GEJ - The autocracy just arising

GEJ – THE AUTOCRACY JUST ARISING
When in 2011 the Otuoke man of Bayelsa State was elected as the Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I had two vivid hopes. I believed he was going to be the breath of fresh air, I hoped he would be the vehicle of transformation in the clearly misdirected marriage of inconvenience, Nigeria.
To brighten my hopes, he began talking intensively about transforming the Power Sector, eradicating corruption, re-building the transportation sector; enhance transparency and due process in the oil and gas sector and a host of other juicy packages which he said he brought. I believed I was not overtly hopeful because these intentions sounded like a real force of dedication and a positive drive towards a better Nigeria.
I must categorically state that, within the last few years of his leadership, the electricity situation has been greatly turned around. At least for the first time in years, my town could boast of a week-long not-too-interrupted power supply and we could sleep peacefully at night with the fan working without having to wake up in the middle of the night due to excessive heat. I truly loved GEJ for his giant strides in ensuring stable electricity. Claps!!
His efforts in the transportation sector also caught my attention and made me think this village former poor boy of Otuoke was going to be the reference point in the re-building of the broken walls of development in our dear nation Nigeria. After a long period of being moribund, the Nigerian Railway Corporation eventually roared back to life and even though still using the usually noisy and slow-as-snail trains, we could at least boast of having something travelling the rail lines. Thanks GEJ!
However, I began having conflicting feelings about this Doctor of Zoology during the Fuel Subsidy removal saga of January 2012. Personally, I was in support of the total removal of fuel subsidy, but I found problems with the approach employed by our dear husband of Patience. He came around with the bombshell as a New Year gift and despite public outcry for dialogue between stakeholders to fashion out modalities to execute such economy-changing programme, the dark-skinned Ijaw man decided to go ahead without worry. At the time, he occurred to me as an incarnation of Pa. Mobutu Seseseko! How can a democratically elected President not bother about the complaints of the people?
I was almost forgetting the fuel subsidy saga when he began having personality issues with Governor Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa State. Before the tussle could drag on for long, whatever Mr. Sylva had left of his personality had been wrecked by the sheer determination of our ‘oga at the top’. Just early this year, Mr. Sylva landed in EFCC net and I guess for him, unless some miracle happens, it is the beginning of the end. Why GEJ, why? Where are the freedom of speech and freedom of association rights in your copy of the Nigerian constitution?
Lest I forget, Olagunsoye Oyinlola also fell under the hammer. It is an open secret that the Okuku Prince has always been a pro-IBB person, call it military loyalty or whatever, it is your choice. He was clearly not disposed to the GEJ agenda before 2011 as there was no campaign office for GEJ in Osun and there was simply no structure put in place to assist the then acting President. Co-incidence or otherwise, Oyinlola was chased out of office by a controversial court judgement and his tale of woes began. As if that was not enough, he was again bundled out of the seat of the National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by another controversial court judgement. Is it that whoever is not with Goodluck must be disgraced?
I loved this Otuoke man from the start, he was brimming with promise when he came in, but like Morgana of the fictitious film Merlin, inside his seemingly good heart, the darkness of tyranny is already growing. He started like the one who was going to be the fair king, but in his supposed fairness, an ugly face of a dictator is rearing its head.
Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi is the latest casualty in the GEJ autocracy agenda. What offence exactly can we say this Rivers man has committed to merit the series of witch-hunting moves targeted at him by the camp of Mr. GEJ? Do we talk of the grounding of his state’s plane, or the attack on his personality through the State Executives of the PDP in Rivers State, or the attack on him in the Nigerian Governors’ Forum? Even if it were to be the reckless talkative like the Headmaster in the 37th State of the Federation (the State of Osun) should he have merited such attacks?  
As if all these were not enough, what do we call his suspension from the Peoples Democratic Party on the grounds that he stubbornly dissolved the Local Executive Committee of the PDP in Obio Akpor Local Government of Rivers State when an action of that manner would have merely been termed ‘internal crisis’ in another state? Or, do we assume that he was suspended because he had a ‘stubborn’ star which had more ‘goodluck’ than that of GEJ that made him win the NGF election against all presidential odds?
Why should a man be so attacked because he had differences with the sitting President of a nation? Where is the freedom of speech in our constitution? Where is our freedom of association? Where are legality, sanity and fairness in the actions of Mr. GEJ and his ‘kitchen cabinet’? What kind of autocratic leader is GEJ quickly becoming? What kind of stubborn drummer is he that we all must dance to his tune?
Within this Otuoke born Ijaw Doctor of Zoology and husband of Patience is the spirit of a tyrant fast growing, in his heart a thick mass of rock is building, in his eyes a fiery fire of a ‘Sango-ish’ magnitude and his government is quickly changing the face of democracy to AUTOCRACY! Or, is he trying to bear serious likeness to the forcefully ousted Ivoirian well-loved democrat turned very-hated autocrat, Gbagbo? Whatever he is, GEJ should watch the autocracy growing in his style and deliver unto us the true fresh breath that he promised.
My pen rests!

