Thursday, 13 October 2016

[Discussion Continues] IT WAS NOT IN MY INTENTION TO TAKE IT TO THIS END BUT WHY NOT IF YOU WANT IT THIS WAY


The piece from where this continues generated a lot of controversies as expected. This is so on the fact that the writers is the word and the readers is the interpretation. Also for the sake of reading without studying. A very view read it through the authors mind, others supported the writer because they feel it favours there blindfold, others totally got their nerves on the wild and would probably be still mad at the writer because they feel the piece was designed against their blindfold, some others simply remind indifrent while the rest got critical but injected some bias thoughts their blindfold brought hence got it all twisted.

WHY THE INTERMISSION
You may want to wonder and ask why intermission, Was it necessary, wouldn't he had just made his point than play with our intelligence? Sorry, but the purpose had been achieved which was to set the record right that our world view have been so dark colored by our blindfolds (sentemets) that our view of things is totally one sided and something close to being myopic. A christian will first see the Islamist in the writings than the facts and falls of his piece, an Islamist will first see the Christian in the writer than the facts and falls of his piece, so much so that we see how unqualify we each are to talk on religions we do not follow forgetting knowledge is vast. On the political realm, we APC members will see the hate in a PDP member talking about Buhari even when he says "Buhari is good" same will PDP members first see the hate in an APC member to PDP when he chooses to talk on PDP.
Back on the piece you could see that majority read the book by the cover, many of them never noticed the fact I established something that suggest the fact that the change we want and expected is not the change we see. (Different varying definitions)

THE CHANGE
APC promised us change, PDP promised us Transformation in their respective campaigns. The Change have come, we live with it, but do not understand it. I cannot recall any body asking APC what change they offer us. Change can be to anything good or bad. If APC's definition of change was removing PDP from power, have they not achieved it? If Olamide's definition of change was "Bihari and Osigbanjo" as he sang has he not achieved his change? If most Northern Muslims definition of change was to remove Goodluck Ebele Jonathan from power have they not achieved their change?. That is on the one end which is to say our satisfaction lays on the definition of what change is. My frequent follows will rightly know that my first article with regards to the present administration was a call to Buhari on his definition of fighting Corruption where I called for a redirection since I noticed he was fighting what I called the crime of corruption and not corruption itself.

ON TRANSMISSION
It will be with little or nor wit if anyone will say there is nor transformation ongoing even though the present administration did not promised transformation as a word but change which in a way is transformation.
Transformatoon is a marked change in appearance or character, especially one for the better. It is not something that will go through legislative processes nor is it something that goes only when the going is soft but even when the going gets tough. I recall I was asked what the change and the transformation are. Now I answer that the change is the transformation we see. And what is the transformation?

I leaved in a society where everyone seem to be waiting for government for their daily bread. A society where a very good farmer waves the farm, sacrifice his tools for a white paper they call employment letter. It was a society where as soon as government offers a person his so called "pensionable work" he sacrifices all his potentials. In that society I lived there was a youth running a car wash business, if what he told me was true, he was saving two thousand Nigerian naira a day after, but he abandoned that business and was careless about it till it gradually died off, cote-cee a primary school teaching government employment.

In this same society I lived largely among civil servants who spend all their earnings in advance and even spend far above their earnings. This made almost all of them
Professional deptors only for their stomach and not even a better live or an investment of some sort.

I lived in a society where Local government workers only come to office at month end to claim their salaries. A society where the politician is a god that must not be talked ill of even if he were wrong. I society where any body can be anything at whatever time.

I lived in a society where a party member card was enough to give you whatever you wanted. A society with an identity card that was not as useful as the party card. It was a society free to air through b
Disgusted doom.

I lived in a society where the widow, Widower, and Opherns live in hell even when their Fathers, Mothers, Husbands and wives have worked and left enough death benefits for then to live on. A society where out of share heartlessness people enjoy other people's death benefits living their love ones suffer much more hell than allocated them by the demise of their love ones.

It was a society where there was high unemployment rate yet there was enough vacancies for the sons and daughters of party excos and members, highly placed personalities, politicians, Directors, Local Government education sacretaries e.t.c even when such children were not quified.

A society where children of the oppotuned get paid salaries even from tender age, monies they never worked for yet the life of the view workers were pathetic under the guise of the norm that hides in the claim of no sufficient funds.


A society that the grand norm seem to suggest keeping the poor in perpetual poverty for loyalty sake. That society where every on wants to be the all in all in his locality and can do anything what so ever so sacrifices communal unity for self glory. That time when our brothers will hide our files to ensure we do not get promoted at work. When the would rather sale any opportunity they have to the stranger and sale it at home let alone given it freely.

A society where infrastructural development was poor and In some localities unavailable yet in paper it was available. And no one knows but the beneficiary.

A society where everything can go wrong with little fellows or now fellow at all saying anything about it possible because the master was one, his house was one so to speak against the masters house was to speak against one house.

And politics generally became a dirty game with may parents, religious leaders, ... Barnning their subjects from joining. That time when the only lier known was a politician.

WHERE THEN IS THE TRANSFORMATION IN ALL THIS

The point here is not in the act of better things that have come but if the fact that the bad things are now seen and felt by all against the tradition of old when it was only the poor that see feel the pains of it. That is to say, I am not saying the miracle have come but I am saying the problem is known and the first stage of solving a problem is knowing the problem.

Today almost everyone knows well not to depend on government but to find their sources of livelihood that will complement whatever penny the get from the government. We seem to all agree that government work should be a sort of additional means of livelihood and not to replace our earlier means of livelihood. Isn't that transformation and change.

Today also, many of the civil servants in my locality knows well to cut their coat a little less than their sizes so that the can save some for other purposes rather than live on a higher cost and remaining slaves to those they are incepted to forever.
In the same society, where for years I like many others have been preaching self reliance, entrepreneurial developments, savings and investments to no avail, today on their own the are being resourceful.
For instance, in my nighbourhood alone we have three to four shops ranging from profession stores, mini coca-cola depot, kitchen utensils store, and betteringtwo saloons of the respective sexs all owned by civil servants who never saw the need for an investment before. And all this began within this year cot-cee the cahnfe hardship.
We now have teachers and other civil servants on road transport business about six of them that I can identify and this does not affect their commitments to work in any way as they have peoples running this things for them and God's faithfulness abiding with them.

Furthermore the farms are busy. For every moment I turn and see the ginger, the corn, the ground nuts, the maize, the beans (Mada, waken gida, and Achi-shuru) particularly, and many more farm produce that are entering into the homes of civil servants how have said bye to farming, I am on able to say a word but Thank the Lord as I ask, Is that not Transformation? Is that not change?

Today everyone seem to be extra careful with the work God have so bless him with, there is a positive turn on things with regards to attaining to official needs as should. That too is a transformation, it is a change.

