Igwe Raymond🤴🏾 @raydatluvs

The Imperative of Diversifying Port Development in Nigeria I have noted the Federal Government’s recent approval of $1 billion (₦1.5 trillion) for the modernisation of the Apapa and TinCan Island Ports in Lagos. While any effort to improve efficiency and embrace technology in our maritime sector is commendable, such an initiative must be guided by accountability, transparency, and equity for all Nigerians. However, this development once again exposes a longstanding concentration of our port development only in Lagos. Nigeria’s infrastructure investment remains excessively concentrated in Lagos, often at the expense of other strategic ports such as Warri, Port Harcourt, Calabar, and Onne. If fully developed, these ports could enhance productivity, drive trade, create jobs, and open new economic corridors that would lift millions out of poverty across the federation. Around the world, countries that have decentralised port development are reaping immense economic benefits. Vietnam operates over 300 ports — from Haiphong in the north to Da Nang in the centre and Ho Chi Minh City in the south — ensuring nationwide connectivity. Indonesia boasts about 111 commercial ports distributed across its territory to guarantee balanced access to trade. South Africa maintains eight major seaports — from Durban and Richards Bay on the Indian Ocean to Cape Town and Saldanha Bay on the Atlantic — reflecting a vision of maritime inclusion. Egypt runs about 15 commercial ports along both the Mediterranean and the Red Sea coasts; Morocco has about 14 ports open to international trade, including Casablanca, Tangier Med, and Agadir, distributed along its Atlantic and Mediterranean shorelines; and Algeria operates about 10 commercial ports spread across its extensive Mediterranean coast. Even Ghana, with only two major ports — Tema and Takoradi — ensured they are geographically decentralised on opposite ends of its coastline. These nations have grasped a simple truth: no country seeking to maximise its blue economy concentrates all maritime activities in a single city. Decentralisation reduces congestion, improves logistics, enhances national security, and promotes balanced economic growth. In Nigeria, however, more than 70 per cent of port activities are still concentrated in Lagos, burdening the city with chronic congestion, high demurrage costs, environmental degradation, and delays that discourage investors and inflate the cost of goods nationwide. Developing other ports is, therefore, not merely an infrastructural necessity but a national imperative. Revitalising Warri, Port Harcourt, Calabar, and Onne would decongest Lagos, reduce shipping costs, attract investment, create employment, and stimulate regional economies. As one who understands the critical link between infrastructure, trade, and national growth, I believe that a truly national blue economy must carry every region along. Beyond physical infrastructure, reform must also address corruption, reduce bureaucracy, and embrace technology to create a seamless, paperless port system that enhances turnaround time and global competitiveness. If prudently managed, the Lagos modernisation project could become a model for broader maritime transformation — a reference point from which similar development radiates across the nation. Now more than ever, Nigeria must rebuild with fairness, guided by equity, integrity, and a clear vision to transform our nation from one of consumption to one of production and shared prosperity. A New Nigeria is POssible - PO

History will remember the leaders who protected our children. Nigeria has made some progress in immunisation - now, let us finish strong. Please release the 2024/2025 immunisation funds.📌 Save the future of our children. #FundImmunizationNow #VaccinesWork @Fmohnigeria @FinMinNigeria @officialABAT @NGRPresident @muhammadpate @DrSalmaAnas @atikuabagudu @nassnigeria @SenGodswill @gavi @VaccineNet_NG @NGFSecretariat @UNICEF @HSRCNg @nigeriahealth24 Pls RETWEET & share. Our children deserve to grow strong and healthy ❤️

