₦airaland Forum

louqas:
East west road that will open up the region - uncompleted

Coastal railway from Lagos to calabar - not touched (even though he built a railway from kaduna to abuja, after his disciples will be call some people Hausa slaves )

Unep report on ogoni clean up - nothing done or is it because it isn't In ijawland?

No airport in bayelsa his home state even though one of his mistress said she built airports all over Nigeria

What exactly did he do to deserve being called a hero in the Niger delta?

If those avenger are not to creation they should hold him responsible for the underdevelopment of the Niger delta because he had 6 years to turn things around there.

[quote]

QuotaSystem:
Why not answer the question instead of trying to poison the thread with tribalism?

What was Jonathan's achievement in the Niger Delta all through his 8 years as President and VP?

8 Years as Governor/Deputy Governor?

What a failure.

Whatever he did maintained peace THROUGHOUT his 5 years as president; that's both efficient and effective.
Whatever the present government has/is doing brought unrest; that's inefficient and ineffective.
Besides, the Maritime University GEJ built there was ordered to shut down by this evil regime.

Whatever he did maintained peace THROUGHOUT his 5 years as president; that's both efficient and effective.
Whatever the present government has/is doing brought unrest; that's inefficient and ineffective.
Besides, the Maritime University GEJ built there was ordered to shut down by this evil regime.

Port Harcourt, 2 June 2016 - Nigerian Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari, today set in motion a $1 billion clean-up and restoration programme of the Ogoniland region in the Niger Delta, announcing that financial and legislative frameworks had been put in place to begin implementing recommendations made by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Speaking at an event in Port Harcourt attended by thousands, including international football star Joseph Yobo and Miss Nigeria Pamela Lessi, the Vice President said the Nigerian government was now delivering on what was one of President Buhari's key election promises.

UNEP's Executive Director Achim Steiner travelled to Port Harcourt to join Vice President Osinbajo and other dignitaries for the launch ceremony.

The implementation will be based on recommendations from a 2011 UNEP report, commissioned by the Nigerian government, on the impact of oil extraction in Ogoniland. The report found severe and widespread contamination of soil and ground water across Ogoniland. In a number of locations public health was severely threatened by contaminated drinking water and carcinogens. Delta ecosystems such as mangroves had been utterly devastated. The report also found that institutional control measures in place both in the oil industry and the Government were not implemented adequately. The report proposed the establishment of a Restoration Authority with an explicit mandate to clean up Ogoniland and restore the ecosystems. The report also recommended the establishment of an Ogoniland Environmental Restoration Fund with an initial capitalization of 1 billion dollars to cover the clean-up costs.

Mr. Steiner said, "The people of Ogoniland have paid a high price for the success of Nigeria's oil industry, enduring a toxic and polluted environment for decades. Today marks a historic step toward improving the situation of the Ogoni people, who have paid this high price for too long. A clean-up and restoration effort like this cannot happen overnight, but I am hopeful that the cooperation between the Government of Nigeria, oil companies and communities will result in an environmental restoration that benefits both ecosystems and the Ogoni people of the Niger Delta. UNEP has provided the scientific basis for this work, and will continue to offer its technical expertise as needed to help ensure a positive result for all involved."

Requested by the Federal Government of Nigeria, UNEP's Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland was released in August 2011. It examined over the course of two years the environmental impact of oil industry operations in the area since the late 1950s. It found that oil contamination in Ogoniland is extensive and is having a grave impact on the environment, with pollution penetrating further and deeper than previously thought.

UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner, who will be stepping down from his position this month, was joined by Erik Solheim, UNEP's incoming Executive Director. Since January 2013, Mr Solheim has been UNEP's Special Envoy to Ogoniland, supporting negotiations between the Ogoni people, the Nigerian Government and oil companies. His role as UNEP's future Executive Director will ensure UNEP's continuity in supporting the programme.

"The task to clean up Ogoniland will neither be easy nor fast, but it needs to be done," Mr. Solheim said. "If we succeed here, it will demonstrate that degraded environments can be restored, sending a signal to many other communities around the world that peaceful co-operation can lead to positive outcomes."

The clean-up is vital for the future of the region. It will help create new livelihoods, establish old livelihoods and change the lives of a million people. It will also establish a new model for working towards sustainable development, even in the most challenging of environments.

The environmental restoration of Ogoniland is likely to be the world's most wide-ranging and long-term oil clean up exercise ever undertaken. Experts suggest that it may take up to 25 years until ecosystems are fully restored.

http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=27076&ArticleID=36199&l=en

Talking about launching missiles means they have support from some foreign country/body.
I keep fingering Iran!

Another militant group has emerged in the Niger Delta, calling itself the Joint Niger Delta Liberation Force, JNDLF, and threatening to begin launching six missiles in the region on June 7 in an operation it said would surprise Nigerians and the entire world.
It warned the Nigerian military to peacefully leave Ijaw communities and not attempt to deploy helicopters to the South South zone as it is going to bring them down.

