₦airaland Forum

[quote author=Omo_Tier1]Maybe you need to go to Israel or the Netherlands and see how Engineering works with nature in mind are used to steer water bodies and protect infrastructure like roads. ACN is very much on point! In a sane society, the Central government would make this flooding a national issue and ensure that appropriate response is given to those who have been affected by it. Is GEJ any more human than those whose entire belongings have been washed away by this flood? What will it cost Him to go visit the people and show some emotion support while He instructs the relevant government agencies to respond adequately? The emergency funds appropriated in the 2012 budget, what are they met for?

The truth remains that GEJ has left a soured taste in the mouth of those of us from the Niger Delta and We are serious disappointed in Him and His government. Like He has been rightly told in Brazil, after He leaves that office, it is Him who will live with that tag of a "Trainee President" and His conscience will forever accuse Him because He is failing to do what is right![/quote]Hey my frnd note this handle and dont respond to my comment if you do not know wot you are talking about.

Am curious though, could you intimidate me plz of d Engineering work that would protect road infrastructure along d path of two major rivers whose depth have risen to bw 10-15m which is d worst levels in a 100 yrs? U could also plz tell me after you would have finished describing this infrastructure miracle, how GEJ would have possibly built it under 2 yrs along d entire length of Niger, Benue and other major rivers in d country? You cud also go ahead and tell why many of d 'advanced' countries in d world- Britain, US, China, Japan, Australia etc- experience worst floods(including flooded roads) this yr, some even as recent as ysterday- are they not aware of this 'infrastructure' of yours? I will be waiting 4 dis wonderful exposition of yours.

2nd, who told you d FG have not been responding to d disaster? Did you read d comment that you are responding to? Who have been providing meteorological info on dis disaster to the public and state govts since last month and subsequently deploying d emergency agencies? Some of you guys would not have any clue about what is going on but just come into a discussion and start spitting rubbish.....

The only point that i agree with is that all d various responses going on now(from NEMA, SEMAs and various NGOs) should NOW be consolidated and Coordinated in one national 'office'/effort, perhaps d army called out and d President should return home to lead d process(doing everything to help d victims should be the uttermost sentiment in d minds of all of us instead of trying to play politics with their sufferings)

OYINBOGOJU: 2 points that is enough to make a reasonable President resign.

My God! Are some persons this dense? Did you actually read the comment you just responded to? Those two points are LIES; there is no element of truth in either of them, just some astonishingly shameless propaganda meant to sway people like you(if you are actually not one of d team if you know wot i mean)...

So the President should resign cos ACN chose to lie? Lai Mohammed is destroying d Acn in d long run by his utterances; and to think I actually thought it was d alternative.. **

The ACN's entire premise for dis silly talk is based on 2 points: the Abuja-Lokoja road's infrastructure 'bad state' caused d flooding(or made it worse perhaps) AND d president didnt send anyone to inspect d flooded areas. These are complete lies and shows d unfortunate shallowness d ACN have to sink to recently. How would the infrastructure of a road stop a river whose depth have risen to its highest levels in a 100yrs(10-15m) from been flooded? It beats d hell out of me. Perhaps if it was paved in pure gold d goddess of d river may have decided to avoid it and only flood d unpaved areas on its other side! obviously d gr8t infrastructure of some roads in Britain failed to protect them 4rm been flooded just ysterday; perhaps Lagos(an ACN state) have d worst road infrastructure in 9ja cos it always has d worst flooding in d entire country everytime rain falls 4 just a day?

On d president not sending anybody to d affected areas and not caring as Lai mohammed alleged- would d ACN tell us that they have not been watching their TV or reading papers where it was widely reported that ministers sent by d President immediately he held an emergency meeting with d northern governors on dis same flooding issue last week(which they took so seriously that d VP could not chair d Power Privatization meeting that was supposed to hold that day) have been visiting 9 states continuously since last week? Would they say they didnt see d 4 or 5 ministers that visited Kogi the day b4 yterday through yterday, which was also widely reported in d media?

It is unfortunate that ACN chose to sink this low and employ LIES to score cheap political points, and what is worst play politics wit d suffering of people(Nigerians); it is even more unfortunate that there are some ignorant/gullible people who would believe this crass propaganda.....to think that even till early this year I thought d ACN was d alternative to d PDP.

PDP, CPC, ACN- birds of same plumage. May God help us in dis country

leyom234: Well am an insider who understands government's plans write from onset. Let them just pay us our money or they should forget. By the time they pay us, we will be able to fuel generator but the common Nigerians who want privatisation will 'walk alone'.

So you are a PHCN staff? No wonda. Piece of Advice: go and start clearing yr desks now oh cos the best you can do is wot you are doing now wit d help of yr frnd- run yr mouth freely on d internet. But you guys are leaving there at least the way it is now

@1025 is dat you? You are a good storyteller(obviously!). Plz tell yr 'uncle' dat we said 'well done' esp wit d part about 'stolen mandate'..weldone too to you

Mallamabdul: This is a sign maturity shown by Maku,in order for the country to move forward and not dwell on the issues. And I respect him for that.