Today there is a down turn on the power of party membership and cards in and appreciable manner with regards to influencing benefits especially illegally. That too is T&C.

Today we know the secret of the pains the widows, widowers, and "orphans had to suffer, we know a very good number of those heartlessly enjoying benefits of the death of those the have no formal affiliation to. We know many who were offered replacement jobs illegally bearing the names of the death, or claiming monies in the name of the death there by denying relatives of the dead their lost one's benefits. Is that knowledge a lone not change, is it not Transforming.

Though the unemployment is still there, but today we know those who have stopped meaningful and positive development, we know those who earn what the do don't deserve, we have a drastic reduction in the number of unqualified workers who have occupied the places of the qualified. We know those whose affiliations have granted them some favours even above their seniors but now are back to where the rightly belong. Is that not change? Is that not Transformation.

Today, it is not only the poor that suffers the hardship, the recession, and what ever ill our doing and undoing is causing but largely everyone each according to what his statues deserves. Is there no change, is there no Transformation? Would things not more easily solved and bear if we are on this same page?

Today we know a lot of areas who lack schools, water, electricity, schools, ... Simply because in the papers it is recorded projects as such have been awarded, executed and are in use. The knowledge of it is a change and Transforming.

Today there are two strong masters, two hauses, I can tell the master of house "A" his ills and be protected by house "B" and the table would still serve same purpose when turned over. That is a great transformation, that is a change.

Today there seem to be a sound the sings, politics is not so dirty, we cannot do without involvement, everyone in every field can be saint or sinner. And politics is gradually regaining respect as deserved. Transformation and change it is.

If APC is doing us good, it is changing us, it is transforming us, if they are doing us bad, it is changing us, it is trnsformaing us. [Positivity, Objectivity, Critical mindedness]
J.F. Dabo

Wednesday, 12 October 2016

REMOVE THE BLINDFOLD AND SEE THE ACHIEVEMENTS YOU NEVER SEEM TO SEE

Nigerians

keep lamenting about the pains of the present, they have cursed the day they voted out PDP and in APC. Some have cursed their thumps though I expect to see one who would cut off his thump all invain. In the court of public opinion, the present administration is judged a failure and a good number that have been heard says the present administration is a mistake they would never repeat. And Nigerians just keep crying and crying. I recall in hest the days of the 'higgy hagger' when the campaign drums where loud and each danced the tune he loves best, and it was so sweet and awesome. Change and Transformation they both sounded. Today we have achieved the change and the transformation is ungoing but no one that have been loudly heard seem to accept the fact of this achievements. This simply shows our myopic out look at things that really concerns us.

If I were a church man I know I would not contest the fact that my most sacred book would say 'all that God does is wonderful'. Can you imagine!! I think the church men should tell us the truth if what they preach us is not really true we should be allowed to enjoy this life and expect whatever the future holds because sadly they too join in the senseless outlook at what is prevailing with a negative goggles. They have told us to face challenges as the necessary bridge we must cross as they keep calling us to carry the cross with joy as it is the only way, sadly these too have helped in building this sense in us that seem to say hopelessness is the only thing we have now. They like the careless of the rest of all have failed to see the hand of God in what is happening at present. Possibly they too have falling to the grip of the pains and have balanced on the fleshy bank that they join in the song of lamentation when in fact they should be the moses of this Exodus. It was funny when I received a call that announced to me the policy that demands for #15,000 naira deposit from a friend of mine before baptism could be done ... '. Christianity for sale you could call that. Sure if it has reached this way, anything, everything and even the unexpected can be expected.

Again the Muslims are not left behind in this out cry, they have publicly cursed their own (the first of it kind in Nigeria). Well for my part that is an achievement for now I see the monster of religious, rigional, tribal ... Sentiments bow down to a realty that bedeviles us. At least for the first time we have a common ground to stand on, both are faced with same challenge and we can now reason together. It is a shift from the norm that have placed every Muslim or Islamist at the advantage above any other Nigerian especially in the North. If for no reason, the Christians in the North have the just duty to confirm this claim as true. For the first time altleast on an appreciable standard there is a shift from that all thanks to the Chanji dole that we now curse. I know you know too the pains that minority groups have had to endure all through history. I know you know through history we have not had a good number of Muslims stand against any of her blood that is occupaying any public office even if he were the Nigerian Hitler. It has always been 'Na su Nasune'. And now, the table has turn and we still cannot see. I laugh each time I read from bloggers who share how Buhari is hated even in his state. I care less if such is true, if it is true 'toh wallahi DA gaske' change is home.

Those who over time have logically and objectively followed my pieces of literature would affirm that from time I have never been a party dog as I go with the candidate that I feel best even if Shakau where his party chairman. This piece you should agree with me is not a way of gratifying or exunerating Buhari or APC, I have no reason to at least non of you have heard my appointment to any political office, again it is not a way of painting PDP or any party or person(s) black, at least you were not told of my arrest by the PDP government. All am saying is I have no reason to hate or love any I am only carrying out the task of letting Nigerians know how ungrateful we have become and how we have covered our eyes from objecrively seeing reality. This is born out of the fear that we are soon to return back to our once unwanted home.

THE PROBLEM WITH CHANGE
We have no problem from the word go with each other, the problem only came shortly after the elections. That problem is with the defination of the word 'change'. It is clear APC had her definition of the word change while myself and other Nigerians had our own individual definition of the word. I recall clearly at the early stage of the campaign I said in a post at Gurara Forum that "we would need to ask APC what change she is offering us as we would also need to ask PDP what transformation she mean to offer us", this was so said because I noticed the diversities in the definitions of the various slogans. If APC, PDP and Nigeran's had a uniform definition of the two slogans we would not have experienced this dark age with much misunderstanding as now. But APC had her own definition that by my assessment through her policies now seem to suggest a sanitation exercise. To most Nigerians like music star Olamide, all the change they ever wanted was a vacation for PDP and the emergence of a new ruling party as we listen in Olamide's song "APA, APC, APC, APC Bihari and Osibanjo na the change we want". To others it was a Change that would come and send many looters on the run as we would listen to in the popular Hausa song " Masu gudu su gudu". To people like me the change we defined was one that would come and plead to the conscince of Nigerians to return what is Nigerian's, a Change that would guide Nigerians toward forgetting the ugly past, redefind the Nigerian mind towards a new start. A change that would redefined the history of Nigeria with very little reference to the past. For my kind this change Knows no arresting and prosecuting but a plea for patriotism and a trust on posterity.
As we can clearly see there is a difference on the understanding of the change needed. Now, let us be sincere to ourselves, it is by our definition of change that this regret arises. Clearly we both presumed and we now reap the rich harvest.