The group, which claimed affiliation to the Niger Delta Avengers, warned that no flight operations should take place within the country’s airspace as the missiles were capable of bringing down any aircraft no matter how big.


In a statement signed by  General Akotebe Darikoro, Commander, General Duties; General Torunnanaowei Latei, Creeks Network Coordinator; General Agbakakuro Owei-Tauro, Pipelines Bleeding Expert; and General Pulokiri Ebiladei of its Intelligence Bureau, the group said it had observed that President Muhammadu Buhari was bent on breaking up the country and that it was set for the proposal.

The statement reads in full: “We have seen and noted that President Muhammadu Buhari (a.k.a. Pharaoh) is set for the final breakup of the country. Mr. Buhari should also know that we are also prepared and set for his proposal. The Joint Revolutionary Council (JRC) which is the highest organ of all the freedom fighting body has finally endorsed the followings:

1. After extensive and exhaustive deliberation by all Commanders of various groups in Yenagoa, the heart of the Niger Delta struggle met last night and as part of our mission, we are going to test six (6) of our MISSILES in the region. This is to show the federal government of our readiness of the American prediction.

2. There should be NO any form of helicopter to fly around in the region as we will not guarantee the safety of such object.


3. The people of the Niger Delta region should not be panic in course of test running the 6 MISSILES.

4. We may also decide within the week to shut down the Nigerian satellite orbit, so that there will be no communication in the country if needs arise.

5. Within our three (3) days operations, NO airplane should fly out of the country because it can target such object no matter how small or big it may be.

6. Our Fighter Expert Team shall be positioned in the six (6) Niger Delta states, who are already arrived the region from training through our country’s porous borders with our foreign partners who are going to showcase what they have learnt in the past one year.

7. Our struggle is not for any human blood, but we have been pushed to the wall for justice because our patience is running out on a daily basis as Nigerian uniform men are killing our innocent people continuously.

8. Nigerian military should as a matter of urgency leave peacefully the Ijaw communities they are presently in, the next 48 hours under the guise of searching for the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) or else we should not be blamed of whatever catastrophe that may befall such officers and the likely affected families of the officers should be blamed not the region.

9. We have consulted our war gods (deities) that enough is enough and that the time has come. Since the present Pharaoh of Nigeria, President Buhari is to preside over the disintegration of the country, it is a good omen.

10. Henceforth, any attack on Ijaw communities or person(s) by the military or para-military body in the region, we will not hesitate to order our shoot-at-sight squad of any uniform personnel in the region.

11. We ask all Service Chiefs including Minister of Defence to shamefully resign their positions because Nigeria has no security in whatever form. Bravo to our Foreign Marine Crack Team for their ability to shut down Nigerian obsolete surveillance equipments.

12. For the records, Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) are not in Delta state, we only go there to strike and return back safely to the struggle base, Bayelsa state.

13. We further warn especially, Mr. Jonathan Obuebite, Information Commissioner in Bayelsa state not to criticize our activities any longer or else he has a choice of leaving the planet earth anytime he made such statement(s).

14. All oil and gas operations should shut down immediately as our MISSILES testing will affect their equipments.

15. NOTE, we shall commence MISSILES testing on Tuesday 7, June 2016 which coincides with the date of our training abroad. Since the present Pharaoh of Nigeria (Buhari) has failed us in our demands, we promise Nigerians and the entire world that we are going to surprise them.

http://dailypost.ng/2016/06/02/another-militant-group-emerges-in-niger-delta-threatens-to-launch-six-missiles/

Resurgence of militancy started bc buhari reduced d allocation of
>Amnesty from N65b in 2015 to N20b in 2016
>NDDC from N250b in 2015 to N41b in 2016
>Niger Delta Ministry from N85b in 2015 to N30b in 2016
>cancelled pipeline protection contrscts to ex-militants.

He reduced allocation to d ND entity by N309b in a year
Now were losing N10b /day i.e. N300b in a month ( though Nig. govt. gets ~50% of that)

So we've lost in 1 month d amount reduced that sparked off the resurgence.
Really penny wise pound foolish!

Resurgence of militancy started bc buhari reduced d allocation of
>Amnesty from N65b in 2015 to N20b in 2016
>NDDC from N250b in 2015 to N41b in 2016
>Niger Delta Ministry from N85b in 2015 to N30b in 2016

He reduced allocation to d ND entity by N309b in a year
Now were losing N10b /day I.e N300b in a month ( though Nig. govt. gets ~50% of that)

So we've lost in 1 month d amount reduced that sparked off the resurgence.
Really penny wise pound foolish!

So this man is a coward after all!

Jonathan left power generation capacity of 6,000MW!
What is buhari doing to this nation in just over 1 year of his stasy?

With this its proven beyond doubt that Lai Mohammed is certifiably mad.

