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Showing posts from 2012

LESSONS FROM OBAMA'S VICTORY

Last night thousands of Nigerians stayed awake not to watch the World Cup as they did in 1994. No they were awake in wait of the presidential elections in the United States of America. It was that important or fascinating to them. The American presidential elections are an interest to worldwide audiences and serve as a role model to emerging democracies. The United States however, are not the originators of the democratic practice. Democracy or government of the people for the people by the people began in Greece. The Greek city states of yore took it upon themselves to take their destinies in their own hands. They would not leave it in the hands of any other without their permission. And so they began meeting each man speaking his own words on issues bothering the common good. It is not without flaws or devoid of weaknesses but to quote Winston Churchill, “...it is the best damn thing on the block.” With time, democracy has evolved from an era where a community of no more

MILAN CAN START AFRESH

For AC Milan there is lot of love lost between the club and its fans. The team has failed to win two league matches at home. It struggled to get a win at Bologna and then could not get a win over Belgian side Anderlecht in the Champions League. The explanation for this deep in form is easy for the blind to spot. Departure of accomplished veterans and sale of the clubs best two players. It has exposed the club to the manager’s weakness or perhaps poses an opportunity for the 46 year old Max Allegri to prove that winning the league title in his first year in charge was no fluke by securing a Champions League spot come May 2013. How will Mr. Allegri turn Milan’s fortune’s around? First, he must work on Milan’s build up. Even with players like Seedorf, Robinho and Ibrahimovic, Milan deployed a lot of long balls last season and looked like an English team perfecting kick and follow. That long ball tactic has to stop. Mr. Allegri must work on developing a style that creates space for s

How Oil Fraud Fleeces Nigeria

How Oil Fraud Fleeces Nigeria With queues returning to filling stations everywhere, it is altogether fitting that someone took out time to investigate how these import crooks defraud Nigerians through illegal subsidy claims. Of course there is always a way around a system designed to protect the people especially when the guards are not committed to securing the people. The practices are not only devious but evil. They prove that a bulk of the importers are in the trade of exploitation and not importation. They and our very indolent, yet very well paid Federal Government make sure that Nigerians are always at the receiving end of such bad service in a court where the ball, raquet and game is theirs. In every trade, there are honest traders, it is improper to declare that all fuel importers are of the same breed. There are actually legitimate fuel importers that do not claim subsidy payments for unimported fuel. They are the ones responsible for our having fuel at all. Credit or r

N5,000 NOTE AND THE REST OF US.

For starters, I am not an economist. I am not an economist in the mould of them that work in the Central Bank of Nigeria at least. I am not an economist like Lamido Sanusi Lamido or men who say this today and does another the next day. Here is a man who argued vehemently about the costs of printing and moving money about. He almost with that proclamation made illegal the legal tender in circulation. Only a few months later, the former risk manager thinks it wise to expend N40B to print a new N5,000 denomination. The Americans think a flip-flop is a peculiar problem in their country. They are mistaken. Arguments like, having a hundred thousand Naira in one’s pocket does not affect the way one spends one thousand Naira and that higher denominations do not result in inflation have been offered freely by the country’s apex bank and its governor. Several editorials have also been written on the intended policy. One of them written by Business Day backs the idea of the new denomination.

Abati's Epistle

Special Adviser (Media and Publicity) to President Jonathan   Dr. Reuben Abati began an epistle meant to save the president’s dwindling reputation in the face of his numerous woes. But apart from being a well worded piece from a master at the use of words, the write up failed essentially to make a saint of the villain that President Goodluck Jonathan has become to his critics. The former member of the Guardian’s editorial board who was a widely acknowledged critic of the government has since his conversion to the presidential faith, become an unyielding apostle of the virtues of that religion. But unlike Paul, his epistle fails to convert any of the unbelievers to the new religion. The president argues the epistle is of common descent, educated and likes the company of intelligent men. He does not take alcohol except wine on occasion and exercises very well. He is also a very detribalized and passionate Nigerian who has made the presence of women in his government a commonplace.

Dell to Arik Air, come in please...

“Dell to Arik Air, come in please….” " Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it ." George Santayana Dell Hell should never have happened but it did. It all began when global PC manufacturing giant, Dell Computers ignored a justifiably aggrieved customer. The customer, Jeff Jarvis incidentally was a blogger and owner of the already popular blog, buzzmachine.com. In June 2005 , the laptop he purchased from Dell Computers developed a fault almost immediately after he took delivery, leading him to lodge a complaint with the company. The unsatisfactory customer service he subsequently received compelled him to take his frustrations online and make his experience known to the public via his blog. It is probable that Jarvis did not expect the initial responses he got; 253 comments by fellow aggrieved customers. Dell Computers returned the laptop, still not functioning and what began as a rant gradually turned to rage and then hell for Dell Computers

Boring Government in Abuja

Every person in the calling of creativity sometimes experience a period in which ideas stop flowing momentarily leading to a lag in such creative activity. It is called different names in various fields. Writers call it writer’s block, football teams call it moments of desperation and even travelling experiences such difficulties known as traffic jam or better still go slow . Somehow, these lags do not last forever, they eventually clear up within a few moments, or hours and in certain cases weeks. In the end the person rises to new feats. One such office experiencing a lag on ideas and action is the leadership of Nigeria. The government is simply put experiencing its lowest ebb in terms of ideation and action. The country has never known this height of stagnation since its independence, not even in the Abacha years was Nigeria this stagnant on the drive to progress. President Goodluck Jonathan declared in self defence that the terror menace of Boko Haram has become a huge distra

