₦airaland Forum

MuchAdo:
Governors are powerful o

When people say Governors have just 1 vote, I laugh at their sheer ignorance.

OmoIjebuOde:
We Yoruba Christians are not fools. We will not vote for Muslim-Muslim evil ticket.

Do you realise how damaging this position is to the PO campaign? The SW are not divided along religious lines. Awolowo was a Christian who is adored as the best Yoruba leader of all time. SW Christians and Muslims alike are unanimous about that. Abiola was a Muslim but had support across religious divides. Now Tinubu. If you understand the dynamics of SW politics, you will urgently stop portraying them as divided along religious lines.

onuman:
Laudable.
In 2015, Muhammadu Buhari rode to power on the wings of anti corruption crusader.
In 2023, APC presidential candidate is Tinubu who forfeited drug trafficking money to the US government in the past. Tinubu is corruption personified.
Buhari will not want to sell his reputation for anti corruption and support a gang of Ganduje/Tinubu to clinch the presidential seat after him.
That's how the cookie in APC crumbled in 2023 February.

Which anti corruption crusader? The monies that Tinubu, Amaechi, Atiku, Kwankwaso and the rest used to sponsor his campaigns nko? Was he asleep when they were spending that money for his cause then?

Has this guy paid off the N11billion loan he is owing AMCON? Ordinary people's money that he and the greedy bankers took and have not returned? What of the several livelihoods of those impacted by their reckless and selfish lifestyles? Easy to come talk like saint.

Jnkay:
I am ashamed of my Yoruba brothers who don't see life beyond tribalism and religion. I bet you that if APC had brought Osinbajo as the presidential candidate, Igbos will vote Osinbajo instead of Obi and that is who they are when it comes to politics. They always go for the best no matter the tribe. They voted in favour of Obasanjo, Yaradua and Jonathan against they fellow tribe men that contested against these three presidents. They warned us about Buhari but we didn't listen to them because we were so clouded with tribalism and religious sentiment. If Tinubu as a Yoruba man is the best man for the job against Obi as igbo man, the Igbos will vote Tinubu against Obi. Secondly, if Authur Eze is contesting against Osinbajo, Igbos will vote Osinbajo against Author Eze because they always go for the younger, smart and service oriented as well as the best for the job. But we Yorubas has failed to understand that sentiment and tribalism is the reason Nigeria is not moving forward yet we pray every day in church and mosque for God's help but we refused to do our part. Obi is younger, creative and active for the job compare to others.

Not sure the facts support this claim. Through history, the SE did not support the so called 'Yoruba' choices;
1. Awolowo in 1979 and 1983
2. Abiola in 1993
3. Olu Falaye in 1999
4. Now Tinubu in 2023

I actually find this sort of Femi Adesina's story ridiculous. Perhaps he meant it as a joke to calm frayed nerves. I particularly have not spent more than 20k cash in a month. My transfers go through 80% of the time and that is ok though can be better.

I sympathise with those whose livelihoods depend on cash, those in remote places or those in urban centres who because of convenience can't rely on electronic banking. Market people, bus drivers and conductors, panel beaters and such people.

Implementation of this policy may be poor but the policy itself is a good one, whose benefits will be apparent with time. I have no sympathy for those who can very well transcact their businesses electronically albeit with some initial discomfort but choose not to and thereafter cry to high heavens.

A specific case in point is the guy who went naked in a banking hall claiming he had 500k in his account and only needed 100k cash to settle urgent matters but couldn't get it. For Chrissakes, this guy has 500k in his account. Why hasn't he applied for bank cards and online banking facility? I bet you that what he needed cash for could be done through electronic transfer without making any noise about it.

There are issues no doubt but more than half of them are overdramatised by Nigerians.

Pa Adebanjo supported GEJ in 2015. If that had succeeded, the South by the end of GEJ's administration in 2019 would have been in power since return to democracy for 16 of the 18 yrs. In that scenario, the likes of Pa Adebanjo would have seen nothing wrong with it. If you stand on principles, at least be consistent

I wonder why Peter Obi has not spoken out against the poor Implementation of this naira redesign policy. I reckon that he like Atiku wants to benefit from the fallout, not minding if it is at the expense of the suffering of ordinary people. The characters of our politicians are being tested. PO missed a golden opportunity to be on the side of the masses. Any attempt now will be seen as afterthought

One of Buhari's biggest character flaws is delegation of crucial duties to trusted aides. He doesn't take responsibility for anything and blames others. Why not step in and take charge. Anybody with a modicum of leadership instinct will know that this naira redesign will bring chaos to the common man. And doing this within a tight timeline during a crucial election period with acute fuel shortage is recipe for avoidable disaster. He enjoys tremendous respect and adulation so much so that no one wants to call him out directly. So he should rise up to the leadership challenge

This is an extremely insensitive thing to say by Pa Adebanjo. So he believes war will right all the wrongs in our country? Pls ask those who have witnessed war before. You get set back by more than 50yrs.
We have had Muslim and Christian leaders. Can he tell the difference between one or the other from their performances? Who will fight for those that don't practise either religion? Better to campaign on competence and capacity than seek to divide people along religious lines.

