Super Eagles Crush Luxembourg

The Super Eagles of Nigeria defeated Luxembourg 3-1 in an international friendly, played on Tuesday at Stade Jozy Barthel. Goals from Brown Ideye, Kelechi Iheanacho and Odion Ighalo gave Nigeria victory

Luxembourg pull one back in the 90th minute through Thill Vincent.

Nigeria on Friday defeated Mali 1-0 in another friendly.

Competition begins as NNPC Sells at 135

NNPC Alakuku in Lagos has started sale of PMS below 140 putting it's pump price  at exactly 135 per litre.

It was further gathered that NNPC after Kaso bus stop  sells for 140 while Oando at Iju ishaga sells for 143.

The government has predicted that the deregulation of the oil stream sector will reduce hardship faced by Nigerian while trying to purchase PMS and also bring competition which will make price drop drastically before the year.

Petrol stations who cannot be competitive might have to shut down because Nigerian might prefer to buy less than spend more with the current economic situation.

Great IFE Stood Still for Baddo

Obafemi Awolowo University stood still yesterday as Olamide took to the stage at Amphi theater.

The event organised by Motherland Beacon was massively attended. Olamide as Usual fêted teeming fans to his great hit.

OAU home boy and YBNL Tiger, Chinko Ekun was also on ground while Dj Tswag was on the wheels of steels.

Buhari: We are Committed to Awakening the Sleeping Giant

The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari in celebration of Democracy day gave message of hope for the hardship currently faced by the citizens.

The President stated that the hardship faced currently is because as a country dependent on Oil, savings for the raining days were not made by previous administration during the oil boom. He assured Nigerians that his administration is committed to a Nigeria where we will be proud to Chant God bless Nigeria.

President Buhari further lamented that a country which was once a exporter of finished  petroleum products today now depends on importion to meet her domestic needs. We are committed to awaken the sleeping Giant.

Anglomoz Becomes "Oshodi" as Fresh Students Resume

The popular Anglomoz car in park Obafemi Awolowo University,ile-ife became lively once again as OAU fresh students resumed massively.

Smiles could be seen on the faces of the enthusiastic students who have spent almost a year at home after writing jamb and post jamb.

Our reporters gathered that some parents had to finance repair of mosquito nets in some of the halls because they were in bad conditions.

Dazzling Night View of OAU

I have heard people mention things like if you no go OAU...Na lesson you go. Obviously there seems to be reality in the saying.

OAU is not just Africa's Most beautiful campus by name but by pictorial evidences.
See for yourself and rebuff with counter proof.

Ooni Embrace Children

The palace of the Ooni of ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi was agog yesterday as children were hosted across the metropolis of ife in celebration of Children's day.

A mammoth crowd was seen at the palace with children entertained to fulfilment. According to Mr. Dudu "this is royalty redefined".

FG: Nigerian Children Our Top Priority

Beautiful Nigerian Children

The Federal government has disclosed through President Buhari's message to Nigerian children for the children's day celebration that his administration is committed to the good-health and well-being of every Nigeria Children.

The Presidency stated that 93 billion has been budgeted for school feeding programme so that more children  can go to school and enjoy the fun of learning and growing together with their peers.

The elated president further stated that the Children's day is worth celebrating because of the safe return of one of the Chibok girls, Aminu Ali Nkeki.

Nigeria's Beauty Queen Escapes Death

Ashley Yusuf, the face of Idoma Carnival narrowly escaped death after the vehicle conveying her and others tumbled along the deadly Lafia-Akwanga road in Nassarawa State during the week.

The beauty Queen was on her way to ensure the success of her project to feed 500 orphans for the Children's day celebration to hold today all over the world.

The state of roads in Nigeria is really a headache for the citizens; with many lives lost and business activities not really encouraging due to cost of maintenance of vehicles.

UI Law Finalist to Miss Law School

The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Prof. Abel Idowy Olayinka has come out openly to inform final year students of the faculty of Law that Law School is not visible.

According to the VC on Diamond 101.1 FM, he disclosed in a Media Chat that final year students of the University would not be able to go to Law School this year.

The Vice Chancellor further stated that resumption is in the hands of the Senate and not him.

"As regards the resumption of academic calendar, the Senate in their wisdom will determine the next line of action" - Prof. Olayinka

Credits to UI Voice.

Power, Works and Housing Minister, Fashola Overburdened.

Babatunde Fashola, minister of power, works and housing, has Proven to be overburdened.

It is high time the Ministry is separated. Power should be made a ministry of its own. BRF can’t do it all; he is not a Machine.

#5000 Buhari Stipend: How we will be paid

The president has reiterated that he will fulfil his campaign promise with the payment of unemployed youths being one of them.

