@Akainzo
What you are telling below is technical stuff. May be you are more knowledgable here than myself I don't know, but it is not about the technicals.

Atiku, his relation, his friend, his distant relations and friends, acquiantances and any entities associated with them cannot buy any of the companies - that is the lack of morals in public service that defines Atiku. And he knows how to wriggle out of it too!!!

I know what happened to the Port Harcourt Refinery - a good reason why Yar'adua carried on a vendetta on OBJ. One of the first things Yar'adua did was rescind the sale of those refineries.

They are all a bunch of thieves!!!!

One day will be one day.

Akainzo:

From the above, it shows that you are one of those that go postulating without knowledge. Do you know the privatization process / procedures operating in Nigeria? Let me educate you, it is an auction. It goes to the highest bidder that have passed the technical qualifications. Those companies need to be sold and were sold at the best economic price for Nigeria.
Compare that to when BPE sold Nitel to Pentascope, it brought the company down and made it moribund. Or is is Ajaokuta or DSC? Remove the speck in your eyes and start reasoning.

And he did not sell the companies to himself, as if by fiat. Let me ask you, do you know of the PortHarcourt Refinery fiasco, the reason for the personal animosity between him and OBJ prior to the Third Term? Obviously, you do not read to learn nor follow the goings on in this country but only woke up to start spewing because an inexperienced and majorly incompetent ND person is contesting.

Obiagu please ignore Koruji on issues that have to do with Soludo.

It seems like he will rather talk about Soludo than defend GEJ's budget.

@Obiagu1
The reason is because he made proposals that were intended to deal with it. His proposal, which I decided not to include in my last post, was that Nigeria remove 2 zeros from our currency, so that $1=N1.5 instead of $1=N150.

I believe arguing that Prof. Soludo did not know what was going on with the world economy at the point insults his intelligence.

Let's not focus too much on him. I admire his body of work and he did well for the most part under OBJ.

Obiagu1:

This is why I have problem with people. How do you know he knew about it? Was any article published on this issue before they were discovered by Sanusi? Just a link and the case will be put to rest, else leave Soludo alone.

For the record, I am neither for or against Atiku, GEJ or any other presidential aspirant.

I'm just flipping the other side of the coin.

I'll continue this yan tomorrow abeg

@mikeansy
You are categorizing me unnecessarily. I am not going to defend GEJ's budget, and have stated clearly that this massive borrowing is not good for Nigeria - and actually condemned it back when Aganga started laying the groundwork for it several months ago.

I just don't want to hear Atiku using this to promote his political career - since his pedigree suggest he would do worse.

If Atiku wants to be taken seriously, let him come and tell us what he would do different.

I don't know why Soludo is not out there campaigning to be President - that he lost the governorship election is no reason. Ribadu is out there!!!!

mikeansy:

Obiagu please ignore Koruji on issues that have to do with Soludo.

It seems like he will rather talk about Soludo than defend GEJ's budget.

koruji:

@Akainzo
What you are telling below is technical stuff. May be you are more knowledgable here than myself I don't know, but it is not about the technicals.

Atiku, his relation, his friend, his distant relations and friends, acquiantances and any entities associated with them cannot buy any of the companies - that is the lack of morals in public service that defines Atiku. And he knows how to wriggle out of it too!!!

I know what happened to the Port Harcourt Refinery - a good reason why Yar'adua carried on a vendetta on OBJ. One of the first things Yar'adua did was rescind the sale of those refineries.

They are all a bunch of thieves!!!!

The above made me laugh quite amusingly. If that were to happen, you'd be selling our commonwealth to foreigners. Pray tell me, which big time industrialist in Nigeria is not an acquaintance of either Atiku or OBJ as of that time?

And for your information, nothing in our constitution or laws precludes the CBN governor from owning shares in a bank in Nigeria while in office! That unfortunately is the law.

You might also want to read up on Tony Blair and the drug importer that financed his political campaign. Do read up the house of commons conclusion on it.

@Akainzo
You can laugh, but I am going to search the rules governing the BPE to figure out which ones Atiku, OBJ and others wily-nily violated.

However, let us not get into that same argument of they are corrupt over there so nothing can be wrong with our corruption. You are talking about death (Nigerian corruption) and sleep (Blair financier).

