tabisegroup:

Bae ur gorgeously pretty. . i can't even comment on the thread again

slimfit1:
Buhari should Force treasury looters to establish factories producing goods that are imported.

rusher14:


Having come from a disciplined and committed family I understand that success is a journey that requires sacrifices.

I know this is alien to the average Nigerian but i believe in due time they'll understand.

Oluwabusobomi:
The evil that men do, live after them!

APC preached evil and hatred against GEJ, now that evil is already dinning with them even with GEJ still saying encouraging words about them!

God is marvelous!

Lalasticlala

Nigerians, across the country, are no doubt facing difficult times owing to the current economic recession. Although the President Muhammadu Burari’s -led administration has been applauded for its fight against corruption, following several arrests of the acclaimed high and mighty, and subsequent refund of stolen funds, the management of the economy has not brought similar cheering news.

The tough times have resulted in job losses and hunger-induced crimes. The petty crimes are increasing nationwide. In fact, crime rate in the country is presently assuming a worrisome dimension with the introduction of new device by criminals in order to get their victims and security agencies unawares.
From kidnapping to bank robbery, vandalism, burglary and internet fraud among several other nefarious acts which have put security operatives on their toes. These criminals, some of who were arrested and charged to courts from where they were slammed jail terms, are obviously recalcitrant, as they return back to the society and indulge in the same crime for which they were went to jail , more vicious!

Petty crime on the rise

Surprisingly, the trend in crime has assumed a new dimension , with the re-insurgence of petty theft such as pick pocket, catch-in-the-air, otherwise known as ‘one chance’, burglary, perpetrated by minors and artisans. During investigation with some arrested suspects, majority of them laid the blame on economic hardship. For instance, several artisans who rely majorly on power for survival, have been frustrated out of business, owing to poor and irregular supply of power in the country. And in their bid to eke a living, some resort to crime.
In Lagos State for instance, pick pocket have increased at major bus-stops. Perpetrators of this crime who pose as passengers waiting to board buses to their destinations, end up snatching phones , cash and other valuables from genuine passengers who struggle to enter the bus .


At other times, these bus-stop thieves who are usually two or three in one group, would board a commercial bus and sit strategically at the edge. All of a sudden , they would alert the driver to stop , pretending to have entered the wrong bus. But by then, they would have successfully made away with their victims cash and other valuables. Most of these stolen valuables are sold at give-away prices to ready buyers.
This was the case of an Ordinary National Diploma student of the Lagos State Polytechnic, Mayowa whose school fees was removed from his bag while on transit. It took his parents three months to raise N45,000 for his school fees , a delay that almost cost him his admission. As if that was not enough, his bag in which he hid the money was torn, from where the money was removed without his knowledge. He attempted suicide saying he did not know how his parents could raise another school fee.

Flash points

Areas where such crime are rampant in Lagos include; Oshodi/Apapa expressway, Mile Two / Badagry expressway, Agege motor road, Ikorodu expressway, Boundry /Apapa road among others. For the ‘catch-in – air’ , these thieves who ply major expressways pick unsuspecting passengers from bus-stops and dispossess them of cash and other valuables mid way . Some passengers who attempt to put up resistance are sometimes thrown out of the moving buses, while others who play along are quietly dropped off.
Ladies are usually targets for bus-stop thieves who usually operate on motorcycles, as their bags are snatched from them. Cele, Ilasa, Liverpool, Iyana-Isolo, Mile Two, Charity and Oshodi bus-stops along the Apapa/Oshodi expressway are usually flash points for these hoodlums. Other bus-stops include; Ikotun, Idimu, Egbeda, boundry, Wilmer, Iyana-Ipaja, Ikorodu, Odogunyan, among several others in Lagos state. Reports from other parts of the country show that such thievery is on the increase in recent times.
“Stealing of mobile phones and pick-pocketing that had almost disappeared has become rampant again,” Aminu Kagina said from Minna, Niger State.

