Tuesday, August 31, 2010

It is good to be good

Excerpted from a speech delivered by Mr. Brody to the graduating class of John Hopkins University on May 26, 2005.

There is a man who I'd like to tell you about. His name is Sandy Greenberg. In his youth, Sandy was a very good student, but he came from a poor family. And so he went to Columbia University on a scholarship and there he met his roommate who also was receiving financial aid.

Now while he was a sophomore at Columbia University, Sandy contracted an eye disease that eventually proved to be glaucoma. But the trouble was, it wasn't detected early enough, and as a result he became legally blind. I ask you all to imagine for a moment having been sighted all your life, and then all of a sudden being faced, in a very competitive school, with losing so much sight you could no longer read. This is what happened to Sandy Greenberg.

But something else happened to Sandy that may surprise you. Sandy said that when he lost his sight, his roommate would read his textbooks to him, every night.

So I'm going to put you in that position, in a competitive school like Columbia, or Johns Hopkins. If your roommate had a serious disability, would you take the time to read textbooks to him every night, knowing the more you spend time reading textbooks to your roommate, perhaps the less well you might do with your other activities? That's not as easy a question as it first appears.

But luckily for Sandy, his roommate did. And as a result, Sandy went on to graduate with honors. He got a Fulbright Scholarship, and he went off to study at Oxford. He was still quite poor, but he said he had managed to save about five hundred dollars as he went along.

His roommate, meanwhile, also went on to graduate school. One day, Sandy got a call from him at Oxford. And his former roommate said, "Sandy I'm really unhappy. I really don't like being in graduate school, and I don't want to do this."

So Sandy asked, "Well what do you want to do?"

And his roommate told him, "Sandy, I really love to sing. I have a high school friend who plays the guitar. And we would really like to try our hand in the music business. But we need to make a promo record, and in order to do that I need $500."

So Sandy Greenberg told me he took all his life savings and sent it to his roommate. He told me, "You know, what else could I do? He made my life; I needed to help make his life."

So, I hope you'll remember the power of doing well by doing good. Each of you, in your own lives, will be faced with challenges, with roadblocks, with problems that you didn't anticipate or expect. How you are able to deal with adversity will be influenced, to no small extent, by how you deal with others along the way. What you get will depend a lot on what you give. And that's the end of the story of doing well, by doing good.

Ah! I almost forgot. You probably are wanting to know who Sandy's roommate was. I think you've heard of him. Sandy's roommate was a fellow by the name of Art Garfunkel, and he teamed up with another musician by the name of Paul Simon. That $500 helped them cut a record that eventually became "The Sounds of Silence." Recently, we had the pleasure of going to Sandy's daughter's wedding, and it was Art Garfunkel who sang as Sandy walked his daughter down the aisle.

When you get to be my age (which, for some of you, is really old, (though it doesn't seem so old to me anymore), you will find yourself beginning to ask, did my life make a difference?

That's the day of personal reckoning. And I think the only way to face it is to consider, every day of your life: How can I do something for somebody else? How can I give back to others? It may be teaching, it may be becoming a doctor, you may be successful in business - no matter what your career path, there will always be the opportunity to give back. The chance will present itself to be giving of your time, giving of your money, but mostly, to be giving of yourselves, of your own heart and soul.

My hope today, as you commence to new beginnings, is you will always keep your eyes open for those opportunities to give and embrace them as your best sure way of doing well.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Evolution, 150 years of lies and deceit?

2009 is the 150th anniversary of the introduction of the Theory of Evolution through the publication of Origin of Species by Charles Darwin in 1859. Darwin’s theory became the basis for a belief system - a new 'religion' called evolution - allowing for an explanation for our existence independent from God. In evolution, the entire universe is considered to have evolved by natural processes and random selection into its present state of high organization and complexity. In this model the universe began in a state of pure randomness. Gradually it has – by “survival of the fittest” – become more ordered and complex. In order for the complex structure of the universe to have been produced by present natural processes, a vast amount of time was required.

This all sounds logical and as over the last 150 years more and more bright minds have endorsed it, taught it and further developed it, a majority of people now seems to believe that evolution is true and that the alternative - that God created us and our world - is false and only still believed by the 'uneducated' and 'gullible'.
However the 'case' for evolution is far from watertight. It seems actually to be more like a boat full of holes which - despite desperate efforts by evolutionists to keep on pumping - is slowly but surely sinking! Modern day science reveals massive problems, like (just to name a few):

1) The beginning needed a Creator. If there ever was a Big Bang - who or what caused it to happen? How can something (a lot, actually everything) come from nothing? Wild theories like the completely unproven evolutionary string theory require a lot more 'faith' than accepting a Creator God.

2) Earth is a truly privileged planet. Chances of finding a similar habitable planet like Earth suited for life in our Milky Way galaxy or even in the entire universe are practically zero.

3) First Life. Modern science has reached the unanimous conclusion that life on a planet like earth could not have started by mere chance. The complex building blocks of the simplest living cell – proteins, DNA and molecular machines – do not allow for random assembly even through long periods of time. Despite decades of intense research, origin-of-life scientists have found no evolutionary explanation to explain how life could have started by natural processes alone.

4) No mechanism for species to evolve. Natural selection is just variation within a species. Genetic mutations are required to evolve from one species into the next, however mutations are not common and mostly neutral. If they happen, they are almost always harmful not beneficial. The occurrence of many small, beneficial steps of mutations is against all odds and has never been observed.

