Arsenal: Amaka Igwe’s Daughter Writes Open Letter To Dangote

                                Ruby Igwe               Late Amaka Igwe                         Alinko Dangote
Late Amaka Igwe’s daughter, Ruby Igwe has openly taken to her Facebook page where he told Nigerian richest man, and ofcourse African richest to please invest in Nigerian football instead of buying Arsenal. Below is what Ruby wrote on her Facebook page…. Do read;

Dear Mr. Dangote. Of course you should buy the Gunners. It’s a sound investment to invest in football, I think financially. And of course in terms of reputation, having a stake in a club is epic. And of course you have the cash. That’s indisputable. However, I have two propositions for you. Please buy Manchester United instead. Just because. If you don’t want to, that’s fine. But if you have change, after the Gunners, invest in the football in Nigeria. I can assure you that it’s not only in the UEFA Champions League, or the English Premier League, or La Liga, or Bundesliga, that you will find good soccer. What these leagues have in common is solid financial backing, and solid infrastructure.

They have created an internationally celebrated, culturally appreciated, economically viable system. As such, I find solace in my red Man Utd shirt. I watch David de Gea‘s saves in awe, and I want very much to go to Old Trafford. I feast on the history and the statistics that I find about George Best and Alex Ferguson and David Beckham, and I can’t count how many times Manchester United has broken my heart. I digress. If you invest in the football in Nigeria, maybe people will feel the way they feel about Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City and Manchester United; about Enyimba. Maybe my mates will make good money playing for Nigeria’s local and national teams. Maybe watching football and sports live in Lagos and Lafia will become a favourite past time.

Maybe we will know more Nigerian players by name and not because of what non-national club they play for. Maybe there won’t be that much traffic every time in Lagos because the stadiums will be packed full. Maybe the clothing and manufacturing industries will be revived by making jerseys and other memorabilia. Maybe students can find modes of expression and survival in sports in general, instead of trying to conform to what they are not. So Sir. Please do Nigeria a favour and invest in the infrastructure of our football. Invest in change. Don’t just donate, in case it becomes pocket-oriented. Don’t make a local investment. Go hard. Go national. Consult people, including football fanatics, and layout a battle plan. Invest in our football and follow your investment until you see the sizeable returns that can and will actualize. Invest in generations to come. Nigeria will thank you.

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister for the Economy, yesterday, put to rest fears of immediate removal of fuel subsidy, as she confirmed that N145.2 billion provision was made for it in 2015 budget. Speaking to newsmen in Abuja as reported by Vanguard, she said: “I want to clarify that there has been some misinformation that has gone around in the media about the fact that the National Assembly passed the 2015 budget without provision for fuel subsidy. It is not true.

“It is important that you note that the National Assembly approved provisions of N100 billion for PMS (Petroleum Motor Spirit, otherwise called petrol) and N45.2 billion for kerosene subsidy. So, it is not true that they passed the budget without provision for subsidy.”

How that budgetary provision would meet the needs would be a challenge for the in-coming Gen. Muhammadu Buhari administration in the months ahead.

The minister emphasized that managing the economy since the crash in oil prices had been very tough for her team which had to adopt various strategies to keep the economy running.

She said: “As you know, I have been honest with you since the current economic problems started. I would like to repeat: we have serious challenges, things have been tough since the beginning of the year and they are likely to remain so till the end of the year. We have serious challenges but we also have strengths and if we do the right things we can keep a steady course and emerge out of the current situation.

“As a result of the 50 per cent decline in oil revenues, the country has faced a difficult cash crunch and the Federal Government has focused on keeping the economy stable and the government running through a series of measures. We have front-loaded the borrowing programme to manage the cash crunch in the economy.

“In January we had a deficit in terms of the money we had and the expenditure we had to carry out. So we had to borrow to add to what we had. In February, it was the same.

“In March, we were able to have more internally generated revenue that enabled us to offset but in April, we had to borrow to cover up some gap. This is how we have been managing the economy on a month-by-month basis.”

Okonjo-Iweala said the Federal Government had already utilised more than half of the budgetary provisions for borrowing in the year, in the first four months to pay salaries and provide funds for overheads.

Govt borrows N473bn to meet up with recurrent expenditure

She said: “Of the N882 billon budgetary provision for borrowing, the government has borrowed N473 billion to meet up with recurrent expenditure, including salaries and overheads. No capital release so far.

“Traditionally, the first part of the year witnessed low revenue because tax receipts come in from the middle of the year. This has compounded the challenges caused by the steep drop in revenues due to the oil price fall. As a consequence of the revenue challenges, there has been no capital budget release so far this year but we have kept the recurrent expenditure going.”

- See more at: http://afikpochic.blogspot.com/2015/05/jonathan-borrowed-n473b-to-keep-nigeria.html#more