₦airaland Forum

thelastPope: Many of you trying to play the neutral card are very wrong! Nigeria as a country was ruled on ethnic/regional bias between 1967 and 1999! Everything was lopsided towards the northern ruling class! So don't come here playing the neutral card. To play a neutral card, you must first balance the system as is! You cannot speak about neutrality and oneness from a position of imbalance. The system must be balanced first. That is why the north's claim to to the presidency is absurd! We haven't even balanced that one yet. Why would a region that ruled and ruined us still claim they should produce the next president? Same way, why should a region that controlled, cornered and squandered our oil be talking about neutrality. We must revoke the licences, simple.

Thelastpope, I get your point,and if it helps - your pain is felt. I don't advocate any kind of ethinc imbalance or regional favouritism. However your proposed redress will take all the fight - possibly war to address years of supposed injustice. I wish like you it were that simple, to revoke without the parasitic oligarch fighting back, mind you there are some licencees from the South - benefactors and traitors sharing from our common porridge.

I still say it will be easier to correct the wrongs of Nigeria by engaging the suppressed from all of Nigera, have people -Hausa, Igbo, Yourba, Niger Delta understand who their common enemy is than spoil for a regional fight that benefit the select privilege oligarch you seek to dispose. The Ghana Incentive is what I propose.

Nevertheless, I will like to hear your plan after successful revocation...

Unwittingly we are discussing and challenging our right to stay as one or to self determination. Silent citizens are beginning to talk, maybe this discourse, painful but exigent will eventually allow us to practice the federalism we truly need.

I know by reason of trade and preofession that some of the indigenous licencees are mere rent seekers *[b]TY Danjuma [/b]on Akpo field and [b]Dan Etete [/b]on Zabazaba filed currently being drilled by NAE(tecnical partner) and Snepco(stakeholder) as I write. So there you go, two of the many rent seekers without possibly any iota of drilling technical expertise whose only claim to ownership was by reason of being around people in power.

Reading on here the sense I get is one of disunity amongst people who presumably do not benefit directly from such rent seeking conspiracy. Why fight the battle of the oligarchs? Perhaps many of us out of continued deprivation and persistent want have become champions of ethnic sentiments bothering on the absurd. We want to hold supposedly wrong a ''partaking government thieve'' as long as(s)he isn't from our area but free same on ethnic colouration.

I too, will like an expose on the common criminals milking and depriving all of us common citizens of this beleaguered nation. I will like to see these deprivers for what they are - nation killers rather than citizen from point X or Y. If I had my way these FILTHS will be shot/decapitated/beheaded publicly for ruining the lives of many without any recourse to the place of their birth.

It is only getting started. This revelation has been out in the open...nothing new.
Read George Alabo's account below :

