Friday, March 18 2011, NN24 a cable television network organized a presidential debate. The event which was sponsored by The Tony Elemelu foundation provided the various aspirants opportunity to showcase how they intend to bring about the needed change to the polity.

In attendance were Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Presidential candidate of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Gen. Muhamadu Buhari, presidential candidate of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and Ibrahim Shekaru, presidential aspirant of All Nigerians peoples party (ANPP).

Watch the video and see how they fared!

It’s that time of the year again when the best (and worst) of the Hollywood rabble gather their best frocks and dish out golden statues to each other. Yes, the Oscars are here with a new set of movies and stars vying for your consideration. So what’s new this year? Well, the Academy has decided to go all young and hip by handing presenting duties to Anne Hathaway and James Franco.

They are the Academy’s youngest hosts in its 83-year history and might set the tone for future awards ceremonies. Both have displayed very credible comedic skills in the past, so hopefully there shouldn’t be too many forced jokes or awkward silences. The 10-film format for Best Picture has been retained after been introduced last year. Thankfully, we have a stronger field to pick from this year, so average films like ‘District 9’ and ‘The Blind Side’ did not creep into the list. When the likes of ‘Shutter Island’ and ‘The Town’ do not make the final cut, then you know it’s a tough year.

Best Picture

After the commercial and critical disappointment of 2009/2010, it has been a decent year for cinema. The shackles of the global recession were shaken off and people started going to the movies again. Filmmakers must have missed the memo because this year’s contenders can hardly be described as feel-good movies.

‘Toy Story 3’ is probably the most uplifting of the bunch and even that was known to make some adult viewers cry. It won’t win but its mere presence is another testament to the movie-making prowess of Pixar studios.

‘The Fighter’, a bleak biopic of boxer Micky Ward and his junkie brother, is a fine film about redemption and human sacrifice.

‘Black Swan’, is a neo-noir about a young woman’s struggles with abuse and psychosis. It will not be to everyone’s taste and this will affect its chances.

‘Inception’ is many people’s favourite film of 2010 but sadly, its popularity will count against it. Blockbusters simply do not win in this category.

‘127 Hours’ is a wonderful true-life tale of triumph against the odds but is perhaps too avant garde for Academy tastes.

‘The Kids are Alright’ is a well rendered account of the realities of single-sex marriage but it meanders a bit towards a conclusion.

‘True Grit’ is a remake of the John Wayne classic, a proper Western with delicious vistas and searing individual performances. The story lacks a bit of depth, however, and will most likely count against it. Besides, everyone prefers the original, right?

This predictably leaves it down to a dogfight between two films: ‘The Social Network’, and‘The King’s Speech’. Both have very different types of appeal but if there is any justice, ‘The Social Network’ will win. David Fincher’s film about the advent of Facebook is the best all-round film of 2010. One suspects though that ‘The King’s Speech’ will trump it. The film, about King George VI’s efforts to overcome his stammer, is the kind that usually excites the Academy. Where ‘The Social Network’ represents new age cinema, ‘The King’s Speech’ is a hark back to the classical era and this might well sway the voters.

Best Director

It is an absolute travesty that ‘Inception’s Christopher Nolan is not even nominated in this category. The Academy still turns its nose up at commercially successful films and ‘Inception’ happens to be the latest victim.

The Coen Brothers are an Oscar favourite, but ‘True Grit’ is far from their best work. Nolan, on the other hand, has delivered a filmmaking tour-de-force. Love it or hate it, one cannot ignore the sheer creative audacity of ‘Inception’. Nolan’s loss will almost certainly be David Fincher’s gain. ‘The Social Network’ is masterfully directed. A movie subject as banal as Facebook is somehow made engaging by Aaron Sorkin’s sumptuous script and Fincher’s close directorial control. Of the 82 films that have won Best Picture, 60 of them have also won Best Director. It would be no surprise if Fincher goes home with the two gongs.

Best Actor

You might as well give Colin Firth the award now. In truth, none of the other contenders would even put up much of a fight. Not that their performances are bad — far from it — but Colin Firth ticks almost all the Academy boxes. Period film. Check. English accents. Check. Protagonist struggling with disability. Check. Firth’s performance as the stuttering King George VI is so vulnerable, that it has you rooting for him from the word go. It is good to see Jeff Bridges’ name up again after his win last year. For too long, he has been overlooked by the Academy. In any other year, Jesse Eisenberg’s portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook founder, would have been a surefire thing but this is Firth’s year.

