₦airaland Forum

EasternLeopard: If those individuals re-invest the money into the economy it will grow

Bros it can never grow. Individuals will not provide the enabling environment and infrastructure only govt can provide. No investor will ever think of investing without any noticeable infrastructure in.place. That will translate to lesser IGR for the govt and the wave of emigration of your able bodied men to other regions that have such infrastructure, will continue and they will keep developing the economy of those regions for them by the recipient economic ventures and the accrued taxes they will pay.

ketoprofen: Global map? Which ones? what put Lagos on the global map is FG investments esp those ports n other investment which attracted service companies and created a cycle.
I was only trying to educate that super mofo, that SE is not as dry just cos it is not contributing much to the FG .
As for GDP generating tnz in the formal sector , these are tnz done by the govt which they have failed to do for se .
Like I said, u don't do them for the heck of it, the politicians shd be made to swear they will use them.
Imagine states with high gdps having the highest debt profile, does it make sense?
Let's not be carried away by these tnz when there are better tnz to worry abt

See this mengistu.

What is the debt profile of US and Europe?

This is the logic behind.public sector indebtedness. Pick up the indebtedness now to build infrastructure that will lead to more socio-economic activities and it will translate into higher IGR for govt and more amenities will be provided.

The infrastructure built by indebtedness will still be built by the ones that did not borrow in the nearest future, but at an higher cost. The cost would have increased because of inflation.

I repeat, penny wise pound foolish.

ketoprofen: Erroneous.
There is a diff btw contributing to the FG and contributing to urself .
The SE is economically buoyant as a lot of activities go there but the revenue from them dont go to the FG.
If u mention ur LGA of origin, it can't match the greatness of nnewi or aba or onitsha for eg, but all the money from nnewi go back to the private individuals that own the investments.
Its not by chance anambra n abia are two of 5states with the largest cash flow or anambra having the 3rd highest conc of banks and bank deposits.
Get your facts right first.

How does money in the pocket of individuals, translates into the development of.the whole region?
How has the money in their pockets improve the GDP of the region or stop emigration of able bodied men out of the region?

Penny wise, pound foolish.

ChrisOD: It's a cycle. More investing (rich) people, more revenue, more productivity, more income. That is why urban areas with high population (pop) are more attractive than rural areas with less pop. You do not attract the pop if there are no investments. And investments won't come of there is no pop to sustain it. SE seems to be in a bind on this one. But as the OP suggested, Igbos can kill two birds with one stone: move back to SE in large numbers and do so with your investments.

You could not have put it better. Well done.

The stemming down.of emigration wave, should be their priority, rather than looking for things that are not possible :

1. Political power in other people's region
2. State of residency to be the basis of citizenship.

They are only assisting others to build their economies, regions and even countries. Yes, they have supposedly real and unreal mansions in their villages, but those are not contributing anything to the macro and micro- economics of the region, as a whole.

Nice analysis so far.

The question is, can the population of SE support and sustain investment?

You need to stem the wave of emigration first.

SirShymex: Yes, those born in foreign countries can have their citizenships stripped off, but not UK nationals born and raised in the UK. As for those cardiff boys - I don't think they can be charged for just appearing in videos. To charge them, they'll need more proofs. The highest they'll get is questioning - and rehabilitation afterwards. They can only be charged, if Iraq were to charge them for terrorism, with the UK coming in to jail them in the UK because they're Brits.

The UK isn't America, the laws are there. Why do you think it took years to deport Abu Hamza, despite the fact that he wasn't born in the UK? And the plonker was on benefits and legal aid all through his ordeal - getting fat with no hand.

FBI coming to man UK airports is bad joke. MI5 and Scotland Yard are more effective than FBI, so what's the need for FBI agents? Perhaps, they want foreigners to brutalise Brits - so as to avoid lawsuits.

Hey shymexx, quite an age. Hope you are good.

Reconciliation ko Reconciliaki ni.