Again our President moves as the Nation bleeds Amid the deplorable state of our nation in all ramifications, we have a virtually indifferent President who has continued to display insensitivity to our situation. How can anyone explain that a President who came from Brazil recently and met with the President is returning to the same country, leaving the various degrees of challenges at home unresolved? The latest itinerary of the President shows he will depart Abuja on Thursday, August 14, for a two-nation trip to Japan and Brazil.   The President will stop over in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, before proceeding to Japan. In Japan, President Tinubu will attend the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD9) in the City of Yokohama from August 20 to 22. The itinerary is silent on the President's return date to his visibly troubled nation. The situation we find ourselves in is deeply worrisome. Our President, who has not found it worthy to visit any of our troubled states, takes joy in travelling to foreign countries at the slightest invitation or excuse. Often departing several days even before the events he’s invited to. In his last trip, for instance, he had a one-week State visit to St lucia before attending the BRICS Summit, where Nigeria was merely invited as an observer, though the role was dressed up as “partner” to the invitation, which was more significant. The leaders of actual member countries who attended only arrived a day or two at most for the event. Nigeria’s insecurity situation, economic hardship, and human suffering have reached their peak. We are now counted among the most insecure nations, the most fragile economies, and the hungriest countries in the world. This dire reality demands the full attention of Mr. President, and his travels should be more within our troubled states and communities, spending time on the ground, and taking decisive action to alleviate the people’s suffering rather than these overseas conferences that contribute little or no tangible value to our nation's woes. And where the trip is necessary at all, it could be attended in just a few days rather than indulging in prolonged, unnecessary absences from a country that requires 24/7 attention. What our nation needs now is security of lives and properties, economic stability and ensuring that our people have food on their table. Our President's planned trip of 12 days departing today, if necessary, should have been at most a 5-day trip as the event he was invited to in Japan commences on the 20th. Nigeria today demands competent leadership with capacity and compassion to start dealing with the problems besetting it with the presence and sacrifice required. Mr. President must, as a matter of urgency, commence tours of our states with the same enthusiasm he shows for jetting out of the country every month. These visits will enable him to see, listen and learn more about what Nigerians are going through. Though Nigerians know that our huge problems cannot be solved overnight, they want to see 100% effort and tireless commitment to solving them. Most importantly, our President must know that he's not a tourist, but the Chief Executive of a troubled nation, so he must have consciousness, strict work schedules and a strict travelling schedule to show that he has a troubled country to quickly return to. A New Nigeria is POssible. -PO

Nations Like Nigeria, Know What To Do To Prosper, But Just Can’t Do It. - James A. Robinson, Nobel Laureate in Economics, 2024 In July this year, the United Nations issued a frightening warning that 34 million Nigerians are at risk of hunger. This was also published in national dailies on August 1, 2025. This is not just an abstract statistic. It speaks of real people - our parents, children, neighbours, and friends - who are going to bed hungry and waking up without hope of a meal. So, while the country faces acute hunger — with Nigeria ranked among the hungriest countries in the world and classified under the category of “serious hunger”, the Federal Government of Nigeria announced a ₦712 billion budget for the renovation of an airport on the same August 1, 2025. It is profoundly troubling that at a time when millions of Nigerians are facing the crushing burden of hunger, the Federal Government has chosen to approve a staggering ₦712.3 billion—not to feed its people, not to lift them out of hardship, and not to invest in their well-being, but to renovate an airport. This raises a fundamental and urgent question: Where are our national priorities? Let us not forget: in 2013, Nigeria secured a $500 million loan from the China Exim Bank, supplemented by counterpart funding, to upgrade five international airports - Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt, and Enugu. If that massive investment was made barely a decade ago, what justifies an even larger sum today for just one airport - especially at a time when Nigerians are starving, internally displaced, and desperate? As a nation, our primary obligation is to protect and provide for our people, to ensure they are fed, healthy, and secure. While physical infrastructure like airports and roads matter, they cannot prioritise against hunger, health, education and security. Food security itself is a national security and economic strategy. Development is about choices. It’s about understanding that national progress begins with the basics: human development, not with grandiose infrastructure projects. A government that builds grandiose infrastructure while its people starve is not building a nation - it is betraying one. The time has come to rethink our priorities and put Nigerians first in every policy, every budget, and every decision. We must prioritise and concentrate our resources in critical areas of development: security of lives and property, health, education and pulling our people out of poverty. A New Nigeria is POssible. -PO