[b]By Ross Alabo-George ACCORDING to official figures, the leading oil producing state, Rivers, received N1,053 billion 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. – Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. YES, forget these per capita figures! I agree the North is poor. Yes, I agree the poverty has bred millions of destitutes, who have become instant and easy recruits for Boko Haram. But my question is: Who impoverished the North? A caveat: I am an unabashed capitalist who believes that every citizen has a right to do good business and make profit. I salute hard work and do not disparage honest efforts. However, uncompassionate capitalism driven by pulleys of aristocracy breeds a brutal class order worthy of condemnation. In my last article titled – ‘El Rrufai’s amnesia: The day Boko Haram Wore Jeans’, I categorically stated that greed and the senseless chase for power by the Fulani aristocrats and
political elite of the North are responsible for the extreme poverty of the North. I still and will always stand by that. My position did not go down well with my targets; they responded vituperatively. Mallam Sanusi’s statistics was intended to mislead us by ruffling the rudder of our common sense. See, Ekiti state has a 2012 budget 0f N88 billion; Kwara State, N90 billion; Cross River State, N144 billion; Anambra State, N82 billion; Enugu State, N74 billion. Now let’s look at the 2012 budgets recently passed into law by the four major Boko Haram occupied states – Kano State has a budget of N 210 billion; Borno State, 150 billion; Gombe, N94 billion; Yobe State, 80 billion. A simple comparative analysis shows that Ekiti State has about the same revenue as Yobe and Gombe, but only 17 students passed WAEC and NECO in Gombe state last year, while Ekiti is known for its high literacy level. Gombe State has a bigger budget that Enugu and Anambra, why has MASSOB not bombed anyone. Borno State has a budget twice that of Enugu State but the poverty and unemployment level in Borno State is more than thrice that of Enugu State. Borno has a bigger budget than a Niger Delta state – Cross River. While the leaders of Cross River over the last decade have transformed it into the nation’s leading tourist destination; those of Borno have transformed it into a Somalia. Kano State gets the highest statutory allocation from the Federal Government, because on paper Kano is the most populated state in Nigeria, yet Kano has about 1.6 million destitute Almajiris. Kano has a budget almost thrice the budget of Enugu, twice the budget of Kwara, Anambra and Ekiti, but how come almost 90 per cent of students in Kano fail WAEC? How come the poverty level in Kano is higher than all these states put together? Why is the North so poor? From the figures above I have shown that Southern states with lesser budgets have shown better development performance than most North Eastern states with bigger statutory allocation and budgets. Now, I need to tackle the sensitive question of revenue allocation that has infuriated the Mallam Lamido Sanusi and Mallam Elrufai and their likes. Niger Delta states get higher revenue allocation because they contribute virtually all the eggs in the national crate. That is expected. Albeit the 13 per cent remains grossly inadequate, the CBN Governor has suggested that his Boko boys are resisting the disparity. I want to posit that the North-East through their aristocrats and ex-military rulers (except Gen. Mohammed Buhari) rake in more oil money (from the Niger Delta) individually than any Niger Delta
state, and collectively more than twice the entire Niger Delta put together. In this disquisition, I have attempted to show that 80 per cent of crude oil and gas produced by indigenous companies is controlled by the North-East. It is an area they have well conquered through Generals IBB, Abacha and Abdulsalami. However, the loots never get back home. Uneven nature of the distribution In this first part I will attempt to describe the very uneven nature of the distribution of the nation’s wealth among the Northern aristocratic families and their military generals who for decades looted Nigeria. They did so blatantly, and while Nigeria was weeping about oil windfall loot and others, Nigerians would wail if they know how much of the nation’s resources these folks allocated to themselves and their business fronts before they stepped aside. Let us therefore begin: To the state of origin of Boko Haram: Borno State. Enter Cavendish Petroleum, the operators of OML 110 – with good yielding OBE field. This oil block was awarded to Alhaji Mai Deribe – the Borno patriarch, who even in death will remain the richest man dead or alive in the history of Borno State – by General Sani Abacha on July 8, 1996. OML 110 has a proven oil reserve in excess of 500 million barrels (more than the entire 300million barrels reserve of Sudan). As yet with the capacity to produce about 120,000 barrels of crude oil daily from its OBE 4 and OBE 5 wells. At optimal production levels, Cavendish nets circa N4billion monthly in crude oil sales (using current oil price of $100pb). Cavendish Petroleum’s N4bn monthly net dwarfs the monthly statutory allocation of Borno which is about N3bn and its internally generated revenue staggers around N1billion. His mansion in Maiduguri has become a tourist attraction. A simple Google search will throw up different perspectives of Mai Deribe’s palatial home. Enter Oriental Energy Resources Limited, a company owned by Alhaji Mohammed Indimi, a Fulani and close friend of General Ibrahim Babangida. Also worthy of note is that General IBB’s first son is married to Alhaji Mohammed Indimi’s daughter – Yakolo Indimi-Babangida, who also serves as a director in the company. Alhaji Indimi hails from Borno State. Good yielding offshore oil blocs
Oriental Energy Resources Limited runs three oil blocks: OML 115, the Okwok field and the Ebok field. OML 115 and Okwo are OML PSC, while Ebok is an OML JV. All of them good yielding offshore oil blocks. OML 115 on its own is 228 sqKm. On OML115 Oriental Energy Resources Limited has 60 per cent while Equity Energy Resources AS. On Okwok, Addax has 40 per cent and on the Ebok field, Oriental Energy Resources shares with none: its 100 per cent. AMNI produces twice as much as Cavendish Petroleum. I will then shift to the centre of the aristocratic hegemony in the North East – Kano. Here. Enter the Fulani Prince Nasiru Ado Bayero, Mallam (Prince) Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s cousin. He is a key shareholder and director in Seplat/Platform petroleum operators of the Asuokpu/Umutu Marginal Field with a capacity of 300,000 barrels monthly and A 30mmfcsd gas plant capable of feeding 100MT of LPG. The Ado Bayeros, Yar’Aduas and Atiku Abubakar are Nigerian directors of Intels. It is a private port that has grounded three Federal ports in the South. Intels is discussed later. Enter South