₦airaland Forum

contactlenz:
Here are some links
AMCON vs capital oil
http://www.punchng.com/amcon-debt-court-freezes-capital-oil-accounts/
AMCON vs Cecilia Ibru
http://investadvocate.com.ng/2015/03/20/court-fixes-april-22-for-hearing-of-ibru-s-case-against-amcon/
AMCON vs Kanu Nwankwo
http://thenigerialawyer.com/court-freezes-kanu-nwankwos-asset-over-unpaid-debt/

Thanks! But any links for this specific case Silverbird vs AMCON and the order to take possesion?

contactlenz:
AMCON is involved in many court cases over these bank defaulters businesses and properties. Remember the court just ruled in favor of AMCON over Ben Bruce Silverbird since 2011 when the case was brought before it.

your response makes sense but after googling I am yet to find a link to any court proceedings. can you kindly oblige a link?

Hmmmmm....

Due to the peculiar socio-cultural and geo-political nature of Nigeria it is proposed that an amendment to the constitution of the Federal republic of Nigeria be made where in the Vice President is rendered an
'Acting President' and elections are held for a new President within three months of a statutory vacancy of the seat of President

(existing arrangement is cited below via http://nigeriaworld.com/focus/constitution/chapter6.html)

this follows on from the thread below

https://www.nairaland.com/3147182/heaven-forbid-president-dies-retires

[size=14pt]This is the kind of thing that happens when you recruit a two year old to fly a Boeing 747[/size]

We need to solve Nigeria's Leadership deficit like TWO DECADES AGO!!!

What does the constitution say?

..

Please no distractions
Nobody is wishing the President dead


Heading modified at 7:22am 6/06/2016
Heading modified at 6:58pm 6/06/2016

THE railway station at Lubumbashi, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s second city and the centre of its mining trade, has seen better days. Outside the 1920s Belgian-built whitewashed station, hawkers sell bus tickets south to Zambia and South Africa. Travellers would do much better buying one than going inside—trains in Congo are not for the faint-hearted.

In the ticket hall, standing by a timetable on a blackboard, Baudouin Kalubi, the station master, explains that the next train will depart the following morning to Kindu, about 1,600km (1,000 miles) north. From there passengers can get on buses towards the Congo river. The train is, Mr Kalubi proudly explains, an express, with a new Chinese locomotive. That means it should go at an average speed of 15kph. “It is not the TGV,” he admits, referring to France’s high-speed trains. Yet in Congo there are so few roads that if you can’t afford to fly, the train is all that is left.

Over the past half-century, Africa’s mostly colonial railways have mostly atrophied. According to the International Union of Railways, in 2014 sub-Saharan African trains carried about 158 billion tonne-kilometres of freight, or roughly half of what Australia’s railways carried. Of that, 84% was in South Africa, which has a modern network. Elsewhere, railways that built nations carry a fraction of what they did even in the 1980s.

To remedy this, many African countries are investing vast sums of money—and hope—in new lines. In Kenya a Chinese firm is building one roughly alongside the route of the old track. Another project connects Djibouti’s port to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. Still more are proposed. Rwanda wants one going through Tanzania; Uganda wants one going to Sudan; others are planned in Nigeria, Guinea and Ghana. Yet there is reason to worry that the new lines will end up much like the old.

The Kenyan project is perhaps the most ambitious. Unlike the old line, which is on a 1,067mm gauge, the new railway is built to a modern “standard gauge” (1,435mm), which ought to increase capacity. Travellers on the ancient British-era passenger trains, which run three times a week from Nairobi to Mombasa, now have their view of the elephants of Tsavo National Park impeded by an enormous embankment for the new line. The idea is that it will carry as much as half of the cargo unloaded at the port of Mombasa, or about ten times as much as the current railway shifts.

Drivers on the main road to the capital ought to cheer if the line results in fewer smoke-spewing trucks coming out of the port, but the business case for it is shaky. The new track is costing Kenya about $4 billion, mostly funded by a loan from the Chinese ExIm bank, but how it will be repaid is unclear.

