₦airaland Forum

      So sad. I had heard he was admitted to hospital early this month but poor power supply    meant a news blackout for me (for several days). I googled his name today to find out how he was doing only to read of his death.

My support for Brazil's kind of football (or any kind of football at all) goes back over 20 years -  all the way back to June 1982 to be precise. I must admit I had  absolutely no interest in football back then. Extreme boredom forced me to switch on the television that June afternoon to see what "this world cup" was all about. That epic Brazil-Italy match was on that very afternoon.

I started watching the match and I was smitten.

I became a believer and I have never looked back.

Watching Socrates, Zico, Eder, Serginho, Falcao, Oscar, Junior etc. take on Italy's Rossi, Gentile, Cabrini, Zoff etc that afternoon was something that even now is hard to explain. There was a purity to that match that one had to watch live to fully appreciate.

I still remember the confusion among the older and more knowledgeable members of my household when the ref blew the final whistle and Brazil were out.

Four years later and Socrates & Co. were back to contest for football's ultimate prize in Mexico. This time the attack was sharper than that of '82, with Careca being the arrowhead. After some thrilling matches, Brazil were to confront Michel Platini's France in the quarter finals.

The memory of that match (just like the clash with Italy in 1982) is burned indelibly on my brain . . . the uncanny footwork by Junior, Muller & Careca in the build-up to Brazil's goal in the first half . . . Platini's equalizer after the ball fell fortuitously  to his feet after cannoning off Edinho or Julio Cesar . . . Zico's spot-kick miss in regulation time . . . the transformation of Joel Bats from an ordinary goalkeeper into a force of nature. . .

I remember Socrates missing an open goal in the dying minutes of extra time. I also remember him missing his spot-kick in the penalty shoot-out. But none of that will diminish his standing.

He was a footballer with a style all his own and one who will be remembered with gratitude despite his own personal failings and weaknesses.

The death of this man reminds those of us (from the generation that saw the Brazil of that era) of our mortality. A few years ago, it was Tele Santana (the coach of that glorious 1982 Brazil squad) who passed on. Now, its Socrates.

RIP, "Calcanhar Ouro". And thank you for the memories.

The GEJ administration continues to stumble and totter. . .

I knew it would come to this. How anyone could imagine otherwise is beyond me. The signs were there from the very beginning but indeed there are none so blind as those who will not see.

Even with all that, I am amazed at the errors of judgement of the administration (at least in the area of reading the public's mood). I open the papers these days and it seems all I see are pictures of GEJ behind a cake, celebrating one frivolity or another.  A few weeks ago, he was at the CHOGM jamboree, feeding his Marie Antoinette with birthday cake while his country was literally on fire (and it still is). Now he's back home and the cycle of 'birthday cakery' is still going on strong. And the discontent of the disenfranchised continues to seethe and rumble. . .

What a terrible waste.

Some of us knew what was coming our way in April this year, after 11 years of deceit and chicanery by the self-styled ''biggest party in Africa". Indeed, how could we not know? Unfortunately, most Nigerians didn't read the script and now they are paying for it, big time. The garguantan folly of the "I voted for Jonathan and not the PDP" rationale is now clear to all.


As it is often said: "You can choose your sin. But you cannot choose its consequences".

Quote by ekt bear

"OBJ was a great president for Nigeria, the best Nigeria has had so far."

^^^

Really?

"Whenever I read about some company undertaking a cost-cutting program, I know it's not a company that really knows what costs are all about. Spurts don't work in this area. The really good manager does not wake up in the morning and say, "This is the day I'm going to cut costs," any more than he wakes up and decides to practice breathing." - Warren Buffett


The Nigerian tragicomedy continues.

I am convinced that the Nigerian people must rank among the most foolish people on this planet, and I make absolutely no apologies for saying this. I await the half-hearted rebuttals and insults.

There’s no need for anyone to pay for a screening of Orwell’s Animal Farm. They could watch it for free right here in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, day after day, week after week, year after year - its happening live. And as it was in that novella, the biggest problem wasn’t the pigs and their corruption/betrayal of the revolution but the incomprehensible stupidity and gullibility of the sheep and the other ‘expendables’.

