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ABUJA—Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega, has admitted the presence of corrupt officials and staff who aid and abet rigging and other electoral malpractices during elections in the commission.

The admittance came as a reaction to various knocks given Jega by some political parties and stakeholders who converged on Abuja yesterday to witnessed the unveiling/public presentation of Strategic Programme of Action of INEC covering 2012 to 2016.

According to Jega, many staff of the commission who compromised standards, have been either prosecuted or dismissed from their duties. He, however, said the exercise was done without usual media hype.

Jega said: “INEC officials are not immune to prosecution. Since we came here, as a Commission we have prosecuted INEC officials, who have been clearly found guilty of breaching established laws, rules and regulations and we have also quietly shown people the way out. Probably, it was not well advertised.
“There were many people that were indicted who were not faithful due to criminal activities which clearly were incompatible with the objectives and responsibility that they were supposed to bring to this job. We have retired people.
“We have dismissed people and asked people to withdraw their services. We have done a lot quietly and it is not something that really should have been advertised.

“We made it very clear as a Commission and I think in one of the interactive sessions we had with staff of INEC, we made it very clear to them that we are drawing the line.

“We said we were not looking for fault. We will not do anything wrong or ask anybody to do anything wrong and if anybody should do anything wrong, he will have him or herself to blame. And that has been our guiding principle. It has helped tremendously.

“No doubt, I must share with you that my own assessment of what has happened is that in INEC previously, certainly there were a few bad eggs who had done things and things they had done had more or less damaged the image of the entire members of the Commission.

“It is really a terrible thing that has happened. And it is very, very clear that majority of staff of INEC are honest people doing honest job under very difficult circumstances. All they required was motivation and encouragement and inspiration from the conduct of those who are placed in positions of responsibility.”

Earlier, three different chairmen of political parties, including Chiefs Sam Nkire of Progressive Peoples Alliance, PPA, Chekwas Okorie of the United Progressive Party, UPP, and Victor Umeh of All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, had taken turns to stress what they termed as rots in INEC which, according to them, inhibited efforts of the commission to conduct free, fair and credible elections in the country.

While Nkire harped on the need to checkmate some corrupt INEC officials whom had given it a bad image, Okorie emphasized the need to expedite action on the Electronic Voting System (EVS), saying it would limit the mistakes of the commission.

Umeh on his own, asked INEC to review its position on the recruitment of adhoc staff, noting that given some of their actions, they posed great threats to the success of INEC’s efforts in conducting credible elections.

He said: “There are bad soldiers/policemen who forcefully change results or make things untidy. I have never heard INEC staff reporting them. It robs off negatively on INEC’s image, giving INEC a bad name.
“I don’t know if INEC staffs are immune to prosecution. Before now, they are the ones who give result sheets before elections. There are bad eggs who help to doctor results.

“Election officers, Collation Officers, Returning officers are usually not the staffers of the Commission. And from our experience, most times, these people are recruited without the Political parties knowing about it. You have Professors even in some embarrassing situation; members of political parties are recruited as Collation Officers of INEC.

“If you don’t take care on the way you recruit adhoc staff and they are the people who manage elections on the day of the elections; You may have done very good restructuring in the Commission, prepare your permanent with the right attitude but these adhoc staff pose great threats to the success of your efforts.”

Speaking earlier, Chairman, Senate Committee of INEC, Senator Andy Uba, who was represented by his Deputy, Senator Abdukadir Jagere, said that Democracy could only be said to have been sustained in Nigeria if INEC improves on the gains of 2011 general elections.

He said: “Democracy can only be if we achieve anything higher than 2011, we would have achieved a lot.”

Other speakers at the event which included the Governance Advisor of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Professor Sam Egwu and the Country’s Representatives, International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) commended the present leadership of INEC under Jega and urged them to be focused towards 2015 elections.
www.vanguardngr.com/2013/06/jega-admits-presence-of-corrupt-staff-in-inec/#sthash.Mn3LNK1S.dpuf

LAGOS—Nigeria’s commercial capital, LAGOS, is on the verge of joining the country’s oil-producing states with the discovery of crude oil in commercial quantities in the coastal state.

Yesterday, Afren Plc and its partner, Lekoil Limited, announced significant oil discovery offshore Dahomey Basin in Lagos, according to the London Stock Exchange.

n separate announcements, the partners said they discovered a significant light oil accumulation based on the results of drilling and wire line logs from a high impact Ogo-1 well, located on the Oil Prospecting Licence, OPL 310 offshore Nigeria.

Afren is optimistic that the discovery is likely to be significantly higher than the anticipated 78 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe), which encourages search to further high potential zones.

The discovery is subject to the authentication of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), which is expected in two weeks.

If certified and the partners produce the first barrel of oil, Lagos will become the 11th oil producing state in Nigeria, a club Anambra State joined recently. It will also boost the economy of Lagos, which currently generates about N29 billion internally every month.

The other oil producing states are Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta, Ondo, Abia, Imo, Edo and Cross River.

