₦airaland Forum

Two nigerian Internet Service Providers are offering 24 hour service to their customers who are on non-24 hour plans, in view of the ongoing strike.

Commendable!

Ghanaians React To Fuel Price Increases With Mixed Feelings

There are mixed reactions to increases in fuel prices and transport fares announced by the National Petroleum Authority and the Ministry of Transport in Accra on Wednesday.

While the Trade Union Congress and some commercial transport owners, drivers and passengers have expressed disappointment others said the decision was in the best interest of the economy.

Other sections of the public also entreated the government to formulate effective strategies to mitigate the effects of such price hikes.

In a statement signed by the General Secretary, Mr Kofi Asamoah, the TUC said it had noted with “deep concern and outright dismay” the announcement by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) of fuel price increases by between 15 and 30 percent.

[b]The TUC said the increases during the yuletide with all the commitments of Ghanaian workers as well as the imminent payment of the school fees of wards in January, 2012, were astronomical.

“We find it difficult to appreciate how government could slap such astronomical increases on the Ghanaian workers, their families and the travelling public in the middle of the Christmas festivities, especially, when many workers went into the season without receiving their salaries. Working people also have school fees and other commitments in early January to pay,” the statement said.

While pointing out that the timing of the announcement of fuel price increases was wrong and unacceptable, the TUC emphasised the untold hardship the increases would bring to families and households.

The TUC noted that the fuel price increase announced by the NPA was the second increase for the year, with the first increase announced on January 3, 2011, with the increase of between 20 and 30 percent.

“For 2011, therefore, Ghanaians have had to endure a cumulative increase of between 35 and 60 per cent increases in fuel prices.

This astronomical increase is compared with the timid increase of 20 percent in wages and salaries across board for public sector workers for the whole year.[/b]

“This means that for the ‘action year’, Ghanaian workers and their families have only witnessed an erosion of their incomes giving the very direct link between fuel price hikes and the general price levels in the country,” it added.

The statement said TUC had on several occasions expressed concern over such exorbitant increases in fuel prices, equally expressing concern over the manner in which fuel prices were determined and announced in the country.

Transport fares at the Neoplan station in Accra have increased to almost 30 per cent even though the NPA had approved 10 per cent as inter-city fares, reports Zainabu Issah & Mary Ankrah in Accra.

Mr John Tetteh, the First Trustee of the Neoplan Drivers Union told the Daily Graphic that the increment of the petroleum products also affects the prices of spare parts and lubricants.

The new fare prices include Accra to Kumasi 49 seater bus which previously cost GHC 13 is now GHC 15, 31 VVIP seater from Accra to Kumasi now cost GHC 22, an increment of 20 per cent, Sunyani 49 seater bus formerly GHC16 now GHC19.

The rest are from Accra to Wenchi 49 seater bus now costs GH 20 which was formally GH17, Accra to Bibiani also increased form GH 14 to GH17. Techiman to Accra also now costs GHC 19 with Accra to Kintampo increasing form GH18 to GH21.

The Transport Manager of the VIP Transport services at the Nkrumah Circle, Mr Eric Botswe told the Daily Graphic that they increased their fares only around 12 noon today (Thursday), after a board meeting held by the Board Members of the company.

Before 12 noon, they were taking a fare of GHC 10 for the Yutong buses that moved from Circle to Kumasi, but have now increased the fare to GHC 15. The VIP buses that used to charge GHC 20 from circle to Kumasi has also increased to GHC 25.

Marian Ansah & Moses Awiah reports that the situation was not different at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle trotro station where most transport operators although dissatisfied about the increase in the petroleum prices, stated that there was nothing they could do about it, because the government had already taken its decisions.

They said they were contented that the passengers had not given them any problems so far.

Mr Stephen Ana, the Secretary of the Biakoye Taxi Drivers Union said the increment came unexpected that at the moment some taxi fares in his jurisdiction will be increase and others will maintain the old prices until another petroleum increment.

This was because the little increment on those fares are insignificant and would not cause any problem to the drivers.

He added that the union was still waiting for the National Coordinating Council of the GPRTU to print the new fares list to paste so that passengers will have a fair ideal about the new developments in the station.

Mr Ana pointed that the taxi fares from Circle to Dansoman which supposed to be increased from GHC 1.50 to GHC1.65 is GH 1.60, Circle to North Kaneshie and Fadama still remain GHC 1.10 while North Kaneshie to Swanlake has moved from 0.60Gp to 0.70Gp for Peugeot cars.

[b]Some passengers at the various lorry parks admitted that it was in the past that passengers quarrelled with drivers and their conductors over increase in transport fares when fuel price was increased, due to lack of communication writes Alice Aryeetey They stated that things are not the same anymore since most people now have radio and television sets, as well as read newspapers in their homes and work places, from which they get most information from.

“There is no need in fighting over this, when you hear it on the radio that fuel prices have been increased”, a passenger said. From Tamale Vincent Amenueveve reports Drivers who ply between Savelugu and Tamale said business slowed down when the new fuel prices were announced as most residents in Tamale and Savelugu were reluctant to travel. [/b]The fares between Tamale and

Savelugu have gone up from 1.20 Ghana cedis to 1.50 Ghana cedis.

The Northern Regional Vice Chairman of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), Alhaji Abukari Chendiba,confirmed the fuel hikes and new transport fares but warned drivers to charge the approved transport fares that have gone up by 10 percent.

He urged them to avoid overloading as a means of making more money at the expense of the passengers’ comfort and safety. He said the various stations have been instructed to boldly display the new fares on their respective notice boards for passengers to be aware of them.

A taxi driver, Mr. Abdulai Mohammed stated that the 15 percent price hike in petrol does not tally with the 10 percent increment in transport fares. He explained that the discrepancy was likely to affect commercial drivers than the rest of the public.

Mr. Adam Mohammed, a student was not happy at the fuel increases saying “money is hard to come by these days”.

From Koforidua, Nana Konadu Agyeman, reports that all the transport union executives at the various lorry stations in the New Juaben Municipality have complied with 15 per cent increases in fares.

At the Kumasi Lorry Park, fare for Koforidua-Kumasi bound air-conditioned vehicles had been increased from GH8 to GH9, while the fare for the ordinary ones had also shot up from GH7 to GH8.

Vehicles plying Koforidua-Somanya road had increased their fare from GH2.20p to GH2.50p, while those travelling from Koforidua to Krobo-Odumase had been raised fare from GH2.40p to GH2.70p.

Koforidua-Nkawkaw bound vehicles had their fares increased from GH3.20p to GH4, while air-conditioned vehicles moving from Koforidua to Accra had also raised their fare from GH4.20p to GH5, with the ordinary vehicles increasing their fares from GH3.50 to GH4.

At the main taxi rank, fares for taxi cabs running short destinations within the municipality had seen a GH0.50 increment, while long destinations within the area with rough roads such as Agavenya, Trom, Osabane, Okorase and parts of Kasadjan had their fares increased by GH0.10.

A number of passengers the Daily Graphic spoke at the various stations expressed no resentment at the fares increases but hoped that there would not be further fare increase in the near future.

Managers of fuel stations in the Sunyani Municipality have started implementing the announcement of the increases in the commodity while drivers plying the various routes in the area and beyond have adjusted their fares correspondingly reports Akwasi Ampratwum-Mensah in Sunyani.

From the lorry stations to the various destinations, taxi fares which attracted 40Gp and 50Gp, have now gone up to 50Gp and 60Gp respectively while Urvan bus drivers from Sunyani to Kumasi are charging GHC50.00 instead of the previous fare of GHC40.00.