Special Adviser on social Investment, Maryam Uwais made the revelation in Abuja on Monday, May 23 at a workshop on Child Poverty and Social Protection in West and Central Africa at the ECOWAS secretariat according to Daily Trust.

The monthly pay for the poor and unemployed Nigerians had generated a lot of issues among Nigerians who thought the presidency had been dishonest with the promise to the Nigerian populace.

She noted that 30% of the poor in every state and local government would be catered for while the figure would be increased to about 50% in 2017.

She said N5000 will be the bench mark for each family.

“There is poverty everywhere but if we say everybody is below the poverty line, poverty is higher in some places than others, so to avoid ghost beneficiaries we have asked them to have BVN so banks can pay directly to them.”.

Not Yet Uhuru: Citizen writes to IBIKUNLE AMOSUN

The government of Ogun State recently celebrated 40th Anniversary of the state with 40 laudable project but a Citizen has written to Amosun that it is not yet Uhuru.

Below is the letter and images of roads needing the government attention. He feels Amosun can still do better.

Dear Sir,
Greetings from a concerned constructive indigene of Ogun state.

It is imperative I write on behalf of the residents of the Ilogbo community in Ado-Odo Otta Local Government Area of the state as to draw your attention to the cry of residents of this community on the issue of the dilapidated state of a major road across this locality. The road that leads from Iyana ilogbo to Iju and also connects to Oju Ore axis which is the major route of lots of motorists, motor cyclists (okada riders) and passers-by across the state.

This community which is an example of other communities in the state that under goes urban-rural migration of citizens of Ogun state, Lagos state and Nigeria at large, experiences development at a slower rate basically because of the derelict state of this road. I must say Sir, that this road accommodates daily hundreds of motorists, motorcycles and passers-by because, apart from the residents of this community, we have business men and women that runs their daily business activities in the environs of this locality. It is also a pity that most of the immigrants from Lagos state who plans to settle in this environment fails to complete their building project or finally move in just as a result of the pain they encounter while taking these routes to their various sites and these keeps the socio-economic development expected in this community not realizable. It was also gathered, that the situation worsen during the raining season as motor cyclists and motorists encounters more difficulty in transporting down passengers to their various destinations as they get stuck in the pot holes due to the swampy state in the season and this often leads to accidents of sort.

Sir, it is also on record that sometime last year during your campaign movement for continuation in office for second term, your convoy also got stuck in one of the pot holes which made you promise the residents of this community to look into this issue if re-elected into office and this you’ve failed to fulfil since your attainment of second tenure in office.
Inasmuch as we salute and appreciate your progressive moves in fulfilling the mission to rebuild Ogun state, we must say that the mission would not be complete if you centralize your good works to some parts of the state as residents of the Ado-Odo Otta Local Government Area are also indigenes and good people of the state, this they’ve shown by re-electing you into office as their votes also counts.

I humbly plead you recognize our plight Sir as I’m also a resident of this community.

God bless the good people of Ado-Odo Otta LGA!
God bless the good people of Ogun state!!
God bless the good people of Nigeria!!!

Yours in good governance,
Oyedele J. Babatunde
Contact: 08126226064
E-mail: shebzjohnson@gmail.com

NiST Speaks tough Say Buhari Must Make a U-turn.

The Nigerian Students of Thought at the protest today in Ile-Ife has distanced itself from the weight thrown behind the Buhari led Administration for the removal of subsidy and hike in PMS by the National Association of Nigerian Students,NANS.

According to the National President, 
AYO Toluwalase Shedrach (AY TOES) the  country is in great shambles as a result of the lack of political-will seen in the President Mohammed Buhari, stressing further that their argument on hike is invalid.

"We, the Nigerian Students of Thought (NiST), totally distance ourselves from this exploitative stand. The removal of fuel subsidy at this critical time of our country is inhumane; it shows that our current leaders are not concerned whether we are alive or not. NiST is vehemently demanding a total reversal of PMS to N87."

They further rejected the over 40 percent increase in Electricity tariff saying that even Mr. Fashola knows the truth that increasing electricity tariff is not a panacea to solving the tragedy of low power supply in Nigeria.

At the protest, placard of rejection of the grazing bill was displayed and the call for inclusion of Youth in governance was made by NiST.

OAU's Titanic Ship Senate Building

The beauty of OAU is exemplified in it's lovely structures likewise in it's products as evident in the job market and governance.

The image below is the new Senate building of Obafemi Awolowo University which is ship like in it's design. Have you watched Titanic before but haven't seen a such ship with you eyes then get set to visit OAU.

Lifestyle: Ahmed Musa's Luxury Home

There are some wealth that cannot bring EFCC to your door step one of such is the round soccer ball earning.