Best Actress

Natalie Portman’s name is probably already engraved on the golden statue for her performance in ‘Black Swan.’ Yet, riveting as it is, her performance rarely extends beyond timid and frightened in Aranofsky’s film. In a film which plays heavily on duality, one craves a tougher alter ego to emerge from the shadows but it never materialises. Nicole Kidman’s role as a grieving mother in ‘Rabbit Hole’ will probably not be rewarded with a golden statuette, but it is a far more nuanced performance. The 2003 winner delivers a masterclass in the use of silence and facial expression as an acting tool. Hers is a genuinely haunting interpretation about the burden of human loss. However, Portman has swept the board until now, picking up all the major awards in the process, and the Academy will most likely follow suit.

Best Supporting Actor

Some performances are instantly iconic and you realize that the moment you are witnessing them. Christian Bale’s portrayal of Dicky Eklund, a junkie ex-boxer living on past glory, is one of those sit-up-and-take-notice moments. Not only does Bale physically transform himself for the role, he throws in several verbal and behavioral tics which only a true thespian can pull off. As one of the last in a dying generation of Method actors, Bale has delivered a career best and will almost certainly reap the dividends on the night. Honourable mention goes to ‘The Town’s’ Jeremy Renner, who shows that his nomination last year, was no fluke; and Geoffrey Rush for ‘The King’s Speech’. A huge surprise it was that Andrew Garfield did not make the cut. His portrayal of Facebook co-founder, Eduardo Saverin, was the heart of ‘The Social Network’.

Best Supporting Actress

This is probably the most hotly contested category. Yet, there is another glaring omission from this list — Marion Cotillard. Her role in ‘Inception’ was one of the best of the year but she doesn’t figure in the nominations. The two supporting actresses for ‘The Fighter’, Amy Adamsand Melissa Leo, will duel it out and both would be equally worthy of the award. However, strong competition might come in the form of 14-year-old, Hailee Steinfeld, the precocious co-star of ‘True-Grit’. Academy judges have never been shy of dishing out awards to young talent when they are truly exceptional, so Miss Steinfeld can definitely be considered a dark horse in this category. Helena Bonham-Carter brings tremendous restraint and regality to the role of King George’s wife in ‘The King’s Speech’ and not many would grumble if she picked up the award.

So that’s it. Good luck to all the nominees. If you are watching in Nigeria, grab some coffee and ensure you have paid up your cable subscription. It promises to be another memorable Oscar night.

This article is part of our guide on how to use scalping techniques to trade forex. If you haven't already we recommend you read the first part of series on forex scalping.

As important as basic concepts like leverage and spreads are for forex scalpers, they are still secondary subjects in comparison to issues related to the broker, his attitude and preferences. Quite simply, the broker is the most important variable determining the possibility, and profitability of a scalping strategy for any trader. A scalper has control over his strategies, stop loss, or take profit orders, as well as his time frame for trading, but he has no say in matters such as server stability, spreads, and the attitude of the broker to scalping.

There are hundreds of brokers operating in the retail forex market today; naturally, each has a technical capability, and business model suitable to a different trader profile. These differences are immaterial to most long term traders, for swing traders they are meaningful but not that significant, but for day traders and scalpers they are the distinction between profit and loss. At the very basic level, the spread is a tax paid on profits and losses to the broker for his services, but the relationship goes a lot deeper than that. Let’s take a look at the various issues related to the scalper-broker relationship. (Once you've read this article make sure to stop by our forex broker review section to find more informations on the most popular retail forex brokers.)

Low Spreads

A trader who doesn’t use the scalping or day-trading strategies will open and close may be one or two positions, at most, in a single day. Although the cost of the spread is still an important variable, a successful trading style can easily justify the relatively small fees paid to the broker. The situation is quite different for the scalper however. Since the scalper will open and close tens of positions in a short period of time, the cost of his trades will be a very significant item on his balance sheet. Let’s see an example.

Suppose that a scalper opens and liquidates 30 positions on a day in the EURUSD pair, for which the spread is commonly 3 pips. Let’s also suppose that his trade sizes are constant, and that 2/3 of his positions are profitable, with an average of 5 pips profit per trade. Let’s also say that the average size of his loss is 3 pips per trade. What is his net gain/loss without the cost of the spread included?

(Positions in black) – (Positions in red) = Net profit/loss

(20*5)-(10*3) = 70 pips in total.

Which is a significant gain. Now let’s include the cost of the spread, and repeat the calculation.

(Positions in black) – (Positions in red + Cost of the Spread) = Net profit/loss

(20*5)-(10*3+30*3) = -20 pips in total.

A nasty surprise awaits our hypothetical trader in his account. The number of his profitable trades were twice the number of his losing ones, and his average loss was about half his average gain. And in spite of that remarkable track record, his scalping activity gained him a net loss. To break even, he would need an average net profit of 9 pips per trade, all else remaining the same.

Now let’s repeat the same calculation, with another hypothetical broker where the spread is just 1 pip in the EURUSD pair. The 5 pips per win, and 3 pips per loss (the same scenario which was examined in the beginning) with a one-pip spread would bring us an outcome of

(20*5)-(10*3+30*1) = 60 pips in total profit.