ANY ACHIEVEMENT RECORDED?
Apart from the fact with the problem of defination, Nigerians are just ungrateful, inpatient and lack focus when she says there is nor gain in voting this government. Any one that would say this administration is a total failure is insincere, ungrateful, unnecessarily wicked or is just not ready for a better Nigeria. I am a 1987 born having no good romance with history but as early as 2004 I already knew the problem with Nigeria
 It is not as if Nigeria do not know the solution to her problems, rather, it is that no one is bold enough to be the agent of that solution, no one is ready to bear the challenges that accompanies such a change. That is because most that know this solution knows well that the challenges with it are bigger given the nature of Nigerians. They will throw stones, rain curses, humiliate, frustrate and do any other thing possible to stop that solution from coming home. I do not know if any body sensed the way and manner the military Obasanjo handed over power, I do not know if any one reads anything in Good luck's withdrawal from the removal of fuel subsidy. You see Nigerians just past through events without learning from them. Little wonder the politicians were able and are able to play over Nigeria with such ease and with no resistance.

From what is going on we can see that Nigerians expected a miraculous president and not the one they have in Buhari. We all love that changes, we want things to be better but no one whats to be part of that change process.

.............watch out for next: the hand of God in Change.............


2017-2019 Multi-Year Budget of Jobs, Social Justice and Equity

Address by Malam Nasir El-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State, at the presentation of the draft 2017 Revenue and Expenditure Estimates to the Kaduna State House of Assembly; Lugard Hall, Kaduna; Wednesday, 12 October 2016.

PROTOCOLS

Let me begin with a word of thanks to Mr. Speaker and all our Honourable Lawmakers for receiving us in these hallowed chambers. On behalf of the Executive Branch, permit me to acknowledge with profound gratitude the commitment that the Kaduna State House of Assembly has demonstrated to an enduring partnership in the interest of our people. This tribute is fully deserved, and can be attested to by the sheer number of laws that thisHouse has passed in the last 16 months to put our state back on the track of social justice, equity and equal opportunities for all our citizens.

I recall with gratitude the thoroughness with which you considered the draft 2016 estimates, which you kindly passed in record time. That enabled us to sign the 2016 Budget by 22 December 2015, and issue expenditure warrants effective January 1, 2016.With your legislative diligence and support, we have now institutionalised a system that aligns the fiscal year with the calendar year.

Thus far, our government is playing its role as a catalyst of development, an enabler of private enterprise, a facilitator of opportunity for the distressed and marginalised majority whom we have now made the recipient of our spending on the social sector and for the expansion of economic openings. This government supports and encourages aspiration, and is broadening access to education, healthcare and training. We are mounting a concerted assault on the causes of poverty by providing the less-privileged a substantive ladder to a better life, upward mobility and social justice.

This has been a challenging year on a macroeconomic level. A sustained and severedecline in national revenues in a mono-product, import-dependent economy and the attendant deteriorating exchange rate of the Naira have fuelled inflation, resulting in a contraction of the national economy. This is part of the consequences of the previous eight years when the Yar’Adua and Jonathan governments reduced the Excess Crude Account from $27bn to $2bn, ran down foreign resrves from $40bn to $25bn while managing to double the sovereign debt and squandering billions of dollars in oil revenues along the way. This is exclusive of revenues from NIMASA, NLNG, NPA and other agencies. With pipleline vandalism and oil prices going as low as $26 per barrel post-29 May 2015, the economy was up against it.

Across the country, the fact of a fiscal crisis is deeply felt as many state governments find it hard to meet their salary obligations regularly and comprehensively. Kaduna State has been spared the worst of this fiscal crisis, due to our early effort to shrink the size of government, curtail waste and fraud, and the discipline that the TSA you legislated, enabled us to impose on public finances.

With the public sector at the national level so buffeted, it is no surprise that the private sector is at best tentative in its investment choices. There is no doubt that the managers of the national economy are taking prompt action towards rebuilding investor confidence, to align fiscal and monetary policy and restore the clarity that business cherishes. These must be accelerated and implemented with the urgency the economy deserves.

At this point, permit me to pay tribute to the support Kaduna State has received from President Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo, aided by the CBN governor and the ministers of Finance, Works, and Budget and Planning.

The troubled national economy is an impediment, in a fiscal structure where the Federal Government is the dominant revenue source, and where only one of 36 states – Lagos - has achieved the revenue independence that all state governments must strive to attain. That is why we are working hard to grow our internally-generated revenues (IGR) to help make our state less dependent on federal allocations. In June 2016, for the first time in the history of the state, we raised more than N1.6bn as IGR for the month.

We are accelerating and broadening tax-payer registration. We shall soon propose foryour approval lower ground rents and other land –related charges to encourage claimants to land throughout the state to obtain certificates of occupancy, while introducing land use charges and garbage collection dues in our urban areas of Kaduna, Zaria and Kafanchan.

To further emphasise our determination to raise more revenues, we have notified all MDAs that we will be so strict on revenue targets that in 2017, the release of their budgeted overheads will be linked to each Ministry or agency’s revenue performance.

Review of the 2016 Budget
Despite these difficult headwinds, the Kaduna State Government has persisted with a determined effort to implement the Restoration Programme, the document in which we set out our plans to change Kaduna State and make it great again.

The 2016 Budget was structured to align spending towards pro-poor priorities, mainly in Education and Health. Our interventions in the sectors have improved access to learning and healthcare. We launched the School Feeding Programme for primary schools, which in January 2016 began providing one meal every school day to 1.5m pupils. By May, we had expanded the Programme to include 0.3m children in our early child education segments of the primary schools, thus bringing the total to nearly 1.8m children. This initiative to improve the nutrition of children in public primary schools was costing the state about N1.1bn every month. At the end of the 2015/2016 session, we decided to put into effect lessons learned in the first seven months of the programme. This review includes a re-examination of the entire vendor recruitment and payment processes to secure better value for money through biometric verification. The 2016/17 school session has began with enrollment of pupils that is projected to rise to more than 2m pupils.

We have decided to delay the commencement of our primary SFP in this session until this re-examination is concluded and we are reimbursed by the Office of the Vice-President (OVP) for the matching grant to cover part of the expenses incurred on the programme from January to July 2016. We were encouraged to be a pilot state for the School Feeding Programme and began implementing the programme when we did based on assurances that we will be reimbursed for the feeding of pupils in primary classes 1 to 3, which account for more than 60% of the monthly cost of the feeding. We are aware that the OVP is making every effort to hasten the reimbursement to enable the state to continue this laudable implementation of a key APC manifesto commitment.  

