Not sure why anyone is blaming the FG here.

The NASS has always been this way atleast since GEJ's regime. In a bid to carry out constituency projects, they stuff government parastatals with projects and then harass the DGs of these agencies to award same projects to their contractor cronies.

NOI wrote about this in her book ages ago from the Jonathan regime. Bunch of criminals we have in power.

[quote author=zoomzoom post=132056050][/quote]

Not sure why anyone is blaming the FG here.

The NASS has always been this way atleast since GEJ's regime. In a bid to carry out constituency projects, they stuff government parastatals with projects and then harass the DGs of these agencies to award same projects to their contractor cronies.

NOI wrote about this in her book ages ago from the Jonathan regime. Bunch of criminals we have in power.

This is getting funny. Why always rice? No beans? Garri?

Petrol smuggle is a clear sign subsidy remains even though the government has denied this severally. Let the market dictate the price of petrol and smuggling becomes a net positive (export) for he country.

Nothing wrong with inviting Ajaero for questioning but the police needs to be a lot more tactful.

Why include potential charges in the letter when you are only inviting the person for questioning? Just say you’re invited for an ongoing investigation and state why the person is a person of interest. The gravity of allegations in the letter is too weighty to just fling around.

SmartPolician:

Abeg, rest!

Which other countries are you talking about? What's their population? You want to use the $40 billion you make from oil/gas annually to maintain and secure a country of 230 million people? Dey play!

Coming to tech, what do tech people even learn in Nigerian universities? They teach you Fortran and QBasic that the world dumped over 30 years and you still spend a lot of money acquiring real skills from IT institutes! Tech degrees are totally useless in Nigeria!

Nigerian government is already subsidizing education, petrol, electricity, healthcare, etc. How many self-employed people and businesses pay taxes in this country? For those who pay taxes, what percentage do they pay? People in some of those countries you say get subsidies from government pay up to 30 - 50% of their hard-earned money in taxes! Will you or anyone agree to pay that in Nigeria?

In short, this entire country runs on fraud, hypocrisy and self-deceit. Everyone wants to keep taking, taking and taking and nobody wants to give back. Surprisingly, those opportunists still wonder why the country isn't working.

I still maintain my position though. God won't come from heaven and fix this country. We have to devote our time, resources and efforts to make it work. If you say a politician steals public funds, how are you any better than the politician if you cannot give a fraction of your earnings to make your country work?!

Truth is bitter to many Nigerians, but you’ve hit the nail on the head.

AntiMarxist:


The only place socialism has worked was in Nazi Germany and in current Scandinavian Nordic countries.

Socialism can only work under strong nationalism.

Nigeria isn't a nation by all definitions but a multicultural entity.

Socialism outside strong nationalism will only promote am elitist rent seeking class.

Nigeria's socialist experiment began under Obasanjo's military dispensation and the reasons for this was Keynesian economics to stimulate growth. It might have worked if there was a clear path to privatisation but subsequent legislation like the 1979 constitution made it near impossible to privatise govt assets. The subsequent military junta were more committed to providing subsidy to promote their legitimacy and popularity amongst the masses. Obasanjo's civilian adminstration began the process of privatisation but this was marred by other powerful rent seekers seeing it as an end to their free meal ticket. State governors also kicked against privatisation because they saw it as a threat to their federal handouts.


Any one thinking govt owned corporations benefit the common man needs their heads examined.

Just imagine if NNPC never existed . Both the upstream and downstream sector would have been thriving . Same goes to every govt owned institution.

Very valid submission. In addition the labor unions have taken up this socialist mindset in their negotiations to such an extent it’s become a forbidden topic for governments to retrench poor performance. No reason why heads shouldn’t roll every time a major deadline is missed.

Headline and body don’t say the same thing to me.

Article seems to state the tenure can be elongated in 6 month tranches from the current 3 years up onto 4 years in cases of war or other special cases. It doesn’t read as a blanket extension for every LG.

A very good initiative regardless. 20k or 0k, which is better. There’s no student loan anywhere in the world that will give the students enough money to live like a king…why? Because the students will have to pay it back in the future.

Universities will get the cash flow they need to survive from the FG through prompt school fee payments and the students get some money to survive as well.

Whoever made this statement should be sacked. A regulator should never openly de-market those they oversee in this manner.

Meanwhile, below is an article from a few months ago stating Belgium had just banned the export of poor quality fuel to west africa including Nigeria, so the man clearly doesn’t know what he’s talking about or has a sinister intent.

NNPC being the sole importer of petroleum means it competes against Dangote’s interests which is why this friction exists. The same NNPC is dragging its feet with getting the IOCs to allocate crude to local refineries. Some people in government don’t want the importation to stop.

https://www.brusselstimes.com/1057887/belgium-ends-exports-of-excessively-polluting-fuel-to-other-countries

This comment lacks critical thinking in my opinion. The LGAs are closest to the people and must be part of any solutions to alleviate the suffering in the land. The SC judgement gives them the financial ability to intervene and make a difference in addition to efforts from the FG and states.