Why is there such a large discrepancy in our results? Although the numbers do speak for themselves, let’s remind the reader that while we earn money only on our profitable trades, we pay the broker for every position we open, profitable or not. And that is the problem.

In sum, we need to ensure that we choose the broker with the lowest spread for the currency pair we’d like to trade. A scalper must scrutinize the account packages of different brokers thoroughly before deciding to become a client of one of them.

Scalping Policy

What is a scalping policy? Although the majority of well-established firms with a history and a significant client base have an official policy of allowing scalpers freedom with their decisions, some brokers quite simply refuse to allow scalping techniques for clients. Others process client orders slowly, and make scalping an unprofitable endeavor. What is the reason?

In order to understand the cause of this, we should discuss how brokers net out their client’s positions before passing them to the banks. Supposing that a majority of a broker’s clients are losing money while trading, what would happen if at a time these losses were to reach such a large size that some triggered margin calls which could not be met? Since forex brokers are liable to liquidity provider banks for the profits or losses of their clients, they would have faced periodic crises of liquidity and even bankruptcy. In order to prevent such a situation from arising, brokers net-out the positions of clients by trading against them. That is, as a client opens a long position, the broker takes a short position, and vice versa. Since the result of two orders in the opposite direction is that the total exposure to the market is zero, the liquidity issue is resolved, and the firm is unimpacted by losses or profits in traders’ account.

But there’s a problem with this situation. We mentioned that the broker countertrades its clients’ positions, and what if the client makes a profit by closing a long position, for instance. The broker then has to close the short trade which had been opened to net out the trader’s long trade, and while doing so he incurs a loss. And well, isn’t this a great incentive for forex brokers to ensure that their clients are constantly losing money?

Well, not so much. First of all, most of the netting is done internally, where individual traders’ positions are netted out against each other without the broker having to commit any of its own funds. And the small remaining net position (the net long short or position that remains after the broker has netted out client orders against each other), is usually a losing position which can be counter-traded by the broker safely, because it is a well-established fact that the overwhelming majority of forex brokers lose money.

Now that we understand that scalping does not necessarily constitute a problem for a competent broker (just like the occasional winners are not problem for casinos), we are ready to understand why some brokers dislike scalpers so much. As we said, the broker needs to net out trader positions against each other to guarantee that its liability against banks is minimal. Scalpers disrupt that plan by entering trades all over the place, at awkward times, with difficult sizes which not only forces the broker to commit its own capital at times, but also ensures that the system is bombarded with crowded trades. Add to that the possibility that the broker’s servers are not exactly lightning-fast, or modern enough to cope with the rapid flow of orders, and there you have profitable scalpers as the worst nightmare of a broker with a slow outdated system. Since scalpers enter many small, rapid positions over a short period of time, an incompetent broker is unable to cover its exposure efficiently, and sooner or later kicks the trader out by terminating his account, or slows down his access to the system so much that the scalper has to leave by his own account, due to his inability to trade.

All this should make it clear that scalpers must trade with innovative, competent, and technologically alert brokers only, who possess the expertise and the technical capability to handle the large volume of orders arising from scalping activity. A no-dealing desk broker is almost a must for a scalper. Since trades are mostly automated in the system of a no-dealing desk(NDD) broker, there is little risk of external tampering as the system is left to sort out client orders on its own (still profitable of course).

Strong technical tools

Scalping involves technical trading. In the very short time frames preferred by scalpers, fundamentals have no impact on trading. And when they do have, market reaction to them is erratic and entirely unpredictable. As such, a sophisticated technical package which supplies an adequate number of technical tools is a clear necessity for any scalper.

In addition, since the trader will spend a considerable amount of time gazing at the screen, reading quotes, opening and closing positions, it is a good idea to choose an interface that is not too wearying on the eyes. A bright, graphically intense platform may be pleasant to use and look at at first, but after long hours of intense concentration, the visual appeal will be more of a burden than a benefit.

Also, a platform that allows the simultaneous display of multiple time frames can be very useful for a scalper as he monitors price movements on the same screen. Although scalping involves short term trading, awareness of the price action on longer timeframes can be beneficial for money management, and strategical planning.

No slippage, no misquotes, timely execution

We have mentioned in the section on brokers’ scalping policies that a scalper must always seek a competent, modern broker in order to ensure that his trading style and practices are welcome. But timely execution, and precise quotes are also important for ensuring that a trader can profit with a scalping strategy. Since the scalper trades many times in the short time frame of an hour, he must receive timely, correct quotes on a system which allows rapid reaction...

If there’s slippage, the scalper will be unable to trade most of the time. If there are misquotes, he will suffer losses so often that trading will be impractical. And we should not neglect the emotional pressures which will be caused by such a stressful, difficult, and inefficient trading environment either. Scalping is already a burdensome activity on one’s nerves, and we should not agree to suffer the added trouble of broker incompetence on top of all the other problems which we have.

