Lagos to Issue Own Driver's Licence

The Lagos State government yesterday announced plans to re-certify all drivers within the metropolis.

Under the arrangement, the government advised motorists with driver's licence produced by the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) to come forward with the document for re-certification.

The State Commissioner for Transportation, Prof. Bamidele Badejo, told journalists in Lagos that the problem of fake licences would also be eliminated following the state government's decision. Badejo, who spoke at a media briefing to mark the one year anniversary of the administration of Governor Babatunde Fashola said the state government, through its drivers' institute, issues licences to people who are physically fit, mentally alert and emotionally stable.

Speaking with The Guardian recently, the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Motor Vehicle Administration Agency (LSMVAA), Mr. Akin Hanson, said the state would start the production and issuance of driver's licence to ensure safe motoring.

Read the full story...

Lagos, one of Nigeria's most populous cities, is now issueing their own separate driver's licenses in order to decrease the number of people driving with fake licenses. There are many traffic accidents associated with bad drivers who use a fake license. The new licenses are supposedly impossible, or at least very difficult, to create. This new legislation should decrease the number of bad drivers on the road in Lagos.

Grade this Post

Five Feared Killed in Lagos Robberies

No fewer than five persons were feared killed and about 12 others seriously injured when armed robbers unleashed terror on various parts of the Lagos metropolis between 10p.m. on Tuesday and the early hours of yesterday.

Sources informed The Guardian that in one of the incidents, a seven-member robbery gang attacked a businessman at the Ejigbo area of the metropolis and carted away millions of naira from his vehicles.

It was not clear as at press time whether the man survived the attack or not. However, no fewer than three persons were killed by the robbers, as they shot sporadically into different directions in order to make good their escape. Some other people were also reported injured in the shooting spree.

The bursts of gunfire from the daring gang attracted the attention of the men of the State Rapid Response Squad who then joined forces with the regular policemen in the area to give the hoodlums a hot chase.

But it was learnt that the robbers eventually fled to their hideout through Igando Road, another crime prone area of the metropolis.

Read the full story...

A band of robbers terrorized Lagos Tuesday and killed at least three and injured twelve innocent bystanders in the process. They left the crime scene with millions of naira and have not been caught yet. Police must make every attempt to catch these criminals and punish them in order to discourage this behavior. The social conditions in Nigeria aren't exactly stable, so they certainly need help putting a stop to crime.

I’m Afraid for My Life, Says Iyabo Obasanjo

Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, daughter of ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo, has said she fears for her life. Obasanjo-Bello is implicated in the N300 million Health Ministry scam and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) now wants her to be prosecuted for the alleged offence.

Her comments came after the anti-corruption agents raided her home in Abuja in an attempt to bring her to face prosecution. She told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) yesterday that EFCC agents slapped her personal assistant during their visit to her house two days ago. "I am afraid of the EFCC... they slapped my PA when they got to the house," she said "I'm not on the run but I feel as if I'm a victim of harassment... I'm afraid for my life," she added.

Obasanjo-Bello, who chairs the Senate's Health Committee, was charged along with ten other top officials of the Health Ministry, including two former Ministers – Prof. Adenike Grange and Gabriel Aduku - for sharing the proceeds of corruption. After charges against Obasanjo-Bello were read in court last week, the EFCC said she had to turn herself in as soon as possible.

She was said to have bolted out of the house through the back door when the men of EFCC came to her house uninvited on Tuesday. She told the BBC she could not understand why her home was raided when she had visited the EFCC offices twice in the past week and made herself available through her lawyer.

Read the full story...

Senator Iyabo Obasanjo, daughter of the former president, fears for her life after the EFCC ransacked her house on Tuesday. There are rumors that she benefitted financially from her father's less than moral practices while in office. She feels the the EFCC crossed a few lines by actually slapping one of her employees in the face while they tore apart her house. If the EFCC really wants to put an end to corruption in Nigeria, they are going to have to do a better job of proving to citizens that they are a legitimate government agency that wants what is best for the country.

Grade this Post

Parents Abandon Baby Without Anus at UCH

A three-month-old baby without anus has been abandoned at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

The Head of Department, Medical Social Service, Dr. Jane Adebusuyi, said the baby boy was born with a perforated anus.

Baby Yusuf, as he is called, was abandoned by his parents two months ago.

Adebusuyi told the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday in Ibadan that the father, Mr. Muyideen Yusuf, disappeared with his wife under the guise of looking for money.

