₦airaland Forum

Its long overdue! She was indicted in the senate probe on BPE, grossly incompetent, her major undoing is most likely the Eleme Petrochemical deal or was found wanting in the recently concluded privatisation exercise of the power sector . GEJ needs to get folks like her out of the system, big time saboteur!

eGuerrilla: I beg to disagree @take dat.
The problem with cronyism is that it often attends important events in the company of a twin brother known to be anything but transparent.
What is more, that dreaded twin will go to any length to ensure any tendering/bidding process put in place is comprised.

I partly agree with you but in the Nigerian context there is little one can do about that. In the recent revocation of Bi Courtney consession, the FG itself did not follow a bidding process nor were design submitted by interested firms but they simply opted for JB and RCC because they are mostly comfortable with them and not that other construction giants cannot do better than RCC, that in itself is a form of cronyism. I'll want to reckon that Ogun state feels more comfortable with the selected firms in as much as they are capable. Cronyism should be discouraged though!

Mowire: Hitech alleged to be owned by Tinubu. Is it so difficult to find out the ownership of the coy from CAC?!
Besides what's the issue with the coy winning contract in all ACN controlled states, is JB/RCC/Arab Con/etc not gettin Fed&state contracts all over the country (even ones not bidded 4)?
Issue should be: are they doing quality jobs?

In as much as I am not in support of cronyism but I am yet to see any construction giant in Nigeria that does not have an individual with political clout and interest behind them. Our source of concern should be if the so called company is capable or not and if it is then there is no need for apprehension. The Chagoury's are behind Hi Tech and there are friends to politicians from both PDP and ACN!

I see nothing wrong with tolling the newly built bridge since it is a PPP arrangement but the toll should be reduced and made affordable for the common man. Those condemning this move for reasons that it was funded through tax payers money should as well ask the government to stop collecting fares from people using the BRT and Lag buses since they are both funded through tax payers money. This arrangement is obtainable in developed countries as long as there is an alternative route for those unwilling to pay toll.

taharqa: you know already that I disagree with you on GEJ lacking 'the political will to carry out these reforms'. There are actually imminent signs that he will do this very very soon; maybe the time that was taken was to do a much detailed job cos the changes are not only courageous but also very sensitive (in terms of possible jobs lost etc).

On the why budgetary provisions were made for these Agencies in 2013, it is cos most of them are actually set up by acts of Parliament or Degrees, and only the NA can finally approve some of the mergers and/or scrapping. When the changes are effected anyways, the utilized budget of some of the Agencies can be vired or returned as Unspent; it is certainly wise to provide monies for these Agencies and then return it than not provided for them at all when one is not sure the exact time the necessary legal backings would be obtained for some of them.
Recall, the criticism that meted the decision of the Govt not to budget for the unbundled PHCN companies for 2013 cos it believes that it would have privatized the companies by then ( in this instance, the Govt could do such cos they already have the legal backing to privatize the unbundled companies via the Power Reform 2005 Act, so wouldn't need any other approval from the NA).

Have a little faith guy...

If you had gone through my initial post you would have noticed that I berated the NA for being complacent in the wastages and duplicity witnessed in most of the MDA's recommended for abolition or merger. A government that is not lacking in political will won't mind whose ox is gored especially when it takes into consideration the billions that goes down the drain in these unproductive MDA's yearly. Government needs to stop the habit of creating "food" for the boys, jobs will be lost but a big step into reducing recurrent expenditure will be gained and there will be more for capital expenditure, productivity and efficiency will also be achieved.
The report has been submitted to the president since April and this is November, if indeed he was serious and consistent, adequate measures would have been put in place like lobbying the NA to repel the acts establishing the ones recommended for abolition before the new fiscal year.
You asked that I should have faith but guy my faith is waning as I keep seeing the inconsistency of this government. GEJ commissioned the KPMG to do an audit but he eventually jettisoned the report only for him to set up a Ribadu committee to do a similar task which the KPMG had done. From this article Obasanjo had commissioned a similar findings with a white paper recommendation through the Joda committee, if GEJ had thought it wise and wanted to prove a difference From past leaders he would have gone ahead with implementing the recommendations of the white paper but he had to set up the Orosanye committee only for him to be procrastinating with its recommendations!