Today we will feature Ahmed Musa's on our blog. The CSKA Moscow player is in a world of his own.

West Ham tables £155,000 for Sensational U20 international Chukwudi Agor.

The 17-year-old is from the ASJ Academy, the same team where the Arsenal linked midfielder Kelechi Nwakali first cut his footballing teeth.

“West Ham have offered Agor Chukwudi a straight contract without him having to
undergo trials, very soon he’ll turn 18, ”says CEO ASJ Academy Emeka Amajiriaku to
allnigeriasoccer.com.

“ We are studying the offer and it is very likely we will accept it. We are interested in the player’s development and not the money that is being offered.”

To make up for the small transfer fee that has been offered by West Ham, ASJ Academy have inserted a sell-on clause in the proposed deal, giving them ten percent of the fees if the player moves on from the Londoners in future.

Chukwudi was one of the unsung heroes of the Nigerian young team at the 2015 Fifa Under 17 World Cup, featuring in their first four games during the tournament and netted against the United States in the group stage.

He also scored the game-winner on Saturday as the Nigeria U20s beat Burundi 1-0 in an Africa U20 Cup of Nations qualifier.

OAU to get New VC before End of June.

As resumption is gradually drawing near concerns has suddenly began to increase once more as regards who will lead this years Matriculation event at Amphi threater.
As a tradition, matriculation is usually conducted by the Vice Chancellor of the University who adorns the beautiful Academic robe to fully welcome the new students to the fold,chanting the great Ife anthem with passion.
The incumbent VC's tenure, Prof. Bamitale Omole is billed to come to an end on the 23rd of June after 5years of dedicated service and stewardship while this years Matriculation ceremony will hold in July. An injunction gotten by the agitating Non Academic Staff Union of the University alongside SSANU has however  forestalled the appointment process.
Obafemi Awolowo University has had 10 Vice Chancellor since the establishment of the University till date. Therefore the next VC will become the 11th VC of the prestigious University.

Shocking: UNIOSUN Best Graduating Student Gets A MUG

The days of rewarding academic excellence seems to be over in Nigeria as it was with the viral Unilag best graduating students so also is the case in Uniosun.

According to sources, the best graduating student got a Mug for his hard work. It started more like a joke until the sudden viral picture took the social media.

Nigeria's Educational sector needs a total revamp from infrastructure to curriculum and also the nation encouraging students to put hard work towards gaining Knowledge.

The Whistling Anus

Passing gas  attimes can be embarrasing depending on the environment where it fizzles out but regardless of that, we must ensure we pass the gas regularly.

According to a new British study, passing gas may help you live longer and, in a surprise twist, smelling gas might prevent dementia.

Researchers found that when you pass wind, you’re helping yourself out by lowering your risk of cancer, heart attacks, and strokes.

And, the main ingredient in it is hydrogen sulfate. Researchers believe Inhaling it actually causes your brain to grow stronger and protects your brain from dementia.