We made a start at the rehabilitation of schools and the provision of furniture, water and toilets. With more than N6bn already spent to make over 400 schools better, a gargantuan investment is required to extend it to all our 4,265 primary schools. This, we are committed to achieving. We have also realized that what our state education needs is a total rebuilding programme of classrooms and physical facilities, and intensive teacher training, rather than rehabilitation of dilapidated and congested facilities manned by largely unqualified teachers. We intend to complete existing contracts while launching a comprehensive rebuilding programme in 2017, by God’s Grace.

Our Health Sector made great strides with the efforts to reduce maternal and infant mortality. Strong commitments to routine immunisation continue, and our investments to protect our children from preventable diseases are being vigorously supported by our development partners. We have signed agreements with General Electric Healthcare for the modernisation of 255 primary health centres (one in each of our wards). The rehabilitation and preparation of these PHCs to receive life-saving equipment will kick off soon, and will be completed in early 2017.

We continue to deliver free health care to children under-5, pregnant women and the elderly. On HIV/AIDS, we have made progress in slowing the scourge as a testing programme that covered over 126,000 pregnant women across the state has revealed about 0.3% prevalence. We have secured accreditation for Barau Dikko Hospital as a teaching hospital for Kaduna State University, even as we continue to refurbish our general hospitals. We have responded to the recent malaria epidemic by making anti-malarial drugs free for all citizens and ramped up the distribution of free bed-nets in our public hospitals. The Ministry of Health and Human Services will fumigate parts of our state where the epidemic appears most prevalent to improve preventive care.

Mr. Speaker, Honourable Members, in the outgoing budget year, we coupled robust investments in the social sector with strong support for the economic sector. Through creative negotiations with private manufacturers and suppliers, we secured affordable fertilizer for our farmers without burdening the treasury with the cost of fertilizer subsidy. We recovered significant acreage of forest reserves and commenced a tree-planting campaign that aims to beautify our state through greenery, combat desertification and create jobs and economic opportunities. Such is the robustness of our commitment to safeguarding agriculture that we were the first state to begin containment of the ravages that Tuta absoluta caused to our tomato crop by declaring an emergency and nipping it in the bud in an effective and timely manner.

We recorded tremendous progress in our drive to improve infrastructure to make life more comfortable for our people and expand opportunities for business. This year, we brought the Zaria Water Project closer to completion. We liquidated the N3.6bn arrears of payment owed the treatment plant contractor by the previous administration. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to announce that the 150 million litres per day water treatment plant is scheduled for commissioning in December 2016. The pipes that will transmit and distribute the water to Zaria, and all the eight local government areas captured in the project, are already being laid. We are working towards ensuring that the Zaria Water Project is a completed reality in 2017.

Other achievements in the infrastructure sector within the year in review are solar street lights, street naming and the reconstruction of township roads that began with Kaduna metropolis. The dualisation of roads in Rigasa, Barnawa and Ungwar Dosa were delayed to ensure that we completed the payment of compensation for affected buildings before commencing work. We are continuing with the Kawo-Lugard Hall Road expansion project which this government inherited. We renegotiated the contract price and saved N1.1bn on the cost while maintaining the scope, specifications and standards.

We also settled many outstanding inherited liabilities to contractors, in order to discharge due obligations and rescue the businesses of the concerned contractors from strangulation. We have focused on paying the smaller debts that are no higher than N10 million after negotiations to reduce levels of contract inflation. So far, we are on track to pay over N3bn in inherited liabilities before end of the 2016, by God’s Grace..

Mr. Speaker, as you are aware, we organised the Kaduna Economic and Investment Summit (KADInvest) in April 2016. The summit gave us a platform to demonstrate that Kaduna is open for business, and that we have the policy environment, the laws and the people that can enable investments to thrive and create jobs for our teeming youths.KADInvest was successful, and the state is the recipient of many investment projects arising from the substantive impression we made at the summit. Olam in Chikun Local Government and Vicampro in Kaura Local Government have since broken ground on their respective agro-allied investments. Dangote Industries is siting a tomato industry in Kubau Local Government, while many other multi-million dollar investments are at various advanced stages of discussion in agriculture, mining, solar energy, electronics and automotive assembly.

At KADInvest, we announced that we regard Agriculture and Mining as areas of comparative advantage. Investors agree, and we expect mining investments to unfold to match or surpass those already announced in Agriculture. Before the recent announcement of the huge nickel deposits in Dangoma, we had issued a tender for a gold ore processing centre in Birnin-Gwari. Our artisanal miners know that this government is their partner in ensuring that their contribution to mining continues even when the big mining firms arrive. The state mining company (KMDC) participated in the recent mining conference in Australia as part of a delegation led by the Deputy Governor, His Excellency, Architect Barnabas Yusuf Bala. Kaduna is now visible on the global miningmap on behalf of Nigeria as a whole.

Another significant outcome of KADInvest was the presentation of the State Development Plan, 2016-2020, a document that offers policy certainty regarding the direction and goals of the Kaduna State Government in the next few years. The State Development Plan is a roadmap that is based on our campaign promises and manifesto commitments, and its successful attainment is a cardinal goal of ours.

The 2016 Budget is also a learning experience for us. Its implementation was impacted by some challenges, including low revenues, the economic recession and procurement delays from some of our ministries, departments and agencies. As we explained during the quarterly budget report to this esteemed Assembly, the capital budget utilisation has been the highest in the state for years, but we expected to hit higher figures before the financial year closes in December. In mitigation, with the volume of tenders already issued in 2016, and better grip of the procurement process by the MDAs, capital utilisation in 2017 will be closer to expectations.

As a sub-national government with no control over monetary policy, the state budget is our key fiscal policy tool and only opportunity to insulate the state economy from further negative shocks and turn the tide towards growth and development. The budget is also our most important mechanism towards achieving the goals of the State Development Plan 2016-2020.

All these lessons and targets have been taken onboard in designing the 2017- 2019 draft estimates.

At this point, Mr. Speaker, it is pertinent to recall the condition of the state at the time we assumed responsibility for leading it. This is important for promoting understanding of the context within which we have to govern, and to underline the magnitude of the challenge. We are doing this not for the purpose of passing the buck; we have no doubt that despite the epidemic of amnesia in certain quarters, most fair-minded people need no reminder about those who squandered historic revenue windfalls and left our schools with no furniture, presiding for 16 years over lamentable levels of infant and maternal mortality, abject infrastructure, much waste and puny IGR.

The Kaduna State We Met
At the inception of this government on 29th May 2015, there was now an opportunity to collect solid data and go beyond anecdotes in understanding the socio-economic situation of our people. While anecdotal information had been widely utilized in the past, there was no concrete evidence on the livelihoods of the population which could be used to target policies, programmes and projects to areas of greatest need. To address that, a General Household Survey was conducted across the State to provide us with a true picture of the Kaduna State we inherited, and the results are alarming.