From Sekondi/Takoradi, Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, reports that the increase in the fuel prices announced by NPA has reflected in various fuel and LPG stations in the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolis.

Before the approved 10 per cent fare adjustment was announced, drivers at various lorry stations had adjusted their prices a little higher than what was announced.

Some of the drivers were rather charging between 50 and 100 per cent which resulted in some form of heated argument between the drivers and passengers in the early hours of Thursday.

At the Sekondi/Takoradi station prior to the increment, Takoradi to Adiembra was GHc70p and had been increase to GHc1.00 and Sekondi-Takoradi and Essikado had also been increase from GHc70p to GHc1.00 and GHc1.20p respectively.

The situation was replicated in other parts of the metropolis but some passengers at lorry parks at Anaji refused to board the ‘trotro’ due to the arbitrary increament but the situation was later resolved.

At the time of going to the press, situations have normalized and drivers were going on as usual.
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=226733

Statement by the Trade Union Congress (TUC) in Ghana:

http://www.ghanatuc.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/28th-decemeber-2011-fuel-prices-29TH-DECEMBER-2011.pdf

Ghana’s fuel price increases due to IMF pressure – Report
Page last updated at Friday, December 30, 2011 15:15 PM // Leave Your Comment

Ghana increased its prices on petroleum products December 29, 2011 citing two key factors – the increase in crude oil prices and the depreciation of the Ghana cedi. The country has also cut subsidies fuel prices. As at September 30, 2011, the government has subsidized the ex-pump price of petroleum products to the tune of GH¢267.61 million.

A statement signed by Mr Alexander Mould, Acting CEO of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), said the prices of petrol and diesel will go up by 15% each at GHp175.48 per litre and GHp 177.09 per litre respectively while LPG will go up by 30% at GHp 136.19 per kilo.

Even though, the NPA stated rising world prices of the commodity and depreciation of the Ghana cedi currency, reports suggest the increases were due to pressure by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Ghana to stop subsidising petroleumproducts.

The Reuters news agency reports December 29, 2011 that “Ghana, which joined the club of oil producers in West Africa last year, has come under increased pressure from the International Monetary Fund to remove the fuel subsidies.”

Countries such as Nigeria, Guinea, Cameroon and Chad are reported to have come under similar intense pressure from the IMF to remove subsidies.

According to the report, the IMF argued that the fuel subsidies are not effective in directly aiding the poor but rather promotes corruption and smuggling.

Reading the 2012 budget themed “Infrastructural Development for Accelerated Growth and Job Creation,” Ghana’s Finance Minister Dr. Kwabena Duffour said November 16, 2011 that “Government has had to subsidize ex-pump price of petroleum products to the tune of GH¢267.61 million as at September 30, 2011.”

The entire under-recovery of petroleum pricing for the year, Dr Duffour says is estimated to be GH¢364.94 million based on the assumption of crude oil price of $110.23 per barrel.

He attributed the cost of subsidy to the rising crude oil prices on the world market.

By Ekow Quandzie

http://www.ghanabusinessnews.com/2011/12/30/ghanas-fuel-price-increases-due-to-imf-pressure-report/

Why The Recent Fuel Price Increase Is Not Such A Bad Idea

Date: 01-Jan-2012        


Recent decision by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) to raise fuel prices in Ghana by up to 20 percent cent is being met with opposition from civil society and trade unions.


The NPA asserts that its decision was necessitated by the Mills administration’s own decision to withdraw subsidies on petroleum products. As expected, the government is incurring the wrath of Ghana’s foremost union, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG) – a political pressure group. Both the TUC and AFAG justify their opposition to the latest fuel price hike on the grounds that it will impose unnecessary economic hardship on Ghanaians.

Given how sensitive fuel subsidies are in Ghana, I’m probably one of the few Ghanaians on the surface of this planet who favours the Mills administration’s decision to touch this politically hot cassava, so I expect a few brickbats for this column. Before I say why the decision to withdraw fuel subsidies is not such a bad idea, I’ll like to clarify a few things. First, I’m neither the government’s apologist nor an opposition bootlicker. Second, I don’t deny the validity of the charges being levelled against the decision of the government. Infact, it is true that fuel price increase in a developing economy like Ghana can marginally spike consumer price inflation (CPI) thereby increasing the cost of living for ordinary folks.

Nonetheless, as bitter a pill as the new pump prices are, the current level of fuel subsidies is worse on government coffers; they are unsustainable; they create perverse incentives and distortions in the economy. According to reports, the government of Ghana is projecting to spend a whopping GHC 600 million this year alone on petroleum subsidies. Threading on this path is a one way ticket to hell. It exerts high fiscal cost for government, leading to an increase in public debt, and a squeeze on other government spending.

Why? In order to provide subsidies on petroleum products for example, the government of Ghana must borrow more money (from China), raise additional revenue (mostly through foreign aid), and/or reduce public spending (fail to pay workers on Christmas for example). This is how most government spending including fuel subsidies are financed. Don’t mention taxes because we all know what the revenue collection capability of the government is.

Yes, subsidies lower prices of fuel thereby freeing Ghanaians from having to adjust their purchasing behaviour to the cost of supply. But subsidies also provide a perverse incentive to over-consume and it almost always creates unintended but disproportionate benefit to high-income individuals rather than the poor. This is often the case because high-income individuals tend to consume more fuel than average citizens. If you have doubts, ask those driving around in luxurious private cars to pick up their numerous ‘apuskelekes’ across town whether they use more fuel than ordinary Kwaku Manu fighting for half a seat in a Kaneshie trotro. I could go on and on about the economically deleterious effects of fuel subsidies on the poor and the economy at large but time and space will not permit.

Sucking on the subsidy teats sounds like a sweet deal, except a few things. As we economists are fond of saying “there is no free lunch”. The money borrowed from China will have to be paid back with interest. Foreign aid requires a handshake with brother Obama and Mr. Cameron who will later return to serve you with a cold dish of say ‘gay rights’. And, as for government’s “mistake” in failing to pay the meagre but hard earned salary of my good-old-lady this Christmas, she might respond with the only gift that the Ghanaian constitution will give her next Christmas – a vote!

I will conclude this piece by saying that fuel subsidies reduce transportation cost but it does so at a greater cost to society and the government. Rather than being condemned, the Mills administration must be commended for taking such a bold action over this unpopular issue. However, where they failed, in my opinion, was their inability to effectively communicate their intentions to Ghanaians before the decision was made and implemented.

The Mills administration could have taking a chapter from the NPP’s playbook when the Kuffour administration announced a 50 percent price increase on fuel in 2005. Before the announcement, the NPP launched a poverty and social impact assessment (PSIA) for fuel; they embarked on a public relations campaign to explain the need for the price hike; and most importantly, they publicized mitigation measures such as immediate elimination of primary and junior secondary school fees and announced programs to improve public transport.

At the time of writing this piece, the government is now embarking on an emergency meeting to take a decision on how to cushion workers against the impacts of the latest fuel price increase – something they should have done before the fact. It may be too little too late. They better hope that there is no “kume preko” or “sieme preko” style demonstrations in the horizon!



Source: Frank S. Debrah School for International Studies Simon Fraser University Vancouver, Canada

Ghana Fuel-Price Hike May Boost Inflation Rate to 10%, Standard Bank Says
By Moses Mozart Dzawu - Jan 5, 2011 1:10 PM GMT+0100

Ghana’s inflation rate in January may reach double digits for the first time in eight months after fuel prices were increased 30 percent, leading to higher costs for transport and gasoline, said Standard Bank Group Ltd.

