₦airaland Forum

Who God has bless....No man can curse!!!
YesssssssS!!!!!! Finally made front page!! Baba God noni..!!!

D'banj pictured below with arguably the richest men in the world,
Bill Gates at an event in Monaco, France
He also met one of the richest men in Africa, Sudanese-born
billionaire, Mo Ibrahim and singer and humanitarian, Bono.

www.nigerianeye.com/2014/07/pictures-dbanj-hangs-out-with-world.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Nigerianeye+(NigerianEye)&m=1

The National Conference Committee on Political Restructuring and Forms of Government has recommended that there should be a unicameral National Assembly as well as Nigeria retaining its federal structure.

The committee however rejected the six-geo political zones as federating units, and rather preferred that the 36 states should become the federating units.

It also recommended that the South-east should have a additional state, and that any group of states may create a self-funding Zonal Commission to promote economic development, good governance, equity, peace and security in accordance with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

According to the committee, there are requests for more states, but said that subsequent creation of states should be on merit, while approving the criteria for the creation of new States as follows.

It said that: “Any new State sought to be created must be viable. In considering viability the following should be taken into consideration. Any new State should be economically viable or potentially economically viable. It should have human, natural and material resources.

“It should have a minimum land mass/water mass, The viability of the existing State(s) should be taken into consideration as well so as not to create a situation where new State(s) would leave the existing State(s) unviable, The new State should have cultural /historical antecedents, with strong cultural affinity amongst the population of the new state.

“The components of the new State should be contiguous, any new State shall have a minimum population of one million persons. The Committee considered the provisions of Section 8 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and resolved to maintain it or as may be amended”, the committee stated.

On local government, the committee reaffirmed Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution (as Amended) that “a system of local governments by democratically elected local government council is guaranteed. It further said that local governments should, as at present not be a third tier of the federation.

“States may wish to create local governments, which shall be under the jurisdiction of the States. The States shall determine the number, structure, form and administration of local governments. Without prejudice to the existing local governments, states that wish may create or reduce the number of existing local governments, which shall be under the jurisdiction of the State.

“That the number, structure, form and administration of the local governments shall be the responsibility of the States. That the list of the Local Governments contained in the First Schedule of the 1999 Constitution (as Amended) be removed, and transferred to the States to be covered by a law of the State Houses of Assembly.

“That the functions of the Local governments as contained in Schedule 4 of the 1999 Constitution (as Amended) shall be transferred to the States subject to the power of the State Houses of Assembly to add or reduce the said functions of the local government”, the committee said.

That all nominees of SRMAFC be screened by State House of Assembly as members should be appointed to a fixed tenure with possibility of renewal for another term; members cannot be removed until expiration of their terms unless for special circumstances; and that in its allocation of funds to the state government, local government councils and between local councils of a State.

On Local Government Elections, the Committee said it accepted the Belgore Report that the practice of unelected officials or sole administrators administering local governments or any period violates the spirit of representative governance and should not be allowed. Local councils must have clearly defined tenure.

“Elections should be held not earlier than 90 days or 30 days to the expiration of the clearly defined tenure of the local government Councils. Section 197(1)(b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the relevant provisions in the Third Schedule should, therefore be retained, provided the composition of an ad hoc Election Council will include the following: a serving High Court Judge as Chairman, one representative each of all political parties that won election into the State House of Assembly and eminent community leader.

Others are representative of the labour movement, representative of the civil society. In the event of death, impeachment, incapacitation or resignation of the local government chairman or any other official, the vacancy must be filled by election not later than 90 days from the onset of the vacancy.”

It further recommended that the geo-political zones should not be the federating units government but states. It recommended that the Committee unanimously resolved that a Modified Presidential System of Government be adopted for the federation. That the core elements of the Modified Presidential System of government shall be as follows:

There shall be a president for the federation and for the purpose of election to the office of President, the whole of the federation shall be regarded as one constituency; candidate for an election to the office of the president shall run as a sole candidate.

It said there should be a vice president for the federation, the president-elect shall select a vice-president from the legislature, the President shall exercise full responsibility for his government and he shall select the ministers from the legislature.

Subject to the provisions of (vi) above, the President may select, not more than 30 per cent of his ministers from outside the legislature. The President shall be entitled to serve two terms of office of four years each, running consecutively. The second term of a maximum of four years shall be subject to re-election; there shall be quarterly question time for the President and weekly question time for Ministers at the legislature to enhance accountability and transparency.