Just a couple of years ago an Alaskan senator of several decades lost his seat because he accepted gifts of several dollars from some contractors - not even in cash! The standard we need to emerge from our disastrous state need to be higher than that.

What do prosecutors allege Stevens got out of the deal?
• A new 1999 Land Rover worth $44,000, for his youngest child.
• Renovations to his Girdwood home that doubled its size. A new first floor was added with two bedrooms and a bathroom. Also new: a garage, workshop, wraparound decks, wiring, plumbing, and a heat tape system on the roof. Stevens says he paid every invoice he was given.
• A new Viking gas grill, new and used furniture, and a storage cabinet stocked with tools.
• Repairs to the boiler and heating system.

What did Veco chief executive Bill Allen get out of the deal?
• A 1964 Ford Mustang valued at less than $20,000, plus $5,000, in exchange for the Land Rover.
• Stevens' help with various Veco funding requests, grants and projects including, according to the indictment, projects in Pakistan and Russia; grants to benefit Veco, its subsidiaries and business partners including grants from the National Science Foundation; and help on state and federal issues connected to construction of a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope.

Read more: http://www.adn.com/2008/07/30/479199/what-stevens-and-allen-are-accused.html#ixzz19vXZ9d3T

Akainzo:

The above made me laugh quite amusingly. If that were to happen, you'd be selling our commonwealth to foreigners. Pray tell me, which big time industrialist in Nigeria is not an acquaintance of either Atiku or OBJ as of that time?

And for your information, nothing in our constitution or laws precludes the CBN governor from owning shares in a bank in Nigeria while in office! That unfortunately is the law.

You might also want to read up on Tony Blair and the drug importer that financed his political campaign. Do read up the house of commons conclusion on it.

koruji:

@Obiagu1
The reason is because he made proposals that were intended to deal with it. His proposal, which I decided not to include in my last post, was that Nigeria remove 2 zeros from our currency, so that $1=N1.5 instead of $1=N150.

I believe arguing that Prof. Soludo did not know what was going on with the world economy at the point insults his intelligence.

Let's not focus too much on him. I admire his body of work and he did well for the most part under OBJ.

Knowing what was going on in the world economy is different from having knowledge about the internal corruption in the banks. I even know what was going on in the world economy but have no hint about the excesses of the bank CEOs.

The removal of 2 zeros has nothing to do with the corruption but all to do with the value of our Naira, I think Ghana did similar thing before.

You have to differentiate between the two, world economy and internal bank corruption.

Like I asked before, if there's any publication, article, etc on the corruption of bank CEOs before Sanusi's tenure, lets see it.

GOD BLESS YOU,ATIKU.I ve followed the trends since GEJ concocted this budget,and if the views of experts is anything to go by,the budget is another hollow ritual(read punch for views of Dr.teriba,economic consultant,Manufacturers Ass. of Nigeria(MAN),Lagos chambers of Commerce and industry,Yei Kolapo of Punch etc.).I must confess none made as much sense to me as Atiku's!I am a scientist and I work with facts,We must reject this budget.We must demand that this current budget is simply unsustainable!How can you be digging bigger holes(of debt) to get sand to fill smaller holes(of debt).OMG!
We must empasise that this big govt built on borrowing is a product of incompetent thinking and use it to insist GEJ do the right thing before he thinks of getting our votes.Little wonder,year in year out,all the roads are not done,capital votes are never released(because its technically zero % in budgets) yet all the overpampered and incandescently infuriating political misfits and barren civil servants COLLECT 100%  unmerited salaries,allowances for doing absolutely NOTHING!Reason-there is no money for capital votes!We must stop this madness!

All of Okonjo Iwealas work has been reversed by Goodthief Jonathan who needs the money to settle the boys.

Not that Atiku is any better.

I would rather stick my head in a pot of boiling oil than listen to two thieves argue about fiscal responsibility.

Akainzo:

You might also want to read up on Tony Blair and the drug importer that financed his political campaign. Do read up the house of commons conclusion on it.

I think I missed this debate regarding Tony Blair and the drug importer  who financed his political campaign. It would be nice if you enlighten us (with links if possible).
Thanks.