It is painful to admit it but we are all sheep now. All 167 million of us. Fifty years after the British left and after 12 years of the PDP and we are still stating the obvious?  It is so sad to read that Maku was once a student unionist.

Kobojunkie:
Yawn!!! Na wa oo!!! And here I thought this was an obvious common sense idea.  Oh no, we have to CONGRATULATE the FG for finally figuring out this is how it ought to happen.

Yinkay:
na today, is that not the standard for all contract payments? payment are based on % of work certified done. Of what essence is the requirement for Bank Guanrantees or Advance Payment Guarantee in contract applications and appointment of Project Managers?

Please tell them.

cheikh:
@ all Posters saying that we should be fearful and subservient in "Nigeria" because the Police behave badly. Actually it is only in a section of the country, Southern Nigeria predominantly. We seem to bury our heads in the sand and gloss over that fact as if it affects the rest of the country(North). It seems to me that a lot of Nigerians have not travelled around the country as to observe the distinct difference in police behaviour in the North and the South. There is abject contempt, disrespect, and disregard for human life by every law enforcement agents in the South. Even traffic wardens in Lagos behave badly too despite not being armed yet. Did the police not kill two brothers in ONDO state recently yet the outrage against the police was feeble and the police station and inhabitants are still in business as usual. Cowardice, Fear and Laziness have taken hold of our collective psyche hence impunity flourishes in the South of the country more than anywhere else in the country. We are fearful of social misfits like Area boys, cultists in universities (mainly in the South) to other social miscreants and delinquents in our midst. Fear has gained control of natural ability to Act purposefully. It is as if we are a conquered and defeated people indeed and not full fledged citizens of a so called free country.

@ cheikh,

I have heard views similar to yours expressed by quite a few people.

It might seem (on the surface) that the NPF (and law enforcement in nigeria in general) is generally more civil in its dealing with the public in northern nigeria. I once thought so too.

But time has changed that view.

Remember the apo six? There are countless examples of police brutality and lawlessness up north, just like down south. I have family/friends residing up north who have had hair raising experiences with policemen (shots being fired without warning) at check points on the highway, in the metropolis, just about anywhere.

It is a Nigerian problem. You may argue that it is latent up North but that might even make it more dangerous.

May the dead young man find rest. He was bold enough to walk the walk and he was certainly a doer of the Word and not a hearer only. He stood up to be counted when it mattered most, which is more than i can say for so many of us.


P.S. Some of us on the board have passed comments along the lines of "the army should teach the NPF a lesson", etc.

When will we learn? The nigerian army and the nigeria police are two sides/faces of the same bad coin, both in urgent need of redemption. I actually believe the army is more to blame for nigeria being the hell it is, but that's a topic for another day.

@ Poster,

Good thread. There's some info i'd like from those familiar with continental Europe's used car market though. Autocheck & Carfax serve the US (& UK?) and do help a great deal in VIN checks but so far I haven't seen any thread on NL with details on VIN check authorities in the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Germany etc.

Some car dealers & regular people do buy cars from these countries for use and/or resale in Nigeria, so how do they do their due diligence? Anyone with info on this?

OLASODE2K:
@volvoS30. What made u to accuse the old man like that?

i have been following his actions over the years, right from when he first formed 'his' OPC to the point where it broke into violent factions, before becoming what it is today. The man is . . . well i'd rather not say much on what he is right now. Remember his failed attempts to 'tribalize' Patricia Etteh's quarrels with her co-conspirators in the national assembly? That is just one of his many, many attempts to drag everyone into the gutter.

Doctors preserve life. It is their calling. Fasehun and his band of murderous, violent thugs in the OPC have no understanding of this.

OLASODE2K:
Too bad the[b] venerable[/b] OPC leader is trying to be partial in dealing with MEND & BH. Aside from OPC leadership, he should be seen as an impartial national elder as i still see him to be. And i wish he doesnt talk softly again with to bombing terrorists either they emanate from the creeks or from maiduguri.