My Integrity Issues with Ogbeni - Part 1

So many times when I write about the government of Ogbeni Aregbe, a whole lot of people tend to misinterpret my criticism as being that borne out of my political sympathy for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that was sent packing on the 26th November 2010. However, I may be in agreement with the PDP on certain policies of theirs, yet I disagree with them on other major issues.
Speaking in clear terms, my feelings against Ogbeni Aregbe is not borne out of political affiliations of mine, but out of the complications surrounding his integrity. I mean, his integrity is very questionable. Do not rush, I will throw more light.

EDUCATION
When Ogbeni came in, he made several public outcries concerning the deplorable state that he met the education sector in Osun State (I refuse to call my state the State of Osun), and castigated his predecessor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola over non-performance in this vital sector. He promised, as most politicians will do, that before the end of their first tenure in office, his government would have developed the education sector to enviable points.
However, 3 years down the line, what do we have? Let us do a checklist.
He began a policy whereby all students and pupils in Osun State are to wear the same uniform. My issue with this move is, where do we put student identification in this policy? How exactly do we curb truancy when a student of Ogiyan High School far from my house can easily mingle with students of ADS High School without being singled out? I would have loved for this policy to have been in place since my days in Secondary School, it would have afforded me the opportunity to sneak out of school in broad daylight without the fear of being caught!
He began the building of Mega Schools in a bid to improve infrastructural facilities in the education sector. Three years down the line, all these buildings are still works in progress with most of them being between 40-50% completion stages. This means so far, Ogbeni has had no contribution to the improvement in infrastructure of the education sector of Osun State, rather, his contributions are still struggling in the pipeline while our students and pupils still utilize the ‘Oyin Ni O’ buildings of the Oyinlola administration which Ogbeni claimed were death traps. One other thing that is called into question is, how can an Engineer (as he refers to himself) fail to complete one-storey buildings in 3 years? Or, is he a ‘kangaroo’ Engineer?
He has made so much noise about the ‘opon imo’ thing saving some phantom billions. My question against his integrity in this case is, how durable will those tablets be? If they are a cheaper alternative to paper textbooks, are they durability alternatives too? I believe textbooks can last for as long as 25 years and even more if properly handled, can those tablets last 5 years at all? Is this not some kind of policy that will result in wastage eventually? This is a serious question of integrity.
There has been so much noise about the school feeding programme. He makes this much noise that will make one wonder if those pupils are being served with gold plates or if this is an entirely new policy. Truth be said, this programme was started by Oyinlola, and Ogbeni’s effort is just a continuation of something commenced by Lagun. How peculiar are his efforts?
Let us look in other directions too.

PUBLIC HEALTH
On a visit to the State Hospital, Asubiaro I discovered that every structure standing in the premises of that hospital was built by the Oyinlola administration same with most of the hospitals in the state. This means, Ogbeni has had no meaningful contribution to the improvement of health care delivery in the state. What will be the merit of his administration in this regard?
The Mosquito net intervention of the Federal Government was almost hijacked by Ogbeni placing banners around the centres where the nets were distributed signalling ‘State of Osun Distribution of Mosquito Nets’. This move puts his integrity in serious question. Why must he attempt to usurp the efforts of the Federal Government?

