Vision is more important than knowledge, for it was Leonardo da Vinci vision of men flying that lead to the Wright Brothers flying at Kitty Hawk. It is the vision of men to choose their own kings enshrined in the English Magna Carta that lead to democracy and rule of law.
A nation that has a vision can say “we will place a man on the moon in 10 years”, and do it. A nation that has a vision can build an oasis of financial, economic and political stability on a barren rock, no not Dubai, Singapore. It is a nation without vision that wants to return to the “golden ages” by killing all her citizens that can read or write, no not Boko Haram, Cambodia under Pol Pot.
Thus we can say that a nation without vision is a nation that will never be first.
Vision is what saves lives, creates jobs, and builds wealth. That’s why Africa and Nigeria in particular are where we are. No written vision.
Let’s consider what visionary projects has Nigeria done in 49 years, I can count 3, Abuja, the Development of the Lagos Marina and the ongoing dredging of the Niger River. Kalu just hold on, what about the Lagos Ibadan express road? What about the federal universities and the unity schools? National Theatre? The Teaching hospitals? The National stadia? Pally these are all what our leadership is obligated to provide with the oil money we have in Nigeria, we can hardly clap for them. Are there no roads, universities or stadia in Chad republic? Difference is the quantity my brother. By Vision, why didn’t they build a subway in Lagos in the 70’s, why don’t we have a deep water container port in Onitsha? Why haven’t we tapped solar power in Sokoto? Why didn’t we build a mobile network when we built NITEL?
Because men of vision are so rare in Nigeria, when i see one, i sit up.
I have been a great admirer of Tinapa. Tinapa is a vision by the people of Cross River under Donald Duke. Duke became the governor of a state known for pineapples and “apples of the eye”. The state is a marginal oil producing state, with 90% of the citizens rural based? Duke imagined a better state of affairs and put in a plan to transform the state into the tourism and serviced based economic hub of Nigeria. Tinapa is a $450m bet to transform the state into a Dubai.
But sadly Tinapa is not working, do you know why? Kalu the idea was bad to start with; can Nigerians afford the expensive oyibo goods to be sold there? Thing is, Nigeria is a consumer nation, we love to spend on western stuff, Tinapa basic idea is simply to bring the same shops Nigerians travel to in UK, US and Dubai to Calaber. Let the Nigerians fly in (no visa), stay in a hotel, shop, eat, party and fly back to Lagos and Abuja. The state generates huge VAT, creates jobs in hospitality, trade, real-estate and services, the states transform her economy from dependence on “Abuja” money to taxes, that’s vision.
Ok Kalu so it’s a good idea, but has the state delivered? Have they built the structures? Maybe that why it has not worked. Pally, I have been to Tinapa; it is 100% completly built, it’s a beauty. Shops, hotels, film studio, serene near a lake, even the big man, our President YarAdua declared that he would use it as his own “camp David” to host visiting heads of state, now that a presidential endorsement. Akwa Ibom sef has invested $300m in a brand new airport they say is to service cargo transport to Tinapa. (Nice excuse to spend govt money).
Ok so, it’s a good idea, the state has delivered the infrastructure, tenants have moved in, so why has it not worked? Oh a little document called a Procedure and Guidelines (P& G) document, what’s that? Well that the FGN gazetted framework that will guide the operations of Tinapa, without that the chaps in Tinapa cannot import or sell anything as the customs guys will seize it.
So who prepares this P&G stuff? Well the Federal Governments of course, the same Federal Govt that signed agreement with the Cross River state in Oct 2007, the same Federal Government who commissioned the project.
Hang on Kalu, you mean a non oil investment of $450m, was made by Cross river state, probable the largest non-oil investment in Africa, the money was not “chopped”, but a world class shopping, hospitality and entertainment facility was built from scratch, and the site is now wasting because some fart in Abuja cannot sign a damm P & G document? Wait it gets worse
Imitation they say is the best compliment, the Dubai folk seeing the potential harm Tinapa will do to them , have moved swiftly to build a “Tinapa” in Senegal for $800m,they want to make Senegal the hub of their West African business deals. They also want to take over the Ghana Free Trade Zone. The chaps sense that Nigerians will simply stop coming over and they will lose in air travel, Accommodation and shopping expenses of Nigerians. So they are bringing Dubai closer to the market (never mind Dubai is already in Nigeria via Tinapa)
Kalu this is incredible, do you know what I am thinking, just as we hear the generator importers pay NEPA to “off” the power so their generators will sell, could these Dubai guys be paying the fellow in Abuja to sit on the P& G until they build the Senegal and Ghana Free Trade Zones?
Bros, what can we say to these things? If the Federal Government is against you, who can be for you?
It’s our problem, we have to fix it.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
of nature and nurture
In the field of behavioural psychology, the jury is still out on why humans behave the way they do. Is it nature or nurture that causes a man to steal? Better put, if a man is a thief is it because the genes his parents gave him had a “stealing” chromosome or did he just grow up around thieves?
It’s a tough call to make, if you had twins and you put one in the US and the other in the Nigeria, would they behave the same? No, why? well the environment in the US is different than Nigeria, ok we can postulate that both factors; your genes (your family) and your environment plays a role in your behaviour and views on life. I however will have to vote that the environment where you are raised carries a greater percentage share in determining your behaviour.
A psychologist BF Skinner who introduced us to the term “conditioning”. Simply put conditioning is the process where you can be made to behave in a certain way through the application of an external pressure or circumstance or habit, I explain. A Nigerian is conditioned to jump a queue, once a Nigerian see a queue his mind automatically ask” how can I get ahead”, it does not matter if it’s an online queue to get an appointment date for Visa, a fuel line, or a supermarket queue, Nigerians hate queues, we have been conditioned over the years to hate queuing. Well think about it, do “bigmen” queue up?
Children also learn by observation, notice how your baby boy puts your phone to his ear and says “hello”, he can even tell a fake phone from a real phone. What the child, sees can influences his behaviour, that his environment. If he sees the governor doing “one way” with sirens, he will do “one way”, if the senator does not pay his taxes, he won’t pay his taxes also.
So let’s put all what we have together. We know that behaviour is part genes, part environment, we know that the environment can “hot wire” us to respond to situations in a predetermined manner, i.e. conditioning, we also know that we learn by observation.
Ok that done, if I asked you to describe to me how a Nigerian boy, what would you say?
First of all the boy would be illiterate, not innumerate, just illiterate. How do we know? the last NECO scores just released last month shows a general pass rate of just 10.7% (pass rate in some states was 5%). He would be illiterate because his government takes money from the education budget to build roads in Abuja. He would be an illiterate because there are no more teachers, Kalu where the teachers go? The govt is taking some to South Africa, Some are on strike, others are on "Nyger Sings" as judges, a professor make N753,549 a year, D banj make N10m in a week! Do the maths.
He would be aggressive, aggressive? How do you know that? You have to be aggressive to catch the only bus from Iyan Ipaje to Ikoyi by 4am every day, you have to be aggressive to get your baby to see a doctor in a govt run “free” clinic, you have to be aggressive to even cast your vote in a tiny LGA with 10,000 armed police and army men all around. You have to be aggressive to challenge a LASTMA official.
He would be an optimist, optimist? Please explain, only an optimist can hear that the budget for 2009 was only implemented by 25% as at November 09 and still believe the road to his village will be fixed before Christmas. Only an optimist can see Iwu as head of INEC and believe 2011 will be ok, only an optimist can believe we will have 6,000mw by December (there is a thin line between optimism and stupidity you know).
He would be an expert engineer, now I am lost, he is illiterate how can he be an engineer? Have you not seen 1970 Volvo’s still running in Aba? Have you not seen houses powered by truck batteries in Lagos? Have you not seen destroyed tyres “vulcanised” back to life in Kano?
He would probably want to be a kidnapper, senator or a footballer than a doctor, lawyer or engineer. Kalu what’s wrong with being a footballer? Nothing, I wanted to be Spider Man when I was 7. But when all the kids want to be footballers or actors just so they can feed their family, then you have a problem. His role models matters, if he sees a graduate, first class student from University of Ife, driving a state taxi cab, and he see a “exmilitant” earning N65,000.00 a month plus benefits for just chilling, which would he want to be?
He would be a quick learner, yes notice how quickly he learns how to email business letters to oyibos asking for 10% advance, all this without entering an economics or IT class. most telling he would learn that no one would ever call him to “eat” food on the family dinner table, rather his father will cook and take the food to his master bedroom to “eat” alone, it’s up to him to either “steal” food while it’s still on the fire, wait for his dad to finish “eating” and get the scarps or even “kidnap” the dad for a ransom of the food.
Kalu stop. So where does genes come in. My theory is this, under normal circumstance there is no difference between the Nigerian in the 1960’s and the Nigerian in 2009. Both Nigerians were born of the same “father” hence the same genes.
The Nigerians (1960 and 2009 models), was simply exposed to different environments, while the Nigerian in the 60’s saw oyibos giving him, roads, education, honest police and civil servants, he became conditioned to excellence and produced Wole Soyinka, Chike Obi and Ememgwali. He was a healthy, honest, educated, and organised Nigerian.
but the oyibos left and his new “father” gave him NEPA, INEC, Mobile Police, PDP, NNPC he became aggressive, illiterate, unruly, corrupted and angry and produced Iwu, Boy loaf, and Tafa. What a difference a “father” makes.
It’s our problem, we can fix it
It’s a tough call to make, if you had twins and you put one in the US and the other in the Nigeria, would they behave the same? No, why? well the environment in the US is different than Nigeria, ok we can postulate that both factors; your genes (your family) and your environment plays a role in your behaviour and views on life. I however will have to vote that the environment where you are raised carries a greater percentage share in determining your behaviour.
A psychologist BF Skinner who introduced us to the term “conditioning”. Simply put conditioning is the process where you can be made to behave in a certain way through the application of an external pressure or circumstance or habit, I explain. A Nigerian is conditioned to jump a queue, once a Nigerian see a queue his mind automatically ask” how can I get ahead”, it does not matter if it’s an online queue to get an appointment date for Visa, a fuel line, or a supermarket queue, Nigerians hate queues, we have been conditioned over the years to hate queuing. Well think about it, do “bigmen” queue up?
Children also learn by observation, notice how your baby boy puts your phone to his ear and says “hello”, he can even tell a fake phone from a real phone. What the child, sees can influences his behaviour, that his environment. If he sees the governor doing “one way” with sirens, he will do “one way”, if the senator does not pay his taxes, he won’t pay his taxes also.
So let’s put all what we have together. We know that behaviour is part genes, part environment, we know that the environment can “hot wire” us to respond to situations in a predetermined manner, i.e. conditioning, we also know that we learn by observation.
Ok that done, if I asked you to describe to me how a Nigerian boy, what would you say?
First of all the boy would be illiterate, not innumerate, just illiterate. How do we know? the last NECO scores just released last month shows a general pass rate of just 10.7% (pass rate in some states was 5%). He would be illiterate because his government takes money from the education budget to build roads in Abuja. He would be an illiterate because there are no more teachers, Kalu where the teachers go? The govt is taking some to South Africa, Some are on strike, others are on "Nyger Sings" as judges, a professor make N753,549 a year, D banj make N10m in a week! Do the maths.
He would be aggressive, aggressive? How do you know that? You have to be aggressive to catch the only bus from Iyan Ipaje to Ikoyi by 4am every day, you have to be aggressive to get your baby to see a doctor in a govt run “free” clinic, you have to be aggressive to even cast your vote in a tiny LGA with 10,000 armed police and army men all around. You have to be aggressive to challenge a LASTMA official.
He would be an optimist, optimist? Please explain, only an optimist can hear that the budget for 2009 was only implemented by 25% as at November 09 and still believe the road to his village will be fixed before Christmas. Only an optimist can see Iwu as head of INEC and believe 2011 will be ok, only an optimist can believe we will have 6,000mw by December (there is a thin line between optimism and stupidity you know).
He would be an expert engineer, now I am lost, he is illiterate how can he be an engineer? Have you not seen 1970 Volvo’s still running in Aba? Have you not seen houses powered by truck batteries in Lagos? Have you not seen destroyed tyres “vulcanised” back to life in Kano?
He would probably want to be a kidnapper, senator or a footballer than a doctor, lawyer or engineer. Kalu what’s wrong with being a footballer? Nothing, I wanted to be Spider Man when I was 7. But when all the kids want to be footballers or actors just so they can feed their family, then you have a problem. His role models matters, if he sees a graduate, first class student from University of Ife, driving a state taxi cab, and he see a “exmilitant” earning N65,000.00 a month plus benefits for just chilling, which would he want to be?
He would be a quick learner, yes notice how quickly he learns how to email business letters to oyibos asking for 10% advance, all this without entering an economics or IT class. most telling he would learn that no one would ever call him to “eat” food on the family dinner table, rather his father will cook and take the food to his master bedroom to “eat” alone, it’s up to him to either “steal” food while it’s still on the fire, wait for his dad to finish “eating” and get the scarps or even “kidnap” the dad for a ransom of the food.
Kalu stop. So where does genes come in. My theory is this, under normal circumstance there is no difference between the Nigerian in the 1960’s and the Nigerian in 2009. Both Nigerians were born of the same “father” hence the same genes.
The Nigerians (1960 and 2009 models), was simply exposed to different environments, while the Nigerian in the 60’s saw oyibos giving him, roads, education, honest police and civil servants, he became conditioned to excellence and produced Wole Soyinka, Chike Obi and Ememgwali. He was a healthy, honest, educated, and organised Nigerian.
but the oyibos left and his new “father” gave him NEPA, INEC, Mobile Police, PDP, NNPC he became aggressive, illiterate, unruly, corrupted and angry and produced Iwu, Boy loaf, and Tafa. What a difference a “father” makes.
It’s our problem, we can fix it
Sunday, October 18, 2009
of wags and waziri
“Wag the dog” is a term used to describe a situation where the tail is wagging the dog or purposely diverting attention from a bigger event to a smaller event in order to refocus the public attention, so that the smaller event assumes a greater role than the bigger event. Like a doctor treating an AIDS patient for headache not the AIDS, thus the Headache gets more attention than the AIDS.
“Wagging the dog” is done all the time, we do it, you promise your son a gift if he comes first in his maths class, he comes first, you forget the gift and when your son asks you immediately fire back that he has not had his bath. Your wife tells you to buy diapers for the baby, you buy beer forget the diapers and when she asks you remind her that your own mother did not use diapers, you get pulled over for driving one way by LASTMA, you immediately challenge them “do you know who I am”? “Why are you calling me Mr”? Don’t you know I am a “Chief”?
But the most adept at playing this game (“yes it’s a game”) are public officials, The ability to play this game is key to your progress through the corridors of power, Examples abound, like you ask the minster of power why there is no power and he says its militants, to take your attention away from the fact that almost $20b has been spent, for 10 years and we are still at less than 3,000MW. you have to be able to say “bitumen” to charges of not repairing Lagos roads and “water goddess” to charges of ocean surges at the bar beach (true, a Lagos state governor said the cause of the ocean surge was that when the ocean goddess see’s her reflection on Fin Bank building, she sends waves to attack the “imposter”. Another governor came and built a wave breaker, same environment, different response).
Ok but for my money (no pun intended) the biggest “wag the dog” is the CBN war on private jets. The EFCC has been in a coma after Ribadu left, yep we have had lots of arrests but curiously no convictions, we have instead had plea bargains, a lot of plea bargains. We have heard of numerous international scandals involving Nigerian public officials, we have the Halliburton saga, the Siemens shocker, we have the N300million Min of Health affair, the N5B Rural Electrification case, the $16bn NIPP power scandals. All these scandals but the EFCC has mobilised the Chairman, 80 operatives and has moved to Lagos to collect bank debts.
“Madam” has given more interviews, more resources more time on these banking crises than any another scandal. Madam even travelled to the IMF conference in Turkey, yes the IMF conference to explain why her commission was collecting bank debts, debt collections is now an “achievement”.
The press has played along, Nigerians no longer talk about ASUU, it’s better to talk about 2 new jets ordered by an ex-bank chief, we don’t talk about electoral reform, it’s better to talk about bonus paid to ex bankers, we don’t realise that there is a Cholera, yes Cholera outbreak in Bornu state its better too argue about what a nonperforming loan is, the National Assembly nko? They too not wanting to be left out of the “loop” last week they actually debated if females should be allowed to work in banks as marketers, in the 21 century Nigeria this is what our lawmakers are debating! but again every time spent on this insane debate is another day not spent on constitutional review or land use reform.
Let’s ask a serious question what is the contribution of the entire financial institutions (banks, insurance, mortgage & stock broking) to our GDP from 1998 to2008? Answer its only 3.93%, Agriculture meanwhile is 41.53%, ok what about the % contribution to GDP growth well for financial institutions its just 1.79%, Agriculture is 45.86%.
No Kalu I don’t believe your figures, how can you say First Bank, Zenith, IGI, Stanbic IBTC and Co only have a 3% share of our GDP? Where are you getting your figures from?
Well consider this, is there is bank in your village? Ok is there a farm in your village? How many people do you know that can walk into a bank a get a loan of N50,000? ok how many people do you know can walk into a village and start planting yams.Banks are huge business but because they are so small when compared to the general wealth and activity of Nigeria their impact is insignificant. So by implications the FGN, the press, the Parliament, EFCC, even we have focused on 3.93% of the economy while 41% languished in non attention. “Wag the dog”?
N200billion for Agriculture to feed 150million, N420million to feed 5 banks “wag the dog”?
Hang on Kalu, even if your figures are correct the US passed Tarp $700b, Obama has jumped into bonus paid to bankers, the whole press in the US focused on AIG, banks have been discussed in the Congress, Michael Moore even has a new film on evils of Capitalism, yep, but the US banking sector short term liabilities alone is 15% of US GDP and 43% of the entire National Debt, Consumer spending is 78% of the GDP of America, almost all the shoppers use Credit cards, debit cards, Bank cards etc, would you allow 78% or 42% of your economy freeze? Ooh Agriculture is 0.9% of the US economy
The EFCC circus with the bank debtors, the public trial on the pages of the papers is a stimulus package to the newspapers and the TV news, and a distraction. It has made all Nigerian experts in risk management (everybody now knows what non-performing loan is) it has enabled Sanusi live out his sheriff desire but at what cost?
