₦airaland Forum

I tink most of us don't understand how systems work. DSS has d responsibilty of interrogating any1 who is seen as a National threat. We all watch d ping pong games dat were playd during d jonathan administration nd if DSS under buhari is privy to information dat majority of us here haven't got access too dey don't need to come to nairaland to announce dat dey want to question Sambo... What DSS has done is being done for d sake of National security and all dose who have been sabotaging efforts of Government in ending terrorism will be brought down. I need not remind any1 dat PMB has d politically will to crush any1 seen as National threat.

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has said that there is nothing ‘personal’ between him and former Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

The Edo State Governor in a statement signed by Kassim Afegbua, Special Adviser, Media and Public Affairs, to the governor, on Thursday said the questions asked were: how come those accruals into the Excess Crude Account got depleted without the knowledge of the National Economic Council?

Tea full text below

BLACKMAIL WON’T HELP YOUR CASE, OSHIOMHOLE TELLS OKONJO-IWEALA

It is instructive at this point in time to state categorically without equivocation that there is nothing “personal” between Okonjo-Iweala and Comrade Adams Oshiomhole in terms of the request by the Edo Governor that Okonjo-Iweala should come clean on the issue of revenue that accrued to the Excess Crude Account.

As much as her Spokesman tries to dramatize his response in defense of his boss, he has shown a manifest uninformed disposition to issues of simple economics of naira and kobo.

Here is a former Minister who has changed her position four times in the last forty days; each position exposing her dubiety of facts and inherent contradictions in the concocted tales she has been weaving on one simple issue: what happened to t5he $2.1b ECA funds?

PERTINENT QUESTIONS.

The simple questions which the Comrade Governor asked were: how come those accruals into the Excess Crude Account got depleted without the knowledge of the National Economic Council?



How come monies that were supposed to accrue into the said account cannot be found in it going by the balance sheet provided by the former Minister? How come the Minister unilaterally dipped her hand into the Excess Crude Account to spend money in defiance of the constitution and the laws of the land?

Okonjo-Iweala and Oshiomhole

How come that the Minister finds it convenient to publish allocations to States and Local Governments, but refused to publish accruals into the same account for us to know the status of the account at any point in time; how much was left from where she was distributing from?

What the Comrade Governor stated was that; it was interesting to note that by December 2012, the ECA had a balance of over $10billion. This had been depleted to $2.07billion by May 2015, according to the former Finance Minister. Between January 2013 and May 2015, not more than $4billion was shared among the three tiers of Government. Indeed, the last time any money was shared from the ECA was in May 2013.

Flowing from the above statement of facts, the Comrade Governor then asked a very pertinent question; how come there was no accretion to the ECA even when Crude oil prices averaged between $100 to $108 within the three years period of 2011 to 2014, aware that the National Budgets were based on $77 and $79 benchmark?

That gives an average of $30 per barrel gains. In fact, based on rough estimates, Nigeria should earn not less than $30billion accretion based on the official oil exports of 2.3 million barrels per day. The question which Okonjo-Iweala could not answer is; how come Nigeria did not make any savings during those three years of unprecedented oil price boom? Simple question that should ordinarily elicit simple response.

Without a scintilla of numerical reference, Okonjo-Iweala went into a voyage of storytelling like an intellectual raconteur, leaving out the real substance of the Comrade Governor’s salient questions.

First, she responded on May 28, 2015 where she denied the allegations describing them as “baseless”. Among other things she claimed that the 36 State Governors who are joint owners of the Excess Crude Account [ECA] with the Federal Government were in full picture of how the ECA was managed.

She stated inter alia; “how can Governor Oshiomhole claim that State Governors were not properly briefed on the status of the ECA when his Commissioner of Finance attends all FAAC meetings where decisions are taken and communicated to the nation?”

On June 29, 2015 exactly a month after, at the inaugural meeting of the National Economic Council [NEC] presided over by Vice President Professor Yemi Osibanjo, and with 36 states in attendance deliberated on the status of the ECA. After a critical scrutiny, it was discovered that indeed Dr. Okonjo-Iweala spent $2.1billion from the ECA without authorization by the NEC.