I do not think it is a mata of maturity anything. He just placed d govt he represents and himself in a bad light by cowardly apologizing when he was right. Even if just out of respect 4 d INSTITUTION of d Senate he wantd to show sm deference, he shld only have expressd 'Regrets' over any misunderstanding of his statements, assure them that he holds the institution in d highest regards while tactfully reaffirming d 'Rightness' of his previous statement

I actuali to pounce on these governors once i saw d headlines(afterall, it wud not be in the least surprising if PDP governors did smthing like this) but i had to tk a pulse afta i saw d source of d story: SaharaReporters. I honestly tk many of dier reports as merely speculative till other sources report same

The National Assembly's Resolutions should have the force of law? As in should be binding ? Are there actuali ppl in d National Assembly arguing this?..wondas have finally ended

maclatunji: People like you are clueless about what governance is all about, the government knew the volume of rain was expected to be humongous, this didn't come to this government as a surprise, Yet, they did next to nothing except for the occasional bland TV and radio advert. Do you know how much work Lagos State for example has done to mitigate flooding within its boundaries? The Federal Government has done next to nothing!

GEJ was busy teling the world yesterday that his government is ready and able to defend neighbouring countries from terrorists whilst a huge part of his own country is under water. Let's not talk about Boko Haram at the moment.

By now, a State of Emergency should have been declared in affected areas with all relevant government agencies fully mobilised to offer relief to the stricken people. GEJ should have requested global aid for the victims by now.

Smtimes you hv d tedency to speak from yr anus, apologies. You mean d govt shld hv built drains along d entire course of d rivers Benue and Niger? Really? What drainage system any where in d world(assuming you are still extremely naive enuf to bliv dat we can build such in 9ja) can withstand a flood whose levels are said to bw 10-15m?let even a quarter of dis get to Lagos(God 4bid) and lets see how wot u said d Lagos govt hv done can possible withstand anything...Stop playing politics wit d sufferings of odas; there shld actuali be a line. The various reliefs efforts 4rm d FG, state govts and NGOs shld however be coordinated at dis point- i agree wit u on dat

Witi: Apart from the torrental rainfall and the water released from cameroon. Assuming the river niger dredging project was not handled with levity probably the incidence wouldnt have been devastating.

If you do not know wot to say, just Shut d hell up..ignorant peeps making assertions in public confidently, disgust me

OYINBOGOJU: he doesn't have a case in court yet but he does have a case to answer?

Same goes for IBB and Elumelu

Anyway i say what i know,you can definitely type what you know too.

Elumelu have a case to answer? which ELumelu do you think they were talking about? This one is the former MD of UBA and not the lawmaker(who is his younger brother).

Where was IBB mentioned as one of the bidders? plz dont tell me to look at the headlines but show me where it was actually stated in the article or any other article. If you do, then I might comment on him. For now, it is just speculation; and I dont have the time for that.

I apologize for the last line in my first post; I am removing it now. Thanks

Nigeria Names Winning Bidders for Five State Power Plants
By Elisha Bala-Gbogbo - Sep 25, 2012 3:53 PM GMT+0100

Facebook Share
LinkedIn
Google +1
0 Comments
Print
QUEUE
Q

Nigeria named the preferred bidders that offered more than $700 million for five state power plants.

Transnational Corp. won with its $300 million bid for the 947- megawatt Ughelli power station, Atedo Peterside, chairman of the National Council of Privatization’s technical committee announced today in Abuja, the capital. China Machinery Engineering Corp. led a group of companies that pledged $201 million for the Sapele plant. Amperion Power Distribution Ltd., a group headed by Forte Oil Plc (FO) and China’s Shanghai Municipal Electric Power Co., offered $132 million for the Geregu plant.

Mainstream Energy Solutions Ltd., led by Russia’s RusHydro JSC, won the bid to manage the Kainji hydro plant with a $50.8 million offer. North-South Power Co. Ltd., a group led by China Three Gorges Corp., got the Shiroro hydro power plant concession with a $23.6 million offer, Peterside said.

Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer, is selling majority stakes in power plants and letting private investors buy as much as 70 percent of 11 distribution companies spun out of the former state-owned utility as it seeks private investment to curb power shortages.

All the winning bids are “subject to the approval” of the National Council on Privatization headed by Vice President Namadi Sambo, Peterside said. Bidders have 15 days after the final approval to post a bank guarantee for 15 percent of the bid amount and pay 25 percent of their bid within another 15 days after the deal has been signed, he said.

The balance should be paid over six months or as agreed with the privatization agency.

Julius Berger Nigeria Plc (JBERGER), an affiliate of Bilfinger Berger AG, was selected as the reserve bidder for the Sapele power plant after offering $106.5 million, while Amperion Power was also picked as the reserve bidder for the Ughelli power station with a bid of $252 million, Peterside said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-25/nigeria-names-winning-bidders-for-five-state-power-plants.html

The first stage of electricity privatisation in Nigeria has not been without controversy but the with Tuesday’s announcement of winning bids for five power generation plants in an open process with international observers, the programme is back on track. Next up: distribution and transmission.

Among the winners in the generation round are companies from 13 countries including the US, Russia and China. The sale could net up to $1bn.

A consortium including Transcorp of Nigeria was the highest bidder for a single unit, offering $300m. Another group led by Forte Oil of Nigeria and including Shanghai Municipal Electric Power Company bid $132m. A group of Chinese, UK and Nigerian companies bid $201m for another unit.