Bank lending to the private sector is down, Nigerian letters of credit are not worth the paper they are faxed on, Nigerian banks, (all of them the cleared and uncleared), are now viewed with grave suspicion, the stock market has tanked, consumer credit is over,$2b to be spent on “stimulus” and heck unemployment will rise. Was the crises caused by the banks or is the bank crises an effect of falling oil price? Where would Nigerian economy be of we still had 84 moi moi banks when this crises hit? But i digress.
Ok Kalu but are you saying because its 3% of GDP is not important its not important? Isn’t N420b real money? Oh no! Far from it, i am mealy asking that we don’t only “eat the bankers” lets ensure the “efficiency” of the EFCC spreads around, surly this is a democracy.
The real wag the dog, the villains are the bank CEO’s not the guys mentioned in Siemens, Halliburton, and NIPP etc.
It’s our problem, we will fix it
“Wagging the dog” is done all the time, we do it, you promise your son a gift if he comes first in his maths class, he comes first, you forget the gift and when your son asks you immediately fire back that he has not had his bath. Your wife tells you to buy diapers for the baby, you buy beer forget the diapers and when she asks you remind her that your own mother did not use diapers, you get pulled over for driving one way by LASTMA, you immediately challenge them “do you know who I am”? “Why are you calling me Mr”? Don’t you know I am a “Chief”?
But the most adept at playing this game (“yes it’s a game”) are public officials, The ability to play this game is key to your progress through the corridors of power, Examples abound, like you ask the minster of power why there is no power and he says its militants, to take your attention away from the fact that almost $20b has been spent, for 10 years and we are still at less than 3,000MW. you have to be able to say “bitumen” to charges of not repairing Lagos roads and “water goddess” to charges of ocean surges at the bar beach (true, a Lagos state governor said the cause of the ocean surge was that when the ocean goddess see’s her reflection on Fin Bank building, she sends waves to attack the “imposter”. Another governor came and built a wave breaker, same environment, different response).
Ok but for my money (no pun intended) the biggest “wag the dog” is the CBN war on private jets. The EFCC has been in a coma after Ribadu left, yep we have had lots of arrests but curiously no convictions, we have instead had plea bargains, a lot of plea bargains. We have heard of numerous international scandals involving Nigerian public officials, we have the Halliburton saga, the Siemens shocker, we have the N300million Min of Health affair, the N5B Rural Electrification case, the $16bn NIPP power scandals. All these scandals but the EFCC has mobilised the Chairman, 80 operatives and has moved to Lagos to collect bank debts.
“Madam” has given more interviews, more resources more time on these banking crises than any another scandal. Madam even travelled to the IMF conference in Turkey, yes the IMF conference to explain why her commission was collecting bank debts, debt collections is now an “achievement”.
The press has played along, Nigerians no longer talk about ASUU, it’s better to talk about 2 new jets ordered by an ex-bank chief, we don’t talk about electoral reform, it’s better to talk about bonus paid to ex bankers, we don’t realise that there is a Cholera, yes Cholera outbreak in Bornu state its better too argue about what a nonperforming loan is, the National Assembly nko? They too not wanting to be left out of the “loop” last week they actually debated if females should be allowed to work in banks as marketers, in the 21 century Nigeria this is what our lawmakers are debating! but again every time spent on this insane debate is another day not spent on constitutional review or land use reform.
Let’s ask a serious question what is the contribution of the entire financial institutions (banks, insurance, mortgage & stock broking) to our GDP from 1998 to2008? Answer its only 3.93%, Agriculture meanwhile is 41.53%, ok what about the % contribution to GDP growth well for financial institutions its just 1.79%, Agriculture is 45.86%.
No Kalu I don’t believe your figures, how can you say First Bank, Zenith, IGI, Stanbic IBTC and Co only have a 3% share of our GDP? Where are you getting your figures from?
Well consider this, is there is bank in your village? Ok is there a farm in your village? How many people do you know that can walk into a bank a get a loan of N50,000? ok how many people do you know can walk into a village and start planting yams.Banks are huge business but because they are so small when compared to the general wealth and activity of Nigeria their impact is insignificant. So by implications the FGN, the press, the Parliament, EFCC, even we have focused on 3.93% of the economy while 41% languished in non attention. “Wag the dog”?
N200billion for Agriculture to feed 150million, N420million to feed 5 banks “wag the dog”?
Hang on Kalu, even if your figures are correct the US passed Tarp $700b, Obama has jumped into bonus paid to bankers, the whole press in the US focused on AIG, banks have been discussed in the Congress, Michael Moore even has a new film on evils of Capitalism, yep, but the US banking sector short term liabilities alone is 15% of US GDP and 43% of the entire National Debt, Consumer spending is 78% of the GDP of America, almost all the shoppers use Credit cards, debit cards, Bank cards etc, would you allow 78% or 42% of your economy freeze? Ooh Agriculture is 0.9% of the US economy
The EFCC circus with the bank debtors, the public trial on the pages of the papers is a stimulus package to the newspapers and the TV news, and a distraction. It has made all Nigerian experts in risk management (everybody now knows what non-performing loan is) it has enabled Sanusi live out his sheriff desire but at what cost?
Bank lending to the private sector is down, Nigerian letters of credit are not worth the paper they are faxed on, Nigerian banks, (all of them the cleared and uncleared), are now viewed with grave suspicion, the stock market has tanked, consumer credit is over,$2b to be spent on “stimulus” and heck unemployment will rise. Was the crises caused by the banks or is the bank crises an effect of falling oil price? Where would Nigerian economy be of we still had 84 moi moi banks when this crises hit? But i digress.
Ok Kalu but are you saying because its 3% of GDP is not important its not important? Isn’t N420b real money? Oh no! Far from it, i am mealy asking that we don’t only “eat the bankers” lets ensure the “efficiency” of the EFCC spreads around, surly this is a democracy.
The real wag the dog, the villains are the bank CEO’s not the guys mentioned in Siemens, Halliburton, and NIPP etc.
It’s our problem, we will fix it
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
of balls and barrels
If a mosquito perched on your left ball (Blokus) what would you do? Would you slap the mosquito hard? Well you will kill the mosquito alright, but your balls might bust, would you leave it? Not likely, the bugger will suck your future children away, so what? Well an option is to first make the mosquito fly away from your left ball (blokus), then smack it in the air, far away from your balls. It’s a no brainer abi?
What if you had a MEND in your oil fields what would you do? Would you slap the MEND hard? Well you will kill the MEND? But your oil output might fall, would you leave MEND alone? Not likely, the bugger will create a state within a state, so what? Well an option is to first make the MEND irrelevant so they lose local support, then you smack them, far away from your oil fields balls. It’s a no brainer abi?
You see if its man to man fight in an open field the Nigerian Army (JTF) will finish off MEND and have time to do a beer or two, but JTF is not fighting an army, it is fighting an insurgency. Mao said an insurgency must avoid direct confrontation with the ruling powers because they will lose, but the insurgency must move like a toad in a swamp, in and out of water, and weaken the enemy to a point where they lose the will to fight. Modern counter insurgency principles are built around “draining the swamp” that feeds the insurgency.
In Malaysia the British starved off the Malay Communist by sequestering the villages into dedicated villages, which were then heavily defended. This strategy deprived the communist of food, information and most importantly local support. In Iraq, General Patreaus -using lessons learned from the NYPD in defeating gang members in New York- inserted US troops inside Iraq neighbors, enclosed the neighbors with walls and just sat there, this allowed the residents to feel confident that the US was there to stay and they turned on Al Qaeda.
After 2 months of JTF action what are the results? Well we are not in Gbaramatu so we don’t know how effective the routing of the militants had been, what we know is this;
1. Falling government oil earnings; a 39.5% drop from last quarter
2. Deficit in governments fiscal (tax) operations, 31.5% drop in preceding quarter
3. Depreciating value of the Naira
4. Expanded FGN debt, N2.5 trillion up 28.7%
5. Fall in commercial bank credit to private sector from (plus) 16.7% to (minus) 2.6%
6. Inflation rate of 13.1% in first quarter compared with 5.8% in corresponding period in 2008
7. Fall in the Nigerian stock market by 36.9% from the preceding quarter
8. Fall in FOREX inflow by 46.9%
9. Fall in oil output from a installed capacity of 3mbpd to almost 1.23mbpd
10. No power (light) in the country, because no gas from the creeks to power the gas turbines.
So who dunnit? One reason only one, a fall in oil output, caused by MEND. Nigeria earns 90% of our foreign earnings from oil, Nigeria is also import dependent and a heavy consumer , we earned $5.72 billion from January to March 2009, impressive abi? but we spent $11.26 billion, that’s why our reserves are now %45 billion from a high of $65 billion plus.
So a MEND reducing how much we can earn from oil is the proverbial mosquito on the balls. We would be fools to discount that MEND has the ability to significantly reduce how much we would earn in the next quarter. Chevron has shut in output, now shell has shut in output also. Even if Iran boils and oil gets to $200 a barrel, Nigeria might see output restricted further. Our brave soldiers nor matter how trained and equipped they may be (with or without unmanned drones) cannot guard every inch of pipeline in the Niger Delta. All it takes is for a MEND guy (or gal) to ride a bicycle to a pipeline into a forest, set a local fuse , and boom, 200,000 barrels are shut in, and the stats above gets worse.
So what can we do?
1. Yar Adua need to do a “Sadat”, and fly into the creeks and visit that area, call the global MDs of Shell, AGIP, ExxonMobil and Chevron to accompany him. Let him go there are tell the people Nigeria wants to “reset” relationship with them, let the MD of Shell and Co with the FGN invoke a “Marshall plan”, let them announce a multi billion offer to cleanup and develop the area, let Julius Berger announce it wants to hire 100,000 ND citizen to build a 8 lane, rail and road network in the creeks, let GE announce plans t build a massive 5,000 power plant in Gbamaratu kingdom employing 2,000 ex militants, let the Army replace the JTF with the Army Corp of Engineers to build jetties and fish ponds, let start to build a gigantic sports facility to host Africa in 2035, lets make the militants and the citizens of the Niger Delta dizzy with imagining how that area will be if they put down the RPG. What a morale booster this will be to the Nigerian troops in the JTF, what a morale booster it will be to the fisherman in the creeks who has not seen a fish since 1970 in his creek. Such a visit will change overnight the tone in the creeks. The symbolism and significance cannot be imagined.
2. Declare the entire Delta a federal zone i.e. Bayelsa Rivers and Delta State become the Delta federal republic (about the size of Florida); allocate 25% of the budget or oil earnings to develop the area, this is not derivation, it’s just an appropriation vote. Drain the swamp of kidnappers and militants, employ them in Julius Berger, Siemens, and Shell, take a census and pay every Nigerian from Delta, Rivers, and Bayelsa a special dividend being shareholders of the nations wealth. Cancel the states let only the local governments remain, that way the representation goes around
3. Set in a plan to return Nigeria to a fiscal federalism. This means that we live out the meaning of a federation, where the federating units have exclusive powers to create wealth, and pay a tax to the central government. This will mean that the Federal government hands over Education and Health to the local governments, the local government will fund health education with their resources and then pay a tax to the federal government. No state and in consequence individual will work if he knows his sweat will be taxed away to Abuja.
4. Pull the Army away from the land, I find it funny that we are using the army when the stolen oil will eventually find its way unto a barge and then t a ship on the high sea. Invest in the Navy; if we stop the barges leaving the creeks to the sea, we stop the bunkering.
5. Equip the police, the courts, and the laws. Let rule of law be a verb not a noun.
Do this all at once, don’t delay, if we can give FIFA a presidential guarantee that we will develop 6 stadia in 6 cities in one month to host a junior World Cup, then we can guarantee the Niger Delta People that we will develop 6 states in 6 months with N6 trillion and create 6 million direct jobs.
Kalu these are radical measures, it will cause the Nigerian government trillions to implement, we would have rewarded militancy and would appear unfair to other parts of Nigeria who depend on federal grants to survive, if I recall only I state (Lagos) generates enough internal revenue to pay salaries and build infrastructure.
Yes it’s a tough choice, but what’s the option, wait till MEND takes output down to 100,000bpd?
It’s our problem, we will fix it
What if you had a MEND in your oil fields what would you do? Would you slap the MEND hard? Well you will kill the MEND? But your oil output might fall, would you leave MEND alone? Not likely, the bugger will create a state within a state, so what? Well an option is to first make the MEND irrelevant so they lose local support, then you smack them, far away from your oil fields balls. It’s a no brainer abi?
You see if its man to man fight in an open field the Nigerian Army (JTF) will finish off MEND and have time to do a beer or two, but JTF is not fighting an army, it is fighting an insurgency. Mao said an insurgency must avoid direct confrontation with the ruling powers because they will lose, but the insurgency must move like a toad in a swamp, in and out of water, and weaken the enemy to a point where they lose the will to fight. Modern counter insurgency principles are built around “draining the swamp” that feeds the insurgency.
In Malaysia the British starved off the Malay Communist by sequestering the villages into dedicated villages, which were then heavily defended. This strategy deprived the communist of food, information and most importantly local support. In Iraq, General Patreaus -using lessons learned from the NYPD in defeating gang members in New York- inserted US troops inside Iraq neighbors, enclosed the neighbors with walls and just sat there, this allowed the residents to feel confident that the US was there to stay and they turned on Al Qaeda.
After 2 months of JTF action what are the results? Well we are not in Gbaramatu so we don’t know how effective the routing of the militants had been, what we know is this;
1. Falling government oil earnings; a 39.5% drop from last quarter
2. Deficit in governments fiscal (tax) operations, 31.5% drop in preceding quarter
3. Depreciating value of the Naira
4. Expanded FGN debt, N2.5 trillion up 28.7%
5. Fall in commercial bank credit to private sector from (plus) 16.7% to (minus) 2.6%
6. Inflation rate of 13.1% in first quarter compared with 5.8% in corresponding period in 2008
7. Fall in the Nigerian stock market by 36.9% from the preceding quarter
8. Fall in FOREX inflow by 46.9%
9. Fall in oil output from a installed capacity of 3mbpd to almost 1.23mbpd
10. No power (light) in the country, because no gas from the creeks to power the gas turbines.
So who dunnit? One reason only one, a fall in oil output, caused by MEND. Nigeria earns 90% of our foreign earnings from oil, Nigeria is also import dependent and a heavy consumer , we earned $5.72 billion from January to March 2009, impressive abi? but we spent $11.26 billion, that’s why our reserves are now %45 billion from a high of $65 billion plus.
So a MEND reducing how much we can earn from oil is the proverbial mosquito on the balls. We would be fools to discount that MEND has the ability to significantly reduce how much we would earn in the next quarter. Chevron has shut in output, now shell has shut in output also. Even if Iran boils and oil gets to $200 a barrel, Nigeria might see output restricted further. Our brave soldiers nor matter how trained and equipped they may be (with or without unmanned drones) cannot guard every inch of pipeline in the Niger Delta. All it takes is for a MEND guy (or gal) to ride a bicycle to a pipeline into a forest, set a local fuse , and boom, 200,000 barrels are shut in, and the stats above gets worse.
So what can we do?
1. Yar Adua need to do a “Sadat”, and fly into the creeks and visit that area, call the global MDs of Shell, AGIP, ExxonMobil and Chevron to accompany him. Let him go there are tell the people Nigeria wants to “reset” relationship with them, let the MD of Shell and Co with the FGN invoke a “Marshall plan”, let them announce a multi billion offer to cleanup and develop the area, let Julius Berger announce it wants to hire 100,000 ND citizen to build a 8 lane, rail and road network in the creeks, let GE announce plans t build a massive 5,000 power plant in Gbamaratu kingdom employing 2,000 ex militants, let the Army replace the JTF with the Army Corp of Engineers to build jetties and fish ponds, let start to build a gigantic sports facility to host Africa in 2035, lets make the militants and the citizens of the Niger Delta dizzy with imagining how that area will be if they put down the RPG. What a morale booster this will be to the Nigerian troops in the JTF, what a morale booster it will be to the fisherman in the creeks who has not seen a fish since 1970 in his creek. Such a visit will change overnight the tone in the creeks. The symbolism and significance cannot be imagined.
2. Declare the entire Delta a federal zone i.e. Bayelsa Rivers and Delta State become the Delta federal republic (about the size of Florida); allocate 25% of the budget or oil earnings to develop the area, this is not derivation, it’s just an appropriation vote. Drain the swamp of kidnappers and militants, employ them in Julius Berger, Siemens, and Shell, take a census and pay every Nigerian from Delta, Rivers, and Bayelsa a special dividend being shareholders of the nations wealth. Cancel the states let only the local governments remain, that way the representation goes around
3. Set in a plan to return Nigeria to a fiscal federalism. This means that we live out the meaning of a federation, where the federating units have exclusive powers to create wealth, and pay a tax to the central government. This will mean that the Federal government hands over Education and Health to the local governments, the local government will fund health education with their resources and then pay a tax to the federal government. No state and in consequence individual will work if he knows his sweat will be taxed away to Abuja.
4. Pull the Army away from the land, I find it funny that we are using the army when the stolen oil will eventually find its way unto a barge and then t a ship on the high sea. Invest in the Navy; if we stop the barges leaving the creeks to the sea, we stop the bunkering.
5. Equip the police, the courts, and the laws. Let rule of law be a verb not a noun.
Do this all at once, don’t delay, if we can give FIFA a presidential guarantee that we will develop 6 stadia in 6 cities in one month to host a junior World Cup, then we can guarantee the Niger Delta People that we will develop 6 states in 6 months with N6 trillion and create 6 million direct jobs.
Kalu these are radical measures, it will cause the Nigerian government trillions to implement, we would have rewarded militancy and would appear unfair to other parts of Nigeria who depend on federal grants to survive, if I recall only I state (Lagos) generates enough internal revenue to pay salaries and build infrastructure.
Yes it’s a tough choice, but what’s the option, wait till MEND takes output down to 100,000bpd?
It’s our problem, we will fix it
Monday, June 8, 2009
“Liberalizing the possession of guns will make the ordinary citizens more equipped to fight crime” Orji Uzor Kalu
The above statement was by Orji Uzor Kalu the former (believe it or not) Governor of Abia state. He made that statement while advocating for a law to allow all Nigerian carry guns , this he said will stop Kidnapping and the like….ok what’s wrong with that? Heaven they say helps those who help themselves” abi?
Lets stretch Kalu's Argument, if we can allow citizens to carry arms cause of kidnapping surly we can allow citizens buy SUV to get over bad roads, surly we can allow citizens “manufacture” their own “pure” drinking water, surly we can allow citizen set up their own schools, surly we can allow citizens drink Agbo as primary health care………….abi the government cant protect us so he wants us to carry guns.