Many governors will rather sit down and point fingers at anyone but themselves than do anything.

Kudos to the attorney general of the federation for bringing up this suit.

ojobek:
LWKM ,Umahi is making things difficult for himself,since you are adamant that review of contract will not be allowed under you.You want company to continue doing work with old price knowing well that price of materials is not the same as what is obtainable in 2012.You also treating Berger and CCECC with your termination,we will see who go do the work.

Good move. But what will you do differently in the Ministers shoes?

A contractor can as well collect funds, put it in fixed deposit and come back 5 years later to ask for price review which is what some of them are doing behind the scenes by dragging their feet after payment.

Great news. They should have done this years ago but never late than never. For those who don’t understand the ramifications. The Army often has to rely on the Navy for troop transport and sometimes the delays can have tremendous impact especially on the battle field. With this the Army has control and better abilities to drop in reinforcements or supplies to troops on ground.

Big problem with Tinubu’s government is they aren’t walking the talk. Cut down unnecessary government spending and lead by example.

Paystack:
While his region languishes in poverty.

I still don't understand with all the wealth and political influence this people have while their kids are so poor, starving and hungry.


I stay in Kubwa Abuja

Anytime I drive out of the estate these kids are always there in their numbers with rubber plates begging for food... it's an eyesore


Not just in Abuja even when I was in Lagos same Sh!t


What a useless bunch of region dragging the country behind.

Why can't dangote start a state of emergency for Education in the North.

Arrest any Northern parent who sends their children out to Beg instead of being in school.

These guys are the true heap of load dragging the country behind.

The south even with their own problems are more progressive and seek better standard of living.

I wake up and shed tears each time I remember these guys are just dragging everyone behind.


As in in the North like 3 people are will trillions of Naira in their bank account why the rest are in abject unexplainable poverty.

Nonsense

Problem I feel is the north has made the crucial mistake of mixing up religion into their culture. Has caused so many structural issues

LOVEALAIGBO:


Nigerians don’t play with snacks!

Especially when you have kids you can’t take enough snacks tbh, unless you don’t want peace of mind.

Lovely pictures OP. Adding Cumbria to my bucket list of places to visit.

triplechoice:


What's an unrealistic minimum wage?

Is this the first time we are having minimum wage reviewed in this country?

Why did it not lead to hyperinflation in the past?

How can minimum wage upgrade for civil servants who constitute less than 5% of the entire population in the country lead to hyperinflation ?

Or do you imagine that once minimum is reviewed upward then every single person in the country will start earning it, whether they're employed or not?

Do you know more than the economic experts both in the federal government negotiating them and in the IMF who aren't mentioning anything about hyperinflation during the ongoing negotiations.

Please answer every one of these questions in your reply.

FYI ,the 615k proposal by labour is because of what the minimum wage act says; that workers in the country should have their salaries reviewed every 4 years so they can earn a living wage. Minimum wage is a law which the federal government cannot go against. Please know this and stop resisting miimum wage review for civil servants.

Those in government who know the truth aren't listening to you and your likes.

Besides I don't think you know the criteria used in calculating a living wage if not you would have mentioned already what's realistic for government to pay.

48 k being proposed by the federal government is not a living wage . Thank you

Ok. You seem to assume I’m against a wage increase. My comment never mentioned that. The FG must work with all stakeholders to increase the min wage. The argument is how much is reasonable…48k is not the answer and I agree with your sentiments there.

First off, your assertion that min wage impacts only civil servants is wrong. The min wage is a national law impacting every government and business and will become legally binding on everyone. This includes the cleaners and entry level workers at private companies (whichever of them is still paying the min wage).

My comment suggested a novel structure that makes everyone happy. I will summarise it again.

- FG sets a floor rate that binds to everyone (this will become the national min wage). For example 100k.
- FG sets a higher min wage for federal civil servants. For example 200k.
- State governments can set whatever min wage they want to set provided it is above the min wage.

The reason for this is the FG may be able to afford to pay civil servants more but most states can’t. Also, many small businesses will either lay off staff or go out of business if they become forced to pay an unreasonable min wage.

Finally, my thoughts around wage compression are a simple fact. Right now the disparity between the haves and have nots in Nigeria is massive.

Entry level is 30k and some professionals earn 5m monthly. You don’t find this in developed countries (excluding CEO / stock based compensation). My other suggestion is for the FG and states to solve for this by making the wage increment disproportionate such that lower income earners get higher increases than the senior folks. That also means less overall cost and increases the likelihood of it being sustainable.

triplechoice:


Enough of this hyperinflation talk. Zimbabwe's was because of sanction from Western nations and not minimum wage. Don't misinform the public about what you don't know.

Focus on Nigeria and provide evidences to support your claim. This is going to be the third time for miimum wage increase in Nigeria after the minimum wage act was signed into law .