This is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth
May 28, 2015 http://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2016/05/28/boko-haram-razes-five-borno-villages/

Boko haram has drifted southward n called by another name- Fulani herdsmen.
Besides d last time I heard they sacked 5 borno villages heading towards maiduguri - May 28, 2016
http://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2016/05/28/boko-haram-razes-five-borno-villages/

Its true you would have been a better president than buhari unfortunately you're not born-to-rule aka Fulani.

Blame is shifting to boko haram, OK o

Buhari: by the time I finis with naijeria, 1 dollar will be like 1 naira.

A suspected member of a newly established militant group in Nigeria has warned the life of President Muhammadu Buhari is in danger if he visits the oil-rich Niger Delta region. In a recording sent to IBTimes UK, a man is heard saying during a phone conversation with one of the hosts of UK-based Radio Biafra, that Buhari "should sign his death warrant" before his visit.

Buhari is due to visit some states in south-eastern Nigeria to discuss with local leaders ways to tackle renewed violence in the area.

The president's planned visit – which is expected to begin on Thursday (2 June 2016) – comes as attacks on oil pipelines blamed on the new group Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) partially halted oil production, and forced Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell to close at least two plants.

"Buhari is trying to visit Ogoniland, but he should sign his death warrant before coming to Port Harcourt or try to visit any state of the Niger Delta community, Biafra land," the suspected NDA member said during the phone call.

"We are starting a dance he cannot finish. We shall dance like vultures. He [Buhari] has dared to wake a sleeping lion, but I promise him this time around if he tries to step his foot in any community of the Niger Delta, in Biafra land, he will not go back alive. Any Niger Deltan who will try to walk with Buhari shall also go to his grave that day. This is our assurance."

Killings of pro-Biafrans

The man also condemned the fact that Nigerian security forces opened fire on pro-Biafran demonstrators during commemorations to pay homage to the victims of the 1967-1970 Nigerian Civil War, also known as Biafran War, on Monday (30 May 2016). Police confirmed the deaths of 10 protesters and two police officers during clashes in Anambra state, claiming demonstrators were armed. Pro-Biafrans denied the allegations.

"The Nigerian government shot and killed our brothers. They showed us are the monsters," the man said. He then urged all pro-Biafrans to pray for their leader Nnamdi Kanu – director of radio Biafra and leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra [IPOB] – who is standing trial on six counts of treasonable felony charges.

Buhari 'can go wherever he wants'

Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar, Nigeria's director of defence information, told IBTimes UK the government does not perceive NDA as a threat. "Niger Delta is part of Nigeria and will remain part of Nigeria for life. Buhari is the president, he is number one, he can go anywhere he wants," he said.

"[The] NDA are just criminals and we are treating them as criminals. We are not being intimidated, we remain focussed to ensure security in the country and that Nigeria remains one. Nobody is above the interest of the country," he continued.

"No nation can tolerate an individual group causing havoc and advocating for separation. There are measures in our constitution to ensure this will not happen. We cannot and will not tolerate what these people are doing. In the long run, they will surely pay for they have done."

NDA and pro-Biafrans

Pro-Biafrans are demanding the independence of Biafran territories forcibly annexed to Nigeria during British colonisation, which ended in 1960.

Intelligence consultant David Otto believes NDA also has secessionist views, and this can explain their support for the Biafra cause. "The Avengers could be that official military wing that IPOB and the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (Massob) never had," he said.

"The direct threat to the life of the President may not be substantiated, but it is bold move for the Avengers. On the other hand, NDA could be teasing the government security services to overreact with more brute force – a move that will galvanise more hatred and distrust. These are signs of future uncertainty in the region – but how the government reacts will be key to peace or further chaos," Otto, who is the CEO of UK-based global security provider TGS Intelligence Consultants, continued.

"Some prominent ex militants of the Niger Delta region promised hell if their brother, then President Goodluck Jonathan, did not win the 2015 election. We are now seeing those threats manifesting in various shapes and sizes in the South East and South South."

Source: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/niger-delta-avengers-president-buhari-will-die-if-he-visits-ogoniland-1563078

O yes,
The likes of Kalu I. Kalu, Utomi, Okonjo Iweala, Oby Ezekwe. should b consulted to c if there's a way out of d economic quicksand beauty queen Adeosun has driven us into.

chronique:
We foresaw this coming during the elections. I talked about it in one of my articles. It's just so sad that Nigeria will never be able to fulfil her potentials cos this is unfortunately,a new twist to the kind of politics being played. Apart from the genuine issues these people have for taking into militancy,the result of the 2015 elections,is also one of the reasons for all of these. They see it as payback time to the north who supposedly used boko haram in ruining Jonathan's govt... The earlier we re-negotiate our existence as a nation,the better for us all.