PS
Just remember if you're stupid enough to vote Atiku, the least you could do is, advice him not to travel outside Nigeria.
He may not be corrupt using Nigerian yardstick, but a fukking thief if you use international standard.

pls let us be focused on the substance.Right now I am not really interested in the messenger,my people THE MESSAGE IS THAT,our roads are never going to be fixed,the infrastructures are not likely to get the INTENSIVE CARE they seriously require next year!Reason-not because of atiku(who happens to be the messenger) but it will take our docility and negative distractions from the subsatance-OUR BUDGETS ARE ALWAYS DELIBERATELY CRAFTED TO SHORTCHANGE US NIGERIANS!Its good something can still be done since the budget is yet to be passed,its just unfortunate that we still dont have sincere leadership in this country.A sincere leader should be able to see through this deceit called 2011 budget.We must speak against this NFA budget. The sad thing is that,this sad story called 2011 bugdet proposal has been replicated in almost all the 36 sates and 774 LGAs of the federation!We are a country at war with itself,infact,waste should be the middle name of our leaders.imagine the proportion of funds used to fund inefficiency and corruption.Have you imagined all the tiers of govt borrowing from banks to pay salaries of a lazy incompetent and corrupt civil service,buy diesels for generators,cars etc.They are robbing my today and still busy piling up debts for my grand and great -grand kids and you think i bother about the alleged notoriety of one of them called atiku!

what I dont get is how Atiku with the numerous charges against him, is allowed to run. Should he not be clearing his name first.
I have often said that we get the leader we deserve, if Nigerians can even consider one who is wanted for money laundering charges. Let him go to the US and clear his name, rather than debating issues I doubt he has a clue about. The guy is just not fit to be considered in any way

It is not about personalities now, it is about facts and figures. Dont allow your bias against Atiku to blind your eyes to facts. I dont like Atiku either.

Don't worry. The facts and figures are only guides which can be amended on the ground as realities unfold.

But note that Atiku is a failure who could not exhibit good leadership in the little opportunity given him under Obj, and under normal conditions for that matter. I bet you, Atiku will be more confused under the present tension GEJ is managing. GEJ is in the arena while we are mere spectators. I must confess that GEJ is learning and maturing faster than I imagined. So, give GEJ a chance.

Honestly and with all sincerity, Atiku has been the only aspirant discussing real issues in this campaign, I am not a PDP fan but Atiku has focused his campaign on issues. He has talked on economy , security, infrastructure, transportation, agriculuture.

His debate on the economy and budget on this thread would have every layman understanding the fallacies of GEJ. Except you are a bigot you should realise that this kind of budget if implemented for 4 years of GEj administration nothing tangible can come out of it. People scream no power, no roads, no good transport, no rail no security but we should just look at this budget and understand that in the next 4 years it would be the same old song.

For how long do we continue to vote based on tribe allegiance and stereotypes. People screaming Atiku is corrupt are not wrong but he his just as corrupt as GEJ himself. On corruption level they are at par so we should leave corruption aside and discuss the issue they both analyse. GEJ IMO is as dull as a Humty Dumty, he his naive, he his clueless, no swagger at all, he has no plan for Nigeria, four more years of GEJ would be a disaster for this country. His first budget is would have an educated market woman scream if it is explained to her.

People saying Atiku did not write the piece himself should understand that even Obama did not write his economic policy himself, the role of an administrator or leader is the ability to organise people and administer them in order to efficiently use them to get things done. A president would not be the one to write his budget but he would be the one to set the agenda and people to formulate policies according to his agenda.

Lets forget about personality and focus on issues. Read the leaked strategy plan of GEJ for rigging and you would understand that there is no difference btw GEJ and OBJ. GEJ has bombimg in his home state every now and then, he has no solution to it, his kinsmen bombed Abuja and no conviction has even been made, security is as its worst, please another 4 years of GEJ is doom for this country.

jamace:



Don't worry. The facts and figures are only guides which can be amended on the ground as realities unfold.

But note that Atiku is a failure who could not exhibit good leadership in the little opportunity given him under Obj, and under normal conditions for that matter. I bet you, Atiku will be more confused under the present tension GEJ is managing. GEJ is in the arena while we are mere spectators. I must confess that GEJ is learning and maturing faster than I imagined. So, give GEJ a chance.

