A girl's love choice should not be used for politics

But what is it with Akunyili and foriegners as inlaws?

his other daughter married an Ivorian or Ethiopian

it is their choice though and must be respected.

A few things relating to Nigeria

Democracy is not about hosting dummy elections every 4 years

Playing politics based of Religion has no place in the 21st Century

Colonialism through arbitrary boarders responsible for perpetual conflict (this line makes nonsense of the noise about ONE NIGERIA based on nothing but oil).

Africa does not need strong men but strong institutions

naliakar:

This is our president. He was elected to be our president. What is wrong with you guys. Or because you voted the opposition, that makes yaradua Bad. Stop kidding yourself. Be loyal citizens and love your leaders.

even the man knows that he was not voted

the supreme court wont even say that he was voted, they only say evidence against his election not enough

so where did u get he was voted to be our President from?

we need to look for a president we dont have one

PERENIAL PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

This guy is nothing but an obstacle.

Obama is too disciplined in public for this pics to be real

the person after the girl on red dress to the far left of the picture who was cut off and only his/her white canvass is showing might have been having a conversation with Obama.

If you look at Sarkozy's face he probably is also looking at whoever Obama was talking to.

so why is Dangote complaining?

Do you know how many people importing textiles? Do you also know that there are textiles that nobody manufactures in Nigeria and yet Government has put people out of business because there is an overall ban on all textiles?

If Logistic is the actual problem lets leave it open to competition, there is no need giving licences to people who have no interest in the business in the first place.

Government policies designed to favour a few where the rest of the country has no alternative is unacceptable in my view.

I hope Government allow more people who want to do the cement business to get involved.

There is no proof as at yet that Dangote or anyone manufactures locally. The drawing you produced is a construction site under development.
Lafarge is headquatered in UK and there is no reason to believe that their sites in Nigeria are not just dummy outpost to beat the system and engage in full blown merchandise.

Merchandise is not a criminal offense, but it beomes dodgy if Government begin to pick and choose who can trade and who can't.

Those importing are not more importatnt that those claiming to manufacture or vice versa. Hence Government should stop favouring one group over the other. None of the groups yet have any credible argument over the other.

Debosky

The arguments you are making look good on the face value and probably conforms to textbook economics but they are not pragmnatic.

The most important foundation to any policy is "what is in the interest of the public good".

We both agree that Government needs to sort out infrastructure if we must develop and I hope they do that quickly, but where we dont agree is the notion that while they are yet to sort out these infrastructures or have not even put any meaningful programme in place to sort those issues out, it is ok to put forward policies which assumes that our infrastructures are perfectly ok.

While Europe have the moral right to pursue certain protectionist policies because they have tackled the macro issues like (roads, energy etc.) which allow small manufacturers to thrive, our Government has not. A lot of Nigerians who would have been small manufacturers are having to make do with merchandise.
When Europe protects its manufacturers and farmers with protectionist policies they are protecting a greater proportion of the society (and that is in the interest of the public good) but our own commercial landscape is totally different because are greater proportion are merchants and traders and hence when the same policies are applied in our own society it only amounts to monopoly and protecting the interest of a few over the many. That is unacceptable and only breeds an environment where crime and insecurity festers.

I agree that some of these protectionist policies can be implemented in Nigeria but they must be done with careful thinking and at the right time.

I am happy that you mentioned importation of petrol. If there is any industry we should practice protectionism it is in the oil and gas industry. For so many years We export crude, import gasoline and flair gas for nothing. Our government can not demand that Shell, BG, Mobil build refinery in Nigeria or at least build one themselves so that we will be exporting Gasoline, Bitumen, Polyproplene etc.
We can't even demand that these guys build a world class Research and Development Centre like they do in other parts of the world.
Rather our policy choice has been one which means that even the man in Olobiri village of Bayelsa (where crude was first discovered in Nigeria in the 1950's) will pay more for Gasoline if PM Putin decides to turn off the tap that supplies Gas to Europe. Our policy choice has been one which means that jobs which would have been created as a result of local refining are being lost. A policy which does nothing but favour those who import petrol like Otedola and Dangote.