Atlantic Petroleum Limited (SAPETRO). South Atlantic Petroleum (SAPETRO) is a Nigerian Oil Exploration and Production Company that was created in 1995 by General T. Y. Danjuma. General Sani Abacha awarded the Oil Prospecting License (OPL) 246 to SAPETRO in February 1998. The block covers a total area of 2,590km2 (1,000 sq. miles). SAPETRO partnered with Total Upstream Nigeria Ltd (TUPNI) and Brasoil Oil Services Company Nigeria Ltd (Petrobras) to start prospecting on OPL246. Akpo, a condensate field was discovered in April 2000 with the drilling of the first exploration well (Akpo 1) on the block. Other discoveries made on OPL 246 include the Egina Main, Egina South, Preowei and Kuro (Kuro was suspended as a dry gas/minor oil discovery). Barrels of condensate In June 2006, General TY Danjuma divested part of its contractor rights and obligations to China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) for $1 billion (N160bn). Akpo exports about 230,000 barrels of condensate daily. Condensate export is not regulated by OPEC, so SAPETRO/TOTAL exports as much as possible each day. Egina exports about 75,000 barrels of oil daily. Therefore, Akpo and Egina fields export just over 300,000 barrels of oil/condensate daily (three times what the country Ghana exports). SAPETRO (TY Danjuma) get 25 per cent of this. Now, note I have not talked about the gas component – it’s about 2.5 trillion cubic feet. The money SAPETRO
nets each month is more than the monthly statutory allocation of all the Niger delta states combined and also more than the oil revenue of Ghana. Do your maths. Enter AMNI (or is it AMIN?) International Petroleum Development Company. AMNI owns two oil blocks – OML 112 and OML 117. In the production sharing contract, AMNI gets 60 per cent for owning the oil block and Total gets 40 per cent for providing technical advice. OML 112 was awarded on the 12/02/1998 while OML 117 was awarded 06/08/1999 all by Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar. Operations started on both blocks 0n 26/02/2006. The licenses are due to expire 11/02/2018 and 05/08/2019 respectively. (Now you see why the next election is important?) The Okoro and Setu fields in OML 112 are operated by Afren Energy, a company substantially controlled by Rilwanu Lukman. The Okoro and Setu oil fields have about 50 million barrels in reserve and currently produce/exports just a little below 20,000 barrels per day. The chairman of AMNI International Petroleum and Development Company is Alhaji (Colonel) Sani Bello a Fulani from Kontagora, Niger State. Lest I forget, Alhaji Bello’s son – Abu, is married to General Abdusalami Abubakar’s eldest daughter. Enter Express Petroleum and Gas Limited floated by Alhaji Aminu Dantata. General Abacha awarded him OML 108 on the 1st of November, 1995. CAMAC Houston, a company owned by Kase Lawal bought 2.5 per cent of Express Petroleum’s 60 per cent holdings. The other 40 per cent on OML 108 is owned Sheba E&P Limitedi. SEPCOL operates the Ukpokiti offshore field in Shallow water Nigeria, which was acquired from ConocoPhillips in May 2004. Enter Shebah Exploration And Production Limited (SEPCOL) . It is the operator of the Oil Mining License 108 offshore Nigeria. Head office is in Lagos, but ‘head quartered’ in Minna. Enter Consolidated Oil. Conoil Producing Limited is an integrated upstream oil and gas company. They are the operator of six blocks in the Niger Delta as well as 25 per cent Equity holder in the Joint Development Zone (JDZ) Block 4. Corporate Head office is in Lagos, but its ‘Headquarters’ is in Minna, Niger State. Conoil signed a technical operator agreement with Continental Oil and Gas Limited (CONOG) to provide 100% funding and technical service agreement to operate blocks OML 59 on a 40 per cent (Conoil) / 60 per cent (CONOG) basis. Conoil entered into a Production Sharing Contract with the NNPC by virtue of an agreement executed on October 17, 2008.
Conoil’s has overall potential hydrocarbon resources of over 1.0 billion barrels of oil and 7.0 trillion cubic feet of gas. General Ibrahim Babangida awarded the first oil bloc to Conoil in 1991. The company produces about 100,000 barrels per day. Enter Rilwanu Lukman, another Fulani multimillionaire with controlling holdings in Afren, the operators of AMNI oil blocks and also with very key interest in the NNPC/Vitol trading deal, Vitol is a London based oil trading company. Vitol lifts 350,000 barrels of crude oil daily from Nigeria. Enter Intels and the Yar’Adua, Ado Bayero family and Alhaji Abubakar Atiku. The Oil and Gas Free Zone and Oil Services Centres, as well as support bases, are operated from government-owned facilities, leased to Intels under long-term agreements. Intels runs a ‘private port’, a venture that has systematically killed the Calabar, Warri and Port Harcourt ports. More money in profit There are over one hundred major companies operating at the Intel facility in Port Harcourt. The company makes more money in profit than the government of Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta states put together. I shall give details and figures in part two of this disquisition. Finally, let me introduce you to NorthEast Petroleum. The name is as clear as the message it sends. I do not need to write so much about NorthEast Petroleum registered as NorEast. NorthEast Petroleum Nigeria Limited is the holder of OPL215 license, covering an area of 2,564 square kilometres in water depths between 200 to 1600 metres. NorEast is the parent company of Rayflosh Petroleum Nigeria which got the 2005 bidding round and was awarded the blocks OPLs 276 and 283 closing thereupon a Joint Venture Agreement with Centrica Resources Nigeria Limited and CCC Oil and Gas. Not surprising, NorthEast Petroleum is owned by another Fulani businessman from the North East, Alhaji Saleh Mohammed Jambo. The license was awarded to him by General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida in 1991 and then renewed in 2004. So far $50million has been spent on the very promising Okpoi-1 and Egere -1 exploratory well. In the Part II, we shall finish the discussion. We will table other North Eastern billionaires who make more money than their states of origin from Niger Delta oil blocks.
With all these oil blocs owned by ‘North- Easterners’ in the Niger Delta, it should be clear to El-Rufai and Sanusi who really benefits from the Niger Delta Amnesty Programme. Sadly, the National Bureau of Statistics Poverty Profile Report just released shows the North East as the poorest region in the nation with 69.1 and 76.3 as absolute and relative poverty levels respectively, while the South-West had the lowest poverty profile with 49.8 as absolute poverty level and 59.1 relative poverty level. With these figures from the National Bureau of Statistics, I rest my case. The rich man’s wealth is his strong city: the destruction of the poor is their poverty. Let us reason together[/b]