The survey clearly shows that this government inherited a situation where more than half of our women are giving birth at home, one in two adults is unemployed, alarmingly high child mortality rates, lack of drugs and poor provision of medical services in publichospitals, neglect of the physically-challenged, poor birth and death registration, low-school enrolment and attendance, inadequate supply of potable water, and other poor economic indices which are unacceptable to any reasonable and responsible leadership.

Also, a School Census was conducted and the results are equally distressing. It shows that;
i. There are at least 3135 schools with no source of water
ii. There are 4077 schools with no source of electric power
iii. The student completion rate is 24.17%, 54.94% and 70.14% for primary, junior secondary (JSS) and senior secondary (SSS) respectively.
iiii. Poor teacher/student ratio in public schools
v. High level of unqualified teachers
vi. High frequency of repetition among students
vii. Unacceptably high school dropout rate
viii. Poor school enrolment rate; and
ix. High number of dilapidated public schools

To better understand our economy, we conducted for the first time in the history of Kaduna State a State Gross Domestic Product (GDP) survey. The survey shows that the economy of Kaduna State is about $11.3bn (N2.2trn) compared to the National GDP which stands at N94.1trn. The State therefore contributes about 2.3% to the National GDP even though we are about 5% of the population and land area of the country. We are therefore not pulling our weight and are not where we should be as a state. Our economy is small, with meagre diversification, resulting in high unemployment and poverty. Thus, economic transformation through the development of productive sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing and mining is critical.

It is estimated that 36% of Kaduna’s GDP is accounted for by agriculture while services account for 45.5%. The Agriculture sector is a major source of raw materials for industries and thereby has the potential of boosting the industrial sector. Cash and food crops produced in the state include yam, cotton, groundnut, tobacco, soyabeans, maize, beans, guinea corn, millet, ginger, rice and cassava. Livestock reared include poultry, cattle, sheep, goats and pigs. Small scale farmers dominate agricultural production in the State.

Kaduna State has over 80 commercial and manufacturing industries. Goods that are manufactured in the state include automobiles, textiles, aluminum, dairy products, toiletries and petroleum products. However, a previously booming textile industry’s contribution to the overall growth of the state has declined.  Textiles contribute about 2 per cent of the state GDP currently.

What We Are Doing About It
To achieve the vision of making Kaduna State great again, this government focuses on four major areas namely;
i. Economic Development
ii. Social Welfare
iii. Security and Justice; and
iiii. Governance

To implement policies in these four broad areas, the Government has produced a five-year crowed-sourced State Development Plan, 2016 – 2020 which outlines the aspirations of the Government to restore our State to its former glory. The plan includes a strategic framework to realize our vision, resource projections to guide and prioritize expenditure and an implementation plan to deliver results and monitor progress.

Also, each sector ministry or agency has developed a Sector Implementation Plan (SIP) which provides a basis for linking the State Development Plan with the annual budget. Each SIP features the programmes, projects and activities earmarked for implementation during the Plan period (2017 – 2020). The SIP was used as a prerequisite for the 2017-2019 medium-term budget. The implementation plan clearly states the policy, strategies and result chain for each sector.

This logical linkage between the SDP and the Annual Budget ensures that State Government expenditures as contained in the annual budget are in line with State Government priorities as articulated in the SDP, thus enhancing the effectiveness of public expenditures. Such a seamless transition from the SDP through SIPs to the budget will ensure efficiency and effectiveness in government operations.

Mr. Speaker, Sir,
With your enactment of the Public Finance (Management and Control) Law 2015, Kaduna State acted swiftly to adopt the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and a Zero-Based Budgeting framework to correct the wrongs of previous budgets as a preferable way of managing the public finances of the State. Overall, with the active cooperation of this Honourable House of Assembly, we have laid a solid legal and regulatory framework by the enactment of key legislation and establishment of agencies some of which are:
i. Investment Promotion Agency (KADIPA) Law
ii. Tax Codification Law establishing the Internal Revenue Service (KADIRS)
iii. Geographic Information Service (KADGIS) Law
iiii. Pension Reform Law establishing the State Pension Board
v. Public Finance (Management and Control) Law
vi. Kaduna Master Plan (Enforcement) Law
vii. Fiscal Responsibility Law establishing the Fiscal Responsibility Commission
viii. Public Procurement Law establishing the Public Procurement Authority
ix. Facilities Management Law establishing the Facilities Management Agency (KADFAMA)

These laws that you passed and the agencies they established created an enabling environment for the private sector to thrive and complement the efforts of the State Government.

Mr. Speaker, we shall be advancing the process of creating a legislative and policy environment that eases life for our people and businesses. Therefore, we shall be approaching the House in 2017 with the following aspects of our 2017 legislative agenda:

1. Penal Code Bill to repeal the 1963 Law.
2. Mortgage and Foreclosure Bill to make it easier for residents to access mortgages that they can repay over 15-20 years.
3. Administration of Criminal Justice Bill to domesticate the (ACJA) and acceleratecriminal procedure in our courts.
4. Schools Management Board and School-based Management Committee Bill to involve local communities in managing our primary and secondary schools.
5. Peace Commission Bill to create an agency that proactively identifies and manages sources of conflict.
6. Budget and Planning Commission Bill to convert the Ministry of Budget and Planning into a professionalized Commission, and establish an Economic Planning Board.
7. Civil Procedure Bill: to do for civil cases what the ACJA is doing for criminal cases, to update the post-colonial law and hasten the adjudication of civil disputes.
8. Fire Law to update the colonial legislation, and devolve the operation of fire stations to local government councils.
9. Kaduna State Road Authority (KADRA) Bill to replace KAPWA and regulate road construction and maintenance throughout the state.
10. Kaduna Metropolitan Transport Authority (KMTA) Bill to regulate mass transit, including the proposed light rail.
11. A new Forestry Bill to update the colonial law and devolve the administration of forests to local governments.
12. Local Government Reform Bill;
13. State Independent Electoral Commission (SIECOM) Amendment Bill.
14. Legislation for a new Scholarship and Student Loans Scheme in place of the current dysfunctional scholarship scheme.
15. Media Corporation Bill to create a neutral public service broadcaster that will educate, entertain, inform and enlighten the public, devoid of partisanship and that can operate in a commercialized environment.
The state expects an infusion of N800bn in private investments in the next five years. Already, the State has benefitted from investments such as the $150m poultry/hatchery/feedmill - the biggest in sub-Saharan Africa started by Olam group, the $10 million Tomato Farming and Processing investment by the Dangote Group, and the $120 million Potato Farming and Processing investment by Vicampro, and other multi-billion investments at various stages of negotiations..

The Government is determined to continue the allocation of resources to the identified critical areas of need that will ensure the people of the State are better-off. This is not a small task, but we believe that no amount of investment is too much for the people to enjoy a decent livelihood and that we are resolved to do.