taharqa: Now here is an extremely important topic, a rarity on NL these days...@OP gr8t post. Hope d President wud implement d White Paper asap; and hope continous pressure wud be placed on him and d govt to do so

I am doubtful if GEJ is going to take necessary action on this report cos if he meant business he wouldn't have proposed over a N100billion for some of these MDA's in the 2013 budget. GEJ lacks the political will to carry out most of these reforms and the NA is not also helping matters. No amount of pressure can be exerted on an unwilling and inconsistent government!

[quote author=PROUD-IGBO]^^^But are you surprised? Some people will get heart attack and others sleepless nights if any core Igbo state were to get anything worthwhile from oil proceeds....hence the wuru-wuru to deny Ndigbo through the state creation of the late 60's.

This is just how the 'owners of Nigeria' and their southern partners like it.....thankyou very much , and it would be hard to change things now that the fickle minds of Igbos in these states have been poisoned by decades of lies and propaganda against Ndigbo of the old south east.[/quote]Why are the South Easterners fond of attaching themselves with the Niger Deltans? Your post smacks of an unwarranted jealousy of the ND's, rather than cast the blame on state creation in the 60's, the SE should devise new ways of generating revenue and stop leeching on the SS!

The total derivation from oil and gas in the two SE oil producing states added together is less than that of Ondo State. Nice!!!

Maxymilliano: Bros, most of the alleged facts and figures as contained in the original post are open secrets and not revelations as painted by you, both Okonjo Iweala and Diezani Allison admitted the country is loosing money through crude oil theft and other illicit means, this is what gave rise to the different committees that have been set up in the past and other sundry actions embarked upon by government to arrest the ugly trend of crude oil theft.

The Committees are mostly on fact findings mission and that's why they are guided by term of reference. You can't set up committee on what you are unaware of and most of the identified leakage have been with the system from time immemorial. Apart from crude oil theft, unclaimed royalties and tax is also another leakage in the oil and gas sector in which the government is been fleeced and this what necessitated the Ribadu led committee to identify the channels and also come up with a workable template on how this identified leakage can be plugged .

It will be irresponsible of me to claim the article is sponsored and it will be naïve of us to claim the government is not aware of the loopholes identified by the committees set up in the past, some privilege few are benefiting from the status quo to the detriment of the country, and altering what has become an age long-formula tradition ain't gonna be easy bro.

Our criticism should be channeled to what become of the various reports submitted to the government.

You are right that these claims are open secret but the disheartening part is that solutions to most of the problems can be ameliorated without setting up of committees if only the government can muster enough political will. Ribadu himself said during the submission of the report that government needed not to wait for the passage of the PIB before enforcing some of the recommendations. GEJ during the last media chat self proclaimed as the most successful in the fight against graft but all that is word of mouth which accounts to nothing when actions cannot be seen. GEJ's Anti corruption drive is only a mirage for now, the public perception is that this government is corrupt!

If a GEJ can pay illegal $1.1billion to a convict in the name of Malabu Oil why should I be surprised that the government paid a token N2.7billion to an unregistered firm! Na thief thief government we get