ANY-PEN :
We all remember GEJ saying these words "i don't give a damn" in an interview sometimes last year. A lot of Nigerians must have digested those words but they are too complex for me to digest so am breaking them down to these ones for easy digestion.

WHEN LEADERS 'DON'T GIVE A DAMN'

Right before our eyes, gas freely flare
while they sit in glass houses making budgets for fuel
right under their noses bridges partly fell
while they allocate money for old private jets

they eat away time like lions feeding on flesh
claiming it is better being slow than to fall for fear
whereas the fret of a fall is being comfortable just standing there...
while the world moves swiftly with the speed of a launched rocket

our streets harbor crimes everyday of the year...
yet their beds grow succulent from the loot of our collective wealth.
their cheeks and bellies firmly keeps up a lofty swell...
pushing suits and 'Agbada' buttons to their very edge

is this what happens when leaders don't "bloody care"?
bloodshed everyday like the world is coming to an end?
build security in every corner of their own marbled fence?
and leave out masses to live here next to hell?

homicide, suicide, genocide reigns everywhere
malaria still kill most on this part of the earth
and toothpick breaks less often than an adult's leg
it is them that see it that can truly tell

rainfall should give daily bread but it takes it instead
sunshine should dry our crops but it saps our daily sweat
oil should make us rich but it make us poor instead
one now wonders if it is a curse to be richly blessed

no work for the arms full of strength
no thought for the brain full of ideas
yet they claim to be running well a government...
the type that tags their own few friends

THIS IS WHAT IT MEANS WHEN LEADERS DON'T GIVE A DAMN.

Fabulous man, bravo.

Nigeria stays on mind,
lingering hope that something gives
that we all wake tomorrow,
unchained from this stagnating strife
be reborn - free from listlessness
tribal shackles, and the slug of elitism

I read comments here,
I fear for my daughter...
she's only a child,
born in this era of nepotism
when a name goes before character,
has she any chance?
in this space where demerit is uplifted,
I fear.

But hoping is not enough,
neither comfort would fear bring
I must teach her courage,
the value of building self in this season of anomy
to have faith in the work of her hand,
and influence the gift that is tomorrow

ANY-PEN :
We all remember GEJ saying these words "i don't give a damn" in an interview sometimes last year. A lot of Nigerians must have digested those words but they are too complex for me to digest so am breaking them down to these ones for easy digestion.