Resurgence of militancy didn't start when buhari took over,
It started after d budget was released n was discovered that in 2016 budget, buhari reduced d allocation of
>Amnesty from N65b in 2015 to N20b in 2016
>NDDC from N250b in 2015 to N41b in 2016
>Niger Delta Ministry from N85b in 2015 to N30b in 2016
Its buhari's policies thats causing problems for this country after all it was a fellow northerner; Fulani for that matter, that ended d militancy in d first place.

Buhari’s administration not learning from past FG should hands off NNPC
Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
The former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has said what Nigeria requires most at present is the kick-starting of the process of restructuring of the federation.
He said a close observation of the present administration’s policies, especially on the issue of the Niger Delta militancy and power sector crisis, there was little or no lesson learnt.

While acknowledging that the  country’s economy  is in a bad shape, Atiku said he strongly believed that the government would get the economy right, adding that President Muhammadu Buhari has tried to handle two out of five areas which he has promised Nigerians.

Speaking yesterday at the launch of a book, ‘We Are Biafrans,’ in Abuja, Atiku said he remained opposed to the retention of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation  (NNPC) as a public-managed entity just as he believes that the federal government was pursuing is fruitless endeavour trying to stabilise power generation in the country without finding lasting peace in the troubled Niger Delta region.



Atiku who went down memory lane to recount his experiences in government, said the increasing wave if agitations across the country calls “for a  restructuring and renewal of our federation to make it less centralised, less suffocating and less dictatorial in the affairs of our country’s constituent units and localities.
“As some of you may know, I have for a long time advocated the need to restructure our federation. Our current structure and the practices it has encouraged have been a major impediment to the economic and political development of our country.

“When I was invited to chair this occasion, I immediately understood that the title of the book is a metaphor for the legitimate feelings of marginalisation by diverse segments of Nigerians that cut across the country.  Agitations by many right-thinking Nigerians call for a restructuring and renewal of our federation to make it less centralised, less suffocating and less dictatorial in the affairs of our country’s constituent units and localities.
“In short, it has not served Nigeria well, and at the risk of reproach, it has not served my part of the country, the North, well. The call for restructuring is even more relevant today in light of the governance and economic challenges facing us and the rising tide of agitations, some militant and violent, require a reset in our relationships as a united nation,” he said.

He added that the call for restructuring of the nation had become even more necessary today with several agitations  and militancy  across the country.
The former vice-president  said the desire for one united Nigeria should not be taken for granted that every Nigerian is contented with the current structure of the federation or that they do not clamour for something different.
According to him, “among the most devastating impact of our long dependence on oil resource is the corruption that has eaten into our fabric.

“The economy is really in bad shape and I want to believe that the government is trying to get the economy right, adding that President Buhari has tried to handle two out of five areas which he promised Nigerians”.
Atiku, while expressing  support for the establishment of state police, insisted that a stop put to the practice of enthroning  indigeneship above citizenship and settlers and land owners syndrome in the country as it would not only help to quicken the country’s disintegration.

On the issue of marginalisation and the agitations for Biafra, he said though the initial reasons for creating states was based on the viability and cultural linkages but that later, state creation became an action that is taken at the whims  and caprices of the then military rulers.

Atiku spoke on the present handling of problem of  militancy in the Niger Delta, advising that the approach the should both a stick and carrot one.
He said that during their own administration, they prepared a master plan for dealing with the issue which was later distorted by political exigencies.

During his campaign for presidency, he proffered initiatives on how to handle the matter, including the creation of Ministry of Niger Delta which late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua implemented.
However Atiku said the master plan behind the setting up of the ministry was not properly implemented, adding that the ministry should have been located in the Niger Delta region where it’s impact could felt more.
On the issue of the power sector challenges, Atiku said the sector is very tricky and should be handled with care.
He recalled the differences he had with the then President, Olusegun Obasanjo, whom he accused of antagonising him for his stand on the issue of privatisation of the NNPC.

He said if he was in charge of government, with the fall in the price of oil in the international market, he would have sold at least 10 per cent of the NNPC which would provide over $20 billion to help massive infrastructural development even in the Niger Delta.

“We are still not there with power on gas and we will never get there unless  you solve the problem of the Niger Delta. We will not be able to solve our power generation problem relying of use gas turbines without peace in the Niger Delta. If my boss,  Obasanjo had agreed with in 2003, by establishing captive power stations, we would have been self sufficient in power generation by now.  I did not agree with that government  policy in the power sector and there is nothing presently that happened to make me change my position”.

On the herdsmen/farmers clashes and its attendant disharmony across the land,  Atiku said: “Again here we come back to the same economic challenges that are facing the country. We also have leadership that is not prepared to learn from the past and the leadership that is not prepared to lead.”

He said  according to a feasibility study,  the North has greater percentage of livestock business in the country  (95 per cent) while other areas like the South-west and South-east also engage in poultry business
Of recent, I have come to understand that the herdsmen have some distinctive experiences .
He said it was not until the disappearance of grazing reserves in the north  than the issue of migration of the herdsmen southwards and subsequent clashes became a regular occurrence.

