₦airaland Forum

Your decoder is OK but your dish is too small. Look for 1.8m or 2.4 meter dish and you'll enjoy free sports channels.

chrisxm:
sent a post if u interested to get your Ovhd decoder activated if u have one

My space openview HD stopped working. How much will you take to reactivate it?

Any m-peg 4 decoder will do. Strong 4669, 4940, 4922, 4922A qsat etc etc.

The Nigerian Literary Prize, worth $100, 000, has released a shortlist of three, which includes authors Elnathan John, Chika Unigwe, and Abubakar Adam Ibrahim.
The shortlist, from an initial list of eleven released in July, was approved by the Advisory Board for The Nigeria Prize for Literature sponsored by Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Ltd.

John, a writer, lawyer and a Civitella Ranieri Fellow, is on the list for his debut novel, ‘Born on a Tuesday’. In 2013, his short story, ‘Bayan Layi’, which later became the first chapter of his debut novel, was on the shortlist for the Caine Prize for African Writing. From the tale of Dantala, who hangs out with a group of marijuana-smoking political thugs, the novels blew up to a full length novel about the protagonist’s journey, from a thug to an almajiri who later becomes a trusted assistant to a respected imam. In this contemporary work, the writer beams his searchlight on the Shi’ite sect and the manipulation of religion by a few for personal gains.
‘Night Dancer’, written by Unigwe focuses on the young protagonist’s search for identity and her consequent reappraisal of her mother’s values. This writer was 2012 winner of The Nigeria Prize for Literature, with her novel ‘On Black Sisters Street’. She sat on the Board of Trustees of pan-African literary initiative, Writivism, and was recently appointed a judge for the Man Booker Prize, 2017.
Set in conservative Northern Nigeria, Ibrahim’s ‘Season of Crimson Blossoms’ is the story of fiftyish Binta and her secret affair with a street thug, Reza. What started as a break-in incident, soon led to an affair that threatened the image of Binta and her family. This author has won the BBC African Performance Prize and the Amatu Braide Prize for Prose. He is also a Gabriel Garcia Marquez Fellow, a Civitella Ranieri Fellow, and author of ‘Whispering Trees’, a collection of short stories with international acclaim.
The Chairman of the panel of judges is Prof. Dan Izevbaye, a well-respected literary critic and professor of Literature in English. Others are Asabe Usman Kabir, professor of Oral and African Literatures at Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto and Isidore Diala, first winner of The Nigeria Prize for Literary Criticism and professor of African literature in the Department of English, Imo State University, Owerri.
Other members of the Advisory Board, besides Professor Emeritus Ayo Banjo, two-time Vice-Chancellor of Nigeria’s premier university, University of Ibadan, are Prof. Jerry Agada, a former Minister of State for Education, former President of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), and Professor Emeritus Ben Elugbe, former President of the Nigerian Academy of Letters and president of the West-African Linguistic Society from 2004 to 2013.
The Nigeria Prize for Literature rotates yearly amongst four literary genres: prose fiction, poetry, drama and children’s literature. Next year’s prize will be for poetry. A total of 173 entries for the prize were received this year.
The Nigeria Prize for Literature and The Nigeria Prize for Science are sponsored by Nigeria LNG Limited.

http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/bookshelf/one-of-these-writers-could-be-n40m-richer-by-october/161922.html#5YuTFOSUewwDS5xb.99

Behold the pope observing Salat in Bangui Central Mosque. What do you say about this?

The Cross River State Government will establish its own airline with Dana Group as operators.
Governor Ben Ayade, who revealed this, said that the airline would be called Cally airline.