WHEN LEADERS 'DON'T GIVE A DAMN'

Right before our eyes, gas freely flare
while they sit in glass houses making budgets for fuel
right under their noses bridges partly fell
while they allocate money for old private jets

they eat away time like lions feeding on flesh
claiming it is better being slow than to fall for fear
whereas the fret of a fall is being comfortable just standing there...
while the world moves swiftly with the speed of a launched rocket

our streets harbor crimes everyday of the year...
yet their beds grow succulent from the loot of our collective wealth.
their cheeks and bellies firmly keeps up a lofty swell...
pushing suits and 'Agbada' buttons to their very edge

is this what happens when leaders don't "bloody care"?
bloodshed everyday like the world is coming to an end?
build security in every corner of their own marbled fence?
and leave out masses to live here next to hell?

homicide, suicide, genocide reigns everywhere
malaria still kill most on this part of the earth
and toothpick breaks less often than an adult's leg
it is them that see it that can truly tell

rainfall should give daily bread but it takes it instead
sunshine should dry our crops but it saps our daily sweat
oil should make us rich but it make us poor instead
one now wonders if it is a curse to be richly blessed

no work for the arms full of strength
no thought for the brain full of ideas
yet they claim to be running well a government...
the type that tags their own few friends

THIS IS WHAT IT MEANS WHEN LEADERS DON'T GIVE A DAMN.

Fabulous man, bravo.

Nigeria stays on mind,
lingering hope that something gives
that we all wake tomorrow,
unchained from this stagnating strife
be reborn - free from listlessness
tribal shackles, and the slug of elitism

I read comments here,
I fear for my daughter...
she's only a child,
born in this era of nepotism
when a name goes before character,
has she any chance?
in this space where demerit is uplifted,
I fear.

But hoping is not enough,
neither comfort would fear bring
I must teach her courage,
the value of building self in this season of anomy
to have faith in the work of her hand,
and influence the gift that is tomorrow

nkem Kalu: WHAT OF JONATHAN WHO SIGNED AN AGREEMENT TO DO ONLY ONE TERM WITH THE GOVERNORS AND IS NOW BLACKMAILING THE GOVERNORS AND TALKING ALL FORMS OF RUBBISH. FASHOLA SHOULD FORGET THAT RUBBISH OF GOOD GOVERNANCE TOUR JARE.....

Jonathan may or may not have signed any pact with his co-devils, frankly I don't give 2 hoots because it wouldn't matter in the larger scheme of things if we have an alternative opposition who do a thorough grounds work and build proper democratic institutions within their party. As it stands there's nothing pointing to any smidgeon of difference ideologically between the APC and PDP. All are a bunch of self-serving-power-seeking bandits hoping to feast from the electorate apathy for the ruling pdp.

Ask yourself these simple questions:


We've had too many of these moments to be fooled...electorates need to decipher and ask questions of what has gone before, demand answers and be prepared for these thieving elites such that while they prepare their lessons in legislooting we can decipher who we seek that can bring us desired change. No be party matter, na INDIVIDUAL.

Nigeria is shaping up electorally...even in here it is war between the LAPTOPPERS vs The DESKTOPPERS Fight on

jt2010: You need to know how to draw the line between Practical and hypothesis. [b]All claims that Fashola & other ACN Governors support the idea of the tour is base on the Communiqué issue by the NGF which has about 19 PDP governors, so taking a decision in such forum is base on vote in support and against, so if out of 36 members, 11 votes against and the remain 25 vote [/b]in support, the majority carry the day and the Communiqué will only reflex the outcome and not the deliberation, so expect any body can provide personal statement of each of those governors support the idea before now if not, they are on point.

I don't hold brief for anybody - PDP nor ACN.What I won't stand for is righteous posturing in public while dancing azonto with the ruling pdp outside public glare. If indeed there was a communique like you claim the oppostion who voted against anykind of tour should as a matter of urgency let the public know of their stand beofre now. Afterthought is not the hallmark of one who desires to lead.