Speaking on the motives of the author, the book reviewer, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, said the book  is never about breaking up the country, but rather the author is very passionate about the unity and oneness of Nigeria. According to him, the book is an appeal to all Nigerians to embrace a country where equality, fairness and justice rules her affairs.
He said that country was yet to come to terms with issues of exclusion and marginalization pervading the land.
Odinkalu said the Biafran experience according to author  can be seen as a metaphor rather an isolated agitation.
The author of  the book Chido Onumah  contende that most, if not all, of the problems of Nigeria today are located in the way the country is structured. As he did in his previous books.

He  makes an eminently logical case for an urgent socio-political restructuring of Nigeria by way of genuine Federalism, in order to ward off a looming catastrophe that could endanger our collective wellbeing.
He argued that the country needs to engage episodic political convulsions that threaten its very foundation, including Biafra, June 12, Boko Haram, the “National Question”, citizenship rights and militancy.  The author warned about the impending Islamisation of Nigeria.

He raised fundamental questions such as, what is Nigeria and who is a Nigerian? If Nigeria is a federal republic, what constitutes or should constitute the federating units? He posits that the different manifestations of Biafra may well be a metaphor as all ethnic groups in Nigeria are victims of the terrible misrule of the past decades and thus desire a change in their material conditions of existence.
According to Onumah, the book is meant to advance the debate on the options available to Nigeria as we struggle to improve our lives and make our country more stable and secure through the way we respond to the many challenges that confront us.


http://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2016/06/01/atiku-nigeria-needs-urgent-restructuring-says-atiku/

>President hasn’t delivered on promises to stimulate growth
>Economy on verge of recession as militant attacks increase

Muhammadu Buhari took office as Nigeria’s president a year ago on a wave of optimism that the ex-military ruler could revive a nation battered by falling oil prices and decades of corruption. 
Now, Africa’s biggest economy is on its knees, forcing Buhari to throw in the towel on a central pillar of his economic policy -- a currency peg.
“It was difficult to imagine a scenario in which things got worse,” said Malte Liewerscheidt, a Nigeria analyst at Bath, U.K.-based consultant Verisk Maplecroft. “But it’s been a lost year. What’s missing is sound macroeconomic policies.”
Nigeria will soon enter a recession, according to the central bank, and an upsurge of militant attacks since February has sent crude production, which usually accounts for 70 percent of government revenue, plummeting to an almost 30-year low. Delays in approving a budget and a cabinet as well as Buhari’s refusal to weaken an overvalued currency -- until he hinted at relenting last week -- have caused foreign investors to flee.