Although only a year remains before completion, not only are tariffs and rates undecided, but it is not even clear who will run the railway. Kenyan officials have apparently taken to skipping trade conferences of late to avoid answering questions.

Could this be because the new railway is a dud investment? Its fastest trains will do a fairly mediocre 80kph. Much as with the old railway, parts of the new line will be single-track, forcing trains to stop, often for hours, to let others pass. Most absurdly, it is built to a lower standard of load-bearing than most other new freight railways. Some fret it may not be possible to load four full containers onto each wagon, as is done on other new lines. “They’re getting a third-rate railway for the cost of a very expensive one,” says a consultant.

Repaying the loans taken out to build the line will require hefty fees or huge volumes of traffic. But truckers—who now handle more than 95% of the freight moved from Mombasa port—will compete fiercely on price, and shipping companies may look for other ports if levies rise.

Rehabilitating the older line might have cost just 5% as much as building a new one on a new right of way, reckons Pierre Pozzo di Borgo of the International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank. But efforts to mend rather than buy have generally not gone well either. Since the 1990s many African railways have been handed over to private concessions to boost investment and improve management. But the reality has been disappointing. Competition from truckers (who don’t have to pay their share to maintain roads, even though they do the most damage to them) has shifted cargo from rail to tarmac, shredding the business plans of concessionaires. Many are struggling to cover their running costs, never mind invest.

When the railway that runs from Dakar in Senegal to Mali was first put into private hands, the average age of track was 37 years on the Senegalese side and 51 years on the Malian side. When Tanzania’s network was concessioned in 2001, over half of the network still had the original colonial rails—more than 90 years old. And new lines, too, become old. In the 1970s, in a spirit of socialist co-operation, China built a brand-new line connecting Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s commercial capital, to Zambia and its copper fields. It has since fallen into disrepair as bad as that of Tanzania’s colonial-era lines. If the latest generation of railways cannot make money either, the temptation then will be to skimp on maintenance.

If only governments were as enthusiastic about maintaining infrastructure as they are about building it. On a continent where almost everything is reused, from mobile-phone parts to plastic bags, governments seem to prefer to buy shiny new things, however expensive.



http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21699919-africas-new-railways-risk-going-way-old-ones-puffed-out?fsrc=scn/tw/te/pe/ed/puffedout

[size=15pt]If only the Vice President was allowed to 'represent' the president on half as many trips that he (PMB) has embarked upon, he would have been around more to actually 'govern'.[/size]

[size=15pt]The 'mechanics' of the Public Procurement Act implies that due to the late passage of the budget it is unlikely for any of the stated projects to actually take off this year!!![/size]

http://www.bpp.gov.ng/index.php?option=com_joomdoc&view=documents&path=Nine%20Essential%20Steps%20in%20Public%20Procurement.pdf&Itemid=726

FLASHBACK: May 29 2015 – The Inaugural Address President Buhari SHOULD have given

Protocol

31 years ago I had cause to address you my fellow country men and women heralding what at that time was a hope filled albeit short-lived attempt at remedying the various ills that challenged us as a nation.

I and a number of others were thoroughly convinced that to build a nation where ‘peace and justice (and discipline) reign’ we would have to resort to measures which were perceived by some to be inordinately desperate.

I stand here today by the grace of almighty God giving a similar speech in similar circumstances, the distinguishing aspect however is that we have arrived at this point due to our mutual and corporate faith in democracy and the ballot box.

I therefore promise wholeheartedly and unequivocally to uphold the trust imbued upon me to direct the course of this nation. I acknowledge that there are those who doubted and may still doubt our singular resolve to rebuild this great nation and to them I can only offer the following charge – ‘I am for nobody and I am for everybody’.

Having been duly elected by a marginal majority we will do all in our power to unite the whole country by blurring lines of ethnicity and religion. I implore our friends in the ‘opposition’ to sheath their swords and join us in building our dear nation. This by no means implies that we must share the same convictions for it is in the plurality of ideas, rigorous challenge to accepted norms, and robust debate of ideals and structures that genuine growth is experienced.