By last count Abia gets N3billion a month from Abuja, so he got give or take N288billion in 8 years. now if the 2 time governor had invested just 1% of this just (N2.8b) in building a small 1,200kva power plant to provide power to the Barbers, Hairdressers, Tailors, Artisan, Bar owners, Welders, Vulcanisers, does he know how many jobs he would have created? Or better still how many kidnappers he would have given a job?
Had he spent another 1% in rural roads surely the Aba palm oil industry could have gotten palm kernels out of the forests faster and cheaper, more jobs created, less kidnappers abi
had he spent another 1% in free hospitals in the local governments (i.e. N164 million per Local Government) surly people would not have to kidnap to pay hospital bills, you see has he even spent just 10% of what he got in Education, Health, Roads, Power then there would not be any case of Kidnapping in Abia state. Now imagine if all the Governors spent just 10% on education, power and health care…..just imagine.
The Niger Delta militants opened our eyes, the Inspector General of Police told us that kidnappers made $100m between 2006 and 2008 , 2 years N17.5 billon, pure profit , no cost of production (ok a phone) , no taxation. Now Kidnapping has become a business, because the state has failed to provide an alternative. Outside the Niger Delta, the South East now especially Anambra State is the HQ of Kidnapping, Orji Kalu state is a close second, hence you see his point in allowing guns. Guy for the record It’s jobs , not carrying guns that will stop kidnapping.
People like Orji Uzor Kalu are very dangerous, how? Well guy and the rest of the class of 1999-2007 have promoted a theory called “let them carry guns”, or simply “put give us the money, the people can take care of themselves” please explain
You see this “let them have guns theory can be seen in say, we allocate money for Rural Electrification but Elumelu and Co (Alleged) say “let them have candle” we allocate N240 billion for boreholes across the federation but they say “let them drink pure water”. We allocate N300m for health but Iyabo Obansanjo and Co (Alleged) says “let them drink Agbo”. We allocate $billions for Turn Around Maintenance of Nigerian Refineries but a few Nigerian say “let them have fuel lines”
The list is endless FIFA says “host the world cup”, NFA and the Sports Ministry say “let them watch it on DSTV” Yar Adua tell us that he want us to have electoral reforms the parliament says “let them have INEC”
The two richest Nigerians (according to Forbes) both made their wealth on the inefficiency of the government, Dangote makes money on the failure of the government to promote local production of Rice and feed her populace, Otedola make money by inefficiency in NNPC, so Nigeria says “let them eat Abakaliki rice” Dangote say no “let them eat Thai par boiled rice” the government says “let them have NEPA” Otedola says “let them use Zenon Diesel”. (I no dey vex with them ooh! No be them spoil am!)
What of Power i.e. Light, well the government says let them have NEPA but Mikano, Mantrac, Perkins, Jubalia, FG Wilson says “let them use generators” Do you know that Nigerians spent $12.3m (that N339b) in just 2 weeks importing Generators! (Source CBN report FOREX usage form 11 May to 22 May 2009)
Wow! This is so similar to what the queen of France told the masses in France, when they did not have bread, she said “let them eat cake” well sort of, but we put an African twist to ours.
The thing is that the French masses refused to eat cake, but the Nigerian has certainly eaten a lot of cake. We the people of Nigeria have eaten and like the cake the Orji Kalu are feeding us. We have eaten bad roads, no power, no hospital, no schools, and we are still hungry. And its get better, should they allow us carry guns, who do you think will import and sell it? You or them?
It’s our problem, we can fix it
ps
Agbo is that stuff young girls carry about and sell in mostly Western Nigeria. Agbo (so they claim) can cure everything so a cup a day keeps the doctor away.
The above statement was by Orji Uzor Kalu the former (believe it or not) Governor of Abia state. He made that statement while advocating for a law to allow all Nigerian carry guns , this he said will stop Kidnapping and the like….ok what’s wrong with that? Heaven they say helps those who help themselves” abi?
Lets stretch Kalu's Argument, if we can allow citizens to carry arms cause of kidnapping surly we can allow citizens buy SUV to get over bad roads, surly we can allow citizens “manufacture” their own “pure” drinking water, surly we can allow citizen set up their own schools, surly we can allow citizens drink Agbo as primary health care………….abi the government cant protect us so he wants us to carry guns.
By last count Abia gets N3billion a month from Abuja, so he got give or take N288billion in 8 years. now if the 2 time governor had invested just 1% of this just (N2.8b) in building a small 1,200kva power plant to provide power to the Barbers, Hairdressers, Tailors, Artisan, Bar owners, Welders, Vulcanisers, does he know how many jobs he would have created? Or better still how many kidnappers he would have given a job?
Had he spent another 1% in rural roads surely the Aba palm oil industry could have gotten palm kernels out of the forests faster and cheaper, more jobs created, less kidnappers abi
had he spent another 1% in free hospitals in the local governments (i.e. N164 million per Local Government) surly people would not have to kidnap to pay hospital bills, you see has he even spent just 10% of what he got in Education, Health, Roads, Power then there would not be any case of Kidnapping in Abia state. Now imagine if all the Governors spent just 10% on education, power and health care…..just imagine.
The Niger Delta militants opened our eyes, the Inspector General of Police told us that kidnappers made $100m between 2006 and 2008 , 2 years N17.5 billon, pure profit , no cost of production (ok a phone) , no taxation. Now Kidnapping has become a business, because the state has failed to provide an alternative. Outside the Niger Delta, the South East now especially Anambra State is the HQ of Kidnapping, Orji Kalu state is a close second, hence you see his point in allowing guns. Guy for the record It’s jobs , not carrying guns that will stop kidnapping.
People like Orji Uzor Kalu are very dangerous, how? Well guy and the rest of the class of 1999-2007 have promoted a theory called “let them carry guns”, or simply “put give us the money, the people can take care of themselves” please explain
You see this “let them have guns theory can be seen in say, we allocate money for Rural Electrification but Elumelu and Co (Alleged) say “let them have candle” we allocate N240 billion for boreholes across the federation but they say “let them drink pure water”. We allocate N300m for health but Iyabo Obansanjo and Co (Alleged) says “let them drink Agbo”. We allocate $billions for Turn Around Maintenance of Nigerian Refineries but a few Nigerian say “let them have fuel lines”
The list is endless FIFA says “host the world cup”, NFA and the Sports Ministry say “let them watch it on DSTV” Yar Adua tell us that he want us to have electoral reforms the parliament says “let them have INEC”
The two richest Nigerians (according to Forbes) both made their wealth on the inefficiency of the government, Dangote makes money on the failure of the government to promote local production of Rice and feed her populace, Otedola make money by inefficiency in NNPC, so Nigeria says “let them eat Abakaliki rice” Dangote say no “let them eat Thai par boiled rice” the government says “let them have NEPA” Otedola says “let them use Zenon Diesel”. (I no dey vex with them ooh! No be them spoil am!)
What of Power i.e. Light, well the government says let them have NEPA but Mikano, Mantrac, Perkins, Jubalia, FG Wilson says “let them use generators” Do you know that Nigerians spent $12.3m (that N339b) in just 2 weeks importing Generators! (Source CBN report FOREX usage form 11 May to 22 May 2009)
Wow! This is so similar to what the queen of France told the masses in France, when they did not have bread, she said “let them eat cake” well sort of, but we put an African twist to ours.
The thing is that the French masses refused to eat cake, but the Nigerian has certainly eaten a lot of cake. We the people of Nigeria have eaten and like the cake the Orji Kalu are feeding us. We have eaten bad roads, no power, no hospital, no schools, and we are still hungry. And its get better, should they allow us carry guns, who do you think will import and sell it? You or them?
It’s our problem, we can fix it
ps
Agbo is that stuff young girls carry about and sell in mostly Western Nigeria. Agbo (so they claim) can cure everything so a cup a day keeps the doctor away.
of Slyvia and Chavez
of “Bayelsa has Oil and Gas, rich soil for oil palm and rice cultivation. We guarantee peace, power and natural resources and favorable operating environment, with first world opportunities. What more do you want? Come and invest in Bayelsa State”.
Gov Timipreye Sylvia at the South South Economic forum held in Tinapa, 27th April 2009
Last week the democratic first world Governor Timipreye Sylvia ordered Conoil Nigeria Limited to immediately stop operations in Bayelsa State, and her staff to vacate the state without further delay!
Please what happened in 2 months? What caused this governor that practically sold his state as a heaven of first world opportunities and operating environment suddenly change to become a Chavez? What was Conoil offense sef? Well the MD of Conoil failed to attend a special meeting the first world governor held with all the oil companies in the state. That’s it? They did not attend a meeting so they should pack out? Yes now! The governor said the meeting was called to discuss ways of addressing mutual challenges with a view to ensuring that oil coys produce at full capacity.
Many things come to mind when one reads this
1. Can anybody ask a Nigerian Citizen to leave a state in Nigeria? Can YarAdua ask a Nigerian citizen to leave Nigeria?
2. Can a state ask a company registered in the Corporate Affairs Commission (Federal) to leave its state i.e. not to operate there? If the state did not register them can they ask them to leave?
3. Conoil operates a franchise business also hence Conoil only supplies the PMS and AGO to the marketers who are Bayelsa indigenes, so are the indigenes to leave the state cause they work for Conoil?
4. Is failure to attend a meeting a ground for the expulsion of a company paying taxes and employing citizens of a state?
The truth is this action exposes the lack of appreciation of the role business play in the development of a state.
I checked my facts Bayelsa receives N9 billion monthly from Abuja, out of this figure only N274m is VAT, Bayelsa is the state with the lowest VAT receipts in Nigeria , they get lower than the poorest state in Nigeria (Jigawa) but that a topic for another day. Bayelsa generates just N1 billion monthly from internally generated Revenue as at January 2008, as at Oct 2007 the state was generating a paltry N250 million a month!. Hence internally generated revenue in Bayelsa is just 11% of total revenues i.e. they only generate N11 of every N100 they spend.
Bearing in mind that Abuja money is dependant on the price of Oil, One would presume that the governor would seek to diversify his resource base. Keep in mind that tax Conoil pays tax which goes to Abuja and come back as 13% Derivation to the state, and also pay Corporate and Local tax and VAT. Corporate tax and VAT go to the Abuja and return, but local taxes especially Pay As You Earn and other levies and dues will stay in the state 100%.
Internationally we see how the Governors and Mayor in the US are lobbying GM to keep their plants open in states they have interest in, why? Cause Jobs are king. we see Lagos developing Badagry, Lekki and even the slums to attract investors, why? Jobs are king, we see the VP in far away as Finland seeking for foreign investors to come to Nigeria why? Jobs are King.
It is a serious breach of protocol and ungentlemanly too not to attend a meeting with your chief executive, in some private companies you can be sacked, but we cannot cut of our nose to spite our face, this action is rash and not well thought out, can’t Conoil be finned, can’t they be made to do more CSR? Ok cant the MD alone be banned? Must the whole company and staff leave also? can Sylvia ask Shell to leave the state cause they did not attend a meeting? Can he?
I am beginning to suspect this Sylvia; he was the same governor that was involved in the abduction of a Lagos based journalist that wrote critical stories about his interests. Gov you are first class, prove it, don’t just say it.
Conoil please apologize to the Governor and the state, Our Gov please take it easy ooh, Na devil cause am.
It’s our problem, we can solve it
Gov Timipreye Sylvia at the South South Economic forum held in Tinapa, 27th April 2009
Last week the democratic first world Governor Timipreye Sylvia ordered Conoil Nigeria Limited to immediately stop operations in Bayelsa State, and her staff to vacate the state without further delay!
Please what happened in 2 months? What caused this governor that practically sold his state as a heaven of first world opportunities and operating environment suddenly change to become a Chavez? What was Conoil offense sef? Well the MD of Conoil failed to attend a special meeting the first world governor held with all the oil companies in the state. That’s it? They did not attend a meeting so they should pack out? Yes now! The governor said the meeting was called to discuss ways of addressing mutual challenges with a view to ensuring that oil coys produce at full capacity.
Many things come to mind when one reads this
1. Can anybody ask a Nigerian Citizen to leave a state in Nigeria? Can YarAdua ask a Nigerian citizen to leave Nigeria?
2. Can a state ask a company registered in the Corporate Affairs Commission (Federal) to leave its state i.e. not to operate there? If the state did not register them can they ask them to leave?
3. Conoil operates a franchise business also hence Conoil only supplies the PMS and AGO to the marketers who are Bayelsa indigenes, so are the indigenes to leave the state cause they work for Conoil?
4. Is failure to attend a meeting a ground for the expulsion of a company paying taxes and employing citizens of a state?
The truth is this action exposes the lack of appreciation of the role business play in the development of a state.
I checked my facts Bayelsa receives N9 billion monthly from Abuja, out of this figure only N274m is VAT, Bayelsa is the state with the lowest VAT receipts in Nigeria , they get lower than the poorest state in Nigeria (Jigawa) but that a topic for another day. Bayelsa generates just N1 billion monthly from internally generated Revenue as at January 2008, as at Oct 2007 the state was generating a paltry N250 million a month!. Hence internally generated revenue in Bayelsa is just 11% of total revenues i.e. they only generate N11 of every N100 they spend.
Bearing in mind that Abuja money is dependant on the price of Oil, One would presume that the governor would seek to diversify his resource base. Keep in mind that tax Conoil pays tax which goes to Abuja and come back as 13% Derivation to the state, and also pay Corporate and Local tax and VAT. Corporate tax and VAT go to the Abuja and return, but local taxes especially Pay As You Earn and other levies and dues will stay in the state 100%.
Internationally we see how the Governors and Mayor in the US are lobbying GM to keep their plants open in states they have interest in, why? Cause Jobs are king. we see Lagos developing Badagry, Lekki and even the slums to attract investors, why? Jobs are king, we see the VP in far away as Finland seeking for foreign investors to come to Nigeria why? Jobs are King.
It is a serious breach of protocol and ungentlemanly too not to attend a meeting with your chief executive, in some private companies you can be sacked, but we cannot cut of our nose to spite our face, this action is rash and not well thought out, can’t Conoil be finned, can’t they be made to do more CSR? Ok cant the MD alone be banned? Must the whole company and staff leave also? can Sylvia ask Shell to leave the state cause they did not attend a meeting? Can he?
I am beginning to suspect this Sylvia; he was the same governor that was involved in the abduction of a Lagos based journalist that wrote critical stories about his interests. Gov you are first class, prove it, don’t just say it.
Conoil please apologize to the Governor and the state, Our Gov please take it easy ooh, Na devil cause am.
It’s our problem, we can solve it
Friday, June 5, 2009
of Jobs and Jobbing
What is the best job in the world?
That’s easy, it’s the President of the United States of America, you get $400,000 a year, a private 747 jet, a helicopter that flies you to your lawn, government housing which is also your office, you don’t pay phone bills and get to retire and earn million talking. Hmm but you have to worry about GM, AIG, Guantanamo, assassination etc and you pay for your own food, next!….
Ok what about a Russian Oligarch you get to have a 100 feet yacht, private jets, lots of lovely models to “escort” you everywhere you go and your own private football club hmmm temping but easy come easy go, you can get locked up by Vlad and sent to Siberia, too many bodyguards next!
Ok I have it, how about an INEC resident Electoral commissioner. You get a federal job, you do nothing till the elections, even after the elections you still do nothing as the results will be sent to you from “above” you get “gifts” from the ruling party, nobody can sack you if you “perform” and you generally get police protection etc hmmm very tempting really very tempting…… but I will pass too boring.
Ok Kalu, a footballer with Chelsea, I mean top scorer, secure shirt, $400,000 a week, NIKE sponsor etc etc surly this is the life, yeah but what if you break a leg? next
Ok I give up, you don’t want to be POTUS, you don’t want to be Abramovich, you don’t want to be Ayoka Adebayo, you don’t want to be Kaka who do you want to be?
Well before I answer let me give you the perks and terms of the job I want
1. I will earn N47 million a QUARTER, that’s $1.7 million a year to develop my village true!
2. Basic Salary - 2,026,400.50Hardship Allowance @ 50% of Basic Salary 1 242 122.70 Consistency allowance @ 200% of BS 4 968 509.00Furniture Allowance @ 300% of BS 7 452 736.50Newspaper allowance @ 15% 1 242 122.70.Wardrobe allowance @ 25% 621 061.37Recess Allowance @ 10% 248 424.55Accommodation @ 200% 4 968 509.00utilities @ 30% 828 081.83Domestic Staff @ 75% 1 863 184.12Entertainment @ 30% 828 081.83Personal Assistance @ 25% 621 061.37Vehicle Maintenance Allowance @ 75% 1 863 184.12Leave Allowance @10% 248 424.55
Severance gratuity @ 300% 7 452 736.50 (Once I get fired)
Motor Vehicle Allowance @ 400% of BS 9 936 982.00 (Every Four Years)
(all figures in Naira)
3. Company cars,
4. Housing allowance
5. I also get to travel when I want.
6. I get to bid for contracts,
7. I am required to come to work every day, but if I don’t come nobody fire me
8. Best of all I set my own salary. I get a chance every year to tell my employer how much to pay me
So I challenge you to tell me which job I better than this?
Kalu there is no job like this now; let’s forget the money part, to get this kind of job you will be worked to the bone, just like a Wall Street banker or a corporate lawyer so I still chose Abramovich.
My guy that the thing, I don’t have to do anything in this job, sometimes you just go on TV and rake that u want to probe someone, u then go around the country with the press in tow, u make a lot of noise, so they can “settle” you with a N5.2billion contract and u stay calm, do you know I have a brother in that “business” he says since 2 years ago when he got this job he has only written 5 reports, and four of those reports were for his salary.
Kalu what is this job? It’s a Distinguished Senator of the Federal Republic Of Nigeria. This is the best job in the whole world.
So are you serious that since 2007 the Federal parliament has only passed 5 bills? Just 5? Technical they have passed only 1 called The Certain Political and Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances etc Amendment Act) in 2008, the other 4 are all Appropriation bills the
1. Appropriation Act 2007
2. Niger Delta Appropriation Act 2008
3. Appropriation Amendment 2008
4. Appropriation Act 2009
As a unit Nigeria has spent N76 billion a year as salaries of the 496 federal lawmakers and they have returned just 5 bills, all covering appropriations and their salaries. So its 2 years, 5 bills, N152 billion sweet!