Foreign investors, fearing a devaluation, are staying away. Foreign direct investment was the lowest last year since the 2007-08 global financial crisis, and Citigroup Inc. said deals have ground to a halt. Capital controls prompted JPMorgan Chase & Co. in September to kick Nigeria out of its local-currency emerging-market bond indexes, tracked by more than $200 billion of funds.
Bond Losses
This year, Nigeria’s local-bond yields have climbed 276 basis points to 13.46 percent, leaving them as the only such securities among 31 emerging markets tracked by Bloomberg to make losses. Electricity output has plunged to about a 30th of that of South Africa, sub-Saharan Africa’s second-biggest economy, as attacks on pipelines cut supplies of natural gas to power plants.
When Buhari beat then-President Goodluck Jonathan in the first election victory by an opposition candidate, U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration called it an “historic step for Nigeria and Africa.” A 73-year-old retired major-general who ruled from 1983 to 1985, Buhari campaigned to end the corruption he said was “killing” his country. He and his All Progressives Congress party promised to crush Boko Haram, whose Islamist insurgency has led to thousands of deaths in the northeast since 2009, and boost economic growth to as much as 10 percent.
Naira Peg
Now recession looms. The economy contracted in the first quarter by 0.4 percent, the first decline since 2004. If Buhari doesn’t alter his stance on the naira and loosen the restrictions used to defend its peg to the dollar, output will probably sink further, according to Mark Bohlund, an Africa economist with Bloomberg Intelligence in London.
“The Nigerian economy is at high risk of experiencing its first full-year recession since 1987,” Bohlund said. An improvement next year depends on security being restored in the oil-rich Niger River delta region and “a shift toward more market-based economic policy.”
Buhari was dealt a tough hand. He inherited a virtually empty treasury and Jonathan’s administration did little to diversify the economy, leaving it vulnerable to the crash in oil prices since 2014. A rainy-day fund known as the Excess Crude Account was whittled down to barely $2 billion when Buhari took office, from $21 billion in 2008.
Boko Haram
The president has won plaudits from investors for beating back Boko Haram and trying to overhaul graft-ridden institutions, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., the management of which he sacked. Yet they have been left bemused by his economic policies.
He opted to keep gasoline prices capped at 87 naira ($0.44) a liter ($1.76 a gallon) until months of shortages and unrest over long fuel lines forced him to increase them by 67 percent in mid-May. He has also clung to the naira peg even as evidence showed a dollar shortage was strangling the economy. Buhari continues to oppose devaluation, though he has given the central bank leeway to implement a more flexible currency regime, his spokesman, Garba Shehu, said on Monday.
Under Governor Godwin Emefiele, the central bank began to fix the naira at 197-199 against the dollar in late February 2015, even as other oil exporters from Russia to Colombia and Kazakhstan let their currencies drop. Buhari has backed that stance since coming to power.
Businesses are struggling to operate as the central bank, whose reserves have fallen to a more than 10-year low, runs out of the dollars they need to import raw materials and equipment. Many are forced to turn to the black market, where the naira’s value has plunged to around 350 per dollar. That’s pushed the inflation rate to 13.7 percent, the highest in almost six years.
Currency Squeeze
U.S. carrier United Airlines said would it stop flying to Nigeria next month, in part because of the hard-currency squeeze, and British Airways said it may follow suit. Foreign airlines have the naira-equivalent of $575 million trapped in the country that they can’t repatriate, according to the International Air Traffic Association. The Africa president of Unilever, whose Nigerian unit has seen its shares drop 29 percent since Buhari became president, called the currency policy “very insane.”
The central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee voted on May 24 to allow “greater flexibility” in the foreign-exchange market, which investors hoped meant that banks would be allowed to trade the naira more freely. Yet, while Emefiele said a new system would be unveiled “in the coming days,” no changes have been made.
Policy Failure
It was an “admission of the inevitable failure of the policy, which created a black market economy,” said Kingsley Moghalu, a former deputy governor at the central bank who now teaches at Tufts University in Boston. “The exchange-rate policy contributed quite significantly to creating a recessionary situation. It hit manufacturers, who could not access forex. It has created unemployment.”
The economy is so weak that Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun says officials probably won’t be able to collect enough taxes to meet the revenue target in this year’s record 6.1 trillion naira budget, which was only passed this month after senators said Buhari’s team made mistakes in the first version sent to them.
Nigeria’s 36 states, most of which depend on monthly handouts from the federal government, are on average three to four months late with salary payments to teachers, doctors and other civil servants, according to the oil minister.
“There’s a sense of exasperation among investors,” said Ronak Gopaldas, a Johannesburg-based analyst at Rand Merchant Bank. “There’s still a level of goodwill toward Buhari and his government, but it’s dissipating. The man on the street is really struggling.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-30/lost-year-in-nigeria-under-buhari-leaves-economy-on-its-knees

bizgenius1:
[b]

The new policy also means that banks and Bureau De Change (BDC) operators will have to source forex autonomously and sell according to market dynamics.

With this expect d banks to deny having dollars to sell at N287 and BDC sell at d present price of N380(still rising)

Foreign oil producing countries like Iran could b behind this vandalism in Nigeria.
They probably want to get back at us for d Shiites massacre in Zaria n increase crude price to their advantage.
Recently Iran has even increased its daily oil production; sponsering militancy in ND is paying off.

At least price of a certain commodity has reduced in buhari's time,

Finance minister Kemi Adeosun seems to have caught the bug. A characteristic of Nigeria’s public officeholders is repetitive behaviour – they say one thing over and over; they daydream without taking any step forward. I had no difficulty in ascribing the disorder to her when, on Thursday, she reiterated that the federal government’s monthly wage bill of N165billion was unsustainable, as it represents 40 per cent of the government’s total expenditure.

It was not Minister Adeosun’s first time of saying so. Nor was she the first minister or opinion leader to recognise the over-bloated nature of Nigeria’s civil service. I’ve read a similar statement in the papers since I was a boy in the 1970s. It was the sing-song in the Second Republic; and, since the return of civilian rule in 1999, every finance minister has said it. Obasanjo used to illustrate the dilemma with a ministry where there were 28 drivers for one car. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was a witness to the inauguration of the Steve Oronsaye panel for restructuring the civil service; its recommendations have now been buried underground and Oronsaye himself is currently before a court on a charge of diverting about N200million to his pocket.

Obasanjo fiddled with “rightsizing” and “downsizing” until he left office. Only a few unlucky fellows were laid off at the time, but they were soon replaced with an even greater number of civil “servants”. Official cars and official houses were sold and resold; soon after, the policy was reversed: Nigeria’s public servants (including senators) still use over-priced exotic cars and receive car allowances; they live in official houses and receive housing allowances.

There has been talk of impending purge of federal civil servants since the Buhari administration came into being. I thought that was the reason for the delay in the appointment of ministers and, now, appointments of board members and executive positions in hundreds of boards of federal agencies. But, almost one year after, the new administration’s projects and policies are still placed in the future tense. Almost everyone is tired of listening to gospels of prosperity in dreamland, as often preached by Vice President Osinbajo and Minister Lai Mohammed. Thank God the 2016 budget is being signed into law as I write this.