Brother I dont like Atiku but let us tell truth, Atiku exhibited good leadership under OBJ, he organised all the governors and organised PDP. It is old news he was instrumental into El rufai and other into the govt. Even the leaked GEJ campaign strategy acknowledged his leadership prowess and organisational power.

A president of a multi complex country like Nigeria should not be learning on the job. The result of learning is20 killed by terrorist MEND in Abuja, 80 killed in Jos by terrorists, 30 killed in Abuja by terrorist, 2 killed in Bayelsa by terrorist, kidnappings everyday, a clueless budget and more embarrassing a president that admits he his not capable and has no administrative experience.

I would not vote PDP but rather Buhari,Ribadu or Utomi but within the PDP Atiku is far better than GEJ. A president that says publicly Nigeria should pray so that terrorist would confess is not just a fool but a celeberated fool with a spice of idiocy.

Strong value of currency does not necessary translate to strong economy.What is the Value of the Japanese Yen to other major currency,same goes to the Chinese currency.so stop the alarmist posture here

WE HAVE LOADS OF DUMB GEJ KINDS IN THIS FORUM. CAN U IMAGINE A THIEF LIKE ATIKU RAISED FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES CONCERNING WERE GEJ ECONOMIC POLICIES WILL BE LEADING US TO AND A slowpoke IN THIS FORUM RATHER THAN COUNTER ATIKUS CLAIM WITH A SUPERIOR ARGUMENT AND MATCH HIM FACT FOR FACT ONLY RESORTED BY SAYING ATIKU IS A THIEF.

THE GUY IS IS RAISING VITAL ISSUES AND I SEE REASONS WITH HIS ARGUMENT, Y SHLD WE BE BORROWING WHEN THERE IS A BOOM IN TERMS OF OIL REVENUE? WE HARD TO SET ASIDE THE ECA ACCOUNT SO AS TO FALL BACK TO IT WHEN THERE IS A DROP IN ANTICIPATED REVENUE FROM THE OIL SECTOR SO AS TO CUSHION THE EFFECTS AND STILL MOVE ON WITHOUT MUCH ADVERSE EFFECT ON THE ECONOMY BUT GEJ IS DOING THE OPPOSITE.

WE SHOULD DROP THIS STUPID SENTIMENTS OR AFFILIATION FOR THESE DUMB ASPIRANTS AND ADDRESS THE ISSUES RAISED. IM NOT AN ECONOMIST EITHER AND IT DOES NOT NEED ONE TO HAVE THE BRAINS OF AN ELEPHANT TO SEE WERE THESE ECONOMIC DAFTNESS FROM OUR PRESIDENT WILL BE TAKING US TO.


A PRESIDENT THAT SORT FOR APPROVAL TO BORROW $3BILLION DOLLARS WAS ALSO IN A HURRY TO SHARE 1$BILLION DOLLARS ON THE 31ST DEC 2010 WITH HIS FELLOW THIEVING GOVERNORS AND THEIR LIKES.


ATIKU IS A THIEF YES WE ALL KNOW AND HE CANT AND WILL NEVER SMELL THAT PRESIDENTIAL SEAT IN HIS LIFE TIME BUT GEJ IS THE NEW DAFT,DUMB ROGUE IN THE DA HOOD.

I GUESS HE IS GETTING HIS ECONOMIC POLICIES FROM ANIMAL FARM AS A ZOOLOGIST HE IS.

MEN ATIKU MADE SO MUCH SENSE AND RAISED SO MUCH FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS, I EXPECT WE THE YOUNGER GENERATIONS TO START BEING REASONABLE AND ADDRESS ISSUES WHEN A VALID POINT IS RAISED THAN TO GO DUMB AND DAFT LIKE OUR CHOSEN MENTORS AND MORTGAGE OUR FUTURE BECAUSE OF TRIVIAL SENTIMENTS WHICH YOU WONT STILL BE A DIRECT BENEFICIARY.

GEJ SUPPORTERS OVER TO U, ADDRESS THE POINTS RAISED BY ATIKU AND SHOW US THE RATIONAL BEHIND THE 2011 BUDGET AS PROPOSED BY MR PRESIDENT.