The rate may rise to 10.2 percent in January, said Stephen Bailey-Smith, London-based emerging markets strategist. Inflation was 9.1 percent in November, the most recent data available. December prices will be released by the Ghana Statistical Service Jan. 12.

High costs of fuel imports helped push Ghanaian inflation to a five-year high of 20.7 percent in June 2009. The rate has fallen steadily since then and has remained below 10 percent since June 2010.

“By its nature, an increase in the ex-pump price of crude affects the prices of all other goods and services, basically because of the push it gives to transportation cost,” Bailey- Smith said in a phone interview yesterday.

The price of premium gasoline was increased to 1.52 cedis ($1.02) a liter (0.26 gallons) from 1.17 cedis, according to an e-mail from the state-controlled National Petroleum Authority, which regulates the distribution of fuel in the West African nation.

The Ghana Private Road Transport Union increased fares by 18 percent after the price hike, Alhaji Tetteh, national chaiarman, said by phone yesterday.
Easing Pressure

The fuel-price increase, the first in 14 months, will ease pressure on spending by the government, which had covered the cost of rising international oil prices, said Sampson Akligoh, an economic analyst at Accra-based Databank Group. Consumer prices may rise to 9.6 percent in January in a “one-off jump before inflation stabilizes to its recent trend again,” Akligoh said by phone yesterday. He forecast a December rate of about 9 percent.

Crude oil for February delivery declined for the second day, shedding $1.05 or 1.2 percent to $88.33 per barrel by 11:23 a.m. in London. The commodity traded at $77 per barrel on Oct. 30, 2009, a day before Ghana’s last fuel price increase, when it was raised 5 percent.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-05/ghana-fuel-price-hike-may-boost-inflation-rate-to-10-standard-bank-says.html

Fuel prices rise in Ghana as govt cuts subsidies
Tweet

30 December 2011, Sweetcrude, ACCRA - Ghana has cut fuel subsidies, citing increase in crude oil prices and the depreciation of the Ghana cedi currency as reasons.

Chief Executive Officer of Ghana’s National Petroleum Authority (GNPA), Alex Mould, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday.

Reuters reports that Ghana, which joined the club of oil producers in West Africa last year, has come under increased pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to remove the fuel subsidies.

The IMF has urged countries across West and Central Africa to cut fuel subsidies, which they say are not effective in directly aiding the poor, but rather promote corruption and smuggling. The past months have seen governments in Nigeria, Guinea, Cameroon and Chad moving to cut state subsidies on fuel.

Mould said the cumulative effect of the rise in crude oil prices this year and the about 5.7 per cent depreciation of the cedi meant a 25 per cent increase in cedi terms in the cost of procuring crude oil and petroleum products since January.

Mould said Ghana had spent about 450 million cedis (N 44,725,608,210.76) on fuel subsidies in 2011.

The price change effective from December 29, will see the cost of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (cooking gas) increase by 30 per cent while petrol and diesel will go up 15 per cent at pump.

Mould said the GNPA would be monitoring crude oil prices and will not to increase or decrease pump prices if the average crude price stay within the $107-110 per barrel range.

Brent crude rose 4 cents to $107.60 a barrel by 0933 GMT on Thursday after falling nearly $2 the day before, while the Ghana cedi was trading at 1.6370/95 to the US dollar.

Ghana’s Minister for Finance Kwabena Duffour said the removal of subsidies would have a positive impact on Ghana’s economy.

By this increase, according to the NPA, the price of petrol to GNp175.48 (N184.972) per litre; diesel is now GHp 177.09 per litre ((N186.668); while LPG will go up by 30 per cent at GHp 136.19 per kilo (N143.765).

This means a 12.5 kg gas cylinder will now sell at GHc17.02 (N1,796.76) while a 14.5 kg cylinder will sell at GHc19.75 (N2,084.96).

The prices of kerosene, premix fuel and Renewable Fuel Oil (RFO) remain unchanged, according to the GNPA.

http://sweetcrudereports.com/2011/12/30/fuel-prices-rise-in-ghana-as-govt-cuts-subsidies/

Increase in fuel prices affects patronage of transport services
Source: GNA - Ghana News Agency

Accra, Jan. 6, GNA – Mr Ohene Nyarko, Station Manager of Tudu Intercity State Transport Corporation (STC) Coaches Limited, has said the recent increment in fuel prices had affected patronage of their services.

He said STC management used to dispatch four 30-seater buses from Accra to Aflao but now due to the increment only two buses operate on the route.

Mr Nyarko said these in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Friday.

The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) increased the prices of petroleum products with effect from Thursday, December 29, 2011, citing rising world oil prices and depreciation of the Cedi,

The NPA in a statement said the prices of petroleum products had gone up by 15 per cent at GHp175.48 per litre for petrol and GHp177.09 per litre for diesel while Liquefied Petroleum Gas had also gone up by 30 per cent at GHp136.19 per kilogramme.

Mr Nyarko noted that with such low patronage, STC was forced to combine Hohoe and Kpando passengers for easy accessibility.

He said STC increased its fares by 12 per cent, and that from Accra to Aflao was GH¢10 but now it is GH¢12.

Mr Nyarko advised travellers to patronise the STC buses for safe arrival at their destinations and said: “Initially the passengers were complaining about the price hikes but we envisage that with time they will be used to the new fares,”.

Mr Samuel Mensah, Secretary to Accra Kpando Progressive Transport Union, said the timing of the fuel increases was not appropriate since it was during the festive season where most people had planned their budget.

He said passengers used to pay GH¢ 8 as lorry fare from Accra to Kpando but now it has been increased to GH¢ 9.

Mr Jacob Wilson, a driver at the Metro Mass Transit Limited (MMTL), said management had not increased fares, making patronage high at their terminal.

He said the fare from Accra to Anum-Bosso was GH¢3.50 while the commercial vehicles charged GH¢ 4.50, Accra to Akosombo was GH¢2.50 and the commercial vehicles charged GH¢ 4.

The GNA observed that the MMT bus terminal at Tema station, Accra, was choked with long queues of travelers.

However, there were still mixed reactions to the increase in the fuel prices and transport fares when the GNA visited other terminals.

http://www.modernghana.com/news/370608/1/increase-in-fuel-prices-affects-patronage-of-trans.html

These policemen should be brought to book!

Lobbyists hijack Jonathan's vacation at Obudu
By Modey Peters

May 9, 2011 02:14AM

It was meant to be a private visit, with relaxation at the top on the agenda. But the seven-day stay of President Goodluck Jonathan at the Obudu Ranch Resort in Cross River State quickly became loaded with a busy daily schedule.


When Mr Jonathan left Abuja penultimate Friday for the resort, located high in the Obudu mountain range of Cross River State, to soothe frayed nerves after the arduous presidential election, attending to lobbyists and businessmen must have been far from his mind.

But two days into his stay on the hills, located in Obanliku local government area of the state, politicians, contractors and businesspersons desperate to gain his favour, quickly relocated to the plateau, in pursuit of the president. Thus Mr Jonathan was torn between sticking to the planned retreat with his aides and meeting with the army of visitors itching to attract his ear. All this affected his relaxation time as he had to work late into the night.

His wife, Patience, was not left out. She also kept a busy schedule as people thronged the resort to see her, partly as a way of gaining access to her husband.

Business mogul Femi Otedola was the most prominent person from the business community to hop along to what is being called Nigeria's ‘Camp David' to meet the president. Some national officers of the president's Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were not left out. According to senior member of the PDP in Cross River State, they came to discuss the shape of the new government, including the composition of the new federal cabinet, zoning of key national assembly offices, among other issues.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5698487-146/story.csp

Otedola is in white shirt and black trousers (second from right). Is that Elumelu beside him?