Kalu, I have just one more question for you, how do I become a senator?
its our problem, we will solve it
That’s easy, it’s the President of the United States of America, you get $400,000 a year, a private 747 jet, a helicopter that flies you to your lawn, government housing which is also your office, you don’t pay phone bills and get to retire and earn million talking. Hmm but you have to worry about GM, AIG, Guantanamo, assassination etc and you pay for your own food, next!….
Ok what about a Russian Oligarch you get to have a 100 feet yacht, private jets, lots of lovely models to “escort” you everywhere you go and your own private football club hmmm temping but easy come easy go, you can get locked up by Vlad and sent to Siberia, too many bodyguards next!
Ok I have it, how about an INEC resident Electoral commissioner. You get a federal job, you do nothing till the elections, even after the elections you still do nothing as the results will be sent to you from “above” you get “gifts” from the ruling party, nobody can sack you if you “perform” and you generally get police protection etc hmmm very tempting really very tempting…… but I will pass too boring.
Ok Kalu, a footballer with Chelsea, I mean top scorer, secure shirt, $400,000 a week, NIKE sponsor etc etc surly this is the life, yeah but what if you break a leg? next
Ok I give up, you don’t want to be POTUS, you don’t want to be Abramovich, you don’t want to be Ayoka Adebayo, you don’t want to be Kaka who do you want to be?
Well before I answer let me give you the perks and terms of the job I want
1. I will earn N47 million a QUARTER, that’s $1.7 million a year to develop my village true!
2. Basic Salary - 2,026,400.50Hardship Allowance @ 50% of Basic Salary 1 242 122.70 Consistency allowance @ 200% of BS 4 968 509.00Furniture Allowance @ 300% of BS 7 452 736.50Newspaper allowance @ 15% 1 242 122.70.Wardrobe allowance @ 25% 621 061.37Recess Allowance @ 10% 248 424.55Accommodation @ 200% 4 968 509.00utilities @ 30% 828 081.83Domestic Staff @ 75% 1 863 184.12Entertainment @ 30% 828 081.83Personal Assistance @ 25% 621 061.37Vehicle Maintenance Allowance @ 75% 1 863 184.12Leave Allowance @10% 248 424.55
Severance gratuity @ 300% 7 452 736.50 (Once I get fired)
Motor Vehicle Allowance @ 400% of BS 9 936 982.00 (Every Four Years)
(all figures in Naira)
3. Company cars,
4. Housing allowance
5. I also get to travel when I want.
6. I get to bid for contracts,
7. I am required to come to work every day, but if I don’t come nobody fire me
8. Best of all I set my own salary. I get a chance every year to tell my employer how much to pay me
So I challenge you to tell me which job I better than this?
Kalu there is no job like this now; let’s forget the money part, to get this kind of job you will be worked to the bone, just like a Wall Street banker or a corporate lawyer so I still chose Abramovich.
My guy that the thing, I don’t have to do anything in this job, sometimes you just go on TV and rake that u want to probe someone, u then go around the country with the press in tow, u make a lot of noise, so they can “settle” you with a N5.2billion contract and u stay calm, do you know I have a brother in that “business” he says since 2 years ago when he got this job he has only written 5 reports, and four of those reports were for his salary.
Kalu what is this job? It’s a Distinguished Senator of the Federal Republic Of Nigeria. This is the best job in the whole world.
So are you serious that since 2007 the Federal parliament has only passed 5 bills? Just 5? Technical they have passed only 1 called The Certain Political and Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances etc Amendment Act) in 2008, the other 4 are all Appropriation bills the
1. Appropriation Act 2007
2. Niger Delta Appropriation Act 2008
3. Appropriation Amendment 2008
4. Appropriation Act 2009
As a unit Nigeria has spent N76 billion a year as salaries of the 496 federal lawmakers and they have returned just 5 bills, all covering appropriations and their salaries. So its 2 years, 5 bills, N152 billion sweet!
Kalu, I have just one more question for you, how do I become a senator?
its our problem, we will solve it
Sunday, May 17, 2009
of endorsements and branding
There is this theory of endorsement, simply put if someone we admire, love or like says something or advocates something, we tend to also like or advocate the same view. Ie Dbanj likes coke, maybe we will like coke if Obama likes Coke, and definitely we would love coke. .
They also say a picture speaks a thousand words, true, that’s why we love pictures at wedding, and graduations. That’s why every major event has a Photo Op, e.g. the moon landing, the Olympic games the Arab Israeli peace signing ceremony on the white house lawn. How much would a picture of you and Dbanj cost? What of you and Obama? Priceless abi?
A state visit, specifically a state visit by the US president is the grand slam of endorsements. You get the US president, the most powerful man in the world to say, “this is my friend in whom I am well pleased”, it’s just the sort of thing Nigeria needs now as we are rebranding.
So why is Obama going to Ghana, yes Accra and not Abuja for his first state visit to Black Africa? Simple, Nigeria as a county is now an embarrassment to the black race. Kalu that is harsh, an embarrassment? The giant of Africa an embarrassment? The largest democracy in black Africa? The nation that brought down Apartheid in South Africa? The Nation that resorted peace to Liberia and Sierra Leone? the largest oil producer in Africa? Kalu how are we an embarrassment? Well just look at the headlines recently allow me;
1. INEC fumbles an election in a tiny state in a tiny ward; this is with the Inspector General of Police in attendance. Police then arrest INEC official over N250 million bribe scandal, (alleged) the REC resigns and retakes her appointment, a political party accused of “donating” money to NYSC corpers who conducted the election (alleged).
2. The Senate committee of power is arrested for fraud in rural electrification programme; this is the committee investigating the $16 (or$6b) NIPP scandal. 158 contracts awarded in one day and N5.2billion paid in one day! (alleged)
3. The NDIC MD is accused of defrauding a failed bank, yes the NDIC entrusted with protecting banks is caught in a failed bank scandal involving Fortune Bank (alleged).
4. Fuel lines
5. Halliburton Scandal
6. Niger Delta Militancy
If you were Obama would you come to Nigeria Now?
Make no mistake America is sending us a message. At the same time Ribadu has been invited to speak to the US congressional committee on financial services on the devastating effects of corruption. The man the administration has declared wanted is invited to speak to the US congress; go figure. I read that the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Senate Chairman on Foreign affairs went to the US to book an appointment to see Yaradua; they did not even get to see Mrs. Clinton.
Nigeria has certainly slid down in influence n Africa. Once Nigeria supported the MPLA in Angola against the UNITA of the US, and MPLA won! Now we can’t even release our hostages held by Somalia prates for almost two years now. We were snubbed for the G20, can’t get a Nigerian elected as MD to the African Development Bank ADB. On the business side Nestle is moving their regional head office to Ghana, Michelin and Dunlop have pulled out, even the super eagles are no longer number 1 in Africa.
We need to do something; we have to regain our Mojo, our confidence, our oomph. It has to start with basic things on the ground, simple things like clearing garbage from the streets, enforcing traffic rules, can we be bold as to ask for power ie light? We have to stop looking for foreign investors in London, and Finland etc and come home and fix PHCN. There is a lot of work to do, and you can only rebrand, when there is actually is a brand. If I said NIGERIA, what single word would come to our mind?
In the end it’s our problem and we can fix it
They also say a picture speaks a thousand words, true, that’s why we love pictures at wedding, and graduations. That’s why every major event has a Photo Op, e.g. the moon landing, the Olympic games the Arab Israeli peace signing ceremony on the white house lawn. How much would a picture of you and Dbanj cost? What of you and Obama? Priceless abi?
A state visit, specifically a state visit by the US president is the grand slam of endorsements. You get the US president, the most powerful man in the world to say, “this is my friend in whom I am well pleased”, it’s just the sort of thing Nigeria needs now as we are rebranding.
So why is Obama going to Ghana, yes Accra and not Abuja for his first state visit to Black Africa? Simple, Nigeria as a county is now an embarrassment to the black race. Kalu that is harsh, an embarrassment? The giant of Africa an embarrassment? The largest democracy in black Africa? The nation that brought down Apartheid in South Africa? The Nation that resorted peace to Liberia and Sierra Leone? the largest oil producer in Africa? Kalu how are we an embarrassment? Well just look at the headlines recently allow me;
1. INEC fumbles an election in a tiny state in a tiny ward; this is with the Inspector General of Police in attendance. Police then arrest INEC official over N250 million bribe scandal, (alleged) the REC resigns and retakes her appointment, a political party accused of “donating” money to NYSC corpers who conducted the election (alleged).
2. The Senate committee of power is arrested for fraud in rural electrification programme; this is the committee investigating the $16 (or$6b) NIPP scandal. 158 contracts awarded in one day and N5.2billion paid in one day! (alleged)
3. The NDIC MD is accused of defrauding a failed bank, yes the NDIC entrusted with protecting banks is caught in a failed bank scandal involving Fortune Bank (alleged).
4. Fuel lines
5. Halliburton Scandal
6. Niger Delta Militancy
If you were Obama would you come to Nigeria Now?
Make no mistake America is sending us a message. At the same time Ribadu has been invited to speak to the US congressional committee on financial services on the devastating effects of corruption. The man the administration has declared wanted is invited to speak to the US congress; go figure. I read that the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Senate Chairman on Foreign affairs went to the US to book an appointment to see Yaradua; they did not even get to see Mrs. Clinton.
Nigeria has certainly slid down in influence n Africa. Once Nigeria supported the MPLA in Angola against the UNITA of the US, and MPLA won! Now we can’t even release our hostages held by Somalia prates for almost two years now. We were snubbed for the G20, can’t get a Nigerian elected as MD to the African Development Bank ADB. On the business side Nestle is moving their regional head office to Ghana, Michelin and Dunlop have pulled out, even the super eagles are no longer number 1 in Africa.
We need to do something; we have to regain our Mojo, our confidence, our oomph. It has to start with basic things on the ground, simple things like clearing garbage from the streets, enforcing traffic rules, can we be bold as to ask for power ie light? We have to stop looking for foreign investors in London, and Finland etc and come home and fix PHCN. There is a lot of work to do, and you can only rebrand, when there is actually is a brand. If I said NIGERIA, what single word would come to our mind?
In the end it’s our problem and we can fix it
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
of ikoyi and
In the papers today “the lost tribe of Taraba” was the editorial. The story says that a Christian missionary group, the Mission Light House Wukari, “discovered” a community of mountain dwelling people of Jibu. It is said that their condition is worse than the Koma people, they were completely naked, and drank water from a well that their animal drank from. They were “primitive” no less. hmmmm
Last year I had this expat friend whose son, Tom decided to come to Nigeria for a week, he came to explore and had an open mind. So I was detailed, (since we were of the same age) to take him around town. I went to pick up Tom at the house in Lekki. Nice enough chap, he quickly asked me, “where is the local health centre”? I need to get anti malaria shot Tom, I replied “we have none in Lekki, there are private clinics though”, No local clinics? "Well how do the guys who can’t afford private health care survive"? Tom asked, Well I replied “they pray, visit their herbalist or drink Agbo. Wow no health care!
I took him to Silverbird,( I wanted to show off with our mall). On the road were lots of potholes so Tom asked “why so many potholes? “Don’t the guys in this borough pay their taxes”?, suppressing a snigger I replied “Tom, first of; Nigerians don’t pay taxes, second if they even paid the tax, why should the LGA chairman fix a road? He needs to buy his L3 Landover first, then accumulate his re-election war chest, then after that maybe fill a few potholes” wow potholes!
Just as we were about to turn into Silverbird, an Okada rider slammed into our car, the “passenger” was thrown up into the air, “quick” Tom cried, “call 911, tall them to send an ambulance”. Where do I start? “Tom, first there is no 911 call centre, even if there was, I have no credit” , “ok” tom said, “where are the phone booths, there is usually a free emergency number”, sorry no public phone booths. Wow, no phone booths, no 911 emergency!
In the mall Tom said, “Kalu I need to get some D Banji tunes, where is the Apple media store”? Tom, we have no ITunes for Nigeria? Wow no ITunes! So we left Silverbird and I took him to go bowling (yes we have one) suddenly the lights went off, Tom dove under the desk, “Kalu quick, it’s an earthquake, the powers gone”. Dear me, “Tom see in Nigeria, power does tend to go out from time to time”, wow no constant power! Leaving the bowling alley we saw some mai ruwa (Hausa water sales men) pushing 25 liter jerry cans on a cart in Ikoyi. What’s that? Tom asked “well Tom, that water”, “for what?” he asked, Well the resident in Ikoyi buy it, but hang on Kalu Ikoyi is a high brow area yeah, you mean they don’t have running water in their homes? Yep. Wow no running water!
Tom peeped out and saw a sign saying “don’t urinate or defecate here, by Order” “Kalu he asked, is this like candid camera? would people actually “go” on a bridge? Where are the public toilets? Cant they just pull up at a gas station and go?” Well tom, actually there are public toilets for now”, wow no public toilets!
We then got stuck in traffic jam; “Kalu” Tom asked why are those buses on our lane? Tom I sad they are doing “one way” “so where are the traffic cops”? He asked, well they are over there collecting N20 form the okada guys”, “collecting bribes!” tom exclaimed? “Aren’t they scared the CCTV will catch them doing that”? Well there is no CCTV. Wow no Traffic Cops, no CCTV! The traffic jam was too bad, so Tom has a brainwave, “Kalu, park the car, then let’s get on the subway”, emm, “Tom there is no subway”, wow no subway!
I took Tom home, it was pretty late, so the OPC boys (security men) stopped us, Tom nearly has a hearth attack,” kalu they have machetes, hide”, “Tom theses are our security men”, “your security men?” Tom screamed “where are the police”? Well half are in Abuja with the politicians the other half are in Ekiti, I replied. Wow no police men doing beats.
I left tom feeling good about myself, we are developing now, I mean Lagos was wearing a new look, roads have been fixed, street and traffic light working, even BRT, we try jare, Eko o ni baje.Tom left the next day, last month I got a letter from him, reads as below
Dear Kalu,
I cannot thank you enough for being a tour guide to a helpless foreigner like myself. You know I told you I was a student, well I was studying anthropology, and I could not get material to write my thesis till I got to Nigeria.
My classmates went to Egypt to see the pyramids, other went to Rome to see the Coliseum, other to China to see the Great Wall, but providence brought me to Lagos, you see I “discovered” something new and it’s all because of you.
I discover a new type of humans, they have quite a lot of resources, but they can survive without, health care in their local governments, bad roads, no power, and no public transportation, no running water in their homes, no public toilets, no 911 emergency responder, no traffic police, no CCTV, they “go” on the streets without a care, hire private armies for security, worse of all, they have no ITunes. When I told my professor such a people existed he doubted at first but I showed him pictures. He was floored he, said it is impossible for people to live so “primitive”. My school has given me a junior fellowship, next month I am back in Nigeria to further study these unique people, I even hear there are better cities to study than Lagos, like Ekiti, Aba and Jigawa. I am so excited.
If I do this right, I could be in for a job with the Discovery Channel, wish me luck. I remain in your debt.
Your friend Tom
It’s our problem, we can fix it
Kalu
Last year I had this expat friend whose son, Tom decided to come to Nigeria for a week, he came to explore and had an open mind. So I was detailed, (since we were of the same age) to take him around town. I went to pick up Tom at the house in Lekki. Nice enough chap, he quickly asked me, “where is the local health centre”? I need to get anti malaria shot Tom, I replied “we have none in Lekki, there are private clinics though”, No local clinics? "Well how do the guys who can’t afford private health care survive"? Tom asked, Well I replied “they pray, visit their herbalist or drink Agbo. Wow no health care!
I took him to Silverbird,( I wanted to show off with our mall). On the road were lots of potholes so Tom asked “why so many potholes? “Don’t the guys in this borough pay their taxes”?, suppressing a snigger I replied “Tom, first of; Nigerians don’t pay taxes, second if they even paid the tax, why should the LGA chairman fix a road? He needs to buy his L3 Landover first, then accumulate his re-election war chest, then after that maybe fill a few potholes” wow potholes!
Just as we were about to turn into Silverbird, an Okada rider slammed into our car, the “passenger” was thrown up into the air, “quick” Tom cried, “call 911, tall them to send an ambulance”. Where do I start? “Tom, first there is no 911 call centre, even if there was, I have no credit” , “ok” tom said, “where are the phone booths, there is usually a free emergency number”, sorry no public phone booths. Wow, no phone booths, no 911 emergency!
In the mall Tom said, “Kalu I need to get some D Banji tunes, where is the Apple media store”? Tom, we have no ITunes for Nigeria? Wow no ITunes! So we left Silverbird and I took him to go bowling (yes we have one) suddenly the lights went off, Tom dove under the desk, “Kalu quick, it’s an earthquake, the powers gone”. Dear me, “Tom see in Nigeria, power does tend to go out from time to time”, wow no constant power! Leaving the bowling alley we saw some mai ruwa (Hausa water sales men) pushing 25 liter jerry cans on a cart in Ikoyi. What’s that? Tom asked “well Tom, that water”, “for what?” he asked, Well the resident in Ikoyi buy it, but hang on Kalu Ikoyi is a high brow area yeah, you mean they don’t have running water in their homes? Yep. Wow no running water!
Tom peeped out and saw a sign saying “don’t urinate or defecate here, by Order” “Kalu he asked, is this like candid camera? would people actually “go” on a bridge? Where are the public toilets? Cant they just pull up at a gas station and go?” Well tom, actually there are public toilets for now”, wow no public toilets!
We then got stuck in traffic jam; “Kalu” Tom asked why are those buses on our lane? Tom I sad they are doing “one way” “so where are the traffic cops”? He asked, well they are over there collecting N20 form the okada guys”, “collecting bribes!” tom exclaimed? “Aren’t they scared the CCTV will catch them doing that”? Well there is no CCTV. Wow no Traffic Cops, no CCTV! The traffic jam was too bad, so Tom has a brainwave, “Kalu, park the car, then let’s get on the subway”, emm, “Tom there is no subway”, wow no subway!
I took Tom home, it was pretty late, so the OPC boys (security men) stopped us, Tom nearly has a hearth attack,” kalu they have machetes, hide”, “Tom theses are our security men”, “your security men?” Tom screamed “where are the police”? Well half are in Abuja with the politicians the other half are in Ekiti, I replied. Wow no police men doing beats.
I left tom feeling good about myself, we are developing now, I mean Lagos was wearing a new look, roads have been fixed, street and traffic light working, even BRT, we try jare, Eko o ni baje.Tom left the next day, last month I got a letter from him, reads as below
Dear Kalu,
I cannot thank you enough for being a tour guide to a helpless foreigner like myself. You know I told you I was a student, well I was studying anthropology, and I could not get material to write my thesis till I got to Nigeria.