That money was neither distributed to states nor paid to the three tiers of government. This was the rationale for the setting up of the four-man Panel to look at what accrued, what it was spent for, when and by whom and who authorized the spending, so that Nigerians will have full picture of all the transactions as regards the much talked about Excess Crude Account.

SHIFTING THE GOAL POST.

On June 30, 2015, Okonjo-Iweala was once again reported as categorically denying unauthorized expenditure from the ECA under her purview, describing the findings of NEC as “false, malicious and without foundation”.

According to her, decisions on such expenditure and sharing were discussed at meetings of FAAC attended by Finance Commissioners from the 36 states.

In her words; “it is curious that in their desperation to use the esteemed National Economic Council for political and personal vendetta, the persons behind these allegations acted as if the constitutionally recognized FAAC, a potent expression of Nigeria’s fiscal federalism, does not exist”.

Is FAAC superior to NEC? Does FAAC have the constitutional powers to give approval for withdrawals from ECA?

On June 30, 2015 the Comrade Governor stated during his Live Television interview with Channels Television that the power to take money from ECA was vested in the NEC, an institution created by the Constitution and not State Finance Commissioners who were members of FAAC, an administrative arrangement that was not known to the Constitution.

Rather than open up, giving full disclosure, she was opening part of the book and not the entire book. According to Comrade Oshiomhole, the logic of transparency is that every Minister must publish in full what is accruing to the Federation Account month-to-month basis and what is distributed to them.

On July 7, 2015, barely a week after Okonjo-Iweala claimed that FAAC was involved in the unauthorized spending from the ECA, members of FAAC under the aegis of Forum of Finance Commissioners in a public statement, denied approving any withdrawal of the said $2.1 billion.

The 36 Finance Commissioners categorically described the former Minister’s claim as “misleading, and far from the fact”. Hear them; “the Law setting up FAAC, which pre-dates the ECA did not empower the Commissioners to approve such withdrawals, and that there were records of Committee’s meetings to show that they had always queried the activities on the ECA, particularly on withdrawals.

FAAC did not and could not have approved or took the decision to withdraw the sum of $2billion from the Excess Crude Account”.

On July 8, 2015, Okonjo-Iweala opened up a bit of the real gist when she admitted that $2billion was indeed withdrawn from the ECA this time, on the directives of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

She further confirmed that the money was used to pay petroleum subsidies and not shared to the 36 states as she earlier declared.

The former Minister was quoted as saying; “payments made were used for paying for petroleum subsidies for the Nigerian people and were approved by Mr. President”.

She then made a volte face saying she did not claim that FAAC members approved the spending but that they were informed of the decision, “if monies were used to pay for subsidies for the Nigerian people and duly approved, why is Okonjo-Iweala’s name being battered in this way? She wondered, adding that “this persecution should stop”.

In fact, she is the one that is persecuting herself.
Subjecting this position to the crucible, one is prompted to ask Okonjo-Iweala if in all her experiences at the World Bank and elsewhere whether, the President has the right and powers under our laws to give approval for the withdrawal of $2billion from the ECA?

Whether the President has the power to usurp the powers of NEC with respect to withdrawals from the ECA? Whether the President has the powers to touch any money that belongs to the States and Local Governments?

It may interest Okonjo-Iweala to note that when the $5billion Power Intervention Fund was approved by NEC with all the 36 states Governors in session, due process had to be followed before the money was withdrawn from the ECA. Indeed, each of the 36 Governors had to seek the authorization of the Houses of Assembly, the 774 Local Government Chairmen and their Legislative Councils.

Just waking up in the morning to declare that “Mr. President” gave the approval and it was used to pay subsidy claims flies in the face of logic, common sense, due process and law. Was payment for subsidy not captured in the Appropriation Law?

Why would a Minister that is worth her salt dip her hands into our collective patrimony to take that much, a whopping $2billion on the directives of one Mr. President?

Can any World Bank Chief Executive dip hands into the till to take what belongs to all vide approval against what the laws and rules guiding World Bank specify? Was the Federal Government portion of the $2.1billion appropriated by the National Assembly before it was used to pay oil marketers?