FUEL SUBSIDY BROUHAHA: THE REAL ISSUES

At the last opportunity I had, I made a brief reflection on the current debate going on in the polity about fuel price increase, deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector and other allied issues. My reflection generated a debate on my facebook wall and I promised to do a comprehensive write-up on my take on the issues. That's what I'm attempting to do now.
A few days ago, the government through the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu announced what he referred to as the withdrawal of petrol subsidies due to deregulation of the downstream sector and consequently a new pricing template for Petroleum Motor Spirit popularly known as petrol. This saw the price rising from #86.50 to #145. We all know this. This new policy of government is a direct response to the biting fuel scarcity that has grounded the whole system for almost five months now.
I will first react to the need to ending fuel scarcity for which government is taking the current policy direction and see whether the government policy in properly placed. When I'm done with that, I will mow take on headlong, the issue of deregulation which is government's way of responding to the current fuel crisis.
In the first place, many Nigerians do not know the cause of the fuel scarcity that has been ravaging the country for months. Without a clear understanding of what brought the scarcity, we will not be able to properly judge the current government policy at solving the problem.
Since June 2014, oil which is the only foreign exchange earner for Nigeria began to crash from around $115 per barrel to about $30 per barrel in recent months. This means that the amount of dollars that Nigeria was earning dropped drastically. This is what it means when they say our foreign reserve has gone down. Yet, all the oil importation that Nigeria undertakes are in dollars? How do we then finance import when we do not have enough dollars? This unavailability of dollars and consequent inability to open letters of credit forced oil marketers to stop importing refined fuel thus forcing NNPC to bear over 90% supply burden of this product. Normally, NNPC only bears 48% of the burden while oil marketers bear the remaining 52%. Thus, since NNPC lacks the resources and capacity to supply 90% of domestic fuel consumption, the product was in short supply. That was the cause of the fuel scarcity we've experienced for months.
As a result of scarcity, simple economics teaches us that prices will go up- that's even if you get the product in the first place. Thus, Nigerians apart from buying at three times the normal cost had to wait for hours to get the product. This brought untold hardship upon all of us and we wondered, 'when will this end?' Surely, no responsible government will sit down and watch its citizens subjected to such pain without wanting to bring an abrupt end to it. Seeing then that the problem is scarcity of dollars, only availability of dollars could solve the problem in the immediate. So how will government make dollar available? One way is to trust God to touch the international oil market so that oil prices will rise and then we could earn enough dollars to finance oil import. But you know that God's response to prayer is not always instantaneous. So we will have to watch the scarcity go on while we wait on the Lord. Surely, Nigerians cannot wait.
Another way is to release the $28 billion dollars left in our foreign reserve to fund import and in the next 60 days, the money will finish and longer queues will return upon an empty reserve. This again is not an option. The other option which seems to be the only other option in the immediate is to remove the restriction that disallows oil marketers from accessing dollars in other sources other than the CBN. Let marketers go and source dollars from secondary sources in order to resume import to meet the demand of Nigerians and thereby end the scarcity. This is exactly what government has done. There appears to be no other option open to us if the system will not be totally grounded.
But you know that the rate of dollars at the secondary sources are higher than that of CBN. It is this percentage difference in dollar rates that government has tried to accommodate in the new new pricing template. You can't expect someone who sold at #86.50 when he exchanged a dollar for #199 at the CBN to want to sell at the same amount now that he's exchanging a dollar for #300 in a secondary source. He will rather not import at all or import and hoard the products until there is scarcity enough to force prices up. This is the simple reason for the price increase to #145. As a result of this new policy, within 24 hours, all the queues at filling stations across the country disappeared. The products are now available. New companies are already entering the market to import fuel due to the same liberalization policy. With time, supply will become more than demand and prices will have to fall. Nigerians obviously prefer the fuel situation in the last six days to what we've experienced for almost five months. It is better to buy at between #110-#145 within five minutes than to queue for five precious hours only to purchase at between #200-#250 per liter. Thus, the current policy of government as far as it relates to ending fuel scarcity by all means is rightly placed and is yielding good results. We must commend it.
It is worthy of note that Nigeria is not the only oil exporting country going through the current crisis precipitated by the crash in oil prices. Other nations like ours are having to make one form of adjustment or the other- some more drastic compared to the Nigerian experience. Venezuela has increased fuel prices by 6000 per cent. It has also devalued its currency, the Bolivar. The government then increased the minimum wage by 30 per cent. This sounds amazing until you hear the new minimum wage is now just about $13! That is N4,550.00 at N350/$1. Venezuelans despite the increase apparently still get to buy fuel at the world’s cheapest price but the reality should not be lost on anyone, arguably the world’s most socialist country today has been forced to make adjustments, increasing fuel prices for the first time since 1996!
Qatar Petroleum laid off some 3000 people in 2015. RasGas, the gas company, did its own firings. Qatar Museum and other companies including the almighty AlJazeera have had to reduce their staff strength. The sackings continued into 2016.The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company laid off 2000 staff members about two weeks ago. In Kuwait, salaries and other benefits are being reduced while the oil company is sacking those even less fortunate. Kuwait is OPEC’s third largest producer, also holding eight per cent of the global oil reserves. Mind you, some of these countries have better reserves than we do. Many of them really saved when the going was good. A country like Saudi Arabia saved about $900 billion during the same oil boom that saw Nigeria sharing billions of dollars through Dasukigate, Diezanigate and Jonathangate. Countries that have huge savings and other sources of income are making adjustments and you think Kleptocratic-mono-product-economy-Nigeria will not. Forget it! Too bad that we are having to suffer for the stealing of some people. But what can we do now? Eventhough we are currently attempting to recover the loot, we can't wait for that before we move forward. This is the matter fellow Nigerians.
Someone may now ask, so how do all these relate to the issue of subsidy removal and deregulation? Let me explain. Remember that the new government policy under consideration removed certain restrictions in the oil market including the restriction that oil marketers can only source for dollars at the CBN (we analyzed this above). Other restrictions include who can import oil? Only certain companies could before now. This restriction has also been taken away. All these restrictions are regulations- there are other ones- the removal of these regulations is what deregulation is. Thus, in order to solve the current fuel crisis, government is having to deregulate (remove certain regulations from) the oil industry. It has always wanted to deregulate anyway. The current crisis only again pointed to the need for us to do what we needed to have done? Government has now grabbed the opportunity. Fuel subsidy on its part is a component of a regulated market- price regulation. Government has always had to fix how much the products MUST be sold. This is because government is bearing a huge part of the cost of every litre of fuel consumed across the country. That is what subsidy is. But genuine deregulation involves removing the price regulations i.e the product should be sold to final consumers at the real market price as determined by the forces of demand and supply. In this case, there will be no need for any subsidy. This is the link between deregulation and subsidy removal.
