FG creates 1.2mn jobs for Nigerians from mining- Minister




The Ministry of Mines and Steel is clamping down on illegal mining activities, the minister said.

The Minister of Mines and Steel, Musa Sada, on Tuesday in Abuja said his ministry has created over 1.2 million jobs in rural areas.

Speaking at the ongoing ministerial platform, Mr. Sada said 1,254 million jobs were created from operations in 1710 quarries, 223 small scale mining operations, 195 mining leases and 2048 exploration licenses.

He stressed the need for professionalism in the industry and listed Ajaokuta Steel Company as one of the companies suffering effects of unprofessionalism in the country.

Mr. Sada said issues in the company range from infrastructures to privatization, legal issues to change of management and even technical competency.

The minister encouraged group mining activities which he said will help curb illegal mining in rural. He said the Mines and Steel ministry has commenced the education of people living in communities where illegal mining thrives so as to check the menace of illegal mining.

He said the education involves informing them to come together to do things in a better way rather than going solo. Mr. Sada said that communities must get legal advice before indulging into community development that involves exploration or mining activities.

Discovery of minerals

The minister stated that 11 additional mineral have been discovered in the country in the last one year bringing the number of minerals in the county to a total of 44.

President Jonathan lied in Independence anniversary broadcast


President Goodluck Jonathan lied to the world in his Independence Day anniversary speech about gains his administration has made in the fight against corruption, a PREMIUM TIMES investigation has revealed.

In what appears to be a major credibility stunt, President Jonathan read a speech in which he scored his government high on all sides.

In order to make his good performance appear holistic, the president included in his speech that global corruption watchdog, Transparency International, has endorsed and praised his administration’s war against corruption.

Mr. Jonathan’s words: “…the fight against the scourge of corruption is a top priority of our administration.

“We are fighting corruption in all facets of our economy, and we are succeeding. We have put an end to several decades of endemic corruption associated with fertilizer and tractor procurement and distribution.  We have exposed decades of scam in the management of pensions and fuel subsidy, and ensured that the culprits are being brought to book,” he added.

To give his claims international credibility, the presidents then said: “In its latest report, Transparency International (TI) noted that Nigeria is the second most improved country in the effort to curb corruption.”

The lie

PREMIUM TIMES contacted Transparency International seeking a copy of its latest report which the President referred to in his speech.

The group replied promptly disowning Mr. Jonathan and saying it had no such report.

“Transparency International does not have a recent rating or report that places Nigeria as the second most improved country in the fight against corruption,” the group said in an email to this newspaper.

The group said its most recent indexing of Nigeria’s corruption activities was in the 2011 Corruption Perceptions Index, which measured perceived level of public sector corruption in the country.

In that index, Nigeria scored 2.4 on a scale where 0 means highly corrupt and 10 means very clean. It was ranked 143 out of 183 countries.

That rating was actually a dip in performance for Nigeria as the country was rated 134 out of 183 countries the previous year, 2010.

The president’s spokesperson would not comment for this story. The Special Adviser on Media, Reuben Abati as well as the Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Doyin Okupe, did not answer or return calls.

They also did not reply text messages sent to their telephones.

Corruption cases Jonathan ignores

Since resuming office in 2010, President Jonathan is believed not to have shown vigour in the fight against corruption – including corruption involving past and current actors in his administration. The tipping point in the president’s profile, regarding reluctance in promoting transparency, came when, in his last media chat, he scoffed at a question on why he had not publicly declared his asset. On live television, the president snapped “I don’t give a damn!”

The petroleum minister, Diezani Madueke, a close ally of the president, has heaps of established corruption allegations against her, but none has been investigated by Mr. Jonathan’s administration; while she still remains in office as one of the favorite ministers.

In August 2011, President Goodluck Jonathan secretly ordered the payment of $155 million to Malabu oil, a firm owned by an ex-convict and former petroleum minister, Dan Etete. Not only was the payment done without the knowledge of the Finance Minister, as revealed by PREMIUM TIMES, Malabu transferred the money into dubious accounts including that owned by a man with links to Mr. Jonathan. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives have agreed to investigate the Malabu scandal.

Two members of the President’s cabinet, Godsday Orubebe and Stella Oduah, illegally registered an NGO, Neighbour to Neighbour, on whose board they sit, and which they then used in campaigning for the President’s election; in contravention of CAC registration guidelines and the CAMA Act. The presidency has kept mum on this.

President Jonathan Lies Again, TCN Faults Power Generation Claims - PREMIUM TIMES

The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, has said that at no time has the country’s electricity generation capacity reached a peak of 5,000 megawatts, MW.