This one term vow is not doing it for me? Why do one term and hand the country back to criminals

Peter Obi @PeterObi

a year ago

My One-Term, Four-Year Vow Is Sacrosanct One of the greatest American Presidents, Abraham Lincoln, served only four years, yet his legacy endures as a model of principled leadership. Another iconic figure, John F. Kennedy, did not even complete a full term, yet his vision and

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In November 2022, while campaigning in Delta State, the then APC Presidential Candidate, Bola Tinubu, now the President, berated the other Presidential Candidate (Peter Obi), he was ashamed to call his name, saying "Na statistics we go chop all I want is to put food on the table of Nigerians”. Now 2 years into his 4-year tenure, Nigeria is classified as one of the hungriest nations in the world with millions of Nigerians not knowing where their next meal will come from. President Tinubu is now overfeeding Nigerians with wrong Statistics from wrong unemployment figures, wrong inflation figures, and now GDP rebasing, all to put a positive spin on our deteriorating economic and household conditions. Governance is not a rocket science, it's not a gamble, like I have always reiterated, it requires sincerity of purpose, character, competence, capacity and compassion. A new Nigeria is POssible. -PO

Before you invest, you need to know; 1. Your strength - are you the patient kind?, 2. Your weaknesses - are you a spend thrift? 3. Your goal - Investing for children school fees?. Watch Safe Grounds Saturday with @smartmoneyarese to know what Risk Appetite is in investment.

No Student Should Suffer for Leadership Failures Following my visit yesterday to the Faculty of Dental Studies at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), I was inundated with reports concerning developments at the University of Calabar (UNICAL), where issues around the Dental students’ graduation and induction quota have sparked serious concern. While the specifics of the matter are still unfolding, I understand that the Vice Chancellor has recently assured the public that steps will be taken to resolve the crisis. I appreciate her for this promise, and I look forward to a favourable resolution. Whatever the root cause, one thing is clear: no student should suffer due to what I consider a failure of leadership. We must give our youth the necessary education, particularly in critical fields like science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Education in these areas is far too important to be jeopardised by bureaucratic or institutional lapses. Whatever the issue, the students must remain in school and graduate appropriately without compromising standards. I feel their concern, as I faced a similar situation as the former Governor of Anambra State, when the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria shut down our medical school at Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, citing the absence of a teaching hospital—a basic requirement for accreditation. Students who had already spent 3 to 4 years studying medicine were told they could only graduate as biologists or in other science courses. I had just assumed office, barely one year in, when I met the crisis, but I refused to let those innocent students become victims. I pleaded with the Council and told them that the children did not cause the issue and should not be made to suffer for it. I promised to take full responsibility and committed to building a functional teaching hospital within two years. They told me it was impossible to build such a facility in two years. But I insisted, because leaders must be solution-driven, especially when the lives and futures of our young people are at stake. In less than 18 months, I fulfilled that promise. I built and commissioned what is now known as Odumegwu-Ojukwu Teaching Hospital in Awka, saving not just the accreditation of the medical faculty but the futures of young aspiring doctors to this day. I call on the Federal Government to give this situation the urgent and decisive attention it deserves by providing both financial and institutional support to the university leadership. The Vice Chancellor of the University of Calabar and her team must be empowered to resolve this issue immediately, to ensure that no student is made to suffer for circumstances that are in no way their fault. At this critical time in our nation, we cannot afford to continue the downward trend of neglecting education and healthcare, or of failing to lift people out of poverty, while wasting resources on areas that bring no tangible value. Our children must not continue to lose their future in Nigeria. A New Nigeria is POssible. -PO