Thus, deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector refers to the reduction, or removal of government control, rules and regulations that restrain free operational activities in the sector. Deregulation leaves market forces as the sole determinant of product prices, which entails removal of any form of subsidy.
Now the big issue is should we support this policy? My answer is yes albeit with some reservations. First, we need to admit that a regulated market which runs a subsidy regime is not sustainable for us in Nigeria from the records on ground.
A subsidy is a reverse tax. It is a deliberate attempt by government to support a chosen economic agent –a consumer and a provider and it can be applied in any market that involves the buying and selling of products and or services. It is basically government action that decreases the consumption price of the consumer and or increases the selling price of the producer. The idea of subsidy is a good idea in itself. It is a way of giving back to the populace who has little or no gain from the common wealth of the nation-oil. But even where the regime is not ridden with corruption, energy subsidies are generally expensive; they eat up national budgets. Benefits end up going mostly to the richest citizens, (who run plenty fuel consuming automobiles and generating plants compared with the middle and lower class citizens who have fewer, low-fuel-consuming or no vehicles at al), and crowd out more productive government spending on education, health and infrastructure.
Fuel subsidy costs Nigeria over 1 trillion naira yearly. Last year, Nigeria borrowed a total of about 850 billion Naira to fulfill its subsidy obligation. An analysis of the 2013 budget shows that allocation for fuel subsidy constituted about 20 per cent of the entire budget. It was also 10 times more than the appropriation for agriculture and rural development (N81.41billion), three times that of health (N279.23 billion), and twice of education (N426.53 billion). The vote for capital expenditure N1.54 trillion was just a little above the fuel subsidy. The amount spent on petrol subsidy alone in eight years is 15.57 per cent higher than the N4.69 trillion 2014 national budget, and also 10.61 per cent more than the 2013 budget of N4.93 trillion. The subsidy spent for the year is almost twice or 196.07 per cent of education’s N495.28 billion and more than three times the N262.74 billion for health.
To complicate matters, Nigeria's subsidy regime which is in itself expensive is ridden with corruption? According to the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Nigeria paid N198.11bn for subsidies in 2009, the sum went up to N416.45bn in 2010 and then some extraordinarily amazing thing happened in 2011, the subsidy numbers against reason shot up to N1.9tn! You need not be an expert in Mathematics to see that the 2011 number was way out of line. We paid just N219.72bn in 2006 and N236.64bn in 2007. What happened in 2011 to take the subsidy numbers to celestial realms? It was the 2011 elections. Not only did President Jonathan and his ill-fated co-travellers fund his 2011 election from the subsidy payments, they also depleted the Excess Crude Account to $3m in 2011 from almost $20bn in 2009.
Surely, the poor will benefit more if all these monies are genuinely invested in education, health, security, power and infrastructural development. This is why the subsidy must go and NOW!
But I must note that only full deregulation can bring benefit to the poor on the long run and not the current kangaroo type that the government has just implemented. Full deregulation involves the removal of government control on petroleum products prices, the removal of restrictions on the establishment and operations of refineries, jetties and depots, while allowing private sector players to be engaged in the importation and exportation of petroleum products and allowing market forces to prevail. Government is currently claiming to have deregulated while still fixing the price. A strong regulator needed to enforce competition rules is non-existent neither is the competition rules itself and yet government is claiming that prices will soon start coming down. This is pure deception! None of PPPRA or DPR is empowered by their enabling acts to rein in anti-competitive practices. How then won't the oil marketers easily form a cartel and start fixing prices against the dictates of the over-mouthed forces of demand and supply? Why is the price of diesel defying the forces of demand and supply despite the deregulation of that sector for many years? Its simple. A cartel has been formed and their is no strong regulator empowered to rein it in. It then means that without a competition law and policy coupled with a strong market regulator empowered to enforce same, the current policy of government will further impoverish the already maligned middle and lower classes while the ruling elites smile to their banks as they scorn our gullibility. Prices will not come down, they will rather go up. Also, investors will not be attracted to the sector to build refineries as government is currently selling to us where the market is not truly free. These are the issues I believe all stakeholders should engage government on and not just the stereotype of 'no to subsidy removal.' Because we are not discussing the right issues, chances are that government may escape with the current policy without any commitment to the masses concerning the necessary templates that is needed to be put in place if deregulation will indeed bring growth.
I personally opine that the Department of Petroleum Resources should be merged with the PPPRA and any other relevant department of the NNPC to produce a SINGLE and STRONG Regulator for the oil industry than enforce competition rules and policies. This is the way to go.
Government itself should clearly articulate to us how it plans to fix the existing refineries and build new ones rather than the empty boast that we'll start exporting refined products by 2019. We want to know how so we can evaluate government plans and make necessary inputs. I do not for one believe that the country should completely be at the mercy of private investors in the building of all the refineries we need. While we attract private investors, government itself should be committed to building new refineries that could be privatized upon completion. This is because it is government that has the primary responsibility to provide these needed infrastructure. Again, private investors may not be able to immediately mobilize the needed resources to accomplish the task. And since they owe no one any obligation, they may choose to work at their own pace. That's not what the masses want. We need a quick-fix if possible.
We should thus immediately demand from government
1. A full deregulation of the downstream sector as enunciated above
2. An immediate enactment of a competition law and policy for the downstream oil sector
3. The merger of DPR and PPPRA and any relevant department of NNPC to form a single and strong industry Regulator empowered to rein in anti-competitive practices.
4. An articulate plan on the refurbishing of existing refineries and construction of new ones by the Nigerian government which could then be privatized upon completion.
5. The immediate review of the national minimum wage to #56,000 in order to cushion the effect of the inflation on the people.
6. A review of the allocation sharing formula to devolve more resources to the states so that states can also afford the wage increase. Many states today have not even genuinely implemented the #18,000 minimum wage. Only Federal workers seem to be enjoying the full benefit of wage increase in Nigeria.
7. A quick investment of proceeds of subsidy in genuine pro-poor programs- reduction of tuitions and construction of student hostels across tertiary institutions, massive investment in our moribund hospitals and health centers across the nation, provision of soft loans to farmers, market women and young entrepreneurs which would in turn boost the economy, massive infrastructural development- road, rail, and power.
These are the issues that Nigerians should immediately engage government on. Certainly, all the benefits that government and other opinion leaders are claiming will emanate from deregulation are TOTALLY DEPENDENT on the templates articulated above. If these templates are not put in place, I can confidently welcome Nigerians to the beginning of dark days. These also are the issues that the labour leadership should take to the negotiation table with the Federal Government. All stereotypes must be jettisoned if we will bring something tangible out of the current industrial action. I believe also that my humble suggestions herein will be a good template for further robust intellectual discuss in the coming weeks. If we are vigilant enough, we will not be deceived into a bleak future for eternal vigilance remains the price of liberty.