Sincere 9gerian: This report by the publicity arm of ACN (Punch) is a naked and WICKED lie. It is shocking that any sensible person will believe the conclusion by the Farouk report that N2.6trillion (part of so called Punch phantom total of N5trillion stolen by GEJ) fuel subsidy fund was stolen in 2011. First and foremost is that the records of the finance ministry and CBN show that about N2.1 trillion was the total amount spent on subsidy in 2011. A good percentage of this fund was used to bring in fuel in 2011 as CONFIRMED by the fact that most part of Nigeria was WET with fuel, fuel was everywhere and sold at official price of N65 in 2011. No single scarcity was recorded in 2011. I challenge anyone to dispute this FACT. This does not however rule out the fact that fraudulent marketers used weaknesses in the system to steal some of the money. But the narrative of Punch and Farouk, that ALL the N2.1 trillion budgeted for fuel subsidy in 2011 was STOLEN is a WICKED and DEVILISH lie, believed only by FOOLS.
Those who are wise and with brains should have asked Punch why it gave us the total subsidy payment for year 2006, 2007 and 2008 only? What about subsidy payments for 2009 and 2010? Was subsidy not paid in those years? Almighty God will punish those who use deliberate distortion of facts and lies to push cheap for political gains. Punch deliberately omitted those years because the subsidy payments were high- around N500 to N700billion. Punch should have also told Nigerians the official pump price of fuel vs landing cost of imported fuel in those years.
It is also SHOCKING that crude oil theft was added to the Punch fiery tale of N5trillion stolen by Jonathan and Patience. Ladies and gentlemen, is GEJ the person stealing crude oil all over the Niger delta? Even GEJ had recently given a marching order to the security forces to stamp out crude oil theft.
Another issue that i find disturbing is the attitude of the opposition always attempting to steal the show in govt's attempt to sanitise troubled sectors. It usually begins by Govt setting up a committee or panel to investigate certain issues or a sector and make recommendations. All of a sudden the opposition will hijack the either the committee or the findings and now labels the govt as crook or as one trying to hide something. This development is unfortunate.

You just admitted the weakness of this government by your notion that the article is politically sponsored and that the government is being bullied by the opposition. Every attempt to open up can of worms by the media is seen as victimisation from the Villa dogs. The amount spent for year 2006-2008 provided subsidies for PMS, kERO and DPK. The amount spent on 2010 subsidies which excluded provisions for diesel was N600bn and N1.3 trillion from Jan – October 2011 which totalled N2.1 trillion at the year end. What could have led to the astronomical increase from N600bn in 2010 to N2.1 trillion in 2011?Corruption.

Who should be held responsible for crude oil theft if not the C-In-C, is it by giving marching orders to law enforcement agents when in reality the perpetrators of these heinous crimes are close associates of the government who are in connivance with government officials.
Was the IEI report where it was detailed that Nigeria loses $7billion annually from crude oil theft sponsored by the opposition, or it was the opposition that paid subsidies to importers without verification? Slowpokes will always look for excuses to cover up their failure.

This revelations shouldn't come as a surprise to those who take an avid interest in this government and the maladministration that surrounds it. This country is nearer to bankruptcy because we are unfortunate to have a weak leader who makes a nuisance of his title as the C-In-C and his unable to curtail a monster in the name of crude oil theft to its barest minimum. I have always held the view that GEJ can never fight corruption because the stench that oozes out of his government, his political associates and economic team is corruption.

Waiting for the Villa Courtiers to invade this thread to tell us that Tinubu sponsored this article and El Rufai is the writer!

I think what should be of utmost importance is the expeditious passage of the bill. Though Diezani is an incompetent minister going by the massive fraud we have witnessed in her era as the petroleum minister. Whatever title or nomenclature the bill carries is inconsequential going by the fact that the PIB when passed into law will outlive her stay as the petroleum minister!

Btw, how would an advert quicken the passage of the PIB? This is an attempt at grandstanding and wastage of tax payers fund. What I was expecting from the ministry is creating awareness by circulating the detailed bill so that Nigerians will be informed of the advantages of the proposed bill
#PassthePIBnow#

eGuerrilla: A lie told often enough becomes the truth — Lenin

Unlike you @thelastPope, who appears to have mortgaged your conscience on the altar of expediency, Saharareporters - though not without fault - strives for some semblance of balance.

The following is a small selection of articles published on the portal.

Tinubu, Fashola Clash At Birthday Colloquium-PREMIUM TIMES

PHOTONEWS: Former Governor Bola Tinubu's N1 Billion Birthday Party Leads to Scramble For Food

[url=http://saharareporters.com/article/face-hypocrisy-bola-ahmed-tinubu%E2%80%99s-visit-america/]In the face of hypocrisy: Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s visit to America[/url]

Asiwaju Goes to Charlotte By Pius Adesanmi

Witness Tells Court How El-Rufai Allocated Land To Himself, Family And Companies

Dealing With The El-Rufai Nuisance By Moses Ochonu

Don't waste your time over that slowpoke. He calls himself the lastpope but he is a losthope!

