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‘President Muhammadu Buhari; A year in office a global decadence to Nigeria’ – Hon. Ifemosu
2015, President Muhammadu Buhari, PMB, won the Presidential election after a keen contest with the then incumbent President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, most Nigerians were happy thinking that the “messiah” that will take Nigerians from the woods to the “Promised Land” had come.
Many, also jubilated with the firm belief that the ‘’change’’ which he and his Party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, promised Nigerians was certainly going to transform Nigeria.
But with just about a year of his administration in office, PMB is still apportioning blames rather than proffering solutions.
Rather than shop for those that will help him fix the nation’s bleeding economy, President Buhari is busy globetrotting; spending the little resources that Nigeria is left with abroad and returning back home with little or no results for his missions abroad.
Below are some of the highlighted reason why PMB has actually failed Nigeria:
*During the 2015 presidential electioneering campaigns, PMB, promised to make the Naira equivalent to the United States of America Dollar.
With this pronouncement, most of us where happy since our economy is an import dependent one.
As at May 29, 2015, when he assumed office, the value of the Naira to the Dollar, in the black market was N195.00 against its current rate of N400.00.
As a result of this, cost of almost every commodity in the market has skyrocketed.
About Few months ago, his government announced that 500,000 unemployed graduates were to be employed as teachers.
Again, this was welcomed with much applause.
But just recently, the PMB led government announced that these teachers would be trained under its social welfare scheme to serve as voluntary teachers; what a deceit.
I termed this as Unpreparedness for leadership.
To prove PMB’s unpreparedness for leadership, in April 2015, after the Presidential election, he mentioned to Nigerians that he was not sure that former President Goodluck Jonathan will concede defeat.
To further buttress this position, it took President Buhari about seven months to appoint his ‘’saints’’ Ministers.
Ministers without any allegation of fraud.
To make matters worse, it took Buhari nine months to discover that the recently sacked 26 Agency heads were working for the PDP, as announced by the APC Chairman, Chief John Odijie-Oyegun.
*Budget Padding
Again, to show how unserious he runs the business of Nigeria, it took the President too long to get the 2016 budget passed.
His “Zero-based” budget of 6 trillion for the “change” agenda, presented with so much fanfare, expected to perform wonders for Nigerians, has been rejected by the National Assembly because of massive blunders discovered in the document after it was initially declared missing.
What does PMB and his APC Led government take Nigerians for? According to the late reggae icon, Bob Marley, you can fool some people sometimes but you can’t fool all the people all the time.
With reference to the controversial budget, full of concocted huge sums of Naira, with so many so-called errors attributed to the Presidency, how can a government that means well for its citizens plan a higher budget for its Ministry of Information against a lesser one for the Ministry of Agriculture in a country plagued by poverty, hunger and starvation? Or is this deliberate in other to equip the Minister for Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Muhammed, for what he knows how to do best; propaganda.
How did N5 million proposed for buying computers for the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) and the Film and Video Censors Board mysteriously became N398 million? What error accounts for the N3.8 billion allocated for capital projects at the State House Clinic meant for the president, vice-president and their families alone; compared to the N2.6 billion allocated for all the 17 government teaching hospitals nationwide.
Based on the foregoing, is the budget truly a reflection of how PMB loves Nigerians and the Nigeria he once cried for? Is it also a true reflection of the “change” he promised? What brands of tyres, batteries, fuses, c-caution signs, fire extinguishers and towing ropes will amount to more than quarter of a billion Naira of tax payers’ money, considering the fact that this budget is just for one year and that some of the listed items come with brand new cars.
How can a President who claims to be fighting corruption present such a budget?
Exposing Nigeria to external aggression
President Buhari goofed seriously when he made the Dasukigate investigation public.
Even in the advanced world, matters of national security are handled secretly on-the-need-to-know bases.
But in PMB’s case, he preferred to make a big show with it thereby exposing the nation’s vulnerability and susceptibility to external military aggression and possible invasion by any country; no matter how small that may want to display its military might and superiority.
PMB, in doing this, forgot he took an oath to protect Nigerians.
*Lack of tolerance for the opposition.
PMB’s intolerance for the opposition remains unparalleled.
He has not congratulated any governor in the opposition political parties who emerged victorious in any election, since he assumed office as President.
This may also be the reason his anti corruption fight is perceived to be a vendetta mission, an attempt to reduce the opposition to nothing.
This writer is not against the anti corruption stance of Mr. President but his approach is seriously assuming a dangerous dimension; Nigerians are watching.