5) The fossil record. There are no intermediate species in the fossil record. According to Darwin's theory of evolution, species would evolve to more complex new species by a series of gradual mutations. However, despite of over 100+ years of extensive studies of the fossil record, no intermediate species have been discovered. On the contrary, the Cambrian Explosion shows the almost “overnight” appearance of the body plans of all modern day life forms at about the same moment in time.

So, WHY still believe all this? Why does the scientific world still want to convince us - after 150 years of unsuccessful looking for answers - that evolution is THE theory that explains our existence or is even a FACT?

I believe the answer is simple. Evolution has become a religion. Its adherents have based their personal convictions, values and above all comfortable lifestyle on this idea that we are just the product of time and chance. We are just an 'accident' and there is no God. Therefore we can do what we want and when we want it, because we are not accountable to anybody. We are our own gods and we should live life to achieve maximum pleasure.

Because evolution has become like a religion its adherents are also not really interested to be open-minded for criticism or alternative explanations. "What do you mean that you want to challenge the concepts of evolution? It is a fact, so we do not need to prove it anymore!"

On a personal note - I was taught the theory of evolution in high school. It was not even presented to me as a theory but as a fact. Only very limited evidence was presented. and because of it I lost my interest in God and Christianity. Now I know I was duped, I was deceived. Only when life presented me with an interest and an opportunity to do my own research at a later stage of my life I discovered that it was a lie. But I had to discover that myself. I had to dig myself into science to find the gaps and faulty patches. I just wish that during my school and college years one of my teachers would have been more objective and at least would have told me that the theory of evolution is not a fact and shown me the alternative view of Intelligent Design of Creation. That way I could have made my own decision about what to believe earlier in my life.

Unfortunately one cannot change the past, but one can make better choices for the future....

Author Resource:- Rob VandeWeghe is a skeptic turned Christian. For the entire text of this article on evolution visit www.WindmillMinistries.org/Evolution. Rob’s book ‘Prepared to Answer’ and more evidences for Christianity are available at www.WindmillMinistries.org.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Five ways to Stay Motivated and Achieve your Dreams

Are you having one of those days when nothing seems to go right? Is every task you try to do harder than you thought it would be, and do you seem to encounter problem after problem along the way? We all have stressful times during our lives when everything seems to be going wrong, but it's crucial to stay positive as giving in will usually make the situation worse. Here are five ways to stay motivated and achieve your dreams:

1. Think less and act more
Stop putting off that difficult job because you're worried it will be too much for you, or you won't be able to do it. The more you worry about something you have to do, the less you will want to do it, so just making yourself get started is one of the best ways to stay motivated. You may have all sorts of excuses for mot doing something, but once you make a start you'll feel so much more motivated to continue.

2. Plan your time and stick to the plan
Having a large task ahead of you, or a big project to complete, can be very daunting, and without a clear view of how much you have to do and when you are going to do it, it can be easy to get sidetracked and put things off until the last minute.
If you have a large project at work, set aside two hours at the same time each day to work on that particular job. Be clear about which tasks you want to complete during that two hours. If you are trying to get fit or lose weight, decide on two evenings a week when you are going to do an exercise class, or go to the gym, and stick to that.


3. Set yourself targets and treat yourself when you reach them
One of the easiest ways to stay motivated is to set yourself achievable targets. If you are setting up your own business, saying that you want to be earning $40k in five years time is a far away target. Break that five years down into periods of six months and decide how much you aim to be earning in each six month period, building up to the five years.
When you reach your targets, you will feel a great sense of achievement, and if you don't quite make it you can evaluate where you could improve to make sure you are on track for the next six months.

4. Mix things up a little
Boredom with the same routine can easily cause us to become unmotivated, so if you are feeling that you need a change then make one. If you are tired of going to the gym, start running in the park instead. If you always work in your home office, try relocating to the deck for a few hours. Even small changes in your routine can be great ways to stay motivated.

5. Make time to relax and avoid burnout
Many people go head on into a project or business venture, and give it all their time and energy, only to collapse with exhaustion after six months and give it all up. One of the most important ways to stay motivated is to take time out to rest and enjoy yourself. Step back and appreciate what you have achieved, make time for a hobby, and spend a few hours with friends and family.

Perhaps some days you have planned to work, but you wake up feeling totally unmotivated. Don't take a whole day off as this will set a precedent, but it's ok to reduce the amount of work you do. Maybe decide just to work until lunchtime and take the afternoon off, but make sure you accomplish something tangible in the morning that you can be proud of to keep you motivated.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Raising capital for your new business

Starting up and expanding a business is tough. In addition to drive, ambition and a great deal of planning, starting and expanding a small business generaly requires capital. Many entrepreneurs look to personal ties to raise cash for a business that is either too new or too small to get financing elsewhere. Often, money is loaned interest free or at a low interest rate, which can be beneficial when getting started.

Think of the people who know you - more than you'd imagine could be prospective investors in your business.

Make a list

The first step to take in finding investors amongst the people you know is to simply draw up a huge list of names. Include in it your family, friends and beyond. The types of people you are searching for are the ones with whom you already have a trusting relationship with, or with whom you can build one with.