To the best of our knowledge, there was nothing of the sort. We think very seriously that Okonjo-Iweala has more questions to answer. She has shifted grounds on four different scores. That tells so much on her integrity.
According to Brian Tracy, that celebrated author; “integrity is more than a value.

It is the one quality of mind that assures or guarantees all the other values that you select. You cannot have a little bit of integrity.

It must be all or nothing”. If Okonjo-Iweala truly understands the whole essence of integrity, we had expected her to come clean on these serious allegations of financial malfeasance instead of allowing her ill-informed Spokesman, such vend-able lick-spittle, to be vomiting incoherent and inconsistent banalities on issues that border on our collective patrimony.

This was the same attitude she put up when the issue of misappropriated N19.5billion Aviation Fund was being investigated under former President, Chief Olusegun Obaanjo. Till date, she has not been able to clear the air on the N6.5 billion loan she allegedly raised from Commercial Banksto fix Control Towers of Four Airports.

That is a story for another day.

Her latest resort to blackmail using her refusal to grant Edo State Government a loan request as the reason why the Comrade Governor is asking her valid questions that border on fraud and financial recklessness is completely at variance with the real issues at stake.

What has the request for loans got to do with the claim that someone dips her hand into the public till to spend what was not approved by the collective? How does she expect the states to survive when she refused to make full disclosure on accruals and declined to give them their share on a regular basis as required by law?

Because she plundered the resources with reckless abandon, she is now running from pillar to post without addressing the real issues. Please help us ask her; Madam Okonjo; what happened to ECA withdrawals?

What is the meaning of “numerical diarrhea” in the context of financial malfeasance and official sleaze that characterized Okonjo-Iweala’s regime as Finance Minster? From the records we have seen so far and the tantrums she has been throwing rather than address the real issues, it is appropriate to conclude that she was indeed Coordinating Minister of Economic Fraud and Financial Malfeasance.

All the acclaimed World Bank experiences were just part of the hollow rituals to hoodwink the Nigerian public from addressing the real issues of mismanagement. We will continue to insist that she comes out clean, no matter how ostentatiously dramatic she chooses to go.
SIGNED….

PRINCE KASSIM AFEGBUA
SPECIAL ADVISER, MEDIA AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS, TO THE EDO STATE GOVERNOR.

Kidnapping , arm robbery, yahoo-yahoo, and so many other criminal and fraudulent activities have been on d increase in Edo state and instead of Him to face all dis head on he has bn busy making spurious allegations against the former administration. Am not in support of any party or any politician but its disgusting to see an otherwise educated and enlightened man accusing another person without any proofs on a daily basis whereas He is worse! What do you call that kind of person?

By Gabriel Enogholase

BENIN — EDO State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has challenged the state governor, Mr Adams Oshiomhole, to explain to the people of the state what he does with the N500 million he collects as security votes monthly before asking council chairmen and councillors to suspend their security votes to enable them pay salaries of their workers.

State chairman of the PDP, Chief Dan Orbih, who addressed newsmen in Benin, yesterday, said that the governor had no moral justification to talk on accountability and transparency in Abuja when he cannot explain to Edo people how he has been spending the money he collects for security in a state that has no security challenge.



He attributed the financial crisis rocking local governments in Edo State to the state government’s financial recklessness and accused it of plunging the councils into a financial mess as a result of its spending of funds meant for them.

Oshiomhole

Fifteen of the 18 councils in Edo State are currently are owing workers’ salaries ranging from three to 10 months.

According to  Orbih, “the problem was not because the councils were not getting money from the Federation Account but due to the state government taking money meant for the councils every month. N212.278 billion was released to the 18 councils in the state between November 2008, when Oshiomhole assumed office, and April 2015.”

He said the move to stop the security votes of the council chairmen to enable council workers’ salaries to be paid was laughable and immoral.

Orbih, who said the council chairmen earn between N1.7million and N1.2 million each per month as security votes, while the legislative arm of the councils earns about N1 million each as security votes, noted that the total monthly combined sum of N42 million was nowhere close to the over N500 million Governor Oshiomhole earns as security votes.