So I find it very amazing that at this time in our National life it is perfectly ok to import Petrol  but not Textiles and Cement.
In the case of these too examples that I have given, Government has banned importation of these products, thereby either putting legitimate businessmen out of work or converting others to smugglers. The biggest tragedy is in TEXTILES. The so called local manufacturers can not manufacture some of these goods, and for where they can the cost of the final product is very expensive.

On both occassions our Government has wierdly made choices that guarantee that the final product for Nigerians are very expensive, remember we are talking about that country where almost 80% of the population live on less than $1 a day. The policies are also driving small businesses out of work

The only similarity between these two policy scenarios is that it is that which favours the big business moguls at the expense of the rest of us and the Nation's economy.

,

where is my post?

who is removing them

and for who?

this sounds like a mafia operation

is this what governance has turned into when the president is your in-law?

,

debosky:

This is false - Dangote is PRODUCING Cement. Obajana in Kogi State is installed to 4.4m tonnes of cement annually, apart from his other cement producing factories in Nigeria.

Dangote doesn't have importation monopoly, and is not the only producer - there is Lafarge who is investing huge amounts in cement production expansion in Ewekoro. Why do all that if you simply want to open the floodgates of importation? Anyone PRODUCING cement locally is permitted to import, so that includes Lafarge, Sokoto Cement (formerly owned by heidelberg group)  and UNICEM in calabar producing 400,000 tonnes.

The prime cost of cement in Nigeria is transportation and storage - even importation will not remove those bottlenecks.

Again, the government is chasing shadows instead of dealing with the real problem.

Companies given the right to import have  made no difference - suffocating the local producers when our ports cannot even handle other goods sufficiently in order to import cement is daft.

For the record, Dangote has no monopoly with Lafarge, UNICEM, Ashaka cement, Sokoto Cement all producing. The monopoly idea is a myth.

Are you suggesting that Dangote heats Limestone and Clay in Nigeria. A picture of his ovens and material handling equipments as well as the rest of his production line will be nice.
4.4 tonnes is capacity to hold stock, it does not necessarily confirm 100% local manufacture. These guys import cement in large quantities and Bag them up in Nigeria. Otherwise please post for us a Picture of Dangote's production line in Obajana. All he does is large capacity import and bagging.

I think we have a faulty business logic/model in our country.

Locally made goods should be cheaper than imported goods, if for any reason they are not we should address the reasons why they not rather than banning others from doing business.
Banning imported goods can not be a roadmap to industrialization. If electricity is stiffling local production then  electricity should be sorted out.

The only justification for supporting folks like Dangote or Lafarge over small businesses are
1. if they are creating jobs more than the sum total of everyone else who can go into the business in a liberalised import policy

2. if they are able to manufacture the goods cheaper so that they are readily available and possibly available to export them.

If they are doing neither, to suggest that it makes any business sense or moral sense to put a possible 3000 small businesses out of work and make it more difficult for another 5 million Nigerians to build their homes (due to rising cost of cement) just because an Industrialist who possibly employs less than 200 people in his cement business needs to remain in business is ridiculous.
It is not okay to create an Employment and Housing Crisis just to oil Dangote's business.
That kind of Economics will not get any traction any where else in the World but Nigeria.

I think we need to think carefully before we make commerce policies in Nigeria. For so long we have allowed the argument that "traders are undermining manufacturers" to fester. I reject that argument in its totallity because traders only import goods because there is a  market need for them. The reason there is a need for these goods is because there is no locally made cheaper alternative readily available. Otherwise traders would have been sourcing raw materials either locally or internationally.

If we sort out our electricity, Nigerian workers are not the most expensive in the world. I see no reason why our manufacturers can not compete with low cost goods anywhere in the world in a global economy.  Encouraging a policy where our route to industrialization is by banning every banable goods is to  encourage a lazy Government that refuses to sort out our infrastructural concern. We have tried this for so long it has not worked.

And surely hopes for immaginary Industrialization that never comes to past is not good enough reason to create an employment crisis or any kind of economic hardship, in terms of market cost of goods.

