcare for all. Demand transparency in all governmental endeavors. . . look at it this way, if you don’t stop these unscrupulous politicians now, their kids will be ruling you under a worse condition. . . until there’s nothing left to squander.

He will context, and will win 2011 - otherwise Nigeria goes broke for good.
If the Northerners stand in the way, I can almost categrorically say, the multinational oil companies will not be allowed in the Niger Delta. And these corporation know this - they will buy whoever they need to buy, in order that Jonathan wins the election. Cheaper for them to deal with individual politicians than try to appease Niger delta militants. This' my bold prediction for 2011.

If "developing" means moving forward and towards "developed", then I'll say Nigeria is an "underdeveloping" country. The peak of Nigeria's progress was in 1980, then it had all the characteristics of a developing country. . .  since then it has dwindle ever so downwards, and now has all the makings of a failed state.

I am hoping they do, this way the locals of the anticipated oil wells will come to understand what the Niger Delta people have been going thru for decades - a completely destroyed way of life for genrations to come.

Probably one of the most naturally endowed country in the world; but lacks the social and political will to move majority her citizenry out of poverty and misery, and the clock ticks towards complete disintegration.

ohisng:


@$poOne- . . . . Do u have anyone close to u among these call calls?

No, but I did see your m a m a . . . entering room 246 at the DC Sheraton with Oshiom ole. Now I know why you are an ardent supporter of this megamouth pigmy.

VALIDATOR:

@sagamite,
I really admire your insight on this topic.
Our people need to learn that anything good and enduring must be based on a system,not on a person.
Undoubtedly,Tinubu built a system. It is such a system that brought in a credible person like Fashola to be governor. If Tinubu followed what he met on ground then an efficient person like Fashola would never have become governor.
LASTMA,LAWMA,emphasis on internally generated revenue,etc were all systems that Tinubu built not just the names but the method and process of operation of all those things.Common sense tells us all that it takes a longer time to conceive,design and build the first car than to improve the efficiency of subsequent cars. Fashola is merely improving the efficiency of the system that was already well built and so far he has done very well.

If Oshiomole is building a system then it will take some time for you to see real tangible stuffs on ground.
We only need to see if he is building a system or he is just a talker.

Whart's that brpwn glub on your nose, stop being a d u m b A S S Ki sser? Have an oppinion of your own.

chelseabmw:

ring road is da bomb

That's relative, if you come from a villiage with no paved roads; you would find an archaic road construct, that’s the main cause of traffic gridlock in Benin, an engineering feat in 2010. So the loud mouth comes along and plant flowers around it, and you are having an o r g a sm. Ever heard of flyovers… that’s where the rest of the world are in the 21st century.

davidif:

If Fashiola is evil, then you are an I D I O T, plain and simple.

mamman4:

i hope that he has not filled up the ears of edo ppl with deceptive speeches like saying that he will create 10000 jobs in 1 month abi na 2 weeks saf, no be wetin una tok we go chop woo, na wetin we see for ground na hin we go believe,

What can you expect from an incredibly ugly pigmy, with a megaphone and control of state budget?

He has done something – he holds the title for the ugliest governor with the most girl friends – he has at least 20 Hos and call girls in Washington DC and Maryland; and the goat has countless prostitutes throughout Nigeria. This’ the main reason, he’s never in his state.

Oshiom ole will never fulfill any of his campaign promise to the electorate – I feel sorry for the people of Edo state. I understand the intrigue and Comparison to Fashiola – Fashiola is fulfilling his mandate to the people of Lagos state; Oshiom ole is stealing from Edo state and sowing his oats in as many Hos as the term will permit.

Bluetooth, you really don't want to be cursed by the Ooni of Ife or Oba of Benin, these Obas have the same very powerful ancestries. Just a warning to mere mortal! Before the crusaders and jihadists, there was peace and tranquility in the Edo and Yoruba lands - ever wonder why? There's quite a bit about the traditional oracles of these Obas that's inexplicable by science, and will ever be so.

Just a warning to the wise.

Dis Guy:

You lie!! the major news outlets Ait, NTA etc have been showing amazing reports from Alao Akala's 60th birthday party and several other top weddings in the land

Typical!