Orbih, who also spoke on the flood and erosion problem confronting Benin City, said there was nothing on ground to justify the N30 billion facilities obtained from the capital market and the N5 billion received from the World Bank to curtail the erosion menace as many houses and property were lost to downpour last week in the state capital.
Source: www.vanguardngr.com/2015/07/unpaid-salaries-explain-how-you-spend-n500m-security-vote-pdp-tells-oshiomhole/

Ya! Na im turn to face d heat...at d end of his tenure he shd be ready for EFCC probe.

• I’m ready, says governor Adams Oshiomhole
• Party members urge dissolution of executive committee

THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State has urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to institute a probe of Governor Adams Oshiomhole, especially his culpability in the Local Government Account jointly operated with the governor.

Oshiomhole yesterday welcomed the call by the state chairman of the PDP, Mr. Dan Orbih, but insisted that the probe should start from 1999.

The PDP had presided over the state from 1999 to November 12, 2008, when the Oshiomhole became governor through the verdict of the court.

The governor, in a statement by his Special Adviser, Media and Public Affairs, Prince Kassim Afegbua, said: “We are pleased to state without fear or favour that we welcome the suggestion raised by Dan Orbih inviting the EFCC to look into the books and accounts of Local Government Administration in the last six years but that such investigation should also cover the period between 1999 and 2008.

He said such investigation should also look into the allocations and expenditures of the local governments, their procurement procedures, who did the procurements, at what costs and the total accruals into the coffers of local government accounts across the state within that period of 1999 to 2008.

“From such investigative effort, the public would be able to know who siphoned local government funds between the government of Comrade Oshiomhole and that presided over by the PDP for 10 years. This should be the real challenge in the light of ongoing efforts to sanitise the inherited rotten system from the PDP. It will also make an interesting reading if the PDP can publish all accruals to local government between 1999 and 2008, same way it published, inaccurately, the figures between 2008 and 2015.

Meanwhile, PDP members led by former member of the House of Representatives, Johnson Agbolagba has called for the dissolution of the state executive committee and those of the 18 local governments. He said they should be replaced with caretaker team that would conduct congresses.  
Those calling for the dissolution said the party has failed to win election in the past six years ands, therefore, needs new leadership.
  
In the same vein, The Guardian reliably gathered that some party leaders with the name new PDP being led by a former lawmaker are planning a similar meeting in Edo South where a similar position would be taken.  

The leaders in Edo North bared their mind in a letter addressed to the National leadership of the party signed by Abolagba, S.S.Mayaki and 18 other leaders across the six local councils in Edo North. The letter was read to journalists in a well-attended rally held in Auchi.
  
The leaders under the aegis of the PDP Adherents (Edo North Must Win) in the letter said “Edo North PDP leaders should be allowed to determine its political future rather than its political future being determined by non Edo North leaders or Edo North leaders perceived to be loyal to some national leaders of the party.”

The leaders lamented what they described as mass exodus of their members to the APC, regretting that, rather than find solution to the problem, the current leadership of the party in the state “have continued to embark on actions capable of causing disunity and destruction in Edo State and Edo North in particular.
Source: www.ngrguardiannews.com/2015/07/pdp-calls-for-efcc-probe-of-edos-finances/

Prayer is not a reminder. God has always wanted to communicate with us and d only way to do dis is thru prayer. No man created his or herself, we are all a product of a divine plan. You are not helping God wen u pray instead u are helping ursef.If you love som1 you will always love to hear frm dem or why do u communicate wit ur loved ones almost all d time? Well, d bible has alredi sed only a fool says dere is no God!

Lovesdaisied:
This man is in love with NOI. Chasing and looking for her attention when he has a pretty new bride at home.

I honestly do not understand guys!

Lolz

Am not in support of NOI buh I tink dose investigating d records shd do dat first before accusing d past govt. Don't just bandy figures here nd dere show us facts nd let d law take its full course. We all know dat even d Oshiomole who is acting like a saint is anything but a saint.

olalat:
U are among the few who hv virile critical thinkg ability.

. Thanks bro for ur observation and kind words.