Oduduwa na senior of Nri
Sango get class pass Amadioha
Awolowo was, is and will always be greater than Zik of the Hamlet
Wole Soyinka is the Nobel Laureate, while the best Achebe can be is the chief propagandist of rebels.
SW will always be the land of prosperity, that flows withh milk and honey, while SE will continuee to wallow in abject poverty, erosion and desertion.

No be today, no reconcilliation UNTIL Cain descendants learn how to respect others, most especially the people that taught them how to spell their names.

Part of Stealer Oduah's reformation.

When she was mismanaging money meant for the drainage of the airport, to buy odeshi-proof BMW cars, they said she is there daughter, touch not!!!!!

Their "intanasonal" airport can be flooded too, who cares?

Y1bos too want something that is good. From 100% of Lagos population, they have reduced it to 43 now. You are gradually coming to your senses. You will still reduce it to 10.

Shameless people, always running away from their land. Let their best brains go back to their slum of gully erosion and turn it around first. Show me your achievement and I will know what you are capable of.

They are our slaves that we are using to develop our growing economy, while theirs continue in perpetual doldrum. They are born to live on our land, serve us and so shall it be. It's the commandment God Almighty gave their forefather Cain.

Like someone said, they will continue to be the office assistant we use them for.

AkinEgba: Every person except hediots like you knows the position of SE and SS on the matter of GEJ.

See these ignoramus with cockroach brain. What is the usefulness of your position that you cannot face the North and say it to their face, instead of grumbling behind their back.

Idi0ta.

waiting to hear the voice of SS, SE and Middle Belt too.

The two-month ultimatum from the Northern Elders Forum to President Jonathan to rescue the abducted Chibok girls rekindles fault lines in the Nigerian natio

It was a battle they inherited from their ancestors. The faceoff that emerged yesterday between Afenifere, the Yoruba Socio Cultural group and the Northern Elders Forum, NEF over the feasibility and competence of President Goodluck Jonathan’s reelection was a recall of the mutual suspicion that existed between Nigeria’s first indigenous regional leaders.


While the conflict of the forefathers was essentially centered around regional domination, the conflict that burst yesterday is on the surface focused on the fate of the more than 200 Chibok secondary schools abducted last April.
At the peak of the distrust between Nigeria’s founding fathers, the late Northern leader, Sir Ahmadu Bello was quoted as saying that his priority in filling job vacancies in the north would be “first a northerner, then an expatriate and then a southerner and that on contract.”

Bello’s assertion was to be the basis of the chasm and subsequent hostility that shadowed relations between the two sides of the country since independence.
The hostility which was fueled by the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election Chief Moshood Abiola was only partially soothed by the election of General Olusegun Obasanjo as president in 1999. However, since the Obasanjo phenomenon and the relegation of the north from its position of political dominance, the seeming discomfort of the north in playing second fiddle in the polity has taken a central role in the polity.

It has been especially so under President Jonathan who has generally been affirmed to be Nigeria’s most “troubled” leader. Jonathan has been troubled by the insurgency fanned by what was once thought to be a mainly Islamic agenda. The Islamic Boko Haram group which started by killing Christians, burning and bombing churches has lately expanded its agenda to killing non conforming Islamic leaders bringing to question the real motif of the group.
While some allege that it still has an Islamic agenda, the gruesome and unrestrained brutality of the group has given vent to a political agenda.

So when the NEF last Monday urged President Jonathan to forget re-election if the Chibok girls are not returned, the group whether advertently or inadvertently rekindled the regional distrust that existed between the north and the south.
In a statement issued by Barrister Solomon Dalung and Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, the group alleged that the ongoing insurgency in the north was aimed at politically and economically weakening the north to allow the easy reelection of President Jonathan.

“We also reject the notion that multiple internal security challenges such as attacks on villages, ethno-religions conflicts and banditry springing up by the day in many parts of the north are all a coincidence,” the statement said. “Indeed, we are convinced that most of these conflicts are being engineered to weaken the North politically and economically by interests which intend to exploit such weaknesses for electoral benefits.”