Guiding principles for the 2017 Budget
The 2017-2019 Multi-Year Budget is hinged on the 2016 Zero-Based Budget principles and is tailored towards the actualization of our State Development Plan 2016-2020. The revenue estimates are based on $39 benchmark for crude oil prices and expectations of vastly improved performance in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

The proposed budget size reflects a focus on completing our 2016 projects, expanding investments in productive infrastructure, continuing to repress overheads and providing for a rise in personnel costs due to the establishment of new agencies and to fund the public service revitalization and renewal programme.  In essence, we are doing our bit to help reflate the economy and stimulate recovery in our state.

The key targets from a fiscal perspective are:
• Ensuring adequate provision for the completion in 2017 of projects and procurements initiated in 2016;
• Ensuring the actualization of the development priorities of the government as articulated in the State Development Plan (SDP) and respective Sector Implementation Plans (SIPs);
• Maintaining a favourable proportion of Capital to Recurrent expenditure (a target of 60%:40%);
• Leverage N800 billion in PPP funding between 2016 and 2020;
• Maintain a sustainable debt position in line with Federal Debt Management office (FDMO) criteria
• Expand the revenue base of the state by exploring untapped sources
• Improve economic growth through investment in physical infrastructure
• Eliminating wastage and other unjustifiable expenditure that are not clearly linked to policy objectives; and
• Continue interventions in the social sector that will enable the less privileged have opportunities to grow through targeted investments in education and healthcare.




SUMMARY OF THE 2017 DRAFT REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE ESTIMATES

Mr. Speaker, Sir,
The size of the proposed 2017 Budget is N215,921,110,176.68, includingN85,572,039,923.82 of Recurrent Expenditure and N130,349,070,252.86 in Capital Expenditure. Thus for the 2017 fiscal year, we are presenting estimates representing 40% as Recurrent Expenditure and 60% as Capital Expenditure.

This is a significantly larger budget size than the N189.9bn we initially considered. We presented the draft estimates for discussion through consultations with the private sector, civil society and, finally to the general public, at a town hall meeting.

The outcome of these consultations convinced us that we had to be even bolder in proposing an expansionary budget in these difficult economic times. We are convinced that the pursuit of economic recovery is a pressing mandate. Even with the limited influence any of the 36 states can alone exert on our national economic fortune, we can encourage some buoyancy in each of our states and collectively support the effort of the Federal Government to secure economic recovery. Moments of recession have an outsized adverse effect on the most vulnerable and we must not let it persist.

Therefore, we reinforce our commitment to social justice by retaining high levels of spending on our social programmes. Social justice obliges us to sustain investments in Education, Health, Infrastructure and Social Development.

The details of the draft 2017 estimates are presented below:

General Summary of Income and Expenditure
DESCRIPTION
2016 APPROVED ESTIMATES
2017 DRAFT ESTIMATES
Opening Balance
                38,851,356,689
              15,300,000,000.00
Internally Generated Revenue
                45,823,866,438
              51,233,677,278.11
Statutory Allocation
                33,795,300,000
              34,919,424,430.15

              118,470,523,127
            101,453,101,708.25
Less: Recurrent Expenditure


Personnel Cost
                31,836,241,841
              38,695,495,445.82
Overhead Cost
                32,213,730,401
              46,876,544,478.00
Total
                64,049,972,242
              85,572,039,923.82
Recurrent Budget Surplus
                54,420,550,885
              15,881,061,784.44



CAPITAL ACCOUNT


Opening Balance
                                     -  

Recurrent Budget Surplus
           54,420,550,885.00
              15,881,061,784.44
Value Added Tax
           12,626,460,737.00
                9,469,838,052.75



Internal Loans and credit
           18,250,000,000.00
                6,650,315,000.00
Internal Grants
           13,779,798,471.17
              35,304,083,903.15
External Loans
             6,016,577,789.00
              55,908,309,846.93
External Grants
             2,079,288,767.40
                7,135,461,665.60
Survey and demarcation of layouts
  100,000,000.00
                                         -  
Provision of Infrastructure at New Layouts
             1,000,000,000.00
                                         -  
TOTAL CAPITAL BUDGET
         108,272,676,649.57
            130,349,070,252.86



2017 DRAFT BUDGET SIZE


Recurrent Budget
           64,049,972,242.00
 85,572,039,923.82
Capital Budget
         108,272,676,649.57
            130,349,070,252.86
Total Expenditure
         172,322,648,891.57
            215,921,110,176.68








CAPITAL EXPENDITURE ESTIMATES 2017
The sum of N130,349,070,252.8 has been allocated as Capital Estimates across sectors as follows:

Project Title
Approved Provision 2016
 Draft Estimates 2017
Difference
Sectors



Sub-Sector: Economic



Agriculture and Forestry
          5,577,475,527.60
      4,581,175,719.71
          996,299,807.89
Commerce, Industry and Tourism
          1,336,000,000.00
      1,610,000,002.00
        (274,000,002.00)
Rural and Community Development
          2,977,051,116.93
      7,079,453,000.00
     (4,102,401,883.08)
Works, Housing and Transport
       29,770,565,940.81
    24,509,907,822.35
      5,260,658,118.46
Total For Sub-Sector: Economic
       39,661,092,585.34
    37,780,536,544.06
      1,880,556,041.27



                                   -  
Sub-Sector: Social


                                   -  
Education
       27,989,429,588.37
    43,976,835,973.73
  (15,987,406,385.36)
Health
          6,661,683,063.73
    10,390,384,271.80
     (3,728,701,208.07)
Social Development
             461,551,200.00
      2,264,698,000.00
     (1,803,146,800.00)
Total For Sub-Sector: Social
       35,112,663,852.10
    56,631,918,245.53
  (21,519,254,393.43)



                                   -  
Sub-Sector: Regional


                                   -  
Environment and Natural Resources
          2,115,820,161.00
      4,581,518,531.00
     (2,465,698,370.00)
Water Resources
       11,403,208,639.35
      8,102,882,812.53
      3,300,325,826.82
Total For Sub-Sector: Regional
       13,519,028,800.35
    12,684,401,343.53
          834,627,456.82



                                   -  
Sub-Sector: General Administration


                                   -  
Executive
       16,835,644,291.78
    17,853,076,287.74
     (1,017,431,995.96)
Governance
          2,155,942,120.00
      3,714,973,002.00
     (1,559,030,882.00)
Law and Justice
             574,105,000.00
      1,225,844,100.00
        (651,739,100.00)
Legislature
             414,200,000.01
         458,320,730.00
          (44,120,729.99)
Total For Sub-Sector: Gen. Admin
       19,979,891,411.79
    23,252,214,119.74
     (3,272,322,707.95)
Grand Total
     108,272,676,649.57
 130,349,070,252.86
  (22,076,393,603.29)