I wud say dat oshiomole and co are supposed to go ahead with their investigations and at the end show to the public a comprehensive report of all d under hand dealings if any and not to resort to wild allegations on a daily basis as dis always leaves evry1 in a state of "yipi yapo"

The verbal clash between the immediate past Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo–Iweala, and the Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, over the management of Nigeria’s finances, may not end any time soon, as the exchanges between the duo continued Wednesday.

On Monday, after the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja, Mr. Oshiomhole and his Kaduna State counterpart, Nasir El Rufai, had said that about $2.1 bn had been withdrawn from the $4.1 bn left in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) last November “without authorization.”

In a quick reaction Tuesday, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala hit back at the governors, through her spokesperson, Paul Nwabuikwu, who described the allegations as “false, malicious and totally without foundation.”

“It is clear that this is the latest chapter of a political witch-hunt by elements who are attempting to use the respected National Economic Council for ignoble purposes having failed abysmally in their previous attempts to tar the Okonjo-Iweala name,” Mr. Nwabuikwu said in a statement.

But, Mr. Oshiomhole, who was guest on Channels TV programme on Wednesday, accused the former Minister of not only toying with figures about the country’s finances, but also being economical with the truth on the state of the economy bequeathed to President Muhammadu Buhari.

Mr. Oshiomhole accused Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala of mismanaging the economy, particularly the controversial waivers granted various organizations that cost the economy several billions of naira, adding that the Federal Government would have been in a worse financial position than the states if it had not resorted to borrowing to pay wages.

“With all due respect to the former Minister Okonjo-Iweala, she knows how to play around with statistics,” Mr. Oshiomhole said. “I have made the point before that she keeps opening part of the pages and not the entire book.
“The logic of transparency is that every minister must publish in full what is accruing to the Federation Account month to month and what is distributed to them.

“What she has been publishing has been what went to the federal, state and local governments. She never published simultaneously what accrued during the period, out of which these were distributed, so that we can know what was collected; what was distributed, and what was left in the excess crude account.”

As a member of NEC, Mr. Oshiomhole said he had confronted the former Minister on several occasions to demand that reports on matters of Federation Account should not be presented to members verbally, but in written form, for reasons of accountability.

On the controversial unauthorised spending, Mr. Oshiomhole said the power to take money from the ECA was vested in the NEC, an institution created by the constitution, and not State Finance Commissioners, who were members of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC).

On claims by Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala that Nigerians knew what the three tiers of government usually collect through the State Commissioners who attend the monthly FAAC meetings, Mr. Oshiomhole dismissed it as her administrative arrangement not known to the constitution.

On the controversial $2 bn, the governor said Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala had stated in her last report that $4.1 billion was the balance in the ECA.

“She said so orally, but was captured in the minutes, only for her to come around again at the last minute to say “X” figure is left. We (governors) asked her, what did you pay for?

“The situation was always compounded by the fact that the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources always worked together to refuse to transfer to the Federation Account huge sums of money that ought to have accrued to the government,” Mr. Oshiomhole said.

He cited the example of payments from the Nigeria LNG, which were not accounted for, and challenged Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala to produce records of huge payments of between $1.5bn to $2 bn every year over the past 4 to 5 years, which ought to have gone to the federation account.

“These monies were never transferred to the Federation Account. They were unilaterally expended by the Federal Government.

“We were not even informed of the fact that these monies were paid. Each time we asked the then Minister what was happening with the proceeds from the NLNG, no explanation was ever offered, whether in black and white, or orally.
“There are several other federal agencies that made huge sums of money, which were illegally and unilaterally spent by the Federal Government, without being allowed to flow into the Federation Account,” Mr. Oshiomhole stated.
Source: www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/185943-again-oshiomhole-tackles-okonjo-iweala-says-ex-minister-mismanaged-economy.html

I have same challenge as you....though I searched on google nd d search results I got was amazing and still got me confused. Am wit you on dis 1. Pls any1 wt advice come to our aid. Though mine is on Agribusiness and related fields.

Sometimes I do wonder y buhari hasn't appointed his cabinet yet buh who knows weda is tinkin abt d cost implication 4 now

Let all Nigerians begin to rain curses on dis corrupt persons and watch d wrath of God fall on all of dem!!