Alleging that the administration was deliberately allowing the crisis to fester, the NEF said:
“The lack of a strong will at the level of the presidency to fight it, as well as deep-seated corruption and incompetence in governments and in the management of our security challenges has allowed a band of terrorists to take and hold vast parts of our land and populations hostage, while every citizen lives in fear that they will be its next victim.”
The NEF which has such prominent Jonathan bashers as Dr. Junaid Mohammed, Prof. Ango Abdullahi in its fold and had never hidden its revulsion of a second term for Jonathan or the aspiration of any other southerner, was quick to push forward its most notable agenda, to wit, that Jonathan should not re-contest.

“In the light of our firm conviction that the insurgency and related security challenges pose threats to the 2015 elections and the survival of our nation, we strongly advise President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to bring an end to the insurgency in all its manifestations and produce the Chibok girls before the end of October, 2014. The circumstances under which our fellow citizens in and around Gwoza in Borno State in particular live and die will not be tolerated by any people who have a government and a leader sworn to defend them, and they must be reversed immediately. In the event that President Jonathan fails to do this, Nigerians will be left with the only conclusion that he has forfeited his right to ask for our mandate beyond 2015.”

Afenifere in a sharp rebuttal was quick to enter the fray yesterday. The group in a statement issued by its spokesman, Mr. Yinka Odumakin said the statement by the NEF was an exposure of the linkage between the Islamic Boko Haram sect and some northern elites.

“By linking the electoral fortune of President Jonathan in 2015 to “Bring Back Our Girls” latest by October as well as ending Boko Haram at the time, the “elders” have just confirmed the suspicions in the land that the activities of the Islamic Sect Boko Haram is either enjoying the sponsorship of some elites of the North or at the least having their sympathy.”

Afenifere was quick to spot out what it referred to as the unwillingness of the northern elders to condemn the activities of Boko Haram while focusing on the alleged failures of the president.

“In all the sound and fury of the Forum, we searched in vain any outright condemnation of Boko Haram. And this has .been the pattern of most reactions from the majority of the elites of the region who always appear politically correct to the insurgents while using their activities to rattle the government. The most audacious of this perfidy is this direct put by the Northern Elders Forum.”

“A traumatized country that has been held in anxiety over the fate of the abducted girls cannot but challenge these elders at this stage to appeal to their wards in Boko Haram to release the innocent young girls who now appear cannon fodders in the struggle for “we want our power back”.
“A time has come to let these elites know they can no longer play the ostrich by burying their heads in the sand and think no one sees them because they are seeing no one.”

“We, however, frown at the disingenuous attempt by unconscionable elites who are now dishing out two months ultimatum to end an insurgency that they prepared the atmosphere for in decades of exploitation and iniquitous dealings with their own people. Can they name one country that has defeated terror in 60 days?”

“How many rulers have we had in Nigeria since 1960 and how many come from the North? Why did it not occur to any of them that the Almajiris should go to school?” “The country has suffered enough of the errors of these leaders which has now produced terror in the land, they should stopping pouring salt on the injury,” Afenifere said

iconize: If odinma is not Orlando owoh then he's superstar1.

he be like say the madness and ebola that is running in your family has finally infected your vestigial brain.

CyberWolf: then how will firing rocket into Israel solve their problem?

It can only bring more suffering on them.

The beauty of it is, Israelis have almost the same temperament has the Arabs, and their religions -- Judaism and Islam-- permits going to the extreme to achieve set objectives. They are both warring groups. Only Israel can match the madness of the Arab world.

Idrismusty97: How can you put some people in prison and expect them to keep quite? Gaza is the biggest prison in the world! They can't even go fishing in their own territory. Anyone coming to Gaza must pass through Israel, Food, clothing and all materials coming to Gaza must first be scrutinized by Israel. If you are in this condition won't you fire rockets? Even a British MP said if he would fire rockets if he is in Gaza(Although he was penalised for this statement). Israel would never sleep with two eyes closed as long as they continue to enslaved Gaza and the Palestinians, As long as they continue keeping the Arabs land as spoils of war.