There is nothing "venerable" about that man, Fasehun. He is a traitor to the Hippocratic oath and an embarrassment to decent physicians worldwide.

tpbehappy:
@Rabosh.
Na wa for you, so are you not a Nigerian, where is human right in Nigeria and you are saying this. My advice for people like you is never exercise or prove your right in front of any uniform man holding gun because people will exercise such right on your behalf, atleast Fashola has tried his best possible for giving the widow a home and promising to send the children to school and what a man will give birth to nine children when the person is not Dangote or Otedola, but there is so much to be done in Nigeria as regards our Human right and people killing people.

^^^^

what have you just said? In 4 lines you have:

1. advised people never to insist on their rights where armed uniformed men are concerned,
2. questioned the dead man's family planning ability,
3. admitted that a lot needs to be done about human rights in Nigeria.

I hope you can see the contradiction.

Can't believe I missed this thread. But I am not surprised at the responses at some of the posters.

I have always maintained that Nigerians are the architects of their own misfortune. Threads like this one prove my point beyond any doubt.

We (the beaten, broken, dehumanized mass of people called "the ordinary Nigerians" are not yet ready for change.

When we are ready, we know what to do.

My old notes from political science class tell me (or at least I think they do  ) that there are 2
(people power) routes to getting the right leadership (and we all agree that leadership is a very big part of the problem) in place:

1. The ballot box

2. A (violent) revolution

Nigerians are too cowardly, disorganised and divided for route 2 to have any real chance of success. Which leaves only route 1. And we can all see the choices that Nigerians have made with route 1 since independence.

I grew up reading and listening to advertisements by the then Peugeot Automobile of Nigeria (PAN). These ads had the tagline: "Peugeot: built for Nigerian roads".

I always suspected that this ad had a double entendre (although some may argue that it didn't), and I believed then that Nigeria's elite should have considered a tagline like that to be an insult as well as a challenge. Well. . . three decades later, the roads are still (yes sir, long after the end of PAN) pothole- ridden slaughter slabs on which Nigerians in their thousands travel to meet with Death.

I repeat: Nigerians are not yet ready for change. They may never be.

I grew up with terrible road infrastructure all around me. It is very painful for me to admit it, but the children being born now will probably grow up under the same conditions.

Uspry,

I think your proposal still has a lot going for it. Tariffs on fuel and electricity in Nigeria are likely to rise significantly in the next 18 months (possibly a lot earlier). The cost profiles of fossil fuel based power sources are likely to go through the roof. I think your idea may still be relevant with some modifications. I would like to discuss some more on your proposal. Kindly let me know how I can get in touch?

edicolove:
I appreciate the fact you were trying to be objective but you ended up being sentimental.

1. No one expects perfect power supply just a few weeks after GEJ appointed his minsters. Only unrealistic guys like you expect that.

2. There are many reasons for power failure asides power generation. Like 2 days ago, there was a surge on a high tension wire and light went of in my area. I called the PHCN guys and sent them text to report the issue and they came in a record 30mins and fixed it. They have actually been suprising me these days because they are usually jerks. There are also issues of transformer and step downs not adequate enough for whole areas and other issues.

3. I am glad you did admit the fact that people have acknowledged a marked improvement of power supply to Lagos. Between January and June we practically lived in darkness in my area and many areas around Ikeja and environs and Alimosho and Lekki. Since 2 months we have gone from barely 4 hours a day electricity to almost 24 hours electricity. If in your cynical mind, you cannot see that as remarkable and appreciate that, then you will never appreciate anything. It is so amazing that everyone on my street discuss it in hushed tones as if not to remind PHCN of the past so they dont "change their mind".

4. People like you are so biased and cynical, I pray you dont get an ulcer. Imagine you saying you didnt get electricity for 7 hours. 7 hours? shocking! Before now I didnt get electricity for 4, 5 days whole stretch! 7 hours and you are complaining. You must be a real joker.