A BUDGET THAT PROPOSES TO SPEND HEAVILY ON RECURRENT EXPENDITURE AS AGAINST CAPITAL EXPENDITURE DESPITE THE FACT THAT NIGERIANS CRIED OUT HEAVILY ABOUT THESE DEVELOPMENT BEFORE THE BUDGET WAS SUBMITTED TO THE LOOTING HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY FOR APPROVAL,YET GEJ DINT SEE THE NEED TO CHANGE THAT TREND BUT STILL WENT AHEAD TO PROPOSE SUCH. TOO BAD.


NOTHING GOOD CAN AND WILL EVER COME OUT OF PDP.

There is no that these politicians do not know exactly what the problem of Nigeria is.

Atiku may have raised valid points. FINE!
anybody, including my late grandmum would raise questions about Nigeria's economy.

People vying for any position will always find faults and Nigeria is no different.

It happened in France before Sarkozy was elected the president.
The UK is another prime example despite Gordon Brown being tagged the as the man who steadied the UK economy during Tony Blair's era. But that didn't stop Cameron and Osborne from tearing him to shreds. Are sarkozy and Cameron any better now?? Are they actually living up to their promises and sentiments now. Even Gordon became a laughing stock when he became PM. Examples abound.

Should these guys or even any other person attain the position of the president of Nigeria  all these claims, counter claims, 'I weep for nigeria', 'I will do this', 'I will do that', blah blah blah reh reh reh will be thrown out of the window and we will go back to square one.

Atiku is really raising the bar

why are nigerians so myopic and narrow minded, i am not an atiku supporter or GEJ supporter but wat atiku has pointed out with the help of soludo is a cause for concern, GEJ is inexperienced and doesnt know the working of govt, he is a dunce to say the least, this budget is a sham and needs to be looked at critically, because atiku pointed it out doesnt means its wrong, he made sense. if gej WINS 2011 NIGERIANS will suffer the kind of hardship that they have never suffered before, i cant vote anything PDP, i think right now i go with buhari

OMO IBO:

There is no that these politicians do not know exactly what the problem of Nigeria is.

Atiku may have raised valid points. FINE!
anybody, including my late grandmum would raise questions about Nigeria's economy.

People vying for any position will always find faults and Nigeria is no different.

It happened in France before Sarkozy was elected the president.
The UK is another prime example despite Gordon Brown being tagged the as the man who steadied the UK economy during Tony Blair's era. But that didn't stop Cameron and Osborne from tearing him to shreds. Are sarkozy and Cameron any better now?? Are they actually living up to their promises and sentiments now. Even Gordon became a laughing stock when he became PM.  Examples abound.

Should  these guys or even any other person attain the position of the president of Nigeria  all these claims, counter claims, 'I weep for nigeria', 'I will do this', 'I will do that', blah blah blah reh reh reh will be thrown out of the window and we will go back to square one.

Referring to the bolded: These are mere conjectures and figment of people's imagination. When I read comments as these I wonder why we then complain about our leaders. If everyone reasons along the line of thought of such a comment, it means we already know that our wleaders wll be bad even before they get into such positions. Since you already know prior to his/her being in the office to be a bad perso, why complain if he/she starts to exhibit his "bad" tendencies.

People should discuss issues based on the merits and demerits and try as much as possible to refrain from name calling. A number of contributors to this thread have referred to Atiku as a thief, yet none of them has come up with any concrete evidence to show that he's been indicted. The mighty Ribadu during his reign as EFCC helmsman was unable to pin Atiku with graft, yet we all claim he's stolen.

The budget from team GEJ is another way of continuous enslavement of the masses and Atiku has come forward to explain it to laymen, let's look at the merits in his claims and balance it with the defence which will surel;y come from team GEJ. The everyone with some tangible amount of reasonable grey matter in his skull will at least be able to tell which side makes better sense.

9ijaMan, I can't quote you as I'm using a phone so I can't quite respond to your post the way I'd like. Nonetheless, I'll fire away.

Bruv, I don't know how old you are. In anycase, regardless of your age, would you be kind enough to think of the last time Nigeria had a credible ruler??

Don't blame me for expressing my view. It was borne out of what I've seen and experienced. Having looked at the calibre of people contesting for the presidency I can't but shake my head. This is just a clear case of 'status quo continua'.

If tables were turned (Atiku as President and GEJ as an aspirant) same scenario will pan out. And that includes proding, poking, searching for faults in everything the seating president is doing/has done/will do.