Keep Reading for more!!!

MOTIVATION 101

THERE IS A GREAT SOURCE OF POWER IN EVERY MAN

Wallace D. Wattles wrote, “There is a Cosmic Intelligence which is in all things and through all things. This is the one real substance. From it all things proceed. It is Intelligent Substance or Mind Stuff. It is God”. He describes the existence of a greater power in man, the nature of that power and the personality of that power – GOD.
In Emerson’s essay on the “Oversoul”, he wrote that, “Man is a stream whose source is hidden...I am constrained every moment to acknowledge a higher origin from events than the will I call mine”. He continued thus, “Meantime, within man is the soul of the whole, the wise silence, the universal beauty to which every part and particle is equally related; the eternal One”. He also supports the notion that there is a greater power in man than what he calls his mind or his will.
Wallace and Emerson believed man could not be capable of his ingenuity except from the presence of a power inside of him, greater than his own will. Man, isolated and left alone is incapacitated, useless at best. But, the presence of a higher supernatural power in him gives strength to his will and purpose to his living.
The reality of the making of every man is that, man is made of flesh and bone, blood and water alone which lend no helping hand to the attainment of his purpose. Flesh and bone, blood and water are not even enough to keep him alive let alone make him great. The life in him that keeps these tissues and parts alive, which cannot be medically returned when it departs, is proof to the fact that there is a power within him that goes beyond his will alone.
Napoleon Hill wrote that, “Nature has wrapped up in the impulse of strong desire that something which recognizes no such word as impossible and accepts no such reality as failure”. A strong desire is a man’s will in connection to the greater power within him.
Inspiration is a common word in the dictionary of achievers as a channel through which they receive ideas for newer discoveries and inventions. However, inspiration does not just occur, man cannot command it to happen; it is a sort of ministration from his spirit to his mind. This spirit that ministers to him is the greater power that exists inside of him. For inspiration to happen, it takes the man being in harmony with the greater power in him, the spirit that resides in him.
It is this greater power living in man that great prophets of present and of old have come in serious contact with that has empowered the words of their mouth and given them the power to speak and see it come to pass. They have identified the power living in them and have submitted to its will and are thus strengthened through the power of that inner man.
For you to live above ordinary and achieve beyond the state of an ordinary man, you must come in contact with that power living within you and have it lend credence and power to your desires and your life. It is the ultimate success guide that the power to succeed, is in YOU.

How to Make Money using Facebook

As a small-business owner, you probably don't have the resources that a large corporation employs for online advertising campaigns, but social media consultant and author Brian Carter says that even solopreneurs with limited funds can gain the competitive edge in this vast cyber-arena.
"For years the Internet has provided us with the wildest opportunities that haven't been very competitive or expensive," says Carter. And with all of these options available to us, Carter is most passionate about Facebook advertising. "It provides us with the biggest opportunities—it's a great place to profit," he says.
"Advertising on Facebook is the biggest opportunity for businesses large and small," Carter says. "What Facebook advertising does, which is great, is to allow you to reach a TV-sized audience, locally, nationally and even internationally, and still target it the way you would in any internet marketing campaign, yet start with just five bucks a day. To me it’s revolutionary because businesses can reach an audience they couldn’t have ever reached before."
If you've jumped into the Facebook frenzy, like millions of business owners, by creating a Facebook page: congratulations—but that simply isn't enough. "There are a lot of problems with pages," Carter claims. Recently, he combined efforts with EdgeRank Checker and found that the average page across 4000 pages is only reaching 17 percent of their fans. So if you have 100 fans, you may only be reaching 17 people with all of your hard work! "The downside of the page is that you're not visible to all of your fans," says Carter.
Like any marketing campaign, it's apparent that you need a strategy before you launch your page. So how can a small business benefit from what Facebook has to offer? Here's what I learned from my conversation with Carter. And I'm learning much more from his most recent book release, The Like Economy: How Businesses Make Money With Facebook.