Expected Outcomes in 2017
In addition to continuing existing programmes, the capital budget for 2017 will deliverthe following:
• Completion of the Zaria Water Project
• Unprecedented Rebuilding and Equipping of Schools
• A massive programme to rehabilitate, maintain or rebuild Township Roads
• Creation of a green economic zone – an Agro-Industrial Park along Abuja Road
• Provision of infrastructure in Mining Sites and Rural Areas
• Conversion of Doka Hospital on the Kaduna-Abuja Expressway into a Trauma Centre
• Expansion of the Post-harvest price support for farmers
• Anchor Borrowers Programme for six crops of comparative advantage,
• Kick-off of the Kaduna Light Rail Phase One to link Rigachikun with the Refinery, and
• Implementation of an Emergency Nutrition Intervention Programme to reduce malnutrition and hunger amongst our poorest citizens and children.
Multiyear Budget Estimates, 2017-2019
Attaining the goals of our five-year strategic plan requires a perspective that is broader than that of an annual budget. The multiyear budget supports this goal, and enables the government to stay focused on planned objectives. Furthermore, the multiyear focus transforms the annual budget from a mere listing of contracts into a clearly-articulateddevelopment plan for the state.

The 2017-2019 budgets are more expansionary in nature, responding to the clear need to stimulate growth and spend our way out of a most unwelcome recession. Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) are assigned a key role in unlocking opportunities and attracting investments into our priority sectors.

Our development partners play a most important role in providing the resources that advance our governance agenda. We have established credibility with critical partners, evidenced by the MoUs and working arrangements with the various United Nations agencies, the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Dangote Foundation and DFID. These collaborations are providing up to USD 200m in 2017 alone to support our development programmes. The snapshot of the multi-year budget for the three years is as follows:

2017-2019 Multiyear Budget Estimates

2017
2018
2019
Recurrent
85,572,039,923.82
82,074,998,072.23
88,086,967,175.57
Capital
130,349,070,252.86
136,541,215,860.85
126,602,353,291.94
Total
215,921,110,176.68
218,616,213,933.08
214,689,320,467.51

Monitoring the Budget
We are launching a monitoring system that will allow everyone in Kaduna State to check on the progress of government projects through a simple, phone-based platform which we have named the Eyes and Ears project. With this mechanism, residents can report progress or lack of, to a dashboard in my office and the Ministry of Budget and Planning where we can take quick action to address any anomalies. We are also using this to develop a database of credible contractors and a blacklist of the bad ones.

Mr. Speaker, permit me to use this platform to invite all residents of our state to be our eyes and our ears, to be vigilant in ensuring that what is promised is delivered, that what is appropriated is executed, and that quality and timelines are respected in project delivery.

Conclusion
Mr. Speaker,
We are laying before the House of Assembly today draft 2017 estimates that are actuated by the conviction that tough times call for bold decisions and courageous actions. That is why we propose to spend at least N15bn on roads alone. To rebuild schools, we are asking for N20bn this year and for each of the other two years captured in the multiyear budget making a total of N60bn. Such is the scale of the educational crisis we inherited that we have concluded that a programme of school rehabilitation will not suffice. What we need to do is to rebuild schools altogether to solve immediate problems and create capacity to absorb the predicted increase in the number of school pupils over the next decade.

The government is taking on debt to fund productive investments to expand our economy, grow our revenue base and build the human capital of tomorrow. Without such investments in physical infrastructure and human resources, we will attain neither the desired standards of economic growth, nor realise the IGR levels we so badly need. We have decided that the imperatives of the future demand that we break out of the cycle of under-investment that has stymied the state over close to two decades. As earlier stated, Kaduna State has about five per cent of the country’s population, but it contributes only about 2.3% of its GDP. We cannot allow this gap between potential and reality to persist. Therefore, we have chosen to do all we can for jobs, social justice and equity.

May I conclude by asking every resident of Kaduna State to renew their commitment to peace and harmony. The task of reversing decades of underdevelopment and creating new opportunities to secure better lives for our people requires an atmosphere of concord and trust across our communities. On our part, we will be strong with law enforcement and unrelenting support for our security agencies to make every part of our state safe.

We are confident that this Honourable House will record another first by expeditiously scrutinizing these estimates and passing the Draft Kaduna State Appropriation Bill 2017 into law. On behalf of the government and grateful people of Kaduna State, I thank you for your service to our state and country.

Together, let’s make Kaduna great again!

Thank you all for listening.

God bless this Honorable House,
God Bless Kaduna State.
God Bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, OFR
Governor of Kaduna State
12 October 2016
17

Sunday, 9 October 2016

I WISH IT WAS OR CAN BE THOUGHT AS THIS


[The manifesto of a good father and savior]

Key:
Father= President cum party leader.
Family= Party.
Children= Party members.
Children's friends= Members of other parties.
Neighborhood= Nigeria
Society= Nigeria.

      ...

When I finally become a father, I should have changed myself into a jolly good fellow then. My project then to effect a change in the world would better begin by educating my children and disciplining them in a way corruption will be disgusting to them. If in fact they get corrupt before becoming my children, I will begin the corruption fight on them, I will sanitize them and since I know there is always a history I will forget the past and shall condemn non of them nor there friends out there. I will simply correct their consciences by a radical intolerance to any reflection of their past evils.
If any one would be shown Mercy on any corruption charge it shall not be any of my children. As a father I will never forget the fact that if all others are corrupt my children could be worse. But I shall appeal to the hearts of all just may be few may want to surrender what they have illegally acquired or some part of it. Since I would forgive the past of all I shall keep it a reference point so that any unrepentant show would be dealt with mercilessly.
The court shall not entertain any trial against any body under my influence. I shall be more interested in  sincerely playing my fatherly role and ensure everyone is free to exercise his role with no interference from any force.
I shall employ the services of all within my neighborhood especially in areas I know they truly better suit since for sure we are all members of a one big society before reducing ourselves to our little tents. I will show I am in a society first before belonging to any other association like my family. And that my family exists just so the society may exist. That also would show I am aware of the fact that since I am a product of society I should give back to society by helping it to grow.
I shall fight corruption to the root and not merely cutting down it branches. I shall kill corruption and not the corrupt for my interest shall be in salvaging the corrupt who is the first victim of the corruption in him.
My heart, while I do all these, please never feel you are the heart of a saint because I am corrupt myself.

J.F Dabo
In case you find this useful be free to share, publish and republish, quote ..Just don't forget to acknowledge. #Lol

YOU ARE NEVER GREAT; UNTIL YOU HAVE A REASON TO BECOME GREAT


Daily you hear people ask; if God is a good God why does he allow suffering?

It is only natural with man that he knows what to do and when to do what to do but you never find him doing what he should do freely without some force pushing him. Possibly it is because we are living in a world of cause and effects.

