Monday, June 13, 2005

Horrible Lagos Skyline

What up with those phone towers? Thats horrible. Govt need to get some organisation going on there.






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Sunday, June 12, 2005

Wolfowitz In Nigeria....touring Africa

"His first assignment of visiting the poor cattle rearers near Abuja city is an indication that under his tenure at the World Bank, the poor in Africa and the developing world can enjoy a new lease of life," an African member in Wolfowitz's entourage said.

This is interesting. Let us see what this former war monger now heading World Bank will bring the poor.

Experts Dancing on 419 tune

Experts often posses more data than judgement says Colin Powel.

I read this article on Nigerian Scam in Global Politician by one Sam Vaknin with interest. One of the many of such that equate scam with Nigeria. Definitely scam must exist in other places too other than in Nigeria. But experts likes to dance together and as long as the Nigerian Scam tune is playing all experts might as well dance to it all at once. Just well.

I don't have beef with the Nigerian Scam dancing as such but with the statistics. He wrote that:

"Every year, there are 5 (such) murders as well as 8-10 snatchings of American citizens alone. The usual ransom demanded is half a million to a milliondollars."

8-10 snatchings of American citizens? In Scamland Nigeria? From where that data comes from he didn't say. Not just that there is a hint that other nationalities are being snatched as well but he couldn't be bothered to give detail.

Though scam had existed from time immemorial, it seem though that the world's scam experts had resolved to lay the toxic waste of scam at the door step. While large American corporations are being brought down because of huge financial scams and presently the country hosting the most (scamming) websites in the world is USA, the world's scam experts continue their choreographed dancing on the Nigeria Scam tune. Just well.

Saturday, June 11, 2005

No Debt Relief

Obasanjo and Blair might have discussed about some relief on the African debt, Germany however is categorical there can't be any deal. "In my view we won't get any final decisions on multilateral debt relief but positions will narrow because we all want to do more," the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters.

LOL @ Obasanjo carrying cup to his massas for hand out.

Anglican Church 2

Akinola maintaining his strong stance with his criticism of the bishops of America's Episcopal Church for some of their recent actions in the ongoing dispute over gay ordinations and same-sex blessings. The issue has created a deep rift in worldwide Anglicanism.

Nigeria should distribute free AIDS drugs - NGOs

LAGOS, June 10 (Reuters) - Nigerian AIDS campaigners called on the government on Friday to provide free life-prolonging anti-retroviral drugs to stem growing resistance among infected Nigerians.
Nigeria provides ARVs to 10,000 adults and 5,000 children at a subsidised monthly cost of 1,000 naira ($7) per patient, but many poor patients interrupt their therapy due to poverty, causing drug resistance.
"We ask you to make anti-retroviral therapy ... completely free in the Nigerian public health care sector," said a coalition of AIDS lobby groups in a letter to President Olusegun Obasanjo.
"If people living with HIV have to pay for their treatment, they will have to sell their property and cut down on education, food and other essential needs to be able to afford it."
The campaigners said many of the 3.5 million Nigerians infected with the deadly virus who interrupted their treatment were now resistant to the ARV pills.
"The 1,000 naira charge is seriously affecting the adherence of many infected people to their drug regime," Pat Matemilola, the coordinator of the Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria, told Reuters.
"It is not as if the drugs are not available, but government lacks the political will to make treatment free, that is what we are trying to reverse," said Matemilola, a medical doctor and retired army officer.
Nigeria is the world's eighth largest oil exporter, but around 70 percent of its 140 million people live on less than a dollar a day and healthcare has been in decline for decades.
Nigeria is drawing $20 million from a global AIDS fund over three years, and plans to expand the programme to cover 100,000 patients this year once more international donations become available.
The top African oil producer has said it was looking to the United States and donor agencies to provide $248 million to expand the programme further to include 200,000 sufferers.

Stray News

  • CNN's Greasing the wheels of business another ignorant and one sided report on Nigeria's corruption issue, as if there is the only place it exist.


  • What is this nonsense report about defense collaboration with Iran. If the Defence minister Rabiu Kwankaso has nothing to announce he should just shut up. What possible defence collaboration can Nigeria have with Iran? Nonsense.......


  • An interesting report on (nigerian) Asylum seekers........


  • Another idiotic report claiming jihadists insurgent in Nigeria.......


  • The Secretary-General today announced the appointment of Ibrahim Agboola Gambari of Nigeria as the new Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, succeeding Kieran Prendergast, effective 1 July 2005. He will serve until the end of the Secretary-General’s term....