My classmates went to Egypt to see the pyramids, other went to Rome to see the Coliseum, other to China to see the Great Wall, but providence brought me to Lagos, you see I “discovered” something new and it’s all because of you.
I discover a new type of humans, they have quite a lot of resources, but they can survive without, health care in their local governments, bad roads, no power, and no public transportation, no running water in their homes, no public toilets, no 911 emergency responder, no traffic police, no CCTV, they “go” on the streets without a care, hire private armies for security, worse of all, they have no ITunes. When I told my professor such a people existed he doubted at first but I showed him pictures. He was floored he, said it is impossible for people to live so “primitive”. My school has given me a junior fellowship, next month I am back in Nigeria to further study these unique people, I even hear there are better cities to study than Lagos, like Ekiti, Aba and Jigawa. I am so excited.
If I do this right, I could be in for a job with the Discovery Channel, wish me luck. I remain in your debt.
Your friend Tom
It’s our problem, we can fix it
Kalu
of dreams and visions
“Your old men shall dream dreams; your young men shall see visions”
There is this great story I read, a boy was sold in his youth into slavery, he became a “house boy” to a General, was accused wrongly of rape, sent to Kirikiri, and there he was wasting away till one day, he was summoned by the SSS to see the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.
The C in C told him, “young Man, I had a dream yesterday, all my Babalawo’s and advisers cannot interpret it, they say you have a gift of dream interpretation” so the King told the young man his dream, and the young man interpreted “Oga, you will have 7 years of Oil boom, and then 7 year of global recession” wow! The King said, “What do we do?” “Well the young man replied “appoint a Minster who will save just a fifth of all the earnings during the boom years, so that when the recession comes, we will not have a depression”. The C-in-C was so impressed he gave the young man the job of the minister, “go and perform” he told the young man. The young man went created an excess crude account and saved, and soon the nation had $65 billion in foreign reserves.
After the end of the seven years the world faced a recession, everyone was broke, only the nation had cash, so they were invited to G8, g20 even G2 so that they could be cajoled to invest, the Nation became top dog, the nation invested and bought up quality assets all over the world, became a force to be reckoned with, and her people prospered. This is a true story.
Let me ask a question what was harder to do? Interpret the dream or implement it?
What is a dream? What is a vision? Forget the consultant definition, a dream is a failed vision, a vision is a dream that came to pass. Walt Disney had a dream to “make people happy”; today we say he had a great vision. The British Empire had a vision that “the sun would never set on their empire”, today, we call it a dream. Google had a dream, “to be the perfect search company”, today we say they had great vision, Enron had a vision to “be the world leading company” (really) today we say it was a dream.
In Nigeria’s short history we have had visions and dreams, “food and Housing for all by the year 2000” was a pipe dream, and Abuja FCT was a good vision.
Ok vision 20-20. . Was it harder to get this dream or implement It.?
Lets understand the 20-20 dream, it is to be among the 20 biggest economies by 2020. To measure how big an economy is, you measure the GDP. GDP means the output of the country ie the amount of crops, cars, pure water, generators, hotels, and beer, maize, bread produced in the country, a larger GDP means a larger economy. Vision 20-20 is brilliant; it’s simple, sexy, and easy to understand and also aspirational. But Nigeria is excellent at getting dreams, we dreamt DFRII, MAMSER, WAI, Food for all by year 2000, NEEDS, SAP, SMEIS, OFN, NAPEP, Good People, Good Nation etc so getting a dream in Nigeria is easy. What about implementation?
First a digression, Why 2020? Why 20? Why target GDP growth? Why not to have the 20 best universities by 2020? Why not to produce the best 20 cash crops by 2020 (everything can grow in Nigeria, we have Deserts, Savannah, Lush forests and swamp that’s why IITA is in Nigeria) why not have to biggest 20 manufactures by 2030? why not the best primary health care by 2020?
Ok visions are built on the strengths, resources and even geography of the people. You cannot be in Saudi Arabia and dream to build the world largest alcoholic brewery, the innate condition of your nations people skill, culture, geography and resources will not allow that. Hence we have the theory of comparative advantage by David Ricardo. In simple term David postulated that you discover what you have ie your strengths and build on that to beat the world,
Ok Kalu what does Nigeria have? What is our competitive advantage? Well population. You see when people say Nigeria is the “Giant of Africa”, they don’t mean we have the largest land mass, nor the richest resources, nor the best roads, nor the best power generation station nor the best Army nor the best Hotels nor the best football team, they mean literally we are plenty, 150 million English speakers, (ok broken English speakers).
But the govt has not invested massively in the very thing that will take us to 20-20 which is the people, our strength. We are investing in persons (Senators and Governors) but not people. Kalu how do you invest in People? Well by educating them, by giving them “light” so their kids sleep and not kill mosquitoes all night, so the man can earn a living and send the kids to school, you give them health so they live above 42 years (WHO figures) you give them housing so they can raise a family, you make the judiciary functional so that 90% of the population is jail are not awaiting trial (yes that a fact) then most importantly you give them the power to elect their leaders then stand back and see what happens.
Lets me put it this way, if you were in Kindergarten and you were told by your parents that you have to graduate in 11 years with a PHD in Particle Physics impossible? Here’s the catch, you will have no new books, you will have the same teachers, and you will stay in the same classroom, impossible?
Well to get your doctorate you need new teachers, new books, new classrooms new everything. That means we need new roads, new power stations, new courts of laws, new laws on labour and intellectual property rights, new laws on land use Act, Social security etc So Vision 2020, requires not just massive investment, but investment to empower people who will work in the factories, build the roads, treat the populace, police the populace, educate the populace, maintain the power plants etc
Let me list below the top 20 GDP, I want some one to tell me which country we will replace in 11 years
1. USA
2. JAPAN
3. CHINA
4. GERMANY
5. FRANCE
6. SPAIN
7. UK
8. ITALY
9. CANADA
10. BRAZIL
11. RUSSIA
12. INDIA
13. SOUTHKOREA
14. MEXICO
15. SWEDEN
16. AUSTRALIA
17. NETHERLANDS
18. TURKEY
19. BELGIUM
20. INDONESIA
Saudi Arabia is 23 (with all their oil ooh), Nigeria is 40
Now Indonesia is the nearest target (assuming they stand still).Our GDP is $338 billion Indonesia is $915 billion, so we have to grow the entire economy by 171 times (e.g. 171 new stock exchanges with the same listings as the present one in Lagos), also consider Indonesia produces 142 billion Kwh of electricity, Nigeria produces 22 billion kwh, so we have to build 545 new PHCN’s! the bulk of Indonesia workers are in Services and Manufacturing the bulk of Nigeria people are in Agriculture ie substience farming, Indonesia has over 600 airporte, we have just over 60. , Indnesia has 6,458 km of rail track, we have 3, 505 (we have no rail link from east to west) Indonesia has 391,000 km of roads we have 193,000 pls stop kalu.
So what the government is saying is that we will jump 20 places by growing our entire economy 171 times and knock off one of the countries on this list abi? Can it be done? the real question is who will do it or implement it? Who will focus on Education, Health, Security, Power Generation, Rule of Law, infrastructure development, Intellectual Property protection etc?
In 11 years we will know if 2020 was a dream or a vision.
It’s our problem we can fix it.
Kalu
There is this great story I read, a boy was sold in his youth into slavery, he became a “house boy” to a General, was accused wrongly of rape, sent to Kirikiri, and there he was wasting away till one day, he was summoned by the SSS to see the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.
The C in C told him, “young Man, I had a dream yesterday, all my Babalawo’s and advisers cannot interpret it, they say you have a gift of dream interpretation” so the King told the young man his dream, and the young man interpreted “Oga, you will have 7 years of Oil boom, and then 7 year of global recession” wow! The King said, “What do we do?” “Well the young man replied “appoint a Minster who will save just a fifth of all the earnings during the boom years, so that when the recession comes, we will not have a depression”. The C-in-C was so impressed he gave the young man the job of the minister, “go and perform” he told the young man. The young man went created an excess crude account and saved, and soon the nation had $65 billion in foreign reserves.
After the end of the seven years the world faced a recession, everyone was broke, only the nation had cash, so they were invited to G8, g20 even G2 so that they could be cajoled to invest, the Nation became top dog, the nation invested and bought up quality assets all over the world, became a force to be reckoned with, and her people prospered. This is a true story.
Let me ask a question what was harder to do? Interpret the dream or implement it?
What is a dream? What is a vision? Forget the consultant definition, a dream is a failed vision, a vision is a dream that came to pass. Walt Disney had a dream to “make people happy”; today we say he had a great vision. The British Empire had a vision that “the sun would never set on their empire”, today, we call it a dream. Google had a dream, “to be the perfect search company”, today we say they had great vision, Enron had a vision to “be the world leading company” (really) today we say it was a dream.
In Nigeria’s short history we have had visions and dreams, “food and Housing for all by the year 2000” was a pipe dream, and Abuja FCT was a good vision.
Ok vision 20-20. . Was it harder to get this dream or implement It.?
Lets understand the 20-20 dream, it is to be among the 20 biggest economies by 2020. To measure how big an economy is, you measure the GDP. GDP means the output of the country ie the amount of crops, cars, pure water, generators, hotels, and beer, maize, bread produced in the country, a larger GDP means a larger economy. Vision 20-20 is brilliant; it’s simple, sexy, and easy to understand and also aspirational. But Nigeria is excellent at getting dreams, we dreamt DFRII, MAMSER, WAI, Food for all by year 2000, NEEDS, SAP, SMEIS, OFN, NAPEP, Good People, Good Nation etc so getting a dream in Nigeria is easy. What about implementation?
First a digression, Why 2020? Why 20? Why target GDP growth? Why not to have the 20 best universities by 2020? Why not to produce the best 20 cash crops by 2020 (everything can grow in Nigeria, we have Deserts, Savannah, Lush forests and swamp that’s why IITA is in Nigeria) why not have to biggest 20 manufactures by 2030? why not the best primary health care by 2020?
Ok visions are built on the strengths, resources and even geography of the people. You cannot be in Saudi Arabia and dream to build the world largest alcoholic brewery, the innate condition of your nations people skill, culture, geography and resources will not allow that. Hence we have the theory of comparative advantage by David Ricardo. In simple term David postulated that you discover what you have ie your strengths and build on that to beat the world,
Ok Kalu what does Nigeria have? What is our competitive advantage? Well population. You see when people say Nigeria is the “Giant of Africa”, they don’t mean we have the largest land mass, nor the richest resources, nor the best roads, nor the best power generation station nor the best Army nor the best Hotels nor the best football team, they mean literally we are plenty, 150 million English speakers, (ok broken English speakers).
But the govt has not invested massively in the very thing that will take us to 20-20 which is the people, our strength. We are investing in persons (Senators and Governors) but not people. Kalu how do you invest in People? Well by educating them, by giving them “light” so their kids sleep and not kill mosquitoes all night, so the man can earn a living and send the kids to school, you give them health so they live above 42 years (WHO figures) you give them housing so they can raise a family, you make the judiciary functional so that 90% of the population is jail are not awaiting trial (yes that a fact) then most importantly you give them the power to elect their leaders then stand back and see what happens.
Lets me put it this way, if you were in Kindergarten and you were told by your parents that you have to graduate in 11 years with a PHD in Particle Physics impossible? Here’s the catch, you will have no new books, you will have the same teachers, and you will stay in the same classroom, impossible?
Well to get your doctorate you need new teachers, new books, new classrooms new everything. That means we need new roads, new power stations, new courts of laws, new laws on labour and intellectual property rights, new laws on land use Act, Social security etc So Vision 2020, requires not just massive investment, but investment to empower people who will work in the factories, build the roads, treat the populace, police the populace, educate the populace, maintain the power plants etc
Let me list below the top 20 GDP, I want some one to tell me which country we will replace in 11 years
1. USA
2. JAPAN
3. CHINA
4. GERMANY
5. FRANCE
6. SPAIN
7. UK
8. ITALY
9. CANADA
10. BRAZIL
11. RUSSIA
12. INDIA
13. SOUTHKOREA
14. MEXICO
15. SWEDEN
16. AUSTRALIA
17. NETHERLANDS
18. TURKEY
19. BELGIUM
20. INDONESIA
Saudi Arabia is 23 (with all their oil ooh), Nigeria is 40
Now Indonesia is the nearest target (assuming they stand still).Our GDP is $338 billion Indonesia is $915 billion, so we have to grow the entire economy by 171 times (e.g. 171 new stock exchanges with the same listings as the present one in Lagos), also consider Indonesia produces 142 billion Kwh of electricity, Nigeria produces 22 billion kwh, so we have to build 545 new PHCN’s! the bulk of Indonesia workers are in Services and Manufacturing the bulk of Nigeria people are in Agriculture ie substience farming, Indonesia has over 600 airporte, we have just over 60. , Indnesia has 6,458 km of rail track, we have 3, 505 (we have no rail link from east to west) Indonesia has 391,000 km of roads we have 193,000 pls stop kalu.
So what the government is saying is that we will jump 20 places by growing our entire economy 171 times and knock off one of the countries on this list abi? Can it be done? the real question is who will do it or implement it? Who will focus on Education, Health, Security, Power Generation, Rule of Law, infrastructure development, Intellectual Property protection etc?
In 11 years we will know if 2020 was a dream or a vision.
It’s our problem we can fix it.
Kalu
Friday, April 24, 2009
of VAT and Socialism
I took a look at the just released Nigerian Revenue allocation to all theirs of Govt for the Month of February 2009 and shared in March 2009.
Let’s pick two states Delta and Jigawa, Delta is one Nigeria richest states (Lagos is the richest), Jigawa is Nigeria poorest state[i]. Now what is being shared is statutory allocation (oil money) plus VAT, if we agree that oil money is for the whole of Nigeria, (which it is) then lets look at VAT. Delta got N366 as VAT which is internally generated income, while Jigawa which generates nothing got N374m in VAT. (Lagos got N2.6billion, but they generate 65% of VAT Collection and got 13% of allocation).
Now my concern is this, how do we justify that Jigawa gets more VAT than Delta? or are the CBN figures wrong? This is not about resource control ooh, VAT is revenue collected by states on value added by the merchants in that state on transactions. Hence if Delta puts street lights (which it did), a shop owner can work at night, charge more VAT which he remits to the VAT federal office, who is then supposed to give it back to Delta state, as reward for adding value to that transaction. If Lagos also build roads it attracts business men who stay in hotels, eat food and buy groceries in Lagos, thus Lagos generates VAT as reward for building roads.
Now this is not to accuse Jigawa of not building roads, nor of being lazy, Jigawa state did not write the VAT bill. But if we keep on rewarding states for doing nothing, then they will continue to do nothing.
Already if you create a state today, you are simply taking money away from viable states. Same as VAT. If you look at the papers you see all sort of pressure groups calling for state creation be it Apa, Ijebu, Anioma, Okija states etc. All this request will do is simply drain money away from Lagos, Delta, Kano and Rivers and send to the other 32 who cannot pay salaries to teachers. We have to reward good managers and at least discourage wastage.
We can have a formula which ties your VAT receipts as a function of your own Internally generated Revenue, Hence Jigawa will have a provisional allocation of N374 m, but can only get 100% of that amount if the state internally generates 25% of their expenditure budget. That way the governor cannot just get VAT and spend, but he has to make the state viable enough to generate revenue to qualify to receive a VAT grant from the centre.
Quite frankly if all a governor has to do is to spend then any idiot can do that, the governors are called Chief Executive of their states because they are supposed to manage the resources and people of their states in a manner reflective of the trust placed on them. If we go on like this then we will not only have a balkanization of the states, but a balkanization of the resources of the federation
There are some other data there that is quite interesting,
1. all state have foreign borrowing; Oyo in particular has a total foreign debt deduction of N142m ( wetin dem buy), Yobe has N4m
2. Rivers gets N12 billion a month extra as excess crude! N12billion! Why does PH look like Kabul?
3. Kano has 44 LGA, Lagos has 20 hmmmm
4. Imo state is paying N358m every month as interest to banks for loans collected! That’s more than they get from VAT (negative VAT)
5. Ekiti has the lowest Gross Statutory allocation in Nigeria; Education does not pay.
6. Richest Local government in Nigeria is Alimosho in Lagos state, they get N258m a month. Outside Lagos (and Abuja) the richest LGA is Bauchi LGA which gets 117m a month, more than PH LGA which gets 106m.
7. Poorest LGA is in Osun, called EGBEDORE just a paltry N46M a month! Sack your senator guys.
It’s our problem, we can fix it
Kalu
Let’s pick two states Delta and Jigawa, Delta is one Nigeria richest states (Lagos is the richest), Jigawa is Nigeria poorest state[i]. Now what is being shared is statutory allocation (oil money) plus VAT, if we agree that oil money is for the whole of Nigeria, (which it is) then lets look at VAT. Delta got N366 as VAT which is internally generated income, while Jigawa which generates nothing got N374m in VAT. (Lagos got N2.6billion, but they generate 65% of VAT Collection and got 13% of allocation).
Now my concern is this, how do we justify that Jigawa gets more VAT than Delta? or are the CBN figures wrong? This is not about resource control ooh, VAT is revenue collected by states on value added by the merchants in that state on transactions. Hence if Delta puts street lights (which it did), a shop owner can work at night, charge more VAT which he remits to the VAT federal office, who is then supposed to give it back to Delta state, as reward for adding value to that transaction. If Lagos also build roads it attracts business men who stay in hotels, eat food and buy groceries in Lagos, thus Lagos generates VAT as reward for building roads.
Now this is not to accuse Jigawa of not building roads, nor of being lazy, Jigawa state did not write the VAT bill. But if we keep on rewarding states for doing nothing, then they will continue to do nothing.
Already if you create a state today, you are simply taking money away from viable states. Same as VAT. If you look at the papers you see all sort of pressure groups calling for state creation be it Apa, Ijebu, Anioma, Okija states etc. All this request will do is simply drain money away from Lagos, Delta, Kano and Rivers and send to the other 32 who cannot pay salaries to teachers. We have to reward good managers and at least discourage wastage.
We can have a formula which ties your VAT receipts as a function of your own Internally generated Revenue, Hence Jigawa will have a provisional allocation of N374 m, but can only get 100% of that amount if the state internally generates 25% of their expenditure budget. That way the governor cannot just get VAT and spend, but he has to make the state viable enough to generate revenue to qualify to receive a VAT grant from the centre.