Why won't Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour and Jandor join forces if they want to have a slim chance of unsitting APC in Lagos? Such political naivety. Same thing at the national level where PDP is split into 3 or 4 factions. You wonder if they can't apply basic political strategy. To unseat a behemoth like APC, you must come with a mighty and potent coalition, same thing APC did to PDP in 2015.

Victorclean1:
No, I think SE is rejecting his incompetency. SE voted massively for Abiola cos they see a potential in him. No CEO will hire incompetent man to manage his company.

SE did not support or vote massively for Abiola in 1993. Abiola lost in the SE.

I was surprised to see Kadaria Ahmed anchoring the weekend edition of the morning show on Arise TV. What is going on here? She is no ordinary journalist so couldn't be looking for a full time job at Arise.

Is Nduka Obaigbena trying to pacify the powers that be? Is it a short term assignment? Is it this, is it that? Too many questions.

This is a well rehearsed script being played by FG. They are using CONUA to break ASUU"s stranglehold on university education. I can bet both letters are part of the grand plan.

Truth is that govt cannot fund education alone. ASUU and well meaning Nigerians must enter into constructive dialogues on more sustainable funding models. Even with about 8% funding provided for education in the 2023 budget (most of it for university education), it is still a far cry from what is required.

We need to get to the bottom of these incessant strikes and be open to ideas. ASUU should be more engaging and less confrontational. In the short term, FG can commit to paying 4 months backlog of salaries to the lecturers to demonstrate good faith and save ASUU's face.

The Governor explained that Anambra has a N5.5 trillion annual economy, but 99.8% of the income is in private hands.

As Soludo said, if only people can pay 5% tax (currently 0.2%), Anambra will turn to Dubai. People need to pay their taxes as Govt needs the money for development. Anambra should be generating nothing less than N30bln per month IGR.

Good move if implemented to the letter

I think beyond the emotions of labeling the budget as 'hopeless' and dwelling on the deficit side of it (tragic I accept), madam Oby could have advanced more reasonable arguments against it.

The options that guarantee little to no budget deficit is to (singly or in combination);

1. Cut recurrent expenditure by half (sack workers and don't increase salaries). You can get some mileage here but by how much and look at the effect on unemployment?

2. Remove subsidies and reduce deficit by N6trn. This leads immediately to increase in fuel prices to be borne by Nigerians

3. Increase revenues through blocking loopholes and extending tax net to cover our largely informal sector.

Number 3 appeals to me but that will take time. The few that pay taxes are now taxed even more thereby disincentivizing them. The agricultural, Trade and ICT sectors contribute more than half of our GDP but those sectors are largely informal and contribute little to taxes.

So madam Oby should choose among very difficult options as there is no silver bullet to this budget deficit problem.

Kobonaire234:
That's why we have a participatory democracy...so that you can put pressure on them not to steal.

Democracy is hard work. The people in sane countries enjoy because many people did the hard work...including getting killed and suffering...to ensure that such benefits were present.

If you don't want to do the hard work, just say so.



1.The reason why we have bad refineries is because of subsidy.

Subsidy is what we pay the petrol industry to cover their losses from selling petrol below the price of production and the market price. The problem is, because the cost of production is always rising...and is never static...subsidy prices rise.

This meant that refineries never had enough profit to be repaired properly. Also, since free government money was coming in in the name of subsidy...sabotage happened.

This won't have happened if there was no subsidy, and petrol was sold at a profit. The refineries would work because sabotage would mean loss of money. And since no free government money, they would collapse. Any profit made would be funnelled into making sure the refineries work.

2.And the reason why we cannot have new refineries is because subsidy.

NNPC sells fuel to market at N148 (to depot). It costs at least N250 to produce one liter of fuel. Importing the thing bumps the cost to N510 as at novemeber. NNPC has to sell the fuel at N148. #

Let the above sink in.