Rumors being circulated around Benin the capital of Edo state has it that the Oba of Benin is dead. According to tradition it is still being kept from the public. The Oba of Benin has not been seen for some time now and According to sources in the palace it seems the Oba died early this month. A formal announcement will be made anytime soon.

We lack leaders in dis country. Am waiting to c if buhari will be diferent...if he ends up like others just know dat dere is no hope 4 ds country.

Nigeria's democracy is basically for d rich. They serve Nigeria for only 4 yrs nd end up with several millions while an average Nigerian serves for 35yrs nd ends up wt chicken change. God help us!

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan, Vice-president Namadi Sambo, non-returning federal lawmakers, ministers and   presidential aides will collect N3.24bn as severance allowances, investigation by The PUNCH has shown.

The severance allowances   are contained in the Remuneration Package   put together by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission.

According to the package, Jonathan, who will hand over to the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, on May 29, is entitled to 300 per cent of his annual basic salary.

The President’s annual basic salary is put at N3, 514,705 and therefore his severance allowance will be N10, 544,115 after May 29.

The severance allowance is without prejudice to his other constitutional entitlements as a former head of government.

Similarly, Vice-President Sambo, who leaves office the same day as Jonathan, is also entitled to 300 per cent of his annual basic salary put at N3, 031,572.50. This means that his severance allowance after May 29 is N9, 094,717.50.

For having held the office of vice- president, Sambo also has some constitutional entitlements and perks.

About 76 senators are not returning to the National Assembly either because they did not stand for election or because they lost their bids to return. They are however entitled to N462,019,200 at the expiration of their tenure on June 5.

Like Jonathan and Sambo, they are entitled to 300 per cent of their annual basic salaries as severance allowances. This amounts to N6, 079,200 per senator.

In the House of Representatives, about 290 members are not returning to the 8th National Assembly to be proclaimed into existence by Buhari on June 5.

Each of the members is entitled to N5, 955,637.50 as severance allowance. This means that the 290 members   will be paid N1, 727,134,875.

The ministers, on the other hand, will be collecting a total of N253, 967,212.5. There are 42 ministers in Jonathan’s cabinet. Thirty one of them are senior ministers and 11 are ministers of state.

Each of the senior ministers is entitled to N6, 079,200 severance allowance while each of the ministers of state   will receive N5, 872,740.

This means that collectively, the senior ministers will get N188, 455,200 at the expiration of their tenure on May 29 while collectively, the ministers of state will be collecting N65, 512,012.5 .

The aides to the President comprising special advisers, senior special assistants and special assistants   will   get   N775, 207,125.

There are 23 of them who work with the president as special advisers. Apart from this number, however, there are several others estimated at 110 who work with the vice-president, the First Lady(Patience Jonathan) and special advisers that are designated either as senior special assistants or special assistants to the President.

This means that there are about 133 aides to the president and each of them is entitled to 300 per cent of their annual basic salary which amounts to N5, 828,625.

The Nigerian democracy has been identified as one of the costliest in the world as a result of a large number of political office holders.

Some experts, for instance, think that a cabinet made up of 42 ministers is too large. However, constitutionally, each of the 36 states   is expected to be represented in the Federal Executive Council.

Bicameralism is another source of worry for many observers who believe that Nigeria can do with one chamber of the National Assembly. Some Nigerians have called for part-time legislature as a means of saving cost.

However, the worry of many Nigerians is not what the lawmakers earn monthly but what accrues to them through self-appropriation and   constituency projects.

Two activist   lawyers – Jiti Ogunye and Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa – faulted the basis for earmarking such an amount of money for such purposes in the face of the economic challenges the country is grappling with.

While Adegboruwa argued that the political office holders were not entitled to any severance allowance given what they earned as salaries and benefits while in office, Ogunye called for a drastic cut in the allowances.

Adegboruwa said that since the political office holders had   been paid what could sustain them and their families for the rest of their lives, they   were   no longer entitled to severance allowance.