Start with the people in your inner circle - parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws, close friends and neighbours. Next, look at your middle circle that includes people whom you currently and regularly have contact with - business associates, fellow volunteers, members of your church or temple, current or past co-workers, supervisors or employers. Consider potential business mentors or entrepreneurs, people who may be able to give advice and provide good information about the kind of business you're in and whom you either know or could get to know.
Finally, look at the outermost circle of people you know. This circle reaches to past contacts, friends or acquaintances you rarely see, and people you only know through someone else. These should either know your name or think highly of a mutual acquaintance. Think back to teachers, college friends, mentors, professors, coaches and anybody else who might be interested in seeing you succeed. Do you know any angel investors - an affulent individuals who provides capital for business start-up? Add their names to the list as well. Skim through your:

• address book
• e-mail database
• holiday greeting card list
• old school yearbooks
• alumni directories
• employee rosters from old jobs
• even party invitation lists

Right now consider everyone, don't reject anyone. If you think your list isn't long enough, ask a trusted friend or colleague to help you out.
The next stage is to evaluate each person on your list for the following four characteristics:
• Their trust in you
• Their ability to afford the investment
• Business experience - Entrepreneurs are most likely to invest in other businesses
• Lack of emotional baggage - Cross of anyone you feel nervous about entering into a financial relationship with.
Draw up a list of your best bets - people with at least two of these characteristics. Include columns for each person's name, a brief description of why the person appears to be a good prospect, and the best way to contact the prospect.

TEN THINGS TO DO WHEN STARTING A NEW BUSINESS

So you've just got your new business up and running, now is not the time to take it easy and relax. Now you need to work harder than ever. Here are ten things to work on to help build up your customer base and ensure that your business is a success.

1. Ask yourself these questions:
• Is my business a reactive business?
• How can I generate more revenue over the next six months?
• How do I want my business to develop over the next year?
• What will I do to achieve that?

Set aside time each week to think about your business strategically. It might be a mid-week brunch; it may mean having a board meeting; it may involve some quiet "thinking" time. Regardless of how you do it, make some time to work on your business, rather than in it.

2. Start making contacts.
Start collecting the name, address, telephone number and email address of every single client, prospect, and friend in business you have. Now contact them all and ask, "How can we help you?"

3. Stop telling prospects what you do.
You're a "needs analyst". Ask them lots of questions about their business, and then offer solutions to their problems.

4. Build a consistent follow-up sales process.
By follow-up sales, I mean you should always have another thing ready to sell your client once you've finished their project. For instance, if you've designed a Web site for them, your follow-up sale might be Web site maintenance.
A consistent follow-up sales process is critical to your businesses success. Continuing with the Web site example, with every Web site that you work on, you make a proposal to the client for ongoing work, usually focusing on the maintenance and marketing of the site. This ongoing work can be quite profitable (and is work that almost every Web site requires).

5. Start a newsletter.
Keep clients and prospects informed about what you're doing. Make regular offers. People can't contract you for your services until you make them an offer and they accept you.

6. Send a media release to five publications.
Media coverage provides your business with enormous credibility. Here's a quick tip for your media release: people love a "Top 10" list - just like this one! (They also love survey results!)

7. Reward good clients.
Rewarded behaviour gets repeated. Send "Thank you" cards, gifts, or whatever you think is appropriate to people who refer new business to you. These people are helping you to grow your business - you need to say, "Thanks."
Sending a "Thank you" note to a client who's referred business to you is just another reason to make contact with them. Then the client gets a Christmas card. Then the quarterly newsletter. Not only will it be possible to make regular offers to the client through these communications, but they will be dealing with you on a regular basis - and getting to know you even better.
Through each communication, remind the client that you are thinking of them, and encourage them to think of you. So you're top-of-mind when they need your services.

8. Never do what you say you will.
Satisfying clients is about the worst thing you can do. I concede that having no clients would be a lot worse, and unhappy clients wouldn't be so great, either!
Studies have shown that satisfying clients simply isn't good enough. Around 80% of clients leave a business because they don't think that business cares about them enough.
Satisfied clients will not stay with you. Delighted clients will. So don't ever just do what you say you will - do more. You have to exceed your clients' wildest expectations. Start today.

9. Benchmark your business against your competition.
Check out just how you're doing, generate lots of ideas, and know what you're up against. That information is gold!

10. Practice, practice, practice.
You have to perform in front of prospects. You have to sell your services. Don't turn up na dwing it; practice makes perfect. One client may be all you need to create a successful business for years to come.

+2347057674084
email: nseng78@yahoo.com

Building E-mail Relationships

E-mail has given marketers an unparalleled opportunity to understand and reach their customers. But its rampant abuse by spammers has also made users more cautious about sharing information and pickier about which companies they invite into their inboxes and wallets.



To earn the trust of your customers in the new world of electronic communications, you must befriend and learn about them rather than trying to sell them en masse. A great way to do this is to let them choose the types of communications they want to receive from you by offering preferences.

What are preferences?



An e-mail preference center is a Web page you create for customers who sign up for your e-mail program. Here, you give them a chance to tell you what they want by letting them choose and manage the types of messages they receive from you. While preferences can create a little bit more work for you, they improve the experience for your customers by ensuring they only receive the kinds of e-mails from you that they want.

Components of a preference page



A preference page should always include company contact and customer support information as well as a link to your privacy policy. Otherwise, it generally is comprised of two basic components: administrative and content options.



Administrative options include the following:



    * A clear and easy way to change preferences and/or unsubscribe from your list.

    * A password change if your e-mail program is part of an online customer relationship that requires a log-in.

    * E-mail change of address. Up to one-third of the e-mail addresses on your list will "churn" every year as recipients move, change jobs or switch Internet providers. Offering an ECOA option allows customers to continue receiving your messages without having to re-subscribe, and can help minimize the number of obsolete addresses on your list.



On the content side, you can group your e-mail offerings into two overall categories:



    * Advertising mailings like special discounts, partner promotions and event or sales notifications.

    * Promotion-free mailings like product updates, press releases and newsletters.