That means NNPC uses all its money to make sure fuel is cheap. In order to keep NNPC from collapsing....government channels a lot of subsidy money to them. But as the cost of producing fuel and transporting it rises, the more NNPC has to spend, and the more government bails it out....and the money starts comming from other parts of the budget...

That means a deficit....which has to be covered for....which means....LOANS.


What happens is partial removal of subsidy.

In 2011, fuel was being sold at N65 per liter...meanwhile it was costing N99 to bring in that liter.

Government raised prices to N97...meaning subsidy was N2 per liter.

By 2015, when Buhari took over, retail price was N87....but the cost of bringing in the fuel had jumped to N132 per liter...meaning that it was now costing N45 per liter to subsidize that fuel.

Buhari had to partially remove subsidy...and raised prices to N145...

Partial removal is done to free up some money for government spending, and reduce dependency on loans. It is not a permanent fix...it is a temporary fix.

Has been ongoing for years. In 1981...fuel cost 15 kobo. Now it costs N180. 42 decades of partial removals. If not....

If it was not done...by now you won't hav ebeen paid salaries for 5 years, while government looks for loans just to pay for cheap fuel.




So do the hard work of participating in your democracy. Leave this site...and be an activist.

If not, then stop all this chant about 'We can't trust government'. That was what was said back in 1993...and thanks to that attitude we ended up with something that has been bad for our economy.

Thanks for the robust response. I have nothing more to add

OBJ's letter is a paradox. How do you separate the message from the messenger? Here is someone who removed Governors and Senate Presidents at will, supervised some of the worst elections in our history, elevated politics to do-or-die status, attempted to amend the constitution for a third term and when that didn't work, imposed an unhealthy Yaradua on Nigeria.

He now pontificates on democratic ethos, agility, competence etc. Completely opposite to the message in his letter. Imagine him saying every candidate wants to attain what he achieved and the whole letter dripping with self adulation.

The fact is that a Tinubu or Atiku cannot be controlled by OBJ or the so called retired Generals. They don't like strong willed and independent minded candidates. OBJ wants someone whose ears can be pulled if he goes astray. Same thing he did to GEJ when he couldn't get his way with him again. He hasn't learnt his lessons, I don't think Peter Obi is easily manipulated so assuming Obi wins and along the line they fall apart, he will start writing series of letters to sabotage him. I don't even know how to place that letter

Moh247:
Wole Soyinka, Banky W, 9ice , Funke Akindele , Femi Falana, All Opposition party Politician from APGA , ACN, CPC, ANPP all protested

This is quite true. In 2012, many folks protested across the political divide. Even Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as Finance Minister was taken by surprise at the timing of the subsidy removal announcement.

In any case, events since then have shown that GEJ was right and we should have removed this subsidy long ago. Umaru Musa Yaradua of blessed memory that many eulogise today reversed the sale of existing moribund refineries to the Dangote group and stopped a lot of ongoing reforms of the OBJ era. Those actions had long lasting negative impact on our today's economy.

Key thing though is that all the leading presidential candidates today want to remove subsidy so I see no issue debating it one way or another. With Dangote refinery due on stream before end of this year, some modular refineries in operation and others coming on stream plus rehabilitation of existing refineries, the foundation has been laid to resolve this issue once and for all. Let us just wait till all these take off. Nothing else anyone can do for now no matter how intelligent they may sound

In my view, the only deals Tinubu can make with them are as follows;

1. Concede Rivers State Governorship to Wike
2. Support Ugwuanyi and Ortom's Senatorial bids

No other deal substantially improves Tinubu's position. APC's Benue and Oyo governorship ambitions are bright so they may want to gamble it. Ugwuanyi can work towards 25% in Enugu State. Kalu and his likes will work hard to get 25% for APC in Abia so no reason to cut a deal with Ikpeazu. And because the Presidential election comes before the Governorship election, it gives Tinubu some leverage in the negotiations. Interesting couple of months ahead.

Akin Osuntokun needs to answer those questions that Seun posed to him properly. How are you a Senatorial candidate of a party but not only campaigning for another party but accepted to be the DG of its Presidential Campaign Council? He is not even a card carrying member of Labour Party but sits on the pinnacle of its organisation. I can't really wrap my head around that. What is worth doing is worth doing well otherwise you have no moral right to criticise others. The advisable thing to do is to renounce his senatorial candidacy via a letter to ZLP leadership and registration as an LP member.

naptu2:
https://punchng.com/800m-rail-will-ease-cargo-movement-lekki-port/

Thanks very much for sharing. Such a worthwhile project.