PMB’s corruption war seems to be targeted and limited to the Jonathan’s administration.
Is PMB telling Nigerians that previous administrations were corruption free? Or is it because Dr. Jonathan did not in the military? What are the reasons for limiting this fight to Jonathan’s administration and the PDP alone? What about the men in his cabinet, whose names are associated with so many alleged corruption issues? Is PMB surrounded by saints, is he saying that all present and former governors of the APC are corruption free or they never corruptly enriched themselves? In about three months , his administration will be one year.
Nigeria needs a president that can move her forward not one that has taken her 30 years backwards.
What about his party leaders who have been alleged to have converted state government properties into their personal properties? Why has PMB refused to tell Nigerians the source of funding for his electioneering campaigns and how those who funded it with billions of Naira acquired such stupendous wealth? What about the numerous under aged Nigerians that voted for him in the northern part of the country which may have contributed to his emergence as president; has he made any categorical statement to condemn this act? How can a President, who was corruptly voted into power fight corruption? How can a President whose election campaigns were corruptly funded by corrupt persons who allegedly corruptly enriched themselves fight corruption?
Nigeria’s business is a serious one; not meant for people who lack vision to move the nation forward.
Nigerians are tired of his anti corruption mission which is not even yielding fruits.
His anti corruption fight is seriously hemorrhaging the nation’s economy.
*Fuel hike/Scarcity.
It took PMB to aggravate the suffering of Nigerians by increasing the price in PMS, it will be recalled that the minister of petroleum (state) kachikwu stated it categorically that fuel Scarcity will end by may, not knowing there is a plan B to subsidized and increase fuel Scarcity, it is a known fact that earlier in 2015, PMB stated that there is nothing like Fuel subsidy, only to come in 2016 to subsidized it at a higher price.
Nigerians are hungry.
And rather than spend the past eleven and half months since he assumed office to fight hunger, starvation, poor health care delivery systems, and shelter for the homeless, PMB has been busy junketing the entire globe and painting Nigerians black as corrupt people.
Is it his war against corruption that has refused to yield results as buttressed by a recent statement by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) boss, Ibrahim Magu, that “senior lawyers are frustrating the war against corruption? Is it his victory over Boko Haram which he claimed can no longer carry out any conventional attack yet they bombed Maiduguri, Borno State capital, killing and injuring scores? The same Boko haram bombed an IDP camp too killing and injuring scores of harmless women and children he swore to protect.
And just recently, the same group of terrorists razed Mala Keri in Konduga Local Gorvernment Area of Borno State.
Is it the “padded zero-based” budget of “change” corruptly designed to enrich some pockets which they also claimed some rats smuggled some items into it, as reported by the BBC or the Treasury Single Account (TSA) which he recently pronounced was a creation of Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s administration? Would it be only the Dasukigate? Of what immediate benefit is Dasukigate to Nigerians compared with the sorry state of the Naira or faulty policies like the one which has caused even students inability to pay their school fees abroad?
President Muhammadu lacks clues on how to move Nigeria forward. He also lacks the capacity to be Nigeria’s president.
This is because he equally lacks ideas on how to diversify the economy of this great nation blessed with abundant natural and human resources.
His team also lacks cutting edge ideas that will take Nigeria out of the woods.
They have nothing new to offer as his “miracle making” and “saints” ministers are of the old school or old brigade with little or no achievements to show in their past leadership roles except for Babatunde Raji Fashola the minister of darkness who could only increase the electricity tariff and stop importation of Generators.
Nigeria, a country with about 220 million people does not need a president that lacks a 22nd century vision.
We need one with solutions to her challenges.
The kind of president that can set the propellers and the turbines of Nigeria’s economy running rather than bringing it to a total halt; a president that can place the most populous black nation in the world, in its rightful place, in the committee of nations.
Ifemosu Michael Adewale.
An activist, Founder Youth in Good Governance initiative (YIGGI).
NNPCL and Corruption’s Final Throes
By Pius Olasanmi
In the twilight of the Obasanjo administration, when Nigerians were still capable of being outraged, when Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of refineries was a buzzword that still held some mysticism to bamboozle citizens, during a conversation, a certain man said something profound. The man said, “As a businessman, if I were the owner of these refineries, knowing that they are three decades old, I would take the last money I have, hire bulldozers, raze them to the ground, and obtain loans to build new ones.”