Quite frankly if all a governor has to do is to spend then any idiot can do that, the governors are called Chief Executive of their states because they are supposed to manage the resources and people of their states in a manner reflective of the trust placed on them. If we go on like this then we will not only have a balkanization of the states, but a balkanization of the resources of the federation
There are some other data there that is quite interesting,
1. all state have foreign borrowing; Oyo in particular has a total foreign debt deduction of N142m ( wetin dem buy), Yobe has N4m
2. Rivers gets N12 billion a month extra as excess crude! N12billion! Why does PH look like Kabul?
3. Kano has 44 LGA, Lagos has 20 hmmmm
4. Imo state is paying N358m every month as interest to banks for loans collected! That’s more than they get from VAT (negative VAT)
5. Ekiti has the lowest Gross Statutory allocation in Nigeria; Education does not pay.
6. Richest Local government in Nigeria is Alimosho in Lagos state, they get N258m a month. Outside Lagos (and Abuja) the richest LGA is Bauchi LGA which gets 117m a month, more than PH LGA which gets 106m.
7. Poorest LGA is in Osun, called EGBEDORE just a paltry N46M a month! Sack your senator guys.
It’s our problem, we can fix it
Kalu
Saturday, April 4, 2009
of visas and terrorists
“Pastor, this man was unemployed , he prayed and he got a job in Chevron (applause), Pastor this man had AIDS but he prayed, and he got well (louder applause), Pastor this man went to the US embassy for a visa and he got a 6 month single entry visa. (Standing ovation, loud clapping and applause, whelps of joy)”
Obama said that it was the treatment of detainees in Guantanamo Bay that was breeding terrorist across the world, I disagree, and it’s the treatment of visa applications that breeds terror.There is a 98% chance that if you apply for a US Visa you will be denied. Why I don’t know? Even if you got the visa, you cannot say why they gave you. It’s not a lottery, it’s a lottery where if you win, you then go for an interview to see if you are worthy to collect your winning check.
The need for a US visa has created an economy on its own. First there are the facilitators , ie those that offer for a fee to assist you in getting a visa, this includes the guys that will “buy “ up all the available online appointment so you have to pay them to get an appointment, the visa agents, who escort you to the door of the embassy, and the special prayer houses where “dry” fasting is done to sway the spirit of the Oyinbos to smile favorable on the soul of the poor Nigerian applicant.
Then there are the providers; who offer fast internet links to secure an appointment, US standard passport photos, Visa lamination, and even scented powder to make your face glow like Abraham and influence the godless American small girl. Then the financiers; this is where the big boys play, this is controlled by the banks. Banks now offer holiday loans and you can charge your visa fees to the loan package. You basically pay $100 per visa application, successful or not, you appear for the interview or not. if there are 1,000 visa applicants a day the embassy makes $10,000 a day, $50,000 a week, $200,000 a month, $2.4m a year minimum, no wonder they can afford the SUVs.
You see the American dream starts by you believing you qualify for a visa, what a fallacy. the British want to give you a visa, it’s your job not to mess up, the Americans don’t want to give you a visa, and it’s your job to convince them otherwise.
Consider this scenario, Olu gets a job he want to travel to the US to see Manhattan, he promises he will return. Yeah right! So he wants to apply for his visa, but he is advised against using a “virgin” passport to apply. So he goes to Ghana (for a week), then to South Africa (for the jazz festival) then to UK (to of course buy an original Arsenal Jersey and mug).
Now the small matter of his passport disvirgined taken care of, he then proceeds to build up his cash (credit) history. So he simply borrows money form his friends every pay day, and slowly pays them back, so his current account will always read N200,000 a month, instead of N20,000 a month. That done Olu will surf facebook and get an old classmate in NY to write him a letter of invitation, that done, he invest in a new Banana Republic suit, new Calvin Klein blue shirt, to match his DKNY red tie, and Sebago shoes (he’s buying American). Then he tunes his DSTV to series to watch Seinfeld, Desperate House wives, and ESPN, f#@k Arsenal, he becomes a Knicks fan.
He then begs his friend who works with a bank to allow him free time on his PC so he can book his visa appointment on the banks broadband link up, and then the most important part. Heaven they say helps those who helps themselves (not in the bible ooh) so he goes to his Pentecostal pastor who tell him to walk by faith and buy his return ticket, and go on 21 day “power will change hands “ fast. He for good measure also visits his mother Catholic priest who after confession prescribes 21 Hail Maries.
So Olu is now rejection proof, he has his padded pay slips, his well versed letter of introduction from his company he got from the HR girl he promised a bottle of perfume form Macys, his shares certificates, his C of O of his land in Mowe, his car particulars, a framed citation form his secondary school, and an Obama badge. He has learned to say Gas instead of Petrol, Pants instead of Trousers and oops instead of yee! He has memorized the pledge of allegiance and knows where Mount Rushmore is. At this time of his life, Olu is at his peak, bring them in he says.
He gets in the line 5.30 am in Lagos, well b4 the sun is up, because he was advised that people who sweat are denied visa, he is speaking in tongues under his breath, and is carrying the white “miracle hankie his girlfriend firm Mountain of Fire gave him. He gets past security, gets into US soil proper (the embassy grounds) he claims that wherever his feet have touched is his, as stated in the bible. He sits in line and then it all goes horribly wrong.
First the banker GM is denied, then the commissioners wife is booted out. then the guy dressed in full NY Yankees attire is axed, its cold but Olu starts to sweat, then next is the half cast girl born in France, she too is axed, Olu he is barely able to keep his bladder shut with fear, if half Oyinbos can fall…. Next the guys from EFCC who wanted to attend a seminar of fire prevention are also axed, its 10 am, no one b4 him has got a visa, he starts to mumble under his breath “ yes I can, yes I can” its his turn.
The young lady asks him “what is the purpose of your visit to the United States?”
At this time, his shoulder are sagged, his lips are dry, he cannot remember Seinfeld first name, and he does not know when he answers “to become a Senator”
The lady waste no time, “sorry Sir, at this time you do not qualify for a United stares Visa” she stamps his passport and says “next”. The mighty are clearly fallen. Olu goes straight home.
He awakes the next day, first order of day is to return his DSTV to BBC news, he bans all US products from his house, Mobil and Texaco filling stations are boycotted, Arik with her Boeing planes are avoided. All Jay Z CD are replaced with Nanto C, he pledges allegiance to the Queen once again, and vows never to eat a burger again.
At this point he wants to drive a molue into the US consulate. First there is the shame, a 3 year project destroyed in 3 seconds, then the explanation to all who ask, then the fee charged by the airline to refund his ticket. He changes churches, and regrets telling his mother priest he slept with the house girl during confession. Olu is clearly a candidate for Al Qaeda.
So Obama the actions of just one consular officer using a secret formula has turned Olu , a western educated, young man into a terrorist. Who would have thought?
The Nigerian Immigration officials have family whose American dream have ben shattered just lke Olu, they deny US applicants visa just as well and with a vengeance. Bill Gates, yes the Microsoft guy was initially denied a Nigerian visa because he failed to prove he would not reside in Nigeria.
We feel you Olu.
Kalu Aja
“It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a Nigerian man to get a US visa.” Nigerian proverb
Obama said that it was the treatment of detainees in Guantanamo Bay that was breeding terrorist across the world, I disagree, and it’s the treatment of visa applications that breeds terror.There is a 98% chance that if you apply for a US Visa you will be denied. Why I don’t know? Even if you got the visa, you cannot say why they gave you. It’s not a lottery, it’s a lottery where if you win, you then go for an interview to see if you are worthy to collect your winning check.
The need for a US visa has created an economy on its own. First there are the facilitators , ie those that offer for a fee to assist you in getting a visa, this includes the guys that will “buy “ up all the available online appointment so you have to pay them to get an appointment, the visa agents, who escort you to the door of the embassy, and the special prayer houses where “dry” fasting is done to sway the spirit of the Oyinbos to smile favorable on the soul of the poor Nigerian applicant.
Then there are the providers; who offer fast internet links to secure an appointment, US standard passport photos, Visa lamination, and even scented powder to make your face glow like Abraham and influence the godless American small girl. Then the financiers; this is where the big boys play, this is controlled by the banks. Banks now offer holiday loans and you can charge your visa fees to the loan package. You basically pay $100 per visa application, successful or not, you appear for the interview or not. if there are 1,000 visa applicants a day the embassy makes $10,000 a day, $50,000 a week, $200,000 a month, $2.4m a year minimum, no wonder they can afford the SUVs.
You see the American dream starts by you believing you qualify for a visa, what a fallacy. the British want to give you a visa, it’s your job not to mess up, the Americans don’t want to give you a visa, and it’s your job to convince them otherwise.
Consider this scenario, Olu gets a job he want to travel to the US to see Manhattan, he promises he will return. Yeah right! So he wants to apply for his visa, but he is advised against using a “virgin” passport to apply. So he goes to Ghana (for a week), then to South Africa (for the jazz festival) then to UK (to of course buy an original Arsenal Jersey and mug).
Now the small matter of his passport disvirgined taken care of, he then proceeds to build up his cash (credit) history. So he simply borrows money form his friends every pay day, and slowly pays them back, so his current account will always read N200,000 a month, instead of N20,000 a month. That done Olu will surf facebook and get an old classmate in NY to write him a letter of invitation, that done, he invest in a new Banana Republic suit, new Calvin Klein blue shirt, to match his DKNY red tie, and Sebago shoes (he’s buying American). Then he tunes his DSTV to series to watch Seinfeld, Desperate House wives, and ESPN, f#@k Arsenal, he becomes a Knicks fan.
He then begs his friend who works with a bank to allow him free time on his PC so he can book his visa appointment on the banks broadband link up, and then the most important part. Heaven they say helps those who helps themselves (not in the bible ooh) so he goes to his Pentecostal pastor who tell him to walk by faith and buy his return ticket, and go on 21 day “power will change hands “ fast. He for good measure also visits his mother Catholic priest who after confession prescribes 21 Hail Maries.
So Olu is now rejection proof, he has his padded pay slips, his well versed letter of introduction from his company he got from the HR girl he promised a bottle of perfume form Macys, his shares certificates, his C of O of his land in Mowe, his car particulars, a framed citation form his secondary school, and an Obama badge. He has learned to say Gas instead of Petrol, Pants instead of Trousers and oops instead of yee! He has memorized the pledge of allegiance and knows where Mount Rushmore is. At this time of his life, Olu is at his peak, bring them in he says.
He gets in the line 5.30 am in Lagos, well b4 the sun is up, because he was advised that people who sweat are denied visa, he is speaking in tongues under his breath, and is carrying the white “miracle hankie his girlfriend firm Mountain of Fire gave him. He gets past security, gets into US soil proper (the embassy grounds) he claims that wherever his feet have touched is his, as stated in the bible. He sits in line and then it all goes horribly wrong.
First the banker GM is denied, then the commissioners wife is booted out. then the guy dressed in full NY Yankees attire is axed, its cold but Olu starts to sweat, then next is the half cast girl born in France, she too is axed, Olu he is barely able to keep his bladder shut with fear, if half Oyinbos can fall…. Next the guys from EFCC who wanted to attend a seminar of fire prevention are also axed, its 10 am, no one b4 him has got a visa, he starts to mumble under his breath “ yes I can, yes I can” its his turn.
The young lady asks him “what is the purpose of your visit to the United States?”
At this time, his shoulder are sagged, his lips are dry, he cannot remember Seinfeld first name, and he does not know when he answers “to become a Senator”
The lady waste no time, “sorry Sir, at this time you do not qualify for a United stares Visa” she stamps his passport and says “next”. The mighty are clearly fallen. Olu goes straight home.
He awakes the next day, first order of day is to return his DSTV to BBC news, he bans all US products from his house, Mobil and Texaco filling stations are boycotted, Arik with her Boeing planes are avoided. All Jay Z CD are replaced with Nanto C, he pledges allegiance to the Queen once again, and vows never to eat a burger again.
At this point he wants to drive a molue into the US consulate. First there is the shame, a 3 year project destroyed in 3 seconds, then the explanation to all who ask, then the fee charged by the airline to refund his ticket. He changes churches, and regrets telling his mother priest he slept with the house girl during confession. Olu is clearly a candidate for Al Qaeda.
So Obama the actions of just one consular officer using a secret formula has turned Olu , a western educated, young man into a terrorist. Who would have thought?
The Nigerian Immigration officials have family whose American dream have ben shattered just lke Olu, they deny US applicants visa just as well and with a vengeance. Bill Gates, yes the Microsoft guy was initially denied a Nigerian visa because he failed to prove he would not reside in Nigeria.
We feel you Olu.
Kalu Aja
“It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a Nigerian man to get a US visa.” Nigerian proverb
Friday, March 27, 2009
of Sokoto and Neveda
Yesterday, the Federal govt released N303billion plus for the National Integrated Power Project. This is just 40% of the $5.3bilion approved for NIPP projects. This money is expected to enable Nigeria reach 6,000 megawatts by December 2009.
but take quick took at the article below. Al Gore says -and it has been fact checked as correct- that an area the size of 10,000 square feet, can produce enough solar power to feed America for a year, America uses 3,900 BILLION kilowatt hours of electricity a year. I have questions,
1. How big is Sokoto state? (Nigeria is 356,376 square miles), why cant we put these thermal plants in the deserts of Sokoto?
2. Why are all the projects executed by the NIPP tied to Gas? Gas can and had been shut down by the MEND boys. Why put all our power eggs in one basket?
3. Why can’t we include solar into the mix? This way the northern states can mine solar power and send to Lagos.
These are simple questions i would like answers to. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to see the benefits of this which include;
1. employment in the North, reversing the CBN poverty projections
2. power for Lagos manufacturing concerns, this brings down the cost of doing business, increases employment, and saves the environment.
3. jobs, jobs, jobs.
I really would like to know why we are not exploring this option of solar, coal, wind, i really want to know.
Anyone with answers?
Kalu Aja
but take quick took at the article below. Al Gore says -and it has been fact checked as correct- that an area the size of 10,000 square feet, can produce enough solar power to feed America for a year, America uses 3,900 BILLION kilowatt hours of electricity a year. I have questions,
1. How big is Sokoto state? (Nigeria is 356,376 square miles), why cant we put these thermal plants in the deserts of Sokoto?
2. Why are all the projects executed by the NIPP tied to Gas? Gas can and had been shut down by the MEND boys. Why put all our power eggs in one basket?
3. Why can’t we include solar into the mix? This way the northern states can mine solar power and send to Lagos.
These are simple questions i would like answers to. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to see the benefits of this which include;
1. employment in the North, reversing the CBN poverty projections
2. power for Lagos manufacturing concerns, this brings down the cost of doing business, increases employment, and saves the environment.
3. jobs, jobs, jobs.
I really would like to know why we are not exploring this option of solar, coal, wind, i really want to know.
Anyone with answers?
Kalu Aja
ऑफ़ स्पेंडिंग एंड सेनातोर्स
“ a great famine caused by a credit crunch fell upon the land. The great prophets Mark and Bankole were sent by the PDP to the village of CBN, where they saw Umaru with his son Charles collecting taxes. Umaru, we pray thee, they said, give us the foreign reserves to spend. Umuru replied surly as the Lord lives all I have in my Foreign account is just $48billion, I am preparing a belt-tightening budget, to focus on education, health and infrastructure spending, so that can last us through this recession, if my reserves finish then me and my son will simply die. Not so, said the prophets, give us first the $48 billion “to eat”. Umaru obeyed the voice of the prophets and gave the $48 billion away, and they “did eat” , and then they all sat round a fire and died of hunger together. IMF be praised”.
Nigeria has proposed a deficit budget of N836.6 billion! Now this means we are going to spend N836.6 billion more than we have.
Note that we import everything in Nigeria, so To finance deficit we proposed amongst others to raise $500m bond offering, (that has now being abandoned) so no borrowing. So its either we spend our foreign reserves, print dollars or cut back on spending. LOL, cut back on what? Nigeria to stop spending? That’s like a crack addict cutting back on crack, Nigeria is addicted to spending. We can’t print dollars, so to finance the deficit we are going to spend out of the foreign reserves. fact.
So I say why wait, lets spend the whole money now. Spend it all while we can! I propose a stimulus package of $48 billion for just three companies, Julius Berger JB, HFP and Mikano Generators. I am proposing that the government give $48 billion which is the value of our foreign reserves to these three companies. their mission is simple;
1. For Julius Berger, build as much roads as they can in all the towns, cities and trade routes in the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria.
2. For HFP, build housing units in Lagos and Abuja. These guys have built 6,000 houses already. How many has Ministry of Works built?
3. For Mikano, (f#$k the NIPP), they are to import generators and supply to all streets in Lagos. If Lagos state can go off the national grid maybe, Enugu and Sokoto can get power. Maybe ooh!
Kalu are you serious? If we spend all our money on Generators and Bitumen, what will we have left? Ok we agree are “money miss road” but then your stimulus plan is irresponsible and more of the same it’s just more spending! Haba!
Yes it is. But lets spend well, lets spend on things we can see, that can last, things that can maybe restart our economy that has not recovered since the 70’s. if we don’t spend it now it will be given to the Houses of Reps and the Senators to pay for Uniforms costing N137 million and Meals and Refreshment costing N3.8 billion.
Kalu you are not serious, meals costing N3.8 billion? In this economic crises? that’s untrue, show us proof. Its right there in the 2009 proposed budget, in black and white. Meals for senators N783,000,000.00, meals for House of Reps N3,113,100,000.00 (classification numbers 021010002501001 and 021005002501001).
If JB was to build roads in all the six geopolitical zones do you know how many jobs will be created? Do you know what we will save on hospital bills on road accidents caused by bad roads? Do you know how much food costs will fall as farmers can get their good to the market? If HFP was to build 10,000 units of 2 bedroom flats, do you realize the amount of disposable income that will be released by the growing middle class to spend on other stuff apart from 2 years rent upfront?
If Mikano was to give every street in Lagos alone a generator, at least Barbers and welders will have work, 60% load will be taken off the national grid and the rest of Nigeria can enjoy PHCN’s 3,000 MW. Without power, there is no life, ask God; the first Ministry God created was Power ministry. PHCN is the devils copy.
Ok, ok but if everyone has a generator, what about diesel? Who will import it? , who imports the fuel in your car? Is it just one man? Ok but what about noise and pollution, now nko? Is there no noise and pollution? Since the central Generator has failed and the 7 Point agenda is still in the pipeline, let’s do this and see.