It recommended that there shall be an annual State-of-the- Nation address by the president, In the event of death, incapacitation, impeachment or resignation of the president, the vice-president shall act as president for a period of ninety (90) days within which an election to the office of president shall be held”, the committee recommended.

www.thisdaylive.com/articles/committee-recommends-unicameral-legislature-retains-federal-system-of-government/182451/

PARIS, July 1, 2014 (AFP) – Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday became
the first former French president to be taken into formal custody as
he was detained for questioning in an influence-peddling probe.
Sarkozy turned himself in, arriving at a police station in the western
Paris suburb of Nanterre around 8:00 am (0600 GMT) in a black
saloon car with tinted windows.
He can be held for questioning for a first period of up to 24 hours,
with a possible extension of another day. He must then be brought
before a judge to be charged or be released.
Former France’s president Nicolas Sarkozy in a car the Elysee
presidential Palace a. AFP PHOTO
The detention of Sarkozy, a right-winger who led France from 2007
to 2012, comes a day after investigators took his longtime lawyer
Thierry Herzog and two magistrates into custody.
It is the latest in a long line of legal woes for the 59-year-old since
he left office following his defeat by President Francois Hollande in
the 2012 presidential vote.
Sarkozy has made strong hints of a comeback bid in the 2017
presidential election but his hopes would be dealt a heavy blow if he
is charged in this case.
Government spokesman Stephane Le Foll denied any political
pressure was put on the courts to go after Sarkozy.
“The justice system is investigating and will follow this through to
the end. Nicolas Sarkozy can face justice just like anyone else,” he
told i-Tele.
Investigators are seeking to establish if the former president, with
the help of Herzog, attempted to pervert the course of justice.
They suspect Sarkozy sought to obtain inside information from one
of the magistrates about the progress of another probe, in exchange
for support in securing a post in Monaco.
- Tip-off on phone tapping -
Investigators are probing another allegation that Sarkozy was
illegally tipped off that his mobile phone had been tapped by judges
looking into the alleged financing of his 2007 election campaign by
former Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi.
Sarkozy is alleged to have been helped to victory in 2007 with up to
50 million euros ($70 million at the time) provided by Kadhafi and
envelopes stuffed with cash from France’s richest woman, L’Oreal
heiress Liliane Bettencourt.
He dismisses the Kadhafi claims as ridiculous and was cleared last
year of taking Bettencourt’s money when she was too frail to know
what she was doing. His campaign treasurer is one of 10 people
awaiting trial in that case.
The Kadhafi investigation is ongoing. It was in connection with the
case that judges last year obtained the unprecedented authorisation
to tap the phones of a former president.
Sarkozy has been implicated in a number of scandals that are under
investigation, including a long-running probe into allegations he
helped organise kickbacks from a Pakistani arms deal before
becoming president.
He has also been linked to a scandal over the funding of his
campaign for re-election in 2012.
The leader of his UMP party resigned last month after it emerged
that 10 million euros ($13.6 million) spent in support of Sarkozy had
been passed off as party expenses.
Sarkozy denies any knowledge or involvement in the falsification of
bills for organising campaign rallies and other events. A criminal
investigation into that case was opened last week.
French judges have in recent years shown their readiness to go
after former leaders with their successful pursuit of Sarkozy’s
predecessor as president, Jacques Chirac.
Chirac was convicted in 2011 on corruption charges related to his
time as mayor of Paris but was excused from attending his trial
because of ill health and was given a two-year suspended prison
term.

www.vanguardngr.com/2014/07/sarkozy-detention-french-influence-peddling-probe/

The National Conference on Thursday approved a recommendation
for the creation of state police to complement duties of the Nigeria
Police Force in the country.
The approval was given during the adoption of report of the
Committee on National Security in Abuja.
The conference adopted the retention of one Federal Police Force
that is decentralised to involve participation by states, local
governments and communities.
Following the adoption, however, some delegates raised concern on
the possibility of harmonious co-existence of both federal and state
police, considering that their duties might overlap.
They raised concern on the appropriate title for commissioners of
police in charge of state police and federal police as well as
modalities for posting commissioners under the federal system to
states.
A voice vote was later taken and delegates voted against seeking
the consent of a state governor before the posting of a federal
police commissioner to any state.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that they equally voted
against state governors being involved in the running of police
commands in their states.
Thereafter, the conference adopted funding of state police by state
government and abolishment of monetisation of a special
protection unit of the Nigeria Police Force, which seemed to
privatise security.
In the same vein, a compulsory life insurance for all armed security
personnel, including the police, by government was approved.
The conference, however, voted against the proposal to merge the
Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and the National Security and Civil
Defence Corps (NSCDC) with the Nigeria Police.
The conference also rejected the call to suspended recruitment of
constables for a given period of time within which police training
institutions would be upgraded and brought to international
standard.
The conference further turned down the proposal for the police to
be brought under the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The proposal for the establishment of a police complaint authority
and call for women to be given 50 per cent participation in all the
security forces were also turned down. (NAN)


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