When we pressed him further on why he would engage in such waste, he explained that repairing the refineries is the real waste. He explained that even if the TAM were honestly carried out, a thirty-year-old refinery would never compete favourably with a new one that would integrate contemporary technology. Operating at its best, such a refinery would never be comparatively more efficient. It is therefore pointless to have spent another one naira on the refineries at that point.
A few months later, I had a conversation with a then-lawmaker on an entirely different matter. I mentioned that the National Assembly has failed by not crafting legislation that would criminalise and punish public office holders who foist wrong decisions on the country. The logic: a public office holder need not steal to be punished, wrong decisions should attract penalties for an office holder who opts for the worst of all options when there are less injurious ones.
These established premises speak to the ongoing nauseating efforts at revisionism by those who wrecked the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and its previous iteration, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Notably, this campaign to rewrite history is traceable to Engineer Mele Kolo Kyari, the disgraced immediate past Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL and his hirelings. They have suffocated the news and the public opinion space with even more lies than they spun while in office.
The Saint Kyari campaign is anchored on convincing Nigerians that the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna Refineries were fully functional when he was booted out of office. So brazen is the campaign that one of its talking heads challenged the group chief executive officer (GCEO), Engr. Bayo Ojulari, to “inform Nigerians categorically what happened to the functioning refineries he inherited from his predecessor, Engr. Mele Kyari.” The effrontery.
We have not forgotten so soon the charade that followed the baffling claim that Nigeria has spent $2.8 billion on the repair of the refineries, while they are not churning out even a single litre of refined product among them. Saint Kyari and his goons played all manner of tricks, all of which embarrassed President Bola Tinubu, who had counted on ticking off the return to productivity of the refineries as part of his achievements, only to realise that he was deceived into celebrating phantoms. Tragic.
Lest we forget, 200 trucks were arranged as props in a well-directed video clip to celebrate the re-streaming of the Port Harcourt Refinery. The disappointment. Nigerians were to learn from several reports that the Port Harcourt refinery was not producing and was instead using old, stored petroleum products to load trucks. Worse still, the Kyari crew was passing off sanction-tainted Russian-sourced crude oil refined in Malta as locally refined products. More insult was piled on the assault on our collective sensibility with the lies that the Port Harcourt Refinery exported semi-finished products. Brazen.
Meanwhile, Kyari and his hirelings called those who pointed out or protested these glaring scams all manner of names. They hid behind industry technicalities and jargon to create the impression that those of us who knew Nigerians were being robbed did not understand what we were saying. The point remains that a $2.8 billion investment can potentially build a refinery with a capacity of around 100,000 barrels per day (bpd). Of course, the actual capacity of such a refinery will depend on various factors, including the complexity of the refinery, the technology used, and the location. That is the amount that Kyari’s regime at the NNPCL took and did not give Nigerians refined products.
Fast forward to Kyari’s sack and the appointment of Engineer Bayo Ojulari, who has demonstrated that things can indeed be done differently. Kyari’s exit was expectedly followed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) going after him and his associates. The extent of the theft is better understood against the backdrop of N80 billion being found in the bank account of one of his associates. They went on the run.
Perhaps because the EFCC was biding its time on securing international warrants for the arrests of these characters on the lam, they have become emboldened. They have decided to fight back and rewrite the story of their participation in the greatest fraud against Nigerians. Engineer Ojulari’s renewed mindset, which is entrenching a semblance of the transparency Nigerians demand, became their natural target. The demons that once roamed around the corporation came out with malevolence. They started spinning stories of corruption to tarnish the incumbent who refused to hide their crimes. The objective: bring Ojulari down. But alas, he is winning the war as it stands.
His innocence is proven, and it is glaring that those who want him out are mere charlatans who can no longer ply their corrupt wares because of the impact of the new reforms. Corruption in the NNPCL is in its final throes. The fake news being unleashed against the incumbent leadership is akin to corruption’s last kicks as reforms in the sector strangulate it and its practitioners. The reforms must take place in the NNPCL, whether the industry demons like it or not.
As a parting shot, Kyari and his associates would do well to prepare their defence. In addition to accounting for the $2.8 billion they laundered in the name of repairing the moribund refineries, they must also answer for the poor decision to fix that which is irretrievably broken. Awarding contracts for Turn Around Maintenance of 59-year-old refineries that a right-thinking person had suggested should be demolished almost twenty years ago, when they were only 30 years old, is criminal. Trying to deceive Nigerians that the fake repairs worked is treason.
