₦airaland Forum

I could not wrap my mind around this whole thing about Nigerians & their LOVE to celebrate INTERNATIONAL ROGUES locally.

Ibori was (is) worshiped in Nigeria,but a sane society identified him with the RIGHT name " A THIEF in the Govt. house"& have placed him where he belongs.

How can any SANE mind PRAISE, CELEBRATE, or attached GREATNESS to a COMMON THIEF like Obasanjo? If people know what a LEGACY is, the type someone like Mandela, left for his country & Africa & the world, they will lock down Obasanjo back in Jail.

Is it the public funds he stole thru Andy Uba, Dangote,Waziri Mohammed, his daughter, et al or the court judgments he disobeyed? or Governors that he illegally removed from office? &installed thieves as Sates Governors &presidents? or the constitution he disrespected through his 3rd term agenda? etc.

After all the daft praises on his purported birthday, I now believed the saying " A PEOPLE GETS THE LEADER THEY DESERVE".

What is good in Obasanjo (EVIL)?

Was it not Fela that did a song that went like this " Obasanjo & Abiola, International thief theif, ITTT Does anyone remember that song?

^^^Thnx for the correction. The passion to expose this rogues alwayz overule the sense of paying attention to details

Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo, was a THEIF in the Govt house.

A certain British dude described James Ibori, as a THEIF in the government house.

From 1999-till date, which other THIEF can you remember, that WAS or IS in the government house, Aso Villa Inclusive.

Have to make the LIST of THEIF's, for the sake of POSTERITY.

If you must drop, DROP one name pls!!!

In this 21st century? An OPEC member still suffers FUEL SCARCITY, A FAILED NATION. Woe unto you all.

A former Super Eagles coach, Berti Vogt, said Nigerians spend most of their productive hours attending seminars, workshops and conferences "and the rest in prayers, yet at the end nothing works". So our problem in this country is that we talk too much, it is time we began to work for the advancement of our society. Committees upon committees, prayer sessions upon prayer sessions, reports upon reports and yet NO RESULT.

Is this a fact?

BY donating various sums of money to the victims of Boko Haram’s bomb blasts in parts of the country, the Central Bank Governor, Lamido Sanusi Lamido may have unwittingly raised questions about the propriety of his assumed philanthropic gesture. Why, for instance would such donations be coming from a government agency in charge of the country’s financial and monetary policies? Is the money donated not public fund that the CBN Governor is expected to keep or invest in the public interest? When did it suddenly become the lot of the Central Bank to respond to non-financial, indeed criminally-instigated emergencies occurring in the country? And it may further be asked whether Sanusi has fully attended to his primary duty of regulating the country’s finances as to have so much time for humanitarian activities?

First, Sanusi donated N100 million to Boko Haram victims in Kano State, raising public curiosity as to why he chose his home state among several terrorist incidents across the nation. As if to repel the insinuation of nepotism on his part, he proceeded to donate N25 million to victims of Christmas Day church bombing in Madalla, Niger State. But the main question on whether he or the CBN is the appropriate institution to make the donations remains unanswered, having regard to the existence of various organs relevant for that purpose. However, actions or utterances with little bearing to Sanusi’s main charge have lately not been confined to philanthropic donations.

In a recent interview with a foreign newspaper, Sanusi attributed the violence being perpetrated by the insurgent Boko Haram Islamic sect to what he claimed was uneven distribution of federal revenue. The fundamentalist sect’s initial vague reasons for the killings ranged from avenging the perceived extra-judicial shooting to death of its founder to seeking to impose Sharia throughout Northern Nigeria. To these grievances, Sanusi has added poverty purportedly induced by uneven distribution of federal revenue.