5. What we have seen in the last 2 months is not just an increase in power supply but constant power supply where light in some cases didnt go out in 3 to 5 days stretch. Now does that mean we relax and say GEJ has gotten it totally? No, not at all. we must keep pushing him both to do more and to sustain what is being done. What you are simply doing is that you are scared and angry that he might just succeed and prove you wrong so you are ready to criticize him all the way. It is a fools en-devour and will lead you no where because the man is squarely focussed even in the midst of towering opposition and sabotage. Imagine he has not even appointed his economic team for 2 weeks and the head of the team is being furiously attacked just to distract their efforts and you come here and talk trash. What a disgrace

Sir,

1. Nowhere in my post did I indicate my expectations of "perfect" supply just a few weeks after GEJ appointed his ministers. You sir, imagined that all by yourself.

2. We all know there are many reasons for power failure besides power generation. You have not said anything new here. You also gave details of a noticeable improvement (in your experience) in response time and service delivery by PHCN employees. What remains to be seen sir, is whether this improvement is for the long term. That sir, is the 16 billion dollar question.

3. You gave details of your experience with power supply, just like I gave mine. My 'cynicism' has nothing to do with things as they stand. Note sir, that your experience is not necessarily representative of huge swathes of the country. Remember Lagos is one state out of 36.

4. Sir, please read and understand. Kindly re-read my post. I said that in 72 hours, I did not get more than 7 hours of electricity or so. I did not say what you claim I said. In your rush to defend the GEJ administration you are putting words in my mouth. But I am even more disturbed however, by your comments about how I shouldn't complain because you have had it much worse with 4 or 5 days of total blackouts. Sir, I am not a joker, and I will not fellowship with you in your soft (or hard) bigotry of low expectations. I will hold the PHCN and other utilities to the standards they should meet. After all, they are not providing their services free of charge.

5. Sir, kindly refer to my initial post. Your emotional outburst is clouding your view of my comments. My experience with power supply has been very different from yours. What you should be interested in is how to get the current administration and the PDP to replicate your experience across the country without empty slogans and speeches at every turn.


Sir,

Some fellow on another thread had some amusing stories about electricity supply. In his words, “electricity is an exact science”.  I agree with him 100%. You either have electricity or you do not. It is either there or it is not ("half current" doesn't count  ). There is no room in power/electrical engineering for a ‘creative’ interpretation of the facts in the manner and style of accountants, investment bankers, mediamen, politicians and used car salesmen. Let me repeat what I said in my previous post: If the supply of electricity is 4000MW and the demand is in scores of thousands of MW, then the allocation of electricity becomes a zero sum game for consumers. You can slit your wrists and slash your forehead all day long like a prophet of Baal: it will not change the awful truth.

As for the name calling sir,. . . why the venom? You have called me unrealistic, cynical, sentimental, biased, a potential ulcer patient, a joker, scared, angry, an engager in foolish endeavours, a trash talker and a disgrace. All of this in 5 bullet points, sir. 


Sir, in my lifetime I have been called many, many names. It is nothing new to me. At various times I have been called a slant-eyed, hook-nosed, open-toed, knock-kneed, flat footed ungulate with teeth the colour of old maize. Hell, a coworker once called me an insurance policy (whatever that means  ). I will simply add your list to my collection. 

But you will acknowledge the truth in what I said in my previous post. If not publicly, then privately at least.

Yes sir, you will acknowledge the truth in my comments.

Even if it kills you.

I have always had my very strong doubts about Mr Bola Ahmed Tinubu, right from the days of his certificate forgery scandal when the likes of Gani Fawehinmi (and a few other principled men) stood up to condemn the falsehood which Mr. Tinubu tried to foist upon Nigerians (while Beko Ransome-Kuti inexplicably betrayed all that I thought he stood for by looking the other way). I remember BAT's lacklustre performance as governor and his close relationship with local enforcers in the state chapter of the NURTW (and other parasites and undesirables). I remember the show of shame in which he threw raw cash into the crowd like some modern day robin hood at the commissioning of a statue in his likeness (sheer vanity ) on Marina, Lagos Island about 3 years ago. There are many, many more examples of why Mr Tinubu is, to put it bluntly, simply unfit to hold high political office. And what's this about narcotics and money laundering?