A lot of Factories in Europe have moved to Thailand and Asia, if we sort out Electricity and other Infrastructures global businesses will like to locate in Nigeria. Even South Africa does the same.

The time has come to do away with this argument where we demonise legitimate Businessmen who are only seeking their own means of livelihood in a country where the Government refuses to live up to its promise.

The problem is that Dangote is not necessarily manufacturing cement locally

He only has a wider and more organised import operation

The number of people Dangote has employed in his factory is not more than the number of people put out of business as a result of blanket ban on general importation which only gives importation monopoly to Dangote. That to me is a net loss in employment and I have not seen why Dangote's argument gets traction with the Government.

I think another industry we ought to look at is the Textile industry. There is no point banning goods when nobody manufactures anything locally. The facilities needed for local manufacture are not there.
We end up putting more people out of work when we senselessly ban these things.

Yes local manufacturing should be encouraged and where there are credible arguments for a ban it should be encouraged. But a ban which does not gurantee 100% local production of the goods is fraud, a ban which results in more people put out of their means of livelihood than the amount of jobs created is not justified, A ban which does not even result to the product manufactured cheaply and widely available and possibly enough to export makes no economic sense and is certainly not in Nigeria's economic interest.

Kobojunkie is so tribalistic

tribalism has eaten deep into her membrane that she hates to see others progress

if you tell her that Governor of River State is investing in a project she tells you that he should not have done that, he should have used the money to invest in already existing facilities in Lagos.
You tell her your Governor is doing great things she knocks it down saying nobody should recognise the eforts of any politician while the next moment she is glorifying Fashola.

I have no clue why she is hiding abroad?

hope folks are not cashing in

Kobojunkie:

I am not even from the Yoruba groups, yet I have my guard up for these Nairaland-Biafra types. Scary, and definitely not what we need more of in that country !!!!

Kobo you live in the comfort of a country where dissent is tolerated, tell me why it is criminal for anyone who thinks a particular country is not protecting its right and decides to speak up.

I think folks need to think of Nigerian issues honestly. I am not a fan of Biafra and I am certainly not Igbo but I believe most Nigerians have double standards.

When you listen to their universal choice of values about racism against Black people in the world, and women right you expect them to speak of Nigerian issues with the same set of principles. But for some reasons they seem to have a totally different set of values when it comes to Nigerian issues.

I am not particularly worried about full sharia in the North. If we have 100% federalism including complete devolution of management of economic resources I think Nigerians living in the North who find state policies too harsh can simply relocate to the South.

Please let the topic go back to economics.

At least Sanusi is more qualified than Tanimu Yakubu and Shamsudeen Usman who were other real contenders in the eyes of Yar'adua.

He is Nigeria's CBN Governor and must be accepted by all as he was approved by the Senate, however when he engages in questionable policies we have a duty to question them.

Negro_Ntns:

Bia,

It is evident from your venomous passion that there still exist, to a gretaer degree, a segment of Igbos who are still clamouring for domination in the South. They exist here in NL and they exist in the NASS. You do not serve as good mouth piece for the Igbos and definitely you raise suspicion and caution and make it difficult for the Yorubas to let their guard down or be interested in any joint move for separation.

Not exactly sure that asking for 100% of resource control  by each geo-political zone of resources within their own region amounts to attempt by one ethnic group to dominate the other
I don't know how Nigerians make up their logic at times.

I do not hold brief for Bialegend, I think he is a rabble rouser at times.

those who need this thread most can't post on it

I mean if u are suspended can u post on this thread to complain to the moderator?

I think Christains/Southerners in the Senate should try to capture Senators from Benue and Plateau and Northern Christains in Adamawa, Taraba, Maidugri and Kebbi States by reaching a concensus with them and making concessions in the right places. Some group of folks in the North are just 'Dr NO' to progress. If we can remember that the same group of folks who oppose 50% derivation are the same folks who their forefathers opposed independence from the British we will all be fine and find the strength to match on towards a more progressive Nigeria.

The reason Nigeria is backward is because it's citizens think the Nigerian State does not belong to them. We are talking about constitutional review in 21st century Nigeria and some folks are putting regional interest over National Interest. How does Northern Interest trump Nigerian interest? Resource control is at the heart of why the Niger-Delta is being destabilized and threatening the National Security of our country and none of that means anything to these folks.
And they proudly say this on National Newspaper in 2009 Nigeria.