Again, I am of the opinion that Sanusi and Aganga will see the budget in a different light. And I'm sure their explanation of the budget will be seen as plausible by many just as many of you agree with Atiku's view.

OMO IBO:

9ijaMan, I can't quote you as I'm using a phone so I can't quite respond to your post the way I'd like. Nonetheless, I'll fire away.

Bruv, I don't know how old you are. In anycase, regardless of your age, would you be kind enough to think of the last time Nigeria had a credible ruler??

Don't blame me for expressing my view. It was borne out of what I've seen and experienced. Having looked  at the calibre of people contesting for the presidency I can't but shake my head. This is just a clear case of 'status quo continua'.

If  tables were turned (Atiku as President and GEJ as an aspirant) same scenario will pan out. And that includes proding, poking, searching for faults in everything the seating president is doing/has done/will do.

Again, I am of the opinion that  Sanusi and Aganga will see the budget in a different light. And I'm sure their explanation of the budget will be seen as plausible by many just as many of you agree with Atiku's view.

I feel you bro! Perhaps I should state clearly, that I'm surely not a fan of Atiku. However based on the campaigns of the two supposed front runners in PDP (GEJ vs Atiku), I'll give it straight away to Atiku. Back to your question, I'm old enough to know that the last good government we had in Nigeria was when Buhari/Idiagbon held sway. A number of sensible (note the word sensible please) contributors on this thread may disagree with me 'cos they believe since Buhari came into power through the barrel of a gun, then nothing good could have evolved from his regime. A fallacy being peddled by western apologists  who believe that democracy is a direct ticket to national development.

I lived in in PH and did a lot of work in Bayelsa when GEJ was the governor of the state, and I've always known since then that he's as clueless as they come. Putting name calling aside, Atiku in my humbled opinion is by far a much smarter candidate than 10 of GEJ's put together. Hence if the tables were turned the same scenario would almost definitely not pan out. As someone mentioned in a post above, Atiku was instrumental to the inclusion of some of the technocrats who performed excellently into Obj's government and they only fell apart because Obj wanted a third term.

In conclusion, I'll agree with those who opined that nothing good can come out of PDP, hence my candidate of choice is Buhari!

9ijaMan:

I feel you bro! Perhaps I should state clearly, that I'm surely not a fan of Atiku. However based on the campaigns of the two supposed front runners in PDP (GEJ vs Atiku), I'll give it straight away to Atiku. Back to your question, I'm old enough to know that the last good government we had in Nigeria was when Buhari/Idiagbon held sway. A number of sensible (note the word sensible please) contributors on this thread may disagree with me 'cos they believe since Buhari came into power through the barrel of a gun, then nothing good could have evolved from his regime. A fallacy being peddled by western apologists who believe that democracy is a direct ticket to national development.

I lived in in PH and did a lot of work in Bayeslsa when GEJ was the governor of the state, and I've always know since then that he's as clueless as they come. Putting name calling aside, Atiku is my humbled opinion is by far a much smarter candidate than 10 of GEJ's put together. Hence if the tables were turned the same scenario would almost definitely not pan out. As someone mentioned in a post above, Atiku was instrumental to the inclusion of some of the technocrats who performed excellently into Obj's government and they nly fell apart because Obj wanted a third term.

In conclusion, I'll agree with those who opined that nothing good can come out of PDP, hence my candidate of choice is Buhari!

We are on the same page. I cannot understand how any intelligent person would continue to support a celeberated failure called GEJ or Goodthief if not for tribal sentiment or selfish personal interest. This guy is not only clueless but outright dumb in its full four letters. A president that says the nation should pray so that terrorist would confess their actions is not just a fool but a celebrated fool.

koruji:

we take oil from the ground and sell it using foreign companies (who steal us blind by the way), but we produce nothing beyond what[b] our farmer's[/b] grow from their day-in-day-out hard labor.

Thank you sir! Those [in bold]are the real heroes of the Nigerian Economy.

Thief 1 (Atiku) and his chief enemy, Thief 2 (GEJ) will both bring us more of the same.

I can't wait to read what Atiku I-have-a-brighter-halo-than-GEJ Abubakar's thoughts are on the issue of True Federalism

That is the debate I want, not this voodoo-economic posturing over weak socio-political foundations.