I want IBB immortalized for he came, stole, maim, murdered, and subject over 80 million Nigerians to abject poverty and misery.

“May he live in the dark pages of history… as the real antichrist?”

Shell dumps the same or more in the Niger Delta every year, for the past 20 plus years,

Maybe our federal govt. don't think the people of the Niger Delta are human beings with basic God given right to exist in a safe environment.

This has been my quandary in the past month plus as CNN and all other major news outlet have basically dedicate all news slot to this disaster.

Can anyone enlighten me?

He's definitely 15yrs old.

SIR: Worried about the present configuration of the petroleum bill drawn up by the executive arm of government awaiting the National Assembly's passage into law, Urhobo Social Club, Lagos foresees a situation whereby all Niger Delta indigenes in the near future will by this bill, if passed into law unamended, become foreigners in their homeland.

Several sections of the bill bother us as they are oppressive to our people. One of such sections has to do with the assertion that our communities that produce the oil, are to be regarded as "communities living in oil producing areas," instead of indigenous communities of oil producing areas. We want to state unequivocally that our communities own the land and the oil that is being produced from it. All over the world, oil belongs to the land where it is explored, ours cannot be treated differently.

As commendable as President Musa Yar'Adua's amnesty treaty with the Niger Delta militants is, this sort of oppressive policy embedded in the petroleum bill could jeopardise the good intention of the President and may provoke future restiveness of the Niger Delta militants. People may call them militants, but we call them "Freedom Fighters".

Also, all eyes are on the Federal Government to see if they will start and complete the new Petroleum University in Kaduna before the Petroleum Training Institute, Effurun, Warri, that was upgraded to a Petroleum University. We want to recall that sometimes in June this year, the Governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan together with other four governors of the South South walked out of a meeting in protest regarding the Petroleum Bill and the planned relocation of the Petroleum University from Warri to Kaduna.

Urhobo Social Club, Lagos (USCL) seizes this opportunity to advise all elderstatesmen involved in the governance of this great nation to have the fear of God in their hearts.

Emmanuel Evue and Oghene Egoh,
For: Urhobo Social Club, Lagos.

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/letters/article03/indexn2_html?pdate=221009&ptitle=Injustice%20in%20petroleum%20bill

^^^You got a point there.

It just occurred to me, an epiphany if you will, that whenever there’s a meaningful discussion going on, in order to find real solution, or at least try to, it gets derailed exactly the same way it happens in the US. And soon enough the point of discussion is lost for good.

If you try to discuss the ineffectiveness of Yar’Adua’s administration, and seek solution from the forum, PDP folks start a discussion on tribalism. . . Yorubas/Igbo/Housas did this and that . . . and it continues long enough that everyone wanting to contribute meaningfully to the original discourse gradually drop off. The same thing happens if the other parties are on the hot seat.

In the US it is racism, the republicans will hinge on race to derail any meaningful discussion on what matters to the masses.

So is this the general consensus in this forum – is our politics as advanced as that of the US?

Not sure if this lady is still the Minister or not. . . Call or fax her anonymously, and give her shit:

Mrs. Diezani K. Alison-Madueke


Address:
Dipcharima House,
Central Business District, Off 3RD Avenue,
P.M.B. 0336,
Garki, Abuja

Tel: 09-2347451, 09-2347452,
Fax: 09-2347453

Goodluck Jonathan, where’s your spine and loyalty – if the housaman/Fulaniman will not take care of our southern roads, can’t you do something. It is a shame that you are just as ineffective as your boss.

These unscrupulous politicians could careless – after all they can dart around the country in airplanes, private jets, and helicopters. Though I am not one that advocates violence, in my dark thinking, maybe the militants need to start targeting the airplanes, and pluck them out of the skies at take off, with their grenade launchers. If the fools have to travel on these same death traps, we call roads; they might do something about them.

Jaybee2412:

If all of you want a change, then don't allow any politician to steal or buy your votes in the next election. Standby and ready to protect your votes whatever it takes. Last time it was do or die for the politicians, this time let us make it a matter of do or die to protect our votes. Curses won't change anything but your counted votes will certainly do. So make your votes count. Period.

seconded!