This is shocking and shameful.

I think we in the South-South need no rocket scientist to figure out who our enemies are, they are those afraid of 50% derivation.

Depilot and waffigbo have succeeded in injecting tribalism into this thread

what should rather be a debate about policy is about North vs South, what a tragedy.

Depilot should probably tell us how it is in Nigeria's economic inteerest to have a Foreign takeover of Nigerian Banks

If you have nothing to say about economics I believe there are enough threads already about tribalism.

we are just asking the CBN Governor to thread carefully and guard our country against exploitation

everything is not about politics

His policy initiatives are too dramatic and are causing ripples in financial system

the issue is not necessarily what the foreign media says but that they get sanctioned by the CBN Governor.

my brothers see this analysis by guardian

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/news/article01/indexn2_html?pdate=050709&ptitle=Foreign%20Investor%20Fingered%20In%20Controversial%20Banks'%20Rating

Foreign Investor Fingered In Controversial Banks' Rating



AN unnamed foreign investor has been accused of complicity in the controversial rating of Nigerian banks.

Sources in the financial services sector, which spoke to The Guardian yesterday, claimed that the report, which was published by The Africa Report, a publication of the Paris-based Groupe Jeune Afrique, and quoted by a Nigerian newspaper (not The Guardian), was actually borne out of a desperate move by a certain foreign investor to re-enter the Nigerian financial market following the new policy at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Group Jeune Afrique had grouped Nigerian banks into 'Strong', 'Satisfactory', 'Shaken' and 'Stressed' categories.

It was alleged that this categorisation, sought to blow things out of proportion in order to force the apex bank to declare most of the banks unsound preparatory to foreign investors, including the accused, taking positions.

The source said the policy of former Governor of the Central bank, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, had frustrated the investor who had briefly worked with one of the top four banks in the country but was forced out by Soludo's investment policy.

The belief that the recent announcement by the new CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, that the apex bank would allow foreign institutions take up controlling equity in the Nigerian banking industry might have re-ignited the ambition of the said investor.

"Hence, the accentuation of the perceived financial woes of Nigerian banks so as to engender cheap acquisition of controlling shares," said a bank official.

"In a matter of time, you could see a situation where a foreign investor with just $200 million acquires a Nigerian bank with over N1.5 trillion in asset base."

Sources at one of the major finance sector regulatory agencies hinted, yesterday, that the purpose of categorising some banks as "shaken" was to create enough problem in the targeted banks for easy acquisition at cheap price.

Contrary to its former policy, the CBN had recently announced that it would open up the window of investment for foreign institutions to take up controlling equity in the Nigerian banking industry.

Experts reason that, consequent upon the current global economic crisis, African economy, especially Nigeria's, remains a haven for Western investors.

The foreign investor, said to have recently pulled out of one of the banks in the top four, is allegedly being encouraged by the new regime at the CBN to come back.

"The investment outfit wants to have 51 per cent in some of the banks categorised as 'shaken', said a source.

"However, some of the banks categorised as 'shaken' are leading in most indices of health in the recent audited results approved by the regulatory authorities and are one of the biggest in the industry."

The Guardian reliably gathered that industry experts had picked holes in the report due to its marked variance with other reputable and well-known international rating agencies.

They argued that the rating was done randomly and could generate panic in the financial services sector due to the use of unspecified criteria in arriving at its conclusions.

Even the Association of Corporate Affairs Managers of Bank (ACAMB) had faulted the report and raised ethical issues, professionalism, competencies and historical antecedents.

It said the earlier ratings by world's leading rating agency, Fitch, had given credence to the viability and healthy state of Nigerian banks, and insisted that the CBN and the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) were better positioned to rate local banks.

Sources at the NDIC had described the report as incredible and called on the public to ignore it.