So content-wise, a sample preference page of an online retail business might include an invitation to sign up for a monthly newsletter(s), product updates and press releases in one section, and a sign-up to receive e-mail special offers and promotions based on products and services subscribers choose from, in another.



People are naturally sensitive about receiving advertising messages, and will be more receptive if you give them some control over the amount and type of promotional material they receive.  Many marketers resist the idea of letting recipients decline promotional e-mails. After all, they ask, isn't that the primary purpose of an e-mail program? But when you consider the alternative--recipients who decide not to sign up at all, or who unsubscribe to everything--turning off promotional messages isn't such a bad outcome.



This sensitivity is why you should also consider creating an "anchor" newsletter with recipients in mind. Let customers know that if they sign up for only one newsletter, this should be it. Make the newsletter appealing by filling it with valuable content and limiting the number of advertising and promotional messages it contains.

How much is too much?



One of the challenges of creating a preference center is figuring out how much control to give recipients while still keeping the number of preferences manageable. The most common mistake marketers make is providing too many choices. The logic that drives survey design--knowing that the number of questions is directly proportional to the drop-off rate--holds true for e-mail preferences as well. Some companies, such as Amazon.com, The New York Times or Sotheby's, offer a multitude of choices for customers with highly-specialized interests. But most marketers will want to offer a maximum of about eight to 12 options. Any more, and you risk overwhelming customers and driving them to abandon the process.



When determining what content choices to include, ask yourself the following:



    * Would I want to receive this mailing?

    * What is truly important to my company? Are there specific mailings that are more valuable to the company's bottom line than others?

    * What are my competitors doing? Did they include something I have forgotten? A good tactic is to check various competitors' sites to see what options they are including to ensure you are not missing anything.



Marketers often ask if they should let recipients control frequency. Frequency preferences are tough to manage. If you let someone sign up to only be contacted once a month, but you have an offer you know they will want to hear about, you can't send it. It's generally better to let customers sign up for regular mailings, and for you to be mindful of over-mailing. By allowing frequency to become a byproduct of relevance, you actually reinforce your valuable e-mail relationships.

What doesn't go on a preference page



You can leave off transactional and relationship messages, receipts and e-bills. Under U.S. CAN-SPAM legislation, companies are given a fair amount of leeway to send transactional messages without explicit customer permission. Although you always want to ask for as much permission as possible, you risk creating a real problem for yourself if you give customers the preference of not receiving transactional messages. If they elect not to receive these messages, you may not be able to complete important business transactions.



The days of one-to-one service that mom-and-pop businesses were famous for decades ago may be long gone. However, we can still offer our customers a quiet oasis in a marketplace teeming with advertising messages. Preferences bring individual choice back to e-mail and make the customer an equal partner in the transaction. When you involve your customers in your marketing communications, the messages become more valuable, and your value soars in their eyes.

posted by Nse victor okon
2347057674084
nseng78@yahoo.com
culled from: http://www.inc.com/resources/ecommerce/articles/20060701/bnussey.html

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

The Local Government System in Nigeria

Different author’s and scholars have given various definition to the term “Local government” if it is viewed from a legalistic point of view, it may be referred as “Body corporates” having perpetual succession with power to save and be saved”

Administratively, it is referred to as a body that has three essential characteristics these are:

1. Local election or selection.

2. Operating in a restricted geographical area within a nation or state.

3. The enjoyment of a measure of autonomy

From the above definitions, it is possible to define functions that are purely local character and which therefore should concern only those living in the locality. Thus the very objective of having local representation is to ensure that those do not share with the general body of their country, men may manage that joint by themselves.

Local government therefore, bring government nearer to the people at the grassroots level with a view to bringing the unnecessary gap-normally created by a centralized system of administration and allows them to participate in the running government affairs. Perhaps, it will not be out of place to mention that local government is established primarily to provide social service such as good roads, dispensaries, clinics, primary schools and so on.


1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY

In view of the significant roles attached to the local government system, especially in the areas of rural development as well as bringing government nearer to the grassroots level. It will therefore, be appropriate for one to say that “local government is the government of the people”

From the fore going, one could see the brain behind the establishment of local government system of administration is to perform some vital roles in areas of societal development. In this regard one question that readily comes to mind is “HOW CAN THIS AIM BE ACHIEVED”? This aim can actually be achieved by the local government being financially okay.

Local government source their finance from both internal and external sources;

1. EXTERNAL SOURCES: These are financial sources of which local government don’t have full control of the inflow, amount and some times is unsure of its time of arrival. They include statutory allocation, loans, grants, Aids and so on.

2. INTERNAL SOURCES: These are sources which are within the statutory preview of local government financing . They include tax rates, licence fee among others.


1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS

In the process of local government financing the following problems were encountered.

i. Determination of viable projects.

ii. Procedure to monitor and ascertain external funding



1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The objective of this research is to investigate the impact of local government activities in Illorin west local government area. In the course of this study efforts are made to;

i. Identify and explain the factors that will influence the local government financing activities of Ilorin.

ii. Investigate the extent to which the local government financing activities have contributed to the finance department.

iii. Examine the problems facing local government activities.

iv. Make conclusions and provide adequate recommendations.



1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

The importance of the study is derived from the ability to analyze the local government expenditure and their ability to build up special funds. Its ability to act as meaningful indicators depends on certain characteristics, which are enumerated thus;

i. The analysis tells us the amount of funds needed to finance capital projects.

ii. Fund secured through revenue each year and money received from the sale of assets or by launching of and appeal from its country.

iii. The analysis the move about the statutory revenue allocation formula, loans and investment etc.