My dear fellow citizens, we are all in this together.

Over the last couple of years while we as a nation have experienced formidable growth in some sectors we have found ourselves in dire straits in several others. There is no gainsaying that there are key areas that require urgent attention however while accepting this fact we also acknowledge that no single sector is dispensable or unworthy of full attention.

While acknowledging the robustness of our constitution on several matters we have found that there are overlaps in certain areas while in yet some others things could be done a bit differently and cost effectively, for instance I will vide this address direct that the modalities for the sale of all but one aircraft in the presidential fleet be immediately determined with a view to their eventual disposal within the shortest possible time.

The cost of governance must be brought down to the absolute minimum and in this regard we have determined to communicate this less in words and more in deeds.

Henceforth there shall be no medical excursions by any member of the executive including myself and his Excellency my vice president.
We therefore offer ourselves to your scrutiny as we seek to divest ourselves of the trappings of political office. We are open to contrary views and contrary ideas. I and all the members of this administration present here and those who in due course will be appointed have and will make a total commitment to openness and as a hallmark of this resolve we all shall be making public on all media channels every detail of our asset declaration to the code of conduct bureau.

Furthermore, with a view towards the total optimisation of governance, I on behalf of my executive announce the immediate strategic restructuring of our civil service via the merging of key ministries the modalities of which have been determined prior to this day via our meetings and consultations with the previous administration during the hand-over period.

Therefore at this juncture I announce the appointment of the following individuals to serve with us as Chief of Staff, Head of Service, Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Ministers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I am convinced that they in turn will prove their adeptness and resolve at mitigating the challenges we face.

Chief of Staff Abba Kyari
Head of Service Winifred Ekanem Oyo-Ita
Secretary to the Government of the Federation Babachir Lawal
Minister of Justice and Attorney General Abubakar Malami
Minister of Power, Works and Housing Babatunde Raji Fashola
Minister of Finance Funke Adeosun
Minister of Defence Mansur Dan Ali
Minister of Education Adamu Adamu
Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Enyinnaya Okechukwu Enelema
Minister of Labour and Employment Chris Ngige
Minister of Science and Technology Ogbonnaya Onu
Minister of Solid Minerals Kayode Fayemi
Minister of Interior Abdulrahman Bello Danbazau
Minister of Budget and National Planning Udoma Udo Udoma
Minister of Information Lai Muhammed
Minister of Niger Delta Usani Usani Uguru
Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi
Minister of Health Isaac Adewole
Minister of Environment Amina J. Mohammed
Minister of Water Resources Suleiman Adamu Kazaure
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Audu Ogbeh
Minister of Women Affairs Aisha Jummai Alhassan
Minister of Youth and Sports Solomon Dalong
Minister of Communication Adebayo Shittu
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Khadijat Buka Abba Ibrahim
Minister of State for Aviation Hadi Serika
Minister of State for Environment Ibrahim Jibrin
Minister of State for Solid Minerals Bawa Bwari Abubakar
Minister of State for Health Osagie Ehanire
Minister of State for Niger Delta Omole Daramola
Minister of State for Power Mustapha Baba Shauri
Minister of State for Education Anthony Onwuka
Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development Heineken Lokpobori
Minister of State for Labour and Employment James Ocholi
Minister of State for Budget and National Planning Zainab Ahmed
Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment Aisha Abubakar
Minister of State for Petroleum Emmanule Ibe Kachikwu

I trust that we will all work with them and others to be appointed in due course to effect the necessary change that we all yearn for.

I offer them my sympathy – tongue in cheek – for from today I am confident that they shall all have sleepless nights as well as experience many inconveniences to themselves and even their families but this is the honour that our fellow men have bestowed upon us by entrusting us with the administration of our dear country.

It is in this light that I announce a slight adjustment to the Inauguration Ceremonies as there shall be no dinner tonight. We simply must get right to work, our nation and its people depend on us.

