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#RandomFact
General Yakubu Gowon (Rtd) — pictured here with Heads of State/Govt of ECOWAS—was the founding Chairman of ECOWAS.

ECOWAS was founded by the “Treaty of Lagos”, in May 1975. General Gowon was Nigeria’s Head of State at the time.
Gowon has always been a gentleman sha. Not a bone of brashness or ego in his body. (Not like some other retired leaders 😀)

A paywalled @TIME Interview with him, from 50 years ago (he was 34 at the time, a Major General, and Head of State). content.time.com/time/magazine/…
From @nytimes, 1970:

“An ardent Christian, son of a Protestant evangelist, Gowon at 35 still prefaces his strongest assertions with “as God is my witness,” & apologizes for using profanity. He radiates goodwill, relaxed good humor & humility above all.” nytimes.com/1970/06/15/arc…
“Underrated Gowon.”

“To a visiting American early in 1969, who said Gowon at least seemed honest and sincere, Ojukwu replied: “Yes, Jack is a nice boy— but he's irrelevant.”

[Barely a year later we know who victory went to].

nytimes.com/1970/06/15/arc…
Gowon and PMB share a lot in common I think. A similar gentlemanliness, absence of ego and brashness, softspokenness, self-effacement, the same propensity to be underrated (which is actually not a bad thing); and an unerring belief in Nigeria
This photograph was taken yesterday, by @BayoOmoboriowo
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tolu ogunlesi
@toluogunlesi
Something interesting happened last year, re basic educ in Nigeria. PMB approved deductions of States’ outstanding contributions to UBEC, from Paris Club Refunds: N71.3bn. That allowed States to unlock matching grants amounting to another N71.3bn, making total of N142.6bn
#Thread
So you know how UBEC works. It’s a Federal Fund for States to tap into, to support basic education (Public Primary and JSS) - which is a State responsibility, as you know. For States to access 100% UBEC money they have to put forward 50% as their own contributions.
What happens is that most States struggle to fulfill their side of the commitment. So you have tens of billions lying in UBEC un-utilised while our public schools nationwide are in perpetual state of krinkum-krankum. A real tragedy. And people will be abusing FG on top Basic Educ
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tolu ogunlesi
@toluogunlesi
JULY 2019 FAAC Allocation to States:

Akwa Ibom got 14.9 billion net; Bayelsa 13.4 billion, Delta 19.8 billion; Rivers 14.3.

2/3 of States got between 2 and 5 billion.

Do the Big Money States look like the money they get relative to the rest? Tells you a lot, innit?
States and LGAs collected almost 400 billion Naira in FAAC Allocations for July 2019. (This is apart from their IGR).

This is more than what went to the FG @NigeriaGov in the same month.

Always keep this at the back of your mind. #Nigeria is not @NigeriaGov alone.
For Nigeria to progress every tier of Govt must pull its weight. EXCLUSIVE focus on the FG is nothing more than an expensive joke. Many of the issues that affect us closely - sanitation, primary healthcare, primary/secondary education, neighborhood roads etc — Na State/LG matter.
Read 3 tweets
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tolu ogunlesi
@toluogunlesi
The answers to “Must we borrow?” are:

1. YES. We don’t really have a choice. We don’t have the money to do all we need to do.

2. ALL countries borrow.

The question that should obsess you is not “Must we borrow” but instead “What are we borrowing for, & under what conditions?”
One other very important question to obsess with is: “What is @NigeriaGov doing to grow Nigeria’s capacity to repay its debts?” ie revenues

Those are the questions. Not “Must we borrow?”

Debt is inevitable. What makes the difference is the capacity to repay it as and when due.
“USA, UK, Canada had Debt/GDP ratios of 105, 85 and 90% in 2017 which were much higher than that of Nigeria (19%). But because THEY GENERATE ADEQUATE REVENUES, their debt service to revenue for 2017 were 12.5, 7.5 and 7.5% resp (vs 50+% for Nigeria).”—DMO premiumtimesng.com/business/busin…
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Gitabushi
@Gitabushi
Here's why the Impeachment is failing. Bottom line. Rock solid truth.

Trump is doing well as POTUS. He's getting better trade deals. The economy is great. Taxes are lower. Jobs are plentiful, record low unemployment.