There is nothing the Arab world can do about it, Israel has already established herself as a formidable nation in their midst. The smarter ones like Jordan and Egypt have recognised that and moved on.

The whole of Arab world is even in turmoil, they do not have the time of Israel for now. I believe the turmoil is the hand work of CIA, a covert operation of keeping countries sponsoring terrorism busy. Rather than having time to fund and support terrorism, they will be busy quelling their own internal crisis.

Idrismusty97: Yep! China may not care about the war in Gaza. It is none of their business, they even have terrorist to deal with in their soil. In the case of Russia they may steal help the Arab world. After all the enemies of your enemy is your friend. Russia will do that just to punish the west. They have even started signing economic deals with countries in the middle east(Iran, china and India included).

Russia can never try it. Their defeat in Afghanistan comes to mind. Their home grown terrorism -- chenchya muslim terrorists -- is not totally dead. Supporting Arabs, is indirectly supporting the terrorism waiting to ignite, in their own backyard.

Idrismusty97: The Iran supreme leader have called for all the Arab countries to unite against Israel. Since you know about the Egypt cease fire proposal you should have known that the Arab world aren't ready for a war(Especially with Isreal). They once fourth a fruitless war with Israel, That is a painful scenario no Arabs want to witness again. Israel have the full backing of western countries(Europe and America). They are sending billions of dollars worth of weapons and funding to the Israeli army.

The best the Arab countries can do for now is to send weapons to Gaza and proposed cease fire. If Russia/China step in for the Arabs then that would be a different ball game entirely. There is speculation that Russia is planning to cut a separate nuclear deal with Iran and buy their oil amidst sanction. Iran would finally be in par with Israel. This would be East(Russia/China) vs West(Europe/America).

Meanwhile Israel are planning on banning Aljazeera and any media that refused to succumb to their influence. The Aljazeera reporters are targeted by Israel since the start of the war. Is this the kind of country you support? When freedom of speech is limited.

China and Russia can never support the Arabs. they have terrorsits group they are fighting in-house already, and you expect them to back supporters and financiers of terrorism. They will be more or less arming the terrorists on their soil. it would be better for them, to just give them the weapons and funding directly.

vedaxcool: Shifting it how?

www.punchng.com/news/fg-to-borrow-7-9bn-from-world-bank-adb-others/

show the world when the loan was availed and not when there was an intent.

Luvly goal by chicharito

Utd 3 Madrid 1

Bale is rap1ng Evans. Jeeeez.

vedaxcool: www.punchng.com/news/fg-to-borrow-7-9bn-from-world-bank-adb-others/

Goatluck ebola jonathan borrowed $1B courtesy of nigeria membership of the bank, interest free offcourse.

The ode u reffered to clearly understands that saturday and sunday was imposed on every nigeria by christian colonialist britain!

Very funny.

Saturday and Sunday were imposed by Christian colonialist. It seems you like shifting goal post. You first mentioned Sunday as the sabbath day and now another argument.

The same colonialist brought modernity and education, which we are eternally grateful for. Wish all part of the country embraced education the way a part did, we won't be talking of some brainwashed id1ots on a killing spree.

Kindly support your claim of Jona-woteva borrowed from OiC with a link.

What has been the advantage of being a member of OIC over the years, apart from propagation of terrorism on our soil, importation of high calibre explosives by Iranian into our country and the the usual senseless and barbaric killings of some criminal minded northerners.

Its high time we realise that Xtianity and Islam are not the only religion in this country.

The mumu referring to sunday has sabbath day should educate himself. Saturday is sabbath and its not for christians. It is for people practising judaism. The ode should learn to differentiate judaism from christianity. If 80% were practising judaism, the world will never know peace. Israel is state of judaism, that is why they can match violence for violence, madness for madness.

Christianity preaches peace, judaism preaches an eye for an eye. that is the reason Israel can never allow the killing of one of their citizens, without retaliating in equal measures.