Minister Adeosun is telling us what we already know, perhaps to prepare our minds for a mass sack of federal civil servants.  But would that be the answer to the labour union’s request for a N56, 000 minimum wage? Or, did the government lie on May Day when it promised to do something about the minimum wage? Should labour’s request be granted, however, all the resources of the FG wouldn’t be enough to pay its civil servants.

The situation in the 36 states is much worse. An average state gets N3billion monthly but uses N2.8billion to pay its workers. Some don’t get enough to pay their workers – the reason they now owe three or four months’ arrears of salaries. And local governments? There are 774 of them, all but a few dead. No salaries. No work.

The trouble with Nigeria’s civil service, therefore, is that it is crazily unproductive.   If it were a profit-yielding business, nobody would complain about the wage bill. But, like Nigeria itself, the civil service lives by consuming what others produce. A time will certainly come when the government wouldn’t be able to pay even pensioners. And that time is not far ahead.

On the whole, the Nigerian government (at all levels) cannot claim to pay most of its workers a living wage, judging by the current value of the naira. Civil servants who get by are only those who benefit from corruption. Since the great purge of 1976, they have learned to award contracts to themselves or their fronts, use their working hours to run their own businesses, create ghost workers whose salaries and allowances they corner, and divert cheques drawn in favour of NNPC, for instance, to the account of Mr NN PCole.

We all know it’s not sustainable to keep paying workers who are not working or making profits for their employers. We also know that the rot goes deeper than the civil service. At least nobody has proven Sanusi Sanusi wrong since he stated that the National Assembly members consumed a quarter of the federal government’s capital expenditure. We had a statistic, sometime in 2007, which showed that 1, 300+ public officeholders (politicians) consumed a third of the nation’s recurrent expenditure. What has changed? It still costs the nation N300million per annum to maintain one senator. Some 469 members of the National Assembly still consume over N120billion each year for doing nothing. When one considers the number of other idlers in 36 state houses of assembly and 774 LGs, innumerable members of the executive along with their PAs, special assistants and senior advisers – most of whom have no defined duty – one understands why Nigeria appears irredeemable.

Corruption and a growing population are stark realities undermining efforts at reducing government’s recurrent expenditure. I can assure the finance minister and the federal government that it’s no longer possible to prune the civil service to a manageable level. And never mind the fight against corruption – they can only scratch the surface. Someone who earns N18, 000 per month cannot have a family or dependant and still stay alive. He would cheat if he could, especially on seeing that the rich and the powerful get their children employed in juicy agencies where they earn upwards of N500, 000 per month. It’s a matter of life and death.

So, it would be dangerous to lay off a large number of civil servants. The current asphyxiation of businesses together with the resultant mass sack of employees in the private sector is bad enough. Adding civil servants to the list would be a crisis too hot to handle. Nobody needs a soothsayer to know that real jobs cannot be created in a country where businesses run on generators, where fuel to power the generators is scarce or expensive, and where the road and rail infrastructure is not developed. Mass transfers of government workers to rural areas (where there is land for agriculture) would be more desirable at this time. But there must be a social security scheme in place to protect the vulnerable – the young, the handicapped, the elderly and the unemployed.

The only way out is what we’ve always preached: a total restructuring of the country. We need six states, not 36. There must be true fiscal federalism. Government should be run as a business; otherwise, government should have no business in business.  Woe to a country of 180 million that celebrates the attainment of 4, 000MW of electricity!

A lot is achievable in two years, if there’s political will. When shall we take the first step forward? We’ve skirted round the subject for several decades now. As Obasanjo stated early last year, we’ve had enough of think-tanks; let’s have do-tanks.

–By ANIEBO NWAMU

http://www.eyeway.ng/2016/05/07/before-the-mass-sack-of-civil-servants/

Been sourcing for data for May but can't get it, any help?

He really was looking sick n his speech carried a slouch.
This man needs medical attention or some rest
We don't want another yaradua on our hands

That's govt. responsibility (producing Tompolo n NDA), it's what d military is paid to do
The military should not shift d burden of its incompetence on d masses

By Emman Ovuakporie and Johnbosco Agbakwuru
ABUJA-MEMBERS of the Peoples Democratic Party,PDP Sunday described President Muhammadu Buhari’s one year anniversary as another round of campaign.

Some of the lawmakers who spoke to Vanguard were unanimous in their views declaring that the president’s speech smacks of electoral campaigns to further confuse Nigerians.

Stop the blame game-Chairman House C’ttee on Capital Market, Rep Tajudeen Yusuf, PDP, Kogi said

According to Yusuf, the president’s speech hover around blaming every visible thing on ground instead of telling Nigerians how he would fix the country.

He said “he needs to deliberately make people who are on the other side politically know that despite their opinion they have a place as critical stakeholders in project Nigeria .

” The blame game should stop as 60-70% of the people around him were part of the last 16 years and for him to succeed he must jettison primordial sentiments and embrace facts that he met on ground”.