The bidding process attracted 271 interested parties and generated 25 proposals from pre-qualified bidders before the final bids. The Bureau of Public Enterprises paid two local television stations to broadcast the process live, in an effort to instill confidence among the public and investors.

The chairman of the privatisation committee, Atedo Peterside, said in a statement:

It is heartening to report that the seven bidding consortia for the generating companies… includes owners and operators of some of the world’s largest and most efficient electricity thermal and hydro generating companies. Even if I say so myself, all well-meaning Nigerians would be comforted and pleased to know that it would be difficult to assemble a more qualified group of bidders for our generating companies.

Super. But what of those controversies? Here’s a quick run-down:

Controversy 1: The Central Bank of Nigeria barred Nigerian banks from extending loans to 113 companies, some of which had submitted bids. However, the National Council on Privatisation said the blacklisting should not affect the bids.

Controversy 2: The consortia Mainstream and North-South had no competitors for their bids.

Controversy 3: One of the plants (Afam) is being re-tendered after the power minister Barth Nnaji resigned in August when it was revealed he had a stake in one of the consortia bidding.

Of the few listed companies taking part, Transcorp was up more than 4 per cent in Lagos.

http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2012/09/25/nigeria-power-privatisation-winners/#axzz27WtMR7t4


See there might be some issues with the process but I think they have done some work to ensure a measure of due process in the entire programme.

In any case, some consortiums(foreign and local ) have bought majority stakes(not the entire company by the way) or won concession over the dams plants for an extended period of time, and they have committed to paying real money(over a $1billion ). I do not think they would sit on this amount of investment if they fully acquired the plants, in fact I expect that they would even want to expand the plants and provide service for their customers(the public through the Transmission and Distribution companies) in order to make profit- that is exactly whats concerns me: the service provided(24/7 Power). Give me that and I care less who won the bid or who didnt...Give Nigerians constant Power Supply, and see the unbelievable heights we would soar. This is my PRIMARY concern

I am honestly EXTREMELY thrilled this process is actually materializing at last

OYINBOGOJU: Sorry friend

But don't they have pending cases of corruption to answer?

Better to proof me wrong instead of insulting my personalty.

Who are they? Apart from Otedola who really does not have any case in court yet even if one of his companies was indicted recently, who are the other 'they' that have 'pending cases of corruption'?

Take note that Otedola is only part of a consortium; and by the way: ffucck Otedola(if he deserves it)

Did he actually use the word foreign military intervention?

OYINBOGOJU: Same people ruling us

Same shit going on

Same fraud moving on

Same cheat around us

The rich will forever get richer

All the 3 winners have different pending cases to answer at the court of law,they have been arrested, get bailed and the case never get revisited again.

But here they are, dinning with the executives.

Who said there is Justice in NIgeria?

Only from God come Justice.

If you do not have any thing to say why dont you keep MUTE..

dasparrow: Stop giving South African companies your business/patronage and they will go away and stop exploiting us. It's just that simple.

SA is an African country; I consider companies from that country(or any country from Africa for that matter ) almost as good as 'mine'(just as I do Nigerian companies).

It is time 'us' Africans began to trade amongst ourselves, and regard whatever business between us as a 'we-we' affair. Its the only way Africa can lift herself to par with other continents in the world.

In any case, Nigeria should NEVER be the one Afraid to trade or do business with any African country; no country in Africa, including SA, should ordinarily make us fear that they are cheating(or can cheat) us in a fair trade arrangement if we had our acts together. They should be afraid of us

JESUS CHRIST!!..ppl(NIGERIANS) are hunting right now in their millions. It is time for this to be probably called a NATIONAL EMERGENCY(Disaster) by the FG, and treated with the Urgency it deserves.

There has got to be a one-stop 'War Room', to co-ordinate the the responses of various tiers of govt and agencies/organization (NEMA, SEMA, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Environment, FRSC, Red Cross, NGOs etc) to the disaster, in each affected state and an overall centre for the entire country.

It is time perhaps to call out the army; and for the president to take the next flight back to Nigeria to in order to LEAD the response.

May God help those affected and make the rains/flood recede.

[quote author=ola_pluto]Either Oteh is doing marvelously well in whipping our lazy workers to shape or she refuses to play along with their corruption, and instead brings her corruption to lord it over them.[/quote]

See id.iots complaning again. I thought many of you goons hv been arguing here dat you had solid info that the entire PHCN assets wud be sold 4 $200million!when sm of us pointd out that this was not possible, you guys accusd us of bn naive. Now, just one of d power stations out of the 5 offered in this phase is bn priced 4 $300million; and this is besides bout 10 NIPP power stations that hv not yet bn offered nor the distributn companies not yet sold nor even d more expensive transmission company dat the govt is keeping. Hell even d non-core PHCN assets are worth more than the $200million sm of you guys where stupidly brandishing around. Are you guys not tired of complaining ignorantly? You ignorants are taking d space that more serious persons shld take...#wasteofspace

Stupid thread; sillier poster...mtscheeee

JTF is winning this 'war', there is really little BH propagandists(sympathizers) can do bout it...the JTF shld continue to respect d Rules of Engagement though

Paul John: They should let us know when they're done

No. We shld actuali 'monitor' them so that it is done....dis sidon look attitude, yet continuing complaints shld stop

Hahahahehehehe.....

strangest: Sir, no offence but what did the government do to curtail it from spreading further?

