TheNewsGuru

Tag: NIGERIAN POLITICIANS

  • Peter Obi reveals how much Nigerian politicians pay youths to insult those advocating for their future

    Peter Obi reveals how much Nigerian politicians pay youths to insult those advocating for their future

    The presidential candidate of the Labour party in the 2023 general election, Peter Obi, has claimed that Nigerian politicians run ‘’transactional politics” where they go as far as paying youths to insult anyone advocating for a better future for all Nigerians.

    The former Anambra State governor made this known while speaking on the topic ‘Politics and Change in Nigeria’ at an event at Johns Hopkins, Washington, DC.

    ‘’People pay them to cause confusion. As I am here now, go to social media. All those that are being paid N20, 000 or N40, 000 monthly are youths whom you are fighting for their lives because at over 60, I have just few years to go but we can get it right,” he said.

    Nigeria’s Failure Caused By Political Leadership

    Obi further noted that Nigeria’s failure across all sectors was caused by politicians, adding that, only competent, capable and compassionate political leadership can help Nigeria achieve development.

    “The failure of a nation depends largely on its political leadership. Competent, capable and compassionate political leadership, with integrity, will help nations to achieve sustainable growth and development,” he said.

    He noted that, unlike Nigeria, grouped along with China, Vietnam and Indonesia, in 1990, on Human Development Index, the three countries have performed better.

    “In 1990, the year the measurement of the Human Development Index (HDI) was started, these 3 comparable nations, including Nigeria, were all classified under the medium category of the HDI measurement. 35 years later, 3 of these nations have moved up to the High category of HDI while Nigeria has fallen into the low category.

    “Within the same period of 35 years, from 1990 to 2025, the GDP Per Capita of these comparable nations have all improved. As of 1990, while Nigeria had a GDP per capita of $556, China had $317, Indonesia had $578, and Vietnam had only $99. Nigeria, obviously, had higher GDP per capita than China, while Vietnam had less than one-fifth of Nigeria’s per capita. Today, Nigeria’s per capita is about one-fifth of Indonesia’s ($5000) and Vietnam’s (4400) GDP per capita and below one-tenth of China’s (1300) GDP per capita.

    “In the area of poverty, Nigeria with about 50 million poor people, had the least number of people in poverty in 1990 than any of the three countries. While China had about 750 million people living in poverty, Indonesia and Vietnam had 85 million and 60 million poor people, respectively. China alone had about 15 times the number of poor people than Nigeria. Today, however, Nigeria has more poor people than these 3 countries combined,” he stated.

    The former Governor of Anambra State emphasized the need for Nigerian leaders to prioritize investments in education, health and poverty alleviation.

    “The question then is, what exactly did these countries do to be able to achieve the desired growth and development? That is where political leadership comes in. These comparable nations, and indeed other progressive nations, unlike Nigeria, have competent leadership with character, capacity and compassion, committed to prioritizing investment in critical areas of developmental measures; Education, Health, and pulling people out of poverty,” he added.

  • Independence: #ThePlatform convener, Poju Oyemade blasts Nigerian politicians, says only thing they understand is how to get and hold power

    Independence: #ThePlatform convener, Poju Oyemade blasts Nigerian politicians, says only thing they understand is how to get and hold power

    The Senior Pastor of The Covenant Nation, Lagos, Pastor Poju Oyemade, has asked the Federal Government to invest in the nation’s education sector and the vocational training of Nigerians.

    He made the call on Friday in Abuja during The Platform’s Independence Anniversary event, an annual programme that features professionals from different fields.

    According to him, wealthy nations only focus on developing the skills of their citizens and those who are capable of doing things that only a few people on the earth can do.

    Nations that have developed their citizens’ skills, he said, attract material capital with a special focus on the unseen while other countries focus on the seen.

    “If we really know what the wealth is, then the first thing we will look at for in this country is our educational system,” he said.