JONATHAN'S IMPEACHMENT: A SMOKESCREEN

As the impeachment saga began raging a few weeks ago, many commentators have begun to assess the performance of the president since he stopped acting as president out of necessity and became the real life president. Many have reached critical conclusions that either suggests the president is doing a fair job given his very good excuse and others that Dr. Goodluck Jonathan deserves more time. None of the commentaries thus far has been written in praise of the president. Budget implementation, the bone of contention, is the grouse of the sponsor of the impeachment notice Hon. Gbajabiamila. According to him, the president has not fared well on the issue of implementing the 2012 Budget and as such should get the boot come September. The presidency on its part has reacted with figures and some more figures. It has also passed some of the buck back to the National Assembly and found a technical excuse that the budget was passed in April as reason for a failure in implementation. It

Occupy Nigeria: The Fourth Arm of Government

Occupy Nigeria started trending again this morning on social network Twitter. The reason for this is partly because there are suspicions the present administration plots to increase the pump price of PMS in a few weeks. The response and reaction from hundreds of thousands of Nigerians on the social network has been astounding. It felt like January 1 2012 all over again. Yours truly had to quickly leave the office to ask a fuel station attendant the current pump price of fuel. After being reassured by the attendant that it was still N97, there was no need to panic. The argument that will be offered for a new increase in the pump price of PMS is not new, it is a stale argument that has been waged over and over again with many people who oppose such a hike. While there might not be any formal announcement by the regime to confirm the speculation or any statement made thus far by the president’s spokesman who is also on the social network to douse the already rising feeling of ang

Nigerian Sports: The Many Issues.

Are the days gone when Nigerians countdown to sporting events? What happened to the most unifying factor in the country? Where has all the talent gone? Sports in Nigeria has suddenly become another failing sector, just what is wrong with Nigerian sports? The Olympic Games will begin in a few days, yet there is no feeling of excitement or anticipation. There are far greater concerns that even a distraction as thrilling as football cannot draw attention. The Olympic Games will be watched with indifference and perhaps a gold medal might re-inspire but does Nigeria have a gold medal hopeful? The answer is difficult to reach. In the not distant past, Nigeria used to be a name revered by many others in the round leather game of football. On the African scene, the Super Eagles were accorded more respect than even more successful countries at the African cup of Nations. All that has changed. It is not the cycle theory as some might suggest because certain elements that are needed to

Ceremonial Permanent Secretary

Yesterday there was a tanker a explosion that gutted many with severe burns and left 87 others dead. There were other more serious issues in Nigeria that craved attention yet it was the news that Dame Patience Jonathan, first lady and wife of President Goodluck Jonathan had become Permanent Secretary to the Bayelsa state government that became the talk everywhere. She will serve in absentia said the spokesman of the first lady Mr. Osinlu. She will also not get paid for the position. Before now, Dame Patience Jonathan had been civil servant with Bayelsa State ministry of education. Her elevation to deputy first lady as wife of the deputy governor prevented her from continuing in the service. Somehow, the Bayelsa governor found it wise to appoint her a permanent secretary. Only a few weeks ago, her husband’s spokesman Dr. Abati had insisted the president can run the country from anywhere. He argued that with advances in technology, that it was possible for the president to rule

Network Dey Down

Mr. Donald Aigbe walked into his Access bank Ikotun branch yesterday to withdraw the sum of N25,000 to pay his son's school fees. He was told of a challenge with the server. He waited hours on end for the server to return from its trek to a meeting of servers somewhere till late in the afternoon. He and many others were unable to get their cash withdrawals. Several other customers had similar challenges in branches of the bank since their acquisition of Intercontinental Bank Plc. At some time during the day, Access bank ATMs began functioning but were uncharacteristically slow at paying customers of both banks. The ordeal is worse for customers of Oceanic and Ecobanks since the acquisition by the later. At the weekend, most branches of the banks were shut to customers making withdrawals and in some branches, not opened at all. The challenge is caused by the need to integrate and merge two different databases into one. IT experts believe it is a daunting task considering the ban

Season of Dissatisfaction

Dissatisfaction, that is the word that describes how ordinary Nigerians feel about this present administration. Not only is the administration under-delivering on nearly all facets, it is unable to do anything by itself except make the proclamation: “I want to reassure all Nigerians.” Those assurances are now taken for a pinch of dust. Nigerians were dissatisfied when the administration led by His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan through his media aide Dr. Reuben Abati announced a new committee to reconcile and rectify subsidy payments to importers, a role Nigerians believe the government can accomplish without a committee. They got even more dissatisfied when news broke out that Ice Energy Limited had one Aig-Imoukhuede as a director and coincidentally the chairman of the new committee. Ice Energy was fingered by the Farouk Lawan ad-hoc committee for receiving subsidy payments and not having any verified PMS delivered. Dissatisfaction no longer captures or truly portrays th

Anyhow Football Must Stop

The final whistle had sounded, Spain had humiliated Italy at the final of the European Championship. It was an emphatic victory that led many to compare Spain’s national team La Furja Roja to Brazil’s Selecao of the late sixties and early seventies. Such was the convincing manner of the victory that the comparison was necessary. This piece is however not a review of that final where yours truly with a deep understanding of the Calcio (Italian football) had been disappointed. This piece is about the lessons learnt from that competition and the expectation that football administrators, coaches and indeed fans are learning that football is beyond its present standard in Nigeria, a realisation that should call for thinking and action. Administration has been one of our failures as a football country but then, that will be talk for another day. Where this piece will dwell on is the manager and his players. Nigeria’s national teams for the past ten years have struggled to make sign