1.5 SCOPE OF STUDY

It is virtually impossible for one to deeply research into a lot of organizations and understand their various system of financing.

This project work will therefore consider the ways in which local government finance policy of formulated and applied in that organization.

In this paper however, attempts would be made to cover mainly the present day system in Nigeria as applicable since, “1976 local government reforms.

1.6 LIMITATION OF STUDY

In the preparation of this research work various problems were encountered and are stated thus;

i. Non-availability of adequate resource material.

ii. Inadequate statistical data

iii. Lack of record keeping by the local government authority

iv. Lack of transparency

1.7 PLAN OF STUDY

The project comprises of three chapters, chapter one is the introduction, chapter two consists of review of relevant literature while chapter three is the summary, conclusion and recommendations of findings.


CHAPTER TWO

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 INTRODUCTION

From the past years not less than 75% of Nigeria population live in what could termed rural areas. Therefore these people are referred to as rural dwellers. Although, these pay their taxes regularly and do other civil duties expected of them as true Nigerians, their mode of living is very unbearable. They are unable to enjoy modern social amenities conducive to better standards of living.

In fact, various attributes have been given to rural dwellers. They are the illiterates, the under fed, the unawared etc.

They are the neglected ones, no good roads, no healthcare facilities, no schools, no electricity, talk less of drinkable water, instead, there are forth paths and warn infected ponds.

Instead of taking care of deplorable conditions of the rural masses, modern social amenities have over the years excursively preserved for the so called urban dwellers many of who hardly pay their taxes but continuously demand for more and better from the government.

In recent years however, it is with the realization of the deplorable condition of the rural areas that calls have been made for a viable local government system in Nigeria with a view to promote economic and social developments in all the nooks and corners of the country.

To achieve this vital aim, there were elected representatives from several districts in the country (who are in the better position to determine and decide the priorities of their communities)

From the above analysis therefore local government system has been related to habits, modes of life and surrounding of a particular locality. This, it is not surprising that local government will differ from one country to another or even within a country, take for instance, southern and Northern Nigeria.

“Local government is surely one of the best organizational mechanism for generating, motivation and encouraging mobilization for self help, as well as inducing wider participation of the local population in the decision making process at the local level. To guarantee the satisfaction of basic needs, local responsibility and co-operation must be encouraged. Any realistic development effort must be from the grass root level of the society. The masses who live in rural areas need to be involved”.

In another development, the need for local government system is recognized thus.

Government at the local level exercised through representative courials established by law to exercise specific powers within defined areas. These powers should give the council substantial control over affairs as well as the staff and institutional and financial powers to initiate and direct the provisions of services and to determine and implement project so as to complement the activities of the state and federal government in their areas, and to ensure through devolution of functions to these councils and through the active participation of the people and their traditional institutions that local initiative and response to local needs and conditions are maximized.


2.2 SOURCE OF REVENUE

If the local government is to be other than a locally based arm of the state executive, it must not only be governed with wide discression in those fields, it devolves upon them. It must also be given a considerable degree of financial freedom, this does not mean that all local government finances should be raised locally but rather that local authorities should have freedom with broadly determined financial resources to spend money as they see fit and that resources should be sufficiently to allow the local government authorities to perform effectively.

Local government have two types of expenditure namely: Capital and revenue expenditure.

Capital Expenditure: Results in some project of benefit to more than one year.

Revenue Expenditure: Are those expenditure which benefit only within one year.

The provision of health center in an area would be a capital expenditure, whereas the cost of the medical and paramedical personal would be a revenue expenditure. Revenue expenditure is also known as recurrent expenditure which means an expenditure recurs within each year of operation.

Local government expenditure especially capital expenditure is being monitored by the state government through the ministry of local government. The local government must fit into the overall economic policy of the state government. No matter how desirable a project might be to the local government, the state government will not sanction it, if the overall economic policy of the state will be affected adversely. In other words if the government (state) feels that there is a need for a cut back in expenditure it requests the local government to spend less.

Local government authority in Nigeria generates funds from two sources, Internal and External sources.

1. Internal Sources

This as the name implies constitute all amount accruing to a local authority from within its personal activities and some of these are:

a. Development Tax: This is the oldest source of income it is traceable back to the traditional nature authorities during the colonial period. It is usually a fixed sum to be paid all male adults and who are indigenes or are residing in a particular local government area. It is an annual payment for development.

b. Tenement Rate: This is a type of tax paid on properties by residents to the government, it is mostly paid on building.

c. Cattle Tax: Cattle rearers within a particular local government area pay this type of tax. It is levied on the number of cattle owned, it is collected mostly during the rainy season of every year.

d. Payee (pay as you earn): This type of tax is the one being deducted from the monthly salaries of civil servants. Only 21/2 of such deducted is normally retained by local government, while the rest goes to the state government purse.

e. Local licence fees: Certain trades cannot just be carried out in a particular locality, unless with licenses, e.g selling gold blacksmithing, bakery, bicycle repairing etc payment for obtaining such licences go to the local government.

f. Miscellaneous sources: In addition to the above mentioned, there are still some other sources through which local government authority generate funds (internally but which are difficult to classify under heads.

These types of revenue fall under miscellaneous sources. A typical example of this is interest paid on loan advances to individual workers of a local government.