Olasanmi is a public affairs analyst writing from Lagos.
GRANDIS 5STAR LUXURY APARTMENT & SUITES SET TO REDEFINE LIVING IN VICTORIA ISLAND
Set to Rise elegantly against the Lagos skyline, is the Grandis 5Star Luxury Apartment & Suites. According to Adejuwon Ademola, The General Manager of the Development company, it is more than just a residential building
“it’s a lifestyle statement. Standing 17 floors high in the heart of Victoria Island, this revolutionary masterpiece of modern architecture will offer a panoramic 360° view of Eko Atlantic, Victoria Island, and Ikoyi, transforming every apartment into an exclusive penthouse experience for the world’s most discerning elite.”
Developed by Dumarco Construction Limited, a globally acclaimed company with decades of delivering complex, high-value projects in the highly regulated petroleum, oil, and gas industries, Grandis 5Star brings unmatched international safety standards, uncompromising quality, and timeless elegance into Nigeria’s luxury property market.
> “When you live in Grandis, you’re not just buying a home—you’re investing in peace of mind, world-class safety, and an effortless luxury experience that will remain pristine for decades,” says Adejuwon A. Ademola, General Manager of Dumarco Construction Limited.
The Gold Standard in Safety and Quality
Dumarco’s roots in the oil and gas sector mean the company operates to some of the strictest safety protocols in the world. Every stage—from conceptualization, design, construction, to long-term maintenance—follows internationally accepted procedures and quality assurance measures. Cutting corners is simply not in Dumarco’s vocabulary.
> “In the oil and gas industry, there’s no room for compromise. We’ve brought that same discipline and zero-tolerance for mediocrity into property development,” says Ademola. “That’s why Grandis will be one of the safest and most enduring residential developments in Nigeria.”
To ensure transparency and prevent (project complacency), Dumarco deliberately separates the developer, contractor, and consultant roles, engaging only the most competent professionals in each respective field. Dumarco’s project team includes globally recognized contractors such as Julius Berger, Cappa & D’Alberto, and Elalan, Migliore Construczione & Tecniche (MC&T) and their partners VENCO IMTIAZ CONTRACTING COMPANY (VICC) based in Dubai, UAE, Business Contracting Limited, alongside leading consultants like Morgan Omanitan & Abe, LAMBERT, and James Cubitt.
Grandis – Investments, appreciation, returns and profitability
Our selection process for the location of the project alone was pains-taking and completely thorough scientific process. Top professional companies were employed to conduct a scientific data acquisition and analytical survey of the entire Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Lekki and Eko Atlantic before a project site is selected. Analyzing and acquiring areas developmental charts and trends, studying and gathering historical and present sale prices, rental charge and occupancy rates over a 50 year period from every individual street before the selection of the location of any of our developments especially true for the Grandis Project
He adds,
“Our clients and residents can be rest assured that the location of Grandis has been scientifically proven through all existing data to provide our clients with a 100% occupancy rate, highest developmental location, highest rental income and investment returns. ”
The Grandis Experience
Located minutes away from international corporate headquarters, embassies, and landmarks such as Eko Hotel, Radisson Blu, and the Radisson Red, Grandis offers unmatched convenience for professionals, diplomats, and high-net-worth individuals. Every residence is designed for both indulgence and efficiency, with high-grade finishes, smart-home systems, and private amenities that ensure seamless living.
From sunrise over the Atlantic to the glittering Lagos night skyline, residents will enjoy uninterrupted luxury, supported by discreet and highly trained staff, advanced security systems, and a design that prioritizes comfort and privacy.
> “We designed Grandis for people who want everything—security, elegance, convenience, and the assurance that their home will look as spectacular in 20 years as it does on day one,” Ademola notes.
A Legacy That Lasts
With its combination of visionary architecture, peerless safety, and meticulous maintenance planning, Grandis is built to remain iconic for generations. Thanks to Dumarco’s meticulous approach, the building’s service charges are expected to remain low while its value and appeal continue to appreciate over time.
In a market often marred by shortcuts and substandard practices, Mr Ademola says
Grandis stands as a beacon of what luxury living should be—safe, spectacular, and built to last.
“Grandis 5Star Luxury Apartment & Suites — Where safety meets sophistication, and every detail is designed for a life well-lived.”
He added
Website -www.dumarcoltd.com
Project website – www.26idowutaylor.com
Email [email protected]
Tel / WhatsApp +234 9077777883
GM – Adejuwon A. Ademola
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