Challenges are the causes of greatness (to the wise) they push you into doing what you must do to attain greatness. Only the strong survive, and they so survive because of how they choose to define their challenges.

The name you call your challenges is largely relevant to what they (the challenges) shall make of you. You may choose to call life with a strict Father "hell" or "training ground". You may choose to call the betrayal from a love one "disappointing" or "educative". You may choose to call an unsuccessful business transaction " a misfortune" or "the immaterial gain"....

I mean, your conception of a challenge can be " a disastrous cause" or "a strengthening force". You are free to call it what you wish.

Note. What you call your challenges is what you believe in about them, what you believe in is what mostly happens to you.

Will you pickup that challenge and make a change or would you just lay their in painful lamentation is to your untimely grave?

Will you be the strongest of the strong that shall survive this hardship or the weakest of the weak that shall die unfulfilled and buried in the tombs made of their hands?

I choose to face challenges than be buried by them, if you believe same, then we shall meet at the end of success. If you don't, your funeral will be another good venue to show off the success of the strong.

Good Morning.

Jubal Free-mam Dabo

YES THE MASTER GAVE US OUR LAND AT INDEPENDENCE BUT HE LEFT WITH OUR MINDS


(Independence reflection )

by

Jubal Free-man Dabo
08140537507
Jubalfreemandabo@gmail.com

It is a great thing to celebrate when there is a cause to but it is greater to reflect on a cause for celebration as we have now. I intentional choose to let the celebration go before making a post of this reflection for greater minds only. Sometimes we will call the realist unpatriotic, provided the message reaches home nothing is lost.

I ask my self what the celebration is all about and the answer was everywhere; Independence. This pushed into asking yet another Question; Are we independent.

See the kind of independence we are celebrating. The kind that allows for western influence in major decisions that concerns such an 'independent state'.

I was not there on 1/10/1960 but the present Nigeria presents me a picture of what independence we received. In the Nigeria of today while meditating on our independence I watched what really transpired Then.  I saw the white man leaving without his suitcase; I wondered whether it was generosity or what, only to realize it was still part of the plan.

All his days the master constructed railways for us that only led through the fertile ands full of natural resources to the border and the sea port.

Thanks to the master our pipe lines only run through his access roots.

Thanks to the master, we have no much save financial institutions but enough to sustain our funds and see them safely reach the foreign accounts where they are used to control everything that concerns us.

Thanks to the master we had enough electricity enough to provide sufficiently to other nations while we depend on foreign generators, inverters, and solar systems that are forbidden to be manufactured here.

Thanks to the master we have educated elite whose intelligence we cannot pay for their services.

We have schools merely a nursery and hospitals only strong enough to serve as first aid centers. There in the schools we have we set the ball rolling for excellence to an extend products of those nurseries get too intelligent that they cannot school further at home.

AN ANALOGY
See what happened during colonialism and independence: the master took us up the mountain while we were still kids and taught us to use the gold we find on the mountain to stone the statue of Liberty far off across the sea, he taught us how sweet it is to be in a plane and never how to fly or manufacture one, when we eventually learned how to fly, he had secured authority over air ways, when we learned how to make the plane, he had turned our brothers against us into making home unsafe for manufacturers.

He is gone with our sense of nationhood and patriotism that we see his land as another heaven where we most save our treasures.

THE RESULT FROM AN ANALOGY
See what is happening now: we keep fighting over the ancient suitcase while in fact the suit is over sea, we are busy acquiring knowledge only to build the foreign land. We are a threat to each other hence stay indoor for fear each other while the master walks about freely stealing from the land. Our brothers are carried over by greed that the form a family of thieves stealing our oil and other blessings to the master.

The master have always seen us as slaves, we continue to give him reasons to believe we are. While in the land, it was the enlightened ones among us that served as interpreters, messengers and trade aids through whom we trade our treasures and able men for mirrors and cubes of sugar, now that he is gone, still the ‘blessed’ among us remind still serving the messenger role trading our blessings and bringing us doom.

More worrisome is the fact that the little goddess that comes with this illegal transactions still end up in foreign accounts to the master’s glory. At the end, I am tempted to say our security challenge is part of the plan.

If only we learn to depend on God and his blessings, our individual abilities and show gratitude by learning how to translate these blessings into meeting our needs, we will reach our worth. Nigeria has all it takes to be the richest and most powerful state yet she is this pathetic. A land with everything but nothing seems to be working. The earlier we learned to believe in our God’s given abilities and freedom, the better for us, otherwise, we are doom to walk the night.

IF YOU CAN NOT DO THEM GOOD DO NOT DO THEM HARM EITHER


Many people are unsuccessful today not because they are destined to remain unsuccessful despite their efforts. You have been taught that the unsuccessful are victims of their own doing because the either are lazy, lack focus, with no vision or lack the skills.

But I bring you a new teaching that: many are not successful today because they are still waiting for that one enemy before whom God have promised to set a table for them. They have the cup, it is full, just not yet over flowing.

What they need now is an assistance from friends and love ones that will sustain them to that moment when the shall be so celebrated.

There is no danger in helping them, it does not reduce your worth nor does it make them better now or in the future than you. One thing is sure, a slave cannot be better than his good master no can a student be better than his good teacher, the slave and the student can only be who they can be but can never compete with the master or teacher. But there is danger in not helping them if you are in position to. It turns you into an enemy of God and of them, and it automatically makes you the enemy the shall be celebrated upon.

Take time out to meditated deeply.

1. How many times have I refused to assist those who genuinely are in need.

2. How many times have I frustrated the efforts of my subjects because I do not want them to be where I am?

3. How many times have I rather sold the opportunities of those behind me to the undeserving for my greed and selfishness?

4. How many times have I hidden my subjects files so they never get promoted.

5. How many times have I set huddles for others so they would fall where I succeeded?

6. How many times have I placed people at unfavorable positions that they may be dependent and worship me?

7. How many times have I helped others just to gain self glory?


8. How many times have I 'helped' others with the aim of doing them harm?

9. How many times have I helped others to their doom.

10. For how long have I been an enemy?

Sadly many would want to be the first and last Principal, Lecturer, Priest, Successful Politician, Director, PhD holder, Graduate ... from their village that the would do whatever possible to ensure no one gets where they are. The peak of greed ehhhhhn?

You never can tell, you might have spend all the years preparing a place for yourself, your children or your Children's Children to be taking into slavery when you should be busy expanding your empire through your good works on others.

I beg you with anything you hold sacred, as you go out today, do yourself and the generation behind you some good by avoiding anything dirty today especial doing bad to the little ones of God.

IF YOU CANNOT DO THEM GOD, DON'T DO THEM HARM else I weep for you and your generation.