2. EXTERNAL SOURCES:

These are financial sources to the local government, out for which local government don’t have full control of how inflow of the funds will be, how much it could be and sometimes cannot be cure of when it will come. These sources are inclusive of (a) statutory allocation (b) loans (c) investment.

a. Statutory allocation: A major external generated revenue for Nigeria local government is the federal government statutory allocation which has been in existence since the inception of local government reforms of 1976. this is to ensure an easy take off of the reform.

b. Loans: this is being resulted to by local government authority, for execution of project while the statutory allocation is still audited. Banks and other financial institutions gives facilities to local government authority, such money can be borrowed usually within the limit of the amount of revenue local government can generate internally.

c. Grants: This is another important external sources of revenue for local government authority. Among these is grant-in-aid which can be federal or state. The federal grants-in-aid is that which comes directly from the federal, while the state grants-in-aid come from the state government account to the local government. While the statutory allocation, grant-in-aid goes to the local government at regular internals and in most cases, are meant for specific project, such as sinking of bore-holes, motor parks etc.

d. Investment: This is a way of helping the state government in its industrialization programme. Some of these investments are either directed by the state government or made by the local government itself. Investment in such project as market stores, tractors, etc brings money into local government account.



2.3 REVENUE ALLOCATION

In an attempt to make local government more effective, the federal government in Nigeria make certain modification in the revenue allocation.

This modified revenue allocation came with degree No 36 of February 1985 whereby 55% of the National federal account was allocated to the federal government 32-5% of the state government while the remaining 49% local government were entitled to 10%.

A provision of 1% was made for a disaster relief fund and (one and half) 11/2 % of the mineral area.

2.4 STATUTORY ALLOCATION

These are income accruing to the local government from both federal and state government. The recent review of the revenues allocation formular raised local government allocation from 20% to 30% state government are also to pay 20% of their respective internally generated revenue to the local government.

Between 1977 and 1990, these had been series of review in revenue allocation to local government with effect from 1/4/77, it was fixed at 10% but raised to 15% effective from 1/1/90.

The bulk of the local government revenue are derived from statutory allocation from the federal and state government. This is quire critical source what ever accrues to the local government is a function of the financial fortunes of the central purse. For example federation account provide 87.06% while government provided 1.00% of this local government revenue in 1989 in Kwara state in 1990, it was 91.13% and 1.39% respectively in the same state.

The statutory allocation forms the largest position of funds available to the local government to finance its operations especially in term of capital expenditure requirement.

The allocation is made from the federation account where all revenue collected by the government of the federation except revenue from personal income tax of the personal of the Armed forces of the federation, the Nigeria police force, the ministry of department of government responsible for external affairs and the residents of the federal capital are excepted.

All allocation from the federation account is then, paid to a special account called “state joint local government account” “from where amount standing to the credit of each local government councils in the state is then paid to them according to the existing terms and manners, this account is under the control of the state ministry of local government at the ministry, a department is assigned the responsibility of determing and payments of dues toe each local government from the allocation, this department also controls the expenditure of the local government.

2.5 LOANS

These are borrows funds possibly from commercial and or development banks. Local government could equally have access to borrowed funds. Short term loans and or over draft could be obtained from commercial banks while such development banks like federal mortgage bank, Nigeria Agricultural and Co-operation Bank could be approached for facilities intended residential buildings for commercial use and industrial use etc.

Loan bonds or debentures stock could be floated by local government areas for specific economically viable projects

However, a comprehensive prospectus with the approval of security and exchange commission has to be prepared to enable members of the public to subscribe to such stock or shares.

Usually, any form of loan internally or externally must be approval by the state government through the state ministry local government, the state government serves as guarantor for any loan raised by the local government. Approval is therefore given only where the expenditure is for an asset of a considerable benefit to the community.

The local government must make enough arrangement on the payment of the loan and this must be by setting aside money from revenue each year, the period within which the loan must be repaid must be shorter than the useful life of the asset.

Borrowing is invariably adopted where the cost of a capital scheme is considerable, the annual contributions from revenue towards the repayment serve to spread the cost of the asset over its period of life and this distribute the burder over the year which benefit from the existence of the asset.

2.6 SPECIAL CAPITAL FUNDS AND CHARGES

Local authorities have power to build up special capital funds, by setting aside the sum from revenue each year or by launching of an appeal from its country. These funds can be used as an alternative to borrowing to finance capital project

CHARGES: For some services, local government are to charge a fee, this eliminating or reducing the cost to the rates.

Currently, is tending towards an increase in the number of such services. Partly due to the feelings that it is unjust that rich men should receive local services without paying the fill cost.

There are three main groups of services from which charges can be levied:-

i. Trading Service: These service do not specifically serve a town at all and which benefits a well defined group of persons. For example, local government are empowered to provide markets and slaughter houses both of which give a service to a business country which is well able to pay the full cost of the services without a subsidy from rates, charges for trading services.

ii. Social services: Social services are provided primarily for the benefit of the country at large but one given to specific individuals. Some services can be specific individuals e.g grants to students at universities for social services therefore, it is usual to find that the beneficiary is assessed: the poor pay nothing, the rich pay the whole cost, and the others pay a fair share of their income where the cost of the services is small..

iii. Miscellaneous Services: There are a collection of services for which charges can be made but which partake partly of the nature of social services. For example the provision of public conveniences and refuse disposal is partly a commercial venture but partly also in the interest of public health, for services like these, local government tend to fix a flat rate charge which does not fully cover the cost. Unless a law is specifically made for a charge, local government have no power to make one, most laws prescribed that the consent of the ministry of local government shall be obtained to the scale of charges. Despite all the attention paid to charges, the income from this source forms only a small part of the income.