She said, “The baby was just two weeks old when they brought him to the hospital with a perforated anus.

“The father told the nurses that they did not have money and that they were going in search of money for the boy‘s treatment.”

Read the full story...

A baby born with a perforated anus was admitted into the hospital last week at the age of about 3 months. His parents brought him into the hospital and left saying that they were going to try to get money to pay for his treatment. They never returned. The hospital has attempted to call their emergency contact numbers, but they are disconnected, and go to their house, but it does not exist. Two parents literally abandoned their disabled son because they could not fathom how they would be able to pay for his surgeries. Hopefully very few other parents in the world would ever do that to their completely dependent child.

Grade this Post

Nigeria‘s Biggest Drug Baron Arrested in Scotland

A Nigerian smuggler who brought $500,000 of cocaine to Scotland was jailed for six years some weeks back thanks to a language expert. A trial judge heard a six-kilo consignment was hidden in wooden slats in packing cases flown to Edinburgh Airport from South America.

Nigerian-born Edmond Okoli, 43, turned up to collect the crates of cheap crockeryfrom Peru. He was heard singing a song in his native dialect as he drove from the airport, with the words ‘He who’s got the drug is going...'

Okoli denied smuggling cocaine in November 2005 along with others. He told an earlier trial he was offered $500 to pick Peruvian artifact.

But a jury rejected his story and found him guilty.

The High court in Edinburgh heard how the police and customs officers searched the
pottery on their arrival but drew a blank until they turned their attention to the packaging. Some of the slats making up the crates revealed a suspicious shadow when X-rayed.

A hole was bored into one piece of wood, followed by a probe, which flicked out traces of powder. Searchers noticed three lengths of wood were a different colour and all had been hollowed out to take packages of cocaine.

Read the full story...

One of Nigeria's most prominent cocaine dealers has been caught, arrested, and convicted after years of smuggling. He was suspected after he picked up Peruvian pottery from an airport in Scotland while singing a song about drugs. The pottery was searched extensively, but the police could find no drugs. Okoli actually hid the cocaine in the wood the composed the crates that the Peruvian pottery was shipped in. Though this plan does sound pretty masterful, Okoli was caught in the end and will suffer as a result. The police are currently working on determining who else was involved in the cocaine smuggle.

Grade this Post

Arik Air to Commence Commercial Flights to US

Air travellers between Nigeria and the United States of America, now have a choice as another Nigerian carrier, Arik Air, has been given approval to commence direct commercial flights to America thus becoming the third Nigerian carrier to get such approval.

The U.S. Department of Transport (DOT), in a letter to the airline dated April 4, 2008 and signed by the Director, Office of International Aviation, Paul L. Gretch, said the Nigerian flag carrier had satisfied all requirements and thus qualified to fly direct into any part of the United States.

According to the approval letter, Arik Air has been found to be operationally and financially qualified to conduct its proposed operations and is substantially owned and effectively controlled by citizens of Nigeria .

Read the full story...


Nigeria is attempting to widen the tourist industry of the country by increasing the places that commercial flights can travel in and out of. The U.S. is obviously a huge market, so this should be good for their economy. However, one of the foreseeable issues with this new approval is that pilots with substandard training could be operating these aircrafts and endangering hundreds of lives. This new change affects our community fairly directly because one of the three cities that Arik Air is allowed to fly into is Atlanta. If anyone is up for a trip to Nigeria, new legislation has made it much more possible.


Grade this Post

Nearly Two-Thirds of Africans Have No Toilets

The vast majority of Africans have no access to a toilet, according to preliminary data from a World Health Organization report to be published later this year.

The WHO-UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation said the data shows 62 percent of Africans and 2.6 billion people worldwide have no toilet at home "and thus are vulnerable to a range of health risks."

"Sanitation is a cornerstone of public health" said WHO's Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan. "Improved sanitation contributes enormously to human health and well-being, especially for girls and women. We know that simple, achievable interventions can reduce the risk of contracting diarrheal disease by a third."

The use of toilets and hand-washing with soap prevents the transfer of bacteria, viruses and parasites that might otherwise contaminate water supplies, soil and food.

"Nearly 40 percent of the world's population lacks access to toilets, and the dignity and safety that they provide," said Ann M. Veneman, UNICEF executive director. "The absence of adequate sanitation has a serious impact on health and social development, especially for children."

Read the full story...