When Jonathan and his pdp goons fired a warning that they were going to put a pms tax at the pump Fashola immediately fired back that no such thing will happen in Lagos. That is what the public needs to see and hear. Somebody voted and drowned your voice, issued a communique according to you and instead of slamming it down in public domain by discoursing the demerits of the program you went to sleep until execution time! Shouldn't ACN as opposition be informing prospective voter-citizens about the difference between federal and state projects? Why keep quiet after 6 months of an existing communique only to shout at execution? Something tells me ACN and co had hoped the project tour will not gather any positive breeze and will whittle. It all sounds like crying over spilt milk really, because if someone in government decides to bring to pass something unbudgetted for and cease to profiteer from it you don't wait 6 months to cry wolf. PDP-ACN, same people.

jt2010: Your statement clearly shows FG intention of setting up the tour. Some few question for you?

1) What ask statement to provide hotels and other logistics for the FG delegates
2) What percents of the Projects shown is FG projects.
3) Of what benefits was showcasing state Projects going to benefit the FG.

All of your above question should have been asked by the erudite and porgressive ACN scholars before embarking. Their thought judgemnt is the reason they've been elected to serve otherwise, we just put anybody there...the pdp though not liked are masters at the art of deception but if one calims to be astute as ACN then such claims become blighted when foresight isn't exercised. Its an ACE up pdp's sleeve.

jt2010: What Fashola means by ill-conceived is the idea of the Federal ministry of information going about all states and showcasing state projects as if they are part of the transformation agenda of Mr. President. The good governance tour should showcase the Federal project and let us see what the FG is doing than wanting to claim glory for projects done by the State government and also expect each states to pay for such mendacity.

I t doesn't take talent to grow up neither foresight. My question to you is: why wait till execution of tour to tag the program ''ill-conceived''? Surely a man of Fashola's standing should have asked from the inception when the hawks gathered what format the tour was to take before shifting the goal post and drawing cold feet at during execution. To me it says much about them than the ruling pdp...unfortunately we all possess HINDSIGHT what is lacking is FORESIGHT. PDP, ACN are one and the same to me, the only difference is one party is controlling the cash flow. In the manner of their discourse a sound mind would easily decipher that changing one for another will produce no different result. In a country where most people, the electorate can hardly differentiate between state and federal projects the joke certainly won't be on the executors of such projects, sadly. More sadly is ACN failing to be different. What stops the ACN from doing their home work? Massive enlightenment about citizens' rights, project categorization - state or federal, opposition at the lowest of the grassroots is as important as figting to win the presidency! The councilors, mayors are closer to the people than the governors or president. Why not begin to educate people about alternative progressive governance via the grassroots? Teach, show your aspirants accountability to the people, importance of stewardship...this way we, the electorate can see and welcome you as a difference rather than a power seeker in a different garb.

thelastPope: The point is not "adhering to" but feighning ignorance of or denying consent. Nobody said he must participate. Worst scenario is he would have just kept numb and rejected their proposal. By trying to castigate it, he makes himself a two-timing traitor. You cannot compare it to GEJ. GEJ has no agreement like Aliyu claimed and others have come out to debunk Aliyu's claim and asked him to produce evidence which he cannot produce. You cannot also claim that a so called 1999 PDP leaders zoning gentleman agreement that was probably done in a hotel room or at Ota farm is binding on GEJ in 2011. That is ridiculous!

The foolish thing about the ACN pull out? It has already created a sourgrape feeling and the tag of losers in the public domain. It also affords us, the electorate to decipher in a small way the mind of the opposition. Truly if development and progressivism of the nation as they preach is at the heart of their fight, then it should be a spur on that a challenge has been thrown by the pdp in ACN's face. If I were ACN I will run with pdp in their program and highligt their failures,examine the cost/project -make same public, take exeprience on how they can better same in states they control. That is the job of the opposition. TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE WEAK PERFORMANCE INDICES OF THE RULING PARTY AND HIGHLIGTING HOW THEY CAN BE IMPROVED. PDP inadvertently called them to come and evaluate but, and perhaps the fear that similar shortfallings will be discovered with the ACN domain made them have cold feet.

IT is time they, ACN step up their game and not just seek power for power sake. If they cannot take advantage of the fumblings of the ruling pdp, what difference are we to expect?

APC or ACN can do an alternative good governance tour to highlight how much better their programs are instead of giving the public an impression of lack of foresight. Their decision to pull out is looking more of about hindsight drawn from the positive reception the ruling pdp is ganering from projects delivered through the GGT. ACN and co should have seen this coming before being sucker punched. This is the same issue I have with ACN and other opposition parties in the country. DOn't dine with the devil even with a long spoon...we've seen it in the sharing of the ECA, and other monies accruing to the federation. These parties in both houses join the much maligned pdp and then later through public proxies shout to high heavens about squandering...it doesn't make them different in the public sphere. Food for thought.