The increasd d rituals aimd at appeasing the goddess of the river so as to 'curtail it(the raving waters) from spreading further'. they are still doing dat nw to wade off more of her anger...stupid questn.u guys apparently cant distinguish bw natural disasters and man-made ones

binger: that is gonna be a hek of a long,tedious journey 4 commuters and travellers.lyk som1 said,this didn't happn overnight and shud hav been preventd...what a govt!

How would the govt have held the river from overflowing in the face of an unprecedented level of rains this year? Maybe they cud have appeased the goddess of the river, no? 'The flooding didnt happen overnight and shld hv been prevented' .well you may be right- it was a well planned move(collaboration) by the govt and that powerful goddess of the river, in order to 'punish' the ppl of that area(it is certainly a possibility dese days)...*i laugh* at d way sm ppl reason

Can smone plz intimate me on d reason why the new Chief Justice of d Nation(CJN) has not named special judges for corruption, which she promisd almost 3 months ago and which almost every segment of the nation have asked for? This would have very simply ensured that a well prosecuted corruption case wud end within at least an 8- 12 month period in stead of staying in d court system like forever, thereby providing predictability in the so called 'war against corruption'. This and perhaps a complete reappraisal of the Contract procurement system, are the most important things that wud help to drastically reduce corruption in 9ja; and wud go a long way to complement d relative transparency in govt nowadays....i know dat GEJ urged d CJN to name these special judges on d day of her inauguration, still he shld do his best to 'remind' her to do so asap if he wants the nation to tk his pledge to fight corruption more seriously; so shld d NBA, Civil societies, the media and in fact All of us. We like her but she shld do her job jare

page9: I have read through all the posts so far on this thread and I can't make any sense of any. What I see largely is a
set of uninformed Nigerians.

I do not in anyway think Book Haram as an organization represent Islam or Muslim in anyway. I am a Yoruba man and a Muslim. My immediate elder sister is a Christian and her children stays with me and still go to church and practise whatever suits them. 100% of my employees are Christians except my driver. A good number of them are from south-east and south-south. I bet you all have interacted with good Muslims either as a neighbour, colleagues, business partners etc . There are bad Christians too and a sweeping generalisation of every Muslim, passing derogatory comments about Allah and Prophet Mohammad is not expected of anyone who has objective assessment of the true situation of things

As for the Arab world, the information out now shows that some of the Ghadafi loyalists carried out the attack against US consular leading to the death of the U.S ambassador Bengazi. For those of who care to observe, Muslims differs according to location. While Islam is a universal religion and is the same all over the world, Culture and environment and possibly education affects to a large extent the personality of Muslims. in different regions (same for Christians or other adherents of different faiths too). I can speak better for my area (South-west).

Now, back to boko haram, more Muslims have died than Christians since the advent of boko haram. I visit the north often and I know that. The same boko Haram sent a suicide bomber to attacked shehu of Borno some weeks back during a Friday Prayer and the shehu narrowly escape death leaving some worshippers and the young suicide bomber dead. Boko Haram as it is today is a political organisation out to discredit the Jonathan govt. Anyone who does not support them is an enemy whether you are a christian, muslim or atheist, it doesn't matter.The people behind them are well known to the powers that be and those few well connected and well informed Nigerians.

President of CAN went to U.S.A to convince U.S govt to enlist Boko Haram as one of the terrorists organizations but the U.S govt refuse and actually announced last week that with the information and reliable intelligence gathered so far on Boko Haram, the make up of the group, their agenda and goals is at variance with that of Islam. The press is responsible for the statement that their goal is to Islamist Nigeria and convert Jonathan to a Muslim (a laughable goal at that!). The people behind them are well-known? politicians and powerful Nigerian across the regions. Q.E. D. Their case is of " the more you look, the less you see"

I therefore urge the forum members to be objective in their comments and practise self-restrain. No religion or creed has a monopoly of good or bad people, it all depends on how you see issues.

Agree wit most of what you wrote here- probably the most sensible comment on this thread so far....however, it is the DUTY of moderate muslims(who are in the majority) to fight to take back their religion from the significant madmen(fanatics) that are defining d narrative presently; they must fight to make that their own narrative of the religion(its true position) is the prevailing one out there, just as some Xtians did sm few hundred years ago when sm person sought to capture their religion. The problem is that most nonMuslims do not feel like these moderate muslims are doing enough; and in my view for good reason. Untill this changes most ppl(including sm muslims) may not take the points you just so succiently stated seriously, even if they are mostly sensible....Regards

Some of these Old Northern politicians still do not know why te north is currently 'weak'(ironically Kwankwaso is lamenting that waekness here). It is not an obsession to Possess Power or 'Advantages' that matter in the long run, but what one does with the Power and 'Advantages' one has. This same old recycled Power Brokers have ruled this country for 39 years, still take a look at the north today.

I opened this thread not to engendered any ethnic antagonisms that is unfortunately becoming the norm on NL( which I DETEST) but to constract the 'rantings'(forgive me) from Kwankwaso(reresenting the Old Elites of the north and their 'brothers' in the south) with new possible voices in the same north(and their 'brothers' in the south).