It is ridiculous that, at this point in time, 2.6 billion people worldwide do not have access to a modern toilet. There are many health concerns associated with a lack of modern plumbing caused by bacteria, viruses, and parasites. It is also very possible for water supplies to be contaminated by human excrement. Nigeria should take care of this sanitation problem for their country, and perhaps the rest of Africa will follow in suit.

Grade this Post

Budget Delay Cripples Economy

Experts have expressed their views on the possible effects the delay in the passage of the 2008 Appropriation Bill into law may have on the economy and its constituent sectors, agreeing that such effects are undesirable.

Despite expectations late last year that the budget would be passed early following the cordial relationship between the executive and legislative arms of government, the passage of the Appropriation Bill into law has experienced an impasse between the two arms of government in recent times.

Commenting on the issue, the spokesman of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Festus Odoko, in a telephone interview on Sunday, said that an early passage of the budget would normally make things work out smoothly.

He pointed out that in the event of a delay in passing the Appropriation Bill into law like it is now, a provision existed that permitted the President to spend up to a certain proportion of the previous year’s budgetary allocation.

He added that though the fact that the President could continue spending to a certain limit to meet essential expenditures might reduce the undesirable effects of the delay, some contractors might resort to borrowing heavily from banks to meet their obligations, thus causing the various banks to be increasingly exposed in terms of credit given.

Read the full story...

The tax appropriation bill for this year has been yet again postponed. Economic experts agreed that postponing the tax appropriation bill is harmful for Nigeria's already fragile economy. The current law in place allows the president to spend up to a certain percentage of last year's budget, but that may not be enough to cover the necessary expenses. One of the projected outcomes of the postponement is that, as a result of the government not having money to pay contractors, the contractors will have to borrow exorbitant amounts of money from banks. The banks would then be subject to the terms of credit that they agreed upon with their borrowers.

Grade this Post

Japan to Promote Africa's Growth at Tokyo Confab

Africa's promising economic prospects and the pursuit of progress in consolidating peace and democratisation processes through self-efforts are the credentials the Government of Japan hopes to build upon as African leaders gather to discuss contemporary issues of development concerning the continent next month.

They will be meeting at the fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) in the port city of Yokohama, Japan, in May.

President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has also been invited to the event.

The TICAD was launched in 1993 to promote high-level policy dialogue among African leaders and development partners. It has since evolved into a major global forum to promote development on the continent under the principles of African "ownership" and international "partnership."

The two concepts had a great influence on the launch of the New Economic Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), a strategy for development designed by Africans themselves.

The hosts believe Africa would be fully represented at the five-yearly summit, hopefully at the highest levels, describing the responses to the invitation so far as "very encouraging."

Read the full story...

The Tokyo Internation Conference on African Development will be held this May to aid African countries in their economic development. Hopefully the interference of more developed countries in African affairs will help Nigeria to make changes for the betterment of the country as a whole. President Yar'Adua was invited and plans to attend. The conference aims to help African ownerships and partnerships.

Grade this Post

Nigeria Tracing Militant Pipeline

Nigerian oil officials are to start digging up an oil pipeline found at a militant's abandoned hideout to see if it runs to a refinery about 2km away.

The army claims the pipeline was used by Ateke Tom, the head of the Niger Delta Vigilantes, to steal oil.

A BBC reporter says the pipeline, found earlier this week, is visible for about 500m before disappearing underground.

Mr Tom is accused of being behind much of the lawless money-making schemes causing havoc in the oil-rich region.

He is wanted by the authorities for a string of bank robberies, incidents of piracy, stealing crude oil and kidnappings.

His present whereabouts is unclear, but contacted by the BBC by phone Mr Tom denied laying the pipeline to his former base near Okochiri about 20km-30km from the regional capital, Port Harcourt.

Instability and violence in the Niger Delta region over the past few years have led to a significant drop in Nigeria's oil exports.

Read the full story...

Ateke Tom, the head of the Niger Delta Vigilantes, has been stealing oil from a pipeline that runs near his former hideout. His group is the major cause of violence and terrorism in the Niger Delta region. He is wanted for stealing oil, kidnapping, and several bank robberies. His present whereabouts are unknown, but the government is searching for him. Capturing Ateke Tom for good could help put an end to some of the unrest in the Niger Delta region for good.

Grade this Post

World Warned on Food Price Spiral

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said he is deeply concerned about the sharp rise in global food prices.