If BAT has violated the law, he should be punished. Severely. There is no room for equivocation here. And yet, there is something deeply repellent in the attempts to charge him while nothing is being done about equally venal men in the top hierarchy of the ruling party. The PDP is using 150 million souls as pawns on a chessboard with its selective justice. It is deeply (and wickedly) cynical to use the law (through the EFCC & ICPC during the OBJ & UMYA years and now the Code of Conduct Bureau by the GEJ administration) in the manner the PDP has done for the past 12 years. The feeble pursuit (by the OBJ & UMYA administrations) of small fry while the "big guns" (who take medicine and milk out of the mouths of babies) were allowed to walk free (because of their links to the ruling party) will stand against OBJ & UMYA forever. That is the truth.

The fallout of the PDP's brand of "justice" is the pack mentality that has seized us right here on this board and perhaps we should begin to look at Nigeria's problems more from a "class warfare" viewpoint). How can we take sides in this matter? These men have won when we all begin to exhibit the "they may be bastards, but they are our bastards" mentality.

Tinubu should be charged. But in the dock beside him, we should also have OBJ, Anenih, Ibori, GEJ, Sani Yerima, etc.

Insist on it.

Anything less is a betrayal of your children and their generation's right to start life on a clean slate.

Posted by edicolove  yesterday at 04:25:33 PM » 

Moreover, the power sector is already recording huge success. Oh, I forgot you are typing from Vietnam. Sorry. Anyway, this is to inform you that the power project is already recording big improvements as Lagos is now enjoying huge success in power supply. some places have been enjoying 24 hours light for a while now. My friend in Lekki confirms light has not bliked for 6 days now. Something that has never happened before in the history of Nigeria. So lets keep praying for our presido to do better and sustain it. Kerosine is now between 65 and 95 Naira a litre across lagos while a few stations sell at 50 Naira. We hope that also improves with time. We need more prayers for the rail system. Forget those people who dont believe in Nigeria. Let them naturalized wherever they are, we dont care.


@ edicolove,

I'm not sure if you posted the above just to generate some traffic or controversy. I'm also not sure if you are a paid agent of the state assigned to defend its interests here on this board. But I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

I have met a few Nigerians who have been seduced by what they believe to be a marked improvement in electricity supply over the past 2 months or so. Taken at face value, the supply does SEEM to be improving. The reality however, is quite different. I will speak for myself, and I assure you I am in Lagos and nowhere near Vietnam. In 3 days last week, I did not have electricity for more than 7 hours or so. (And I have the damaged foodstuffs in the refridgerator to prove this). There is a pattern here - the formula is 16 hour electricity supply each day for 3 or 4 days then near total blackouts for 2 to 3 days. The reasons (or excuses) given by PHCN are so predictable now: "system collapse", "trip off of feeder pillar", "fault", etc.

Its quite simple really. Nigeria's grid supplies less than 4000MW. The demand for electricity in Nigeria runs into scores of thousands of megawatts. There can only be one outcome: The allocation of electricity becomes a zero-sum game in which one consumer can only gain (i.e. get electricity) at the expense of another consumer.
Well . . . why are we complaining? So many of us ignored the warnings and voted in the PDP for another 4 years, despite the hard evidence that the PDP is a party of failed men with nothing but darkness to offer. How can you give what you don't have? 

Earlier on this year, voters forgot that Nigeria is not running a parliamentary system in which snap elections can be called and voters can immediately register their dissatisfaction. Nigerians should therefore brace themsleves for 4 more years of Orwellian propaganda in which the lie becomes the truth and we earn global proprietary rights for our own home-grown perpetual planning machine (PPM). Every statement  by government officials these days is full of "plans". "We are planning to do this", "we are planning to do that", "we are planning to plan to do this and that", etc.

Empty words. Words, words and yet more words.

I am sick to death of words.

ELE-OVIE:
Hopefully, Nigeria would prove the dooms day predictions wrong and remain a strong, united, virile and prosperous nation. . .

odomanis:
gej said nigeria should judge him from june 2012,let us give him that benefit of doubt. i still believe that nigerians should be grateful to god for this gej team. this is the best team ever to be assembled by any nigerian president and i can see sincerity,commitment and competence in them.