• Combine your Facebook marketing plan...
  ....with the strategies that you are best at. If you're good at e-mail marketing, for instance, use Facebook ads to get more e-mail subscribers. If your website converts traffic really well, use your page to drive traffic there. Always plug into what you already know works well for your business.
• If you're growing fans through Facebook advertising...
  ...get people to click "Like" right on the ad. You will get a lot cheaper fans that way than if you send them to a fan page through your ad. If you run an ad that sends people to a custom tab because you want to get an opt-in, that's the same thing as sending them to another website, and you may not want to do that. Not everyone will put in their e-mail and click like so you are dividing your efforts. Decide first if you want fans or e-mail subscribers. If you want fans, don't send them directly to a custom tab.
• Think of your page as a social e-mail.
  There's a chance that followers will see your updates in their feed, but you have to really capture them within your first few posts. There are parallels to e-mail in this strategy; not everyone will open them. If you get a 30 percent open rate, you're doing great. On Facebook you can use the same strategies to do really well. The difference is that with e-mail marketing you don't want to send out e-mails everyday or you will lose your subscribers.
• If you're not sure...
  ...whether the greatest benefit will come from sending people from your ad to your site, your Facebook opt-in page, or gaining fans through prompting them to click "Like" right on the ad, test them all! See how much it costs you to acquire a fan, and how much traffic you get from those fans, versus the cost of acquiring an e-mail and the ROI on that e-mail address.
• Engage with your fans in your posts.
  Don't make every post a call to action. You want to turn the folks who like your page into true fans of your brand.
• Boring Facebook pages won't get you far.
  If your business isn't something that most people would consider exciting, like culture, lifestyle sports, animals, dating, kids – or anything that people get gushy about—go the opt-in route rather than the fan marketing route. If your business is attractive to many consumers, use pictures in your ads to entice them to click like. If your brand allows you the creative freedom to toss in a picture of a puppy, cat or baby, you’re golden! People will click on your ad.
• Remember one of the key differences...
  ...between using AdWords and Facebook advertising. That is, in order to generate revenue through online advertising, you must reach the right people, with the right message, at the right time, with the right offer. It's possible to do this with AdWords and Facebook ads. The main difference is that AdWords is about fulfilling demand: finding the small set of people who are ready to buy, or very close to it, and capitalizing on finding people at that stage of the sales funnel. With Google you are targeting people by what they are looking for. With Facebook you are targeting them by who they are and what they like. These are people who are likely to buy from you at some point which is a larger group of people. There's more sales potential overall.

How to profit from Inflation

How to Profit From Inflation — Gold

The grand pappy of all inflation hedges has served as a storehouse of purchasing power for more than 5,000 years. When all else fails, the shiny stuff is the last man standing.
During inflationary times, savvy investors are looking for ways to preserve their buying power, which is why gold prices generally rise during inflationary periods. Gold is especially sensitive to fluctuations in the dollar. As the dollar goes down gold goes up, and as the dollar goes up gold goes down.
The biggest gold ETF is the SPDR Gold Trust ETF (GLD). Each share represents 1/10th of an ounce of gold.
If you believe that the dollar has a lot lower to go, GLD is one way to profit from it. However, keep in mind that when the U.S. dollar dropped from 2002 to 2008, gold only rose 233% vs. oil’s 600% rise.

How to Profit From Inflation — Oil

As we’ve seen above, oil prices are much more sensitive to changes in the dollar than gold and, as such, may prove to have much more upside if you believe the dollar is set to become the U.S. Peso.
One of the best ETFs for exposure to crude is the Power Shares DB Oil Fund (DBO).
I prefer DBO over the more well-known United States Oil Fund (USO) because the guys at Power Shares do a better job hedging for contango risks that can sometimes lead to big disparities between oil ETFs’ performance and actual spot oil performance.
Aside from oil being an inflation hedge, owning oil is a great play on the growth in India and China and looks to be a trend with many years left in it.

