₦airaland Forum

Northern elder to security: go after Dokubo Asari first
Posted by: Our Reporter in News 15 hours ago

A member of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Mr. Solomon Dallung, says the Department of State Services (DSS) should leave members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) alone, and go after close associates of President Goodluck Jonathan, like Dokubo Asari, who pose greater threat to national security.
Mr. Dallong told our correspondent in Kaduna that the DSS has deviated from being a national security agency otherwise it should have moved against members of the PDP and associates of the President who have made more dangerous statements than what it accused the opposition of doing.
He said: ”When Dokubo Asari said there would be war in Nigeria if President Jonathan loses the 2015 elections, instead of being arrested or invited by the SSS, he was celebrated in the Presidential Villa.
“Again, during the Nyanya bomb blast, before the arrival of the security agencies, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh, said the APC was responsible for the bombing. Such statements are quite inflammatory as well.
“When you talk about inflammatory statements, the presidential media man and the presidential image makers have made more inflammatory statements than any other Nigerian.
“So, if the Department of State Security is interested in maintaining national security, it should start its investigation from the presidential aides and then the Publicity Secretary of the PDP, before getting to the APC.
“But, unfortunately, the DSS has not behaved like a national security agency. It is behaving like an agency of a political party. They only go out to warn people when they are not members of the PDP or members of Jonathan’s government.
“A member of Jonathan government can make any statement. Imagine what Dokubo Asari said: ‘if Jonathan does not win the election the country will go up in flame.’ And he walked into the Presidential Villa celebrated.
“So, the SSS should know that they owe the country a responsibility to protect national security and not security of a political party or any particular government.”

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/northern-elder-security-go-dokubo-asari-first/

Returning to another debt trap

JANUARY 2, 2015 BY PUNCH EDITORIAL BOARD


WITHOUT batting an eyelid, President Goodluck Jonathan and his economic guru, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, have proposed to spend N943 billion on debt servicing in 2015. At 21.67 per cent of the total expenditure plan and with lower revenues already buffeting the economy, debt may once more hobble development and drain scarce resources. Nigeria urgently needs to apply the brakes on debts and deploy effective measures to turn the economy around for sustainable growth.

Despite its repeated claims to the contrary, it is apparent that the Jonathan government is driving the economy and the Nigerian state to the brink, not forward. This is apparent in the rising debt. We had warned in the past that we should avoid plunging headlong into another debt trap. The country carried a crippling debt overhang for three decades that we only exited in 2005/06 at a steep price. Then, we had to pay $12.4 billion to the Paris Club of international creditors to obtain an $18 billion write-off and throw off the yoke. The promise (which never fully materialised) was that savings of $1 billion-$2 billion hitherto spent on annual debt servicing obligations would thenceforth be used to fund critical areas, especially the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

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Alas, we have since been slowly, but surely, creating a new debt trap. The danger was initially domestic debts, which had been allowed to pile up. Soon, and especially since Jonathan mounted the saddle in 2010, we have been taking in external debts too.

To public concerns, public officials, from Okonjo-Iweala and other ministers, to the Director-General of the Debt Management Office, Abraham Nwankwo, the retort is that our debt-to-Gross Domestic Product ratio is still well within the international threshold. Often, we have also been told that the debts come with favourable terms, including moratoriums, low interest rates and long repayment periods. Indeed, the DMO continues to assert that our current debt profile is sustainable as it still falls below the 40-56 per cent-to-GDP allowed for an economy of Nigeria’s size. The National Debt Sustainability Analysis 2014 Report, arising from deliberations by the DMO in collaboration with other stakeholder agencies in debt management, recommended that maximum borrowing should not exceed $12.3 billion in 2015, made up of a $7.42 billion ceiling from external sources and $4.94 billion from domestic sources to correspond to the preferred ratio of 60 per cent for external, and 40 per cent domestic.

The DMO website shows that as of September 30, 2014, the total external debts of the Federal Government stood at $58.64 billion, made up of $49.12 billion or 83.7 per cent in domestic debts and $9.51 billion (federal and states) or 16.23 per cent in external debts. Significantly, stakeholders recommended that the government retain the current debt-to-GDP ratio peg of 25 per cent beyond 2015 and up to 2020.