PS: Most nrtherns are just victims of the norhern elites just as the case of the south.

It is becoming a tired cliché to note that Nigeria is a country with vast potentials which have remained unrealized due to socio-political and economic challenges of which dearth of transformational leadership is at the heart of all. Again, it is common knowledge that this leadership deficit is more severe in northern Nigeria relative to other parts of the country. A disturbing yet overlooked dimension of this leadership conundrum however, is that leaders who ought to be responsible for identifying the problems and finding solutions seem to have little understanding of what these problems are, they prefer to ignore them or both, and hence have little or no solutions to them. The leaders are also becoming progressively disconnected from the ordinary people and their concerns.



MISPLACED PRIORITIES

The summaries of various communiqués of meetings and fora involving northern political leaders (mainly the Northern Governors Forum) and most northern elders (mostly former public office holders) of recent, on the North’s numerous problems are baffling and frustrating as it is apparent the agenda of these meetings typically have little to do with the region’s gargantuan economic, socio-political and security challenges. Neither do the final recommendations.

The themes of these meetings usually revolve around increased revenue allocation to northern states from the Federal Government, lamentations over existing conspiracies to “marginalize” and “destroy” the North; emphasis on the North’s “turn” to produce the next President in 2015; hollow, rhetorical lamentations on the decline of the northern economy and the need to revive agriculture, countering the Boko Haram insurgency and occasionally, a passing reference is made on the need for good governance, and in the end, these ills are ascribed to bad leadership and that’s about it. These meetings typically produce virtually no solid, detailed, implementable blue prints on how to methodically, systematically and effectively address the North’s well-documented problems.

As the communiqués and press briefings for these meetings become public, one’s hopes of tangible solutions are further dashed by the crushing realization that our leaders are running round in vicious circles. At best, they gloss over the most critical problems, and at worst, their recommendations have practically no bearing on these problems. While the last meeting of the Northern Governor’s Forum belatedly established a committee to propose ways of addressing the insecurity in the North, it is an open secret that many of the governors have their eyes set on and are working towards contesting the 2015 presidential elections. Recently, at least two prominent northern leaders have made the case for revisiting the Federal Government’s revenue allocation formula, while at least three northern elders have variously “advised” that President Jonathan “renounces” any intention of contesting in the 2015 elections to “defuse political tension”.

While I am not disregarding the importance of these issues, there are more critical issues requiring the immediate attention of our leaders on which the fate of ordinary people and the region as a whole hang. The problems bedeviling northern Nigeria can be broadly classified into four distinct but interrelated categories: the steady economic decline of the region over several decades, the breakdown of social cohesion, the insecurity especially the Boko Haram insurgency and the gradual decline of the North’s political influence at the centre. The disturbing fact though is that the priorities of our northern Governors and many of our northern elders, are skewed towards the North’s access to political power and how to bring back the Presidency to the North come 2015 while the more important economic, social and security challenges are of secondary importance to them.



CRITICAL PROBLEMS REQUIRING URGENT SOLUTIONS

As our leaders and elders focus on these non-issues, one wonders how these would actually translate to a better life for the ordinary northerner when 8 out of 10 people in most northern states live in abject poverty, how President Jonathan’s shelving of his 2015 ambition would translate to better equipped schools and medical centres, or how abrogating the Onshore-Offshore Dichotomy Bill and revising the “unfair” distribution of Federal revenues will attract needed investments to a region where in many state capitals it’s a herculean task to find one large departmental store (an indicator of modernization), when the current revenues are clearly being mismanaged. These are the leaders and the “voices” of the North and from what they talk about, one can reasonably conclude that these are their main priorities.

The tragedy here is that not only is there an acute misdiagnosis of the numerous problems bedeviling the North and its people by our leaders and elders, those ideally best placed to know the problems and formulate solutions, but that even their proposed solutions to the misdiagnosed problems are deficient, while the region continues to decay, collapse and burn, literally. Few of our “leaders” and “elders” have for instance, actually proposed realistic and pragmatic steps in containing the Boko Haram insurgency, the most glaring manifestation of this decay and impending collapse.

Beyond the usual mantra on the need “to engage in dialogue” with the sect, is there any concrete plan on the sequence of events that would follow in the event that the sect does agree to negotiate and is somehow convinced to lay down its arms whether by an amnesty-type cooption into the system or via another means? Is there a blueprint on integrating the brainwashed flock back into society, to guarantee the safety and security of those who agree to cease fire or for massive disarmament of arms now overflowing the North? Is there any incentive (or protection) to encourage those who genuinely want to renounce violence or to convince the militants that it’s in their best interests to lay down their arms in an environment where upward social mobility for the unprivileged is almost non-existent even to the educated ones? Are there plans for engaging these youth and other legions of unemployed, disillusioned and frustrated young men and women in our northern cities to prevent their co-option by other such anarchist groups? If any of such plans or proposals exist, they surely haven’t been regularly featuring in the communiqués of these fora involving our northern leaders and elders.