Written by
Peniela Akintujoye.

NIGERIA'S ECONOMIC WOES: THE ONLY WAY OUT

By Fatoyinbo Gafar Omo-Ola, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

Sunday 22nd May, 2016.

It is a widely known fact that Nigerian economy currently seems dead. We as a people have never had it good with the economy except when the few available position was for the few educated elites. Except in the 1960, our economy has never really been planned.

The simple fact is that the country has no savings and it's only main source of income -the Petroleum sector - isn't making enough as a consequence of the international oil market.

That we do not have enough savings and lack source of funds outside oil, is the making of PDP, but blaming PDP is not a solution.

On the long run, we need to expand and develop our productive sector. We can't be farming with hoes and cutlasses in this age. Completely
mechanizing our farming and enhancing our farm processing and packaging capabilities are good initiatives we need to imploy at this life-saving period.

The solid mineral sector should be tapped for our local industries rather than for export.

To bridge the gap between the market and the farmers, our government must bring back marketing boards. Whether completely owned by government or with some privately interests groups. These marketing boards will explore international markets for our farm produce and protect the farmers from prize fluctuations. They will have better capacity to process and package farm produce than individual farmers. Government
investment in these marketing boards is like subsiding production which is good.
These are the basics, which IMF forced us to abandon in the 1970 that lead to the disappearance of the groundnut pyramids, palmoil, cocoa and rubber plantations.

Our technological quest should start from filling the needs of these farm marketing, processing and marketing boards. From conquering hunger, housing and clothing, our advancement will take off. The farms are the basics.

On the short run, the population do not have money in their pockets. Government must put money in our pockets in a creative ways. The only positive ways is to identify key project and mobilize the people to execute those projects.
Those projects should be tied to things that can enhance our production - infrastructure (power,
roads, rails etc). We must think local and avoid imports as we build these projects. So long as the projects adds money to the people's pocket and adds value on our productive capacity, struggling to match Euro-American standard is not important. Every technology starts in crude ways. Let develop, protect and use our crude implements. They will evolve with time and usage. The government must find creative ways to protect those crude implements. Import control becomes key here.

How now do we source money for the projects?