Atiku's economic team have done a good job breaking down and analysing the budget figures as the political 'opposition' are known to do.

What they have failed to tell us is how they would reduce the recurrent expenditure below the figure of N3.2Trillion they quoted. . . how much they would reduce it by. . . what and what items they would either cut or remove entirely from the budget. . . how exactly in detail they would finance the shortfall. . . in a nutshell they should produced their own 'budget' for 2011 so we can do a like-for-like comparison and see which one makes more economic sense!

how come atiku did not raise all these issues when his fellow northerner was at the president

miqos02:

how come atiku did not raise all these issues when his fellow northerner was at the president

Another bigoted post. What has Northerner or otherwise got to do with the topic?

9ijaMan:

Another bigoted post. What has Northerner or otherwise got to do with the topic?

friend i am not a bigot, dont forget that atiku is a consensus candidate of the NPLF and he keeps telling us so at every oppurtunity. now this is my point : even if his analysis of the budget were true, i think he is only trying to score political points
with that analysis,i mean he never for ones questioned yar adua's budget since 2007

So if atiku and co did a good job by exposing d flaws in d budget proposal by gej but dint explain futher what they wld do dfrntly is enuf ground by ur understanding to put aside their points aight and follow gej sheepishly to d slaughter aight? Somebody asked y atiku didnt raise dis kind of objection during yaradua's time sounds very pathetic to me. Atiku did contest d victory of yaradua in court and evn refused to withdraw d case frm court as against all plea from ACF,its either u are ignorant of these facts or u r in self denial or u aint resident in Nigeria. U shld also note that d issue in question then is nt d same with d issues at hand nw. Address d subject in question and stop prevaricating, it also shows hw daft u r in contributing to national issues dat affects us all.

[size=14pt]PART OF GEJ'S BUDGET[/size]

THE State House plans to spend over N500 million on food stuff and catering supplies, according to an estimate in the 2011 budget before the National Assembly.

The State House (residences and offices of the President and Vice-President) is allocated N21,159,867,112.

About N1,570,107,112 is for salaries and wages. Allowances and social contributions will be serviced with N640,386,203.

The proposed recurrent expenditure for the office of the Vice-President is N8,395,543,797. This is broken down into travel and transport (N2,014,658,355); utilities (N263,514,587); materials and supplies (N1,614, 315,741); maintenance services (N2,847,709,086); training (N338,045,242); consult-ancy and professional services (N85,747,680); fuel and lubricants (N197,700,000); miscellaneous (N1,033,853, 106) and loans and advances (N53,830,000).

About N54 million is voted for fuelling of plant/generator.

About N574, 074,750 is to be spent on food stuff and catering materials are to cost N374,074,750; N312,400,000 is for refreshments and meals; N86,422,720 for honorarium and sitting allowances and N383,408,436 is proposed to be spent on welfare packages.

Under the proposed capital vote of the vice president, over N3 billion is set aside for buying fixed assets; N30 million is to be spent on office furniture and fittings; over N428 million is voted for computers; N553,594,442 for canteen/kitchen equipment, N403,594,442 for kitchen and household equipment and N150,000,000 for household equipment and materials (for the Vice-President’s residence).

There are, also, N1,128,640,000 for residential furniture and N21,875,000 for recreational facilities.

More than N4billion is provided for the construction and provision of fixed assets in the State House. Out of this, N1,170,000,000 will be spent on construction/provision of residential buildings; N861,000,000 for electricity (in the State House) N545,000,000 for the construction/provision of infrastructure and N184,000,000 for the construction/provision of recreational facilities
N24 million is proposed for one library scanner for the library.

The purchase of utility and operational vehicles for the office of the VP is to cost N300 million. The furnishing of the VP’s Guest House at Asokoro is proposed to cost N100 million.

About N400 million is proposed to be spent on the acquisition, upgrading and furnishing of the VP’s Guest House at Aguda House.

For the rehabilitation of 10 houses on Ibrahim Taiwo Street for Principal Officers of the President, N101 million is likely to be spent and N48 million is voted for the rehabilitation of presidential/ ministerial chalets at Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja.

The rehabilitation of the Banquet Hall dome roof is estimated to cost N81 million and N302,291,157 may be spent on the rehabilitation of the Aso Villa administration building.

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