We are not persuaded that the government is utilising debt judiciously as a tool for development. Successive governments have so badly managed resources only to resort to borrowing to meet consumption and feed the prevailing system of graft and patronage while piling up debts. It is wrong to justify borrowing using global thresholds knowing that we run an economy with an acute infrastructure deficit; one that is dependent on crude oil receipts for over 70 per cent of government revenues, where the rule of law is weak and one where excessive corruption derails all development programmes.

An annexure in the NDSA admitted “that a drastic and persistent fall in public assets, caused by a fall in revenue, would, in the long run, increase the risk of debt distress.” Unlike Nigeria, countries like Malaysia, South Africa, Brazil and South Korea have built up infrastructure, diversified and built export-oriented economies and can, therefore, sustain such high debt-to-GDP ratios.

Our wrong-headed choices have been bringing distress ever closer. With oil prices predicted to fall lower than the $65 per barrel on which the 2015 budget has been rashly anchored, more borrowing and future debt are assured. The N943 billion earmarked in a budget of N4.35 trillion for 2015 trumps the N712 billion set aside in 2014 and N591 billion in 2013 for the same purpose. The fact that only N633.53 billion is earmarked for capital projects in 2015 amply demonstrates the unfolding national tragedy.

Now that over 21 per cent of total budget spending will be used to service debts, our officials who talk down to critics of the borrowing binge should re-strategise. We should never forget that the external debts that ballooned to $35 billion by 2005 started with very modest borrowed sums. The $6.82 billion of total external debt stock owed to multilateral agencies, $1.18 billion to bilateral agencies and $1.5 billion on commercial debts as of September 30, may look small today, but will invariably rise when government revenues fall further and inevitable payment rescheduling will result in penalties and interest.

Nigeria is paying the price of relying solely on crude oil for its survival. But the situation can be salvaged. Government should open up the railways, solid minerals, and downstream petroleum, steel and ports sectors by a programme of liberalisation and complete privatisation of all state-owned commercial assets. This will free resources for critical sectors like health, education, environment, water supply and rural development while opening the way for massive private investment and reduce borrowing.

Above all, corruption must be tamed and the rule of law enthroned.

http://www.punchng.com/editorial/returning-to-another-debt-trap/

Agbaje no match for Lagos APC, says Fashola

Posted by: Our Reporter in News

Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola has said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Jimi Agbaje, is no match for the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the state.
The governor said Agbaje’s performance in the 2007 election was a clear indication of the strength of his candidacy.
Addressing reporters at an end-of-year briefing at the Lagos House, Alausa, Fashola said: “Agbaje is not a threat to us. Let’s go and check the result of the 2011 election.
“He got three per cent of the votes cast. We have defeated the PDP in all elections since 1999. Our candidate, Akinwunmi Ambode, is going to defeat Agbaje with your support.
“This is not the place to experiment; one needs a lot of experience to achieve what we have done in Lagos.
“When you look at what their party has done with the country, for instance, there are missing funds, non-functioning rail, epileptic power supply and others, do you want that to happen in Lagos?”
On comments credited to Vice President Namadi Sambo that people were leaving Lagos because of high taxation, the governor described it as a mark of ignorance.
Fashola said he believes Sambo was misquoted or the utterance could be a reflection of the quality of people the country parades as its leaders.
“That statement is a very serious display of ignorance if it was true that the Vice President said so.
“How do you then justify the perception that people are leaving Lagos?
“ Is the Value Added Tax (VAT) being collected from Lagos reducing compared to other states?
“Is the air traffic into Lagos reducing? Or have you a significant reduction in traffic in Lagos? More hotels are being built in Lagos, companies are licensing and operating in Lagos.
“Displaced people from other parts of Nigeria are moving into Lagos. Has the workers’ demand in Lagos reduced? Has the demand for hospital services reduced?
“So it is a very grave statement to make. That is why I said may be he was misquoted because that is the Chairman of the Nigeria Economic Council.
“So if he misunderstands what is happening in the nation’s commercial and economic nerve centre it may be a very revealing index to his understanding of the economy.
“It may also confirm to you that some of the things you heard from the president that he receives all sorts of contradictory advice and may be this is part of it.
“It is a very dangerous statement to make. It is either ignorant or diabolical and either way it is not good because it tells you then why the economy is not functioning.
The governor who reeled out the achievements of his administration in different sectors said the APC had delivered dividends of democracy to lagosians.
On the Permanent Voter Card (PVC) distribution and the preparedness of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the elections, Fashola said the real head of the commission should be a statistician and not a professor or an academician.
“It is not about theory, it is about practical. People who should also do this job should be those who have managed distribution activities in the country. It is not a judicial work but about logistics,” he said.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/agbaje-no-match-lagos-apc-says-fashola/