It is exactly eight months after I posted this question.

In view of recent happenings in the country, I cannot but reflect on the question again?

johnie:
Meanwhile,

- What do we do about those who would not allow us have electricty so that they can continue to import generators (and lately inverters)?
-What do we do about those would not allow our refineries to work so they can continue to import fuel?
-What do we do about those who would not provide alternative routes and means of transport (such as rail) so they can collect toll for decades on the only existing road?
-What do we do about those who buy privatised governmenment parastatals just to strip the assets instead of creating employment and greater efficiencies?
-What do we do about those who amenities are concessioned to but are only interested in their profits and have no interest whatsoever in delivering ay service to the people?


to be continued

I was just wondering the same thing last night.

I did a search and this thread and and this wiki page came up:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuben_Agboola

I hope he is doing fine.

Emir of Suleja Shuns Christmas Blast Victims

05 Jan 2012

Font Size: a / A
25DEC-bomb-blast8.jpg - 25DEC-bomb-blast8.jpg

St. Theresa’s Catholic Church in Madalla

By Aisha Wakaso and Yemi Akinsuyi

The Niger State Government has queried the Emir of Suleja, Malam Awal Ibrahim, for failing to sympathise with the victims of Christmas Day blast which took place in his domain.

Ibrahim, a former governor of the state, was queried on New Year Day by the government for not showing sympathy for the victims of the bomb blast which claimed 42 lives.

The government action was announced by the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr. Abdullahi Bawa Wuse, at a press briefing yesterday.

He said the state government felt the action of the monarch was unbecoming “of a person of high standing in the society”.

Ibrahim was asked to explain within 24 hours why disciplinary action should not be taken against him for his behaviour.
The commissioner however said that the traditional ruler replied the query within the stipulated period and “the government is looking into it”.

The emir failed to visit St. Theresa’s Catholic Church in Madalla where the blast wreaked havoc, neither did he visit families of the victims.

“The government found out that despite the retinue of people that visited the victims and the bomb blast sites from across the country to show empathy with them the traditional ruler neither sent words to them nor visited the area,” Wuse said.

Apart from the deaths, 80 persons were injured, 36 houses and four churches burnt and seven vehicles were destroyed.

The fundamentalist sect, Boko Haram, claimed responsibility for the bombing and later asked Christians and Southerners to leave the North ahead of its planned further attacks.

Inspector General of Police (IG) Hafiz Ringim Wednesday called on Christians and Southerners to ignore the threat.

The terrorist sect was reported to have given a three-day ultimatum last Sunday through their spokesman, Abdul Qaqa.

In a release signed by the Deputy Force Public Relations Officer (DFPRO), Mr. Yemi Ajayi, a Chief Superintendent of Police, the IG warned all dissident/terrorist groups or individuals, by whatever identity and guise, to note that from the pre-colonial days, the police had always been at the forefront in wielding and keeping this country as one.

He assured Nigerians that the force was resolved more than ever before to keep that mandate.

He said: “The attention of the Inspector-General of Police Hafiz A. Ringim has been drawn to publications in various Nigerian national dallies of alleged threat by a terrorist sect against Christians and Southerners resident in the northern part of the country as well as Muslims and other Northerners resident in the South of Nigeria.

“The Nigeria Police Force will not tolerate discriminatory and unpatriotic acts of threat and criminality against innocent, peace-loving and law-abiding citizens irrespective of their tribe, creed, religion and location.

“Nigeria is one united and indivisible entity where citizens are at liberty to reside where they desire and practise whatever faith. The Constitution of the land guarantees these fundamental rights.”

Ringim said the police owed the citizens the responsibility to protect lives and property and assured them that it would dutifully accomplish this within the dictates of the law.
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/emir-of-suleja-shuns-christmas-blast-victims/106477/

Boko Haram: Emir of Suleja indicted, queried
From AKIN ALOFETEKUN, Minna
Thursday, January 05, 2012

Indications have emerged that security reports indicted the Emir of Suleja, Alhaji Awal Ibrahim in whose domain the Boko Haram sect had detonated bomb five times last year alone. As a prelude, the Niger State Government has issued the Emir a query, asking him to defend his non-challant attitude to the issues of bomb blast in his domain, especially the ones that affected churches.

The Emir might be the first casualty as the Niger State Government is set to get to the root of the series of bomb blasts that rocked his emirate in the last eight months. Not less than five bomb blasts took place in the emirate within the period, the last being that at the St Theresa’s Catholic Church, Mandalla on Christmas Day which left over 38 people dead, 80 injured 36 houses and 4 churches burnt in addition to the destruction of 7 vehicles.

On New Year’s Day, the state government issued the Emir of Suleja with a query over his lack of show of sympathy with victims of the bomb blast which occurred in his area one week before. According to the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs who briefed the media yesterday, the government found out that despite the retinue of people that visited the victims and the bomb blast sites from across the country to show sympathy, the traditional ruler neither sent words to them nor visited the area.

As a result, the commissioner said the government felt the action of the monarch was unbecoming of a person of high standing in the society and therefore issued him a query to explain within 24 hours, why actions should not be taken against him for such behaviour.“Government in the state has discovered lapses on the part of the Emir of Suleja and has therefore issued him with a query.” The commissioner however said that the traditional ruler replied the query within the stipulated period and government is looking into it.

Alhaji Bawa Wuse said the state government welcomed the declaration of state of emergency in Suleja town and therefore asked the people to cooperate with law enforcement agencies deployed to the area to maintain law and order. He however said that the state of emergency did not cover the entire state as being peddled in some quarters, asking the people to go about their normal businesses. Speaking at the same media briefing, the Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Danladi Abdulhamid expressed satisfaction of the State Executive Council (SEC) to the proactive measures taken by Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu which he said has assisted in dousing tension in Suleja area.

“Government is appealing to the people to go about their normal activities without hindrance, as the law enforcement agents in the state have been adequately mobilized to provide adequate security for lives and property.”

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/newsonthehour/2012/jan/05/newsbreak-05-01-2012-001.html

^^^
Good point!

But my questions is that "has the price if diesel ever reduced substantially since it was deregulated?"

And can anyone confirm that the pump price of diesel which was de-regulated earlier ever reduced?

johnie:
The Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Finance, Danladi Kifasi yesterday told The Guardian: “In less than two weeks now, I assure you the prices of fuel will fall, by which time the supplies by the new investors who are already attracted by the new development arrive. This is not to talk of when the investors begin to build their own refineries locally here.’’

The same way they assured us that the subsidy will not be removed until end of March 2012!

Govt assures on lower oil price
Wednesday, 04 January 2012 00:00 From Mathias Okwe, (Abuja) News - National

THE Federal Ministry of Finance has assured Nigerians that the high prices of petrol following the January 1, 2012 full deregulation of the down- stream sector would come down drastically with the new fuel delivery arrangement.

Also, the ministry has begun a meeting to fulfil one of the short–term plans of the subsidy re-investment and empowerment scheme, the procurement of mass transit buses that are to serve as cheap means of transportation.

The Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Finance, Danladi Kifasi yesterday told The Guardian: “In less than two weeks now, I assure you the prices of fuel will fall, by which time the supplies by the new investors who are already attracted by the new development arrive. This is not to talk of when the investors begin to build their own refineries locally here.’’