Here is the panacea. A mixture of borrowing, quantitative easing, intelligent taxation comes to play here. Borrowing is simple and easy. Intelligent taxation, simply means taxing our luxuries, making those of us who have enough money for luxuries to remit more money to government purse. Cars, alcoholic drinks, imported clothing materials of all sorts should be taxed heavily. Executive houses in the cities should be taxed also.
The rich paying a little more to finance the government is the norm all over the world.

Now, we can't all fold our hands waiting for oil money to mobilize our people for work. The trick is quantitative: easing, which basically means printing money. Government in theorem holds and infinite purse. The only bad side is inflation; the matching of quantitative easing and inflation is the work of CBN and the Finance Ministry.

They should wake up and earn their pay.
Our present inflation is not in anyway caused by money supply. It's caused by exchange rate which is outside the money supply dynamics. I know very well that exchange rate are very speculative and within the control of a few banks which do not care for us. Let take our minds off what we can't control. Let not play a game we can't control, or compete with the referee in football match. He will always rig the laws to his favour. That is our case with the international pricing of currencies. There are currencies that will always be high because their banks have a large control on the FX international market.

If Buhari has quickly printed a few coins and awarded some few contracts , since January, the economy wouldn't have been in this shape. Als pricing and monitoring if the jobs is key; but this is normal requirement.

Squeezing an already squeezed population, in the name of tax, as they have always resorted to will not solve the problem. Only creativity will do.
Following IMF prescription will cause more problem.

I'm optimistic that the above submissions if properly considered for ratification by our policy makers will help promote the long-awaited interesting stories that Nigerians have been expecting.
Nigeria shall rise for better glories!
God bless Nigerians!!

Fatoyinbo Gafar Olalekan (Socrates)
Is the convener, Movement for Democratic Agenda (MDA), Obafemi Awolowo University Chapter. He is a student of Social studies Education in the faculty of Education, OAU Ile-Ife.
He is a political analyst , social critic and crusader of good governance.

THIS TIME

The things I never thought I could do,
I will try doing  them this time,
The poems I never thought I could scribble,
I will scribble them this time,
The stories I never thought I could read,
I will read them this time,
The history I never thought I could write,
I will write it this time,
The smile I never thought I could give,
I will give it to my heart's content this time,
The heights I never thought I could scale,
I will scale them this time,
The invincible walls of challenges I never thought I could surmount,
I will surmount them this time,
The friends I never thought I could have,
I will have them this time,
The hatred that burned with passion that I never thought I could let go of,
My heart will feel it no more,
I will let go of it this time,
The words I never thought I could utter,
I will utter them this time,
The thoughts I never thought I could have,
I will think them this time,
The tears of joy and gladness I never thought I could shed,
I will shed them this time without restraints,
The love I never thought I could feel,
I will feel it this time till it consumes my entire being,
The father's touch of love I have solemnly missed,
I will experience it again this time,
The mother's embrace I thought was lost,
I will find it again this time,
The brother's kind words I thought I could not hear,
I will hear them again this time,
The sisters' screams of happiness I thought I could not hear,
I will hear them again this time,
The sweet words I never thought I could whisper,
I will whisper them yet again,
The 'bonnes choses' I never thought I could achieve,
I will achieve them better this time,
The junk I never thought I could dispose,
I will dispose it this time,
The shoutouts I never thought I could make,
I will make them this time,
The naughtiness I never thought I could show,
I will show it to all who cares to see this time,
The "bonté" I never thought I could show,
I will show it to the world once again,
The things I never thought I could do,
I will do them this time,
And when you see me,
You will smile and say,
I did it,
I really did it,
I did it indeed,
Then you will be proud of me and only wish,
Wish that you treated me better,
Because now I am the best thing,
The best thing you never will have,
Not now or in the many long years to come,
And then you will only wish.....

Olayinka Olaseni
18/05/2016.

**bonnes choses- good things
**bonité- goodness

Breaking News: Ex NIMASA boss, OMATSEYE books a place in prison.

The anti-corruption net of the Buhari Administration has caught a big fish with the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos sentencing a former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration Safety Agency, Mr. Raymond Omatseye, to five years in prison for a N1.5bn contract scam.

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission arraigned him for his engagement in contract splitting and bid rigging estimated at over N1.5bn while he was the DG of NIMASA; an offence, that contravened Section 58(4) (d) of the Public Procurement Act, 2007 according to EFCC.

He was further charged with money laundering contrary to Sections 14(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2004.

FUEL HIKE: NANS GIVES BUHARI VOTE OF CONFIDENCE

The National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, has given the federal government a vote of confidence over the increment of fuel pump price from N86 to N145 per litre as they recognized that the economy is sinking and badly battered.

 Series of protest have rocked the country from various quarters but NANS says FG we support you.