Works for me, too. I combine both - toilet and bath tub...most ideas come to me when joggling between a poo and a bath.

Mad Cow: 5 billion is a lie..

I have worked on two of those schools as a sub contractor (Roofing and land scaping jobs) and I can authoritatively tell you that none of those schools costs even 100 million Naira... .

It trns logic on its head for a government with less than 20 billion Naira/ month to deploy 5 billion Naira of that fiscal resource to build a single school...a secondary school. I had my doubt and felt blink 182 had run with a quote unconfirmed. Like you Mad Cow I have seen schools from around Elekiah( the first of all built) after Rumukalagbor and kept wondering how that school could cost up to 5 billion Naira...thanks for the clarification

manny4life: Does Toyota cast their own engine block abi do they build it from scratch?

Does Toyota manufactures their own tires when Michelin, et al are there to manufacture tires?

While Toyota mold the dashboard, ALL components of the dash board from speedometer, gauges, radio, LCD displays, AC controls, I mean EVERYTHING, does Toyota do all those by themselves?

Sorry, I'm not buying you argument that Toyota manufacture different parts of the car, the ONLY thing they do is design and mold the car from steel and treat it. Every other thing else is OUTSOURCED by specification.

I mean everything has been take care off in the design phase, but for components such as nuts and bolts, mirrors, brakes, dashboard components, etc are bought just that they are bought by specification. For instance, Toyota may send a design spec to Michelin tires and say these are the components of the kind of tires we need.

They go to Rain-X company and tell them, look we need this specific type of wipers, can u do it? Meet up with Engine manufacturers, this is the spec of what we what, after all these arrive, they simply assemble all them together. That's just the ONLY difference ---- DESIGN.

After all, Boeing is an airplane manufacturer, but more than 90% of about 200,000 components is outsourced.

Knwoledgable riposte to blink 182!
Innoson has got his design going, if he hasn't taken opportunity of the manufacturing resourceful Nigerians should assist and complete the jiggsaw.

Frostyzone: Really? Going by your logic, then Innoson is practically an assembly branch put in place by one of the world auto maker kings, right?

If that is so, then why does Innoson retain it's identity, instead of that of it's parent company?

The fact is Innoson is a rising auto maker industry. Oh yes, it depends on other established industries for it's spare parts, but if it continues to grow and expand, it's only a matter of time before it will start manufacturing it's own.


Remember Tata Motors of India.

The question shouldn't be if Innoson is an ''assembly plant'' or not...i should be what opportnities do I/You/US/WE/NIGERIANS see in what the young man has done to take it to the next level? Can the government build a support enginnering school - a campus close by Innoson tasked only with research as to compliment and ease him into the next level. Opportunities abound around us. Look - take advantage.

blink182: those schools are amazing and are being built at the rate of N5bn each. How many has been built and completed? The last time I checked, only one had been completed and there are 23 lgas in rivers. Now compare that to the 306 being built by imo state. Not as grand but definitely better than schools in my state and every ward in imo is getting a school.

5 billion?! sure about that...when you throw figures like these one is only inclined to believe if you can support your claims with evidence. You are talkig approxiately 32 million Dollars, USD i.e. Sounds more of bandying methinks.[/quote]

I would think Private. What does it matter? It is the fucntion of the government to provide enabling environment for his business to thrive, perhaps they went over to see how best they can be of assistance...how they can improve his business. It won't be out of place if all government funtionaries buy their official and personal vehicles out from Innoson. Imagine the multiplier effect...jobs, jobs and more jobs.

igbsam: Is INNOSAN a Private Owned Company or a FG Owned Company ? Those SUVs looks Hot.

imagine the multplier effect we'd have with round-the-clock electricity. Sometimes it is good to focus on the poitive even if in the opposition. The innososn project is astounding and should be patronised by every nigerian that can afford...when that happens the ROI will drive further reaserch in improving further the aesthetics of his cars. More trains please. The more people an goods (especially) we can move on them the better multiplier effect - goods and food transported at cheap rates from one end og Nigeria to the other will translate to lower cost price in such items. Besides the possiblity of having less trucks and tankers can only mean good for our roads. The schools too look good, exeperienced teaching hands will increase the overall building and infrastructure value offered to the children. Now is the time to think and strive towards a comprehensive plan as to how these schools will be maintained...good alternative to almost out-of-reach private schooling system offered in Nigeria. Such alternatvie will drive down the cost certainly. More pictures please.

