PETROL HIKE:ONE ESCAPES LYNCHING IN LAGOS

PETROL HIKE:ONE  ESCAPES LYNCHING IN LAGOS
	PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI IS UNDER SERIOUS PRESSURE TO PERFORM WONDERS IN OFFICE AS AT PRESS TIME
FOR HAILING BUHARI BY ABDULMUMINI ADEKU. ……………………………………….BASKET OF TOMATOES NOW GOES N40,000 TO N50,000 IN THE LAGOS AREA ………………………………………….A TUBER OF YAM NOW GOES FOR N500 IN THE LAGOS AREA ………………………………………….N10,000 NOW USED TO FILL A FUEL TANK OF TOYOTA AVENSIS IN LAGOS AREA ……………………………………………..MALTA,BOTSWANA,LIBYA[BEFORE WAR],AUSTRALIA ALL SREPECT THERE NATIONAL CURRENCIES …………………………………………….BUHARI FACES FIERCE ATTACKS FOR ENCOURAGING TRANSACTIONS IN THE FOREX BLACK MARKET ……………………………………………A DRIVE BY BUS FROM OJOTA TO OGBA IS NOW N150 IN LAGOS AREA ……………………………………………A DRIVE FROM OGBA TO LAGOS ISLAND BY COMMERCIAL BUS IS NOW N400 FROM N250,AS OGBA TO LEKKI PENINSULAR IS NOW N600 FROM N350 ………………………………………AVERAGE STANDARD OF LIVING OF NIGERIANS NOW IN CRITICAL CONDITION ……………………………………………..EMPEROR MUHAMMADU BUHARI,OTHERS LIVE IN OPULENCE AT THE EXPENSE OF OVER 170 MILLION NIGERIANS ………………………………………………A BAG OF RICE NOW GOES FOR N18,500 TO N20,000 FROM AROUND N8,000 TO N10,000 PREVIOUSLY A Nigerian whose identity is still shrouded in secrecy was  almost lynched by angry Nigerians for hailing the decisions of the Muhammadu Buhari regime on the removal of the contenscious petroleum subsidy. Checks by the News Office Desk of Paedia Express Multimedia in Lagos,Nigeria showed that the unidentified Nigerian had to take to his heels at the busy Ogba Motor Park as irate Nigerians wanted to physically attack him for his opinions at a vendor stand. When this reporter went to town to feel the pulse of the masses on the matter it was a tale of complains all over. A source told Paedia Express Multimedia that he was at a loss in trying to explain the direction of the economic policies of the present administration. She speaks:”I can assure you that we will soon have dollars being exchanged for as much as 2000,can you imagine that the government is asking those into heavy financial  transactions like petroleum to approach the secondary market” “I have never heard of the government asking its own people to approach a market that is not recognized by the law ,it is an irresponsible government” “What they have showed us is that they have any kind of plans to alleviate the pains of the suffering masses than the removal of Jonathan “She agonized In a related issue,yet another source lamented that with the increment in petroleum product pricing to N145 per litre  he was sure that all known commodities will soon follow suit. However yet another source disagreed   with this assertion as he claimed that if the prices of products become unreasonably high he was sure that the demands for them will be reduced to the barest minimum . A source said that he walked on foot  from Agege Pen Cinema to Ogba Ijaiye in Lagos as it was now N100 while Ogba to Lagos Island was now N400.00 from N250:00 and wondered why the sudden price hike when the transporters had brought fuel only recently at N300 and did not hike the price of fuel then. A drive to a place like Ojota from Ogba which was previously at N100 now goes for N150. A source also informed this reporter that a basket of Tomato now goes for N30,000 but a caterer who will not want her names in the print added that the cost given to  Paedia Express Multimedia  ‘s News Office Desk was several months ago and that when Tomato was N30,000 you could get it for N100.00  unlike now that five fruits of Tomatoes will go for N500:00 per set. Yet another source ,picked holes in the new fuel price hike as he challenged the Muhammadu Buhari administration to tell Nigerians what they have done with the amount of money they have collected from rogue politicians of the Goodluck Jonathan era. A source speaks:Only God knows the distance I have covered today alone with my legs ,I cannot afford the transport costs so  I had to use my “footwagon” Another source speaks:”These people are first grade scammers ,is it not what Jonathan wanted to do and they said it was bad for Nigeria “ “They bribed the press and civil society group using Save Nigeria Group in the Occupy  Nigeria Campaign at Fawenhinmi Park in Ojota ,Lagos,Nigeria to silence the Jonathan Regime” ‘They were the one’s that started the artificial scarcity of petroleum product leading to the final price hike so as to test the resolve of the people on the case” “In nations like Libya before the civil war,Malta ,Botswana and Australia the authorities there Insists on their currency and nothing else as the only financial tender” “infact I can recall that when I wanted  to do a transaction that involved sending cash to Australia the leadership there insisted only on its pounds and nothing else”the source added. In a related issue,yet another source told The News Office Desk of Paedia Express Multimedia that not having water,electricity,petroleum scarcity or hike in pricing is a serious problem and a great threat to national security as this could trigger-off a military coup. He noted that what  President Muhammadu Buhari was doing to the polity may yet return to haunt him if a revolution takes place. He added that he foresaw a revolution which may involve deep bloodshed for the remission of sins.