Minors involvement

Also on the increase is the participation of minors in these crimes. Recently, personnel of NNS WEY, a maintenance unit of the Nigerian Navy, at Navy Town, Ojo, Lagos arrested some minors who out of hunger, threw caution, fear and discretion to the dogs by sneaking into Navy Town barracks to burgle apartments of naval personnel who had gone to work.
The suspects,whose frail looks would never give them away as buglers, told Saturday Vanguard that they usually scaled the fence of the barracks through a bill board close to the wall. They, however, stated that they were mere errand boys, disclosing that their ‘masters’ usually waited for them at the other side of the fence each time they went on operation. At the end of any successful operation, they were given N1000 and above which they claimed they used to feed.
One of them claimed his father had been jobless for years and could barely feed the family. His mother, a tomato seller around Satellite, according to him, had her goods destroyed by officials of the Kick Against Indiscipline who were enforcing the ban on street hawking. One of them, 13-year-old Ehis Akhiemien, a primary 6 pupil of Assurance Primary School, Kirikiri, revealed that he started stealing four months ago. He stated that his alleged partner in crime, Elijah Benjamin, introduced him into burglary.
He said: “Elijah said we should go to people’s houses to steal. We would jump the fence into the barracks at about 6pm and would hide until it is dark. Elijah would tear the nets of our victims with blade, from where he stole the items. At times some of the kitchen doors were left open, thereby facilitating his entry.
“On my part, I would be on the look out for any intruder. At the end, we would take the stolen items to our boss who would be waiting for us at the other side of the fence.” Asked if his parents were aware of what he was into, he shook his head, explaining that he usually went for the operation on the pretense that he was going to eat in a friend’s house since there was no food at home.

Commercial sex workers

Commercial sex workers who are also affected by the economic downturn have devised new means of survival. This time around, some of them passionately beg for as low as N200 to N500 to feed . Investigation carried by Saturday Vanguard showed that some commercial sex workers are unable to pay rents for their brothels, owing to the plunge in patronage.
For instance, some of them who used to attend to five to ten customers a day, end up having just two or no patronage. One of them who lives in a brothel around Okota lamented “ This era is really affecting us. We can not even feed anymore, let alone to pay our rents. A service that we ordinarily charged between N1500 to N2000 has been reduced to N700, yet nobody
dey come “ she revealed that some of them even buy food on credit.

The commercial sex worker further revealed that some of her colleagues have resorted to stealing in order to survive. Asked what they usually stole she said “ No be me o . But some of my colleagues steal clothes hung on lines which they sell at Aswani market . This usually happens at night. They will be parading as if they are looking for customers. All this na because of the economy. It is not only here o, but all over. Some of us in even vandalise vehicles of customers who come to patronise others.
Statistics at Saturday Vanguard’s disposal showed buglers are on the increase in the in South West region. However they device a new means such as accosting an occupant of a building , who they take round the entire apartment using the occupant as a bait to gain entry.

Also traders at weekly markets in some of these states have had their goods stolen by criminals who posed as fellow traders.
In Enugu State,the rising cost of commodities especially stable food items have triggered a pronounced increase in crime rate. With inflation rate at 16.5 percent,a bag of rice which sold for N11,000 now sells for N20,000.

A resident at Indpendence Layout,Amaechi Ukwuani,told Saturday Vanguard that,”Incidents of burglary have soared in my street. The other day,a band of thieves invaded my neighbors’ residence,carting away food items mainly. Most of us Civil Servants have since abandoned our cars for commercial buses to work. There has not been any corresponding increases in salaries to cushion the effect of the prevailing economic hardship”.

Investigation showed that the Nsukka prison break last Tuesday, which culminated in the escape of 15 inmates from prison,serving different jail terms might be connected to the acute hunger in the prison yard. Unconfirmed reports said prison officials divert food items meant for inmate to feed their families following the excruciating economic hardship dotting the nation.
For prisons meant to contain 180 inmates but allegedly housing about 500 inmates squeezed in compact cells of the prison yard,the situation would be better imagined than witnessed. Stealing of generators for power supply is also on the increase in many parts of the country.