The Dana Group, a consortium of Indian investors, would partner the state on airline and pharmaceuticals businesses.
Speaking in Calabar, Ayade said that the Cally airline would come on stream soon, adding that the Dana Group would oversee the management of the airline and Calabar pharmaceutical company, to be known as CalaPharm.
He said: “I am sure that in the next two to three months, you will all see Dana Air flying to Calabar. We have our own state’s aircraft, which Dana has agreed to do a detailed technical study of the aircraft, which is in Aero Contractor’s fleet in Lagos.
“Cally air will fly Calabar, Obudu, Lagos and, of course, Abuja. We are in a haste to get Cally air started, so Calabar will have its own airline in partnership with Dana as its technical operator and we have also reached a point where we will be signing up on that deal.”
Speaking on the partnership, Jackies Hartmani of Dana Air said: “Dana Air is very impressed with what governor Ayade is doing to transform the state in terms of investment and we are committed to ensuring the success of the partnership.”The Cross River State Government will establish its own airline with Dana Group as operators.
Governor Ben Ayade, who revealed this, said that the airline would be called Cally airline.

The Dana Group, a consortium of Indian investors, would partner the state on airline and pharmaceuticals businesses.
Speaking in Calabar, Ayade said that the Cally airline would come on stream soon, adding that the Dana Group would oversee the management of the airline and Calabar pharmaceutical company, to be known as CalaPharm.
He said: “I am sure that in the next two to three months, you will all see Dana Air flying to Calabar. We have our own state’s aircraft, which Dana has agreed to do a detailed technical study of the aircraft, which is in Aero Contractor’s fleet in Lagos.
“Cally air will fly Calabar, Obudu, Lagos and, of course, Abuja. We are in a haste to get Cally air started, so Calabar will have its own airline in partnership with Dana as its technical operator and we have also reached a point where we will be signing up on that deal.”
Speaking on the partnership, Jackies Hartmani of Dana Air said: “Dana Air is very impressed with what governor Ayade is doing to transform the state in terms of investment and we are committed to ensuring the success of the partnership.”

http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/business/c-river-to-float-own-airline-ayade/161625.html?platform=hootsuite

ABUJA—The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, and Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Maikanti Baru, said, yesterday, there was no plan by the Federal Government to hike the price of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, otherwise known as petrol.

The declaration came on a day Acting Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, Mrs. Sotonye Iyoyo, dismissed calls by former NNPC GMDs that the price of petrol be increased, stressing that the downstream segment of the petroleum industry had already been liberalised. She also noted that the call of the former NNPC bosses was their personal opinion, which had no bearing on the agency’s price template.

The clarification of the minister, NNPC and PPPRA came against the backdrop of calls by former Group Managing Directors of the NNPC that the price of the product be hiked from its present rate of N145 per litre to enable the corporation generate more funds.

But Senate Spokesman, Abdullahi Aliyu Sabi, yesterday, warned proponents of the new increment in pump price of fuel, saying they must not take the patience of Nigerians over current economic situation in the country for granted.

Organised Labour also warned against any further increase in the pump price of fuel, saying it would be total madness to do so as it would be totally unacceptable.

Speaking separately after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday, both Kachikwu and Baru said there was no such proposal before the government.

Read full text here:

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/09/no-plans-increase-fuel-price-fg/

doingood:
I'm an ibo man, I love ibo home videos, though I understand yoruba but I don't understand Hausa. Gotv and dstv have both Yoruba and Hausa home videos, why is their no Africa magic ibo? this worries me a lot. Abi no be WAZOBIA make up Nigeria? Gotv and dstv plz take note and don't be selective. Thank u.

There is Africamagic Igbo on dstv. The truth is that city Igbos don't value their language. They prefer to speak English even to their children- unlike the Yorba and hausa. Hence the low demand. Igbo language may become extinct in the future unless the Igbos have a rethink and teach it to their children.

I'll have paid but for the distance. Am in Port Harcourt.

Go through the many threads in this section and you'll learn a lot. Alas o search for satellite on Facebook and join the various useful forums there. Visit Lemmy Morgan website too.

Justcash:
1) Sudden Implementation of Treasury Single Account (TSA)- This policy threw the banking and financial sector into turmoil as huge sums were swept out of banks and dormantly stashed into a preferred safe.

2) Tightening of Foreign Exchange Transactions- This policy made it difficult to make foreign exchange, and threw thriving businesses into turmoil which led to massive sacking of workers and manufacturing slowdown.