My weekend activity of serving food at a special event has been generating interest, as expectedly, because leaders in our society have removed the service component in leadership. It's sounding strange that I was seen serving food to people. Let me be clear, that event was not about me. It was called the Jubilee of Hope, and its purpose is straightforward, to remind us all that true leadership is service, and that those who have must never forget those who do not. When I attended the Jubilee of Hope in Imo State, it was a private service event. I did not post about it, nor did I invite media coverage. Unfortunately, some third parties, completely outside of my team, shared photos and videos. As expected, the usual naysayers and paid agents went to work trying to twist something sincere into something political. But let me restate the heart of the matter, the Jubilee of Hope is designed for the rich to come down from their high places, even if just for a moment, and serve the poor, not as a show, but as a symbol of the society we must build. A society anchored on empathy, equity, and responsibility. I was not the only one who served that day. Many well-meaning and distinguished Nigerians also participated, people like Cardinal Onaiyekan, Senator Osita Izunaso, former Chairman of Seplat Plc, Dr. A.B.C. Orjiako, and many others, quietly and sincerely. It wasn’t about the cameras; it was about conscience. I am genuinely surprised that this simple act has become a topic of discussion. As Governor, I always served others whenever we had events. Even now, in private life, I do not have a house help. When guests visit my home, I serve them myself. I live simply, I sweep, I clean, because for me, humility is not a campaign strategy; it is a way of life. At the Jubilee of Hope, I stayed longer because many of the poor attendees requested that I serve them personally. I could not ignore them. That was the only reason. Otherwise, there was nothing special about what I did. Service is not special, it is expected. We cannot speak of building a New Nigeria while ignoring the hungry, the forgotten, and the poor. Events like this must not remain symbolic, they must become cultural. Public office holders, business leaders, and everyday citizens must unite in lifting others. Let us work together to build a country where hope is not seasonal, and dignity is not a privilege, but a right. A New Nigeria is POssible. -PO

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The society we abuse today will eventually take its toll on our children, because they will only learn by our example. Everything we are experiencing in our country today is a reflection of the decay of civility and orderliness. When we choose to conduct both our public and personal lives with bad behaviour and rascality, we normalise bad behaviour, lawlessness, and criminality. I watched a heartbreaking video that showed students in Auchi Polytechnic in Edo State running for their lives as they were being shot at during their student election yesterday which left 2 students dead and several injured. The question is: Where did they learn it from? Are they cursed, or are we the political leaders who are cursed? When we have chosen to "fight, snatch it, grab it, and run with it" how can we expect our children to do it rightly and democratically when they have learned from us? This is not just disgraceful, it’s a national indictment. When we, the leaders, have chosen to fight, snatch, grab and run with it, our children have learned similar and rascality is now a normal situation. It is now up to us, the leaders, to learn how to restore civility, order, and core values in our society by ensuring that our character and behaviour reflect the change we seek in our society. We must do better, for our students, for our children, and for our country. A New Nigeria is POssible. -PO

It is alarming that we now live in a country of titles and honours without any passion for the people's plight. While the Presidency basks in the euphoria of titles, St.Lucia, our people are being killed at home. A nation where children cannot go to school because some of the teachers have not been paid for almost three years, similar to what I complained about lecturers a few weeks ago. This is not a functioning nation. When I said that the President embarking on an 8-day state visit to St. Lucia at this critical time was inappropriate and unacceptable, it was not a lack of respect for the country of St.Lucia; rather, it is about the timing and duration for a President whose nation is in turmoil. Timing is everything, and right now, at this time, Nigeria is bleeding. But the handlers of the President defended the trip, citing cultural ties and economic gains and said he would also proceed from there to the BRICS summit, and this is the reason for the 8-day trip. But at this critical time when our people die daily and our schools and hospitals are not functioning, we should focus on fixing our country. Having been in St. Lucia for the past 4 days, we have not seen any agreement being entered or signed that would contribute to Nigerias development but rather we are watching Mr. President collect a personal honour and title in St. Lucia, because they know we are a country of titles and honour and crave accolades instead of actual development. Just today, as the President received titles in St. Lucia, at least 37 people were killed in Yobe State, in a Boko Haram attack, and currently, today, protesters in Kwara state have been protesting unemployment, banditry and high insecurity in the state. Since the President left for his trip to St. Lucia, a nation 1/6th of Lagos state in size and 1% of Lagos population of 18milliom several Nigerians have lost their lives to insecurity and one form of banditry to another, nothing has been done for the schools and striking teachers. Today alone several teachers are protesting in Abuja, our schoolchildren are still out of classrooms, teachers are unpaid and are currently protesting even while the president was receiving a title, families are fleeing their homes, and people are living in fear. During the period the president has travelled, 200 Nigerians have died in various crisis-related incidents across the country. Russia, a country at war, has not lost as many innocent civilians as Nigeria, which is not officially at war. Other than Katsina where Mr. President went to attend a wedding, he has never spent a night or slept in any Nigerian state other than his home in Lagos for an official tour and even have never visited some of the most troubled states like Niger State, Taraba or Plateau to spend even a single day with the people, yet he is spending eight days in a Caribbean Island. A nation in pain cannot afford a leadership in denial. At a time when blood is being spilt on our soil, when children are orphaned and communities erased overnight, with families separated at IDPs, our children are not in school, and teachers are not paid and basic hospitals are not functional, our leadership must be present. For those mentioning the upcoming BRICS summit to justify the trip, note that the summit is for the 6th and 7th, and no president or prime minister from the initials BRICS state and new members have separated their countries for the summit. In fact, China and Russia, two of its most powerful members, will not be attending. China said they have to attend other pressing issues and so mentioned scheduling conflicts and Russia supposedly because of the war which has prevented the president from travelling in recent times India Premier Minister which is yet to leave its country, will, apart from attending BRICS, be doing a 5-nation tour all within the same 8 days.