KA24DETT:
from the comments am reading above, nigerians havent suffered enough. They need to suffer more, the man just said jonathan didnt achieve anything in his first 100 days and people are destroying his character. It is very true. He didnt achieve anything.
Nigerians need to suffer more and more till it comes down to choosing which of children they will have for breakfast, then maybe, we will start voting in competent leaders, we will hold our leaders to ransom, we will demand more from them.
THE PEOPLE DESERVE THE LEADERS THEY GET.

If these cable releases (particularly those with statements purportedly made by Nigerian public officials) are to be believed, then they provide proof that Nigeria is a client state - has always been and perhaps always will be.  


Someone once said: "Nigerians are proud people. The problem is nobody knows why".


Several threads on this board are full of 'patriots' who violently oppose any criticism of Nigeria's ruling class, no matter how rational or logical such criticism may be. These 'patriots' believe they 'love' Nigeria more than anyone else and constantly harass those who actually mean well for this country.

Well, here it is. Even to my jaded eyes there is something sad in seeing Nigerian high officials baring their souls and grovelling in the dust before consulate officials. What is the explanation for this? A pathological need to confess all (and i mean all) to American diplomats? Or a pragmatic recognition of who is really in charge?

@ OP,

Good points. Not much more to add.

Some posters have decried the current fuel subsidy arrangement and suggested a more intelligent or efficient arrangement. I would like to know whether the problem is with the very concept of subsidies (be they on fuel, agricultural products or whatever).

Interesting thread.

A poster made the very valid point that diesel and kerosene prices have been fully deregulated (i hope i'm correct in stating this) and yet we are still beset by supply line shortages and stratospheric prices (particularly for kerosene which is the fuel used by low income earners). What could explain this? We were told ages ago by the RFMAC (or whatever the hell that government department is called) and several other anti-subsidy parties that removal of subsidies on fuel would eliminate supply line distortions, allocate resources efficiently, allow price signals to work properly, etc.

In plain english, we were being told that with the removal of those evil subsidies - the frequent scarcity of diesel and kerosene would become a thing of the past.

Has that been the case for diesel and kerosene? If not, why? I would like to be educated. 

Some of us on this board are married people with families. And they are doing a good job of running these families.

Some of us on this board own and run businesses. Some of these businesses have less than ten employees, while others have hundreds.  And the owners are doing a fairly good job of running things.

Some of the people on this board work here in Nigeria, others outside of it. In the public sector and the private sector too. And they are doing a good job of adding value to the systems in which they find themselves.

In short , Nigerians can and do know how to manage things on an individual level. But as a collective, we are nothing but a joke.

The Nigerian State continues to show time after time that it does not have the capacity to manage a 2x2 square metre snail farm.    

I want us all to take a long hard look at the exchange between messrs Nnaji and Almu. Doesn’t it beggar belief? Don’t the questions and answers leave you with a feeling of deep outrage?


The station manager said:


“the Chinese were supposed to give us two years running spare parts but what they gave us were just small spare parts”. . . “And any time we have a problem and we want to go with them, they will refuse to go with us and abandon the place”. . .


And the federal minister said:


“we are scratching for information I don’t like it and we will do something about that because what we want is ability to ensure that things keep on going. It requires resourcefulness to get things done”. . .“in Olorunnsogo phase I, which is a federal government power plant we are quite disappointed that there are eight units that should provide over 300 mw there and that of all those units only two are functioning. And what is required to actually get many of the units functioning is not just much and we are also going to look into the issue of the workers not being able to access manuals to operate the power plant. So these are some issues that we have found that we are going to resolve”. . .



How low will we sink as a people? How low?    

We are talking about a 220 million USD project commissioned in 2007 with foreign funding (loans which children unborn are going to have to repay!!!). This is a project dealing with one of the burning issues in Nigeria today: an energy crisis that has made Nigeria the laughingstock of every country on the continent. This project by definition should and must have had an army of bureaucrats, lawyers, project managers, management consultants and engineers involved in drafting, execution and MONITORING.

And this is what the Nigerian public and taxpayers get?

Inanities about spare parts and operating manuals written in Chinese? Ad hoc inspection tours by politicians and ministers and so-called steering committees? A project of this magnitude is being monitored on an AD HOC BASIS      

This is from a country that has “aspirations” of  nuclear “superpower” status.