  • Myanmar, Nigeria and Nauru need to make more efforts if they are to be taken off the dirty money blacklist, the inter-governmental body to develop policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing said on Friday.
    The three nations are in the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) list of non-cooperative countries and their status was reviewed at a meeting of the organisation's 33 members this week in Singapore.

    "The FATF welcomes the substantial progress made by Myanmar, Nauru and Nigeria in enacting legislation and regulations addressing the main identified deficiencies. However, the countries will remain on the NCCT list until the reforms have been adequately implemented," it said in statement, referring to its list of Non-cooperative Countries and Territories.......


  • MTN Nigeria Communi-cations Limited (MTN) has announced a pre-tax earning of N65 billion on revenue of N199 billion for the period April 1, 2004 to March 31, 2005. Over the same period, the mobile telecommunication company said its subscriber base also increased by 123 per cent while a capital investment of over N118 billion was completed..........


  • International Labour Organisation has expressed concern with the increasing unemplyment in Nigeria. It expects the country to provide a detailed information on the impact of the implementation of the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategies on employment as well as activities of employment services............


  • Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) should stop acting silly about including ethnicity and religion on the census data. Akinola should take his conservatism somewhere else. If he wants to know how many christians are in Nigeria well let him do his own count and found out. National Population Commission's job is to count people. CAN shouldn't stand in the way as they announced they'll do.........
  • Sunday, June 05, 2005

    Shameless Senators Fight For Right To Recieve GIFTS

    The honourable Senators can't be bothered about stamping out corruption as I can see. They lay more value on their "gifts" than helping usher the Nation forward.Inspite of all the allowances they are recieving. I guess kleptomania is a hard habit to kick. How unfortunate.

    Thiefing Balogun

    So what's going on with Tafa Balogun's thiefing case? I know he made bail. The thief that got a street named after him in Ila-Orangun was well educated indeed as I discovered but what did he do with all that education? Thieving! A thief policing thieves. The former Thiefing-General of Police is now claiming that EFCC have no jurisdiction to prosecute him. Its seem the charges against him are so daunting that he is resulting to obfuscation.

    Meanwhile the popularity of the Nigerian Police is as low as its former boss.

    According to BBC report, although the men in black describe themselves as "the people's friend", very few people have fond memories of encounters they have with armed policemen manning Nigeria's motorways.
    True tales of extortion for "phantom offences" are rife, contributing to the contempt that most Nigerians have for the police.


    Also in another report similarly indicting of the police we read, "we see instances of police abuse and brutality in Nigeria every day," Carina Tertsakian, a Nigeria specialist for Human Rights Watch, told IRIN on Tuesday. "It's a pattern of behaviour that's left over from the military era. But we've had six years of civilian rule now."
    "There has been a certain amount of cosmetic change. For example, the government has at least been making the right noises about cleaning up corruption, but we've seen no changes as far as other human rights abuses are concerned," the London-based researcher said.......more

    This Obasanjo

    So it was true that Obasanjo sent representatives to Benny Hinn to come for revival in Nigeria 'to bring the message of salvation and miracles to help heal that precious country' according to Hinn's Church website

    "Now you must come to Nigeria and pray a healing, anointing prayer over the entire constituency of Nigeria" Obasanjo reportedly wrote Hinn.

    Alas, 'unbeknownst to the representatives, exactly at 6 PM of that very day as they arrived in Georgia to deliver the invitation, Pastor Benny was preparing for the Atlanta service and the Holy Spirit said, “Go to Nigeria!”'

    Well he came and got his ass scammed good time. 419ed the holy sprit way.

    Go to Nigeria Benny!!!! Go to Nigeria!!!!

    Anglican Church

    I am tracking development over there. It seem as if Akinola will not let matter lie easily. And his antagonists too are not ready to lay down their weapons easily. It made for interesting argument.

    Saturday, June 04, 2005

    This Naija

    As I write this there are reports of carnage in Northern Nigeria. Some Sunnis are clashing it seems with their fellow Shiites. At least this time they are not killing Christians. Maybe it will teach them some religious tolerance for a change.
    "The government will deal with anyone caught breaking the peace, and already some arrests were made. Adequate measures were taken to protect people, lives and property," Sokoto State Governor, Attahiru Bafarawa, said in a state-wide broadcast before the arson attack........

    .....Meanwhile the telecom boom keep the smart foreign companies smiling all the way to the bank as MTN is expected next week to report a huge profit according to Citicorp as its Nigeria market is worth $5 billion an estimated 43% of the market. The report also anticipate the return of Vodacom back into Nigeria.

    And I finally have an image of murderer Charles Taylor's house in Calabar.


    Taylor's Residence In Calabar