However, Sanusi’s claim that the present allocation of revenue favours South-South states to the detriment of Northern states is a one-sided view. Non-oil producing parts of the country are not necessarily poor just as the volume of government spending alone is not the index of wealth. In any case, the much envied allocation in 2008 of N3,965 per capita of Rivers State deemed too much money by Sanusi was US$33 per capita, which did not make the state rich. Also, the 13 per cent oil revenue that goes to oil producing states on the basis of derivation formed only two per cent of the contribution of 17.5 per cent to GDP in 2008 by the oil sector. The balance was shared to all tiers of government using factors like land mass and questionable population figures that benefit all the states and the Federal Government. Besides, the Northern states control the agricultural sector, which accounts for 42 per cent of GDP but adds negligible revenue to the Federation Account. With the Northern states pocketing the bulk of the massive earnings garnered from domestic trade in agricultural produce and related products, Sanusi’s statement that uneven distribution of federal resources has enriched South-South states while consigning the North-Eastern states to poverty is preposterous. Quite pertinently, recent data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that absolute poverty is rising throughout the country.

The CBN governor should not try so hard to lead the Northern states on a plunderous mission to further appropriate unfair share of federal revenue in the guise of a Marshall plan. Rather, he should advise the Northern states to be supportive of efforts to restore equitable distribution of the country’s resources to the revenue formulae of the pre-civil war era including the devolution of responsibilities to the states.

On the desirable objective of reducing poverty throughout the country, the CBN governor should call for a Marshall plan with a view to regenerating industrialisation in the North-Eastern states and ensure that oil revenues derivable from the 2012 high oil output should be fully disbursed to the tiers of government for investment.

Only when the three tiers of government are correctly allocated dollar revenue for conversion to realised naira revenue via deposit money banks, will there prevail conducive economic conditions for the private sector to flourish. That way, irrespective of the geographical distribution of oil revenue based on any revenue sharing formula, the process of converting dollar allocations to realised naira revenue for government expenditure channels foreign exchange to genuine private sector businesses that create direct and indirect jobs and lift all parts of the economy in varying degrees. In this scanario, the more government and autonomous foreign exchange flows into the system, the more intense is economic activity, which spurs prosperity.

Sanusi cannot claim ignorance of the fact that extant monetary practices have underlined economic underperformance. Sanusi has claimed that Boko Haram is a product of the economic conditions. However, the sect’s activities are tantamount to insurrection against the Nigerian state which could create anarchy and threaten the country’s corporate existence; wanton destruction of property in different parts of the country; and insensate killing of innocent people. The resulting atmosphere of fear undermines the economy and discourages all forms of investment thereby creating a cycle of deepening poverty. Sanusi’s implicit defence of Boko Haram’s methods is therefore absurd.

All in all, Sanusi has shown a lack of full grasp of the monetary brief of CBN to promote national economic prosperity. Instead of willfully watching over continued mismanagement of national resources; and inciting controversies over issues that hardly have any bearing on sound monetary management, Sanusi should face the challenge of turning around the country’s economy through sound and logical policies. That is what Nigerians expect of him as Central Bank Governor. If he cannot live up to that billing, he should respectfully step down in the national interest.

http://ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=77857:sanusi-poverty-and-boko-haram-&catid=37:editorial&Itemid=612

Wow, speechless!

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has directed that full military burial be held for the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu.

Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly Chief Benjamin Uwajimogu who disclosed this yesterday said: “I want to announce that the President has approved that he (Ojukwu) be given

military burial according to military tradition.”

The development came as the Imo State government said it would on February 22 inaugurate the board of the Ikemba Nnewi (Ojukwu) Centre to man the Research Institute of Culture in Owerri. The Speaker who is the Chairman of Imo Local Organising Committee for the burial of Odumegwu-Ojukwu, made the announcement yesterday in Owerri.

Uwajimogu, in company of a member of the committee, Ikenna Eme and Ngozi Pat-Ekeji, among others said the burial programme had been captioned “Seven Days for the Hero”, adding that the centre known as Ikemba Ojukwu Centre was the first of its kind in the Southeast in memory of the fallen hero. A photo exhibition to be covered by electronic and print media, he said, would be held at the centre.

