₦airaland Forum

IloveFred:
I can make him happy. He was happy with me. He needed warm and gentle feelings. I can give him that. I can adjust.

Beaf:
The Ivorian army that is causing becomerich to soil his pants will fall and capitulate in a few days. It is so weak that it is laughable, if not for the French that stopped the rebels, the stunning victories that saw more than half the country fall to them would have swept to the Coast. The French planted their army between both sides and stopped the war, otherwise there would be no Gbagbo today.

ECOMOG will simply join forces with the rebel North, land massive troops in Bouake, as well as attack in a pincer movement from the sea. Easy pickings, couple of days, job done.

Ivory Coast doesn't even have an airforce.

kulutempa:
No, no, no.  The letter was written by a group of Danish pension funds to the Spanish government but was posted by a Spanish Professor on his blog.  Please see another article on the same topic from Bloomberg.  The full link is here  http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-24/danish-pension-funds-oppose-spanish-solar-power-cuts-update1-.html



June 24 (Bloomberg) -- Spain’s plans to reduce the revenue of solar-power plants may deter investors from holding any securities backed by the Spanish state, three Danish pension funds said in a letter to the government.

The move may lead to a “complete and prolonged” freeze in renewable-energy investment in Spain, according to AP Pension, PensionDanmark and PBU. The funds manage more than 30 billion euros ($37 billion), including Spanish solar investments, for 700,000 clients, the letter to Finance Minister Elena Salgado and Industry Minister Miguel Sebastian said.

“We would view a retroactive reduction in solar tariffs as a failure of the Spanish government to abide by its commitments,” according to a copy of the letter provided to Bloomberg. “It would not be prudent for the government to enact such retroactive measures.”

Solar-energy executives said Sebastian told them this week he intends to cut the subsidized revenue that photovoltaic plants earn by 30 percent as part of a plan to reduce the cost of power. The government is looking to boost the competitiveness of Spanish industry and curb public liabilities as it bids to reignite the economy after the worst recession in 60 years.

After all is said and done, I can understand why commuters are up in arms but the danger of a U turn at this stage as I have said is loss of investor confidence and a lack of trust in our government.   A better solution may well be for the government to leave things the way they are and build an alternative single lane road from tax revenues or royalties received from the concession.

kulutempa:
Oh please.  That is why I put on the link so that you can check things out for yourself.   All you need to do is click on it.

kulutempa:
I would have thought it was pretty obvious but since you have requested for evidence, please find below a letter written to the Spanish Government   by investors following the proposed reduction in Solar energy tariffs by the  government in  May 2010.  You may think solar energy generation is different from  toll roads but the fact is that they are both concessions granted to investors by governments.  The full link is at

http://finance.blogs.ie.edu/archives/2010/06/proposed-spanish-retroactive-reduction-of-solar-pv-feed-in-tariffs.php

D. José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, President of the Spanish Government
Copy to: D. José Enrique Serrano, Chief of Staff of the Presidency
Madrid, May 27, 2010

Subject: Proposed Spanish retroactive reduction of solar PV feed-in tariffs

Dear President,
We are a group of international investors and investment managers who invest longterm
capital on behalf of global pension funds and insurance companies whose beneficiaries
are millions of workers – both governmental and private – around the world. Collectively we
hold investments in Spanish solar photovoltaic projects with a value of about €3 billion.

These projects have been financed with nearly €400 million of our clients’ and shareholders
funds and with approximately €2.6 billion of loans from Spanish and European banks. Our
investors seek low-risk, regulated assets, thus we made these investments relying on the
regulatory assurances of the Spanish Government that the Solar PV tariff under Royal Decree
661/2007 would not be changed or reduced during the life of these projects.

In recent weeks, it has been reported that the Spanish Government might be considering to a
reduction in the Royal Decree 661/2007 tariff for legally built and operating projects,
including those owned by us. Having followed previous tariff negotiations for new renewable
energy projects, we are inclined to believe that such an outcome is not likely. However, as
the Spanish Government has not publicly ruled out retroactivity, we have heightened
concerns that Spain may in fact be considering such an unprecedented and potentially
damaging step. We want to register our strongest possible objection to the consideration of
any such retroactive reduction. It would result in the loss of all or nearly all of our
shareholders’ funds and clients’ pension and insurance funds invested in the equity of these
projects. A substantial portion of the debt funds lent by international and Spanish banks
(including some of the more constrained Cajas) would also be lost and it could have very
serious long-term ramifications for Spain’s ability to attract foreign investment
We believe that there are serious implications to Spain of a retroactive tariff change. We are
sure that these have been considered, but in the event that they have not, they could very
well include:

1. Loss of Investor Confidence in Spain.
Our investors include many of the largest pension funds, insurance companies and
sovereign wealth funds in the world. In addition to investments in renewable energy
through us, they make other investments in Spain and Spanish companies – Spanish
government bonds, Spanish corporate bonds and listed and private Spanish equities.
They are aware of the threatened changes and the impact on their investments. They
have made it clear that we should not seek further investments in Spain until the matter
is settled, and make no further investments if retroactive changes are made because it
would lead them to conclude that Spain does not offer a stable regulatory environment
or is respectful of foreign investment. Thus, investment decisions are being delayed
whilst this uncertainty persists and in the absence of decisive action by the Spanish
Government to clarify that such a step will not be taken

$3 billion sounds like  a big deal to me.   I rest my case for loss of investor confidence.

mrjingles:
This leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. Just bloody politics (smart though). All these "patriots" and "experts" complaining about the tolls dont have a clue. Una go come forum dey make emotional and uninformed posts. Only Nigeria people want the good things and are not willing to pay for them. PS: I live in lagos.

redsun:
Jihadist Islamism thrive in a rogue,it is synonymous with backwardness.Naija is a rogue state,anything goes.

Ileke-IdI:
I dont wish death on anyone o, but if that's what it takes to get rid of some greedy ppl who wont give power to their younger generation, then so be it!

racheal84:
I am an american woman married to a NIgerian Man. I wanted to know if anyone knew how i could obtain nigerian citizinship or a residence card or whatever there. Is it hard to do? I have been looking stuff up online but am not coming up with much. any help NOT RUDE COMMENTS would be helpful. thanks

morpheus24:
Where are you getting this rubbish that Southerners hate Fulani people. Please correct yourself.

As far as the Fulani of Nigeria go. They are an extension of the Fulani that inhabit the sahel regions strecthing from the western most point in senegal to the tips of the Chad.

Fulani are indigenous to West Africa and have been within these regions for quite some time now. As you mentioned DNA evidence shows they are not descendants of Arabs but have a very small trace of genotypical dna traits as indigenous Berber north Africans, probably through intermarriages or trade. The dna gene is called[b]U6[/b]
They are quite distant from ethiopians and Somali and cluster more with West african Senegambian types like the Mandinka.

Again no one hates Fulani people as far as a people are concerned. Politics is another issue. Their nomadic natures have allowed them to be absorbed into more dominant settler groups like the Hausa togethter with its socio political views

ECOMOG Baby Boom

Lydia Glabor’s son is just one of the many children born to Nigerian ECOMOG troops who served in Liberia between 1990 and 1996.They have been variously called’ECOMOG Babies’ or’ ECOMOG Kids’. This phase in Liberia’s social history has been referred to as the ‘ECOMOG Baby Boom’. It was a moment when the population began to expand. When some in Liberia were not sure who their fathers were, the children were then named ‘ECOMOG Bastards’. Little knowledge of the father can be a big social problem in Africa. The number of births by Liberian women have been put at 250,000.The news broke recently when a senior government official stressed this figure before the House of Representatives Diaspora Committee, and said ‘many of the kids have undergone registration and naturalization as Liberians, having waited for years without seeing their fathers.’

In Liberia many persons interviewed by this reporter, including a journalist who was in the thick of the Liberian war, stressed that the figure is correct,and that its likely to be higher than the 250,000.This reporter also found out that the Department of Social Welfare in Monrovia has recently commenced the registration of all births in Liberia. No proper records of births are in existence right now. This was occasioned by the war in that country.

Abubakar Umar Kari of the Department of Sociology, University of Abuja says “we thought ECOMOG had gone to keep the peace in a war-torn country. We never knew they had gone to serve as agents of population explosion”. A former ECOMOG soldier in Nigeria (name withheld) told Weekly Trust that the figure must be correct. Citing himself as an example, he said he had 58 girlfriends in the three-year period he spent in Liberia as part of the ECOMOG contingent. But he adds that he used condom, and that his colleagues had a greater number of girlfriends than he had at the time in question. In addition he says that he is HIV negative.

Abdulkazim Akanmu, who served with ECOMOG in Liberia, whom this reporter met at the Ijebu-Oru Refugee Camp in Ogun State, adds that the population of children born by Liberian women to Nigerian soldiers must be higher than 250,000. He says “it’s more than that. It must be double the number given,” laughing. He has five children by a Liberian wife and he calls them out, introducing the group as his ‘battalion’. Three of these children were born in Liberia during the period of the ECOMOG intervention.