Geological studies indicate that the Dahomey Basin is a combination of inland/coastal/offshore basin that cuts across some West African countries including Lagos, Nigeria as well as Southeastern Ghana, Togo and the Republic of Benin.

The basin is said to be separated from the Niger Delta by a surface basement popularly called the Okitipupa Ridge.

“The Ogo-1 well has been drilled to a total measured depth of 10,518 ft (10,402 ft true vertical depth sub sea), and has encountered a gross hydrocarbon section of 524 ft, with 216 ft of net stacked pay.

“The well was targeting 78 mmboe of gross P50 prospective resources, but based on evidence to date, targeted resources are likely to be significantly in excess of previous estimates,” Afren said in a statement made available to Vanguard.

The company added that “further evaluation using wire line log analysis is currently underway prior to extending the well to a total measured depth of 11,800 ft (11,684 ft true vertical depth sub sea) to target further high potential zones.”

DPR yet to authenticate discovery

However, speaking with Vanguard on phone, the DPR said authentication of the discovery could only come after side-tracking (ST) verifications.
OPL 310—Map showing the location of OPL 310 , along the Dahomey Basin.

OPL 310—Map showing the location of OPL 310 , along the Dahomey Basin.

A top management source in the upstream unit of the regulatory agency, said: “As far as we are concerned, the discovery for now is very speculative. The side track will indicate whether the resource they have found is actually crude, and this verification takes about two weeks. Thereafter, the company will communicate the tracking result to us, after which we will certify the discovery.”

Partners plan side track

Ahead of the planned ST, Afren expressed confidence that estimated reserves of about 124 mmboe have a better than 50 per cent, P50, chance of being technically and economically producible.

“Partners intend to drill a planned side-track, Ogo-1 ST, which will test a new play of stratigraphically trapped sediments that pinch-out onto the basement high targeting 124 mmboe of gross P50 prospective resources,” it confirmed in the statement.

Commenting, the Chief Executive of Afren, Mr. Osman Shahenshah, said: “The discovery of oil in the Ogo-1 well opens up a new oil basin in an under-explored region and represents a possible extension of the West African Transform Margin.

“Based on evidence to date, targeted resources are likely to be significantly in excess of previous estimates, with some high-potential zones still to be drilled. We look forward to working with our partners to realise the full potential of Ogo 1 and our additional prospects on the licence.

“The Ogo-1 exploration success follows a series of recent discoveries, Okoro Field Extension, Ebok North Fault Block and Okwok in Nigeria and Simrit-2 and Simrit-3 on the Ain Sifni Block in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.”

On his part, Lekoil CEO, Mr. Lekan Akinyanmi, said: “The discovery of oil in the Ogo-1 well opens up a new oil basin in an under-explored region and represents a possible extension of the Cretaceous play along the West African Transform Margin. The discovery is a clear validation of Lekoil’s technical analysis and of our extensive studies on the Dahomey Basin.

“Results to date indicate that the discovered resources could be significantly in excess of P50 estimates prior to drilling. While Lekoil notes these results are preliminary, we believe there exists substantial scope for upward revisions to the data announced today (Wednesday) as drilling and interpretation continues.

“We look forward to working with our partners to realise the full potential of Ogo and the additional prospects on the licence.”

Equity participations

The Ogo-1 well is being drilled by Afren, as technical partner, under a farm out to Lekoil, as announced on May 14, 2013.

The operating licence for OPL 310 acquired in 2009, is valid till February 2019. But equity participation and economic interests on the bloc now stands as follows below:

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/06/oil-discovered-in-lagos/
http://akan2011./2013/06/27/oil-discovered-in-lagos/

In pursuit of its megacity status, Lagos State Government is clearing slums, especially those on the drainage channels and right of way.

The Commissioner for the Environment, Tunji Bello, who visited a colony of illegal squatters in Babs Animashaun occupants, Surulere, Lagos Mainland had given the residents in this community 30 days to quit as they “constituted a nuisance”.

Months after receiving this notice, the residents of Adelabu community are still uncertain of their fate.

Illegal ‘colonies’ seem to exist almost everywhere in Lagos making its government to step up its urban renewal and channelization programme to rejuvenate it. The Otumara village in Constain and Ijora Badia has also been asked to leave to make way for the ongoing rebranding, renewal and channelization programmes to complement the beautification of the Constain and Iganmu areas.

Mr Bello said the Otto creek shanties and its dwellers would be expelled to make room for the ongoing construction connecting the drain between Ilu –Eri and the Brewery. He said the channels would have to be cleared to bring relief to residents of Tejuosho, Apapa, Iponri and Olaleye areas.

At Adelabu area in Surulere, behind an elitist school, Fountain Heights Secondary School, the Commissioner scolded the community of over 2,000 inhabitants including women and children, on why they warded off and fought the government officials sent to give them eviction notice to allow for the construction of channels and drainage to check flooding in Surulere, which has been a yearly occurrence due to the activities of these people.

Hmmmm Half of the Year already some guys are preparing for the end of the Year