According to the Speaker, on February 24, the centre will be commissioned, while an inaugural lecture on the late Igbo leader will be held at the Ahiajoku Convention Centre on Saturday, February 25. The lecture tilted: “Effective Leadership in 21st century” is to be delivered by the Acting Vice Chancellor of Imo State University, Owerri, Prof. Berthram E. B. Nwoke. Uwajimogu said Ojukwu’s body would arrive in Owerri via Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport about 11 a.m. on February 27, adding that it would remain in the state till the second day when it is expected to depart for Abia. As a mark of honour, Eme said black T-Shirts would be distributed during the “Ichonnadi” to mourners, while Ojukwu’s body will be taken round Owerri city in a motorcade



http://ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=77855:odumegwu-ojukwu-to-get-military-burial-&catid=1:national&Itemid=559

Federal Banana Republic of ?

Do you see any RESEMBLANCE betweeen Sanusi Lamido and Abdulmutallab?

I see Abdulmutallab as a younger version of Sanusi. And I hope Sanusi, someday, will not wear the same UNDER BOMB and enter the presidential Villa. I'm just saying.

What is it with Jonathan and this " SETTING UP OF A COMMITTEE or TASK FORCE for a everything. I have lost count of how many committees this guy constituted rite from his dayz of Acting-President. Is it lack of " IDEAS on his side? Or LEGALIZING COME & CHOP policy?

^^^Lol, are you sure?

I have to ask this silly question. If you are in the KNOW, say something, if not WAKA PASS. All work & no play makes,

Do you think Jonathan go dey PLAY? As in away MATCH? If yes, HOW & WHEN IS IT POSSIBLE FOR HIM TO DO IT?

I just dey think am. I dnt knw if na only me dey think am. If u dey think am too talk. #honesty

Patience look worn out & unattractive,but, I see Jonathan as someone that's still ACTIVE for that level.

A purported spokesman for Boko Haram said the people shown on the Nigeria Television Authority yesterday claiming to be sect members were impostors and their statements on dialogue were hollow.
NTA yesterday repeatedly showed two silhouetted men who claim to be from Boko Haram and listed certain people through whom they claimed the sect could be reached out to by government.

The men spoke in the English language, contrary to the common use of the Hausa language by people speaking for the sect all along.

A source in the NTA told Daily Trust in Abuja that the recording was dropped at the NTA office in Maiduguri, and that it was then sent to the headquarters in Abuja where the authorities decided to air it.

This way of sending out messages is also not in line with the usual Boko Haram style of holding teleconferences or posting videos of its leader Abubakar Shekau on video-sharing website YouTube.

A man claiming to be Boko Haram spokesman Abul Qaqa told newsmen in Maiduguri through a teleconference yesterday that the NTA clip was an attempt by security operatives to deceive the world.

“The men shown on the NTA are not representing the position of our group. The Federal Government and the security operatives must stop deceiving the world because we have never had members like the two young men,” he said in Hausa.

The two men in the NTA clip said the sect could be contacted for dialogue through Shettima Ali Monguno, Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim, Aishatu Alkali Wakil and Alhaji Junaidu. There were no immediate comments from the people mentioned yesterday.

But Abul Qaqa said, “The claim that we have nominated some people to negotiate dialogue on our behalf is also an outright lie. We have not yet nominated anybody.

“Government has shown us that it can never be trusted… we would also never trust them again. We gave government a chance to prove itself on the issue of dialogue by allowing Abu Dardaa, our head of enlightenment department to come out for negotiations but he was trailed and arrested.

“Abu Dardaa had only used the name Abul-Qaqa in ‘representative capacity’ and we strongly believe that he will not give any vital information to the security agencies that will frustrate our insurgency.

“We have no doubt that Abu Dardaa will escape from the net where he is being held in custody by the State Security Service, just as one of our own, Kabiru Sokoto, was aided by God to escape from the hands of the police recently,” he said.

He also said they did not set ablaze the Gamboru Market in Maiduguri on Monday after multiple blasts that rocked the area. “The Joint Task Force (JTF) whom we targeted turned against the ordinary citizens,” he said.

http://dailytrust.com.ng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=154211:boko-haram-disowns-clip-aired-on-nta&catid=1:news&Itemid=2

It seems dying outside Nigeria has become a STATUS SYMBOL? Going for a vacation is no longer in vogue. Ojukwu, died in London, M.T Mbu died in London, Sam Aluko, died in London, any more names? These are old men, what's the sense moving them overseas when their chances of survival is minimal. Is Nigeria health care system that bad?