Superpower indeed.     I know petty traders in my neighbourhood that run a tighter ship.

I will never get tired of saying it. Nigerians have made their bed. And they must lie on it.  

You voted in mediocrity.

Embrace it.

I hope that someone somewhere has the audio and video transcripts of this "inspection" tour by Nnaji, Maku and company. They will prove very useful when this matter is being settled at some point in the future.

I always thought I was a hard bitten cynic who had heard it all. But this country continues to surprise even me with each new revelation or expose.

I have struggled but I still cannot for the life of me understand the meaning of the 'alleged' exchange between the federal minister and the station manager in the news report on this thread.

Someone should tell me that the federal minister has refuted the newsreport. Please.

Uspry,

Interesting topic, ma'am. I hope you were able to make progress with your proposal. It seems you don't post anymore on this board .

Any updates?

Beaf:
^
What GEJ is saying is that there have been corrupt practices in the past that led to govt parastatals being sold to unsuitable people. That is what led companies built with Nigeria's money to simply crumble away with nothing to show and no improved value for the populace. There must be accountability to the Nigerian people and thats the line GEJ is pushing.
In addition to GEJ's words, there is a Senate probe into what went on in the recent past, and I believe it will lead to several criminal convictions.

Government MUST be accountable to the people, we cannot continue to have shady deals that cost the Nigerian people dearly; that is GEJ's line.

Sir,

GEJ has taken the safe way out, telling us what we all know to be true.

But the veil of deception can only stay in place for so long.

GEJ belongs to a political party that has held power at the centre for over a decade. GEJ himself has been at the highest decision making levels of government for about half a decade now.

He CANNOT, sir, be absolved of responsibility for the failure which his party (and the governments it has produced) has visited upon this country.

You mention probes. We have had quite a few, sir. The power sector probe for example, if i'm not mistaken. But what were the outcomes? How many convictions? When the trail in some of these probes began to get uncomfortably close to individuals at the highest levels of the government and the ruling party, it became clear that it would be impossible to pursue the matter to a logical conclusion (without having up to half of Nigeria's super power elite standing in the dock) in court.

And there's no way that's going to happen. It didn't under OBJ's watch. And it certainly will not under GEJ's watch.

You said sir, and i quote: "there is a Senate probe into what went on in the recent past, and I believe it will lead to several criminal convictions".

You sir, believe "it will lead to several criminal convictions".

The question is: does your principal share the same belief?

jayflex:
Like every right minded leftist I knew from the get-go that privatisation especially in nigeria could never work. Obj borrowed a leaf from the russian experience where the likes of abramovich and that yukos oil gang sold the states assets to themselves for pennies and became kings overnight. When you examine the manner in which symbols of our heritage like the 1004 flats and ajaokuta steel project were sold its obvious it wasn't privatisation just plain old fraud

The poster above beat me to it. I have long wanted to mention on this board the parallels between Nigeria's and Russia's journeys of 'reform'.

I have said before: crony capitalism is no capitalism. The apostles of privatisation would do well to remember this. It is fashionable nowadays to deride statism as a failed, broken ideology but the defenders of the free market should note that crony capitalism may well turn out to be 'true' capitalism's nemesis.

Back to Nigeria. We cannot say we are truly better off now (than we were in the 'evil' days of state owned enterprises) if all we can point to as evidence of our own 'privatization' is a bastardized monstrosity that is neither truly left nor truly right in its orientation, processes or outcomes.

It makes no sense to replace public monopoly or inefficiency with private monopoly, inefficiency or extortion.  Particularly in key industries with strategic importance.

None whatsoever.

kalokalo:
Can these cabals prevent private refineries from operating? let the government deregulate fuel prices and then see private refineries spring up! We'll the see what cabal will prevent a refinery run by Shell for example from operating efficiently and putting the inept and mismanaged government run refineries out of business

@ Kalokalo

Sir,

Correct me if i am wrong, but i was under the impresssion that only PMS prices are still being regulated by the state? My memory sometimes fails me but I think i can remember one of the key arguments put forward for the full deregulation of AGO & LPF oil prices was that supply shortages of these fuels would become a thing of the past. Is that the case today? Are we certain that full deregulation of PMS prices will lead to the supply side el dorado we are all looking for?

