Category: Tony Marinho

Our Girls are still missing since April 15 2014. We pray for them.

Our power pathology demands urgent treatment. The Ministry of Power should initiate Emergency Recovery Measures like a CBN SOLAR FUND of $2-5b for immediate loans with five percent interest loan repayments for individuals and companies to solarise. The aim is to get millions off both grid and generator for most of the time, now, not ‘’incrementally’ in 10 years’ time.

President Buhari has an earache. Sorry, Sir. We pray it is not from a headache caused by Nigeria’s problems. Does the President know whose job is it to immediately fill the murderous potholes on our roads before more tyres burst with more deaths? Filling potholes must come before contracts. The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) should please reaffirm its primary role –to save lives and keep traffic moving’ and urgently REDEPLOY TO POTHOLE AREAS TO SAVE LIVES instead of ‘Operation Stop and Search on Every Highway’. Beyond the safety first during the FRSC ‘Ember Months’, all months fall under all-year-round ‘Unfilled Murderous Pothole Months’ while the government cannot tell us, between FRSC, Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Works, who exactly has the responsibility to document, signpost with warnings and fill potholes and rough dangerous areas on roads. While they have trouble implementing the ‘change’, we appeal to the Ministry of Health to SOS –Save Our Souls- with a ‘Prevention of Death on The Road Campaign’ and put up 200,000 warning – ‘The Federal Ministry of Health Warns That This Pothole Infested Road May Cause You Injury Or Death’ – posts at all potholes.

Nigeria needs heroes like Muhammad Ali but we keep losing the opportunity. BBC, ITV, CNN, Al-Jazeera all suspended normal programming to carry the funeral live. Nigeria’s TV stations deprived Nigerians of ‘The Final Match of Muhammad Ali’. But then Nigeria denigratedOlaudah Equiano, as well! Nigerians should not ask ‘Olaudah WHO???’ They should be taught him in school, and on the media in documentaries, action films and specific script references in Nollywood conversations, just as the UK teach its chosen heroes.

The Fulani herdsmen war against farmers demands urgent attention from President Buhari who seems happy to flex muscles against the Niger Delta Avengers but is silent on the nationwide scourge laying waste the lands and livelihoods of millions even robbing this week on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway at pothole areas where cars are forced to slow down. Police should redeploy to such rough areas to save lives. We are ‘told’ that the perpetrators are not Nigerian Fulanis but ‘terrorists’ from Niger, Chad or Libya. Why do we seek to outsource our ‘guilt’ even when to admit it would mean we are under an ‘invasion’-a state of War’, abi. How come our armed forces know nothing about this invasion, this State of War? And this even as more murders monthly, more land is laid waste with a looming famine from under-farming from fear, mass unemployment and redeployment from the farms to the latest weapon of war and mass murder, the city okadas.

The Fulani herdsmen-farmers war victims may be lost to farming forever. If the herdsmen’s plan is territorial, to seize the land, it is achieving its goal. Death tolls have been 10-20/ week until the massacre of 300. That figure ‘300 dead’ is a deliberate decimation of ‘the enemy’.

People, there’s a war on, real war, killing Nigerians. Indeed Nigeria faces five wars and each need it’s army. Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen-farmers war, MASSOB War, Niger Delta Avengers war and the anti-corruption war. The anti-corruption war may help to end the political rape of Nigeria, but unfortunately Mr President, the police and ‘Yellow Fever’ may not have heard of the anti-corruption drive. These wars need quick peaceful solutions lest they bleed Nigeria left to die by the multi-party political, civil and contractor class –‘The 1999-2015 politicians’ War against Nigeria’.

The citizens know that when a thief, armed robber, herdsman or Niger Delta Avenger steals your property, livelihood and pollutes your compound, it takes time to recover to even put food on your table, let alone to replace what has been so maliciously stolen. The politicians, contractors and civil servants have done just that. Buhari is probably the only Nigerian leader who will not steal or divert Nigeria’s wealth. By stopping a 50 year history of ‘budget padding’, he has saved a trillion+ allowing our poor naira to go further. He alone holds our naira dear and given the right circumstances will reverse the value upwards. Those with stolen or political dollars are anxious to perpetuate naira problems to double their fortunes overnight. Why even in THE YEARS OF PLENTY 1999-2015 did no Nigerian President ever improve the naira back to even the N88:$1 under Abacha?