Mr Ban said the trend would hinder progress towards the millennium development goals (MDGs), which aim to halve extreme poverty by 2015.

The UN World Food Program (WFP) and other agencies may be forced to ration food aid, he said in a BBC interview.

He said shortages might be eased by a "green revolution" to transform farming methods in Africa.

Global food prices have risen by 40% in nine months and food reserves are at their lowest for 30 years.

The WFP is facing a $500m (£248m) shortfall in its attempts to feed 73 million people this year.

Read the full story...

The UN secretary has declared that Africa must enter a "green revolution" to transform farming methods in order to provide for the millions of impoverished and starving citizens. Food prices are on the rise, so the UN is struggling to provide food to all of the 73 million people in need. The rise in food prices will lead to worsened malnutrition and starvation in all of Africa. The entire continent must revolutionize farming methods in order to counteract the rise in food prices.

Grade this Post

Yar'Adua Insists on Refund Clause in Contracts

President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has directed the Ministry of Justice not to approve any federal contract agreement which does not have an indemnity clause to refund to the government any amount spent if the contractor fails to fulfil his or her contractual obligations.

This is one of the ways the government is pursuing its quest to halt the problem of contractors collecting mobilisation fees and absconding without executing jobs according to signed agreements.

Government, a source told The Guardian yesterday, wants to end the abandoned projects syndrome and the collection of mobilisation fees without execution as a way of siphoning funds from government's coffers.

Under the new policy, any contractor that collects mobilisation fees and fails to execute the contract would be prosecuted for the recovery of the fund paid.

The source stated that Yar'Adua was shocked that until now, government contracts have no indemnity clause, which protects funds paid to contractors.

Read the full story...

The president is cracking down on a major source of corruption within the country. Many government officials and contractors were receiving government money for various projects, but then never completing the task that they were paid to do. This is one of the more creative ways that people have been stealing money from their government. When Yar'Adua found out about this embezzlement scheme, he was outraged. It is now government policy to prosecute anyone who is allotted government money for a project and does not complete it. This is an example of how the Nigerian government is cracking down on corruption within the country.

Grade this Post

Nigeria's Buhari Renews Challenge

Muhammadu Buhari says the tribunal was wrong. A Nigerian opposition candidate is appealing to the Supreme Court over the election of President Umaru Yar'Adua.

Defeated All Nigeria People's Party candidate Muhammadu Buhari wants last year's widely criticised poll annulled.

Last week, the election tribunal said Mr Buhari had failed to prove the result of the election had been affected by rigging.

Mr Buhari's lawyers said the burden of proof should be on the government.

Read the full story...

Buhari was Yar'Adua's competition in the last presidential election. Last week there was a tribunal held to determine whether the presidential election should be annuled due to the recent evidence found that makes it appear that the election was rigged. Though Buhari lost the tribunal last week, he has not given up. He had plenty of evidence proving the Yar'Adua was not the fair winner, including ballots that did not have serial numbers. Buhari has not given up yet, even though Yar'Adua was declared innocent. Considering all of the evidence that Buhari presented, it is surprising that he did not win. Perhaps Yar'Adua had to resort to corrupt practices in order to hide how he won the presidential election.

Grade this Post

Nigeria 'Denies Access to Rebel'

Militant attacks have hit Nigeria's oil outputThe Nigerian government is preventing lawyers from seeing a detained oil militant leader, a rebel group says. Lawyers acting for Henry Okah have asked a judge to try again to compel the government to bring him to court.

Mr Okah and a colleague Edward Atatah were arrested in Angola in September and deported back to Nigeria in February, charged with gun-running.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) said it was afraid for Mr Okah's safety.

The group previously said he had been killed - claims denied by the government.

"The Nigerian government has blatantly refused to comply with a High Court order granting the lawyers and families of Henry Okah and Edward Atatah immediate access to see him," Mend said in a statement e-mailed to journalists.

Read the full story...

The Nigerian government is failing to comply with their own laws. They are denying an alleged gun runner access to a lawyer, or access to anyone for that matter. There were rumors that Mr. Okah has already died, but the government denies these claims. Mr. Okah is an important member of the group that seeks independence of the Niger Delta. The Niger Delta is an oil-rich region that has been the site of many problems recently with oil pipelines breaking and citizens stealing the oil. The government's incompliance makes it seem possible that Mr. Okah is indeed dead, or that he is a threat in some way to the stablility of the government. It would be in the Nigerian government's best interest to allow access to Mr. Okah in order to falsify all claims that he is dead.