And one more thing. . . Do not undereestimate the crony factor in Nigeria's capitalism. Your point about privately-owned refineries running state-owned refineries out of town is well noted. But it IS entirely possible that a 'cabal' could wake up tomorrow and use the instruments of government and the law to make it impossible for a privately run, efficient refinery (be it Shell's or anyone elses's) to continue its operations.

Its called nationalization. For the 'cronies' and their allies.

@ Gbawe,

You and I hold opposing views on some aspects of privatisation and reform. I do not agree with the notion that public enterprises are primed to fail. I do accept however, that public enterprises in Nigeria have failed miserably.

My view, which unsurprisingly is an unpopular one, is that someone, somewhere has to pay for the mismanagement of Nigeria's public enterprises. Till that is done and the slate is wiped clean, we will continue to have, as you so eloquently put it, 'mutton dressed as lamb".

Having said that, you are one of the few to have seen through the subterfuge of the PDP and its cronies, long ago. There are times when I go through your posts and your many challenges thrown to the forces of reaction on this board. And I wonder why you even bother. Nigerians have an extreme case of the Stockholm Syndrome. They made their choice in April and they must be prepared to live with the consequences.

But keep up the good work. Maybe the light will shine through someday.

Interesting.

Once again, we are confronted with more evidence of the sleight of hand (and foot and mouth and all other body parts) of the PDP and its current manifestation (in the form of the GEJ administration). The problem now, according to the man in charge, is "unserious investors".

Not a venal Nigerian political party (the PDP) with the mentality of sea pirates. Not PDP hacks determined to grab their share before it all comes crashing down.Not bent Nigerian bureaucrats. Not corpulent Nigerian plutocrats. Not the most insiduous strain of home grown, crony capitalism ever to take root in sub-Saharan Africa. Not a PDP 'reform' program rigged to fail from the word go. Not an unholy alliance of politicians and businessmen determined to privatize the gains and socialize the losses.

No.

The problem now is "unserious investors".

Banality personified.      

You see, some of these things we see in this strange place called the FRN (Federal Republic of Nigeria) would be funny if they were not so tragic. I can see where this is going - it seems the GEJ administration wants to provoke a debate in which the advocates and the opponents of so-called reform (or privatization or whatever the hell you want to call it) engage each other in lengthy theoretical arguments over the propriety of statism versus privatisation. This will serve as a distraction while the federal behemoth continues to munch quietly away on the commonwealth.

I put it to you, team GEJ: the issue with you and the party your principal represents is ethical. Not ideological. Your party's basic philosophy (if it can be called that) is "the more unethical, the better". If indeed, Nigeria's laws were to be enforced, most PDP officials (and their collaborators in the civil service and the private sector) would be trussed up against diesel drums waiting for the phalanx of marksmen to take their positions. You know this to be true. I know it to be true. Even the dead in the grave know this to be true.      

What I also know to be true is:

If it (the PDP) were an ethical party running a left-of-centre government, then the men responsible for running public enterprises into the ground would have been twisting in the wind by now.

If it (the PDP) were an ethical party running a right-of-centre government, then the men responsible for running a fraudulent and deceitful 'privatisation' programme would have been sitting pretty in their jail cells right now.

Tell your principal to stop the obfuscation. Some of us know who he is and exactly what he stands for.

Unserious investors indeed.      

@scan,

thanks.

mbulela:
Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, i hope you know that show is immoral and against the teachings of Islam.
I hope you are not being a hypocrite?

@Mr. Mbulela,

You just had to lob that hand grenade into the crowd, didn't you?

Indeed.

In the last 10 days or so, we had newsreports that a Nigerian had won a bronze medal at a Physics? or Mathematics? Olympiad held recently.

To the best of my knowledge, bolaji abdullahi has not thought it fit to issue a press statement on this achievement or meet with the prizewinner. I have not heard anything about plans to shoot for gold in the next Olympiad. However, Big Brother Amplified is worthy of a Federal Minister's time and commentary.      

Good God. How did we get to this point? How?