3) Unguarded Utterances During Foreign Trips- The president made several unguarded utterances that gave the impression that Nigeria was headed for the rocks. This made foreign investors hesitant about coming into Nigeria, and encouraged those that were already in Nigeria to speculate and pull out funds.

4) Halting of Important Projects in the Niger Delta- Buhari moved to remove majority of the projects that were created to provide tangible benefits to Niger-Deltans. For example, the Maritime University and Pipeline protection projects. Though, some of these projects were condemned by Nigerians, they kept the Niger-Delta at peace and allowed for the maximization of the benefits from petroleum exports.

5) Buhari's Northern Developmental Focus in Nigeria- The developmental aim of the president is very much skewed towards Northern Nigeria than every other part. So, he is more like kick starting a new economic focus, while dumping existing economic strengths. For example, he is devoting billions of dollars to search for petroleum in the North when Nigeria does not have functional refineries to ensure adequate availability of petroleum products that are already being produced in the South.

6) Elimination of All the Policies Made by PDP- it is on record that even though PDP led governments were corrupt, they made some major strides in diversifying Nigeria's economy. For example, Agricultural export came to life under PDP. Buhari has focused on bedeviling and antagonizing every single policy made by the PDP. In the process, he has thrown out good policies and progress that were made in the past. He is almost starting afresh, and this has rebooted Nigeria and thrown us years backwards.

7) Preference for Violence over Dialogue- Buhari prefers to use military force to quell civil strife. This approach ignites more protests and civil disobedience. An economy cannot experience progress in violent conditions. Even Lagos and Ogun axis has experienced an open show of military bombardment, which scares a heck out of investors. The same is true about the production shut ins in the Niger Delta region. Some of these issues can be solved with dialogue and with police actions than full scale military assaults.

Trash! Very shallow and mischievous.

Between April and June this year, criminals virtually held residents of the state captive as they carried out kidnap, armed robbery and rape in broad daylight. There was palpable fear amongst the residents as businesses, nightlife; even social events like weddings, burials, naming ceremonies were put on hold or done in a hurry to beat raids by the rampaging criminals.

Virtually every one with a reasonable financial base or considered rich enough was either abducted, attacked or threatened at some point. Most affected were pastors of major churches, big businessmen and university teachers whom the hoodlums believe stashed cash at home or carried large sums of money around.

Read full text here:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1472485082776583&id=135140476511057

Doomsday prophet! Was he living in the cloud all through the years of PDP misrule? Mtswww!

Amid increasing cases of sexual violence and crime in the country, the Nigerian Police yesterday lamented the dimension the crime has attained, saying religious leaders are in the forefront of committing the crime.

Speaking at a media parley on Thursday to flag- off a one-month long awareness campaign against all forms of domestic and sexual violence crimes, the Police Public Relations Officer of Lagos State Police Command, DolapoBadmos, a superintendent of police said statistics available to the command showed that there has been an increase in the report of sexual crimes over the past few months.

According to her, the command is working closely with the office of the Attorney General of Lagos State and the Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT) to frontally address the issue.

She said that from the recent reports and investigation, it was discovered that the major perpetrators of sexual offences were religious leaders hiding under religion to commit such heinous crimes.

Badmos said just few days ago, about 30 girls were rescued from an acclaimed man of God, adding that the state’s commissioner of police, Mr.FataiOwoseni had already directed a discreet investigation on the case, while the public would be briefed in due course.

Earlier, the state’s Attorney General and commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem said the campaign against sexual crime should not be left alone to the women folk, adding that all hands must be on deck to frontally address it.

http://leadership.ng/news/548947/religious-leaders-greatest-perpetrators-of-sexual-crime-says-police

Imagine seeing this in your neighborhood. What will be your immediate reaction be?

MMM Global only gave South Africans the bad news with a post on its website saying “We regret to inform you that we have to close down the Republic of Bitcoin. It was an experiment, and, unfortunately, it failed. We turned out not to be able to pay 100% per month.”
Less than three months after the company collapsed in South Africa, MMM Global, a Russian Ponzi Scheme company has opened shop in Nigeria with the domain name-

Read the full article here
http://www.lagosherald.com/beware-mmm-global-the-ponzi-scheme-company-is-in-nigeria/

The management of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has frowned at what it termed “inappropriate dressings” by some of its staff, stating that it would no longer tolerate the wearing of clothes such as tight jeans trousers, cut-off trousers, mini-skirts and spaghetti strapped dresses, among others to work.