It was also learnt yesterday that modalities for the procurement and distribution of mass transit buses had commenced with members of the committee meeting on the first working day of the year to fine–tune the strategies for action.

http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=72742:govt-assures-on-lower-oil-price-&catid=1:national&Itemid=559

johnie:
Respondents in the suit are Lekki Concession Company Limited, LCC, Lagos State Government, Inspector-General of Police, Chief Sup of Police Hakeem Odumosu, Lagos Police Commissioner, African Development Bank and Mr Joseph Tihngang.

ADB ke? Isn't that an overkill?

Lekki toll gate: Residents sue Lagos govt, Police, LCC, others over alleged beating
On January 4, 2012 · In News
| 1:20 am


By INNOCENT ANABA
LAGOS — Lekki residents have asked a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, to declare that the beating, shooting of live bullets and tear gas canisters and brutalisation of the residents of the Lekki-Epe axis and journalists at their gathering and rally at Admiralty Roundabout, Admiralty Circle Toll Plaza and Admiralty Way, Lekki, Lagos State on December 17, 2011, by the police and agents of the Lagos State Government constitutes a flagrant violation of their (residents) fundamental rights guaranteed under 1999 constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

The residents are also claiming N1billion as special, aggravated, punitive and general damages against the respondents, jointly and severally for their violation of the fundamental rights of the applicant, journalists and other residents of the Lekki-Epe axis.

Respondents in the suit are Lekki Concession Company Limited, LCC, Lagos State Government, Inspector-General of Police, Chief Sup of Police Hakeem Odumosu, Lagos Police Commissioner, African Development Bank and Mr Joseph Tihngang.

Mr Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, a lawyer, who filed the suit in his personal capacity, also wants the court to declare that the arrest of journalists and residents of the Lekki-Epe axis at Admiralty Circle Plaza, Admiralty Round About and Admiralty Way, Lekki, Lagos on December 17, 2011, by respondents, their agents, servants, officers or otherwise howsoever in Lagos and Abuja respectively, at the instigation, prompting and direction of LCC and Lagos Government, constitutes a flagrant violation of their fundamental rights.

guaranteed under the 1999 constitution and African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

He is also praying the court to restraining the respondents, whether by themselves, their servants, agents, officers or otherwise howsoever from violating or further violating the fundamental rights of the applicant, journalists and other residents of the Lekki-Epe axis through unlawful invasion, arrest and detention.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/01/lekki-toll-gate-residents-sue-lagos-govt-police-lcc-others-over-alleged-beating/

Laughing in Annang

Protest for where?

That is what is called a "show of force!"

They are trying to scare the demonstrators!

'Napoleon would be turning in his grave': Minister's horrified reaction after Salma Hayek awarded France's top honour
By Peter Allen

Last updated at 1:39 PM on 3rd January 2012

France’s honours system was branded a laughing stock today after Mexican-born sex symbol Salma Hayek was made a Knight.

It led to one former minister refusing the same award, with others suggesting the 45-year-old’s new status would see Napoleon Bonaparte ‘turning in his grave’.

Ms Hayek is currently promoting Puss in Boots, a film in which she provides the voice for a character called Kitty Softpaws.

In shining armour: Salma Hayek will become a Chevalier - or Knight - of the Legion of Honour for her services to the French Republic
Just before Christmas she boasted about her very large breasts, saying she had prayed as a young girl to be given ‘some boobs’.
Yet President Nicolas Sarkozy announced that she will become a Chevalier – or Knight - of the Legion of Honour for her services to the French Republic.
It is not yet clear what those services are.

Crucially, Ms Hayek is married to businessman Francois-Henri Pinault, who happens to be a close personal friend of Mr Sarkozy.


They have a four-year-old daughter Valentina.

When Hayek is given a medal by Mr Sarkozy at the Elysee Palace in a few weeks’ time, it will be a family affair.

World's apart: French President Nicolas Sarkozy chose the recipients of the award which was created by the former Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802

Her father-in-law, another tycoon called Francois Pinault, has been made a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour in the same list.

Referring to Mr Sarkozy possibly losing a presidential election in the Spring, political magazine Marianne ran the headline: ‘Last distribution of the gongs before leaving!
Mocking Ms Hayek with the Mexican exclamation ‘Caramba!’, it suggested that Mr Sarkozy’s list of recipients was ‘another occasion to have fun’ with people reacting to it with everything from ‘surprise to anger’

They included Henri Torre, the 78-year-old former minister and member of Mr Sarkozy's ruling UMP party, who turned down a Legion of Honour,
saying: ‘Too many people were nominated who do not deserve to me honoured’, adding that the awards had ‘lost their value’.

The link: Crucially, Ms Hayek is married to businessman Francois-Henri Pinault, who happens to be a close personal friend of Mr Sarkozy

Numerous angry French people posted on the website of L’Express, saying Bonaparte would be ‘turning in his grave’.
Knight of the Legion of Honour was created by the former Emperor in 1802 ‘to reward the men and women who have devoted themselves, sometimes to the death, to the nation’, said another Express reader.

The magazine launched its own debate about the award asking ‘Why not Tintin and Milou?’ – a reference to the cartoon boy journalist and his faithful dog.

L’Express said there was widespread bewilderment at a New Year’s Honours list which also included Eric Charden and Annie ‘Stone’ Gautrat – a pop singing duo dating back to the 60s and 70s.

Mr Sarkozy, who is married to the pop singer Carla Bruni, is well known for his love of Middle of the Road music, especially the kind performed by Gallic rocker Johnny Hallyday

France's new knight: The actress is currently promoting Puss in Boots, a film in which she provides the voice for a character called Kitty Softpaws

Others suggested that Mr Sarkozy was trying to ‘buy’ popularity before this year’s presidential elections, with one poster saying he had ‘put a big red nose on France.’

It follows similar criticism of the honours system in the UK, where Prime Minister David Cameron has been attacked for rewarding Tony Party donors, including tycoon Gerald Ronson, who was jailed for his part in the Guinness share-trading scandal.

Hollywood stars have in fact received Legion of Honour gongs in the past in the past in France, but they have tended to be global superstars including Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford and Robert De Niro.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2081548/Salma-Hayek-knighted-France-President-Sarkozy.html

1025:
@johnie,
this is a modern day lie/deceit.
we are the only country in the world where corruption is a an official resident/citizen.
our govt is the highest liars.
it is only in nigeria that billions are paid for un-executed contracts.we are a disgrace of a country.

These also are modern day lies/deceits!

Read this from the Guardian of UK:
Corruption in India: 'All your life you pay for things that should be free'
As Anna Hazare leaves prison to continue his protest, residents in Delhi explain how bribery forms part of everyday life

Vishal is an ordinary man with an ordinary story of corruption in India. He lives in east Delhi, part of the traffic-choked sprawl of India's capital. He owns a fried chicken takeaway similar to thousands of others that have sprung up in recent years to serve the new tastes of the burgeoning middle class.

[b]And he faces an ordinary Indian daily routine of petty corruption. The number of people Vishal has to pay off is bewildering. There are the local beat constables who take free lunches, and the more senior police officers who can cause problems with opening hours. They take 10,000 rupees (£130) on the 10th of each month to allow Vishal to stay open late.

Then there are the officials from various local authorities who also receive regular payments – around £50 per month – to ensure that health, safety and hygiene inspections go smoothly.

"Of the 40,000 rupees (£520) I earn a month from my restaurant, I pay at least a third in bribes," Vishal, 26, said. But bribery also extends into his personal life. Vishal has two young children and to get the eldest in to the best local school he paid a "donation" of 25,000 rupees (£340) in cash to the headmaster.