Point is if we leave this $48 billon, it will be gone in 2 years, shared out to the Governors and Houses of Parliament, it will not get to education (if it did, teachers will be on strike), it will not get to health (if it did Lassa fever and Meningitis will not be ravaging Nigeria), it will not get to Security (if it did then Oyinbos would not run to Lagos for safety) the money will disappear into N400m houses, N200m executive pensions and N35million constituency projects. FACT
When we had the first boom in the 70’s, we had congested ports also, as we imported everything, but Gen Gowan managed to build the Lagos flyovers and many a road. Can you imagine Lagos without those flyovers? This time we have had an Oil boom, congested ports but instead of roads we have a seven point agenda.
We sat down and the oil boom came and we did not participate (thanks to MEND), now we are going to watch the great disappearing foreign exchange trick, the President has raised the approval limit on how much contractors can be paid, CBN has removed the CBN figures from its website, so if it gets to $1 billion, we will only know when the sugar and milk lines reappear just like the austerity measurers that brought the “essential commodities” .
I’m too sad to vex, but it’s our problem; it’s not too late to fix it.
Kalu
disclaimer
Kalu does not own shares in JB, Mikano and HFP, but wishes he did. Consult your adviser for all investment transactions or you will be sorry. Shares have a nasty habit of going down in price.
Nigeria has proposed a deficit budget of N836.6 billion! Now this means we are going to spend N836.6 billion more than we have.
Note that we import everything in Nigeria, so To finance deficit we proposed amongst others to raise $500m bond offering, (that has now being abandoned) so no borrowing. So its either we spend our foreign reserves, print dollars or cut back on spending. LOL, cut back on what? Nigeria to stop spending? That’s like a crack addict cutting back on crack, Nigeria is addicted to spending. We can’t print dollars, so to finance the deficit we are going to spend out of the foreign reserves. fact.
So I say why wait, lets spend the whole money now. Spend it all while we can! I propose a stimulus package of $48 billion for just three companies, Julius Berger JB, HFP and Mikano Generators. I am proposing that the government give $48 billion which is the value of our foreign reserves to these three companies. their mission is simple;
1. For Julius Berger, build as much roads as they can in all the towns, cities and trade routes in the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria.
2. For HFP, build housing units in Lagos and Abuja. These guys have built 6,000 houses already. How many has Ministry of Works built?
3. For Mikano, (f#$k the NIPP), they are to import generators and supply to all streets in Lagos. If Lagos state can go off the national grid maybe, Enugu and Sokoto can get power. Maybe ooh!
Kalu are you serious? If we spend all our money on Generators and Bitumen, what will we have left? Ok we agree are “money miss road” but then your stimulus plan is irresponsible and more of the same it’s just more spending! Haba!
Yes it is. But lets spend well, lets spend on things we can see, that can last, things that can maybe restart our economy that has not recovered since the 70’s. if we don’t spend it now it will be given to the Houses of Reps and the Senators to pay for Uniforms costing N137 million and Meals and Refreshment costing N3.8 billion.
Kalu you are not serious, meals costing N3.8 billion? In this economic crises? that’s untrue, show us proof. Its right there in the 2009 proposed budget, in black and white. Meals for senators N783,000,000.00, meals for House of Reps N3,113,100,000.00 (classification numbers 021010002501001 and 021005002501001).
If JB was to build roads in all the six geopolitical zones do you know how many jobs will be created? Do you know what we will save on hospital bills on road accidents caused by bad roads? Do you know how much food costs will fall as farmers can get their good to the market? If HFP was to build 10,000 units of 2 bedroom flats, do you realize the amount of disposable income that will be released by the growing middle class to spend on other stuff apart from 2 years rent upfront?
If Mikano was to give every street in Lagos alone a generator, at least Barbers and welders will have work, 60% load will be taken off the national grid and the rest of Nigeria can enjoy PHCN’s 3,000 MW. Without power, there is no life, ask God; the first Ministry God created was Power ministry. PHCN is the devils copy.
Ok, ok but if everyone has a generator, what about diesel? Who will import it? , who imports the fuel in your car? Is it just one man? Ok but what about noise and pollution, now nko? Is there no noise and pollution? Since the central Generator has failed and the 7 Point agenda is still in the pipeline, let’s do this and see.
Point is if we leave this $48 billon, it will be gone in 2 years, shared out to the Governors and Houses of Parliament, it will not get to education (if it did, teachers will be on strike), it will not get to health (if it did Lassa fever and Meningitis will not be ravaging Nigeria), it will not get to Security (if it did then Oyinbos would not run to Lagos for safety) the money will disappear into N400m houses, N200m executive pensions and N35million constituency projects. FACT
When we had the first boom in the 70’s, we had congested ports also, as we imported everything, but Gen Gowan managed to build the Lagos flyovers and many a road. Can you imagine Lagos without those flyovers? This time we have had an Oil boom, congested ports but instead of roads we have a seven point agenda.
We sat down and the oil boom came and we did not participate (thanks to MEND), now we are going to watch the great disappearing foreign exchange trick, the President has raised the approval limit on how much contractors can be paid, CBN has removed the CBN figures from its website, so if it gets to $1 billion, we will only know when the sugar and milk lines reappear just like the austerity measurers that brought the “essential commodities” .
I’m too sad to vex, but it’s our problem; it’s not too late to fix it.
Kalu
disclaimer
Kalu does not own shares in JB, Mikano and HFP, but wishes he did. Consult your adviser for all investment transactions or you will be sorry. Shares have a nasty habit of going down in price.
I am moving to Aba.
Kalu are u serious? You want to leave the Mega City, the land of Aquatic splendor, the centre of excellence in Nigeria to go to the dirtiest city in Nigeria?
Ok, if I offered you a choice to either live in New York City or Lagos Mega City? Which would you take? I would not dignify that question with a reply, Kalu take time ooh.
Ok let’s take away power from New York (Light to my Nigerian readers) where would you move to the big apple or the big yam? Hmmmm
Let me put this in perspective
Without power the traffic Lights and subways in the big apple wont work, so the traffic will be worse than Lagos, the big yam. Why? More cars in NY.
Without power the Emergency Rooms and hospitals wont work, or can you operate a MRI scanner or diabetes machine on batteries? For a week?
Without power no TV, refrigerators, microwaves, no PC, no IPod, No Cable, No Wal Mart, No Baseball, etc,
Without power, there will no heat in public schools so education becomes more expensive,
without power there will be no street lights, no Times square, so tourism drops, employment drops, crime rises again,
without Power the 911, and other emergency lines don’t work so no Fire, Ambulance or Cops,
without power no lifts will work, so all those skyscrapers in Manhattan become useless, wall street shuts down, people get sacked, unemployment , crime rises,
without power JFK shuts down, so no international airport in New York,
without power industries cant produce jack, no Starbucks, no Laundromats, so more people get laid off ,
without power…..Kalu we get the point.
Without Power, the big apple becomes the big yam, no street lights, crime on the streets, no public education or health, monster traffic jams. Plus you still pay taxes and freeze in the big apple. Hmmmm
So why Aba? Why not Abuja? Because in three months Aba will commission their very own 188 mw Independent Power Project, the Aba IPP built by Geometric Power at a cost of just $385 million with funding from the International Finance Corporation, the European Investment Bank, Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund, Stanbic and Diamond Bank.
Kalu, you were making small sense b4 ooh, so? Do you know how many power plants are in Nigeria? Is there power? Well take a look at the sponsors or fund providers again, do you see any FGN? No, So? This is a private sector driven initiate to provide power, power contracts will be signed with the consumers, you can sue and be sued, and they are working for profit not salary. Again Kalu Lagos, the Mega city had their own IPP, built by Enron, there are still blackout in Lagos, so what the difference? How can they separate NEPA/PHCN from ABA IPP?
That is the beauty of the ABA IPP, the promoters went to Obasanjo and said Sir, we want to build this plant, we don’t want your money, but can you give us Aba as an exclusive territory to supply power to at a commercial price. OBJ agreed. It's this clause that will make this IPP a success. Aba will be an island supplied exclusively by the Aba IPP. Bola Tinubu had foresight, he brought the Enron power barges, and after strong resistance from the FGN he was finally allowed to generate power and sell to the National grid to supply Lagos. The plan was to channel to power back to Lagos, it didn’t happen, NEPA/PHCN/OBJ (the same mama born dem) simply put the Lagos/Enron/IPP into the national grid, and it as-you-were in Lagos in terms of power supply.
So won’t this new power station be expensive? Can ordinary people afford it? Right now ordinary Nigerians are spending N40-60 to generate 1 Kilowatt* Diesel is N75 per liter (if you can find it) the second richest Nigerian, a $ Billionaire on Forbes list, got these by selling Diesel, that tells a lot. (I’m not mad at him, he is an entrepreneur. That will be like blaming pure water sellers for spreading Typhoid, where is Water Works?)
Ask any Nigerian if will pay double to get power even for 12 hours a day, what do you think his answer will be? ask any manufacture or bank manager to pay triple his current NEPA/PHCN bill and get power from just 8am-5pm, what do you think his answer will be? In Nigeria we pay NEPA/PHCN bills and get no power, every body has a generator, from the 1 KVA “I better pass my neighbor” to massive CAT generator. you can’t walk the streets and make a call, diesel fumes, and noise. Every Nigeria child first learned word is NEPA, no kidding, they see their parents say “ NEPA” and look angry.
So Kalu you are saying the reason why ABA IPP/Geometric will succeed with this power IPP and Lagos and the Federal govt have failed is not the money- $16billion, the market -140m Nigerians, the will or desire, but the fact that the private sector, has simply been allowed to sell power without interference from NEPA/PHCH/FGN? Yes.
If you were GE, and you came to Nigeria to solve the power problem, the solution is easy. build a power plant in every local govt in Lagos, take Lagos off the national power grid, since Lagos consumes 60% of the power generated, that means more power can go to the other states, it’s a no brainer. So Kalu why don’t they just do that? Because the Federal Government controls the price you can sell power to the national grid. They say if they allowed consumers buy power from GE direct, GE will over charge consumers, so they are “protecting” consumers by fixing the price GE can sell power. But Kalu that ridiculous, we still buy Diesel at N75 even though oil prices have fallen, why are they not "protecting” us? Well na you talk am.
Point is, government has no business in business, and power is big, very big business. If you open the market to all comers, then you will see people saying ok, I will sell power to Lekki alone, ok we will target Badagry, etc you will solve this problem, simply focus on Lagos. It’s the political will to simply open up the market.
Let me give you an example with mobile phones in Nigeria. No matter the model and features of any phone in Nigeria, the price starts high (because demand is high) and as supply meets demand it falls. Everybody is allowed to jump on a plane, go to Dubai and import any phone he likes, they is no monopoly on phone importation, so the prices rises and falls with demand, consumers are happy, jobs are created, MTN and Co are happy, govt makes money from calls. However, if there was a Ministry of Mobile Phones, the Minister will simply publish a list of “approved” phone coy, and start “selling” mobile phone import licenses. There will then be another parastatal called Department of Mobile Phones who will “test” your phones to ensure they comply with international standards , for a fee of course, so your phone price is not determined by market forces but by ineffective govt policies. It this not why Petrol and Diesel are expensive in Nigeria?
Kalu again I ask why can they just open up the markets? why can’t they allow anyone import diesel, bring in power etc? Well don’t tell anyone I told you, this is just between me and you. If they sold NEPA and NNPC, how will they fund PDP?
Still our problem, we can solve it, Vexing isn’t working, I need another strategy……..suggestions?
Kalu
Ps the power probe committee report has been handed to a “committee” to review. hmmm ever heard of death by committee?
Kalu are u serious? You want to leave the Mega City, the land of Aquatic splendor, the centre of excellence in Nigeria to go to the dirtiest city in Nigeria?
Ok, if I offered you a choice to either live in New York City or Lagos Mega City? Which would you take? I would not dignify that question with a reply, Kalu take time ooh.
Ok let’s take away power from New York (Light to my Nigerian readers) where would you move to the big apple or the big yam? Hmmmm
Let me put this in perspective
Without power the traffic Lights and subways in the big apple wont work, so the traffic will be worse than Lagos, the big yam. Why? More cars in NY.
Without power the Emergency Rooms and hospitals wont work, or can you operate a MRI scanner or diabetes machine on batteries? For a week?
Without power no TV, refrigerators, microwaves, no PC, no IPod, No Cable, No Wal Mart, No Baseball, etc,
Without power, there will no heat in public schools so education becomes more expensive,
without power there will be no street lights, no Times square, so tourism drops, employment drops, crime rises again,
without Power the 911, and other emergency lines don’t work so no Fire, Ambulance or Cops,
without power no lifts will work, so all those skyscrapers in Manhattan become useless, wall street shuts down, people get sacked, unemployment , crime rises,
without power JFK shuts down, so no international airport in New York,
without power industries cant produce jack, no Starbucks, no Laundromats, so more people get laid off ,
without power…..Kalu we get the point.
Without Power, the big apple becomes the big yam, no street lights, crime on the streets, no public education or health, monster traffic jams. Plus you still pay taxes and freeze in the big apple. Hmmmm
So why Aba? Why not Abuja? Because in three months Aba will commission their very own 188 mw Independent Power Project, the Aba IPP built by Geometric Power at a cost of just $385 million with funding from the International Finance Corporation, the European Investment Bank, Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund, Stanbic and Diamond Bank.
Kalu, you were making small sense b4 ooh, so? Do you know how many power plants are in Nigeria? Is there power? Well take a look at the sponsors or fund providers again, do you see any FGN? No, So? This is a private sector driven initiate to provide power, power contracts will be signed with the consumers, you can sue and be sued, and they are working for profit not salary. Again Kalu Lagos, the Mega city had their own IPP, built by Enron, there are still blackout in Lagos, so what the difference? How can they separate NEPA/PHCN from ABA IPP?
That is the beauty of the ABA IPP, the promoters went to Obasanjo and said Sir, we want to build this plant, we don’t want your money, but can you give us Aba as an exclusive territory to supply power to at a commercial price. OBJ agreed. It's this clause that will make this IPP a success. Aba will be an island supplied exclusively by the Aba IPP. Bola Tinubu had foresight, he brought the Enron power barges, and after strong resistance from the FGN he was finally allowed to generate power and sell to the National grid to supply Lagos. The plan was to channel to power back to Lagos, it didn’t happen, NEPA/PHCN/OBJ (the same mama born dem) simply put the Lagos/Enron/IPP into the national grid, and it as-you-were in Lagos in terms of power supply.
So won’t this new power station be expensive? Can ordinary people afford it? Right now ordinary Nigerians are spending N40-60 to generate 1 Kilowatt* Diesel is N75 per liter (if you can find it) the second richest Nigerian, a $ Billionaire on Forbes list, got these by selling Diesel, that tells a lot. (I’m not mad at him, he is an entrepreneur. That will be like blaming pure water sellers for spreading Typhoid, where is Water Works?)
Ask any Nigerian if will pay double to get power even for 12 hours a day, what do you think his answer will be? ask any manufacture or bank manager to pay triple his current NEPA/PHCN bill and get power from just 8am-5pm, what do you think his answer will be? In Nigeria we pay NEPA/PHCN bills and get no power, every body has a generator, from the 1 KVA “I better pass my neighbor” to massive CAT generator. you can’t walk the streets and make a call, diesel fumes, and noise. Every Nigeria child first learned word is NEPA, no kidding, they see their parents say “ NEPA” and look angry.
So Kalu you are saying the reason why ABA IPP/Geometric will succeed with this power IPP and Lagos and the Federal govt have failed is not the money- $16billion, the market -140m Nigerians, the will or desire, but the fact that the private sector, has simply been allowed to sell power without interference from NEPA/PHCH/FGN? Yes.
If you were GE, and you came to Nigeria to solve the power problem, the solution is easy. build a power plant in every local govt in Lagos, take Lagos off the national power grid, since Lagos consumes 60% of the power generated, that means more power can go to the other states, it’s a no brainer. So Kalu why don’t they just do that? Because the Federal Government controls the price you can sell power to the national grid. They say if they allowed consumers buy power from GE direct, GE will over charge consumers, so they are “protecting” consumers by fixing the price GE can sell power. But Kalu that ridiculous, we still buy Diesel at N75 even though oil prices have fallen, why are they not "protecting” us? Well na you talk am.
Point is, government has no business in business, and power is big, very big business. If you open the market to all comers, then you will see people saying ok, I will sell power to Lekki alone, ok we will target Badagry, etc you will solve this problem, simply focus on Lagos. It’s the political will to simply open up the market.
Let me give you an example with mobile phones in Nigeria. No matter the model and features of any phone in Nigeria, the price starts high (because demand is high) and as supply meets demand it falls. Everybody is allowed to jump on a plane, go to Dubai and import any phone he likes, they is no monopoly on phone importation, so the prices rises and falls with demand, consumers are happy, jobs are created, MTN and Co are happy, govt makes money from calls. However, if there was a Ministry of Mobile Phones, the Minister will simply publish a list of “approved” phone coy, and start “selling” mobile phone import licenses. There will then be another parastatal called Department of Mobile Phones who will “test” your phones to ensure they comply with international standards , for a fee of course, so your phone price is not determined by market forces but by ineffective govt policies. It this not why Petrol and Diesel are expensive in Nigeria?
Kalu again I ask why can they just open up the markets? why can’t they allow anyone import diesel, bring in power etc? Well don’t tell anyone I told you, this is just between me and you. If they sold NEPA and NNPC, how will they fund PDP?
Still our problem, we can solve it, Vexing isn’t working, I need another strategy……..suggestions?
Kalu
Ps the power probe committee report has been handed to a “committee” to review. hmmm ever heard of death by committee?
of ATMs
The president called the bluff of the LOC of the 2009 FIFA U-17 world cup last week and saved Nigeria N26.5B; yep thats Billion.
One week ago the FIFA U-17 Nigeria LOC like the “chop and clean mouth” KOJA, presented a bill of N35.5b to host the FIFA U-17 world cup in Nigeria in 2009. Hmm the president then told them, he did not have the cash with him right now, but that they should come back "tomorrow". And magically the figure dropped by 228% to N9billion. The president has now oked the event. See an advantage of going slow.