In an internal memorandum sent to the workers titled “DRESS CODE”, with reference number HQ/CR/AD/G.1/589, dated 27th July, 2015 and sighted by SHIPS & PORTS DAILY; NPA’s General Manager, Human Resources, Y.G. Bukar, said, “It has been observed that despite the issuance of a couple of circulars vide HQ/GMHR/CON/G.3/128 of 25th August, 2008 and HQ/CR/AD/G.1/3039 of 19th December, 2014 on corporate Dress Code, some employees still indulge in improper dressing to the office.

“For the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby reiterated that inappropriate dressings such tight jeans trousers, cut-off trousers, mini-skirts/dresses, tummy and navel shirt transparent/exposing outfits, spaghetti strapped dresses, mismatched clothes, rubber slippers, tattered shoes and rough hairstyles, (to mention but a few) that are unnecessary distractions would no longer be condoned and will henceforth attract appropriate sanctions.

“In view of the foregoing and to further maintain a positive corporate image of a reputable organisation, all divisional, departmental and sectional heads, especially heads of personnel are once again enjoined to ensure monitoring of compliance of employees dressings with emphasis on decent, moderate and smart national and formal English wears.”

When a SHIPS & PORTS DAILY correspondent visited Rivers and Onne Ports, both in Rivers State and the NPA Headquarters in Marina, Lagos last week, however, it does not appear that the management directive has been substantially complied with as some workers were seen in casual and tight fitting dresses.

A very busty female worker seen wearing a tight-fitting top and a male worker in jeans trousers both feigned ignorance of the dress code.

http://shipsandports.com.ng/npa-orders-staff-to-stop-wearing-mini-skirts-spaghetti-tops-jeans-to-work/

A former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Olu Falae, has submitted to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission an email correspondence between him and a former Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party’s Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih.

Falae tendered the email as an evidence in the probe linking him to N100m election funds

It was learnt that Anenih, in the email, mentioned that he was acting on the instruction of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

A source at the EFCC told newsmen that in the email dated March 2015, Anenih, who played a supervisory role in the Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation, informed Falae that N100m had been approved by Jonathan and would be handed over to him (Falae).

A source at the EFCC said, “In the email, Anenih told Chief Falae, who is the Chairman of the SDP that N100m had been approved by President Jonathan as part of the agreement between the PDP and the SDP ahead of the presidential election.

“He further urged Falae to provide an account which the money would be paid into.”

The N100m, which was given to Falae by Anenih, was said to have emanated from the imprest account of the Office of the National Security Adviser in the Central Bank of Nigeria.

It was eventually paid into the account of Marreco Limited, where Falae is chairman. The fund was credited into the company’s United Bank for Africa Plc account, 1000627022, on March 25, 2015.

When contacted on the telephone, a spokesman for Falae, Mr. Alfa Mohammed, confirmed that 78-year-old Falae had submitted all correspondence between Falae and the PDP.

He said, “We had a letter of agreement between the PDP and the SDP regarding cooperation between the two parties for the election. There was an email from Anenih stating that Mr. President (Jonathan) told him to transfer the money to that effect.

“We have submitted everything to the EFCC, but the EFCC has not deemed it fit to invite Anenih which shows that it is people within the All Progressives Congress that are just trying to rubbish the image of Chief Falae, who has served meritoriously as a permanent secretary, a SGF and a finance minister.”

Mohammed said the PDP still owed the SDP about N70m and it was unrealistic of the EFCC to ask Falae to return the N100m.

He said Falae could not have known that the money emanated from the ONSA and thus could not be held liable.

The commission had finalised plans to charge the ex-SGF with conspiracy to indirectly retain the sum of N100m which he ought to have known formed part of the proceeds of an “unlawful act to wit: stealing.”