Thank you Ladies and Gentlemen, May God be with us all.

Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria

[size=15pt]LIE-ON of BOURDILLON[/size]

sometimes the more things 'change' the more they remain the same

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed on Friday declared that the emergence of Muhammadu Buhari as the President of Nigeria in 2015 saved the country’s economy from imminent collapse due to the mismanagement of public funds and unbridled corruption.

According to a statement issued by his Special Assistant, Segun Adeyemi, the Minister stated this in Kano during a courtesy visit to Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, shortly before the commencement of the Hausa language town hall meeting in the ancient city.

“For the fact that God loves this country, if any other political party had won the election, there would have been no economy to talk about. They wouldn’t have the courage or discipline to manage the economy,” he said.

Mohammed said through prudent management of resources and the introduction of creative ideas to block leakages, the President is gradually reviving the economy, and assured Nigerians that there is indeed light at the end of the tunnel.

“This government, more than any government, has been working very hard because this is one government that genuinely believes in the people; it is one government that really cares for the poorest of the poor. For the first time we have a President whose integrity is actually driving the country,” he said.

He therefore appealed to Nigerians to be patient as the change they voted for will be gradual; noting that the past one year has been spent in laying a solid foundation for the country.

While describing the Kano town hall meeting as unique because the medium of communication is an indigenous language, the Minister said the idea of the town hall meetings is to communicate directly with the people and also feel their pulse on government policies and programmes.

In his remarks, the Kano Governor lauded the Minister for introducing the town hall meeting, particularly in indigenous languages, stressing that it is the surest way of bridging the gap between the government and the people.

“To decide to have the town hall meeting in a vernacular language, I think there is no better style and initiative than that single decision of the Honourable Minister,” he said.

Ganduje observed that following the analysis conducted after the election, it was discovered that not only APC members voted for the President, but that it was the consensus of opinions to pull Nigeria from the brink and return the country to the path of growth and sustainable development.

“In order to harmonise and also to satisfy the aspirations of those divergent opinions that came together and put us forward, there is no better way than this exercise that you have undertaken,” he said.


http://dailypost.ng/2016/05/27/nigerias-economy-would-have-collapsed-if-not-for-buharis-emergence-lai-mohammed/

cont..

cont..

cont..

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cont...

Cleansweep Buhari!

.

ASO ROCK uses picture of rescued Chibok girl meeting with PMB as Cover Photo

During a verbal exchange between the SGF and Minster of State for Petroleum, the Honourable Minster of Power, Works and Housing had this to say.....


The SGF had been struggling unsuccessfully to make ministers who were busy exchanging pleasantries settle down ahead of Buhari’s arrival.

Not even his announcement that Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo was already seated was enough to make the ministers settle down.

Disturbed that the venue was still in a rowdy situation, Lawal looked round and saw Kachikwu shaking hands and discussing with a colleague.

The helpless SGF then said loudly but jokingly, “Kachikwu, there is no fuel and you are there shaking hands!”

While the venue erupted in laughter, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola also replied Lawal, saying, “There is fuel. It is N107.”


http://www.punchng.com/sgf-slams-kachikwu-fuel-crisis/

When will the 'Nigerian Youth' attain authentic political maturity?

[b]#HowToFixNigeria


If by 2019 Nigerians who are currently under 40 years old (and who are detribalised and selfless) are not able to wrest power from the 'usual suspects'. Nigeria's migration from third to first world nation may very well not take place before 2100

Migration from third to first world status CAN take place in a generation (33 years) with consistent committed selfless and visionary leadership (across party lines) propagating a POLICY MASTERPLAN that must be arrived at via extensive research and creative problem solving.

Nigeria's problems are more than 50 years old! The solutions to these problems are just as old.

A youth (36 years or less) will DV be 69 years old or less in 33 years, he or she will either be faced with a gargantuan mess of a nation or a country that is head and shoulders above most nations of the world.

Which would we rather have?

Dem no dey plant corn for morning harvest am for night, guys we've really really got to start thinking and doing.
[/b]