Mr. Yinka Odumakin, Publicity Secretary of the Pan-Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere and a delegate to the National Conference. In this interview he speaks among others on the gains of the confab and why it may be difficult to scuttle the report as being allegedly planned by some people. Excerpts:

By Clifford Ndujihe

FIVE months into the confab, what has been your experience?
I think it is a mixed bag. For those of us who have over the years agitated that we
need to discuss the future of this country, it was a dream come true when President Goodluck Jonathan on March 17, 2014 inaugurated the conference and he gave us the charge to discuss every issue as regards the future of Nigeria and to reach a consensus on how Nigeria should be rebuilt. And there he turned to the National Assembly and said, ‘I hope you are talking about a referendum? Even though you are amending the constitution, if there is a need for a new constitution, do not shy away from it.’

We spent the first few days of the conference over rules and procedures. And the conference was going to break up over voting pattern, first it was 75 per cent, then later we had to settle for 70 per cent. After that we broke into committees. We broke into 20 committees in all. There are many of us who thought the committees were unwieldy and to be honest with you many of the issues came out under policy issues. Many of these policy issues are what a presidential candidate can commission a team to prepare for him in a manifesto-light, road, etc. Some of us believe the conference should discuss hardware, the policy issues are software.

When we came back from the committees we spent quality time looking at the policy issues and left the critical issues towards the end. With benefit of hindsight, I think it was a good decision because if we had put devolution first, maybe it would have been the end of the conference.

This conference is a major improvement on past conferences. It discussed the issues of Nigeria in depth. The quality of delegates was quite impressive. Most of the delegates would not have got to the conference if we had gone through the kind of elections we hold in Nigeria. There was quality debate. We dealt with reports of 19 committees, passed about 500 resolutions and three-quarters of devolution until we got to the thorny issue of derivation, which had always been the Achilles heels of every conference since 1988. Eventually, we passed the buck to the president because centrifugal forces, who are suddenly aroused by the governors, came and tried to cause confusion after being asked: What are you doing? Why did you allow local government to be de-listed? Why did you allow state police, state constitution, etc?

How did it happen?
When we got to the conference some of us were invited to a meeting called Consensus Building Group which was facilitated by Prof Agboola Gambari and Dr Raymond Dokpesi. We were delegates across the zones. We tried to build consensus around the various committees. We took the report of a committee, discussed and reached a consensus. Eventually, this developed into a meeting of minds, first between the South and the Middle belt. So a document was produced detailing the points and the position of the various zones on each point. At a point, it was agreed that the entire six zones should have that kind of consensus and a report was drafted.

Delegates from the South put a motion before the conference, which was moved by Senator Aniete Okon and I seconded it. It was signed by major leaders from the South – E.K Clark, General Akinrinade, Olu Falae, etc. that was the time they were trying to shut down debate and said now there should be no more debate, that we should adopt every report.

We said no and the leadership agreed that we should continue the debate on reports. That was the day Gambari sent a message to Dokpesi that they would no longer attend the meeting. The next meeting that was called, it was only the South and Middle Belt that attended.

The next thing we saw was that they started sponsoring all kinds of publications in northern papers-that there is a hidden agenda, there is an already prepared constitution, Dokpesi has been circulating the constitution, that Prof Bolaji Akinyemi, the deputy chairman had called some northern leaders to persuade them, that money was being shared, etc.

That was how the issue came to the floor of the conference and the conference was going to have a lock down again. Prof Akinyemi explained what he had been doing-to call all sides involved in knotty issues and resolve them before it comes to the plenary.

Dokpesi gave the background to the whole meeting and pointed out that Prof Gambari and his team were trying to scuttle the conference, that the document has nothing to do with constitution but consensus built around issues discussed.

By the time we crossed that hurdle, they now came back to say the position we took in adopting some critical issues was not right. We should not have used voice vote, we should have voted using 70:30 and we should reopen issues we had taken decisions on.

The rule of the conference is very clear: any matter on which decision has been taken cannot be reopened.
Eventually, we got to derivation. All along, there had been all kinds of discussions trying to reach consensus. The South-South came with 25 per cent; the consensus group recommended 21 per cent and by the time we got to the plenary, what was agreed was 18 per cent.