THE DISCONNECT

Consequently, as our leaders and elders focus on issues which seem to have little bearing on the lives of the rest of us, we the rest are increasingly dissociating ourselves from what they have chosen to prioritize, while the rest of the country is moving ahead and increasingly dissociating itself from the North as a whole. Some of our leaders speak on behalf of the North and we wonder whether they are really speaking on our behalf. They speak of the North but we wonder if these are really the aspirations of the ordinary people.

While our leaders and many of our elders attribute the North’s underdevelopment to a lower share of federal revenues, many of us see how some non-oil producing states south of the Niger, some of which receive comparatively less revenues from the federal purse are embarking on relatively more transformational policies: free health-care scheme for pregnant women, children, the physically challenged and senior citizens in Ekiti state; free education policy from primary to university level in Imo state; the rail transit system and other transport infrastructure in Lagos etc. At the same time, we see our own state executives, spending N2.7 bn ($17 m) on Ramadhan gifts, more than that state’s entirely monthly revenue allocation or jetting-off to Saudi Arabia for the lesser hajj in August as Boko Haram and Joint Military Task Force (JTF) slugged it out, further traumatizing the already battered residents.

Caring Heart Primary School is one of the “five star” public mega primary schools being built by the Ondo state government all across the state. This ambitious project aims to ensure such public schools “compete favourably” with the best private schools and that the underprivileged have access to quality education.

We wonder when the communiqués of these meetings by our northern leaders and elders would shift focus from their obsession with the 2015 elections which is still 3 years away or revisiting a controversial revenue allocation formula laid to rest or from endlessly whingeing about a conspiracy to “cripple” the North by others or the over-flogged flashback to a glorious era of Northern agricultural buoyancy of decades past, and when the agenda of these meetings would actually table viable blue prints for economic rejuvenation of the region — viable proposals for mechanizing the largely subsistence agriculture, making grants and credit available to farmers and SMEs, subsidies and assistance to the comatose industries, attracting investors and development partners with business friendly policies, tax breaks and land leases; exploiting the abundant mineral resources in the North such as gold in Zamfara which dubious (local and foreign) businessmen and impoverished villagers are already mining illegally anyways; employment generation schemes; road-maps for investments in health-care, education and transport infrastructure; engaging in massive enlightenment campaigns for the masses on their civic rights and duties, the list is endless. We wonder when these communiqués would demonstrate seriousness on the part of our leaders and elders to start looking inwards for home-grown solutions which are all around us.

Little girls crushing stones at home, to obtain gold in a remote part of Zamfara state. Source: Environment360



GENERATIONAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL DIMENSIONS OF NORTHERN LEADERSHIP DEFICIT

It is worth noting that leadership deficit is not unique to the North as it is a general Nigerian problem, and arguably a global phenomenon. The New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, writing in June 2012 identifies two components of the global leadership deficit prevalent in many countries — generational and technological. When this is applied to the situation in northern Nigeria, it becomes apparent that the disconnect between our leaders and the rest of us has much to do with the little generational change amongst those responsible for aggregating and articulating the North’s aspirations, with mostly the same people who have been in the thick of things since some of us were in diapers, whom we’ve read about in social studies textbooks in primary and secondary school, still dexterously recycling themselves continuously back in power – as governors, ministers, legislators, permanent secretaries, board members of parastatals – still calling the shots today.

The incredibly persistent longevity of many die-hard power-brokers in northern Nigeria has ensured that few neophytes have been genuinely groomed as successors. This situation of course is connected to the technological dimension of this leadership deficit which beyond the use of modern technology in governance, refers to the stale, archaic and retrogressive approach to leadership as a consequence of this generational gap, with little input of fresh ideas and approaches to governance. Therefore, the same top-down, gerontocratic and quasi-feudal approaches to leadership of decades past is very much the norm in the North today, increasingly incapable of addressing present-day 21st century challenges. In fact, a former Head of State of northern extraction (in)famously remarked that Nigerian youths are not ready for leadership.

Looking at northern Nigeria through the prism of generational and technological dimensions of leadership deficit put forward by Friedman enables us to understand the disconnect between what our leaders and elders regard as the North’s aspirations and what the rest of us really think are our aspirations, that they seem not to realize this gap exists, that the communication gap is widening and that it potentially has grave implications.

Now the danger is that as the North’s problems and aspirations keep being misdiagnosed, ignored and misunderstood by our leaders, with wrong solutions prescribed to non-issues, our problems continue intensifying rapidly, entrapping us further into the cavernous stranglehold of poverty, underdevelopment, political instability and conflict while other parts of the country forge ahead. According to a May 2012 report (PDF) by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), 7 out of 10 young women aged 20-29 in North-West Nigeria are unable to read or write, compared to just about 1 out of 10 young women in the South-East; while maternal mortality rate in the North-East is 1,549 deaths per 100,000 women, three times above the national average of 549 deaths.

As stale and musty ideas that pervade the northern atmosphere continue choking the very life out of a long comatose region with approaches that reinforce rather than address the glaring contradictions and atrocious inequality in the North, it is no wonder the incident of violent crime – something alien to the North jut a decade ago – is now a daily occurrence as the spate of drive-by shootings and assassinations have increased exponentially.