To conclude this section, we’ll add that scalping is a high-intensity technical trading method which requires a highly competent and efficient broker with state-of-the-art tools. Anything less will diminish your profits, and increase your problems.

In what is set to be a competitive year in the tablet computing industry, with numbers expected to triple over the coming years, Motorola’s new product has done exceptionally well to win the coveted ‘best in show’ award.

The Xoom runs Google’s Android operating system 3.0 which has been called Honeycomb. This operating system has been optimized for tablet computers.

Motorola and Google launched the marketing campaign for the Xoom last year with subtle and not so subtle strategies. It peaked the interest then and it is nice to see a product deliver on the back of the hype.

It will be interesting to see if it can take on the iPad once it is released...

Can Android Tablets Compete with the iPad?

We’ve rounded up what we know about upcoming Google Android tablets to see if any devices will give the Apple iPad a true rival.

With the success of Apple’s iPad, virtually every manufacturer is brainstorming their own version attempting to ride the tablet wave. Sound familiar? The tablet market seems to be following the path of smartphones, but there is a key difference this time: Apple doesn’t have quite the head start they had back when the first iPhone was released. Android has made a big dent in the mobile industry and it’s looking to do the same for tablets. Apple sold 3 million iPads in the first 80 days and they’re expected to sell around 20 million more in 2011. If Android wants to get its foot in the door then the time is now, before they fall behind again and it takes years to catch up. More and more manufactures are unveiling plans for tablets and the vast majority are choosing Android (sans HP with their Web OS tablet). Below we’ve rounded up everything we know at this point about upcoming Android tablets and when they might hit the market. If there is a tablet we have missed, let us know and we will add it to the list! 

Archos 7

The Archos 7 features a 7-inch (800×400) display, 8GB of internal storage along with a micro SDHC slot (for additional storage) and an ARM Cortex A8 processor. The Archos 7 has been available since March and it runs for $199.99.

Cisco Cius

Last month Cisco revealed its plans to join the tablet arms race with the Cius. The Cius will pack a 7-inch screen, a 720p webcam on the front and a 5 megapixel camera on the back. No firm launch date has been set, but Cisco has stated that they’re shooting for early next year.

Velocity Micro Cruz Tablet

Velocity Micro will step away from its luxury gaming throne to dabble in the emerging Android tablet market with the release of their Cruz Tablet this summer. It will feature a 7-inch touch-screen, 4GB of built-in storage, and will accept SD cards for additional storage. The Cruz Tablet will release this summer at a surprisingly low price of $300.

Samsung Galaxy Tab P1000

Samsung unveiled a picture of its upcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab last month and it looks like the iPad’s smaller twin. It will feature a 7-inch AMOLED display, Android 2.2, 16GB of internal storage with a microSD expansion slot, and will be powered by a 1.2GHz A8 processor. The Galaxy Tab is expected to launch sometime this summer and a larger 10-inch tablet from Samsung has been rumored to follow.

Dell Streak

Stewart Wolpin thought the Streak was closer to a large cell phone than a tablet in his hands-on impressions, but it’s being promoted as a tablet so we’ll play along. The streak will feature a 5-inch display, 5 megapixel camera, and integrated social media apps such as Twitter and Facebook. No solid release date has been set for the Streak, but its unlocked price is expected to be $500.

Notion Ink Adam

The Adam will be the first tablet on the market to feature the Pixel Qi display. The 10-inch transflective LCD display offers 3 different modes for viewing including a reflective e-paper mode for low power viewing even in bright sunlight. The Adam is expected to be released in Q3 of this year in selected countries.

ICD Ultra

ICD’s follows up its 15-inch Vega tablet with the ICD Ultra, a smaller Android-based device. The ICD Ultra will feature a 7-inch touchscreen display, a NVIDIA Tegra T20 chipset, and integrated 3G, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. Pricing and a final release date have not been set.

Pandigital Novel

The Pandigital Novel can be classified as an eReader but since it features a web browser and media player we think it crosses into tablet territory as well. The Novel will features a 7-inch color 800×600 touchscreen, an SD card slot for adding storage, and will integrate with the Barnes & Noble eBookstore. It will be priced at $199 and is slated to go on sale this month.

NEC Life Touch

The Life touch will feature a 7-inch TFT LCD screen, ARM Cortex A8 processor and 256MB of RAM. The Android 2.1 device is expected to be available in Japan in October with no official price as of this article.

Google Tablet

Details are still scarce on the rumored Google Android Tablet. There have been reports that Verizon and Google are working together on a tablet, but at this point we don’t even know if Google’s Tablet will run on Chrome OS or Android.