Okonjo-Iweala and the missing $30 billion

Posted by: Sanya Oni in Sanya Oni, Tuesday

From the look of things, the controversies over the missing $30 billion from the Excess Crude Account (ECA), as alleged by Comrade Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, have only just begun. If anything, we expect more of the fireworks in the coming days as both sides present different versions of the same account before the Nigerian public. Expect an administration that has been only too eager to pass off the mess it has made of the nations finances to the latest cycle of dip in global oil prices mounting the offensive as the lid is finally lifted from its pretences that the nation’s current fiscal challenges are anything but largely internal.
To say that a day like this would come is actually putting things rather mildly. Put in the context of the General Elections barely two months from now and rather the gloomy economic outlook foisted by the slump in global oil prices that has left the finances of most states on the brink, the current demand on the federal government to render accounts of its stewardship could not have been anything but compelling. Which is unfortunate really because the demands are not just elements of modern governance, they are supposed to be the critical pillars on which our federal practice is erected.
So it was that Governor Oshiomhole would stir the proverbial hornets nest when he opted to task the federal government to come clean on its record keeping. In this, the governor neither said anything different or new from what his brother governors have expressed at one point or the other about the curious arithmetic in which higher differentials between the budget benchmark and actual sales price of crude have come to mean less and less in the piggy bank!
With perhaps the exception of the federal government, the scenario which the governor had sought to paint was all too familiar: how come that a nation which has in the last three years assumed a budget benchmark of between $77 to $78 dollars but sold at the average price of $108 a barrel cannot resolve this basic arithmetic? Put in another context: At a surplus of $30 a barrel and using a projected 2.3 million barrels crude production, how come the ECA is a paltry $3 billion when we should be talking of a figure close to $30 billion?
Ordinarily, one would assume that the issue is so simple and straight-forward as not to lend to any obfuscation. It comes to the simple arithmetic of how much crude the nation pumped for the period and the applicable price – minus the operational and marketing expenses.
The difference of course is that the Comrade Governor thinks there is a gaping hole that demands thorough investigation. Most Nigerians would tend to side with him. On her part, the nation’s finance chief thinks the governor is playing mischief; she insists that the complex econometric formulae used for the federation account is beyond the ken of simple minded Nigerians and that no dime is missing! Left to the minister, the irrepressible governor ought to be in the dock for “going public with a sweeping, political allegation based on casual, back of envelop calculations!”
Let’s look at the minister’s defence against the weighty issues raised by the governor more closely. First, she says that the allegations are as “totally untrue”. To the extent that her version of “truth” is at least unknown to the governors or even anyone else for that matter, one assumes that it is one dark secret known only to her and her principal!
Secondly, she charges that “the comments reflect once again, the unfortunate tendency of some political players to politicise the management of the economy on the basis of half-truths and sundry distortions”. The familiar word again – politicisation! And what’s the correct picture? Here, her self-righteous rage is supposed to be taken as sufficient defence!
And then of course her reference to the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee meetings – something I consider even more amusing: “Anyone who is familiar with the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee process knows that this is simply not true. The meetings are held every month and commissioners of finance and other officials represent their states and agreements are reached on issues, including sharing of proceeds from the account”!
I assume that the minister could not be referring here to the Fuji House of Commotion described as monthly FAAC meetings. Had the minister bothered to check on the proceedings in the last three years, she would have found that the picture is nowhere near her portraiture!
However, beyond the pathetic attempt to muddle things up, what must stand as particularly galling is the insufferable arrogance underlying the minister’s so-called response. In her barely disguised irritation, she may well have said that state governments – as joint-owners of the federation pool – are ignorant, or that they have no business knowing how the accruals into the account are determined! That’s how bad things can get – the very situation responsible for the current morass in which the nation is said to lose 20 percent of its oil revenue to a cartel of oil thieves!
Beyond all of these however, it seems that the nation may finally be coming to terms with one profound character flaw in one of the more foremost players in the federal executive – her penchant to trade in cheap blackmail. I have not even here added one proven case of duplicity against her person such as when, contrary to verifiable records from the Nigerian Customs Service at the height of the controversies over the abuse of duty waivers, her ministry actually granted import duty waivers to the tune of N1.4 trillion in three years as against her claim of N171 billion!
And by the way, only the minister pretends that the latest charges from the governor are anything new. She would admit that much when she observed that Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi has in November 2013 similarly alleged sharp practices in the management of the federation account to the tune of $5 billion. May I remind her that the issue has actually provoked nearly a dozen editorials without the government nearly succeeding in laying out its case?
The expectation this time would be for the minister, along-side her counterpart in the petroleum ministry, to open the books to Nigerians for scrutiny. After all, she knows enough to affirm that federal government which she represents is right – and the rest of us – wrong. Opening the books to the public would certainly achieve far more than what the current low road of sophistry would ever do.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/okonjo-iweala-missing-30-billion/