The EFCC had alleged in March that about N3.145bn was mysteriously transferred from the account of the ONSA to the account of Joint Trust Dimensions Limited, a company allegedly owned by the Director of Finance of the Jonathan Campaign Organisation, Senator Nenadi Usman.

Usman was said to have transferred N840m to the account of the Director of Publicity of the organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, in Maitama branch of the Zenith Bank with number, 1004735721, on February 19, 2015, while she allegedly gave Falae N100m on the instruction of Anenih.

A former Governor of Imo State, Achike Udenwa, and a former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Viola Onwuliri, according to some documents, got N350m in two tranches. The first tranche of N150m was paid into their joint account with Zenith bank on January 13, 2015. The second tranche of N200m was credited into their account with Diamond bank.

Usman and Fani-Kayode had been arraigned before the Federal High Court in Lagos and their accounts frozen while Udenwa and Falae are expected to be arraigned soon.

Attempts to reach the Media Adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Mr. Ikechukwu Eze, were not successful as repeated calls to his mobile phones did not connect.

Similarly, a text message sent to his phones had yet to be delivered as of press time.

All attempts to speak with Anenih’s spokesman, Mr. Ojeifo Sufuyan, also proved abortive as his line did not connect, while a text message sent to his telephone had yet to be responded to as of 7pm on Sunday.

However, in a letter he had personally written to the EFCC in January, Anenih admitted that he received N260m for Jonathan’s election campaign out of which he gave Falae N100m.

He, however, maintained that the ex-President still owed him N180m.

Anenih had said, “I was not in a position to ask the former President how he was going to source the fund. I was not a direct beneficiary of the sum of N260m that was a part refund of the money I spent on the president’s instructions.

“A sum of N63 million was disbursed to a northern group, led by elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, for mobilisation and post-election peace advocacy in that part of the country.

“N100m was given to the National Chairman of the SDP, Chief Olu Falae, to enable the party to mobilise support and votes for the PDP presidential candidate since the SDP did not have a candidate for the election.”

http://www.nigerianeye.com/2016/08/olu-falae-links-jonathan-to-n100m.html?m=1

TheManfromKenya:
1) After they have runz all appropriate quarters, pay respect to the Godfathers,hired thugs for ballot snatching and shared some bags of rice before the elections.. Yes everything is set !!!

Your satire is factual and well told.
Do you realize you are a rare Nairalander to have made front page with your first topic on your second day as a member(?)

King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi is the youngest ruling monarch in the world. At 3 and-a-half-year-old he ascended the royal dais to become the undisputed titular head of the 180-year Toro Kingdom. He is the youngest ruling monarch worldwide. In the Guinness Book of records, he took the spot of youngest king from Mswati III of Swaziland who was crowned king when he was 18.

This September 12, 2016 will mark 21 years since the youngest monarch in the world, ascended to the throne following the death of his father Patrick Olimi Kaboyo in 1995.

He holds an annual event known as “Empango” usually thronged by the king’s subjects from the 3.5 million strong Toro tribe whose kingdom is centered in the pristine town of Fort Portal locally known as Kabarole in Western Uganda.

The event is marked by prayers led by the representative of the Seventh Day Adventist in Uganda. The event will normally have a theme yet to published.

Rukirabasaija (meaning greatest of all men) ascended the throne on September 12, 1995, a week after the passing of his father king Patrick Olimi Kaboyo, to become the 12th king of the 185-year-old kingdom.

At only 3 years of age, this meant that the toddler king had to wait until he turned 18, leaving 3 regents to oversee his growth and the cultural affairs of the kingdom. These included Queen Best (the Queen Mother); his aunt/godmother, Princess Elizabeth Bagaya; and President Museveni.

http://howafrica.com/meet-ugandan-king-oyo-nyimba-kabamba-youngest-ruling-monarch-world/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+howafrica+%28How+Africa+and+More%29

Einstein didn’t believe it was possible.

Stephen Hawking said it might be the greatest scientific discovery of all time.