A few questions though, mostly for clarification;

1. What routes will the rail line traverse? A route(s) map could have helped with understanding

2. Tying part of this to the yet-to-be-awarded coastal rail network project introduces uncertainty. Not sure you can make an investment decision without knowing how that other project will pan out. I guess the dependency as per timing of construction will be factored in. Could take a while yet

3. How will it link to the Western and Northern markets? Best is through the Lagos-Ibadan-Abuja-Kano rail line. Is that the plan and if yes, will be good to see the route to that connection. Is it part of the $800mln project cost?

4. I would have expected that goods and containers' evacuation strategy would have been part of the Lekki Deep Sea Port design concept and not left as a new and separate project after commissioning. I stand to be corrected here

All in all, very good development. Just needs some clarification to fully appreciate all dimensions. Thanks once again.

Thisday's analysis is wishy washy in my opinion. There are many states where Obi and Kwankwaso are unrepresented. What does that really mean? It gives Atiku the leading position in the SS. I couldn't even place it so I just passed it over. What is the basis? Completely unrealistic

Lagos-Ibadan and Sagamu-Benin expressways were tolled for decades before OBJ dismantled them for various reasons and instead included a 'road tax' as part of what we pay for petrol and diesel. I actually preferred that model but I believe over time, that was looted.

Fashola mentioned a plan to toll federal highways starting with about 12 of them in the first phase (see below link). A possible reason why some of those other roads are not yet tolled may be because they are 'live' roads with existing traffic so to close down and build toll booths may be disruptive at this point in time. They will eventually be tolled.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2021/02/fg-plans-tolling-on-12-highways/

Listening to the duo, I haven't heard any earth-shaking or course-changing ideas offered. Nothing that warms my heart just yet.

This is a masterstroke by PMB. They kept it under wraps until now. This 'buys' Northern votes for whomever PMB supports to be President.

Options to an APC govt is unfortunately grim.

PDP led us to this sorry pass in 2015 with gross mismanagement of the huge resources at its disposal. One would think that adequate lessons were learnt in 2015 and 2019 but alas, none was learnt. They missed an opportunity to reform the party and bring in fresh faces filled with ideas and dynamism. Unfortunately they stuck to their past, recycling failed politicians all over. Imagine the fracas in the PDP at the moment with politicians jostling to protect their interests and share offices and largesse among themselves even before they've won the election. That is what all the current discordant tunes are about.

It remains to be seen if LP has made a strategic move to go it on its own. The lack of alliance with others has left its flanks seriously undermined. Even if it pulls through, it has to go into serious deal making with other strange bedfellows to stabilise its govt. The majority in the House and Senate by the 2 main political parties will always dangle over an LP president to force him to 'play ball'. In the end, govt will hit a brickwall with little or no progress (recall that OBJ and PMB had to fight their own party members in the National Assembly to get anything done). The Anambra example of impeachments is a case in point here.

Sokoto State has the highest poverty rate of over 90% in Nigeria. You wonder what real impact Governor Tambuwal has made.

Wike has come a long way in political sophistry and strategy. He is keeping his cards close to his chest by romancing with all parties except his own party at the National level. He clarified at least twice during his speech that he is not saying PO will win, but he believes he is a good candidate. It doesn't take much to read between the lines of what he was really saying.

At a point, he told the crowd, mostly Igbo spare parts traders at Ikoku, venue of Bridge commissioning that he doesn't want to see them playing football on the streets on election day because he knows many do not have their PVCs. There is clearly tension between the traders and the Governor dating back several years. People will be watching Wike's moves very closely.

I'm surprised Prof Utomi is saying this. Attending debates is neither constitutional nor a provision of the electoral law, so where does disqualification come from? Good to say Nigerians can decide not to vote if candidates decide not to debate. Debates are good but not the only means of communicating your plans to the people. If we didn't know Gov Okowa's track record in Delta State, a voter can be carried away by his eloquence at the last debate. A number of factors including track record and antecedents should be at play when voters make their choices.

Why is it so difficult for Peter Obi to deal with this IPOB issue squarely? It is currently a proscribed terrorist organisation. What i expect him to say is that the organisation remains proscribed until a certain minimum expectation is met for any form of dialogue. That should include suspending secessionist calls, disbanding the military wing, submitting their weapons and signing an MoU to be peaceful ahead of negotiations. Peter Obi's intransigence on the matter will make people conclude that he supports IPOB's agenda.