“He was elected to fix Nigeria not to keep complaining. He should make nation building the focal point of his administration. Nobody in his right senses will dare challenge him on such a patriotic venture”.

This is a ‘go slow govt’-Chairman House C’ttee on Public Petitions, Rep Uzoma Nkem-Aboonta said.

Abonta who represents Ukwa East/West in Abia in his submission described the speech as a bag full of complaints and pointed out that “Nigerians are becoming impatient with this ‘go slow administration’.

He explained that “this is a time for proactive measures that are sustainable not this idea of complaining of virtually everything”.

“If he can’t get economic experts he should borrow from the Goodluck Johnathan’s economic team and this could help him save Nigeria”.

“Somebody close to him should tell him that this is not time for lamentation rather he should concentrate on how to move this country forward”.

Don’t place the blame alone on Buhari-Rep Ehiozuwa Agbonayinma,PDP, Edo.

He said “we are all to blame because we did not manage our oil boom period instead a few Nigerians siphoned our commonwealth into private pockets”.

“Though I’m in PDP, I won’t place the whole blame on Mr president alone as we all failed project Nigeria”.

“On his speech I will say is another round of complaints without end as the mantra that catapulted APC to power has not changed anything”.

“Nothing has changed, so far what we’ve seen is trial by error economic policies of this government”.

“My final take is that we should all put our thinking cap on and see how the Nigerian project can be salvaged”

.http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/05/pmbs-anniversary-speech-stop-another-round-campaign-pdp-reps-tell-buhari/

By Ejiofor Alike

The plummeting prices of crude oil have taken a toll on the price of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in the international market as the latter also slumped by over 50 per cent due to the correlation between the prices of the two products, THISDAY has learnt.

THISDAY gathered that LNG buyers in Europe, who use to pay $9 per unit of LNG, now pay $5 or $6 per unit, after the price of crude dropped from $115 per barrel in June 2014 to less than $50 per barrel in May 2016.



It was also learnt that Asian LNG buyers that used to pay $15 per unit of LNG, now pay about $6 per unit because of the corresponding drop in the prices of crude oil.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria LNG Limited, Mr. Babs Omotowa, who confirmed the drop in LNG price, told THISDAY in an exclusive interview that the gas prices were affected by the global slump in oil prices because gas prices were linked to oil price, as both were energy sources.

Omotowa revealed that there was a 70 per cent correlation in the price of oil and the price of gas.

“So, when you look at NLNG’s Facts and Figures publication, which we released a few weeks ago, even the revenue of 2015 was 40 per cent lower than 2014 and even this year, our revenue will even be lower than in 2015. So, the gas market has seen a big drop. This year, for example, in Asia where we use to get up to $15 per unit of gas, we get today about $5-$6. In Europe where we used to get $9 per unit, we get about $5 -$6. So, the price of gas has also come down; revenues have dropped,” he explained.

“But we are working very hard to make sure that we still remain profitable. We are working hard to make sure we find new opportunity areas; higher value markets and we are also making sure that we drive operational efficiencies and we are reducing our costs so that we can still be profitable and continue to return good revenues to the coffers of the government and our shareholders,” he added.

Omotowa added that based on the support of President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, NLNG’s shareholders hope to take the Final Investment Decision (FID) for the Train 7 before the end of the tenure of this administration on May 29, 2019.

“In 2008, we were ready to take the Final Investment Decision (FID). But due to some discussions at that time around other priorities, especially from the federal government side, the FID could not be taken at that time. What that has meant is that overtime, the contracts that should have been put in place – the bids have all elapsed. So, we have to go back to the starting block,” he said.

He said the shareholders were currently on ‘the basis for design stage’ of the project, adding that the next stage would be the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) before the shareholders would move into tendering for the activities- engineering procurement and construction (EPC).

“That will enable us take the FID. We are working hard because we have so much support now from the government. Both the President and the Minister of State for Petroleum are very supportive and we want to take FID during this administration. Having said that, the current low price of oil, of course, makes it more challenging. So, we also have to work at reducing the cost of the project. We are very determined and we are making all the progress now to take this FID during this administration,” Omotowa explained.

He debunked insinuations that Nigeria does not have sufficient gas to meet the needs of LNG projects, saying that the country has much more than enough gas as one of the top 10 countries in the world with gas reserves.

According to him, Nigeria has over 180 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves, while only 30 trillion cubic feet would be required by NLNG for 25 years.

“It is known by analysis that Nigeria has about 600 trillion cubic feet of gas. Just to give you an idea; out of the 180 TCF of gas that we have, the whole requirement of NLNG for 25 years will be less than 30 TCF. So, it is small when you think of 30 out of 180 or 30 out of 600; it is not much. So, Nigeria has more than enough gas for export; for domestic power and for petrochemical,” he added.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2016/05/30/plummeting-oil-prices-lng-price-slumps-by-over-50/

Interesting thread