A driving licence needed another bribe. Getting an appointment with a competent public doctor cost a substantial amount. And then there are the traffic police. Every other week Vishal says he is stopped, told he has committed an offence and made to pay 100 rupees (£1.25), the standard fee to avoid "too much bother".[/b]

"I am so disappointed [about] everything you have to pay," he said. "And no one does anything. The politicians won't do anything because they are all corrupt too."

Such sentiments are widespread in India and explain the sudden outpouring of anger over recent days as tens of thousands of people took to the streets across the country to protest about the arrest of anti-corruption campaigner Anna Hazare.

Though a string of major corruption scandals such as the telecoms licence scam that cost the country up to £26bn, and the alleged fraud surrounding the high-profile Commonwealth Games in Delhi, has fuelled some of the fury, it is the grinding daily routine of petty corruption that is at the root.
"You pay for a birth certificate, a death certificate," said Varun Mishra, a 30-year-old software engineer and one of thousands who marched in Delhi to support Hazare. "All your life you pay. And for what? For things that should be free."

Hazare, 74, has harnessed this grassroots frustration to launch a popular movement. Having been jailed as a threat to public order, he went on hunger strike and refused to leave prison when released. He has finally left jail, having been granted permission to hold a 15-day fast in a public park.

His public relations team has run rings around clumsy and slow official spokesmen. India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh, has an impeccable reputation for personal probity but has looked distant and out of touch.

Hazare is campaigning for a powerful new anti-corruption ombudsman with the right to investigate senior politicians, officials and judges. His critics say this would be undemocratic, and worry about the division of powers. But for people like restaurateur Vishal, Hazare is a hero. "At least he is doing something," he said. "No one else is."

Though bribery, or "graft", is a fact of life for more or less everybody in India, the demonstrators are largely urban, educated and relatively well-off. "What you are seeing on the street is a middle-class rebellion," said Mohan Guruswamy, a former senior official in the ministry of finance and founder of the Centre for Policy Alternatives thinktank.

There are reports in local media that call centres and other back office operations in IT hubs such as Gurgaon, a satellite town of Delhi, and Bengaluru, the southern city, have faced staffing problems with up to half of workers joining the protests. Teachers, lawyers and medical professionals have also featured prominently.

Support for Hazare is particularly strong among those who have benefited most from India's recent breakneck economic development but are frustrated by a largely unreformed public sector that delivers poor and haphazard services. They are often the young.

Many of those who waited outside Tihar jail in Delhi to greet Hazare on his triumphant exit were in their teens or even younger. One 12-year-old carried a placard saying "save my future".

Tens of millions of school and college-leavers pour into the Indian jobs market each year. State institutions have not kept pace with aspirations raised by years of rapid economic growth and with skill levels low and good jobs scare, unrest could rise.

Senior Congress party politicians this week argued that some level of graft was "inevitable" in a developing economy. However, analysts said the extent of the problem in India – which ranks at 87 out of 178 on the campaign group Transparency International's index of corruption – is unique. "India is comparable to China, doing better than Russia, less well than Brazil," said Robin Hodess, the group's research director. "But bureaucratic and petty corruption is extreme in India."

Some say India's generally patchy law enforcement is to blame. "We are politically advanced in terms of institutions," said Guruswamy. "We have courts, a parliament and a long tradition of democracy ,  but very few people are ever held to account." Last week a senior judge faced unprecedented impeachment proceedings 25 years after the alleged offence.

Others say those who pay the bribes are to blame too. One supreme court lawyer who refused demands for commissions in return for sanctioning payment for work he had done for the government, said giving in to corruption could be down to "deep powerlessness" or simply a "I just want to get on with my day" type of attitude. "As Indians we see corruption as something that permeates our lives, like air pollution, but we need to think much more carefully about it," he said.

Raghu Thoniparambil, who runs the website ipaidabribe.com, pointed out that corruption in the private sector was just as prevalent. "All these protests are very inspiring but will people really change? I don't know," he said.

Less ambitious and spectacular measures could have more impact than the ombudsman office Hazare and his followers want to create, Thoniparambil argues.

As well as perceptions of general corruption, Transparency International also compiles an index of nations where bribes are paid most frequently, particularly in business. India ranks 19 out of 22, above Mexico, Russia and China.

Manu Joseph, editor of the news magazine Open, speaks of "hypocrisy". "The Indian relationship with corruption is very complex and politicians are representative of society as a whole," he said.

But the widespread anger is also due to a sense that modern India not only deserves better but needs to at least moderate rampant corruption to compete on the world stage.

The most high profile cases have already damaged the nation's image sufficiently to slow economic growth. One text message circulating in India last week focused on the huge sums of "black money" illegally stashed by wealthy Indians in overseas assets and bank accounts. The return of these funds could pay for "Oxford-like universities", borders stronger than "the China wall" and roads "like in Paris", it said.

"We want a great country, stronger than the US, UK and Australia," said 18-year-old Sushil Kumar as he waited for the protest march from Hazare's jail to start. "India will be great, with its traditions, its culture. But we have to beat corruption."

The anti-bribery website
Launched last October, ipaidabribe.com is the brainchild of Raghunandan Thoniparambil, a retired official from the elite Indian Administrative Service.
By Friday 12,076 people had posted their personal stories of graft for all to see. They included businessmen forced to pay 50 rupees (70p) to traffic police, 300 rupees (£3.20) paid for a passport verification, 40,000 rupees (£540) handed over to have property registered, 5,000 rupees (£67) for a birth certificate and travellers who had to give 100 rupees (£1.30) to get berths on otherwise full express trains. Software takes names off the site.

"The aim is not to identify people but to identify the problem," Thoniparambil said. In June, after a BBC report about ipaidabribe.com several similar sites opened in China. Within two weeks they were shut down.

"In India we are sometimes a little slow or dysfunctional but civil society, simple democracy can make a huge difference," added Thoniparambil
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/19/corruption-india-anna-hazare


Obviously you haven't been following this thread:

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-639186.160.html#msg9770969

1025:
@johnie,
this is a modern day lie/deceit.
the most peaceful way forward now is military and if possible a jerry rawlings version will be appreciated.

See what prolonged military rule has done to the Nigerian psyche!

1025:
we have criminal minded orators who speak and their colleagues clap for them.

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-639186.160.html#msg9771097

Demdem:
Everything right now is about PDP and those fools have promised to be in power for 50yrs. I think we need the military now.

Hysteria!

Throwing away the baby with the bath water.

Kx:
The worst military admin in Abduslam set the ball of GSM rolling.
What has the best civil govt in PDP given u especially today?

Compare what the best civilian govt has given us (if you like, non-PDP govt)!

Does it have to be about PDP?

First, I do not support any form of military intervention!

The best military government is worse that the worst civilian government.

Anyone calling for a military take over doesn't know what he is wising for.

Ask the Egyptians!

Secondly, why are you listing retired military officers?

They STILL don't get it: As train fares rocket, MPs enjoy first-class travel at our expense

Claims for upper-class flights and rail journeys to top £1million a year
Comes despite pledge to ban the practice after expenses scandal

By Jason Groves

Last updated at 8:20 AM on 3rd January 2012

MPs are on course to claim more than £1million a year for first-class travel – despite a promised ban on the practice in the wake of the expenses scandal.
The claims have more than doubled in a year as they exploit a loophole in the latest ‘tough’ expenses regime, figures show.
They highlight the extent to which the system cossets MPs from the crippling rises in the cost of living that are squeezing the incomes of ordinary families.