2.7 STRUCTURE OF REVENUE ADMINISTRATION

In order to understand the revenue performance of the local government, the agency used for its administration is worth being described briefly.

At the head of the revenue administration machinery is the revenue department local government secretariat, which sees to the drawing and implementation of all the revenue polities of the local government, also the office of the district heads. This are the traditional heads of a political division of the area, there are 3 districts these could therefore easily identify every body within their localities. Finally, the revenue offices established at various centers in the local government area assist in no small ways in the collection of revenue, this they do by enlightening and educating the people on the purpose and uses of collecting various levies imposed by the government and what they gain by paying their dues on time and they loose by failing to pay.

The head of the revenue department is the treasurer who is an employees of the local government commission responsible for the administration of taxes in the local government, he has other powers relating to the penalties for defaulters and other offenses which he exercised personally. He is also responsible for liaising with other establishments on matters affecting the local government finance, the treasurer also acts in an advisory capacity to the local government on taxes and other financial polities.

Directing under him there are revenue officers, whose duties includes the co-ordination and inspection of the field, revenue officers (collectors

And revenue clerks in the secretariat they coordinates the preparation of reports and collection of data for future performance for casts on revenue. Also in the revenue machinery set up is the cashier who is custodian of valuable documents and returns of collections are made to him by field revenue officers for payment into the local government bank account, also he does the payment and collection of all monies due to the local government after an approval might have been given by the treasurer.

The revenue field collectors, these are employees who are stationed at various points within the local government area to collect various levies and charges from the people of their respective localities, this collectors are divided according to their assignment group, charged with the collection of poll tax, another from market rates etc. Each of this groups is headed by a clerk who prepares and forwards returns of collections to the local government cashier.

Finally, in the arrangement are the office clerk in charged of revenue, this group collect the returns submitted by the field collectors and balance the revenue books of the local government for the purpose of audit.

2.7 ILORIN WEST LOCAL GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION STRUCTURE OF THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT


2.8 THE CITING OF ADVERTISEMENT

This otherwise known as the erection of commercial signboards which should attract annual charges of N1500 collected from those engaged in the citing advertisement annually, for instance many legal practitioners, doctors, engineers or other professional business men, manufactures and all have their signboards in Ilorin West local government and each pay for its own signboards.

2.9 REGISTRATION OF BIRTH AND DEATHS

This should be enforce in all local government because of its main advantages. In the first instance, the exercise will enable local government to realize revenue and secondly, it will provide basis to collect statistical data for socio-economics planning in the development of Ilorin west local government.

The newly born baby is N100, for whose age is above 15 year is N350.

2.10 CATTLE TAXES

This is also a fixed amount of money (flat rate charged on every head of cattle and paid to the local government treasurer by the owners). It is N300 per head of cattle per annually while the sum of N50 per head per annum is paid on sheep.



2.11 MARKET RATES

This is another important sources of revenue administered by the local government, rate is collected from sellers who bring their goods to the markets in the local government area for sales. These are major important market in the Ilorin west local government area, they are Ojaoba market, Boboko market and Pakata market. All these mentioned are those from which the local government collect these revenue.

CHAPTER THREE

3.0 SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

3.1 SUMMARY

The essence of any research work of this nature is to find out the strengths and weakness of the subject-matter with a view to suggesting some possible remedies to its existing abnormalities and inconsistency to enable forecast for future analysis.

The first chapter serves as a prologue to the whole work. These, the subject matter of this research was explained with specific regards to the introduction, background of the study, statement of problems, objective of the study, significance of the study, scope of the study, limitations of the study and plan of the study.

In the second chapter, related literature were reviewed in essence, the chapter talked about the local government reforms of the federal republic of Nigeria 1976. various sources of local government revenue and expenditure were given so as to distinguish between the two terms.

More so, an overview of Ilorin west local government was dealt with in chapter two. Its structure of revenue such administration as the citing of advertisement, Registration of Births and Death, cattle, taxes and market rates.

Finally, the third chapter which serves as the epilogue to the work,

Conclusion were also drawn based on the facts gathered some important recommendation were also suggested to the problems of local government financing in Ilorin west and other local government in the country.

3.2 CONCLUSIONS

In the light of the finding made by the researcher in the last two chapters, the following conclusion were drawn there from.

Having the foregoing in mind, local government in Nigeria are created to perform some multifarious function as the lowest tier of Government. They have thus been helping to considerably bridge the unreasonable gap between the government and the governed local government, serve as a two-way channel of communication though which the government and the people under their exchange hope and yearning with policy and decisions, thus, creating mutual understanding.

With government at the door-step of the people, their awareness is fast increasing. This is because they can actively participate in the running of their locality. Local government in Nigeria have not been able to perform up to expectation due to shortage of funds and this is the result of the following

i. That a large number of those who are expected to pay tax indulge in some sorts of tax avoidance and evasions and these are due to ignorance as to what their actions means and lack of confidence in the government that their money will not be judiciously spent for their welfare.

ii. Complexity in the filling of tax forms by some tax payers

iii. Inefficiencies on the part of tax-collectors and the practice of nefarious acts by some of them.

iv. Statutory allocations and grants-in-aid are inadequate as compare with the number of functions left to be performed by local governments

v. There are usually land disputes between communities leading people to reluctance in paying taxes.

vi. Non-provision of innovative schemes and training for tax officials.

vii. Statutory allocations and grants in-aid from the federal to the local governments undergo a lot of processes before they get to their destination which may at times lead to reduction in such packages.

3.3 RECOMMENDATIONS

The researcher hopes that the findings of the study would help the government the three tiers to know their short comings and struggle towards better improvement.