EDITORIAL:PAN YORUBA GROUP ON NIGERIA'S DIRECTION

Nigerians of my generation, why can't we start thinking along this postulation by His Royal Highness SLS......as I copied below::::::::::

aerial view of the city of Lagos,Nigeria

Just to learn from Emir Sanusi

Please read to d end...... The former Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, surprised guests present at the Muson Centre for the launching of the book of Sir Olaniwun Ajayi.

Below is his unedited speech.

“Let me start by saying that I am Fulani (laughter). My grandfather was an Emir and therefore I represent all that has been talked about this afternoon. Sir Ajayi has written a book. And like all Nigerians of his generation, he has written in the language of his generation.

“My grandfather was a Northerner, I am a Nigerian. The problem with this country is that in 2009, we speak in the language of 1953. Sir Olaniwun can be forgiven for the way he spoke, but I cannot forgive people of my generation speaking in that language.

“Let us go into this issue because there are so many myths that are being bandied around. Before colonialism, there was nothing like Northern Nigeria, Before the Sokoto Jihad, there was nothing like the Sokoto caliphate. The man from Kano regard himself as bakane. The man from Zaria was bazazzage. The man from Katsina was bakatsine. The kingdoms were at war with each other. They were Hausas, they were Muslims, they were killing each other.

“The Yoruba were Ijebu, Owo, Ijesha, Akoko, Egba. When did they become one? When did the North become one? You have the Sokoto Caliphate that brought every person from Adamawa to Sokoto and said it is one kingdom. They now

said it was a Muslim North.

“The Colonialists came, put that together and said it is now called the Northern Nigeria. Do you know what happened? Our grand fathers were able to transform to being Northerners. We have not been able to transform to being Nigerians. The fault is ours.

Tell me, how many governors has South West produced after Awolowo that are role models of leadership? How many governors has the East produced like Nnamdi Azikiwe that can be role models of leadership? How Many governors in the Niger Delta are role models of leadership? Tell me. There is no evidence statistically that any part of this country has produced good leaders.

You talk about Babangida and the economy. Who were the people in charge of the economy during Babangida era? Olu Falae, Kalu Idika Kalu. What state are they from in the North?

“We started the banking reform; the first thing I heard was that in Urobo land, that there will be a curse of the ancestors. I said they (ancestors) would not answer. They said why? I said how many factories did Ibru build in Urobo land? So, why will the ancestors of the Urobo people support her?

“We talk ethnicity when it pleases us. It is hypocrisy. You said elections were rigged in 1999, Obasanjo and Maurice Iwu rigged election in 2007. Was it a Southern thing? It was not. “The problem is: everywhere in this country, there is one Hausa, Ibo, Yoruba and Itshekiri man whose concern is how to get his hands on the pile and how much he can steal.

Whether it is in the military or in the civilian government, they sit down, they eat together. In fact, the constitution says there must be a minister from every state.

“So, anybody that is still preaching that the problem of Nigeria is Yoruba or Hausa or Fulani, he does not love Nigeria . The problem with Nigeria is that a group of people from each and every ethnic tribe is very selfish. The poverty that is found in Maiduguri is even worse than any poverty that you find in any part of the South.

The British came for 60 years and Sir Ajayi talked about few numbers of graduates in the North (two at independence) . What he did not say was that there was a documented policy of the British when they came that the Northerner should not be educated. It was documented. It was British colonial policy. I have the document. I have published articles on it. That if you educate the Northerner you will produce progressive Muslim intellectuals of the type we have in Egypt and India. So, do not educate them. It was documented. And you say they love us (North).

“I have spent the better part of my life to fight and Dr. (Reuben) Abati knows me. Yes, my grandfather was an Emir. Why was I in the pro-democracy movement fighting for June 12? Is (Moshood) Abiola from Kano ? Why am I a founding director of the Kudirat Initiative for Nigerian Development (KIND)?