Acer Tablet

The Acer tablet looks very similar to its LumiRead e-book reader that was announced at the same event back in may. Not many details have been released but we do know that it will feature a 7-inch color display, will run Android, and has a likely Q4 release date.

LG Tablet

LG announced on July 6th that they will be jumping into the Android tablet market. They didn’t however provide any details on the device, only stating that it plans to release it in the fourth quarter of this year.

Do you think kids born in 2011 will recognize any of the following?

Video tape: Starting this year, the news stories we produce here at Money Talks have all been shot, edited, and distributed to TV stations without ever being on any kind of tape. Not only that, the tape-less broadcast camera we use today offers much higher quality than anything that could have been imagined 10 years ago -- and cost less than the lens on the camera we were using previously.

Travel agents: While not dead today, this profession is one of many that's been decimated by the Internet. When it's time for their honeymoon, will those born in 2011 be able to find one?

The separation of work and home: When you're carrying an email-equipped computer in your pocket, it's not just your friends who can find you -- so can your boss. For kids born this year, the wall between office and home will be blurry indeed.

Books, magazines, and newspapers: Like video tape, words written on dead trees are on their way out. Sure, there may be books -- but for those born today, stores that exist solely to sell them will be as numerous as record stores are now.

Movie rental stores: You actually got in your car and drove someplace just to rent a movie?

Watches: Maybe as quaint jewelry, but the correct time is on your smartphone, which is pretty much always in your hand.

 ...

©Will D/flickr

Paper maps: At one time these were available free at every gas station. They're practically obsolete today, and the next generation will probably have to visit a museum to find one.

Wired phones: Why would you pay $35 every month to have a phone that plugs into a wall? For those born today, this will be a silly concept.

Long distance: Thanks to the Internet, the days of paying more to talk to somebody in the next city, state, or even country are limited.

Newspaper classifieds: The days are gone when you have to buy a bunch of newsprint just to see what's for sale.

Dial-up Internet: While not everyone is on broadband, it won't be long before dial-up Internet goes the way of the plug-in phone.

Encyclopedias: Imagine a time when you had to buy expensive books that were outdated before the ink was dry. This will be a nonsense term for babies born today.

Forgotten friends: Remember when an old friend would bring up someone you went to high school with, and you'd say, "Oh yeah, I forgot about them!" The next generation will automatically be in touch with everyone they've ever known even slightly via Facebook.

Forgotten anything else: Kids born this year will never know what it was like to stand in a bar and incessantly argue the unknowable. Today the world's collective knowledge is on the computer in your pocket or purse. And since you have it with you at all times, why bother remembering anything?

The evening news: The news is on 24/7. And if you're not home to watch it, that's OK -- it's on the smartphone in your pocket.

CDs: First records, then 8-track, then cassette, then CDs -- replacing your music collection used to be an expensive pastime. Now it's cheap(er) and as close as the nearest Internet connection.

Film cameras: For the purist, perhaps, but for kids born today, the word "film" will mean nothing. In fact, even digital cameras -- both video and still -- are in danger of extinction as our pocket computers take over that function too.

Yellow and White Pages: Why in the world would you need a 10-pound book just to find someone?

Catalogs: There's no need to send me a book in the mail when I can see everything you have for sale anywhere, anytime. If you want to remind me to look at it, send me an email.

Fax machines: Can you say "scan," ".pdf" and "email?"

One picture to a frame: Such a waste of wall/counter/desk space to have a separate frame around each picture. Eight gigabytes of pictures and/or video in a digital frame encompassing every person you've ever met and everything you've ever done -- now, that's efficient. Especially compared to what we used to do: put our friends and relatives together in a room and force them to watch what we called a "slide show" or "home movies."

Wires: Wires connecting phones to walls? Wires connecting computers, TVs, stereos, and other electronics to each other? Wires connecting computers to the Internet? To kids born in 2011, that will make as much sense as an electric car trailing an extension cord.

Hand-written letters: For that matter, hand-written anything. When was the last time you wrote cursive? In fact, do you even know what the word "cursive" means? Kids born in 2011 won't -- but they'll put you to shame on a tiny keyboard.

Talking to one person at a time: Remember when it was rude to be with one person while talking to another on the phone? Kids born today will just assume that you're supposed to use texting to maintain contact with five or six other people while pretending to pay attention to the person you happen to be physically next to.

Retirement plans: Yes, Johnny, there was a time when all you had to do was work at the same place for 20 years and they'd send you a check every month for as long as you lived. In fact, some companies would even pay your medical bills, too!

Mail: What's left when you take the mail you receive today, then subtract the bills you could be paying online, the checks you could be having direct-deposited, and the junk mail you could be receiving as junk email? Answer: A bloated bureaucracy that loses billions of taxpayer dollars annually.