O yes, please tell whoever that we do not want to know from him how Abacha or MKO Abiola died. He should first tell us how Pa Rewane, Madam KudiratAbiola, Onagoruwa’s son among others were killed when he was CSO to Abacha. Otherwise he should not speak. Rehabilitation should be resisted by a media blackout. I do not wish to mention his name in print.

A suspect dying after six hours in EFCC custody may be murder, negligence, torture or a medical accident like a heart attack from fright, fear or deprivation of medication or food. It is a serious blow requiring National Human Rights Commission investigation and is not the way to recover stolen funds.

tonymarinho.com

Our Girls are still missing since April 15, 2014. Two saved and counting! God Save Our Girls!

Minister Fashola: Please order filling of potholes as an emergency before long term road contract awards. I nearly died in the over 200 potholes on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Total cost to fill? Maybe N100,000.

Why has this government scrapped Post-UME examinations? Zero/eleven marks. Has government sanitised JAMB- an education ministry failure? It seems premature. The right of universities to screen or INTERVIEW FOR VERIFICATION OF ACADEMIC CLAIMS its ‘fresher’ candidates before they contaminate a university’s honour with fake WAEC/NECO/GCE/JAMB results is AN INALIENABLE RIGHT. Unquestionable centralised ministerial and JAMB ‘ADMISSION LISTS’ created a tsunami of ignorance and education terrorism and corruption. The Post-UME Test was championed by myself and others to filter out the corrupt admissions of underperforming students who then used cultism to get degrees at violent costs. All hail the Post-UME Test which saved tertiary education from collapse. Will it now paradoxically be re-infected by the old corruption virus and succumb under this anti-corruption change government? Stripping universities of final screening powers is an invitation to anarchy, or is to insert weak students under ‘quota systems’.

We are used to a disappointing Ministry of Education failing by ruining curricula, cancelling practicals and entire subjects and introducing strategies supporting hidden agendas destroying education. Most of such education ministry agendas have pushing mediocre, cheating students into tertiary institutions depriving qualified students of places. Is the cancelling of Post-UME Tests to again smuggle unqualified students into tertiary education? What is the perecentage of forged and faked results presented to universities today? Is JAMB unjammed enough? Only the universities not the Ministry of Education can answer.

So ‘I fly like a butterfly and sting like a bee’ and ‘I’m so mean I make medicine sick’ and ‘pretty’ and ‘beautiful Cassius Clay –his slave name, Muhammad Ali, his conversion name, Mr Rumble in the Jungle and with the Rope-a-Dope strategy who put the Zaire on the map, The Louisville Lip, who bravely rejected the Call up draft into the Vietnam War and who had Parkinson’s Syndrome since 1996 and became Mr Charity, a major humanitarian, Athlete of the Century, has died at 74years, 1942 -2016. He was a worldwide man with billions of fans in and out of boxing yet he never has a fashion line. Perhaps it was the Parkinson’s disease. Gorgeous George, a flamboyant wrestler, was his inspiration. He loved to talk and saved boxing from relegation. His charity work was exemplary but unfortunately unmatched by any billionaire today. Ali was greater than boxing, humbler than humanity, giving his time, signing autographs for four hours for free. He was a 1960 Boxing Olympic Champion, won 100 of 106 fights. He was forced out of boxing for three-plus years for refusing the draft into the Vietnam War. He came back stronger and gave international audiences the opportunity to appraise him.  He and his wife set up Muhammad Ali Centre promoting charity and love. They say he was Muhammad Ali: The Most Famous Man On Earth OR He shook up the world OR The Greatest Sportsman of the Century. There will never be another Muhammad Ali. He conquered the world, first with fists and a fiery wit, the first rapper, which captured the imagination of the world and later with a warm charitable heart and that special Muhammad Ali Smile perhaps the male version of the Mona Lisa smile. Wow!!! RIPP.  Post Script: I am an interested party as I was taught to box by the great Hogan Bassey at Abalti Barracks in Yaba, Lagos in the mid-60s.

Meanwhile back in Nigeria, our road to fame is the quantity of ‘Instant millionaires’, stolen money or the bigness of our political and social parties. Our sports suffers strangulation by funding lapses for school sports, corruption and greedy maladministration of administrators- look at NNF a look- alike  offspring of the malignantly corrupt NGO called FIFA.