Why was there no hyperinflation when Buhari signed 30k?

It seems most of you assume that once minimum wage is reviewed upwards then every single Nigeria, (employed and unemployed), will automatically have much money in their pocket to cause hyperinflation.

The number of civil servants in each state in Nigeria is not up to 5% of the population.

So , please stop hallucinating about something you don't understand and face the reality that wages must be increased to meet up with current realities in the country .

There's a minimum wage act which mandates it must be increased every 4 years so workers
go home with a living wage. The resistance of you and your likes cannot stop it.

You don't know more than the government who wants to increase it. If it would cause hyperinflation, they should know since they have economic experts to advise them.

You and your likes don't have what it takes to advise the government on what to do. Your textbook economics knowledge is not enough.

Even the world bank and IMF have not gone against it because they know it's needed at this time.

Here’s why it will cause hyper inflation. In Nigeria, minimum wage negotiations are never only about the min wage alone, they are also fighting for everyone along the chain.

When we went from 9k to 18k, salaries of mid level and senior civil servants also doubled. Same happened when we went to 30k. So if you 20x someone’s salary from 30k to 615k historically that means people earning more currently also have to be bumped up.

That is the irrationality of labor negotiations that didn’t start today. We realistically need to do two things as a country.

1. Set a national min wage to reduce poverty. FG then sets its own at a slightly higher sum and each state does same based on capacity to pay.
2. Compress the wage disparity between the lowest and highest earners to reduce inflation. That way lower earners get the highest wage increase (labor will definitely fight this) and people earning millions maybe don’t get any increase.


The FG knows the implications of having an unrealistic min wage. People will just float the law.

Labour is making an unreasonable demand. Someone with a family of six should not be on minimum wage, that’s a recipe for poverty in any country in the world.

The assumption should be that min wage is for people just starting out life and then as they rise through the ranks, they earn more.

Having a regional figure makes sense and then should push for an hourly wage structure to give businesses / govt more flexibility when the job doesn’t require 40hrs/wk commitment.

CuriousCart:
I thought it was the number of decades spent flying.

You’re right. It’s based on flight hours of the pilot. You typically will grow across from 1bar as a student to 4 bars once you hit a certain number of hours.

tutudesz:

If they can register transport companies, they can also register oil companies too.
They can own petrol station or refineries

That’s a brilliant idea actually. And then petrol subsidy can become a state level project. Each state decides whether or not and to what degree they want to grant subsidies.

We need governors that can “think”.

Offpointng:


I am an OBIdient to and really rooted for Obi last election. many of us Yoruba youth did only to come and read them attack the whole Yoruba tribe, calling us names really broke me

The problem is Peter Obi has let the radical wing of his support base take over, thereby alienating moderate supporters of his who would naturally be in the greater numbers. A mistake I hope he realises sooner than later.

You win elections by appealing to a broad base of interests, rather a select vocal few with extremely conservative views.

Nigerian opposition figures should learn to separate opposition politics from negativity towards the very country and its institutions which they seek to lead.

You can dislike the present government and how they are going about leading or defending the naira. However, that doesn’t mean you then advocate unpatriotic behaviours in your followers. Like asking them to buy dollars when they don’t need to. In some saner countries this could be read as economic sabotage which is a crime.

Same thing I see done to the Army, Police etc. Politicians deride them forgetting they will oversee these institutions if they take over power.

If you eventually become president or governor, is it not the same naira you will seek to grow and boost? That’s how people get accused of “whataboutism” years down the line.

BigDawsNet:


We can only confirm that if we run census

But I believe they can still manipulate it... cis d more population, the more the funds they borrow to loot

Correct. I personally don’t believe we are that many. But till a reliable census is run no one knows tbh.

What if we aren’t 200 million+ in Nigeria?

Solumtoya:


Was this also 10% or 25%+ deposit?

10%

God1000:
This is colonization by debt, it's hard to believe that poor China of yesterday has now become the world's economic and technological powerhouse, it's all about good governance and curbing corruption.


I'm sure we're owing IMF and world bank a lot of money too


Meanwhile I don't see any European country on the list, it's all africa, Asia and south America

The report is actually misleading. Developed countries owe a lot more debt to China. And vice versa. This narrative of debt by colonialism is one I think the western world uses when they suspect they’re losing grip. Developing countries should be free to collect debt form whomever they please without being blackmailed for it.

Let me drop this here.

China is one of the United States's largest creditors, owning about $859.4 billion in U.S. debt.

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/080615/china-owns-us-debt-how-much.asp

Jamesclooney:


Who was your broker/lender please?

Broker Threshold Mortgages. Lender Santander.

elengine:


Hmm 25%. Make I kukuma wait oh. Two years don reach soon

You are better off if you have a deposit starting the process and learning along the way. I got told I couldn’t get one before staying for two years and I did it in a year. I got rejected from a couple lenders but eventually one came through. A sound broker is the most important element as they will help you navigate things.