Commercials on TV: They're terrifically expensive, easily avoided with DVRs, and inefficiently target mass audiences. Unless somebody comes up with a way to force you to watch them -- as with video on the Internet -- who's going to pay for them?

Commercial music radio: Smartphones with music-streaming programs like Pandora are a better solution that doesn't include ads screaming between every song...

Hiding: Not long ago, if you didn't answer your home phone, that was that -- nobody knew if you were alive or dead, much less where you might be. Now your phone is not only in your pocket, it can potentially tell everyone -- including advertisers -- exactly where you are.

Barely two weeks after the country received and outlook downgrade by Fitch Ratings, Standard and Poor’s, another international rating agency has given the country a pass mark with a ‘B+/B’ Ratings affirmed on resilient economy. It also gave the country a stable outlook, despite what it called ‘high political risk’.

In the report published yesterday, S&P stated, “We consider that the ratings on Nigeria are constrained by high political risk, but supported by a strong balance sheet. We are affirming the ‘B+/B’ global scale ratings and the ‘ngA+/ngA-1’ Nigeria national scale ratings.” The report says Nigeria’s outlook is stable, “reflecting our expectation that Nigeria will maintain its strong external and fiscal balance sheet, and that budgetary performance will gradually improve over the next few years.”

Elections accentuate risk..

The report added that political risk in Nigeria may be exacerbated by the forthcoming presidential elections.

“The affirmation reflects our view that Nigeria’s economic performance and external liquidity has been better than we previously expected, although its fiscal performance has been weaker and political risk could heighten in the run-up to the 2011 presidential elections,” said Standard & Poor’s credit analyst Christian Esters.

It noted that Nigeria remains a low-income country, with GDP per capita estimated at $1.32 billion in 2010. Nevertheless, Nigeria has a strong fiscal debt position, despite the sharp deterioration in budgetary performance since 2009. “We estimate that Nigeria’s general government debt will increase to above 16 per cent of GDP by year-end 2010, which is still a comparatively low level.”

Comfortable external liquidity

The report said Nigeria also benefits from comfortable external liquidity, with continuous current account surpluses. “For 2010, we expect a surplus of approximately 14 per cent of GDP, and gross external financing needs at a low 54 per cent of current account receipts and usable reserves.”

The ratings firm said the stable outlook reflects expectation that Nigeria will maintain its strong external and fiscal balance sheet, and that budgetary performance will gradually improve over the next few years. “We also expect that tensions surrounding the forthcoming April 2011 presidential elections could increase political uncertainty and destabilise the country for some time after the elections,” said Mr Esters.

Finance minister, Olusegun Aganga had rejected the Fitch ratings report on the ground that it did not reflect the effort by government to address the concerns raised. Fitch cited the depletion of the Excess Crude Account (ECA), the decline in foreign exchange reserves and their own concern that the reform agenda of the current administration which they found to be very positive may not be implemented before the elections; the following as the major reasons for the revision of the outlook.

Mr Aganga said, “We do consider the decision to adjust the outlook downwards unduly punitive and disagree with it given the numerous positive features of the country’s economy and ongoing reforms.” He said government has taken a number of measures which include the proposed establishment of a Nigerian Sovereign Wealth Fund and urgent steps which are being taken to address the infrastructure deficit particularly in the power sector as outlined in the Power Roadmap that was unveiled by the President in August.

After months of suspense, President Ebele Goodluck Jonathan has made public his intention to contest the 2011 presidential election.A media advisory released this morning reads,"I Goodluck Ebele Jonathan by the grace of God hereby offer myself and my

services to the Nigerian people as a candidate for the office of President in the forth coming 2011 elections".

Hear him:"Dear compatriots, four months ago, providence placed me at the leadership of our dear country, following the untimely death of our dear former President, my brother and leader, President Umaru Musa Yar’adua. It was a very solemn and trying moment for me personally and for the country as a whole. My immediate task and priority was and still remains to give the nation purposeful leadership and to focus on the priorities of our administration in order to maintain national peace and stability and pursue our key development priorities..

In these few months as leader of the country, I have concentrated on managing the affairs of the nation, and resisted all efforts to respond to the drums of partisan politics which have been sounding very loud across the land. "As President and leader of government, I decided not to place partisan politics above the immediate needs and priorities of our people.

I came under intense pressure to make a declaration concerning my political future, but declined to do so because that would have immediately distracted us from all the development initiatives we have accomplished so far. I therefore told Nigerians to give me time to concentrate on my work and that at the appropriate time I would make a public statement on my political future after due consultations with all the segments and leaders of our nation".

"Today, I confirm that after wide and thorough consultations spanning the six geo-political zones that make up Nigeria, with members of my family, my party, the opposition, civil society, the Private Sector, members of the Labour Unions, religious leaders, youths and student groups and our revered traditional institutions, I Goodluck Ebele Jonathan by the grace of God hereby offer myself and my services to the Nigerian people as a candidate for the office of President in the forth coming 2011 elections. In presenting myself for service, I make no pretense that I have a magic wand that will solve all of Nigeria’s problems or that I am the most intelligent Nigerian. Far from it.