Government and Corporate Nigeria, stop wasting money on non-productive Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR! Give youth more structured institutionalised opportunities to discover their talent, tap and concentrate that talent through discovery by talent scouts and through computerised national data bases of achievers and treat all sports development and growth as part of youth entrepreneurial opportunities and a key to economic diversification. Sports should be a multi-billion naira business and a foreign exchange earner.

We could not understand Boko Haram’s evil violence and Nigeria cannot understand Niger Delta Avengers’ violence. N/D Avengers, please give peace a chance. This government is not your enemy, yet! The common enemy is the cross party political and economic corruption that has impoverished and stunted the growth of even the wealthy Niger Delta. Surely, this is the time not to siddon look or even fight, but to help, not hinder, Nigeria struggling to overcome 50 years of pernicious mis-governance? Further polluting their own environment is paradoxical especially when the long overdue, since 2004, UNEP-led Clean-up of Ogoniland has been flagged off after 2000 deaths including the judicial murder of Kenule Saro-Wiwa and lifetimes of misery for tens of thousands. Avengers have your people not paid a high enough price already?

UNEP: CONGRATULATIONS. FIRST EMPOWER ALL OGONIS TO TAKE ALL THE CLEANUP JOBS FROM PURE-WATER SUPPLY TO WASTE DISPOSAL AND CHEMICAL ANALYSIS TO OGONIS. Employ Ogonis, do not enrich other people.

FEDERAL GOVENRMENT: GIVE THE OGONIS/COMMUNITIES A PERCENTAGE IN EVERY WELL OR A WELL/COMMUNITY TO OWN. tonymarinho.com

Our Girls missing since April 15, 2014 are being found one by one. May the others be found. Amen.

Are the tomato famine and high tomato price due to the Fulani herdsmen/farmers war killing 25,000+, destroying crops and the crop cycle and driving millions from farms and livelihood leaving scarred lands and famine? Or are they due to cost inflation from initial nationwide fuel scarcity and increased fuel prices? Or are they due to Dangote supposedly buying entire tomato crops for tomato ‘puree’? Whichever, it shows the need to take Late Uncle Bola Ige’s advice – grow your own vegetables in your garden, community, LGA, state and region. Stop depending on others for your vegetable, fruit and meat eating habits. He advised against cementing gardens leaving no grass to GROW ‘GREENS’. Uncle Bola, like late Funsho Williams, was ‘murdered without a murderer being convicted’. President Buhari, please reopen their cases!

The government is investigating grant projects in the Ministry of Health following international financial investigation into multi-millions of dollars of HIV/AIDS funds abused by government bodies, NGOs and contractors like IT and hotels for conferences. With corruption there is incompetence with drugs sent from central stores to hospitals for HIV patients and delivering drugs near their expiry dates to be used beyond the expiry date. Drugs were held in central stores for too long. The result is dead patients, more orphans and rich administrators/medical personnel and storekeepers who may take bribes.     ‘Corruption, diversion, misuse and abuse’ are the hallmark ‘fate’ of development, loan and Grant funds in Nigeria’s public life and even many University Research Grants.

Many of us Nigerians, politicians and professionals, especially with ‘authority and responsibility’ do not appreciate or seek to increase the quality and quantity of Nigerian life.

Unfortunately too many officials work as if it is not about the human, only about the money. The focus is not on the welfare of the citizen but the ‘kickback’.

Because in their executive offices they do not see the patients dying or groaning during their conferences in five star hotels on ‘victims’, ‘malaria’ or ‘AIDS’. Such ‘big big’ officials only see money. They never see people dying horrible deaths whenever those responsible for their medication, safety, security, education, road networks, and care. So they abandon their role and prefer to steal. Corruption goes with Incompetence, Negligence and Selfishness -CINS.

Usually medical personnel and families see the pain, suffering, blood and bodies so why are medical personnel involved in corruption.

Ask why should we depend on international funding to Save Our Citizens Lives, SOCL, solve medical needs, from USA’s, UK’s, EU’s or corporate giant’s prudent management of funds? Why should foreign money be used for Insecticide Treated Mosquito Nets or to put health adverts in the media to save Nigerians? When will Nigeria take responsibility for Nigerians?