Grade this Post

Cross-Dresser Jailed in Nigeria

Uche Ndubuisi was arrested loitering around Lagos international airport. He pleaded guilty after women's clothes and makeup that belonged to him were brought in evidence.

He pleaded guilty to the charges and was not given the option of a fine, an official at the court in the Lagos suburb of Ikeja told AFP.

Another 18 men face charges of vagrancy and indecent behaviour in the sharia-run northern state of Bauchi after they were arrested in a hotel allegedly dressed as women.

Lagos is not a sharia state, but has recently seen police arrest women for wearing revealing clothes.

Cross dressing in Nigeria is linked by authorities to homosexuality, which is illegal in the country.

Read the full story...

Homosexuality is a crime punishable by law in Nigeria. Cross-dressers are being sentenced to jail time because dressing like women is linked to homosexual tendencies. Women are also being punished for dressing in clothing that is deemed too revealing. These laws are examples of the government's attempts to control its citizens. To be honest, the government has more important issues to be concerned about. Perhaps the law enforcement should be more concerned with stopping and preventing crime and the government should be more concerned about reducing corruption rather than worrying about people's clothing choices.

Grade this Post

Yar'Adua Orders Minister's Arrest

President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has directed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to arrest a serving Minister for allegedly flouting a presidential directive on returning unspent funds in the last days of 2007 to the public treasury and for partaking in sharing in the proceeds of contracts awarded illegally.


Sources also told The Guardian that the female Minister might be among those to be shown the way out in the "looming sweeping changes in several areas of the Executive, including top officials of the administration."


The sources also added that the President, buoyed by recent court reprieve, has made it known to some of his aides that many of the Ministers, who emerged through unavoidable political process, "do not have the requisite capacity for their assignments."


The Minister, currently facing interrogation by the EFCC, is accused of awarding contracts without following due process in the last few days of 2007 and sharing in the proceeds of the contracts.

Read the full story...

President Yar'Adua has ordered that the now former minister of the EFCC be arrested for not returning unspent funds back to the treasury at the end of the year. This punishment seems a little hypocritical considering that Yar'Adua allegedly also uses government funds for his own personal use. However, despite Yar'Adua's hypocrisy, this story shows that the government is making an attempt to punish criminals and thereby decrease the corruption that plagues the government. Possibly the most interesting thing about this story is that editors of a competing newspaper were payed earlier this year to not report this story. However, the story leaked out and now the government looks even more corrupt.

Grade this Post

Yar'Adua Seeks China's Help on Nigeria's Energy Crisis

Sino-Nigerian relations got a boost yesterday after talks in Beijing between Presidents Hu Jinatao and Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, who pledged to pursue mutually
beneficial industrial, economic and political interests at home and on the global stage.

In fact, Yar'Adua called for the setting up of a mutually-beneficial strategic partnership with China for the rapid development of Nigeria's power and energy sector as well as its transportation infrastructure.

He said at the end of his bilateral talks with Hu Jintao that "the direction we want to go is Private-Public-Partnership (PPP) in which Chinese investors can partner with their Nigerian counterparts to invest in these strategic areas and recoup their investments within a certain period."

The Chinese President also proposed the establishment of a Nigeria-China Joint Commission on Trade and Investment.

Hu Jintao promised that China would work with the African Union (AU), the United Nations (UN) and the Sudanese government to achieve a permanent resolution to the crisis in Darfur.

Read the full story...

Nigeria and China are beginning to work together to help one another's energy crises. China needs gas for their industrial sector, whereas Nigeria needs gas for transportation, power, and energy. The two countries could form a commission of trade and investment. By 2020, they hope to include as many as twenty countries. Hu Jintao has promised to help Nigerian and the African Union permanently resolve the crisis in Darfur. This relatioship with China should be beneficial to Nigeria. In the long run, it will help their economy as well as help them establish better relationships with other countries.

Grade this Post

'Super Tuesday': Verdict on Yar' Adua's Fate Today

After several months of legal battle over the legitimacy or otherwise of the April 21, 2007 presidential elections, the presidential election petition tribunal will today deliver its verdict on whether the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar'Adua and his running mate, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, validly emerged winners or not. The Appeal Court President, Justice Umaru Abdulahi, has meanwhile okayed live coverage of the event by the media.