    “The second thing we will look out for is how much specialised vocational training is going to produce highly skilled people.”

    Oyemade, citing a recent report, said some countries (including Nigeria) have governing policies that give a negative intangible capital.

    He faulted Nigerian politicians who only understand the language of power and how to sustain it, decrying the level of corruption level in the country.

    “The only two things politicians – who are the decision makers – understand is how do we get to power and the second language they understand is, ‘if we are in power, how do we hold unto it?’” Oyemade said.

    “This is the language and voices that politicians who can change things understand. Once they understand that these are the ideas that will make them gain power, they will implement them. It has very little to do with compassion but with power.”

    TheNewsGuru.com, TNG reports that Pastor Oyemade, who is the convener of the Platform, was the keynote speaker at the event.

    Others speakers included the Special Adviser to the President on Ease of Doing Business, Jumoke Oduwole; Lagos State Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Samuel Egube; and a former Chairperson of the Democratic Party (US), Donna Brazile,

    Chief Economist with the New York City Economic Development Corporation, Professor Fred Oyewale; the Co-founder/CEO of Indicina – a FinTech infrastructure start-up focused on Africa, Yvonne Johnson; a writer and accountant, Feyi Fawehinmi, were also part of the programme.

  • ‘Nigerian politicians own 800 properties worth $400m in London, Dubai’

    ‘Nigerian politicians own 800 properties worth $400m in London, Dubai’

    Mathew Page, an associate fellow of Chatham House, London, has advised Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) investigators to focus on real estate and education sectors, when tracking illicit financial flows and money laundering.

    He gave the advise in a paper he presented entitled “IFFs through the Real Estate and Education Sectors: Implications for Investigators” at a capacity building forum for ICPC investigators on investigating Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs), on Tuesday, in Abuja.

    Page stressed that focusing on the two sectors had become necessary as IFFs had provided opportunities for politically exposed persons (PEPs) in Nigeria to launder money through real estate and education sectors.

    “Most of the property held by Nigerian politicians in London and Dubai are held by proxies, family and shell companies.

    “Over 800 property worth over $400 million have been linked to Nigerian PEPs,” Page said.

    Speaking earlier, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, the ICPC Chairman, said that the capacity building programme would help investigators to track illicit financial flows, money laundering and other areas the government was losing revenue and recover such funds.

    “The loss of revenue is a major challenge to developing countries, particularly Nigeria.

    “The meeting is therefore designed to build the capacity of our investigators to enable them trace the areas in which the government is losing money.

    “One of the takeaways from here is the kind of question an investigator needs to ask in tracking IFFs and money laundering,” Owasanoye explained.

    “Also, to look for the likely places people hide money, stop the illicit financial flows, and recover the funds.

    “We are already working with the FIRS and getting a lot of tax evaders and defaulters into the nation’s tax net”, he added.

    He stressed the need to widen the revenue base, improve tax collection, combat tax evasion and illicit financial flows, as well as asset recovery to improve the country’s finances.

    Fielding questions from journalists at the end of the forum, Owasanoye said that the commission had dragged about 2000 corporate entities into the country’s tax net, following investigations it conducted and that the names of the entities had since been forwarded to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) for profiling.

    “Some of these entities are not registered and do not pay tax, while others are registered but still do not pay tax.

    “The ICPC has been able to recover significant amounts in taxes for the government,” he said.

    The Chairman of the Inter-Agency Committee on stopping IFFs from Nigeria, Dr. Adeyemi Dipeolu, assured that the committee was working assiduously to curb the menace from the country.

    “We know the challenge and negative impact of IFFs in Nigeria and Africa. The Federal Government established the committee towards promoting financial transparency and accountability.

    “It was in line with the recommendations of the findings of a high level Africa Union Panel on Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) led by former South African President, Thabo Mbeki.

    “The findings also include coordinating and tracking progress in stemming illicit financial flows from Nigeria.