Missing $20b: Buhari demands release of audit report

Posted by: Bunmi Ogunmodede

All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari has demanded the relaese of the forensic audit on the missing $20 billion oil cash.
Gen. Buhari, in a statement yesterday, said the report must be released “in the spirit of the war against corruption”.
The APC presidential standard bearer accused the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of “digging graves in search of rumours” to confuse the voters.
The statement, signed by the Director of Communication of the Buhari Campaign Organisation, Mr. Dele Alake, reads: “There is a clear linkage between the billions of naira lost to corruption and the poor living conditions of our people: it is the resources meant for the development of our people that are diverted to service the greed of a few. It is the fear of the unknown in a country where both family and government social welfare have collapsed that fuels the avarice of those in offices to steal for generations unborn.
It is indeed true that, by sheer force of personal examples, I and my running mate, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, have demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that it is possible to live above the greed that dominates the system.
“I believe our spiritual anchors as men who fear The Almighty and are resolved to live our lives according to His admonitions have played very critical roles in developing our capacity to lead. As Christians go and return from churches, as Muslims and men of other faiths observe their spiritual obligations, we believe our individual commitments to serve our Creator will inspire us to shun corruption.
“We say this fully conscious of the need to strengthen these spiritual values by creating a system that cares for the poor and the downtrodden; a system that gives jobs to the unemployed; provides electricity so that the artisans and the middle class can be productive and expands infrastructure to enable the corporate sector reduce cost of operations.
“The details of the roadmap to prosperity has been powerfully articulated in the manifesto of our party, the All Progressives Congress. We have signed this manifesto to commit ourselves to faithfully execute it as our contract with the people of Nigeria.
“Let us reiterate that we have already declared war against corruption, resolved to achieve food security, provide accelerated power supply, integrate the country’s transport network, promote free education and provide affordable health care service.
“What we bring to the table is not just these ideas. What we offer Nigerians is that we shall, day and night, 24 hours per day, seven days a week, stake our intergrity as men of discipline and transparency to make life better for the average Nigerian by executing these policies in the shortest possible time.
“What we bring to the table is an unblemished record of patriotism to our country and an enviable standard of hardwork and fulfillment of pledges that we have not seen in the handling of our national affairs in the last few years.
“In the spirit of the war against corruption, we demand the release of the Audit Report of the Missing 20 billion dollars.
“Clearly unable to oppose us with an equally clean and unassailable ticket, we can understand why our opponents are running from pillar to post, digging graves in search of rumours in the impossible hope of misinforming unsuspecting voters and spinning a web of blackmail and deceit.
“In this electoral contest of vision and moral stature, only the guilty needs to be afraid. Luckily, our lives are like the open book. We challenge our opponents to stake their desire to lead Nigeria again on what they have achieved with the billions of resources they received. This is not the time for distractions and red herrings. Nigerians are the ultimate judge of stewardship. They will deliver their verdict, loud and clear to the world on February 14, 2015.”
Speaking at a media parley at the weekend, Osinbajo said his party would return the country to the path of progress, if elected next February.
The professor of Law said the APC would not treat the issue of governance with levity and that its leaders will take responsibility and not offer excuses to Nigerians as it is being done today.
According to him, what Nigerians expect from the government is solution to problems and not explanations on why the economy is bad, why they cannot get protection from terror attacks and why commercial kidnapping rages on in some parts of the country.
Osinbajo bared his mind in Lagos at an interactive parley with the media. He said the APC was on a rescue mission as it has drawn up a blueprint on how to revamp the economy and give Nigerians hope.
He blamed the dwindling fortune of Nigerians on the mismanagement of the people’s commonwealth by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which he said had run out of ideas on how to get the country on the right track.