If you think this HIV/AIDS medical scandal is a monumental disgrace to the medical sector, add the cost of the politically organised undeclared Okada Epidemic which has cost and lost billions, killed more and made more orphans than any war or HIVAIDS will ever accomplish. Every single Nigerian has witnesses, been involved in or knows a victim of the Okada Epidemic.

The millions of potholes also kill but medicine is silent. Perhaps we expect Bill Gates and the Global Fund, Jimmy Carter or the Kuwait Fund to fill them with a Pothole Grant?

The probes are welcome and coming from President Buhari, will yield fruit. They will not solve the systemic problems in medical administration. Remember this Nigeria is the wicked country which abolished practicals in the education system, where morphine and other opiates were banned causing years of torture to post-operation patients, radio-isotopes were placed out of the reach of teaching hospitals trying to treat cancer patients and even house-jobs can take three years to find. Why? Nigerians seem to lack the virtue and practice of ‘love of humanity’.

PS: Of course ‘systemic failure’ means other ministries and not just the medical ministry. How easy is it to get zero Tax medical drugs and equipment through Customs and checkpoints and into stores without corruption? Do Customs care if HIV patients die?

Grant receivers complain that there is a hidden by high cost of getting CBN, administrative and political NASS positive oversight approval of such grants. Are kickbacks demanded? What budget line is KICKBACK in MDAs and CONTRACTOR SITE Accounts? IS IT ‘WELFARE’, ‘PR COSTS’ OR ‘DEVELOPMENT’? What gift to the NASS officials for visits to project offices like NACA office? There has been a corruption pus-filled wound in the health sector for years. Will there be a change or just a change of administrative guard with resistant reinfection?

Please add up any analysis of the probes of monies taken from the public purse to pursue private party agendas, the totals for Salaries Allowances Perks of political office-holders at all levels and the massive losses from the budgets through corruption like brown envelopes and Ghana Must Go bags-all government/citizens’ money-, under-executed contracts and funds taken from the CBN to corruptly and illegal manipulate ruling party elections at every level. We demand a refund and a referendum. The UK is having their IN-OUT EU referendum. Who is afraid of a Nigerian referendum on ‘Two or One House in NASS- Close the ‘Too Expensive To Keep And Very Wasteful Sinate’? At this time of costly goods transport,  take Uncle Bola Ige’s advice.

– Grow veg-fru-meat@homeandstate.         tonymarinho.com

Our Girls are now missing two years+ since April 15, 2014, untraceable to intelligence sources. Why?

President Buhari returns triumphantly from China, bringing a low/no interest cheap loan to stabilise the economy. Previously, injection of political and corruption money pushed prices up. The markets were in a hyper-inflated ‘Corruption Bubble’ ripe for bursting. Definitely the ‘greedy’ stock market in 2010-2014 spiralled up. The current stock price fall is an anti-corruption correction falling back to ‘normal’. It is not a financial catastrophe! Next –overvalued properties! The crash will take the ‘CORRUPTION HEAT’ from the economy. It is the 1999-2015 inflationary corruption and the 2016 backlash anti-corruption crash aftermath! The economists predicted gloom and doom without more foreign direct investment, FDI. The confidence for 2016+ FDI will come from loans driving real infrastructure development, jobs and increased purchasing power by people, not manipulative banks.

President Buhari brings loans with no ‘devaluation’ strings unlike the International Morticians Fund, IMF! We know that China is taking over Africa economically without demanding ‘pound of flesh’ communist ideological strings–‘Chinaism’! The UK and USA had their day through ‘Colonialism, Capitalism’. We have ‘Chinaism’- cheap foreign loan investment to replace theft and incompetence under past governments TILL WE GET THE STOLEN MONEY BACK! How many politicians in National Assembly () are of ‘FINANCIALLY SOUND MIND AND CLEAN’ enough to even discuss with Buharism –a success from ‘foreign trips abroad’. Buhari’s Chinese choice would not have been required if past governments and politicians had properly invested in real development and saved 1-10% of God’s billions ‘dashed’ to Nigeria. Past leadership has collective amnesia about their responsibility in failed and abandoned development strategies which forced each of us to become a local government. It allowed a pariah government structure, a maverick exploitative private sector and even produced a Dangote to be wrongly deified.