He said, “I believe that given the monumental and outrageous salaries, benefits and allowances that are being paid to the outgoing members of this executive, the legislators especially the House of Representatives, senators and ministers, I believe they should save Nigerians from the luxury of any outrageous allowance.

“This incoming government needs a lot of resources to fulfil its campaign promises. Our incoming government is likely to remain stagnant for now. Nigeria cannot afford the luxury in the name of severance allowance. Our people are suffering. They should have mercy on Nigeria. What they have taken is enough to sustain them and their families for the rest of their lives.”

Ogunye said, “While the RMAFAC could have its own scale, guidelines and parameters for determining those political office holders who qualify for these severance benefits and the quantum each of them and all of them should recieve, we cannot but point out that this amount, in the circumstances of our dire economic situation, is outrageous.

“It is carrying the culture of profligacy and corruption in the conduct of our public affairs too far. At this point of economic recession and dwindling oil revenue, RMFAC ought to be chiefly concerned with revenue mobilisation to cater for the shortfall in the funding of the yet to be passed 2015 Appropriation bill.

“We suggest a drastic cut in the amount. Political office holders do not necessarily serve Nigeria more and better than school teachers, lecturers, judges, health workers et cetra, who take home modest gratituities and pensions after 35 years of service.”

The Publicity Secretary of the pan-Yoruba group, Afenifere,   Yinka Odumakin, said, “It is   unjust   and morally reprehensible for these officials who mostly have fleeced the public till with veracious rapacity to legislate crazy retirement benefits.

“It is nothing but robbing the public for people who lived off the state for four or eight years to want to become permanent liability on the system.

“This is a country where civil servants who served the country for 35 years are queuing to death for pensions that mostly remain unpaid. There are no serious countries in the world where public officials earn what ours take not to talk of the sickening retirement benefits they ask for.”
Source: www.punchng.com/news/jonathan-sambo-others-to-get-n3-24bn-severance-pay/

Awka – Gov. Willie Obiano of Anambra has resolved to donate his salaries to the less privileged members of the society in the state.

Obiano said in Awka on Monday that he had sent a written instruction to his Principal Secretary, Mr Willie Nwokoye, to implement his wish with immediate effect.


“I have been donating it to the church since I became a governor,” he said.



He said that giving help to the less privileged in the society, through properly structured charity organisations, would make for more impact.

Obiano’

“After spending many fruitful years in leadership positions in the private sector, I earn enough pensions to sustain the needs of my modest family.

“So, I felt that my salary will be more useful if it puts a smile on the faces of some underprivileged members of society to whom the smallest amount of money will make a huge difference.’’

The governor added that he and his wife had always been deeply involved in charity and philanthropic activities, long before they went into public life.

He said that his administration had always carved out a place for the underprivileged members of the society.

The governor said that they had always award scholarships to physically challenged students in the state and set up rehabilitation centre for the destitute.

“We have picked up many destitute, including mentally challenged people whom we reunited with their families after healing and rehabilitating them.

“We shall continue to lend a helping hand to people in need as long as the Lord provides us with the resources and the good health to remember our obligations to Him,” he said.

Barely a week ago, Obiano and his wife handed out 200 prosthetic limbs to physically challenged people.

The gesture, he said, was in continuation of his elaborate effort to give meaning to the lives of the needy Nigerians.

Source: www.vanguardngr.com/2015/04/obiano-donates-salary-to-less-privileged-people-in-anambra/

Bookmarked this alredi

Amen

A corp member simply identified as Mahmud from Auchi in Edo state died in his place of primary assignment, a military barrack in Gashaka local government area of Taraba state. He was a batch B corp member who was supposed to pass out along with other of his colleagues in July. RIP Mahmud!

Its funny hw pple just attack others as if they re perfect! Its quite bad. Guess all Nigerians ar nt lik dat.

It has suddenly become a trend especially on nairaland for some persons to talk down others instead of building others up or encouraging them. Why? Is it so difficult to encourage others? Or you wish you were in their shoes?

April 15, 2015 : Alexander Okere

The Edo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party on Tuesday said that the outcome of the presidential and National Assembly elections has shown that the party remains a viable alternative to deliver good governance in the 2016 governorship election.