How to Profit From Inflation — Interest Rates

Central bankers’ paranoia and fear over inflation is legendary. Inflation is the monster that lurks under every central banker’s bed. Out of control inflation can destroy a nation’s paper wealth and topple its government. When and if inflation sets in, the only real “big gun” that the Fed has is its control over interest rates.
To fight inflation the Fed jacks up interest rates. What they try to do is restrict the availability of credit in an attempt to slow down economic growth and thereby slow demand for all items. Lower demand equals lower prices — at least that’s the way it’s supposed to work.
So if you believe that inflation is coming and that the Fed will have to raise rates to combat it, there are several potential ways to profit from it.

Use the Bond Market to Play Interest Rate Moves

As interest rates go up and down, so do the prices of government bonds. Savvy investors use the government bond market all the time to play interest rate moves. With the advent of ETFs, regular investors can now participate in the same way.
Aside from trading interest-rate futures, there are a few Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) that allow you to profit from government debt interest-rate fluctuations.
One particular ETF for the long bond is the Lehman Brothers 20 Year Treasury Index (TLT). If you think rates are going up, you can short the TLT.
If interest rates rise, the price of TLT will go down. The opposite is also true: if interest rates drop, the TLT will rise in price.
Just remember, if you short TLT, you are on the hook for the interest-rate payments the same way that you have to cover the dividend payments when you short a stock.
A way to mitigate that risk is to trade put options instead of short-selling. A put option will go up in price as TLT goes down in price. It has the added benefit of having no requirement to cover the interest payments that you would have to pay if you shorted TLT directly.
Another advantage with using put options is that you can’t lose more than you “put” into the position — the amount you spend to buy the puts is your maximum dollar amount at risk.
If you don’t want to short TLT and you don’t want to buy options, there is another way that you can play rising rates.

How to Use Inverse ETFs to Play Rising Interest Rates

ProFunds has two leveraged ETF products, one that tracks the TLT and another that tracks the 7-10 Year Treasury index. They are the ProShares UltraShort Lehman 7-10 Year Treasury ETF (PST) and the ProShares UltraShort Lehman 20 Year Treasury ETF (TBT).
These two “UltraShort” ETFs are what are known as “inverse” ETFs, which means that they go up in value as the index they track goes down in price. There is one big difference, though — that term “Ultra” means that you get leverage of 2-to-1. So, for every 1% the index goes down, the Ultra ETF will go up by 2%.
Remember that leverage works both ways. If the index goes up 1%, the Ultra ETF will go down 2%. If you wanted to leverage your position further, you could use options. Both of these ETFs have both puts and calls available to trade. Because the Ultra ETFs go up when the index goes down, you could substitute call options instead of directly buying the ETFs.
Inverse ETFs are terrific for investors who are unable or unwilling to trade on margin. All short sales require a margin account. This means that inverse ETFs can be bought in a non-margin account such as an IRA.

Triple-Leverage Interest Rate ETFs

If you really want to put on your cowboy hat and go “buck wild,” there is a product for you. Direxion — a name you might have heard as a way to play the bank-industry woes, via the Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3x Shares (FAZ) — has set up four separate triple-leverage interest-rate ETFs:

• Direxion Daily 10-Year Treasury Bull 3x (TYD)
• Direxion Daily 30-Year Treasury Bull 3x (TMF)
• Direxion Daily 10-Year Treasury Bear 3x (TYO)
• Direxion Daily 30-Year Treasury Bear 3x (TMV)

Each of these ETFs will give you triple the return of the daily move of the underlying index that they track. They provide a bullish and bearish ETF for both the 10-year Treasury note and the 30-year Treasury note. Each of these ETFs also trade options.
A word of warning on the Direxion products: They are really geared toward daytraders and are not appropriate for long-term holds. The reason is that, over time, the relationship of the ETF pricing and the underlying index degrades.
If you are going to play the triple-leverage ETFs, make sure that you have a tight stop-loss in place and recognize that these instruments are designed for daytraders, not longer-term investors.
The long and the short of it is that there is always a way to make money no matter what the economy brings.