While he's entitled to his own opinion, i'm yet to read his condemnation of BOKO HARAM anywhere.

Going by PDP drama. Boko Haram, subsidy protest awareness & all other uncertainties, WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL BE THE POLITICAL OUTCOME in 2015?

Make your 2015 predictions, if you think you understand Naija.

Officials of the Department for State Security (DSS) yesterday confirmed the arrest of Boko Haram Spokesman, Abul Qaqa in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.

The arrest was enabled by the GPS tracking of the top Boko Haram fiefdom.

A top official of the DSS in Borno told journalists on phone that,

"we have finally picked him (Abu Qaqa) up and he is currently in our custody, you can report that as a confirmed development".



, More details later

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/breaking-news-dss-arrests-boko-haram-spokesman/108356/

By William Wallis






Attempts to redress historic grievances in Nigeria’s oil-rich south may inadvertently have helped create the conditions for the Islamic insurgency spreading from the impoverished north-east of the country, says Lamido Sanusi, Nigeria’s central bank governor.

In the past year, the Boko Haram sect has been responsible for proliferating attacks on churches, police stations and other state targets. Last week, it claimed responsibility for multiple bomb blasts which claimed nearly 200 lives in t e northern city of Kano. The size and sophistication of the attacks underlined fears that the conflict is spiralling out of control.







“There is clearly a direct link between the very uneven nature of distribution of resources and the rising level of violence,” Mr Sanusi told the Financial Times in an interview, arguing that it was now necessary to focus funds on regenerating other regions if Nigeria wants to secure long-term stability.

Oil-producing areas in the predominantly Christian south benefit from 13 per cent of the revenues generated from oil in their area, on top of the federal allocations they and other states receive. As world oil prices have risen over the past decade, this has led to a widening gulf in income between oil-producing states and those without oil. The commercial capital Lagos, which raises 75 per cent of its own revenue from taxes, is the exception.

This formula was introduced after the military relinquished power in 1999 among a series of measures aimed at redressing historic grievances among those living closest to the oil and quelling a conflict that was jeopardising output.

But by seeking to address one problem, Nigeria may have created another, weakening other states in the federation and fostering resentment in the poorest region which has spawned the Boko Haram sect.

“When you look at the figures and look at the size of the population in the north you can see there is a structural imbalance of enormous proportions,” Mr Sanusi said. “Those states simply do not have enough money to meet basic needs while some states have too much money.”

According to official figures, the leading oil producing state, Rivers, received N1,053bn between 1999 and 2008 in federal allocations. By contrast the north-eastern states of Yobe and Borno, where the Boko Haram sect was created, received N175bn and N213bn respectively. Broken down on a per capita basis, the contrast is even starker. In 2008 the 18.97m people who lived in the six states in the north-east received on average N1,156 per person.

By contrast Rivers state was allocated N3,965 per capita, and on average the oil producing South- South region received on average N3,332 per capita.

This imbalance is compounded when the cost of an amnesty programme for militants in the delta is included together with an additional 1 per cent for a special development body for the Niger delta. To boot, the theft of oil by profiteers in the region diverts tens of millions more weekly from federal coffers.

The imbalance is so stark, he added, because the state still depends on oil for more than 80 per cent of its revenues. Nigeria has made little headway raising taxes for example from agriculture, which accounts for 42 per cent of GDP.

Inhabitants of the delta tend to have little sympathy with complaints about the revenue formula, given that Nigeria was ruled and at times plundered for much of the four decades after independence by northern leaders. Indeed, state governors from the region are now lobbying for an even greater share of oil revenues – in some cases they believe it should be as high as 50 per cent.

Northern Nigeria’s economy has traditionally depended on the government more than the south. Many of the industries set up as part of earlier efforts to promote national balance have gone bust or been sold off during a decade of liberal market reforms, power shortages and infrastructure collapse.