Marriage can become a burden of irreedemable difference to parties in the union. As such situations unfold when in - subjects which questions the will to sacrifce and tolerate to a varying threshold. How much one goes before their breakpoint differs with circumstance. A wo(man) might go the whole 9 yard and end up Pristoriusesque...the thing is none can say from the beginning how a marriage will end. It is a journey with tell-tale signs, flashes of harmony filled with moments of detest. Like a rundown car battery sometimes it requires recharging to get the marital cells working at blissful norm again.

But how much, how far should a wo(man)take before such irreconcilable differnece is brought before a judge? Or should one whittle and degrade in eternal hope of a turnaround until such a time their partner comes around? The matter truthfully is complex especially when the child(ren)factor come(s) is considered along side any miscarriage of justice.

Reading the Ops single story one can come to a quick conlcusion that their union has cross the rubicon - the point of no return, of irreconcilable difference, one she can no longer sacrfice nor tolerate. For her the batteries of togetherness are no longer rechargable. As one in the union, she has earn every right to dissolution if unsatisfied. I begrudge her not.

My question to many here: What do we do with serious tell-tale signs in periods of our courtship?
Do we just hope negative attitudes, traits will go away when we achieve unionship? A wo(man) doesn't become an abuser overnight, how much were we willing to overlook, hoped to change,in our bid to get married?

The judiciary has just interpreted a law made by our shameless legislooters, a house peopled by thieves who in their thieving ways set before time safety fallback measures in the event such fate as Yakubu's stand against them tomorrow. What we have just witnessed is a dress rehearsal of Farouk Lawal's fate- a slap on his fat wrist when his time comes. Justice clearly has not been seen to have been done. Rather thieves of tomorrow have set for themselves lenient punishment for such a time when their hands would be caught sticking in the cookie jar. These people of the three tiers won't go away unless we the burden bearers take to the streets, pay the ultimate price and force them out.

Unfortunately Fashola's bogus claim can only be affirmed when put to test. In any case Nigeria as a country will find out in the coming 3 -5 years what strength it's non-oil economy boast with the upsurge in Shale gas FRACKING technology deployed currently by the US to meet and surpass her domestic energy needs. We as a nation will have a true test of our economic foundation when Good old uncle Sam reduce further her patronage and we fail to find a ready market for our crude. Fashola will be proved wrong or right.
The strange thing today is people in government failing to adapt to obvious economic changes looming in the horizon, even the Saudis with all their bestowed oil reserves are planning ahead for that period when an alternative to easy oil I'll make them less competitive. With all the monies accruing to the fed from crude oil (down and upstream) we still don't have lasting facilities. Imagine a period when oil prices will hover around $50 or below that benchmark! I think easy money has been our bane and we may find time short to diversify when the storm hits.

basty: Walk the Walk,she you go school, Omo Ibo too bad, only money, money, money.
Simple Grammar you cannot construct.

Work the Work, corrected.

There's such a thing as not to suffer fools gladly. Dear Basty, work the work, really? Please make sure of your phrase usage before trying to better another's. The walk the walk phrase is usually used in conjunction with the talk the talk phrase or like the Americans say it, "to walk it like you talk it" enough said.

The problem with refusing to sit and talk...deep wound hidden and out of sight will keep festering while the benefactors of this resultant disaffection continue in their nation destruction. Until we can look back, right perceived wrongs by administering justice we won't go far as a people. It is not just with he Biafra-Nigeria war, but even in the distribution of our wealth.

...and so the problems of Nigeria rage on, people unwilling to confront their past-locked in ethnic bitterness. Upon this challenge of ethnic division thrives the usurper ...of their inalienable rights to be free, have justice and the pursuit of happiness. Nothing here rings of a forward looking country, only a people bogged down by half truths told by their kinsmen. The actors are gradually leaving the stage, making up the minds of the very young they have captured.

The first question that readily came to my mind: What in terms of price difference exist between Arik vs BA/VA on that route?

Arik may be relatively substandard in their welfare schemes but it will never grow beyond neither meet Nigeian High-flyer requirements if same flyers fail to patronize it to grow. It is not a enough for our government to bicker at the diplomatic level - what will is for Nigerian passengers - high or low-flyer to vote with their feet and fly Arik. That way we keep the forex as well as drive the bargain on our side.