I'll also say this publicly for everyone to see exactly where I stand on the issue of 2027. P.O. is the single biggest roadblock to mounting a challenge that has any chance of succeeding in 2027. The simple reason is that he has REFUSED TO DECLARE what he wants to do and where he stands. Does he want to run independently like in 2023, or does he want to work with the so-called coalition to oust Tinubu 20 months from now? Nobody knows. Not the coalition, not the people around him, and I suspect, not even he himself. The worst possible outcome between now and 2027 is for him to keep dilly dallying and telling contradictory things to different people, so that when this supposed coalition finally emerges, he will now announce announce 13 months to the election that he will run independently, and then we end up with another split opposition like last time out. I care about Nigeria and its future WAYYYY more than I care about Peter Gregory Obi, so anyone who has his ear should better tell him to come out and declare where he stands and what he wants to do, so that we can collectively chart a path forward. One man's political gamesmanship or lack of resolve, or indecision, or whatever the fok this is cannot be what keeps us inside the US State Department’s national jail for another 4 years of our productive lives. We all have hopes and dreams which are collectively more important than any one man. If he wants to run alone, he should declare it NOW so that the country can back him. If he wants to work with the rest of the opposition, he should also come out and SAY SO OPENLY. And if he is not ready to act like the leader that is needed at this moment in history, he should kindly step away and let a more resolute person take the wheel. This is not a fucking game.

Mm

@muyagaie @Dr_AliyuTilde But NNPC is not the equivalent of NCC, NMDPRA is.

Stop defending your government Hold them to account, Your job is to pay taxes and vote, period The government's job is to deliver for you This year alone, the FGN wants to spend N27.5t ($36b); your job is to insist the FGN spends that N27.5t in a manner that favours you, your family, your LGA and your State. Stop defending adults who want to spend N27t Hold them to account.

Unrelated, but see how hard average Nigerians are working everyday to make ends meet. People are doing all they can to survive but some of you think it’s okay for the children of our oppressors to flex their wealth because it’s not their fault. You’re very stupid

Ayo of Ibadan @theayoadams

2 years ago

This Ibadan micra driver wore his wife’s dress to work, here is his reason.

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The fundamental right to free speech is inextricably linked to the right to access information about government activities and decision-making. The alarming trend of government agents suppressing information unrelated to national security or

Now that the Presidential Jet has arrived. From all indications, despite all the denials, and back and forth over the newly acquired Presidential aircraft, the jet is now here thanks to the French court that helped Nigerians to get the information.