A source at the CBN said the Governor, Sanusi, would address the issue this week.

my brothers na so dem do with vaswani brothers

people talk say na rumour

the same government wey bring dem in don boot them because of disagreement.

we dey look and laugh

make him no scatter wetin others build oh

The man just dey grant interview left - right - and center

no regard on impact on the financial system

CBN Governorship no be VOA political punditry oh!!!  

SapeleGuy:

Adaka Boro was a pragmatist. Can you please show any text where Boro references any ally?

He fought for Niger Delta Republic, lost and was offered the opportunity of Rivers State to partially achieve his goal.

Well Isaac Boro fought with Federal Forces which at the time seemed the right call
But how honest were they given that the same guys assasinated him
and the same guys have been running the show in Nigeria and won't even grant us resource control.

Dis Guy:

Nothing new in that, just a taste of their own medicine, they should get use to it!
isn't that what some accuse yaradua/OBJ of doing? whenever someone is appointed, its seen as a northerner reh reh reh

who accused OBJ of tribalism? You can accuse OBJ of anything you like but tribalism can't be one of them.

and how is Yar'adua not guilty of being tribalistic.

Nobody accuses Yar'adua of tibalism based on policy formulation
But a situation where u fill all Government positions with your immediate family members and associates, and extensions. If that is not tribalism then what is tribalism.

I am not the only one who said so? El-Rufai did.

what would Isaac Boro say if he were alive [size=18pt]?[/size]

Those many years back, the same people he called our allies who shot him after the war are today controlling the oil in our backyard. They kill our people and massacre us with Helicopter gunships, when we question how we live in poverty in the midst of plenty.
Now the same guys who deprived us of our God given wealth and who massacre us when we dare speak are granting us amnesty without an offence. Should it not be the other way round? why is the world not talking about the Humanitarian Crisis in Niger-Delta, why is the UN not speaking up? Why is the UK, US, Russia and all world powers quiet.

Did Isaac Boro really choose our allies carefully? this injustice is going round and may soon go full circle if Nigerians dont speak up.

This injustice started with the Minority Non-muslim population in the Middle-Belt, later it became the turn of the Igbos, now it is the turn of the South-South, who will it be next? It may be the Yorubas next, we must rise up against this injustice.

Surely if Isaac Boro was alive he will regret the day he struck a deal with this Babarians.

Hope we do not have a situation where the former MD of First Bank want to now use his new position as CBN Governor to fight First Bank's competition and Rivals.

Nigeria: Stock Market Loses N706 Billion in Five Days
Kayode Ekundayo
30 June 2009

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Lagos — Trading activities on the Floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) last week recorded a major bearish trend with a total loss of N706.21 billion, about 6.9 percentdrop against the previous week of N6.59 trillion.

The market had opened with N6.59 trillion market capitalisation but by Friday, it ended with N5.88trillion. All Share Index, a major indicator of the market dropped by 10.7 per cent.

The sudden drop in the market appreciation was attributed to recent interview granted by the new Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi over his decision to audit banks' books to ascertain their level of exposures on margin loans in the nation's stock market.

Some of the stock brokers who spoke to Daily Trust believed that the statement and action of the CBN has created uncertainty in the market and it may go on like this over a period of time.

According to Frank Ogiamien, stockbroker with Partnership venture group, the statement has brought uncertainty into the market and this, he said has made banks to begin to take their profit.

CBN had last week gave banks and discounts houses till last week Friday to submit details of their transactions with oil companies and also reminded them of the common year end December 2009

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"This will definitely create panic in the market since the banks constituted 70 per cent of activities in the market. But there is nothing to worry about", he said Ogiamen said the osilation would continue until confidence is restored back into the market.

Also, Otsu Greg, Managing Director of Mact Securities said the downward trend that resurfaced in the stock market was due to investors' skepticism about the policies that the new CBN governor will come up with. He also explained that banks that have June as their year-end and others that have it as their quarter end decided to sell to pull in their funds so as to balance their accounts.

Kasimu Kurfi is the managing director of APT Securities and Funds Limited. According to him, the statement by the CBN governor has affected the market generally because investors are trying to offload their stocks to avoid further losses.