What I do promise is this – If I am elected President in 2011, I will make a covenant with you the Nigerian people to always do right by you, to tell you the truth at all times, to carry you along and most importantly to listen to you, fellow citizens in our communities and also those of you on this page. I do not want to win your affections by giving you promises of things I would do in the future which others before me have given and which have largely been unfulfilled. Rather, I would want you to judge me by my records. Since God Almighty and yourselves permitted me to serve you in the present capacity, I have busied myself with setting Nigeria on the path of peace and progress"..

"My team and I made no promises on adequate fuel supply in Nigeria. We simply did what was expected of those who govern, we delivered it, and you are living witnesses to that. We made no promise to revamp the textile industry. We delivered a bailout package worth 150 billion naira that is being dispensed as I write. We made no promises of securing the highest U.S Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) aviation clearance, the Category 1 Certificate which enables Nigerian registered airlines to fly to ANY U.S city. We delivered. We made no promise to give Nigeria a brand new INEC under a proven God-fearing and incorruptible leader. We placed Nigeria first and delivered. We made no promises of protecting your loans, deposits and investments in the banking industry over and beyond what is covered under the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Scheme. We delivered it via AMCON.

Rather than tell you what we could do to improve power, this administration demonstrated it by initiating a brand new national Super Grid as well as launching a concrete Road Map to the Power Sector with realistic goals tied to realistic dates. I understand from some of your mails that there has been some small improvements in electricity supply in some communities. We met an economy that was beginning to slow due to the global recession. Today, the economy has verifiably grown by 7% this half year ending in June".

"I know you are tired of empty promises, so I will make only one promise to you today. The only promise I make to you my friends, fellow citizens and Nigeria, is to promise LESS and deliver MORE if I am elected. I call on you to join me to work together in harmony and synergy to forge a nation where we understand our differences instead of pretending they do not exist and work towards a perfect union founded on transparency, equity and justice.

A nation that is on her way to repairing her International reputation and project to the world that things have changed and the people of Nigeria have now taken Nigeria back from a few into the hands of her people who are eager, very eager to pull her weight in the forward movement of the African continent and the world in the pursuit of peace, prosperity and happiness.I will by the special grace of God be making a formal declaration to this effect at the Eagle’s Square, Abuja, on Saturday 18 September 2011".

"I call on you my friends on this page and all Nigerians to give me your support and prayers so that together we can liberate our country from the confines and self –inflicted wounds and limitations of the past. My dear friends and fellow citizens, to borrow an often used slogan by our youths, please join me in proclaiming: Forward Ever, Backward Never! Please let us all unite across tongue and creed to move our long suffering nation forward together. I thank you and may God bless our country Nigeria. GEJ."

Nigeria president declares election bid on Facebook

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday declared his intention to run in January elections on social networking site Facebook, in an apparent bid to divert attention from a rally being held by a key rival.

A statement appeared on Jonathan's Facebook page announcing his intention to run as thousands of people convened in a square in the capital Abuja for the campaign launch of his rival, former military ruler Ibrahim Babangida.

"Today I confirm that after wide and thorough consultations ... I Goodluck Ebele Jonathan by the grace of God hereby offer myself and my services to the Nigerian people as a candidate for the office of President in the forthcoming 2011 elections," the statement on Jonathan's Facebook page said.

It said he would make a formal declaration in the capital Abuja on Saturday on his intention to run for the leadership of Africa's most populous nation.

Presidency officials could not be reached for comment.

Jonathan's election bid is controversial because of an agreement in the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) that power should rotate between the mostly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south every two terms.

Jonathan, who is from the Niger Delta in the south, inherited the presidency when late northern president Umaru Yar'Adua died earlier this year during his first term, and some powerbrokers within the PDP say the next leader must be a northerner.

The Facebook statement said Jonathan had decided to run after consultations with the country's six geo-political zones, the ruling party, the opposition, civil society, labour unions and religious leaders.

Buba Galadima, an aide to former military ruler and potential opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari, criticised Jonathan's plans to contest.

"It is an act of bad faith, the articles in the PDP constitution clearly stipulated zoning for political positions. For the president to have jettisoned that is an act of bad faith which means as a leader he cannot be trusted," he said.

Jonathan also faces competition from within the PDP.

Both Babangida and former vice president Atiku Abubakar have said they will run against him for the PDP nomination and other northerners, including Kwara state governor Bukola Saraki and national security adviser Aliyu Gusau, are also expected to seek the party's ticket.