The election was widely described by national and international observers as marred by rigging and irregularities across the nation.

Specifically, the tribunal will give its verdict in two separate, but consolidated petitions filed by the presidential candidates of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and his counterpart from the Action Congress (AC), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

In their separate petitions, the two candidates have urged the tribunal to void the election on the claim that the elections were a ruse as, according to them, votes were
merely allotted to candidates by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

They also argued that since the election was not conducted in substantial compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2006, the tribunal had a duty to nullify the results so declared by INEC.

Read the full story...

The decision concerning whether or not the 2007 election was flawed or not will be given later on today. Yar'Adua's opponents filed both petitions. Their main arguments were that the votes were alloted solely to the canidates running on behalf of the Independent National Electoral Commission and the the election was not compliant with the rules set by the Electoral Act of 2006. They think that the election should be declared null and void. This shows that theNigerian government is finally dealing with the corrupt government. They are taking a step to no longer allow cheating, bribery, theft, and blackmail within the government.

GRADE THIS POST

Undoing Immunity: Is Nigeria Ready?

Fraud, misrepresentation and obstruction of justice are the problem we face. Graft and corruption remained a problem nine years after democracy .The senate goes largely undetected to harbour thieves in the senate. They have not cared to find out because they know who the thieves are. The names of these thieves are well known to all Nigerians. Do we need to talk about the chief presiding officers, whose nationality and foreign accounts makes mincemeat of any moral pretensions to any responsible office, or their deputy whose name found its way advertently into EFCC’s list of corrupt politicians? The senators need only to look in the mirror to see the thieves that Nigerians have known all along. With Nuhu Aliyu’s volte-face, Nigeria’s clamour to be rescued from the grip of elitist leeches has suffered yet another set back. With every such betrayal, Nigeria’s future is buried by installment. Nigeria is now a corpse that should relax and enjoy its eternal alliance with the coffin of corruption.

Again this time, reports that corruption is the root cause of the economic collapse in this nation and financial problems of some countries throughout the world is appearing boldly visible. It could come as fraud, bankruptcy fraud, bribery, insider trading, embezzlement, computer crime, medical crime, public corruption, identity theft, environmental crime, pension fund crime, RICO crimes, consumer fraud, occupational crime, securities fraud, financial fraud, and forgery is no longer prosecuted.

Sometimes, crime tends to be made up of complex, sophisticated, and relatively technical actions in disguise. It tends to be intermingled with legitimate behaviour. It comes with diffusing victimization. Harm is not always conceptualized or identifiable as such because it is usually spread out over a substantial number of victims. The monetary sums that are involved tend to be quite large as pictured from Patricia Etteh’s scandals. As the former Speaker in the Assembly of thieves! She approved over N628 million to renovate her house and that of the Deputy Speaker. I am not surprised at all! This woman was just following the footprints that she saw ahead of her. What more can we say about the thieves and illegitimate people that are ruling Nigeria?

Read the full story...

The reason that the Nigerian government is as corrupt as it is is not because of ignorance, but because of apathy. Government officials are not being punished for stealing, embezzling, bribery, or anything else even though others know what is going on. For this reason, the majority of Nigerians live impoverished. Though Nigeria has technically been a democracy for 9 years now, the situation has not improved.

GRADE THIS POST

Nigeria Made $55b from Oil Exports in 2007

Information made public by the United States (U.S.) government on earnings by members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) for 2007 has placed Nigeria fourth on the ladder with a total income of $55 billion.

The amount, the report noted, did not translate into improved standards of living for the citizens as their plight remained deplorable with a mere $409 as per capita income.

With the figure, Nigeria emerged the fourth highest revenue earner among OPEC countries coming behind Saudi Arabia, which earned $189 billion, United Arab Emirates (UAE), which made $63 billion and Iran's $57 billion.

Although Nigeria featured prominently among the four leading nations in OPEC in terms of oil export revenues, the country lagged behind significantly in per capita distribution.

But the rise of the oil prices in the international market above $100 is being attributed to several factors such as the lingering crisis in the Niger Delta region.

Read the full story...

Though Nigeria produced the fourth most oil out of all of the OPEC countries, the per capita income of all of the OPEC countries is close to $400. Obviously the oil profits are going elsewhere. The oil prices will continue to rise for the remainder of the world due in part to the problems in the Niger Delta. This article further exemplified how oxymoronic the financial status of Nigeria is.

GRADE THIS POST