And Dems can't even settle on *ONE* reason for impeachment.
Maybe it's quid pro quo. Maybe it's investigating the past corrupt actions of someone who might challenge him for POTUS in 2020. Maybe it's extortion. Maybe it's bribery. Maybe it's an abuse of power.

Srsly? Asking a country to help investigate likely fraud is abuse of power?
The POTUS is both Head of Govt and Head of State. That's somewhat unusual in the world. Many nations separate the two. In the UK, Head of Govt is Prime Minister, Head of State is the Queen. In France, Head of State is the President, who appoints a Prime Minister as Head of Govt.
Read 14 tweets
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Amaka Anku
@AmakaAnku
It has been difficult for me to engage w/ largely dismissive criticisms of #Nigeria’s move to close its land borders with #Benin & #Niger to address rampant smuggling and #Benin’s systematic flouting of Ecowas trade protocols & other treaties signed w/ #Nigeria.
But I feel this issue is too important not to try to improve public understanding about what’s at stake and why the status quo was untenable. So, what follows is a #thread about border security & rules-based trade, which is what the border closure is about at its core.
I’m going to state upfront that I will not engage re this issue on this medium. Instead, I’ll be doing a Facebook Live on Monday w/ @EurasiaGroup colleague Willis Sparks @ 11am EST/5pm Lagos. Please send (constructive) questions w/ hashtag #NaijaBorder & we will address them.
Read 25 tweets
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Funter
@Funter21510910
State Government Debt Risk - a history that repeats too often!

As the work on building Amravati, the new capital city AP, comes to a grinding halt, concerns emerge about Amravati (APCRDA) bonds held by Franklin MF (~Rs. 1000 Cr) and Birla MF (Rs. ~300 Cr). Thread 1/11
During the Chandrababu Govt, Amravati received political as well as financial patronage. Now, with Jagan Reddy being incharge of the state, the project is in shambles. World Bank & ADB pulled out of the project and the Government is looking for reasons to scrap it. 2/n
The bonds issued to support the financing needs of the project were subscribed by Franklin MF and Birla MF. The bonds are guaranteed by the AP Govt but it's not sure if the Govt would keep servicing the bonds. The risk of lending to a state govt has again come to the fore. 3/11
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Russian Platform #HandsOffVenezuela 🇻🇪
@RussiaConnects
TRUSTING RACIST MASS MURDERERS

The USA is guilty of multiple counts of mass murder.

How do you go about trusting a mass murderer to do the right thing?

Apparently the heads of European states have no problem doing so.

Are they mad, or are we?

#Racism #US #State #Terrorism
TRUSTING RACIST MASS MURDERERS

The USA finds it easy to kill millions if they aren’t white. The native Americans, then came the African slaves.

Later, the Japanese, then the Vietnamese. In recent times the Iraqis, Libyans, Syrians & Yemenis.

#Racism #US #State #Terrorism
TRUSTING RACIST MASS MURDERERS

Is it just coincidence that the USA can kill millions of non-white people & few to no questions are asked by the heads of state in western Europe?

Are those heads of state racists too?

Conscious racism or not.

#Racism #US #State #Terrorism
Read 10 tweets
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Presidency Nigeria
@NGRPresident
STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE

AfCFTA: PRESIDENT @MBuhari APPROVES ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL ACTION COMMITTEE (NAC)

#Thread
Pres. @MBuhari has approved establishment of a National Action Committee (NAC) for implementation of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement, which he signed on behalf of Nigeria at the 12th Extraordinary Session of the AU Heads of State on 7th July 2019, in Niamey
The National Action Committee will be comprised of representatives of Ministries & Agencies with competent and relevant jurisdiction, and selected stakeholder groups from private sector and civil society to coordinate the implementation of all the AfCFTA readiness interventions.
Read 24 tweets
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People For Dharma
@People4Dharma
Here are the updates for today's hearing in the #padmanabhaswamytemple case.
2. State's counsel submitted copies of the Expert Committee Report to the Bench. Mr. Venugopal, then started his final submissions.
3. Mr. Venugopal submitted that with respect to the accounts of the Temple, the reason why revenues have gone up after 2014 is that the appointed administration has doubled the charges for everything.
Read 80 tweets

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