Invasion of worship centres

Places of worship are also not spared as checks by Saturday’s Vanguard showed that petty thieves have invaded these supposedly revered places which ought to be esteemed, stealing even Bibles ,with the hope to find money tucked in by worshipers. They also steal handbags and phones, including shoes which are usually kept in front of worship centres.
To avoid falling preys to these criminals, most worshipers now take their bags and other belongings with them while going to drop their offerings. Some even put their shoes in the their bags instead of leaving them at the entrance. In some cases some worship centres been been burgled, with their vaults and singing instruments taken away.

With the foregoing, it is obvious that Nigerians, irrespective of age and sex , are groaning under these hard times that have done Buhari’s initial goodwill any good. It cannot with manufacturers lacking forex while religious pilgrims are getting approvals for PTA at N197 to a dollar. Nigerians are hoping that the CHANGE Buhari promised and made a campaign slogan does not mean the current doom.

tukdi:
Secures space!

KADUNA—Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, on Thursday, alleged that President Muhammadu Buhari was briefed before the clampdown on Shiites in Zaria by the Army between December 12 and 14, 2015.

While claiming that about 1,000 of its members were killed in the clampdown by soldiers, Kaduna State government insisted it buried only 347 corpses in a mass grave in Kaduna.
The group, which also dismissed the findings and recommendations of the Kaduna State Judicial Commission of Inquiry, JCI, as pre-determined, claimed that Buhari arrested its leader, Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky and detained him at Alagbon Close for 18 months when he was Military Head of State between 1984 and 1985, in the same manner he is currently being detained.
Chairman Free Zakzaky Campaign Committee of IMN, Abdulraham Yola, claimed Buhari had accused the group of forming a parallel government during his maiden media chat and repeated the same as reason for the clampdown on IMN while fielding questions on a TV channel in Qatar.
He said: “It was the clearest indication that the President was not only briefed, he sanctioned and ordered it.”

“The governor (Nasir el-Rufa of Kaduna State) similarly levelled the same allegation during his state broadcast on the incident when he said ‘Government also received reports that the Islamic Movement of Nigeria acted like a parallel state, with total disdain for the formal structures of the Nigerian government’.

“Neither Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky nor any of IMN members has ever renounced their citizenship of Nigeria. They hold Nigerian passports as bonafide citizens. IMN has not claimed any part of the country as its territory. It does not have its own anthem, flag or currency.

“Many members of the IMN are tax payers and IMN-owned groups or associations are registered with relevant Nigerian regulatory bodies.
“Furthermore, IMN always resorted to law to seek redress whenever they felt aggrieved. Clearly, all these do not suggest a parallel state with total disdain for formal structures.”

Justiyke4u:
I can see that your fingers itche you. I can bet too that you did not even look at the article but only copied and pasted it and then look for comments to mention. I beg you in the name of God am not in the category of those that trade words online. Please be properly guided. Thanks you

Kyase:

By then you were still in your father's scrutom, if not then you're really a bitch.

Justiyke4u:
The source makes it difficult for me to believe

Over one year later, the promise of change has become a premise of doom. Nigeria is ravaged by an economy in recession, heightening insecurity, epileptic power supply and a host of other ills.

In the 2015 elections, Mr. Muhammadu Buhari convinced Nigerians to do something that had never been done before – turn power over to the opposition party at the national level. In return, Nigerians expect him and his party, the APC, to do something that is hard to do – successfully steer Nigeria through turbulent economic and political waters.

The Nigerian people have held up their side of the bargain, by sweeping Mr. Buhari to the presidency and delivering the Senate, House of Representatives and the Governorship of a plurality of states to the APC. In doing so, Nigerians provided Mr. Buhari with every tool that a President needs to succeed.
Over one year later, the promise of change has become a premise of doom. Nigeria is ravaged by an economy in recession, heightening insecurity, epileptic power supply and a host of other ills.
Here are five major factors that have contributed to the Buhari government’s failings in steering the Nigerian ship of state.