In the light of the investigation carried out so far, the following are the researchers recommendations:

i. The public should be enlightened on need to pay tax as is meant for development of their locality and also be made to erase from their mind the beliefs that their money will be embezzled by the government workers. To achieve this local government authorities must be discharging their duties promptly by improving their peoples welfare via the provision of social and infrastructural facilities.

ii. Tax force should be simply designed in such a way as to enable tax payers or their children full them.

iii. There should be adequate check on the tax collector and penalties should await anyone fund in any type of malpractices.

iv. There should be an effective by-laws from time to time so as to give room for the prosecution of those who engaged in tax relenting.

v. Motivation and training boosts the moral and enhance the skills of workers respectively. At least, these must be provided for workers adequately in order to make them to be effective and efficient in discharge of their duties.

vi. There should be well defined land boundaries between one community and the other so as to arrest any possible land disputes.

vii. The federal government should be increasing their allocation and grants to local government from time to time as situation demands.

viii. The federal government should ensure that any allocation or grant it wants to give to local governments do not pass through any other hand till they get to their destinations.



BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Ackah – Nyanike E.E: Fundamentals of Efficiency in administration, Communication and training, Abiara commervial printers, Ilorin, 1985.



2. Abubakar Abdul – Salam: Financing Human and Materials resources in local governments.



3. Ackah – Nyanike E.E: Principles of public finance in west Africa POAB commercial Printer, Ilorin 1985



4. Mr. Bolaji Azeez: Oral interview from Mr. Bolayi of Ilorin local government.



5. Ejisin J.A: A brief note on the historical Development of local government in Nigeria with particular reference to its finance.

6. Wraith Ronald: Local Administration in West Africa, George Allen and Unwin publishing company limited, London 1972.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

SELF CONFIDENCE; THE WINNER'S WATCHWORD


SELF CONFIDENCE: THE SUCCESSOR’S WATCHWORD
Competent, confidence and committed! Isn’t that the kind of person you enjoy meeting or reading about? It is the kind of person you can become, and the first step is a firm belief in yourself. You might ask whether you have enough reason to believe in your person. Well, we will see.

The world over, no one can be found who walks, talks or laughs the way you do. Researchers say that no two persons have the same genetic make-ups or sets of abilities. In other words, there will never be another you. Truthfully, there’s no one like you. You are simply special from God.

You are not only exceptional or unique but also have an amazing thinking faculty and capacity for creative thoughts and learning abilities. Nothing in nature, according to brain experts, compares with your person when its comes to complexity and capability. In actual fact, the responsibility you have to play in your life could be much greater than you think it is. Can you still be a failure despite the privilege of being endowed with so many abilities? Why should you think you are not good enough?
Never think you are not good enough. My belief is that in life, people will take very much at your reckoning. This means that your opinion about yourself matters a lot. If you see yourself as a special and powerful person, the world will see you that way.

Your mind controls the way you see yourself. It’s quite appalling to come to know how negatively our minds have been influenced from our cradle. Perhaps, people have told you before, you are not just good enough; you don’t have what it takes to succeed, or that you can’t go anywhere beyond where you are or that you can’t achieve your goals in life. Maybe, you have not succeeded yet, so you might begin to think to yourself, “Maybe, I am born to fail. Maybe this is how my life will end.” I strongly advice you to stop such negative thoughts! They can’t be true.

The fact that there is no one like you in the whole world and there is no limit to your capacity to learn and earn leads to a consistent conclusion: you are born to win.

Yet many of us think they can’t win because of their negative mental programming. And that’s the main reason behind their low level or competence or productivity. I am announcing to you that you can reprogram your life from now for success. I know your next question is “in what way”?

The dictionary says that when you brainwash someone you make them believe only what you want them to believe by continually telling them that it is true and preventing any other information from reaching them. So, in the same vein, you can on-purpose brainwash your inner mind into believing or accepting the fact that your probability to succeed is very high, in short it is 100%.
This is all about telling you on a daily basis, what you are, what you want to be, what you want to make out of your life and your dreams of life. You inner mind works with the things you constantly and emotionally tell it. Psychologists say that the subconscious mind is like the computer in that it blindly and infallibly executes the program you feed into it. Let yourself know you are a winner and a success, it will accept it to be true. Tell yourself, “I am special, I am powerful beyond measures. I have power because I am with God. I tell you, you will soon become what you repeatedly tell yourself.

Everyday, I tell myself that I am a number one writer anyway and I know I will get there – that the topmost part of my career. This alone fuels my motivation and makes me to determine to work harder each day. To the best of my knowledge, the result is always improvement.

The fact is that we can always improve. If, for example the next person is better than you in an area of life, it doesn’t mean you are inferior to him. What it means is that you have not learnt the skills that give him the upper hand before you. Funny enough, with time and practice, you can learn them even better.

The first step to making improvement is a desire to improve. The next thing is to turn your desires into a passion. Another good thing about it is that if you have a passion for something, practice becomes automatic. So the formulae for improvement is hard work + passion = proficiency. That is one formula for building confidence. Imagine yourself not as you or others think you are, but the way you want to be. Remember that you are greater than you think, and the earlier you know that you know above everyone else, the better for you. What I mean is that you have got to have faith in your natural abilities. Don’t give your mind the slightest chance to believe you are not good enough. If you do, your confidence will diminish.

Don’t allow crowd or peer pressure to cloud your vision. Make commitment your watchword. Always remember you are special and don’t place limitations on your potentials. You are simply special and unique.

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