What discovery has baffled the greatest scientific minds of the past century, and why has it caused them to rethink the origin of our universe? New, more powerful, telescopes have revealed mysteries about our universe that have raised new questions about the origin of life.

Has science discovered God?

But wait a minute! Hasn’t science proven we don’t need God to explain the universe? Lightning, earthquakes and even babies used to be explained as acts of God. But now we know better. What is it about this discovery that is so fundamentally different, and why has it stunned the scientific world?

This discovery and what molecular biologists have learned about the sophisticated coding within DNA have many scientists now admitting that the universe appears to be part of a grand design.

One cosmologist put it this way: “Many scientists, when they admit their views, incline toward the teleological or design argument.”[1]

Surprisingly, many scientists who are talking about God have no religious belief whatsoever.[2]

So, what are these stunning discoveries that have scientists suddenly speaking of God? Three revolutionary discoveries from the fields of astronomy and molecular biology stand out:

1. The universe had a beginning

2. The universe is just right for life

3. DNA coding reveals intelligence

The statements leading scientists have made about these discoveries may shock you. Let’s follow this link and take a look.

http://y-jesus.com/more/scc-science-christianity-compatible/

The police in Ogun State, South West Nigeria have resolved to charge a man to court for naming his dog "Buhari."

Buhari is the surname of the Nigerian president, Muhammadu, who assumed office on May 29, 2015.

The spokesperson of the police in Ogun, Abimbola Oyeyemi, told PREMIUM TIMES that after investigations, the police concluded that the man’s actions could cause a “breach of public peace.”

“The Ogun State Police Command has resolved to charge the suspect to court on Monday to forestall breach of public peace which the suspect’s action may likely cause,” Mr. Oyeyemi, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, said.

“His action is a provocative one and that is why the suspect will be charged for conduct likely to cause breach of public peace,” he added, saying a one-count charge would filed.

The accused, Joe Chinakwe, 30, was arrested and confined to a police cell in Sango Otta, Ogun State, for three days last week after a neighbour complained that he named his dog Buhari, Vanguard Newspaper reported.

The neighbour, who police identified as Halilu Umar from Sokoto State, reportedly told the police that Mr. Chinakwe’s decision was aimed at ridiculing his father who was named ‘Alhaji Buhari.’

The accused told Vanguard that he named his dog ‘Buhari’ out of the personal affection he has for President Muhammadu Buhari.

https://secure.saharareporters.com/2016/08/21/nigeria-police-sue-man-naming-his-dog-after-country%E2%80%99s-president-buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari recently challenged Nigerians desirous of knowing the assets he owns to approach the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to request his asset declaration documents.
But in this interview with PREMIUM TIMES team of Ibanga Isine, Evelyn Ukakwu and Georgina Bako, the bureau’s chairman, Sam Saba, explains why his Bureau will not release the document to the public despite the president advising it to do so on national television.

EXCERPT:

PT: Recently, a huge leak of document from a Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonseca, lifted the lid on how the rich and powerful use tax havens to hide their wealth. The names of many Nigerians were found in the leak aptly called “Panama Papers.” Are you considering taking action against such people?

Many have asked us this question earlier but at that time we were not in a position to give any answer. But I later asked my counterpart in the ICPC if he was in the picture and he replied in the negative. He, however advised me to approach PREMIUM TIMES.

Already, we have some questions for certain public officers, which I will not be able to disclose at the moment. Until they finish answering those questions, I may not be able to discuss it.

PT: Can you assure Nigerians that you will take action against the indicted persons?

Didn’t you hear what I said? I said that already we have correspondences asking us what we know about specific public officers on this matter. And we are doing that. I don’t want to reveal the names to you now. But if at the end of the day, I can do that, I will let you know. But I want to let you know that government has written us and given us some names to investigate, based on what they have been reading and hearing regarding the leaked document. In fact, that was why immediately this issue came up, I thought of who to contact to help us.

PT: Talking about your ongoing case against Senate President, Bukola Saraki, are there likely to be more prosecutions in the nearest future?