And this' the time to prepare. . . I am sure there will be all-out campaigning soon. They may even do a thing or two to convince the not-so-savvy electorate, just to get them into office for a second time. . . and there'll be all-out looting.

[size=20pt]Yar' Adua what gives?[/size]

By Emma Nnadozie, Crime Editor - Oct 17, 2009

Thousands of people travelling to the eastern part of Nigeria through Ore in Ondo State have continued to rain  curses on the powers – that-be over the continued neglect of Lagos-Benin Road  to the detriment of both commuters and motorists.

This is as a result of the continued deterioration of the road which has made it almost impossible for vehicles  to pass.

Vanguard investigations showed that a journey to Benin City, which normally takes just three hours from Lagos, now takes almost nine hours while a journey to Asaba, Onitsha, Enugu and other adjoining towns takes virtually a day.

Worst hit by the  situation are those travelling to  Owerri, Nsukka, Aba, Port Harcourt, Markurdi. Calabar etc, as they now spend two days on the road before getting to their respective destinations.

The situation is  made worse by incessant robbery attacks on motorists and their passengers at the bad spots on the road leading to the loss of lives, money and properties which value runs into trillions of naira.


Waiting for Godot
Most of the motorists and passengers said  the state of the  roads to the east, particularly Ore, has turned their trips into a nightmare.   It was gathered that in the past two weeks, it has become almost impossible to pass through the craters, gullies and holes created on both sides of the highway in Ore 1,2 and 3.

One of the stranded passengers lamented, “God in His infinite mercy will punish those leaders who are subjecting us to this hardship.    I left Lagos 7.30am last Sunday for Onitsha.   It is now 12midnight, we are just  approaching Ore 1. When then are we going to get to Onitsha?.  Has it not turned into two days journey.”

Another passenger in a smaller bus said they manovered through the thick bush before they got out near Ore 1 around 5p.m.   “Ordinarily, one should have been happy for escaping the heavy traffic build up inside Ore but we got out through the bushes in pieces.

While we were manorvering our way inside the thick bushes around Ore, some heavily armed youths whom we thought were just out to collect tolls attacked the long convoy of small buses.  Many of us were wounded while we lost all our money and valuables”, he explained.

One of the luxury bus drivers told Vanguard that truck drivers were  not helping matters either on the road.  “They block all the spaces with their trucks and they also ply both sides of the road.

The situation is so bad that even traffic wardens, policemen and men of the Federal Road Safety Commission seem helpless.   What all of them do now is to extort money from motorists in one way or the other leaving thousands of people to their fate.  Many passengers are still stranded here as a result of the bad roads,” he stated.

A youth, who claimed he was going to Enugu for job interview, said he lost the opportunity because by the time he got out of Ore, he was a day behind the date for the interview and he had no option than to return to Lagos.  “How would those who will go home for next  Christmas cope?”, he asked.

Ironically, while thousands are groaning in pains, lamenting the poor state of the major highway that leads to the east, traders in Ore are smiling to the banks.  A female hawker of fruits said, “Business has not been as good as this.

We now make sales twenty four hours of the day because there is no time you will not see buyers. Initially, we just hawked  fruits but now, most of us have gone into selling hot rice and other edible foods.

Though, I sympathize with these stranded passengers and drivers, I am happy that we are making profit”.

A security expert, who was also stranded at Ore 1, Chief Austin Nwabuko,  told Sunday Vanguard that what is happening presently in Ore is enough to trigger off  violence.   “It is very painful that people are left to suffer like this in an oil rich country like Nigeria.

I challenge President Yar‘Adua to take a trip by road from Abuja to Lagos and Lagos to the east and see whether he would still continue being in office, if he is a man of conscience.

The annoying aspect of the sordid scenario is that all the security agencies are not doing anything to safeguard the lives and properties of millions of Nigerians and even expatriates stranded in Ore.

Rather, what they do is to drive  to safe and motorable points on the road and create road blocks where they extort money from stranded passengers and motorists.

Except those trapped inside the busy areas in Ore, those that unfortunately found themselves in isolated areas get robbed and even the females raped without protection from the police.  Are these not signs of a failed state?”.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2009/10/17/curses-upon-curses-as-passengers-motorists-get-stranded-at-ore/comment-page-1/

link and source please.