This contradicts President Goodluck Jonathan’s claim during his third Presidential media chat last November that the combined average power generation capacity from all the power plants in the country moved from less than 3,000 MW in 2007 to a new peak capacity above 5,000 MW.

The President had listed the 5,000MW power generation capacity as one of his administration’s major achievements under the Power Sector Reform agenda.

“Power is one area Nigerians appreciate we are moving. We are yet to get 24 hours of light in our cities, but you would agree with me the difference is clear,” the president told the panel of interviewers, which consisted of Muhammed Abubakar of Nigerian Television Authority, NTA; Martins Oloja of the Guardian; Ikedi Isighuzor of Vanguard and Gbemi Olujobi of the National Mirror.

“We moved, in 2007, from about a little below 3,000 MW production average.

“Now, we are generating more than 5,000MW (of electricity).

“But because of weak transmission infrastructure, we cannot evacuate,” the president said.

As at the time President made the claim, TCN, the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, successor company in charge of monitoring electricity transmission data in the country, had given 4,321.3MW as the country’s power generation capacity as at August, 31, 2012.

President’s Spokesman, Reuben Abati, and the Special Adviser to the Minister of Power, Garubadeen Mohammed, did not respond to calls and emails sent to them seeking clarification on the source of the President’s controversial figure.

But, the Assistant General Manager, Public Affairs of TCN, Dave Ifabiyi, said on Wednesday during a telephone chat from Abuja that at no time had the country’s power generation capacity neared 5,000 MW.

“There was never a time like that (5,000MW generation capacity), never. The highest peak generation of 4,517.6 MW was achieved on December 23, 2012,” Mr. Ifabiyi said.

The TCN spokesman, said in a previous statement, that a new peak power generation capacity of 4,502.2 MW was achieved on December 21, 2012, an improvement on the 4,454.1 MW achieved on December 19.

He attributed the achievement to the commitment of the President to fulfill his promise to Nigerians on improved electricity supply.

Mr. Ifabiyi dispelled any insinuation that the TCN was probably not transmitting all the generated electricity when he said that transmission and distribution companies would continue to harness “every available generation to ensure delivery of stable electricity supply” even as more National Integrated Power Projects, NIPPs became functional.

This is not the first time President Jonathan would be making a public statement that turned out to be false.

In his Independence Day broadcast to Nigerians on October 1, the president had claimed that “In its latest report, Transparency International (TI) noted that Nigeria is the second most improved country in the effort to curb corruption.”

The claim turned out to be false.

Following a PREMIUM TIMES enquiry, Transparency International stated that it “does not have a recent rating or report that places Nigeria as the second most improved country in the fight against corruption.

The latest Transparency International Corruption Index report later released placed Nigeria as the 35th most corrupt country in the world.
The president is yet to apologise to Nigerians for that goof, just as he may not apologise for this.

TCN to Improve Operations

The TCN Chief Executive Officer, Olusola Akinniranye, said the company would not relent in its efforts to ensure that the transmission grid functions effectively for greater efficiency.

Mr. Akinniranye said part of that effort is to restore the Benin-Egbin 330kV line as well as complete the new transmission/distribution interface projects to further enhance the company’s power evacuation capacity.

He appealed to electricity consumers to continue to partner with TCN in protecting electricity installations and forestall vandalism, which he said was constituting a major setback to efforts to improve electricity supplies

Nigerians reject Jonathan’s electricity claim in CNN Superbowl follow-up


Many Nigerians told the CNN that President Goodluck Jonathan’s claim was false.

Nigerians, disgruntled by President Goodluck Jonathan’s last CNN interview claim of improved electricity, seized on Sunday’s U.S. Super bowl power outage, to issue a fierce rebuttal, stirring intense debate on the social media on Monday and Tuesday.

CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, who interviewed the president a fortnight ago, said she received torrents of tweets from Nigerians after President Jonathan said during the interview that electricity had tremendously improved.

Speaking from Davos in Switzerland where he was attending the World Economic Forum, the president had told Ms. Amanpour power was one area “Nigerians were really impressed with my administration.”

“I would have loved that you ask the ordinary Nigerian on the streets of Lagos, Abuja or any other city this question about power,” the president told Ms. Amanpour. “That is one area Nigerians are quite pleased with the government that our commitment to improving power is working. So if you are saying something different, I’m really surprised.”

“That is one area civil society leaders agree that government is keeping faith with its promise.”

Reactions denying that claim soon followed on Twitter, even while the interview aired, with some Nigerians also affirming the president’s position.