As our leaders and elders have chosen to focus on non-issues, pointing the blame outwards rather than looking inwards, conducting sincere assessments and proposing solutions, even the narrative about northern Nigeria outside the country is changing. I have come across many references to northern Nigeria on international websites and blogs as the “poor” “backward” or “violent Islamist North”, while Google image searches of our major northern cities such as Kaduna or Kano routinely produce stomach-churning images of mangled corpses of bomb blast victims, burnt vehicles, or arrested suspects of one vicious crime or the other.



GOING FORWARD

We need new approaches to our multifaceted economic, social and political problems as the current stale and archaic ways of thinking are grossly inadequate and incapable of addressing our numerous 21st century challenges. In order to do this, we ought to realize that leaders like all human beings are driven by self-interest, and as such they are not by default prone to accountability or altruism. It is pressure from citizens that forces leaders to act in the collective interest. It is agitation by ordinary citizens especially labour and trade unions in post-war Western Europe that was instrumental in pressuring the political elite to make inclusive social reforms of hitherto exclusive and aristocratic political systems and implementation of welfare policies (such as health care, housing and employment benefits which exist to this day) to cater for the less privileged.

Thus, a huge responsibility lies with northern academics, intellectuals, commentators, analysts, professionals and just about anyone concerned about their own future (or lack of it) and that of their children to continuously and consistently speak up on these burning issues that affect us all and ensure they are brought back onto the agenda of our leaders and elders. It is just not enough to assume our characteristically fatalistic position of “Allah Ya isa” or “God dey” and then resign ourselves to this sordid fate that certainly awaits us!

The intellectuals and columnists of northern extraction should beam the spotlight more on what state and local governments are doing with the same vigorous consistency that the activities of the Federal Government are scrutinized – how revenues and resources are managed, how investment decisions and contract awards are made, etc. because our governance challenges are mainly under the constitutional purview of states and local governments, and for the most part, information on the activities of these sub-national governments is a black hole of sorts.

Public opinion moulders should provide information to ordinary citizens on what these governments are doing, whether they are living up to their responsibilities, highlighting and applauding the efforts of political leaders who are performing well so that a performance benchmark would be set for others and proposing concrete recommendations no matter how idealistic they might seem. Public debate and public opinion moulding are enabled when conversations are started on important issues that others can relate with, build on and carry along and thereby creating mechanisms for vigorous discussions, actions and demand for accountability.

For our leaders, they ought to realize that the situation in the North today is completely unsustainable and it doesn’t require the clairvoyance of a seer to foresee the imminent disaster of chaotic proportions that awaits the North as a whole. Thus it is in their own self-interest that the North is brought back from this dangerous precipice, by providing good governance we tirelessly complain about and being true representatives of the people and their aspirations at best to ensure the region does not tear itself apart and at worst maintaining the grossly unequal, predatory and destructive status quo.

For some of our “elders”, who have had rewarding careers in public service, they could use their good names and influence in proposing concrete steps towards containing the Boko Haram insurgency and plans for reviving a post-Boko Haram North. They could also take their campaign abroad to counter and disprove some destructive narratives emerging in some Western publications (at the prodding of some Diaspora based Nigerian lobby groups) that Boko Haram is a religious war against a certain religious group in northern Nigeria.

With their influence, some of our elders could also play instrumental roles in enlightening the masses on their civic rights and duties, what to expect from the government, being more proactive to demand accountability from their representatives at the grassroots level, resisting electoral fraud and selling their votes for peanuts and so on. Importantly for other “elders”, it is just time to BOW OUT, as the standing ovation has long died down, RETIRE for good and allow others to take the stage. Overall, more links between the citizens and the state need to be established with more communication channels between the leaders and the led.

Really it is time we woke up from our deep complacent slumber and started playing our roles in rescuing not just our future but our present from this steady free-fall into the dark pit of misery and underdevelopment. For in the end, what will probably kill the North faster than any insurgency’s bullets and bombs is our own silence, complacency and lack of pro-activeness in demanding accountability from our leaders and representation of our interests in their actions.

http://zainabusman./

•Kwankwaso alleges plot to alter constitution to appoint ministers on zonal basis

THE path to the planned amendment of the 1999 Constitution appears already mined even before the commencement of the journey.

There are fears in the North of a plot to create a new state from the South East without recourse to the rules.

It also believes there is a plan to alter the constitution such that the President could appoint ministers on geo-political basis as against the present state basis.

Both allegations, if they turn out to be true, are capable of eroding the perceived political advantage enjoyed by the North over the years and put it on an equal political footing with the South.

Governor Rabiu Kwankwanso of Kano State who raised the alarm yesterday spoke of a plan by the National Assembly Committee on Constitution Review to create a new state under the table.

He named the Chairman of the committee, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, as the brain behind the agenda.

He also allaged plan by the committee to alter the 1999 Constitution to empower the President to appoint ministers on the basis of the nation’s six geopolitical zones.

Kwankwanso, who bared his mind in an interview in Abuja, said some politicians are trying to take advantage of the present weak position of the North to cheat the region.

He spoke against the backdrop of comments attributed to the Deputy President of the Senate at a recent presidential retreat on Constitution Review at the Presidential Villa.

The governor asked the National Assembly Constitution Review Committee to lay the criteria for state creation on the table for all Nigerians to consider and weigh.

[b]He said he could not understand why the South-East deserves an additional state when its population is not up to that of the North-West.