“There are good Yoruba people, good Igbo people, good Fulani people, good Nigerians and there are bad people everywhere. That is the truth. “Stop talking about dividing Nigeria because we are not the most populous country

in the world. We have all the resources that make it easy to make one united great Nigeria. It is better if we are united than to divide it.

“Every time you talk about division, when you restructure, do you know what will happen? In Delta Area, the people in Warri will say Agbor, you don’t have oil. When was the Niger Delta constructed as a political entity? Ten years ago, the Itshekiris were fighting the Urobos. Isn’t that what was happening? Now they have become Niger Delta because they have found oil. After, it will be, if you do not have oil in your village then you cannot share our resources.

“There is no country in the world where resources are found in everybody’s hamlet. But people have leaders and they said if you have this geography and if we are one state, then we have a responsibility for making sure that the people who belong to this country have a good nature.

“So, why don’t you talk about; we don’t have infrastructure, we don’t have education, we don’t have health. We are still talking about Fulani. Is it the Fulani cattle rearer or is anybody saying there is no poverty among the Fulani?”, he said.

This is a great message to our generation......

DR DAYO KAYODE IS PRESIDENT OF IMOLE ODUDUWA

NIGERIAN PULLS WEIGHT IN SCANDINAVIAN BUSINESS

CEO of Inclusive Business Sweden, Mike, SP representative, Professor Bolton & Lra discussing on the wastage management investment and visibility studies in Nigeria @ the Inclusive Business Office, Sweden.
Special thanks to Vinnova for believing in Nigeria.

From Flint to Lagos, Time For Democratic Control of Water

From Flint to Lagos, Time For Democratic Control of Water

By Kelle Louaillier and Akinbode Oluwafemi

 

KELLE LOUAILLIER IS PRESIDENT OF CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY INTERNATIONAL

Although separated by continents and oceans, the people of Lagos understand how our destinies are closely linked to those who live in Flint, Michigan in the United States. Just as the private water industry seeks to exploit and capitalize on the horrific tragedy of lead poisoning of the water in Flint, so too are the forces of privatization threatening Lagos’ public water system. And just as the people in Flint are demanding more democracy—not less—over how their water is governed, so too are the people of Lagos, the commercial nerve center of Nigeria, the most populous black nation on earth.

Since 2014 a movement of civil society and labour groups have been mobilizing against a planned privatization of Lagos’ public water systems supported by the World Bank.

The World Bank had spent decades laying the groundwork for water privatization in Lagos, but it was defeated by the robust civil society movement for public water in Lagos. First, the World Bank’s private arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) was forced to cancel its proposed advisory contract with the Lagos government. Then, the World Bank was compelled to abandon its push for a privatization project as part of a $200 million loan.

But while intense pressure from the civil society groups forced World Bank to walk away from privatization, the threat for Lagos’ water system still looms.  Conflicting public statements by officials would seem to indicate that the Lagos State government is not set to halt the experimentation of a failed model of water privatization called Public Private Partnerships (PPP).

Activists believe the Lagos government with a monthly internally generated revenue put at about N30 billion can very well fund water without inviting privatisers into the system. But the recent, rumored secret concessioning of some public water infrastructure managed by the Lagos State Water Corporation (LSWC) would seem to lend credence to the belief that the rights of Lagos citizens to a free gift of nature may soon be violated.

Campaigners however, insist they will not let up in their advocacy to stop the planned PPP in Lagos, and they can point to the situation in Flint as an example of the urgent need for democratic control of water.

The root of Flint’s water woes have been traced to the state of Michigan’s anti-democratic emergency management system, a demonstration of systemic racism at work. It forced a corporate model on a mostly black city, giving emergency managers near-absolute power to balance the budget by whatever means they deemed necessary. It was under this system that Flint’s emergency manager made the disastrous decision to change its water source from Detroit Water and Sewerage Department water, sourced from Lake Huron and the Detroit River, to the Flint River. Yet, the Flint River was heavily corrosive and improperly treated, causing lead from aging pipes to leach into the water supply, and leading to extremely elevated levels of the heavy metal. An estimated 12,000 children have been exposed to water with high levels of lead, which can cause a number of serious health problems including permanent brain and nerve damage leading to learning disabilities, attention problems, and behavioral issues.

It may come as no surprise that the private water industry had a hand in this appalling crisis. After the switch to the Flint River, when residents began sounding the alarm about their water quality, the city’s emergency manager brought in the private sector. He hired Veolia, one of the world’s largest water corporations, to review the city’s water treatment process and evaluate its compliance with regulations. But Veolia raised no flags on lead poisoning when it discovered the lack of corrosion control in the water system. It even downplayed residents’ health concerns, stating that “some people may be sensitive to any water.” Because of role in prolonging the time people in Flint were exposed to lead, the corporation is now named in multiple lawsuits filed by Flint residents.