“I believe that the effort this government has put in, in terms of fighting corruption, I don’t think any other person (administration) has done that before.”-GEJ

Sincere 9gerian: Hypocrisy!! This Sowore of a guys claims he's fighting those in govt because they'r NOT governing well but is he running SR's well? Anyone that has gone thru most reports by SR will confirm that their reports are usually riddled with grammatical and typographical errors. To add salt to injury, it takes like forever for readers comment to appear, and thats if it appears at all. So how can a guy who cannot run his online platform well accuse those in govt of not governing well? I do not intend to excuse bad governance but I think those who come to equity must come with clean hands. He should run his company well so that he can be justified when he accuses others of not doing well. Otherwise it would appear that if given opportunity, he too will mess up. In other words, Sowore should remove the log of wood in his eyes so he can see clearly to remove the speck in other people's eyes

And you are one of the biggest trolls on Sahara Reporters with your username Ifeanyi Democracy4ever. Such a bloody hypocrite you are!

This is barbaric and uncalled for but ladies should also be careful for when you are in Rome, one behaves like a Roman after all our ladies travel to places like Dubai and they conform to their regulation. The North is not a safe place so one needs to be extra cautious. I doubt the story itself but all the same RIP to dem ladies!

Sowore has his own flaws but if we were half as vigilant and vocal as he is against our corrupt and devious rulers Nigeria would have been better for it.
Sowore, I appreciate and respect your zeal towards a better Nigeria!

Degis: O ooook!. The Publisher of Sahara lie reporters. The Shoprite of lies.

NTA, VON and FRCN will all be Shoprite of deception, propaganda and falsehood!

When Sowore was on against the Turai cabal, Pro GEJ saw him as the next best thing but now that the heat is on GEJ he has suddenly turned to a liar! Hypocrites

kulikuli26: ma broda,pple will be full of accolades cos dey already felt pdp is a bad brand and dey dnt actually expect much from dem but hw do u explain d fact dat d self acclaimed "too know"party now rig election?despite the cry made by everyone dat time wit regards to the election,see 2015 GEJ will win cos for now there is no party dat has got their structure and resources to match dem,moreover on the intellect level I can't see a party wit beta manifesto for d masses....by the way pls where are dey sharing the 30million cos I need go get mine too o...ode like u,u think everyone reason like a frog

I have no time for puppies, bring dem attack dogs on!

thelastPope: You have come again. You people are only popular on NL and nation newspaper. Go and tell your paymasters to go back to the drawing board. They are messing up big time. I really don't like the idea of Nigeria being a one party state. It isn't the best for the country, but I detest the hypocrisy of CPC and ACN. They are supposed to provide credible alternative but what we are seeing are real despots and criminals who will be calamitious if given power at the center.

Fashola cannot defeat a one eye and one leg Jonathan in a million years over. Don't even push your luck, abi is it not the villagers that will vote? You guys are over reaching yourself. You are not known outside the south west and even the south west is slipping away from you now. Go back and do your home work. NL propaganda won't help you or change anything!

@ Losthope, to hell with PDP, ACN and CPC. If this scenario had played out at the national level, the Villa animals and their attack dogs on NL who are beneficiaries of N30million budgetary allocation for animals will be full of praises for GEJ but won't seem it right to pay the same accolades to others.
Ogbeni, @2015 we are not voting for parties neither are we going to vote for the dull and re.t.a.r.d one!

kaeto: DAFTY! Is the judiciary answerable directly or indirectly to the state government, why make unsubstanciated claims when you have no idea of what the law is. Its a big shame that the hasty fumbling and greed of tinubu will surely sink fashola. I feel for the unanalytical loudmouths amongst you, who drives a car in the air for kms without bashing. Shay fash for presido 2015, we dae wait...