Cosseted: Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, pictured with Labour leader Ed Miliband (left) on a train to Newcastle, claimed six first-class fares of up to £116 each between London and Wakefield in the months of June and July last year

Beggars belief: Energy Secretary Chris Huhne (left) claimed three first-class fares costing up to £63.60 each, while Labour MP Chris Wilson (right) was reimbursed £382.50p for a first-class ticket from Darlington to London which would have only cost £106.20 as a walk-on fare

While commuters are facing a rise in ticket prices of up to 11 per cent, MPs can simply bill the taxpayer and continue to travel first class.
Figures released by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, covering the months of June and July last year, show that MPs claimed for 1,334 first-class rail journeys at a total cost of £136,800 – a 155 per cent increase on the same period the previous year.

More, The brass-necked MPs who had an SinParty of expenses spending could learn a lesson from frugal Mrs Thatcher

During the same two months, they also took 115 business class flights, claiming £35,722 from the taxpayer.
The combined claims for upper class rail and air fares are now on course to top £1million a year.

Revealed: Some of the claims made by MPs for first-class travel
Emma Boon, campaign director of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, called for a clampdown on the practice.

‘It beggars belief that some politicians think they can live the high life at taxpayers’ expense,’ she said. ‘If they want to sit in first class, they can pay the extra themselves.’
MPs’ claims for taxis have also doubled in the past year, despite a supposed ban in all but exceptional circumstances.

In June and July, they claimed £13,681 in taxi fares – up from £6,384 in the same period the previous year.
MPs reacted with fury to proposals for a ban on first-class travel in the wake of the expenses scandal.

The backlash resulted in watered-down proposals that allowed MPs to travel first class if they could find a more expensive standard class ticket.
Accelerating costs: MPs claimed for 1,334 first-class rail journeys in June and July, costing a total of £136,800 - a 155 per cent increase on the same period last year

Because of the expensive prices charged for flexible ‘Anytime’ tickets, this means MPs are often able to travel first class.

MPs exploiting the loophole include Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls, Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, and Energy Secretary Chris Huhne.
Tory ministers appear to have made an unspoken agreement to avoid claiming for first-class travel.These tickets are never the cheapest and are often several times the price of a walk-on fare.

For example, Labour MP Phil Wilson claimed £382.50 for a first-class ticket from Darlington to London.

A walk-on standard return costs £106.20, while those booking just a day in advance can pick up two single tickets for a total of £87.
Fellow Labour MP Tony Cunningham claimed three tickets to his Cumbrian constituency at a cost of £291.50 each.

A walk-on standard return costs just £91.20.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2081455/As-train-fares-rocket-MPs-enjoy-class-travel-expense.html

Tainted New Year Honours: Knighthood for Tory donor who made millions from credit crunch and CBE for jailed tycoon

Ex-convict Gerald Ronson and Conservative Party supporter Paul Ruddock both honoured

David Cameron accused of being 'out of touch' with decent British people

Government source says Prime Minister has no personal involvement in deciding who receives honours

Founder of online gambling company bet365 also appointed OBE
By David Wilkes and Jason Groves

Last updated at 2:51 PM on 31st December 2011


A disgraced property tycoon and a hedge fund trader who cashed in on the credit crunch are both in the New Year Honours list.
Ex-convict Gerald Ronson – the great survivor of the Guinness share-trading scandal – is made a CBE. And there is a knighthood for Tory donor Paul Ruddock, who has given more than £500,000 to party coffers since 2003.

His firm, Lansdowne Partners, made a staggering £100million from the financial crash by betting that the price of Northern Rock shares would fall and also made millions in a matter of days by predicting the likely slide of other banking shares.


Controversial: Ex-convict Gerald Ronson, pictured left with wife Gail, is appointed CBE while Tory donor Paul Ruddock, right, is to be knighted

The honours sparked a cross-party war of words, with Labour accusing David Cameron of cronyism, but Downing Street insisting that the Prime Minister had nothing to do with the decisions.

Michael Dugher, Labour's Shadow Cabinet Office Minister, said: 'David Cameron promised to clean up politics, but in office he has shown he is utterly out of touch with decent British people. He is giving a knighthood to Paul Ruddock, who made millions from the collapse of Northern Rock and has given over £500,000 to the Tories.
 
Queen Mother film role lands Helena Bonham Carter a gong as she is made a CBE

Point of order! Proof that Bercow is picking on the PM as figures show Speaker has lashed out at Cameron more than any other MP

Oxbridge Labour is too elitist and fails to connect with working classes, says Miliband aide

Apple's Jonathan Ive gets Knighthood in Queen's New Year Honours

'This tells you everything you need to know about the Tories' priorities. When millions of families are struggling to get by, it's the Tories' friends in the City who get the rewards.'

A member of the Treasury Select Committee, John Mann, described the knighthood for Mr Ruddock as a 'disgrace'. The Labour MP for Bassetlaw said: 'The country is sick to death of bankers getting knighthoods from successive governments.

'It is extraordinary that when there are so many hard working people who have done a lot for this country, it is people who have caused us so many problems that are getting awarded. Small business owners who went under and people who lost their jobs when Northern Rock failed will be extremely angry.'

A Government source stressed that the Prime Minister has no personal involvement in deciding who receives honours and dismissed any suggestion of impropriety. The decision, said the source, was taken by an independent committee in recognition of Mr Ruddock's commitment to the arts.

Donating to a political party is not a bar to an honour but the independent committee is made aware of any donations.

Within Government there was anger at Labour's decision to try to make political capital out of the issue, not least because former Capita boss Rod Aldridge, who has given Labour £1million, is knighted in today's list.

Jailed: Gerald Ronson, left, during his time inside Ford Prison is the great survivor of the Guinness share-trading scandal

No decision to make: A Government source said that the Prime Minister has no personal involvement in deciding who receives honours

A Government source said: 'This criticism is pretty rich, coming from a Labour government that gave Fred Goodwin a knighthood – they should wind their necks in.'

Others from the business world whose honours might raise eyebrows include Denise Coates, founder and chief executive of the online gambling company bet365. She receives the CBE for services to the community and business.

The daughter of Stoke City FC owner Peter Coates, she has a £750million fortune and was this year ranked the eighth-richest woman in the Sunday Times Rich List.

Property tycoon and philanthropist Ronson, 72, who was jailed in 1990 for his part in the Guinness scam, has been honoured for services to charity. It is rare for a former prisoner to be bestowed with such an honour.

Indeed, one of his co-defendants, the late Jack Lyons, was stripped of his knighthood after they were convicted along with two other top City figures. Lyons, who was spared a 30-month term because of his poor health, was knighted by the 1973 Labour government and had his title taken away by John Major.

Proud moment: Those people on the New Year Honours list will enjoy a day at Buckingham Palace

Ronson founded Heron Group – now Heron International Plc – when he was 17, brought self-service petrol stations to the UK in 1960s and was once the 14th-richest person in Britain and worth £548million.

In 1990 he was, with Lyons, Ernest Saunders and Anthony Parnes, convicted over Guinness's £2.7billion takeover of the Scottish drinks group Distillers.

The fraud had the effect of boosting the Guinness share price. As it rose, the group's offer to Distillers' shareholders increased in value, helping Guinness fend off a bid from rival Argyll and secure the deal.

Ronson was convicted of conspiring to create a false market, false accounting and one of theft. He was fined £5million and sentenced to a year, but freed after six months for good behaviour.

He has always protested his innocence, saying he did not knowingly act dishonestly.

A father of four, he is also the uncle of chart-topping musician Mark Ronson.

He has raised more than £100million for, and donated more than £30million to, charities such as the Community Security Trust, NSPCC, the Prince's Trust and Jewish Care.

Asked if Ronson's conviction had any influence over the decision to award him a CBE, a Cabinet Office spokesman said every nomination for an honour was considered on its own merits.