Osinbajo also defended Gen. Buhari on his role in the enforcement of a retroactive Decree and the romance with the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) in his days as military Head of State.
He described as a wrong notion to link his emergence as Gen. Buhari’s running mate to an imposition by the APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
According to the eminent lawyer, he emerged after two attempts to arrive at a consensus running mate collapsed.
He told his audience that he was picked by Gen. Buhari and the APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, with approval of the party’s leadership.
Osinbajo said the problems of the land would have been more than 50 per cent solved with Gen Buhari in the saddle as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.
His words: “It’s going to be the first time that Nigerians will see the Commander-in-Chief as somebody who will not condone indiscipline and corruption.
“Whatever anybody says about the former Head of State, there is no controversy that he is widely respected for his anti-corruption posture and his penchance for discipline.
“I think what is important is leadership. As it is today, the leadership is unsure of itself. The leadership is uncertain. The Commander-in-Chief must take responsibility for everything. It is not good enough for the Commander-in-Chief to say my enemy did this, my enemy did that.”
On how the APC plans to make a difference in government, Osinbajo said the mismanagement of resources and not lack had been the bane of the country, even as he disagreed that the size of government was weighing the economy down.
“The size of government is not accountable for corruption. What is responsible is stealing and mismanagement of public funds,” Osinbajo said, pointing out that the APC will break away from the routine way of running government, which he alleged has never produced the desired result.
He said a Gen. Buhari administration, if elected, will implement to the letter the APC manifesto as contained in the party’s “Roadmap to a New Nigeria” blueprint.
The APC running mate listed the contents to include: provision of immediate relief, jobs, quality education, affordable housing, qualitative healthcare services and social welfare for the less advantaged and the aged.
Osinbajo said the APC will accord security of lives and properties priority, adding that the dearth of equipment in the military and inadequate kitting of the security outfits was unacceptable after the government’s claim that it has invested trillions of naira in security.
He said the Federal Government got it wrong from the scratch by accusing the opposition of being the promoters of terrorism even without first investigating.
According to him, it will be difficult for any government to win the war against terror without radically addressing unemployment, adding that the devil will always find work for every idle hand.
Osinbajo urged Nigerians to stop seeing Gen. Buhari in a military garb but as a law-abiding Nigerian, whose action will be guided by the rule of law, pointing out that there are marked differences between the military and democratic dispensations.
Osinbajo reminded that it took extra-judicial killings of some former Ghanaian leaders by the then President Jerry Rawlings to return the West African nation to the path of greatness.
He said being on the same ticket with the retired General to serve the country has not in any way compromised his faith as a pastor, his calling as a teacher and his stand as a lawyer.
His words: “As a pastor, I preach in my church on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. And my message is on grace. Even David, an adulterer and murderer received grace from God and he was forgiven.
“That Gen. Buhari made mistake, in the heady days of the military does not mean he is not capable of doing good in a democratic dispensation. Even as a military Head of State, Gen. Buhari stood for discipline and against corruption. These are attributes nobody can take away from him.”
Osinbajo noted that the impunity under the PDP government was unacceptable.
He cited the attack on two High Court judges in Ado-Ekiti by supporters of then PDP governor-elect, the refusal to reinstate the former President of the Appeal Court, Justice Ayo Salami, despite court rulings, and the unilateral stripping of House of Representatives Speaker, Aminul Tambuwal of his privileges as the number three citizen by Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Suleiman Abba, as some of the impunities under the present democratic dispensation.
“Nigeria cannot continue like this. It is unacceptable,” Osinbajo said.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/missing-20b-buhari-demands-release-audit-report/

