Joshua King's Free Press

"Over the years, we have listened to very beautiful and impressive budget speeches eloquently delivered in this chamber. Unfortunately, the implementation has not matched the words as economic policies often lack continuity and projects are needlessly discarded or abandoned". So began the Senate President, David Mark before the President Goodluck Jonathan presented his budget 2012 proposal to a joint session of the National Assembly. One need not be an Alan Greenspan to see that there is no hope for the people in the budget proposal.The Goodluck led Federal Government will spend 72% of the budget paying salaries to the national assembly, ministers, federal workers, the army, police and all other federal government institutions. The left over would be spent on building roads, bridges and other things. Also important to note is that this budget proposal seeks to put an end to subsidy on petroleum products with President Jonathan arguing at every opportunity that the subsidy...

We must think in terms of solutions, positive solutions. Our league is boring let's make it interesting the stadiums are empty let's hype it and make it lively the referees always make wrong calls let's give them headsets for instant calls the players play kick and follow let's give them pitches green and not yellow the coaches talk like beginners let's train them to become regulars our pockets are picked and ladies harassed let's get adequate security amassed white balls gets out, blue balls get in let's get the same white balls and begin Our game cannot continue to go like this we have to play better than this an any how approach by that coach will most definitely bring reproach this is football and it is our game we play it for fun and even for fame Brazil, Italy, Germany, Argetina all get it right Nigeria let's do it with all our might it requires energy, skill and hardwork yes more of those n a lil luck will make it work ...

Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently. ~Henry Ford At the time of going to write this piece, the Nigeria Football Federation Board had gone to a meeting to review the year 2011. Most of us have already done so and come to a conclusion: it was a season of failures. A lack of talent in the local league caused by persistent exodus of players who go to Europe where they are not well received these days owing to the age cheat factor go on to unknown places like China, Sudan and Pakistan. A lack of succession plan for players in the national teams, loss of form by our players, mismanagement of players by the coaches, tactical inconsistency amongst others have been some of the reason for this season of failures. Chief amongst reasons however, is the persistent disorganization within the NFF. For the greater part of last year and early this year, there were tussles of varying sorts and degrees about the legitimacy of the current board. It dragged on in variou...

Most of us can read the writing on the wall; we just assume it's addressed to someone else. Heart of the Matter an introduction Fuel subsidy removal has been one of the most prevalent issues on the front burner in Nigeria and might not cease to be until the federal government positively decides to do so. It is no news that the FG subsidizes petroleum product for the Nigerian populace. The FG however, is weary of this responsibility and wishes to pass it on to the Nigerian publics who have vehemently refused it in the past. It should not take a prophet to tell the president, that another attempt would be met by either an equal resistance or perhaps worse i.e. a Nigerian version of the Arab spring. The situation Nationally owned refineries are in a state of limited functionality (figures continue to vary by the hour). This limited functionality of local refineries has brought about importation of refined petroleum products into a country rich (the sixth largest producer) in cru...

SOCIALISM You have 2 cows. You give one to your neighbor. COMMUNISM You have 2 cows. The State takes both and gives you some milk. FASCISM You have 2 cows. The State takes both and sells you some milk. NAZISM You have 2 cows. The State takes both and shoots you. BUREAUCRATISM You have 2 cows. The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other, and then throws the milk away. TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows. You sell them and retire on the income. ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND (VENTURE) CAPITALISM You have two cows. You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows. The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island Company secretly owned by the...