We are going to discuss it at our board meeting next week, so I cannot disclose that to you right now. I am not going to commit myself now. Let the time come and we will inform you. After all, this is an ongoing conversation.

PT: Can you take us down memory lane on the number of convictions you have secured since the inception of the Bureau?

There are so many. We can give you a list of the convictions. Some people are fined. Of course, nobody is sentenced. The law does not give us that power. It’s just fines, seizure or forfeiture of the assets.

PT: What are your major challenges in the course of this assignment.

The major challenges we have are essentially lack of capacity building and inadequate funding.

PT: While CCB is Nigeria’s foremost anti-corruption agency, nothing much was heard of its operations unlike the EFCC and ICPC. Why did the bureau remain silent this long?

That has been a recurring question and I have a very simple answer for it. What most people do not understand is that the Code of Conduct Bureau is different from the EFCC and ICPC. Cases that are referred to these other agencies concern offences that have already been committed. On the other hand, the CCB is largely a preventive organisation. Is it going to make news to you today for me to say that 30 people have not declared their assets? Or that we have sent 20 names to the tribunal for default in filing their asset declaration forms? I have discovered over this period that Nigerians love a situation where they hear that this person or that person has been caught and taken to prison. That is not the nature of this agency.

This organisation was established to maintain good public service. We do that in various ways. One is through asset declaration, the other is through public enlightenment and the third method is through sanctions. And this is done through the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT. But people often ask; “Where are the convictions?” “Your level of conviction is low?” CCB is not the one that does the convictions. It is the CCT that does the convictions.

So if CCT does not give a conviction, it does not mean that CCB has not worked. We are dealing with millions of public officers, and how many people will come out to volunteer information. People are afraid of volunteering information. It is only in recent times that this whistle-blowing thing is taking shape because they see that the present administration is serious about fighting corruption.

Even then, when we take an asset declaration form to a public officer who has just retired; everybody will say they don’t know his address. Even when we are able to trace his residence and send people there, nobody takes the declaration form from the staff. As I have always said, the CCB does not have the power of arrest. These other two agencies have the power of arrest. CCT can issue a warrant and the police does the arrest.

PT: What mechanisms do you have to crosscheck and be sure that what public servants declare are true or do you just rely on what people fill in those forms?

We rely on two things – what people fill and the intelligence we gather regarding what they filled. We receive petitions, but when we look at most of the petitions, they are based on frivolous reasoning; either the petitioner and the accused fell out and then one wants to write and tarnish the image of the other.

PT: But do you have a unit that investigates the claims public servants make on their asset declaration forms?

We have a unit that verifies; though we cannot verify everybody. But we verify the executive, including the ministers. We verify principal officers of the National Assembly. We verify governors in the state and local government chairmen.

PT: Don’t you also verify judicial officers like the Chief Justice of the Federation?

Every public officer. So long as you draw a stipend from the federal, state and local government; you are a public officer. That is our own definition.

PT: How do you deal with some governors, who come in with almost nothing but when they are leaving office, amassed so many properties?

It is very difficult in the sense that you only hear these kind of stories but in reality they are not so. I’ll give you an instance. Most people will tell you that public officers own the big buildings in this town. But nobody will send even an anonymous message saying Mr. ‘A’ owns this property and we know that he does not have the capacity and legitimate means to own it. It is partly because we do not have a strong whistleblower legislation. Though the legislation is already in the pipeline, we hope that it will soon become implementable.

PT: During his maiden media chat, President Muhammadu Buhari had said you have the power to release his asset declaration document to us in PREMIUM TIMES. Would you be willing now to release the documents to us, just as the president said on live television?

I will give you a very simple answer. He said you are free but who is free? Is the CCB free? The law does not say I should release anybody’s asset declaration. The document does not become public document after declaration, it is only the CCB that is allowed by the constitution to retain custody of such documents. That is what the CCB Act says. Besides, Schedule 3, Paragraph 3 (c) of the 1999 Constitution as amended says the bureau shall have power to retain custody of such declarations and make them available for inspection by any citizen of Nigeria on such terms and conditions as the National Assembly may prescribe.