Jonathan and his office have been officially coy on whether or not he will stand, but a recent reshuffle of the military top brass and policy announcements akin to campaign promises -- from privatising the power sector to setting up a sovereign wealth fund -- left few Nigerians in much doubt over his plans.

His choice of Facebook to announce his intentions was a surprise. The majority of Nigeria's 150 million people live on $2 a day or less and have limited access to clean water and electricity, let alone the Internet..

But the country has nonetheless overtaken South Africa as the continent's top mobile phone market and is estimated to have the largest online audience in Africa.

Enough Is Enough, a civil society group hoping to encourage young people to take an active role in Nigeria's elections, estimates there are more than 1.6 million Facebook users in Nigeria.

Five months ago, a friend of mine, who edits a national daily, sent me a text message agreeing substantially with my column, ‘The Punch and the rest of us’, except the generalised conclusion that “all (journalists) have sinned and fallen short of the glory of the profession”. There are still some journalists, he submits, who toe the narrow path of integrity. Of course I knew where he was coming from, but I also knew the context in which I had made that statement.

I revisit that statement in light of the stories spewing out of the political beat, specifically on the race for the 2011 presidential elections and how it affects the integrity of news.

As part of the effort to sell his candidature for the presidency, former military president, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) invited as many as 40 journalists to his Minna home on August 14 for an interview. I have heard questions asked about why he should invite journalists to his home instead of a public place if he didn’t have an ulterior motive, and why he should offer monetary gifts to the journalists in the name of paying for their transportation.

One news medium, which has championed this opposition in the open, is the online agency, Sahara Reporters. According to SR each of the journalists received N10 million for heeding Babangida’s call on his presidential ambition. That is N400 million just for one night’s interview from an aspirant yet to win his party’s nomination if it were true. But it was not. When some of the journalists complained about the fictional sum, SR changed the story on August 19, saying it was just “a paltry N250, 000 each”. Rather than admit its initial error SR simply said, “our accountants have told us that going by the number of 40 journalists in attendance, we are still around the same ballpark of N10 million”. So much for credible reporting!

Three days later, SR followed up with ‘IBB and his Rogue Journalists’, accusing the journalists of roguery and professional misconduct; roguery, because they collected money from two sources—their employers who presumably authorised and funded the trip and their news source, IBB; misconduct because it is unethical for them to demand/receive gratification from news sources for their services.

And on August 23 in ‘IBB Nocturnal Press Parley: Punch fires Editorial board Chairman’, SR stayed on top of the story by reporting that Adebolu Arowolo, editorial board chairman of the Punch, had lost his job for going on that trip without his management’s approval..

The Federal Government yesterday approved a whopping $3.5 billion equivalent of N525 billion for the construction of a new 700 KV SuperGrid aimed at shoring up power generation capacity to 7000 mega watts by April 2011.

The approval which was endorsed by President Goodluck Jonathan, after a meeting with the Presidential Action Committe on Power (PACP), at the Presidential Villa, Abuja is completed in four years.

Ima Niboro, special adviser on media and publicity said in a statement that “$3.5 billion power project is expected to fulfill Nigeria’s need to transmit increasing amounts of power across vast distances which the existing 330/132KV grid cannot meet”...

Niboro stated that “in granting approval for the SuperGrid President Jonathan directed that it should be funded as a federal asset with additional financing from private investors and international finance and development agencies”.

“The SuperGrid which will run along the same route as the existing 330/132KV grid will also address Nigeria’s future energy challenges including transition to more sustainable energy sources, reduction of power loss per transmitted megawatt and improving power voltage profiles across the country,” he stated further.

The presidential spokesman said “the huge advantage of the 700 KV supergrid over the existing 330/132 KV grid is that it will significantly reduce the huge amount of power currently lost in transmission”.

He said that “without the supergrid, the quantum of power lost in transmission will continue to increase as more power progressively becomes available for evacuation from new and rehabilitated generating stations. Periodic systemic failures will also become more frequent”.

Niboro said “Nigeria’s available generation capacity will rise to 6939 MW by April next year and 14019 MW by December 2013.In another development, President Jonathan will on Thursday, August 26, 2010 present a new roadmap for the reformation of Nigeria’s power sector to the country’s private sector”.

He said President Jonathan will on Thursday, August 26, 2010 present a new roadmap for the reformation of Nigeria’s power sector to the country’s private sector

Next Newspapers have just printed Goodluck Jonathan has declared his interest to run for the 2011 presidential elections.

Cairo Ojougboh, the president’s special Adviser on National Assembly Matters, made the revelation on Wednesday while briefing journalists in Abuja.

“Mr President is a PDP president and he is a member of PDP, and Mr President will run under the PDP,” Mr Ojougboh said.

He, however, added that despite the zoning policy of the party, President Jonathan will run and they are certain he will win.

“There is no moral justification to ask Jonathan not to run,” he said..

More to follow