Harrison Aniukwu, Chairman, Nigeria Citizens Union, Red Light Monrovia comments on the population of babies born to Nigerian soldiers by Liberian women. “In the 1990s countless women came forward to say that they had children for Nigerian ECOMOG soldiers. So Ambassador Ogbonnaya Nduaka tried to get them registered at the Nigerian Embassy. Then the 2003 war broke out. We helped those who knew the addresses and names of the fathers of their children. But the population of births for our Nigerian soldiers is certainly higher than 250,000, given the numbers of those I saw who came forward to be evacuated”. He also explained why relationships blossomed between ECOMOG troops and the local women. His words: “ECOMOG was providing food supplies to the people here during the war and so relationships blossomed because ECOMOG provided security as well.” According to him, most of the women who came forward could even speak a smattering of Nigerian-type Pidgin English and the children had obviously Nigerian names. A former ECOMOG soldier tells this reporter: “We all had girlfriends and I am not left out. During the crisis our soldiers befriended their girls, and the girls became pregnant.”

Kobojunkie:
@Tsiya, I will go with what I can actually read on this and nowhere in what you have above are we told that He was given an award for LEAKING a stolen/confidential reports/information.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Assange


You have told you what you believe of this and I am fine with you believing what you want but I would rather go with what I can read from sources I have found so far and none of the sources point to him having leaked confidential records in the Kenyan situation. To make this even more interesting, it seems the Kenyan authorities did not charge him with espionage or go after him in anywise. So what exactly is the issue here?

Kobojunkie:
You ruin whatever point you are trying to make when you IGNORE data provided you for source so you can throw stones at me for not seeing this as you do. I posted a LINK for the source of the information I had there on the Award. PLEASE TAKE TIME TO READ BEFORE YOU JUMP TO THROW STONES WILLY-NILLY .


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Assange

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiLeaks

Kobojunkie:
Again, stop trying to weave nonsense into this. You brought up a post on him getting an award from Amnesty [/b]international, I explained what it was for and told you to attack Amnesty if you have a problem with the award.

You then post a retort on an interview I posted of what Assange said of his leaking of information on the [b]Kenyan [/b]government and now you ask me why I am desperately trying to differentiate what ? Again READ! The post was about Kenyan affair which he was interview for, not on your paranoia. Do get over yourself and learn to read/follow along.[b]
WRONG!  Exposing public data to the public is NOT same as STEALING SECRET documents to expose to the public. Two completely different things here-Again, according to Amnesty where the award for the [b]Kenyan [/b]report came from, the case is it was for his INVESTIGATIVE reporting on the case and not his STEALING AND REVEALING confidential information.

WikiLeaks has won a number of awards, including the 2008 Economist magazine New Media Award.[6] In June 2009, WikiLeaks and Julian Assange won Amnesty International's UK Media Award (in the category "New Media" for the 2008 publication of "Kenya: The Cry of Blood – Extra Judicial Killings and Disappearances",[7] a report by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights about police killings in Kenya.

Awards received

In 2008, Index on Censorship presented WikiLeaks with their inaugural Economist New Media Award.

In 2009, Amnesty International awarded WikiLeaks their Media Award for exposing "extra judicial killings and disappearances" in Kenya.[162]

Kobojunkie:
Again, stop trying to weave nonsense into this. You brought up a post on him getting an award from [b]Amnesty [/b]international, I explained what it was for and told you to attack Amnesty if you have a problem with the award.

You then post a retort on an interview I posted of what Assange said of his leaking of information on the [b]Kenyan [/b]government and now you ask me why I am desperately trying to differentiate what ? Again READ! The post was about Kenyan affair which he was interview for, not on your paranoia. Do get over yourself and learn to read/follow along.
WRONG!  Exposing public data to the public is NOT same as STEALING SECRET documents to expose to the public. Two completely different things here-Again, according to Amnesty where the award for the [b]Kenyan [/b]report came from, the case is it was for his INVESTIGATIVE reporting on the case and not his STEALING AND REVEALING confidential information.

olabukola:
The bolded get me confused from the posts am reading here. What is we change the US in the bolded and replaced it with IRAN or North Korea or Russia or China how will the responce here be.

Kobojunkie:
Sigh!!! Again, read what the man is being charged with.

You compare his[b] INVESTIGATIVE[/b] work in The Cry of Blood – Extra Judicial Killings and Disappearances, for which he won an award, with his LEAKING of Secret stolen documents, and I wonder why? Is it the case that you also believe he must have stolen Kenyan secret documents for his claimed research on the kenyan issue?

Gbawe:
Don't be blindsided by the comments of France or the notion that the West is always up to no good in Africa. Ouattara is very popular and Gbagbo has shown in the past that he is afraid of testing his popularity against him by ensuring that Ouattara was prevented from participating in previous elections. In many African nations it is nigh impossible to see an opposition leader announced the winner of a Presidential election . Ouattara is in the opposition Party yet the nations electoral Commision , the highest undisputed electoral authority, actually announced him the winner before loyalists of Gbagbo tried to overule that announcement !!! From all I have read it seems Ouattara won clearly so let us address how he is being denied his mandate by "sit tight" mentality rather than take this on another tangent involving the scheming machinations of the West.