Friday 28 October 2011

It Gets Worse...Nigeria's Dept now N6.02 Trillion.

From ThisdayLive today...

"Chairman of the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, Senator Ehigie Uzamere (ACN, Edo), said yesterday that the country’s total debt now stands at US$39.72 billion (N6.02 trillion), of which external and domestic debts are US$5.398 billion and N5.210 trillion, respectively.
He said during the inauguration of the committee that “this amount is unsettling and called for concern.”
This is even as the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, berated past administrations in the country for taking foreign loans for specific projects, which were later abandoned.
In his opening remarks at the committee’s inauguration, Uzamere urged governments at various levels to “focus more on borrowing for projects with self-repaying capacity and job generation rather than borrowing to finance gaps in budgets that are largely recurrent”
He noted that while the total debt of N6.02 trillion was more than the Federal Government’s annual budget, its external component translated to 2.76 per cent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and its domestic component translated to 17.53 per cent of GDP"
I will join Uzamere to ask this question, "Do we have the capacity to repay this money considering our yearly revenue profile? What is the future value of the total debt in 10 years’ time, considering the way we are going? ( emphatic addition mine).
`
Go here to read it in full and hope you don't end up crying for Nigeria Like I have found myself doing in recent times.

Sunday 23 October 2011

Letter to GEJ

Dear President Jonathan,

Greetings from disappointed Nigerians.

Yes we are disappointed, not with Mr Ebele Jonathan "the teacher" but with Jonathan the "President". We are disappointed because for months on end prior to the elections in April, we did all we could to sensitize youths our age to come out and vote. I for one, did not fail in telling every one around me how we can make a change if we vote this time and not just vote anybody but vote you, GEJ. Our opinion was that judging by where you are coming from, you would have seen the demons sucking Nigeria's blood from the everyday Nigerian man's perspective. How wrong we were!

I do not doubt that you are a good man and my opinion has not changed with respect to that but I now doubt if you were really qualified for this job in the first place. Don't get me wrong, politically speaking you are qualified, you have the minimum education standard, you belong to a political party, you have god -fathers and now we know you have become god -father to so many whom you must feed their insatiable appetite first, before you look around, but are you the Leader that will spear head the change that we need?.

The type of leaders nobody in Nigeria wanted after April 2011 are: the type that will stick to Status quo and drive Nigeria from stagnation to death and decomposition; the type that will retain some officials and appoint others, as soon as they take over office solely for the purpose of being thought how best to steal the money without being caught; the type that Nigerians spit at the mention of their names. Is this your career goal?

Why have you refused to do things differently since you assumed office?  There is a concept about justice, that it does not only have to be done but also seen to have been done, so please do not start with all the projects you have initiated or contracts that have been awarded and  signed that only exist on paper and in the media world ( not like the media is even reporting them with elation,they are merely doing their job).

When you were in the classrooms and your salary was delayed or left unpaid, I bet you thought to yourself " If I become governor of Bayelsa, I will do it differently" But now , you have long surpassed that stage, we have given you the highest platform to make the biggest changes, what are you waiting for?

Why can't you see that the only leaders who succeed are the ones who have an independent people oriented dream/love for their country, do you even have a personal affection for Nigeria and all it stands for?

Why can't you see that the biggest challenge to governance in Nigeria is corruption and  the multiplicity and duplicity of organs, bodies and offices in the system. How come we have ministers ,directors and chairmen of one body who themselves have Special advisers, personal assistants, chief security officers and protocol officers. The Assistants themselves, employ assistants whose job is to help them hold oga's handkerchief while they hold his 5 handsets...it is madness.These people have assess to our money one way or the other and so the number of thieves are even more staggering, than the normal Nigerian knows.


How about my friend here? Did it have to get to this before he can get a job?
Camera pix on a friend's FB page
No matter how absurd it sounds, this is the plight of most Nigerian youths. And yet, job creation was the foremost on your list of promises.

Sunday 16 October 2011

Occupy Nigeria?

I have asked  countless times on this blog , Are we are really sure we want to see changes in Nigeria?
I am asking because, it appears Nigerians are among the only people in the world who transfer their grievances of a very badly run State either to God or to other innocent Nigerians by taking to crime or butchering people under some religious guise.
From the wake of the Arab Spring, to the most recent "Occupy" movements which has now spread to over 82 countries world wide, including South Africa which we all adjudge politically better  than Nigeria, Nigerians are the only ones who complain about everything in the polity, but never lift a finger of change.

It does not have to be an "Occupy" protest, but me thinks Nigeria needs a revolution of some sort.
What the participants of this Occupy movement are protesting against are, Social and Economic Inequality, Corporate greed, Influence of Corporate Money and Lobbyists on the government. Go to Wiki to read the genesis of it. Hmm, Nigerians have known  worse than these.

Lobbyists! From those who will see that our railways never work because they have transportation companies that carry heavy duties via road and as such lobby to protect their selfish interests, to those who will sit on Power negotiations because they are the highest importers of generator sets in the country. What is even not wrong with the system we call Nigeria, what is there not be disenchanted about?

An Asian friend once said, "if Nigerians will dedicate 1/4 of the time they spend at tarry nights and in praying for their problems, to finding solutions to those problems, they would have long solved their problems"
Don't get me wrong, I love to pray but I also know that no matter how long we pray, we will have to clean up our own mess by ourselves. God is not the Culprit, people are.  In fact we all are! If the good ones will not do anything to cure the anomaly in Nigeria, then we all are contributors to it.

Tuesday 4 October 2011

Amanda Knox- Freed at last!

Just yesterday the Italian Appeal Court acquitted Amanda Knox and her boyfriend Rafaelle Sollecito of the Murder charge that has kept them in prison for almost four years. Here is how it was reported by BBC news.

 Source- BBC YouTube Videos

Saturday 1 October 2011

Nigeria @ 51, Sights and Sounds of Hope!

Nigeria a Country of Over 160 million people first flew its flag of Independence on the 1st of October 1960.
51 years on, today we are marking that Independence.
What we are celebrating is not 'our arrival' at our set-out goals but our resilience and persistence in attaining 'that goal'
The goal being Peace,Progress and Prosperity- a nation where corruption is shunned and human life valued above ethnicity, culture and religion.  Here are a few of the numerous colourful pictures and sounds that heralded the celebration- our prayer is that what happened this day last year never repeats itself, Amen.

The celebration kicked off with the customary Presidential address, you can watch it here and a lot of pump and pageantry in National Colours both at home and abroad.
More pictures and video when you continue.