DOLT, you must be silly not to know that State governors have overwhelming influence on their state judiciary, while the Chief Judge who is mostly anointed by the governor constitutes the tribunal. Abeg take several seats back!!! you are already fidgeting over the prospect that Fash who is more intelligent than your clueless boss may decide to contest against him. Oponu, no give yourself high BP!

Kudos to Fashola for allowing the Lagos State Judiciary its independence. Most state governors in Nigeria have pocketed their judiciary that election results will never be upturned in favour of the opposition party.

Na which kind of cheap political point be dis? So what Tinubu's son couldn't do, an Oyinlola who prolly paid his way through Law school did. Oshisco!!!

No be today people begin fail for law school so there is no big deal about it that is why one can do a re-sit

ROSSIKE: National Tribune is ACN sympathiser paper isn't it?

So your job now is to castigate newspapers that report abysmal performance of government. Everyone knows that Tribune is a Pro PDP newspaper, its a shame how lost you are!

warrior01: sincerely speaking, the amount is reasonable. Fyi, taking care of dogs cost a lot

Na Madness dey worry you. You and your entire family don use N30million for food and supplement your entire life? Except say na human beings dem dey feed the animals. Make dem gettaway jare!

#Gbam# Perfect reply to the charlatan named Oibe and his so called paymaster Ayo!

[quote
author=Maxymilliano]This is intolerable.[/quote]Sincerely for now I doubt the source of this information as I am yet to confirm from any mainstream media. Notwithstanding I won't be surprised if this is true cos the relevant agencies involved in this case have dilly dallied
for long. This may have been settled in a PDP family affair manner. Its a dent on GEJ's self acclaimed anti corruption drive!

I'll reserve my comment until more credible media outlets verify this information!

I am totally in support of CPC. This cheat called DSTV need to compensate their subscribers for loss of transmission signals.

@Mods, is this not worthy enough to grace the front page? Thousands of subscribers are short changed by DSTV. Nigerians need to join CPC In making these demands!

Maxymilliano: Asking the FG to allow the contractual agreement with Bi Courtney to run its agreed length till next year April will achieve nothing apart from the state of inactivity currently experienced, and from the statement credited to the minister of works in the original post, the legal implications of the termination was put into cognizance and carefully considered by both the Federal ministry of works and indeed the Federal government.

Regarding the mobilization fee, there is budgetary allocation to the Ministry of works and I don't envisage any difficulty whatsoever from the ministry in paying up the agreed mobilization fee, after all, this ministries have been returning unspent budgetary allocations over the years and it won't be a bad idea if the work ministry can stand up to the challenge.

Will the contractors be able to achieve anything between now and April? I don't think so! Their job is not to patch potholes, here we are talking of rehabilitating a road of almost 120km. At a time we are talking of reducing cost it makes no sense if we have to go through a process of litigation and eventually paying compensation to Bi Courtney, which will be the most likely outcome if government decides to annul the terms of agreement now. Pls forget what the government said about the legal implication of terminating the concession cos this is not the first time we are witnessing such. The ministry of Works has no provision for this project as it is not recorded in their mid term expenditure frame work and its illegal to divert funds for other project without consent from the NA.
Government should think about this move carefully so that it won't be biting more than it can chew

Maxymilliano: We are in November already and From what I could make of the arrangement, there is no way the entire stretch of the road can be fully rehabilitated before the end of the current fiscal year, what the construction company will require is the fee for mobilization to site with assurance from the government to ensure the project is wholly captured in the 2013 budget.

Max, there is no way the mobilization fee won't run into billions of Naira. Here we are talking about due process and rule of law, no budgetary allocation was made for this project so where will the FG get the mobilization fees for the rehabilitation of the road from if the FG wants the contractors to move to site now? IMO, I think the FG should review its stance by giving Bi Courtney the remaining six months for their contract to lapse so that we won't be saddled with having to pay compensation to them, within that time the Budget for 2013 would have been sorted out and funds would have been allocated for the project. There is little or nothing the contractors can do between now and the yuletide season!