    “The Committee is establishing cooperation amongst relevant agencies in order to substantially reduce and eventually eliminate illicit financial flows from Nigeria.

    “And to make recommendations to the Federal Government on required improvements in legislation, rules and processes for the purposes of tackling illicit financial flows from Nigeria amongst others.”

    He advised African countries to build the capacity of their investigators in tracking illicit financial flows in order to curb annual revenue losses.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that besides Page, two other resource persons, Prof. Melvin Ayogu of Emory University, and Matthew Gbonjubola of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, presented papers at the forum.

  • Learn from fall of Mugabe, Idi Amin, Gaddafi, others – Methodist Prelate warns Nigerian politicians

    The Prelate of the Methodist Church, Dr Samuel Kanu-Uche on Monday advised politicians in the country to behave themselves and learn from the fall of Robbert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and other sit-tight leaders.

    Kanu-Uche also advised politicians who think they could rig themselves into elected positions to know that Nigerians were now wiser.

    The prelate gave the advice at a news conference on Monday after what he called an “Apostolic Tour’’ of the Church’s Arch Dioceses in the FCT, as well as Minna and Lokoja.

    “Our leaders should learn from the fall of Sadam Hussein, Gadaffi , Idi Amin and Robbert Mugabe.

    “Our politicians are not learning. They should not think they are powerful. Power belongs to God. If they think they are powerful, God has a way of dealing with them,’’ he said.

    He decried a situation where some elected politicians earn as much as N13.5 million as monthly allowance, while the masses were suffering.

    On security, Kanu-Uche noted that it remain a challenge, especially the recurring herdsmen/farmers clashes in a number of states.

    “The people you call herdsmen now were not the ones we knew when we were younger in the 60s.

    “Herdsmen live in our villages, they used their staff and control thousands of cattle and we relate well with them, there was no shooting, but now they use gun.

    “I understand that the guns are issued to them by politicians,’’ he said and called on the president to fish out those arming the herdsmen and make face the law.

    He urged Nigerians to embrace one and another and live in peace irrespective of religious and political leanings.

    “God did not make a mistake in bringing us together.

    “We want a united country, where there is peace, harmony, justice, equity and rule of law.

    “We do not want a religious country. We should co-habit and co-exist in love.’’

    The prelate commended President Muhammadu Buhari for not abandoning projects initiated by the past administration.

    “I commend the government in power for not abandoning any projects initiated by the former government.

    “You know the Jonathan government initiated the railway project and this government has continued with that.

    “It is being magnanimous in victory. Roads are being constructed massively and simultaneously,’’ Kanu-Uche added.

  • God will punish Nigerian politicians- Majek Fashek

    Nigerian reggae legend, Majek Fashek, who disappeared from the music scene for a long time, has revealed his angst towards Nigerian politicians. He said it is only Nigerian politicians who bury money in coffins.

    When quizzed by journalists on what his thoughts are about the state of the nation, he said:” My daughter is a citizen and I thank God for it. It is only in Nigeria that politicians bury money in coffins. Nigerian politicians are assholes, God go punish all of them.”

     

    Fashek was born in Benin City to an Edo mother and a Yoruba father, but identifies with his Benin roots. Various translations of his name Fasheke (Ifa-kii-she-eke) include “high priest who does not lie”, “powers of miracles” and “(system or medium of) divination does not lie”.

    After his parents separated Fashek remained in Benin City with his mother, and soon joined the choir in his local Aladura church and learned to play the trumpet and guitar whilst composing songs for the choir.

     

     

    In the early eighties Fashek, who at the time went by the stage name Rajesh Kanal, joined the group Jastix with McRoy Gregg, and lead singer Black Rice. They were best known as the in-house band on the show Music Panorama on NTA Benin, and toured with fellow reggae group The Mandators. Jastix were also session musicians for upcoming reggae singer Edi Rasta, who would later be known as Evi-Edna Ogholi.