Ahead of her Monday evening programme, Ms. Amanpour said she continued to receive so much reaction on Twitter that she set up the CNN “Open Mic” in Lagos, to seek reactions from everyday Nigerians.

“Pres. Goodluck Jonathan’s comments to me about power probs sparked so many tweets that CNN set up an Open Mic in Lagos,” Ms. Amanpour tweeted earlier, before following through with “Our OPEN MIC report has every-day Nigerians telling us about the power situation in their country.”

The second spur for the outrage, she said, was Nigerians drawing comparisons with the 35 minute power outage during Sunday’s U.S. top sporting event, the Super Bowl.

“Received so many tweets from #Nigeria about #SuperBowl power outage that we decided to include them in the show tonight on,” Ms. Amanpour said.

Visual she later aired showed the reactions from the streets of Lagos, which the president spoke about, again repudiating the president’s position.

“It’s a lie,” one man said. “Power is not improving at all.”

A woman told the CNN crew, “There’s (no) electricity for about three weeks now. You can’t even put anything in the fridge because it spoils. You have to eat everything or you’ll be in trouble.”

On the Twitter, CNN posted reactions from Nigerians who mockingly contrasted Americans witnessing a outage for just 35 minutes, and Nigerians enduring same for days, even weeks.

“If they had the Super Bowl in Nigeria, the power coming back on would be the real surprise,” one tweet said.

The reactions only trained the platform for a fierce debate on the social media, and online fora.

By Tuesday noon, the post on CNN Amanpour blog had drawn 107 comments, with Nigerians either backing the president, or denouncing his claims. On Twitter, majority of comments denied that electricity had improved.

An aide to the president on social media, Reno Omokri, followed in the background with suggestive tweets highlighting the “achievements” of the president.

“Fixing decades old problems take time. You don’t go to the gym do a set of bench presses and expect muscles. There’s a law of process,” Mr. Omokri wrote.

“Some may disagree that poverty is reducing, but it’s not a lie according to the World Bank poverty in Nigeria reduced from 48 to 46%.

“Some may disagree our economy is expanding, but it’s a fact not a lie. Nigeria is not rich but is one of the world’s fastest growing economies,” he added.

Bomb Blasts – Terrorists, Not MEND, Responsible – Jonathan



on October 3, 2010


President Goodluck Jonathan said yesterday that the government of Nigeria knows the persons who masterminded the bomb blasts that marred Friday’s golden jubilee celebration. He said that it was the handiwork of terrorists and not the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) as was widely speculated.

In a swift reaction, however, MEND has again taken responsibility for the deadly bomb blasts which rocked the FCT and claimed 16 lives, saying that the nation’s security forces should be blamed for the avoidable loss of lives.

Reacting to President Jonathan’s statement yesterday that the group had no hand in the terrorist act, MEND said that it actually carried out the attacks after it had sent out several warning statements to the security forces several days before the attack.

Excerpts of the statement read: “The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) deeply regrets the avoidable loss of lives during our bomb attack in Abuja on Friday, October 1, 2010. Our hearts go to the families of those killed who we know were sympathetic to our cause. “The irresponsible attitude of the government security forces is to blame for the loss of lives. They were given five days prior notice which led to the harassment of Henry Okah on Thursday, September 30, in South Africa. Okah has never been involved in any MEND operations but has always been blamed for every attack, which is strange to us.

“The security forces were also warned one full hour to the first bomb blast ahead of the general alert sent to the media and told to steer the public from all parked cars which was not done.”
Meanwhile, President Jonathan has promised to overhaul the security services. This is just as the State Security Service (SSS) is beaming its searchlight on some top politicians in the country over their alleged involvement in the bomb blasts that killed no fewer than 16 persons and left scores of others wounded.

LEADERSHIP SUNDAY gathered last night that the camps of some presidential aspirants will be invited for interrogation.

The president declared yesterday in his address at the colloquim organised by the ECOWAS Parliament: “We know the persons behind the terrorist attacks on the nation. We know they used an organisation that operates in the Niger Delta called MEND as a front, but we are aware that MEND is not a terrorist organisation.”

According to a senior security operative, “we are working on so many leads which suggest that the blast was politically motivated to disrupt the peace and worsen the sense of insecurity among Nigerians.

“We believe this might be a political action aimed at disrupting the relative peace in the country since the grant of amnesty to ex-militants in the country.”

A top aide at the presidency had told LEADERSHIP SUNDAY how some political forces mobilised some terrorists led by Mr. Henry Okah with $100 million to carry out the attacks.