I don’t believe in Juju but I cherish my heritage and traditional relics, it is what defines us as unique people with rich history. I want all my village shrines to continue to exist alongside our modern society. These traditional relics was what kept our ancestors from decimating each other – ogun, shango, and many others kept people in check.

A good start, if the federal government can do more to ratify joint ventures with foreign manufacturers doing business in Nigeria - the likes of SONY, Ford,. . . Japanese auto companies, various equipment manufacturers, etc. This is the way to acquire the necessary technology and skill set into Nigeria. Possibly by providing tax benefits to these foreign companies. Start out with tax break for goods assembled in Naija, while taxing the hell out of finshed products entering the country. The Chinese and the Indians did it. . . we can see where they are today.

Frankly I can careless - Kano deserve another Abacha. . . I want him to win big!

Federal Govt Approves Joint Security Patrol to Combat Crime in Edo

Vincent Egunyanga - 16 October 2009
________________________________________
Benin — President Umaru Musa Yar'adua has approved a joint military/police patrol to combat crime in Edo State.
Governor Adams Oshiomhole disclosed this in Benin yesterday at the second quadrennial delegates conference of the National Union of Shop and Distributive Employees (NUSDE).
He said with this development, the armed forces would be deployed to join the police to improve the firepower of the Operation Thunderstorm security outfit in the state.
"The idea is to develop capacity for round-the-clock protection of the entire state and stamp out kidnapping, armed robbery and other crimes," he said.
He added that the mass employment programme in the state remained operational, stressing that with the formal lifting of the embargo on employment by the State Executive Council government would now take steps to fill critical vacancies in the public service, especially in the health and education sectors.
Oshiomhole solicited the continued partnership of organized labour in the effort to improve the quality of life of the people. The governor also used the opportunity to lay to rest, speculations that government tends to favour the public sector unions over those in the private sector. But he said, "Of course, as an employer, the government of Edo State has responsibilities to its employees and their unions, however as a government our policies do not discriminate between public and private sector unions. We appreciate that the labour movement in Edo State is one entity, one family and an indivisible development catalyst.'

http://allafrica.com/stories/200910161020.html

Iyobosa Uwugiaren
15 October 2009
________________________________________

Abuja — The Central Bank of Nigeria yesterday released a list of debtors of five banks: Unity Bank, Equitorial Trust Bank, Bank PHB, Wema Bank and Spring Bank, with some state governments and business executives occupying prominent places on the list.

The apex regulatory agency for money market said its action was "in furtherance of the efforts of the CBN to assist the banks affected by the outcome of the recent CBN/NDIC special examination."
For example, the troubled Wema Bank is being owed a total of N170.9 billion, with Global Fleet - Barrister Jimoh Ibrahim as chairman - owing a total amount of N3.2 billion, while Oodua Group of Companies is owing the bank a total balance of non-performing loan of N2.9 billion.

Equitorial Trust Bank has a total of non-performing loan balance of N46.158 billion, with Edo State-based business mogul, Sir Gabriel Igbinedion, having a balance of N1.460 billion non-performing loan to his account, while Conoil Plc. has a balance of N19.8 billion of non-performing loan to its accounts.

On its part, Bank PHB is being owed N170.960 billion, with Zamfara State government owing N1.5 billion and Chief Femi Otedola, N5.6 billion balance of non-performing loans respectively. Chief Hope Uzodima owes the bank the sum of N414.4 million.

Also on the list, the Unity Bank has a total of N36.585 billion non-performing loans, with Alhaji Kashim Ibrahim, topping the list with N1.8 billion. Others include Bayelsa State government, N121.4 million, Akwa Ibom and Anambra States, N283.5 million.

Spring Bank has a total of non-performing loans of N95.590 billion, with Mettle Energy and Gas Limited, owned by Chief Tony Anenih and Mr Osahon Asemota, owing the sum of N2.065 billion.
The CBN had recently released the debtors list of Fin Bank, Intercontinental Bank, Oceanic Bank and Union Bank .
The action of the CBN had led to the recovery of billions of naira by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for the affected banks.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200910150544.html