Armed with the result of the 2006 Census, the governor said the population of the North-West alone is 35,786, 944 compared to the 37,396,384 combined population of the South-East and South-South.

He claimed that the population of Enugu State (3, 257,298) where Ekweremadu comes from is about one-third of Kano State’s 9,383,682

He queried why Ekweremadu would be scheming for a new state from Enugu and leave out Kano State which deserves three new states.

He said going by the Census figures, “some states ought to be merged.”

The governor pleaded with members of the Senate and House of Representatives from the North to be vigilant in respect of the planned constitution review.

He also asked the Constitution Review Committee to be more transparent in state creation and other issues.

He said: “As far as we are concerned, if we have to go for constitution amendment, all issues should be on the table. We do not want a situation where state creation would be a matter of yes or man-know- man or I have this or I have that.

“Kano has 44 local governments because we are over 9.4million population by the last census and we have the landmass. Now if you want to change things, let us come up with criteria, don’t just do it under the table on the pretence that they have five states in the South-East.

“They (the South-East) should not have five in my opinion. What is the population of the South-East?[/b]

“I am saying this with all sense of responsibility; I am not playing any regional or ethnic politics. But you see, I am representing a state now. I will not allow anybody to go and make nonsense of what we have. If you want to create your state, go and create, do not call Kano anyhow.

“Let us have criteria, there have to be criteria for creation of states. I am telling you the population of some states, local governments and some zones should be on the table. You don’t just say because you want to contest an election or make a name to create state. We have been yearning for more states in Kano; we want to have three states.

“If you divide Kano State into three states, each state is more than Enugu State in terms of landmass, population and any criteria you can think of. They were lucky because offer at that time was from their side.

“If you want to go and create local governments in Enugu or in the East, don’t call Kano by any name. If you call Kano, you stand the risk of getting your answer. And Ekweremadu should learn from experience. He is still a young man; hopefully he still has 20 or 30 years of politics.

“That is why we are suggesting that they should mind their language. If they want their state, let them get it but not to be abusing Kano by claiming that it has 44 local governments.

“I decided to speak on this issue simply because I realized that people are not being fair. I am an advocate of supporting state creation but not the way and manner these people are trying to do it because they are biased, they are unfair.

“Go and check the 2006 census. You see, people will want to eat their cake and have it. Where they have advantage, they will say it is no go area, do not go there. We are disadvantaged. If there is any state that should be divided into more states, it is Kano.”

Kwankwanso asked lawmakers in the National Assembly to be more careful and pay attention to constitution review.

He added: “That is why I want to advise our own people to be more careful. They should not go to the National Assembly and do something else. You are on paper representing us and you go there and you are voting for others.

“I want to challenge our members (from the North) to stand up. That is why I will support Northern governors to empower Arewa House, where they keep history, to go and put table in the gallery of the House of Representatives and in the gallery of the Senate. Any member of the House of Reps or Senate who is voting for any position should be recorded, his father, his constituency should be recorded.”

Responding to a question, the governor said he raised the debate on onshore /offshore dichotomy because opinions on it are needed now.

He said: “I am not talking about onshore /offshore because I wanted to abuse anybody. But this is the junction, this is the point to talk. People are going for constitution review, things are now on the table. I did not say it last year or year before but now things are on the table.”

Kwankwanso also expressed concern over alleged plan to alter Section 147 of the 1999 Constitution on the appointment of Ministers.

He said some people are pushing for the appointment of ministers on the basis of the six geopolitical zones instead of each of the 36 states having a representative in the Federal Executive Council.

He said: “Another issue that is very important is zoning. In the review, we are aware that some people want zones to be recognized and they want appointment of ministers to be based on zone not on states. We say no to that. We cannot accept that.

“What they want is to change the status quo where ministers will come three states in each of the six geopolitical zones. The issue is that when it comes to selection of ministers, it will be based on zone. It means the President may avoid certain states if he or she so wishes. This side of the country will not accept that.

“We have to be careful, we have to understand the politics of now and we have to understand the politics of tomorrow.”

He said his fears stemmed from the fact that if ministers are appointed on geopolitical zone basis a President would be at liberty to decide his preference for states or candidates.

He gave example of the appointment of the present Minister from Kano with the state having no input.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news/north-kicks-against-new-state-for-south-east/

AjanleKoko: Erm . . . you can seek knowledge without necessarily enrolling in a PhD program.
People who enrol for a PhD, like other degrees, are seeking the certificate. You can't certify yourself as intelligent, some institution has to do that for you (though I no fit put am past Naijas, especially on NL ).

No no no. PhD is not about the certificate, 4get 9ja. It is about you wanting to CONTRIBUTE to the existing body of knowledge(a ritual that many persons have participated in since the history of Man), whether it is an invention or an innovation or both. The certification is just a MEASURE of that Contribution, not of one's intelligence. Abeg no let 9ja's environment bound yr thinking(job security, finances, 'respect' etc ), the quest for knowledge is Universal and Timeless.

I agree with you though that one does not necessarily need a PhD in order to contribute to knowledge, still one cannot call the quest to get a PhD(or any quest for knowledge of any kind) a 'waste of time'. No Sir, such quests cannot be quantifiable nor predictable, and its the very stuff any development that was ever made rest on