Where is audit report on missing $20b? APC queries Okonjo-Iweala

Published on December 27, 2014 by

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the PDP-led Federal Government of trying to suppress the audit report on the missing $20 billion oil money, saying the deadline for the release of the report, which was set by the government itself, has come and gone.
In a statement issued in Ilorin on Saturday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said Minister of Finance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala herself had said, at the Financial Times Africa Summit 2014 in London in October, that the report would be ready in November 2014.
It quoted the Minister as saying at the Forum on October 6, 2014: ”We engaged PwC (PriceWaterHouseCoopers) with the Auditor General of the Federation taking the lead. They asked for 16 weeks to complete the work; they have spent 11 or 12 weeks so far and they will be done in a couple of weeks.”
APC said adding the remaining four weeks for the conclusion of the report, as requested by the auditors, meant that it should have been ready by latest Nov. 7th 2014.
”It is now over a month since the deadline for the release of the report expired, and the government has simply kept mum on the report, apparently in an effort to sweep the issue under the carpet, as it has done with all other reports of widespread corruption under the present dispensation.
”However, Nigerians will not allow this to happen. They will continue to demand that the audit report be made public, in the interest of transparency. We also believe that the Minister of Finance should strive to protect whatever is left of her international reputation by living up to her words that the issue will not be swept under the carpet. It is not only Nigerians but the entire international community who are interested in the outcome of the audit.
”If there is any reason why the report has not been released, the Minister should immediately come out and tell Nigerians. Otherwise, she should release the report today so that Nigerians will know exactly how much of their oil funds is missing and those to be held responsible for the unprecedented heist,” the party said.
APC said it refuses to believe the stories making the rounds to the effect that the FG is deliberately sitting on the report because it (report) has heavily indicted it and some powerful personalities in the Administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.
”In announcing the forensic audit of the unaccounted money, Mrs Okonjo-Iweala said the President supported it and asked for it to be done. Now that it has been done, why has the report not been released, even if it implicates the government itself?” the party queried.
It said the urgent release of the report will also end the rumour that the missing money is the source of the huge slush funds being used for President Jonathan’s re-election, as well as the speculation that it was the same missing money that formed the source of the huge funds that were round-tripped to the Jonathan campaign fund during his recent fund raising.
”Overall, a government that went cap in hand to borrow $1 billion to better equip the military in its fight against Boko Haram should not hesitate to get to the root of $20 billion missing oil money. Had that money not indeed been missing as alleged, would the government have needed to borrow $1 billion to pep up the Boko Haram war?
”We are therefore joining the millions of Nigerians who have demanded the urgent release of the audit report. Failure to do so before the end of the year will leave Nigerians with no choice than to conclude that the FG is indeed hiding something about the missing $20 billion, a conclusion that will indeed be more than justified,” APC said.

http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2014/12/27/where-is-audit-report-on-missing-20b-apc-queries-okonjo-iweala/