I debated long and hard whether to do this publicly, but I think a message needs to be sent to a group of external interests working in tandem with the internal interests described in the quoted tweet to counteract the interests of half a billion West Africans. A message that at whatever level we exist, we take our destiny seriously and we are not to be trifled with. Last week, I received an N800,000 offer from an international NGO called Dialogue Earth (formerly known as China Dialogue Trust) to write an article essentially saying that Dangote Refinery is terrible for the environment because something something "Environmental Concerns," something something "Climate Change," something something "Energy Transition Policy," something something "COP 28." The (unstated but clearly implied) thrust of the brief was for a prominent local voice to put their name on an article that is an argument or a premise for the the Nigerian government to kill the refinery based on its "energy transition commitments" and "environmental policy." This conclusion wasn't immediately apparent when they reached out to me, but I suspected where it was heading, and I quickly accepted the offer so that I could see the brief and obtain hard evidence. I've attached screenshots from the brief below. Basically, this London-based NGO is headed by Sam Geall, an Oxford professor and is funded by several American intelligence fronts such as Ford Foundation and ClimateWorks (which is blacklisted in India for funding organisations working against India's national interest). For whatever reason, it is now quietly mobilising a resistance campaign against what it describes as "Nigeria's first refinery." Apparently, the status quo of Africa's largest oil producer having no functioning oil refinery to beneficiate its own oil was not a problem for Dialogue Earth and the American CIA fronts who fund it. The human poverty caused by exporting this raw material and importing refined fuel was not bad for the environment. Also, the fact of European refiners regularly blending West African fuel cargoes with toxic waste and sulphur content 200 times the European legal limit (leading to asthma, bronchitis and eye infections in West Africa) was also not bad for the environment. But Nigeria having a refinery that will wean West Africa off import dependency on those European refiners (and allow West Africa control the sulphur content of its own fuels) is where Dialogue Earth and its funders draw the line. That one is bad for the environment, and David Hundeyin should write an article calling for the refinery to be shut down or limited. I'm putting this out there publicly so that nobody will henceforth use the term "conspiracy theory" when it is pointed out for the umpteenth time, that there are American and European state and private interests that are heavily invested in keeping Africa exactly as poor as it is, and that they regularly push levers most of us do not even know exist, to make sure that this status quo is protected. These people believe that Africans should not exist or have nice things in this world. Apparently, the sole purpose of our existence is to enhance their experience of the planet and all that it has to offer. It is because of them that I have to make a public spectacle out of this, even though I know that doing this is probably going to cost someone their job. The message needs to be passed that as poor as we are, you cannot convince us to campaign for the elongation of our own poverty by commissioning $500 hack jobs in the hope that we will be greedy enough to only see the money and ignore the bigger picture of what we can clearly see you trying to do. I will reiterate something I have said multiple times - I am not a believer in the religious faith called Climate Change/Saving The Environment. I care exactly as much about the environment as do the rich white men who destroyed it to begin with. I firmly believe that if what it takes for Africa to industrialise is for it to burn so much fossil fuel that snow stops falling in Wisconsin and it starts raining concentrated sulphuric acid in Doncaster, it is not too big a price for Europe and North America to pay - it is certainly not bigger than the price Africa had to pay for Europe and North America to develop. It is and will continue to be 100% OUR prerogative to determine what to do with our hydrocarbons. It is not the rich white men hiding behind these "Climate Advocacy NGOs" who will tell us what to do with our energy reserves, and by what means we are allowed to escape the poverty that they engineered for us. I might not be a fan of Aliko Dangote or his monopolistic business practices - as is well known - but I'm also smart enough to know when rich white men in DC, Houston, Rotterdam and London and trying to use me as a marionette in their 400 year-old coloniser games. If you are reading this and you are one of the rich white men whose economic interests are threatened by Nigeria refining its own oil, you should come out and fight Aliko Dangote by yourself. Or at least go find a much stupider African to do your dirty job - there's plenty of those. It will never be me.

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Dangote Group @DangoteGroup

2 years ago

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@PoliceNG Peak buffoonery!!!!