The north’s inhabitants, although more numerous, are also among the poorest in Africa, and therefore represent a less attractive market for the banks, telecoms and retail companies booming in pockets of comparative affluence in Nigeria’s south. “We now need some sort of Marshall plan for these areas so we can begin to regenerate industrialisation,” Mr Sanusi argued.


http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/02ce9e7e-4837-11e1-b1b4-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1kmwnisFe

^^ Hey, for The guy before the last LAZY RAM, blabbed, we're not talking about honesty. WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF THEIR WEALTH? GIVE ME THE NAME OF THAT NORTHERNER THAT DID NOT BECOME A RICH MAN,in the midst of PEASANTS though) out of GOVT. 99.99% OF THEM CANNOT STRUGGLE. I DON'T NEED TO LIVE IN THE NORTH BEFORE I GET MY FACTS. IS IT ALIYU GUSAU, ATIKU, IBB, ABDUSALAMI, DANGOTE, CIROMA, BAMANGA TUKUR, DANTATA,etc, its all stolen wealth. I WILL FOREVER RESPECT GEN. BUHARI, HE DID NOT STEAL,HENCE, HE'S NOT AS WEALTHY AS HIS BROS. TELL ME OF A NORTHNER, THAT GENUINELY WORKED FOR HIS WEALTH?? TELL ME A NORTHNER THAT DOES NOT LOVE BLOODSHED,IN THE NAME OF ISLAM? THEY ARE EVIL. CHECK THRU ALL THE COUNTRIES GOING THRU WARS & FAMINE & PENURY,IT'S ALL ISLAMIC COUNTRIES,WHY THEM?

Whether JTF kill Boko Haram or not, that region is gone, Northern Nigeria is the WRETCHED of the EARTH,now a MINI-CIVIL WAR is going on their, what do u think will happen, NO INVESTMENT, NO JOBs , their Governors will collect their monthly allocation & pocket it as usual, until they chose to drop that EVIL RELIGION ( ISLAM ) & FOLLOW THE LIGHT, penury, diseases, death & bombs will continue to be their DAILY ALLOCATION.

I had a lot of Northern Muslim friends, they are simply LAZY, WASTEFUL, LUSTFUL,etc, their lives are centered around cars & women. FOR MANY DECADES THEY HELD SWAY ON NIGERIA, IF THEY WERE RESPONSIBLE & FORESIGHTED PEOPLE, WHAT STOPS THEM FROM BUILDING THEIR OWN DUBAI? DUBAI WAS DEVELOPED WITH OIL RESOURCES,NOTHING ELSE,THEY DID NOT DO ANY MAGIC. BUT A NORTHERNER WILL PREFER TO GO TO DUBAI WITH WOMEN,SIMPLY TO WASTE MONEY & FLY BACK. WHAT A WASTEFUL TRIBE! 99.99% OF ANY WEALTHY ( stolen wealth) PERSON YOU HAVE IN THE NORTH GOT HIS WELATH FROM GOVT. TELL ME OF ANY RICH NORTHERNER THAT HIS WEALTH HAS A HISTORY, HISTORY THAT STOOD MILES APART FROM GOVT PATRONAGE. IN SUM, THEIR CUP IS FILLED, THEY SHOULD EITHER DEVELOP THEIR AGRICULTURE, (COS, THEY HAVE POTENTIALS UP THERE, BUT CHOSE TO BE LAZY.) OR LET THEM REMAIN IN PENURY FOR LIFE. NO MORE FREEE LUNCH.

^^^As a christain that lived in the North, what do you make out of a region that its leaders are so comfortable with people going to CHURCHES TO THROW BOMB, TELLING SOUTHERNERS TO LEAVE THEIR REGION,etc. How come they do not go to MOSQUES on fridayz to throw bombs?? The ND militants stated their objectives & they trageted pipelines,oil installations & kidnapping. Did they for once resort to tribal & religious killings? We knew what the North wants, hence, their leaders a SILENT. Sanusi, said the difference in monthly allocation is UNFAIR & that justifies his kinsmen shedding bloods allover ? I thought their EVIL religion ( Islam ) teaches that earthly things are worthless,so why are they BITTER over the Niger-Delta's oil resources?