The state Chairman of the party, Chief Dan Orbih, who made this known while briefing journalists at the party’s secretariat in Benin, also commended the electorate for participating in the general elections held across the state.

Orbih said, “The actual race for a change in Edo State Government House has truly started; with two senators and five House of Representatives members, I believe we have started the struggle to reclaim Edo State. For Edo people, we are never going to relent in our position to ensure that we can deepen democracy in the state.

“This state belongs to all of us. We have a responsibility as a political party to be answerable to our people; to point out the ills of Adams Oshiomhole’s government and I promise Edo people that we are never going to relent in our effort in this regard.”

Orbih said that the support received from eligible voters in the state, which enabled the PDP to win the Edo-South and Edo-Central senatorial seats, in addition to five out of the nine seats in the Federal House of Representatives, was a reflection of their confidence in the party to check the excesses of the ruling party.

He said, “Democracy cannot survive when you don’t have an informed alternative or an opposition party that will always come to speak for the people. Of course, the APC-led state government recorded some victories at the state House of Assembly but that has not taken anything away from the fact that the politics of our state is now fairly balanced and there is no one dominant party.

“Why we can boast of having the majority of the people that will represent the people of Edo State at the National Assembly, for tactical reasons, it is also good that they (APC) have some good representation at the state House of Assembly. So, the governor is having a good majority at the state House of Assembly and will have no excuse to give Edo people for his failure.”

While congratulating all elected candidates in the state Assembly poll, Orbih said that Edo people looked forward to a vibrant and focused legislature devoid of political sentiments.

Source: www.punchng.com/news/pdpll-bounce-back-in-edo-orbih/

By Simon Ebegbulem

BENIN—GOVERNOR Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, has said that Saturday’s triumph of his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC,  in the state House of Assembly elections and the presidential victory of the party, has nailed the coffin of political god fathers in the state.

Oshiomhole said that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP’s plot was to pour “acid on my political life” if they had won the House of Assembly elections“ but as usual, God has disgraced them. Dan Orbih has no answer to that and they are completely dead in Edo State today.”

He spoke when he led thousands of APC faithful on a 10-km road show round major streets of Benin City, to celebrate the victory of the APC at Saturday’s poll.
Source: www.vanguardngr.com/2015/04/apcs-victory-nailed-coffins-of-political-god-fathers-in-edo-oshiomhole/

tyson99:
Na the injury of d presidential election still dey pain am

Hahaha

ideykwum:
Everybody is emulating the Amaechi Example!! That's why it's never good to set a bad precedent! It may come back to haunt you!!!

I tell u man

Anenih shd go nd rest.

We shd learn to respect dis man. No one is perfect but dis man's gud side is far better dan his bad side (that's if he has any)

BENIN CITY—THE Enojie of Opoji and Vice Chairman, Edo State Council of Traditional Rulers, His Royal Highness, HRH, Aidonojie Ehidiamen 1, has linked the emergence of General Muhammadu Buhari as President with the liberation  of Esan people from the stranglehold of the chairman, Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Tony Anenih.

He accused Chief Anenih of concentrating all federal appointments in his area Uromi to the detriment of other areas in Esan land since 1999.

The royal father declared to newsmen, yesterday, that the emergence of General Buhari of the APC as President came as a sigh of relief to his people, whom he alleged, had been marginalised by successive PDP led administrations, however, commended President Goodluck Jonathan for accepting defeat in the presidential election, and urged many Nigerians leaders to emulate him.

According to him: “ It is sad that people outside Esan land have always accused Esan people of having all the federal appointments, but that is not true; all the appointments since 1999 are all from Uromi, the home of Chief Anenih. We have cried for so many years but he does not care because he believes that his PDP is in power and nothing will happen.

“All the Ministerial appointments have gone to Uromi. Majority of Esan people are celebrating the exit of PDP because now all the blackmail and promise being given to people for ministerial appointments and governorship are all over. That is what has enslaved Esan people for years, but thank God he has answered us.”
Source: www.vanguardngr.com/2015/04/buharis-emergencell-free-esan-people-from-political-bondage-royal-father/