Issue 1: No sense of urgency

Mr. Buhari is slow and steady. However, while a slow and steady hand might be needed for a pediatrician that delivers babies, fast and firm hands are required for a surgeon that is working in the emergency wing of a hospital. Nigeria is in the emergency wing. Patient Nigeria’s condition cannot be managed with aspirin. The nation needs to be wheeled immediately into the operating theater and worked on, fervently, and with a sense of utmost urgency.
Mr. Buhari does not seem to have the same view of the condition of patient Nigeria that the rest of the country has. Six months into his administration, Buhari was yet to name his government. When the names emerged, it was one that he could have come up with on day one. No one knows how hard Mr.Buhari tried to find capable Nigerians to join him in steering the ship of state. Yet somehow, of the 170 million Nigerians that are alive, some of whom are doing big things in Nigeria and beyond, it was the present batch of overused, recycled names and faces that Mr. Buhari brought forward.
No one knows how Mr. Buhari made his selection. No one knows why it took him six months to select a weak bench. However, this is how the world’s best nations and companies do it: they commission experts to do the job. The experts would be given a brief, told the types of men and women that the government is seeking, and asked to roam the world in search of talent. Nigeria does this all the time when we are seeking for soccer talent to put in the National teams.
Mr. Buhari’s lack of urgency extends beyond how he selected his cabinet. For the last two years, Fulani herdsmen and farming communities have engaged in what can only be called ethnicwarfare - that has razed villages to the ground and killed thousands of people. Yet nothing has been done to stop the killings. The power sector is comatose, yet no workable, practical plan has been put forward for addressing the issues. Militancy is on the rise in the Niger Delta, yet no coherent plan for winning the war or policing the peace has been proposed.
And for a nation that is trying to encourage foreign direct investment, it should not take over one year to appoint ambassadors.

Issue 2: Hiring for loyalty

Mr. Buhari values loyalty above all things. It is easy to understand why this is the case. Mr. Buhari was aided to power in 1983 by his friends. By 1985, the same friends had toppled him. Mr. Buhari seems to have decided that he prefers brothers to friends. In speeches and comments that he has made since becoming President, Mr. Buhari has used the loyalty argument to explain away his most baffling appointments.
A President that is committed to success, must act in the interest of the nation. They must be willing and open to making themselves vulnerable, if that is the price of progress. Without overcoming this inner battle that drives them towards loyalty above all else, they will be doomed to embracing the familiar but frail grip of mediocrity rather than the uncertain but ultimately successful grasp of progress.

Issue 3: Policy Vacuum

At the beginning of his administration, Mr. Buhari told Nigerians the many things he thought was wrong with the country. He bemoaned the fact that Nigerians imported things as basic as toothpick. He talked about how frustrated he was that the judicial system was hampering his anti-corruption war.
Almost one year later, nothing has changed. Mr. Buhari, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and leader of the party that controls the Senate and the House of Representatives is still lamenting.
Not a single coherent and consistent policy framework that is aimed at correcting many of the ills that Buhari has complained about have been put in place. Nothing has been done to make it easier for Nigerian businessmen to manufacture toothpick in Nigeria than for them to import it. There are no trains and inland water networks that will help them transport the wood that they need from the forests to the cities where their production sites and customers are. There are no plans for providing them with the energy they need to cut the wood, shave and package it.There are no policies that provide investors with access to capital at interest rates that encourage local production. There are no environmental policies that will regulate how trees are cut down and ensure that deforestation does not result, once we start making our own toothpick.
It does not matter what sector one looks at, the issues are exactly the same – the Buhari government is doing nothing of substance to enable Nigeria’s growth. Till date, the Petroleum Industry Bill, which experts all agree is key to unlocking the immense potential of Nigeria’s downstream oil sector has continued to languish.