We now said the reason there is so much hues and cries over derivation is because not everybody is bringing something to the table. In the First Republic when everybody was bringing something to the table, derivation was 50 per cent. Nobody complained.

We have the geological map of Nigeria, which shows there is large deposit of mineral resources in every part of Nigeria, that if we give five per cent increase to derivation making 18 per cent, we should devote another five per cent to development of mineral resources so that we can share prosperity instead of sharing money from one part of the country. Friends from the far North said no.

Eventually after a series of meetings and discussions, they said they agreed to that but there should be another five per cent for insurgency, which was called intervention fund.

First of all, we cannot make terrorism economic feature of our life. If you say you are giving this money to terrorism, you are telling other parts of the country to go and start terrorism so that they can access money from the centre.

And the money should be called National intervention fund, to take care of problems, disaster in all parts of the country. Eventually, we agreed, let’s have this fund starting with the North-East and other parts of the country.
When we got to the floor, General Nwachukwu was called to present the report of the committee. He called Prof Gambari, who gave the report but when it got to the National Intervention Fund, he said it was meant for the North-East, North-West and North-Central. That was how the meeting broke up.

They were asked to go and come back nothing was achieved until the last minute when it became clear that some of our friends were looking forward to use this to make the conference inconclusive.

We said if that is the case let’s throw the matter back to the president to set up a technical committee.
But the truth of the matter is the president does not need a technical committee to fix derivation, he can do it by fiat. The 1999 constitution says derivation shall not be less than 13 per cent, it did not say not more than 13 per cent.

Definitely, fair is fair. You cannot deny the South-South derivation because it is in their area we are exploring now, tomorrow we may explore in other parts of the country and they will ask for these things.
But the challenge we have as a country is we have started accepting indolence as a way of life; wealth without work.

Between 2009 and 2012, four years, when you look at the revenue that accrued to this country and how it was shared, you will see that in those four years the South-South gave the federation account an average of 68 per cent; the South-West contributed 23 per cent and South-East, eight per cent.

The average for the North is zero per cent in those four years. When you go to local government allocation, the North took 54 per cent. The South that produced 100 per cent of the revenue got 46 per cent.

We now said, let’s democratise prosperity, let everybody go and look for gold, calcium, limestone, etc in his area but they said no. they want to make terrorism an item for derivation but by and large the conference management prevented people from scuttling the conference. We will now go back on August 11 to dot the ‘Is’ and cross the ‘Ts’.

But there was agreement that derivation should be increased from 13 per cent to 18 per cent. What happened to that agreement?

Some consensus was built but we had not voted on it at the plenary before they brought the issue of five per cent for terrorism.

On reports that some northerners are plotting to scuttle the report of the conference
I want to say to those our friends that you cannot do an abortion after the baby has been born. The template for new Nigeria has been laid at this conference; to now say you will abort it is to commit murder with consequences. So any attempt to scuttle this conference now is to murder the future of Nigeria and I do not know whether we will fold our hands and allow you to murder the future of Nigeria.

If there is any book that should be read in Arewa House at this moment, I will recommend Barbara Tuchman’s “The March of Folly” where the author brilliantly showed how nations work against their enlightened self-interest.

He gave many examples, one of them was Britain. As British colony, all America was asking for was four seats in the British Parliament. In those days, it took three months to travel from America to Britain. But Britain refused.

That refusal led to one thing and one thing led to another until America fought the war of independence. So, the far North should know that there is a new dawn in Nigeria. The spirit of the people has been unleashed and you cannot hold it back, you cannot bind the people under the old order. Any attempt to do that will be courting unpleasant feelings.

The people of Nigeria have decided at this conference how they want to live as a people. If you now think because you lost on some items you want to scuttle the exercise, it is either you don’t want to be part of the new Nigeria or you want to opt out of it. To think you alone will reverse the will of Nigerians is a joke taken too far.