The combined ‘Past Presidents of Nigeria’ unapologetically failed in all sectors, except corruption and incompetence, allowing the institutionalisation of a ‘Maximum Corruption Figure’ of 50-100% of contracts and ‘BUDGET PADDING’- A ‘SOFT-LANDING’ WORD DESCRIBING THE PREPARATION PLAN FOR MASSIVE ‘BUDGET LOOTING/PILFERING/ROBBERY’ – stealing with consequent murder of citizens by a failure of services! THERE IS BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS!! This 50-100% figure is crippling and in excess of the ‘Maximum Corruption Figure’ of 10% compatible with the survival of a society to prevent zero growth or regression.  NIGERIA’S GOVERNANCE HAS BEEN A THIEF WHO STOLE FROM THE COUNTRY AND ATE THE FOOD AND THEN GREEDILY ATE HIS HANDS DESTROYING THE ABILITY TO FURTHER FEED ITSELF –NIGERIA. Greed beyond need and we are still starving! President Buhari is trying to CHANGE OUR DEVELOPMENT DESTINY by this ‘CHINAISM’ loan and other actions that will attract the ‘DIRECT FOREIGN INVESTMENT’ demanded by economists and those who supervised our economic downturn since the military misadventure into governance.

The Buhari government can take credit for exposing and preventing its ‘FIRST MULTI-BILLION NAIRA FRAUD CASE’ – a financial crime conceived and committed entirely under his administration and against his principles. This was CRIMINAL AND CORRUPT BUDGET INFLATION aka ‘BUDGET PADDING’ and requires FORENSIC INVESTIGATION. Nigerians see the evil workings of the 50+ year old method of INSTITUTIONALISED ‘TRADITION OF CORRUPTION AND FRAUD’ in BUDGET-MAKING. This is defined as ‘A CRIMINAL AND CORRUPT COLLUSION/CONSPIRACY BETWEEN POLITICIANS, CIVIL SERVANTS AND CONTRACTORS TO USE THE BUDGET TO DEFRAUD NIGERIA’- a sort of pre-emptive theft, A GRAND LARCENY, a crime worthy of maximum punishment involving many layers of high flying GAP [Government And Political] individuals who daily sing the National Anthem, pray the Second Stanza and Recite the Pledge.

The Budget face-off between the President and the citizens on one side and NASS on the other, is beyond politics and a Nigeria Survival Question – Us against Them! The Presidency is under fire from NASS for ‘revealing’ the secrets of preparation and inflation of the normally corrupt ‘Budget Nigeria’. The President’s upright stand has placed Nigeria at a crossroads – CONTINUE CORRUPTION OR KILL CORRUPTION-  continue with traditional Budget inflation or change to a CLEAN budget of development making each naira go further? Choose ‘CHECKING AND RECHECKING BUDGET, LINE BY LINE’, to eliminate fraud. We need a (Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, ‘NEITI’ MONITORING GROUP for the newly discovered but ancient pariah -‘THE BUDGET EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRY’.

Where do you stand? Nigerians must join the BATTLE FOR THE BUHARI BUDGET! Do you stand with the President or against – ‘With Development’ or ‘Against Development’? Do you stand with entrenched politicians who HAVE ALWAYS FAILED YOU and prefer ‘Constituency’ aka ‘Corruption’ or ‘Pork Pie’ Projects?

Will Nigeria again succumb to its NASS political servants? THIS IS A HERCULEAN CALL TO DEFEND THE ‘CHANGE’. Nigeria is at a development crossroads. The budget issues are about survival and development Vs corruption. Since 1999, NASS was allowed to overstep its bounds and wrongly given corrupt powers to alter Nigeria’s budget leading to a long wrong ‘tradition’ of ‘padding’ and rewriting budgets. But it is a BUHARI BUDGET NOT A NASS BUDGET.

Nigerians stand up, shout, be counted for the BUHARI BUDGET against a ‘NASS Budget’ NASTY substitution. NASS’s job is not to redirect massive funds within a Buhari budget but to confirm budget details. The BUHARI BUDGET must include the Lagos-Calabar Railway and exclude all Constituency Corruption Projects. NASS members should be recalled to their constituencies and educated on their role.

If NASS members want a nationwide constituency budget, let NASS members run for President. They will lose!!!