Home News Banks direct subsidiaries to offload stocks ahead of CBN audit
Banks direct subsidiaries to offload stocks ahead of CBN audit
Thursday, 25 June 2009 00:27 ABDUL IMOYO
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There are strong indications that Nigerian banks may have directed their subsidiaries to start offloading their massive holdings in quoted stocks as a way of mitigating their exposures to the stock market and beef up assets ahead of the proposed audit by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
A review of
Twenty one banks droped in value at the NSE yesterday.
A stockbroker confided in BusinessDay yesterday that most of the trades in the market came from the banks’ subsidiaries that have been offloading stocks based on instructions from their parent banks that they should get out of such stocks to reduce their positions.
It was gathered that the banks also see this as an opportunity to take profits from recent gains in the market and further beef up their assets class.
Banks’ stocks have rallied hard since last month’s lows. But as of Tuesday, the bears returned with a jolt, in spite of nothing being materially different from last week when some of the banks’ results were greeted with successive cheers.
Sanusi’s statement is seen as a stark reminder of how much the banks are still suffering as a result of their exposures to margin loans, downstream oil sector, real estate financing and the telecoms sector.
As it is, the banks are beginning to wake up to the CBN governor’s “stress tests” just after the market started to grow again and as they do that, individual investors are quickly jumping into the frenzy.
The problem, according to some analysts, is that the CBN stress test cannot benefit holders of banks shares because the issues that matter are asset values and level of banks capital.
They insist that the development may affect the level of returns from the banking sector in terms of dividends and other benefits that investors are looking forward to.
Femi Oyebola, a market analyst maintained that the CBN governor may have rattled the market but only in institutions that are perceived to be weak. “What he has succeeded in doing is to create uncertainty in the market and markets hate uncertainty. I would not say he is the major cause of the market downturn. But as they say, empty vessels make the most noise and those banks with the loudest trumpet seemed to have been the ones taking excessive risks in terms of margin loans, downstream oil and property financing”.
Another observer of this unfolding event assured that most banks will definitely declare losses by December ending if Sanusi insists that they make full disclosures and write off their share linked loans.
Meanwhile, it has been suggested that Sanusi should ensure that the banks disclose subsidiaries exposure as it relates to the banks’ percentage in the company and provide for them too. In simple terms, inter company accounts should be scrutinised and how many shares of the bank the subsidiary holds too.
Analysts at Afrinvest West Africa in its Banking Sector report for 2009 noted that
“given the degree of uncertainty across most core business areas, we expect that 2009 will be a year focused on internal operating efficiency, active loan book management, and a migration of balance sheets back towards liquid assets. We also expect that tighter regulatory oversight, competitive funding costs, and greater levels of provisioning by banks will combine to depress earnings’ growth levels in 2009.
“We expect that earnings decline, hitherto unprecedented in the Nigerian market, even on a quarterly basis would become less infrequent, going into the next 12 months as the earnings impact of this tripod of pressures kick in. What remains unclear is the extent to which banks will remain sufficiently well positioned to profit from underlying opportunities that continue to be thrown up across the market, many on account of market difficulties,” Afrinvest added.

Nigerian Stocks Slide on Central Bank Governor’s Comments
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By Vincent Nwanma

June 24 (Bloomberg) -- Nigerian stocks, led by bank shares, fell for a second day after the central bank governor said the number of banks in the country will shrink, brokers said.

Prices of stocks fell across the sectors, many of them by the daily maximum limit of 5 percent, as investors sought to sell their shares. The All-Share Index, which measures the broad performance of the market, fell today by 3.5 percent to 26,927.65 points, after falling by 2.5 percent yesterday, according to figures from the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

The slide is due “wholly” to the comments by Lamido Sanusi, the newly appointed governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, said Sam Onukwue, managing director of Mega Equities Ltd., a Lagos-based brokerage, said by phone today. “The market had picked up before his comments, and them the slide came.”

In an interview with the Financial Times of London, Sanusi said he would encourage mergers and acquisitions in the Nigerian banking industry, and would like to see the number of banks shrink to about 15 from the present 24. He also said that the central bank will lift a cap on foreign ownership of banks in the country.

To contact the reporter on this story: Vincent Nwanma in Lagos at nvwanma@bloomberg.net.