Other former prisoners to be honoured in the past include footballer Tony Adams, who was jailed for drink-driving in 1990 and made an MBE 14 years later. And Mick Jagger was knighted in 2002, 35 years after being jailed for possessing drugs. The sentence was reduced on appeal to a conditional discharge.

Paul Ruddock, 53, becomes a Knight Bachelor for services to the arts in today's honours list.

During the credit crunch in 2007 and 2008 the activities of 'short sellers' enraged politicians who were trying to shore up plunging bank shares.

Many observers blamed the practice – based on traders selling stock, allowing the price to fall and then buying it back – for the bailout funded by taxpayers.

Short-sellers were accused of targeting Halifax owner HBOS in particular before it was rescued by Lloyds and then the taxpayer.

Mr Ruddock has given £551,598.42 to the Tories since 2003. He is one of the City's wealthiest men, with a fortune estimated at £280million.

Among his philanthropic work, he is chairman of the Victoria and Albert Museum, for which he has helped raise more than £120million.

And I dub thee, Sir Big Brother

Peter Bazalgette has the dubious distinction of being the man who brought Big Brother – the epitome of downmarket reality TV – to UK screens.

Despite what many will regard as a less than enriching contribution to British life, the media executive has been given a knighthood for services to broadcasting.

The 58-year-old was also credited with being instrumental in the rise of lifestyle and make-over shows, having been behind series such as Ground Force, Changing Rooms and Ready Steady Cook.

Yesterday Baz, as he is known within the TV industry, said the honour was a ‘delightful compliment’.

Bazalgette, great great grandson of civil engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette, oversaw the launch, and several series, of Big Brother for Endemol as well as shows such as Fame Academy, Restoration and Deal Or No Deal.

While he did not invent the format for Big Brother he was credited with playing a major part in making the show a success.

Delighted: Peter Bazalgette, the man who brought Big Brother to UK screens, has been given a knighthood for services to broadcasting

During his time at the company the reality series was involved in a number of controversies including showing a couple apparently Being Intimate, albeit under the covers, on Teen Big Brother in 2003.

Five years ago, in the ‘celebrity’ version of the show, viewers were treated to the dubious privilege of seeing maverick MP George  Galloway dressed in a cat costume and as a vampire, while more recent participants include Sally Bercow, wife of the Commons Speaker.

One critic has accused Bazalgette of doing more to ‘debase’ TV over the past decade than anyone else.

In recent years he has acted largely as a consultant to the TV industry and for digital media.

He has also written about the business of TV formats, with his book Billion Dollar Game published in 2005.

Bazalgette said he viewed the award as an acknowledgment of the work of independent TV production firms.

After graduating from Cambridge University, Bazalgette joined the BBC’s news trainee scheme,  moving on to become a researcher for That’s Life and then a reporter for Man Alive. Moving behind the cameras, he produced the long-running series Food And Drink before setting up his own company Bazal, later to be absorbed into the Dutch TV giant Endemol.

He went on to become Endemol’s chief creative officer, leaving the company in 2007.

Bazalgette is president of the Royal Television Society, deputy chairman of English National Opera and the National Film and Television School, and has served on the board of Channel 4.

In January this year he was made a non-executive director to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport for his ‘business acumen’ and ‘particular insight into a broad spectrum of media issues’.

Another successful TV executive, Paul Smith, the man behind Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, is made a CBE.

He was also executive producer of the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2080571/New-Year-Honours-2012-Knighthood-Tory-donor-Paul-Ruddock-CBE-jailed-tycoon-Gerald-Ronson.html

Apapa Council Renames Park Lane after Awo’s Daughter

30 Dec 2011

By Omololu Ogunmade

Chairman of Apapa Local Government Area of Lagos State, Hon. Joseph Ayodeji, Thursday, renamed the popular Park Lane in Apapa GRA after the deceased daughter of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Otunba Ayodele Olubusola Soyode. Mrs. Soyode passed on early in the year at the age of 67.

While explaining the rationale behind naming the street after her, the chairman said one of the greatest achievements that an Apapa Local Government chairman can record “is to name a street after a virtuous woman.”

According to him, the original plan was to name the street after the first Premier of the Western Region and father of the late Soyode, Awolowo, whom he said also lived on the same street like his daughter while he was alive.

He added, however, that qualities displayed by the deceased and the numerous contributions she made to the development of Apapa Local Government made her worthy to have the street named after her.

“She embraced all of us. She didn’t discriminate. She was always involved in community activities. She would go out during environmental sanitation to talk to people. The street is being renamed after her in recognition of the contributions she made to this area. During environmental sanitation, she would give out food to people,” he recalled.

While responding to the gesture, Soyode’s son, Oladipupo, said the family was very delighted to be so honoured, adding that words were inadequate to convey their happiness to the chairman.

While eulogising his mother, he said: “We know what roads are; we know what roads stand for in the forest; we know what roads are in the cities. It connects people. It leads to progress. It leads to development, openness, that was what our mother stood for in her life time,” he said.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/apapa-council-renames-park-lane-after-awo-s-daughter/106091/

I am alive, says man reported killed at Lekki toll gate protest
By Jude Isiguzo 10 hours 24 minutes ago

Eleven days after he was reportedly killed during a protest against toll collection on the 49- kilometre Lekki-Epe Expressway, Mr. Femi Ogunsanya yesterday said it was all a ruse.

Ogunsanya, 39, was reported to have been killed by thugs allegedly hired by the Lagos State government to stop the protest. The government denied this and persuaded the police to release those arrested.

But Ogunsanya said yesterday he is not only alive, but hale and hearty. He spoke at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba, Lagos Mainland.

According to him, the controversy thrown up by his alleged death informed the clarification

Ogunsanya , an employee of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) Plc, said though he was beaten and injured by the police, he was not shot.

On the allegation that his wife came on a radio station to confirm his death, he said: “The whole thing was a shock to me. I have no wife and have never been married before; so, I do not know who spoke on radio.”

Narrating how he was caught in the crisis, Ogunsanya, who incidentally wore the same shirt he was wearing on the day he was reported dead, said: “I was just coming to work that day and I could not get a direct bus to Ajah. So, I decided to break my journey. When I got to Lekki, I saw the chairman of the residents association and as I was exchanging greetings with him, I heard gunshots and decided to run for my dear life.

“But before I could run, some policemen and hoodlums held me and started beating me. That was the last I could remember because I passed out immediately. I was later rushed to the Accident and Emergency hospital at the toll gate. I was treated and I survived. I was not part of the protesters. I was on my way to work. I am the person in the photograph that was published in a newspaper, but you can see that I am not dead. I was shocked when I saw it.”

Speaking to The Nation, Lagos Police Command spokesman Samuel Jinadu said Ogunsanya spoke to prove to the public that nobody was killed in the protest.

Jinadu said: “The man who was allegedly killed is the person standing beside me. He is alive and healthy. You can see his legs; he was not shot in the leg or any other part of his body. The command was embarrassed by the report and that is why we brought him here for you to see.”

He said 18 persons were arrested during the protest for unlawful assembly since no permission was granted for the march by the Police.

The spokesman explained that Ogunsanya was one of those released with other suspects following Governor Babatunde Fashola’s plea.

Jinadu said:“We want to state categorically that although there was little fracas at the place, nobody was killed.”

http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/31507-i-am-alive-says-man-reported-killed-at-lekki-toll-gate-protest.html

And I think I saw that "cool" young guy with the "fresh" car in the Ambi Pur car playing the almost obscure part of a bar tender in yet another advert!