PT: And the National Assembly has in the Freedom of Information Act, prescribed that we can have access to such public document. In fact, we have already written to you. Would you oblige us now?

We answered you. Go and read your letter again. And we gave you answers as it was provided for in the FOI Act. Study the response again and compare it with these sections and you will know what I am talking about.

PT: Was the president wrong in insisting that the document should be made public? Remember late President Umaru Yar’Adua published his own based on an earlier promise. Why did you not stop him at the time?

Because he did not come to us. He just did it. And let me tell you something about late President Yar’Adua. He was already used to doing so even when he was governor. So for him, it was a normal thing. And he did not need anybody’s advice to publish it. That was his business. It has nothing to do with me. I know one director general who has put his own asset declaration on his website. He did it willingly and he told us that he just decided to do it on his own. So, it is a matter of choice. If you are a public officer and you want everybody to know about it, you can do the same.

PT: Don’t you think that is a virtue that should be encouraged?

Yes, we encourage it

PT: But if you encourage it and President Buhari said on national television that you have powers to release his own document, don’t you think you would be standing on the way of probity and transparency you are talking about?

Did the president say he has written to CCB and said ‘go and make my declarations public?’

PT: Are you saying he has to write officially to CCB before you can release the document he promised to make public during electioneering campaigns?

But the President has already declared his assets his assets are there; if there is anything in it he has not disclosed, you should have asked him specific questions.

https://secure.saharareporters.com/2016/08/21/why-we-ignored-buhari%E2%80%99s-instruction-release-his-assets-declaration-nigerians-%E2%80%94-code

When Wesley Korir and the rest of the Kenyan men’s marathon team line up in the Sambadrome in Rio on Sunday, the prayers of millions across their homeland will go with them. Few will be as fervent as those delivered by the many congregations in Iten, a small town perched on a spectacular escarpment above the Great Rift Valley.

“They are heroes to us all. We are all with them in our minds when they run,” said Moses Koech, a hotel worker.

Korir has a home in Iten and, like almost all Kenyan runners, is from a dirt poor background. The 33-year-old grew up on a tiny farm, running miles to and from school every day – as did Eliud Kipchoge, who won the London Marathon in April for the second consecutive year, and Stanley Biwott, who will both be competing alongside him.

But even among Kenyan long distance runners, Korir’s biography stands out. Not only is he the winner of several top races around the world and now a dollar millionaire, but he is a serving member of parliament, having been elected in 2012 from a constituency in the far west of the country, near the city of Eldoret and his home village.

Plunged into the harsh world of Kenyan politics, Korir has had to split his Olympic preparation between the slopes and trails of the Rift Valley, a forest outside the capital Nairobi, and a gym in the National Assembly. Officials had to install a new running machine as the top speed of the one in place was too slow for the new representative.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/19/olympics-2016-the-kenyan-mp-racing-in-rio-to-change-lives

LORDOFAFONJAS:
Heaven knows i am going to lead Atiku's campaign team on Nairaland, and also enusre he comes out successful

You can offer your service and make your money. But I bet you for all the money you may make that he can't make it. There is no vacancy in Aso Rock in 2019- we compelled PMB to contest four times and we shall compel him once more.
There won't won't be any vacancy for the likes of Atiku in 2023 either. We need clean anti-corruption crusader to succeed PMB because the war on corruption is now a life long undertaking.

UndisputedBosom:
Insane

Seriously insane.

9. Sweet Lips, Tennessee
10. Cumming, Georgia

5. Burnt Corn, Alabama
6. Climax, Pennsylvania
7. Goobertown, Arkansas
8. Beaver Lick, Kentucky

Check out ten small U.S. towns with highly questionable names.

1. Satan's Kingdom, Connecticut.
2. Toad Suck, Arkansas.
3. Horneytown, NC.
4. Idiotville, Oregon.


http://www.oddee.com/item_98205.aspx

Did you actually apply for a job with them? If not then forget.

It's a manifestation of growing raw hatred by a particular ethnic group against the rest of Nigerians.
Hatred begets hatred.

Go ahead. Wetin concern us.