But perversely, the private water industry is pouncing on the tragedy in Flint to position itself as the solution. Just a few weeks after news about Flint’s water broke nationwide, The National Association of Water Companies (NAWC) released a statement to assure the public that private water corporations “stand ready to offer expertise and solutions to local, state, and federal officials.”

At the same time, U.S. Senator Robert Menendez from New Jersey—the U.S. home of Suez, another of the world’s largest private water corporations—introduced a bill that would allow Suez, Veolia and their cohort to access unlimited municipal bond money—a corporate subsidy that would promote privatization and cut into tax revenue. Similar bills have failed in the past four sessions of Congress, but the private water industry is taking advantage of the crisis in Flint to try to push through this bill.

And, pouring salt into the wound, private water corporations are seeking a contract with the city of Flint, threatening to reproduce their track record of dangerous, corner-cutting recommendations, and potentially leading to the privatization of the water system. All this, in the face of opposition from the residents of Flint who are demanding the accountable, democratic control of their water system that they have been so long denied.

Just like in Flint, the private water industry is jockeying to position itself as the solution in Lagos and other parts of Africa.

In Lagos, as in Flint, our public officials have failed us. The state of our water infrastructure is the result of years of mismanaging funds and loans for expansion of existing water infrastructure in Lagos. But instead of investigating the managers of such funds, the state government (backed for decades by the World Bank) is pushing forward privatization as a solution.  

The people of Lagos, like in Flint, want to have democratic control of water. But rather than heed the demands of the public, outrageously, the Lagos government has let the system deteriorate to unacceptable levels, and has pushed the public to accept the flawed – and false – argument that the state has no money to fund the public water system, hence the need for privatisers to come in.

In Lagos, official corruption was allowed un-reigned to pave the way for privatisers to take over the system. But learning from examples like Flint, we should be investing our tax revenue in our public water infrastructure—not offering it up to private entities. Bringing in the private sector will only lead to less democracy and transparency. Residents of Flint are clear that they do not want the private water industry to step in. They are demanding the federal government free up funds to fix their water system—and keep it public. Lagos residents also reject water privatization and demand the state government fund the expansion of water infrastructure from its hundreds of billions of Naira of internally generated revenue.

Let us all, from Flint to Lagos, from the U.S. to Nigeria, recognize that we need more democracy, not less, when it comes to making sure people have clean, safe water. We as  nations must treat water access as the human right it is and prioritize the democratic control of water over private profit and financial gain.

A version of this article was first published by The Hill.

Akinbode Oluwafemi is the director of corporate accountability at Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria

Kelle Louaillier is the president of Corporate Accountability International, based in Boston, in the United States

Noah’s Ark Relocates to New Office in Ikeja GRA

Noah’s Ark Relocates to New Office in Ikeja GRA

Noah’s Ark Communications Limited, one of Nigeria’s leading creative advertising agencies and the fastest growing Advertising Agency in Nigeria has made a bold statement with the relocation from its Maryland Estate office to a new, bigger and world-class office in the highbrow Government Reserved Area (GRA) in Ikeja, Lagos.

The new Noah’s Ark Communication’s office located at No. 9, Sowemimo Street, Ikeja GRA is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and technology. The new office is a world-class working environment and a haven for creativity with a bigger office space, a serene ambience, a dedicated Inspiration Room for creative personnel to incubate creative ideas, a world-class Cafeteria and a fully equipped Audio-Visual Production Studio for one its subsidiaries, Underdog Productions.

According to the Managing Director, Noah’s Ark Communications Limited, Mr. Lanre Adisa, the new office became very imperative considering the growth experienced by the company which has led to an increase in the clientele base of the Agency and invariably increase in human resources/capacity.

Adisa further explained that the relocation of the company to its new office is in line with the vision and mission of the company to create an excellent working environment for our people who are the most valuable assets of the company.

‘’ With the new office, we have made a very bold statement; although we pride ourselves as young and nimble, sometimes size does matter. And indeed we have grown considering the kind of clients we service and the strides we have achieved in the industry in the last eight years”, he said.

Lanre Adisa stated that the new office for the Agency is very symbolic at this time, as the Agency would be celebrating its 10^th Anniversary of redefining creativity in the advertising industry in Nigeria in the next two years.

It would be recalled that Noah’s Ark Communications was named the Most Creative Agency in Nigeria in 2015 having emerged the overall best Agency at the 2015 Lagos Advertising Festival (LAIF) winning 1 Grand Prix, 4 Gold and 4 Silver awards.