Issue 4: A Half Hearted Anti - Corruption War

Mr. Buhari rode to power on the back of the Horse called Anticorruption. Over one year later, Nigerians are still watching the horse show. Not a single conviction has been secured in any of the major corruption cases. Despite over one year of high drama, corruption has not been banished in the country that is led by a man elected on the platform of eradicating corruption.
Buhari has complained about the judicial system that drags out cases, and a judiciary that appears complicit in corruption. Yet, he has not sent a single bill to the national assembly to modify Nigeria’s laws so that the walls of protection that the current laws offer to the corrupt can be brought down. And for those who would argue that the National Assembly would never pass such bills – here is what the Nigerian people say: let the President at least try and then he will see how a nation will rise to defend a President that is carrying out the will of the people.
In poll after poll , Nigerians have demonstrated that they will support the President if he as to ask for speedier trials and stiffer penalties.
Corruption comes dressed as many things. In its most familiar garb, it is the pilfering of public funds. But corruption is also providing employment to ones cronies and family members without due process. While the political expediency of ignoring corruption within one’s own party can be understood, it should not be tolerated. Corruption is an infectious disease. It cannot be managed. It needs to be eradicated.
So far, Mr. Buhari has not lived up to the lofty expectations Nigerians had. As time passes, Mr. Buhari’s anti-corruption war increasingly seems to be little more than a handy distraction for an increasingly critical populace.

Issue 5: Economy -Firefighting Approach, No Strategy

When the history of Mr. Buhari’s term in office will be written, Nigerians will not remember how many people were locked up for corruption. They will not remember how many Boko Haram insurgents were taken off the battle field. They will not remember how many pipelines were blown up by militants. They will only remember whether it was a period of prosperity or a period of lack. So far, Buhari’s term has been a period of abject lack and debilitating poverty.
For those who say Mr. Buhari inherited a mess that needs time to be cleaned up, here is a simple response: it was a mess he fought hard to inherit. Mr. Buhari was not running for president in Egypt. From 2003 till 2015 – 12 long years, Mr. Buhari fought for the opportunity to lead Nigeria. He knew that Nigeria was not saving for a rainy day. He knew that oil prices were dropping precipitously. He knew that the national assembly was expert at padding budgets. He knew that politicians and civil servants were pilfering public funds. He talked about all these problems incessantly when he was running for office.
Anyone looking to see how courageous leaders respond when they inherit a mess should look to Barack Obama. In 2008, he was handed the worst recession that America had seen in over 40 years. His response was epic. He rolled out the largest stimulus program ever implemented by a nation, and hired the best minds in the country. He also threw petty loyalties aside and invited former rivals like Hilary Clinton into his cabinet. Seven years later, 15 million jobs have been gained, and the USA is perhaps the best performing developed economy in the world.
Despite knowing Nigeria’s dire condition, Mr. Buhari did not seem prepared for the challenge of running a nation that was overly reliant on a single commodity for its sustenance. One year later, nothing seems to have changed. While the Buhari government’s fiscal policy is supposedly geared towards encouraging investment, the monetary policy put out by the central bank is geared towards mopping up liquidity. Raising interest rates is a way to reduce inflation if the reason for rising prices is an excess of cash in the system. In Nigeria’s case, inflation was caused by the weakening of the Naira, not excess liquidity.
There must be better coordination in his government. Fiscal and monetary policy must be aligned. However, there can be no coordination until the strategic aims of the government becomes clear to all. What exactly is the goal of the Buhari government? Is the goal to increase employment or to curb inflation? Is the goal to encourage local production, or encourage foreign direct investment? Or is it to do all of the above? What sectors are being targeted for growth?
The sad truth is this – no one in Buhari’s government can articulate what the strategic aims are. And if they can, they are certainly not sharing that information with Nigerians.

Conclusion

Mr. Buhari can still succeed. However, to right this sinking ship, he must do some things that he has not shown himself capable of doing in the last year – recognize the fierce urgency of the moment, overcome his innermost fears, and do right by the Nigerian people. Nigerians still believe in change. In the balance of his term, President Buhari must show himself worthy of the trust of the Nigerian people by giving them a government worthy of their expectations.