According to the President of the Students body, Comrade Tijani Shehu “NANS recognizes that Nigeria is faced with the crisis of deciding its future from present realities of economic challenges, and this justifies the reasons for the agitation for reversal of the pump price of N86.50 by some members of the public.

The president further added that there is no justification to continue subsidizing imported petroleum products as the sector has become the looting pipelines for many midnight billionaires, adding that the removal of subsidy would guarantee availability of petrol across the country.

FG Allegedly sacks 106 University Staff

The Federal Government has allegedly disengaged no fewer than 106 workers of University Staff schools in the country University Staff schools in the country. This was made known at  the SSANU’s ongoing NEC meeting at the Michael Imoudu National Institute for a labour Studies, MINILS, Ilorin, Kwara State.

it was further gathered  that another 76 members from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, Osun State were also said to be on the waiting list for disengagement. According to t
he Deputy President of SSANU, Comrade Moses Adeniyi-Aogo, who represented the President of the association, Comrade Samson Ugwoke said that the staff of university staff school at the OAU may be given the way out next month by the Federal Government.

FRESHERS TRAVAILS Chapter 2 (JJC on Great IFE Soil)

On campus after dropping at the bus stop due to the recalcitrant act of the Town gboro driver. I looked left and right lost in a school almost with a land mass of a country. Great ife is a state within a State, arguably a better State in Nigeria than Lagos state in my dreams. The walls of great Ife stand tall like the walls of Babylon accommodating various intellectuals.

At the bus stop looking more like an Aiyetoro boy who just came to Lagos for the first time and seeing an  Oshodi like crowd on campus, I was bit bewildered but had to get to my hall of residence as I was very tired. I looked inside my bag to confirm the name of the Hostel to Avoid a "JJC" situation amongst colleagues. Mounting shoulders high like I have arrived like Jenifa, I walked up to a student inquiring for directions to the Hostel. Behold he was also a fresher but a fresher with bush under his Chin; I was like Egbon thank You.

In OAU, it might be quite difficult to differentiate a fresher from a stalite because the snail like academic calendar has made Young boys to grow old and small girls to look marriage ripe. Though Great ife is worth the 40days and 40nights like Isreali sojourn in the wilderness because Great ife isn’t just the most beautiful in Africa but the most outstanding in terms of “pali” saluatation. I have heard numerous stories about how advantageous it is to possess a Great ife certificate. Laugh, if you no go OAU na lesson you go!

In a bid to locate my hostel and settle down since I wasn’t so lucky to have a father that benefitted from the generosity of Dasuki…I stared a bit at the array of cars that passed with Children wearing enthusiastic smiles, I decided to show off a little by calling a bike (I mean Okada) rather than trekking to the hall with my box. “Okada…Angola Hall” and he told me 500 naira. Chai! My heart skipped but I was determined to form big boy because Pride was in me like Peak Milk.

I was brutally “maga-ed” as the bike man merry-go-rounded the campus passing through academics, first bank before heading for Angola. Chisos, Angola now looked like the Journey to Sambisa forest in search of Chibok girls of Mozambique Hall at Anglomoz Carpark. I paid the price for show off and today am still looking for the bike man that “maga-ed” me on Great Ife soil.

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FRESHERS TRAVAILS -Chapter 1 (The Journey to Great IFE)

By Damilola Towobola (Toblan SPICE)

The news of my admission to Obafemi Awolowo University was greeted with a skelewu dance step as I gave my testimony in church. I was just handling the microphone for the first time so I fidgeted like the Students’ Union which has power administrators like PHCN in its kitty. The union was a toy in their hands.

Journeying down to ife was a bit nervous as I was leaving home for a place I don’t know people; a new world entirely and completely new faces. The bus boarded was synonymous to the Buhari Train of Change but it reached its destination; hopefully Nigeria also will reach Canaan land with its snail like economy.

Balls of sweat covered my face coupled with the heat as a result of the overcrowded bus with various perfumes, names which I cannot fathom. I compensated myself with the sign post of over-speeding can lead to death and hung on to fate. Fast asleep in a bus that seems like a journey to Kano, the scream of Campus woke me from my Jonah like gesture.

Highlighting from the bus was a great joy in my heart but my bit skipped for a seconds and my bones cracked like Pako biscuit of those days; Great ife was typically beautiful and comparable with Harvard university. No wonder it is said to be Africa’s most beautiful campus though am tempted to say it is most beautiful campus in the world because I have not travelled off my small community of Dalemo before. My education was a chain-like structure with me attending Kogboregbe Primary School and Kogboregbe Secondary, I was the best student in the school no doubt and I have made it to Ife to study so we are on the same pedestrian.

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I boarded the bread like bus called "town igboro" which refused to take us down to the hall as his business was moving so fast like Seun Risky’s Toast.