But President Jonathan said that the widely publicised information that linked the blast to MEND was diversionary.

“What happened yesterday was a terrorist act and MEND was just used as a straw; MEND is not a terrorist group.

“The Niger Delta people are aware of the government’s noble efforts to assuage the suffering and deprivation in that region.

“I am from the Niger Delta. My father’s house is a few metres from an oil-well, so nobody can claim to be a Niger Delta than myself.

“It is erroneous to think that my people who have been agitating for good living will deliberately blow up the opportunity they have now,” Jonathan added.

The president stressed that the unfortunate action was carried out by enemies of the state, saying that security operatives had been mobilised to fish out the perpetrators.

Jonathan added that the country’s security apparatus would be restructured to become proactive to guarantee the safety of life and property.

“I pray for the souls of those who died to attain peace and fervently pray for those who sustained injuries in the blast to be healed,” he said.

LEADERSHIP had reported yesterday that no fewer than 16 persons lost their lives at the Eagle Square venue of the bomb blasts. Scores of other Nigerians received various degrees of wound and are recuperating in hospitals within the Federal Capital Territory.

Labaran Maku lied on roads in Edo

Edo State Government, yesterday, said that the Federal Government lied about roads in the state, noting that many federal roads in the area had not been attended to.

Special Adviser to Governor Adams Oshiomohle on Media and Public Affairs, Prince Kassim Afegbua in a statement, said “Rather than apologise to Nigerians over Federal Government’s failure to fulfil its promise to the good people of Nigeria and Edo State in particular, Labaran Maku, is busy embarking on sheer salesmanship with no products to sell.

“Apart from the re-surfacing of the Ugbowo-Lagos Road currently being undertaken by the Federal Government and the newly awarded dualisation of Okene-Benin Road, what again can Labaran Maku lay claim to?

“Unknown to him that the Benin-Warri dualised road had long been executed by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, Labaran Maku is crediting same to the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

“What a pity? Let him go and visit the abandoned Benin-Abraka Road and see for himself the dubiety of that project execution and the decay.

“Having toured Edo State without any tangible Federal Government infrastructure, Labaran Maku and Mike Onolemhemen, tried to showcase Edo State projects at Five-Junction as one being undertaken by the Federal Government.

“The Amedokhian-Ukoni Road in Edo Central, which was flagged off last year by the Works Minister, Mike Onolemhemen, is still lying prostrate. I will implore the Information Minister to visit Aduwawa Road in Benin City and see for himself the rot on that federal road, bearing in mind that it is the entry route into Benin City from Abuja.

tomakint: Mr Garri, what exactly is your problem? You opened a thread and you've been talking to yourself all alone just because Sincere9gerian did something on Tinubu's e-warriors? I am asking you again, what is your problem?

Garri the 1st:

I'm not a tampoon wearing sissy like ur failed doc, ok?? This is a legitimate topic and not a weeping bout like the one sick 9gerian had earlier today.

Oya face toic and stop derailing!!!

Garri the 1st:

I'm not a tampoon wearing sissy like ur failed doc, ok?? This is a legitimate topic and not a weeping bout like the one sick 9gerian had earlier today.

Oya face toic and stop derailing!!!

eggheaders: the way the president and his handlers con ass lickers lie. even the devil will give this Scu.mbags a deserving salute.

OMAJE4:

Of course you're only a red g-string wearing sissy aren't you? Perhaps the tampon will come later abi?

Garri the 1st:

Wesley!!

I should have known....

Good Morning.




NB: I cast and bind any satanic force that intends to make me break Seun's rules...

OMAJE4:

Yeah, the Devil's in the CPC / ACN abi?

eggheaders:

who is this new cow jumping up and down like the anambra gay guys??

OMAJE4:

Your ignorance is excused. Now run along and be a smart kid, you're only allowed one chance to be stuupid with me.

karl max: Op why is all your source from primiumtimes,saharareporter and a weak blog.if u want serious people like me and many Nigerians to believe your lies and propaganda. Show us this same useless news from a more credible news source like AP,BBC,REUTERS,guardian and other real and un biased papers in the country and not this paid online media that peddle beer parlour rumours and outright lies.just like u are doing.

karl max: Op why is all your source from primiumtimes,saharareporter and a weak blog.if u want serious people like me and many Nigerians to believe your lies and propaganda. Show us this same useless news from a more credible news source like AP,BBC,REUTERS,guardian and other real and un biased papers in the country and not this paid online media that peddle beer parlour rumours and outright lies.just like u are doing.