So the obvious question is what did they slash? Did they slash new stadia or did they slash their commission? To put this in perspective, this amount to host a junior world cup Nigeria has won three times is more than the budgeted amount for either health or education in the 2009 budget. So in essence, we are putting football over educating our kids and keeping the populace health. Tells you where our priorities are. I had expressed the fear ago that this tournament was going to be another ATM scheme; thankfully Yar Adua has changed his “PIN” number.
But why stop there, let Yar Adua call the bluff of the legislators who have withheld ascent on the 2008, yes 2008 supplementary budget of N683 Billion. Can someone explain to me how we are discussing 2008 budget in November 2008?
This country is now a big ATM. This week we heard the Minster of Agriculture and Water resources tell us that N24 bllion was spent on boreholes between 2004 and 2006, the problem however is that the boreholes are untraceable ie they don’t exist.
Today we have just heard that the 2009 budget is for N2.68 trillion, that’s trillion, the same ministry of Agriculture and Water resources is allocated N80.9B, health and education combined get N58 Billion. If you add Universal Basis Education, the combined figure is N98B.
Another interesting allocation is the Niger Development Development Commission with N34.9B while the Federal Capital territory gets N30.6 billion. So an agency managing the entire oil producing areas (seven states) gets N34B, and one state or territory gets N30B. hmmm one hope then that the excess sum that will be spent on the development of the Niger Delta will be allocated in the mint new Niger Delta Ministry.
The oil price benchmark is fixed at $45. In my view this leaves very narrow wriggle room for saving of any excess crude, ie if oil drops to $50 (which is a possibility) we can only save $15 per barrel to put in any excess crude account. I digress, Point is this is a time for belt tightening; we cannot be involved in disappearing boreholes or Peugeot 407 car scandals in 2009.
The govt must show the way in honesty, prudence and when that fails Yaradua should simply seize the jokers ATM cards.
It’s our problem, we can fix it
Kalu Aja
Ps how did the minister of works escape the cabinet shake up? Has anyone seen our roads?
One week ago the FIFA U-17 Nigeria LOC like the “chop and clean mouth” KOJA, presented a bill of N35.5b to host the FIFA U-17 world cup in Nigeria in 2009. Hmm the president then told them, he did not have the cash with him right now, but that they should come back "tomorrow". And magically the figure dropped by 228% to N9billion. The president has now oked the event. See an advantage of going slow.
So the obvious question is what did they slash? Did they slash new stadia or did they slash their commission? To put this in perspective, this amount to host a junior world cup Nigeria has won three times is more than the budgeted amount for either health or education in the 2009 budget. So in essence, we are putting football over educating our kids and keeping the populace health. Tells you where our priorities are. I had expressed the fear ago that this tournament was going to be another ATM scheme; thankfully Yar Adua has changed his “PIN” number.
But why stop there, let Yar Adua call the bluff of the legislators who have withheld ascent on the 2008, yes 2008 supplementary budget of N683 Billion. Can someone explain to me how we are discussing 2008 budget in November 2008?
This country is now a big ATM. This week we heard the Minster of Agriculture and Water resources tell us that N24 bllion was spent on boreholes between 2004 and 2006, the problem however is that the boreholes are untraceable ie they don’t exist.
Today we have just heard that the 2009 budget is for N2.68 trillion, that’s trillion, the same ministry of Agriculture and Water resources is allocated N80.9B, health and education combined get N58 Billion. If you add Universal Basis Education, the combined figure is N98B.
Another interesting allocation is the Niger Development Development Commission with N34.9B while the Federal Capital territory gets N30.6 billion. So an agency managing the entire oil producing areas (seven states) gets N34B, and one state or territory gets N30B. hmmm one hope then that the excess sum that will be spent on the development of the Niger Delta will be allocated in the mint new Niger Delta Ministry.
The oil price benchmark is fixed at $45. In my view this leaves very narrow wriggle room for saving of any excess crude, ie if oil drops to $50 (which is a possibility) we can only save $15 per barrel to put in any excess crude account. I digress, Point is this is a time for belt tightening; we cannot be involved in disappearing boreholes or Peugeot 407 car scandals in 2009.
The govt must show the way in honesty, prudence and when that fails Yaradua should simply seize the jokers ATM cards.
It’s our problem, we can fix it
Kalu Aja
Ps how did the minister of works escape the cabinet shake up? Has anyone seen our roads?
Some times you hear a news story and you say Kai! It’s impossible, this could not have happened, in this Nigeria? its impossible, show me proof.
Let me tell you one of these stories in the late 70’s when Joseph Wayas ran the Parliament a motion was introduced that Big stout (Guinness or Odeku) should be served with pepper soup during House proceedings. This motion was actually voted on and defeated soundly, but that a senator actually introduced such a Bill tells you how low Nigeria fell during these times, do you believe this story? I assure you it’s true.
Ok let me tell you another incredible story, in 2006 the President of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo wanted to have a Nigerian version of the “Great Leap Forward” so he decided to launch a satellite into space with Chinese help (sounds like the Emperors new clothes already). well this project in spite of the hue and cry was eventually launched (so they told us) at a cost of N40 billion Naira, yes Billion. ($333 million). However the satellite first lost power (they first told us) then was parked in space (they told us after) and eventually it has fallen and is lost irreparably (so they are now telling us).
Now the interesting part, the MD of the NigerComm SAT1, Professor Ahmed Rufai has now asked the House to approve N59 Billion ($500m) concessionary loan from the China EXIM bank, yes Billion and yes China, to launch another satellite, do you believe this story? I assure you its true.
Where do I start from?
1. How are we sure a satellite was actually launched by the Chinese? All we saw was a rocket blasting off from China, did due process take a picture of the satellite in space?.
2. What were the specs given to the Chinese, did we order a dud, or did the Chinese build a dud? Was the nation sold a dud?
3. Why China? Can anyone here tell me any thing that China invented after paper and fireworks? Could it be that we were looking for a backing for a third term from a Security Council member when the West rejected the Third term project? But I digress
4. What did we actually gain form the satellite? Were internet call cheaper? Was any income realized? Why could it not find the missing aircraft that crashed near Obudu? why cant it spy on militants positions in the creeks?
5. If the Chinese failed, why give them another chance? If they could not deliver a working N40billion satellite, should we trust them with a N59 billion satellite? How came they are giving us a “loan” to build another satellite, will we pay interest on this second satellite, or is someone looking to donate to a secretariat project?
6. What about insurance? was this satellite insured? If yes why is the MD Rufai asking for money from the House to build a new one? was there no warranty or guaranty?
I can go on and on but really is it just me? do I think someone here is just plain stupid? Is the House going to actually vote on this?
I bet you in 50 years, you will tell your grandson about this incident, he wont believe you, he will say “haba granddaddy be serious now, how can you say they gave someone N40billion, and he “lost” it and then came back for N59 billion!”
When you hear these word maybe you will realize that it’s actually “us” that were stupid.
Fee dee fee, Power
Kalu
Let me tell you one of these stories in the late 70’s when Joseph Wayas ran the Parliament a motion was introduced that Big stout (Guinness or Odeku) should be served with pepper soup during House proceedings. This motion was actually voted on and defeated soundly, but that a senator actually introduced such a Bill tells you how low Nigeria fell during these times, do you believe this story? I assure you it’s true.
Ok let me tell you another incredible story, in 2006 the President of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo wanted to have a Nigerian version of the “Great Leap Forward” so he decided to launch a satellite into space with Chinese help (sounds like the Emperors new clothes already). well this project in spite of the hue and cry was eventually launched (so they told us) at a cost of N40 billion Naira, yes Billion. ($333 million). However the satellite first lost power (they first told us) then was parked in space (they told us after) and eventually it has fallen and is lost irreparably (so they are now telling us).
Now the interesting part, the MD of the NigerComm SAT1, Professor Ahmed Rufai has now asked the House to approve N59 Billion ($500m) concessionary loan from the China EXIM bank, yes Billion and yes China, to launch another satellite, do you believe this story? I assure you its true.
Where do I start from?
1. How are we sure a satellite was actually launched by the Chinese? All we saw was a rocket blasting off from China, did due process take a picture of the satellite in space?.
2. What were the specs given to the Chinese, did we order a dud, or did the Chinese build a dud? Was the nation sold a dud?
3. Why China? Can anyone here tell me any thing that China invented after paper and fireworks? Could it be that we were looking for a backing for a third term from a Security Council member when the West rejected the Third term project? But I digress
4. What did we actually gain form the satellite? Were internet call cheaper? Was any income realized? Why could it not find the missing aircraft that crashed near Obudu? why cant it spy on militants positions in the creeks?
5. If the Chinese failed, why give them another chance? If they could not deliver a working N40billion satellite, should we trust them with a N59 billion satellite? How came they are giving us a “loan” to build another satellite, will we pay interest on this second satellite, or is someone looking to donate to a secretariat project?
6. What about insurance? was this satellite insured? If yes why is the MD Rufai asking for money from the House to build a new one? was there no warranty or guaranty?
I can go on and on but really is it just me? do I think someone here is just plain stupid? Is the House going to actually vote on this?
I bet you in 50 years, you will tell your grandson about this incident, he wont believe you, he will say “haba granddaddy be serious now, how can you say they gave someone N40billion, and he “lost” it and then came back for N59 billion!”
When you hear these word maybe you will realize that it’s actually “us” that were stupid.
Fee dee fee, Power
Kalu
The news in Nigeria is that junior police officers are preparing to go on strike, yep they will down tools or guns or stop collecting “N20” to express their many grievances.
This instantly posses many questions, can they do this? Legally no, they are an essential service so they cannot go on strike, just like the Army, PHCH (NEPA is on strike) etc, but they can and have actually gone on strike before. I recall in 2003 I believe, the junior officers also then went on a strike. The IG and the senior police officers threaten fire and brimstone on any junior officer found “on strike” but that day by 5pm it was eerily quite in Lagos, there was no traffic jam, everybody ran home to be safe. You see no body wanted to take any chances. At that time I discovered that a “N20” police is better than a “N10” armed robber.
Ok what are the police grievances? The usual, lack of promotions, delayed promotions, very bad working conditions etc, do they have a point? Are u kidding? Been to a police barracks lately? The Nigerian Police is a sorry institution, it’s sorry because of no fault of their making, they have been made sorry.
Again I ask have you been a police barracks. There has to be a realty show called “how long you can eat and not throw up in a Nigerian police barracks”. It is awful. Open sewers, blackened walls, no running water, etc, and these are the guys we send out to guard mansions in Asokoro and lkoyi? Whose fault? Was money approved for the repair of these barracks? yes money is always approved, in the 2009 budget, Police has the second highest allocation after Education; about N183 billion plus. So how much will it cost to renovate a barrack? The worst thing is that it’s a privilege to even have a space in these places, God forbid you get yourself killed by armed robbers or worse run over by a mad Honda driving woman, your family will be thrown out of there in a flash. And we wonder why they disappear when the armed robbers show up?
FACT we hear of officers nabbed by taskforce X for collecting “N20” but the former IG was caught red-handed with billions, what happened to him? Is the case still in court? What was the pleas bargain details? Did he refund anything to the state?
FACT Police trainees in the training schools are made to buy their own shoes and equipment, theses are trainees ooh, and there is a federal budget for training, so are you surprised they ask for “N20”. what are they trained on? can they use a computer? can they shoot straight, can they perform emergency first aid? can they defend themselves without a gun?
FACT the average junior police earns about N35,000.00 a month. Before they got this, their average salary a month was about N10,000.00. Then a police man did not actually know his salary, he was not paid through a bank, nor did he get a pay slip, there is usually a “pay parade” and he lines up and is given his salary in cash. If he was recruited in Sokoto, his pay point will be in Sokoto forever, if he is transferred to Lagos on assignment or posting his salary will still be made in Sokoto. So the poor guy in Lagos has to make do with “N20”. Things are now getting better; they now have a pay slip because of pension reform. And we wonder why they are so corrupt.
FACT the IG has reportedly requested for N2.9trillion to revamp the police force, peanuts! We also read the president, vice president, governors, ministers and their aides earn N1.3 trillion a year! So since 1999 we have spend N10trilion (or more) on salaries and perks for the less than 5,000 people, there are 366,000 police officers, do the maths.
FACT The Police have no fingerprint, Forensics DNA lab in the whole of Nigeria, to solve cases they torture. Wonder why Bola Ige (serving Minister of Justice) Alfred Rewane, Harry Marshall, Funsho Williams’s cases have not been solved.
Guys I can go on and on, point is we are getting what we are allowing. Would it be a stretch to employ only graduates as police officers, to pay a minimum of N100,000.00 as monthly salary, with full life insurance, mortgage and car loans, also add free child education in the event of death. How much would that cost us as a nation? Well less than N10 trillion over 10 years. Can you drive your new Toyota Prado if there was no policeman, can you open a shop in Oshodi if there was no police man? There cannot be security unless every street has a cop simply walking and watching.
usually the police motto is “protect & Serve” in Nigeria the motto is “to Protect (all and only the banks, oil companies, politicians, and big men and women) and Serve (only Aso rock). All the mobile police men are now used as personal bodyguards, so who will investigate petty crime in Mushin? who will control traffic in Kano City? Who will protect referee during football games in Aba?
Please guys lets show our cops some respect, it’s not their fault they look ragged and demand “N20” from you at gunpoint. Will we have found it funny if a lady bobby or NYPD officer was run over by a mad lady in a Honda? Take a Nigerian police man out of Nigeria and they excel, the UN always looks for our cops. Even in Nigeria have you seen cops in Calaber? They are smart looking, the even wear gloves! Because Duke looked after them. if there is a police post near your house , this weekend buy juice, or even water and gala and give them, they will appreciate it.
The politicians keep the police men in penury so they can use them to settle scores, abi will you tell a police man who earns N150,000.00 a month, has a wife and 3 kids in university, with a neat apartment in Ikeja to carry a stuffed ballot box during elections? He will simply arrest you. The democracy we crave starts from having someone to enforce it, the Police the Judiciary workers, God bless them, they are doing their best.
Its our problem, we can solve it.
Kalu Aja
This instantly posses many questions, can they do this? Legally no, they are an essential service so they cannot go on strike, just like the Army, PHCH (NEPA is on strike) etc, but they can and have actually gone on strike before. I recall in 2003 I believe, the junior officers also then went on a strike. The IG and the senior police officers threaten fire and brimstone on any junior officer found “on strike” but that day by 5pm it was eerily quite in Lagos, there was no traffic jam, everybody ran home to be safe. You see no body wanted to take any chances. At that time I discovered that a “N20” police is better than a “N10” armed robber.
Ok what are the police grievances? The usual, lack of promotions, delayed promotions, very bad working conditions etc, do they have a point? Are u kidding? Been to a police barracks lately? The Nigerian Police is a sorry institution, it’s sorry because of no fault of their making, they have been made sorry.
Again I ask have you been a police barracks. There has to be a realty show called “how long you can eat and not throw up in a Nigerian police barracks”. It is awful. Open sewers, blackened walls, no running water, etc, and these are the guys we send out to guard mansions in Asokoro and lkoyi? Whose fault? Was money approved for the repair of these barracks? yes money is always approved, in the 2009 budget, Police has the second highest allocation after Education; about N183 billion plus. So how much will it cost to renovate a barrack? The worst thing is that it’s a privilege to even have a space in these places, God forbid you get yourself killed by armed robbers or worse run over by a mad Honda driving woman, your family will be thrown out of there in a flash. And we wonder why they disappear when the armed robbers show up?
FACT we hear of officers nabbed by taskforce X for collecting “N20” but the former IG was caught red-handed with billions, what happened to him? Is the case still in court? What was the pleas bargain details? Did he refund anything to the state?
FACT Police trainees in the training schools are made to buy their own shoes and equipment, theses are trainees ooh, and there is a federal budget for training, so are you surprised they ask for “N20”. what are they trained on? can they use a computer? can they shoot straight, can they perform emergency first aid? can they defend themselves without a gun?
FACT the average junior police earns about N35,000.00 a month. Before they got this, their average salary a month was about N10,000.00. Then a police man did not actually know his salary, he was not paid through a bank, nor did he get a pay slip, there is usually a “pay parade” and he lines up and is given his salary in cash. If he was recruited in Sokoto, his pay point will be in Sokoto forever, if he is transferred to Lagos on assignment or posting his salary will still be made in Sokoto. So the poor guy in Lagos has to make do with “N20”. Things are now getting better; they now have a pay slip because of pension reform. And we wonder why they are so corrupt.
FACT the IG has reportedly requested for N2.9trillion to revamp the police force, peanuts! We also read the president, vice president, governors, ministers and their aides earn N1.3 trillion a year! So since 1999 we have spend N10trilion (or more) on salaries and perks for the less than 5,000 people, there are 366,000 police officers, do the maths.
FACT The Police have no fingerprint, Forensics DNA lab in the whole of Nigeria, to solve cases they torture. Wonder why Bola Ige (serving Minister of Justice) Alfred Rewane, Harry Marshall, Funsho Williams’s cases have not been solved.
Guys I can go on and on, point is we are getting what we are allowing. Would it be a stretch to employ only graduates as police officers, to pay a minimum of N100,000.00 as monthly salary, with full life insurance, mortgage and car loans, also add free child education in the event of death. How much would that cost us as a nation? Well less than N10 trillion over 10 years. Can you drive your new Toyota Prado if there was no policeman, can you open a shop in Oshodi if there was no police man? There cannot be security unless every street has a cop simply walking and watching.
usually the police motto is “protect & Serve” in Nigeria the motto is “to Protect (all and only the banks, oil companies, politicians, and big men and women) and Serve (only Aso rock). All the mobile police men are now used as personal bodyguards, so who will investigate petty crime in Mushin? who will control traffic in Kano City? Who will protect referee during football games in Aba?
Please guys lets show our cops some respect, it’s not their fault they look ragged and demand “N20” from you at gunpoint. Will we have found it funny if a lady bobby or NYPD officer was run over by a mad lady in a Honda? Take a Nigerian police man out of Nigeria and they excel, the UN always looks for our cops. Even in Nigeria have you seen cops in Calaber? They are smart looking, the even wear gloves! Because Duke looked after them. if there is a police post near your house , this weekend buy juice, or even water and gala and give them, they will appreciate it.
The politicians keep the police men in penury so they can use them to settle scores, abi will you tell a police man who earns N150,000.00 a month, has a wife and 3 kids in university, with a neat apartment in Ikeja to carry a stuffed ballot box during elections? He will simply arrest you. The democracy we crave starts from having someone to enforce it, the Police the Judiciary workers, God bless them, they are doing their best.
Its our problem, we can solve it.
Kalu Aja
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