Akwa Ibom local government workers on strike over unpaid salaries

December 16, 2014 Premium Times

The Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Akwa Ibom chapter, has commenced indefinite strike against non-payment of four months salaries to its members.
Speaking with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Uyo on Tuesday, the state Chairman of NULGE, Felix Udo, said the strike started on Monday.
Mr. Udo said apart from unpaid salaries and allowances of workers in Abak, Ikono, Ikot Ekpene and Uyo Local Government Areas, retired members had not been paid gratuities since 2009.
The NULGE boss said another reason for the strike was the irregular computation of salaries and allowances of local government workers by a government-appointed bank.
“Local Government Chairmen in the state have been insensitive to the plight of workers. We have been negotiating with them on these issues, but all our pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
“In Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area, the workers are owed four months salaries, Abak workers are being owed two months salaries.
“Ikono workers are owed two months salaries, Ini and Uruefong Uruko workers are owed one month salaries each,” Mr. Udo added.
He held that promotion of workers in the local governments had not been implemented since 2008 in the state.
Mr. Udo also said that workers in the state’s local governments had not been paid their leave grants for 2012, 2013 and 2014.
He appealed to Gov. Godswill Akpabio to intervene in the matter so that the workers could have a pleasant Yuletide with their families.
Mr. Udo, however, stressed that the affected workers will not go back to work until all their demands were met.
In a reaction, Chairman of Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, Nse Ntuen, attributed the situation to dwindling resources of the local government councils.
Mr. Ntuen, who is Chairman of Essien Udim Local Government Area, said the association was working hard in conjunction with the state government to solve the problem as soon as possible. (NAN)

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/regional/173385-akwa-ibom-local-government-workers-strike-unpaid-salaries.html

Akpabio, Jang, Imoke, Suswam, others donate N1billion to PDP while owing workers for months

December 23, 2014Ini Ekott

As representatives of 21 Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] governors mounted the rostrum Saturday night at the presidential villa in Abuja to announce N1.05 billion in donation to the PDP, back in their respective states, school teachers and other state workers were enduring their second or third month of work without pay.
In some states, the indebtedness to workers stretched a year.
In Ebonyi, authorities owed teachers under the Universal Basic Education scheme nearly 12 months of salaries.
In Abia State, secondary school teachers were last paid in August, while primary school teachers have been owed since October.
In Akwa Ibom State, the nation’s leading oil producer which draws more than triple of what other states receive from the federation account monthly, local government staff were on strike. Before the strike, they were forced to receive half salaries for several months, while authorities claimed they had no money.
In Cross River, the situation had worsened after months of indebtedness that state-run television, the Cross River Broadcasting Corporation, CRBC, shut off production last week.
The station remains off air till date. Other staff fortunate to have received reasonably up-to-date pay, have yet to be paid for November.
But on Saturday night, Cross State governor, Liyel Imoke, stood next to his Bauchi State colleague, Isa Yuguda, as Mr. Yuguda announced to a gleeful president and a shocked nation how the 21 governors who had been struggling to pay salaries long before the present oil crisis, rallied N50 million each in donation to the PDP.
“We may do more in future, but that is what we were able to raise for now,” Mr. Yuguda assured.
In all, the PDP and the president raked in over N21 billion, with donations coming from government contractors, nameless associates, and Tunde Ayeni, the head of Skye Bank, who has bought a string of government assets, including the mega telecoms carrier, NITEL/MTEL, in a process that has already become controversial.
On Monday, Arabian Amlak Investment Limited, one of the 22 companies that bid for NITEL, filed a legal challenge, saying the Nigerian government, through the Bureau of Public Enterprises, deliberately skewed the privatisation process to favour Mr. Ayeni’s company.
As chairman of the PDP fund raiser, Mr. Ayeni donated N2 billion. He announced that he was donating N1 billion on behalf of himself and an unnamed partner, and another two billion on behalf of his friends. After a while, Mr. Ayeni returned to the podium to announce another donation of half a billion naira on behalf of himself and other players in the country’s power sector.
A former Information Minister, Jerry Gana, announced a donation of N5 billion, again, on behalf of his unnamed friends and associates in the power sector.
Other major donors were oil and gas operators– N5 billion; players in Real Estate and Building – N4 billion; Transport and Aviation – N 1billion; Food and Agriculture – N500 million; Power – N500 million; Construction – N310 million; Road Construction – N250 million; National Automotive Association – N450 million; Shelter Development Limited – N250 million; and SIFAX group – N100 million.
But the governors’ donations stood out for many reason, including the fact that workers in many of their states remain without pay for months even with Christmas and New Year around the corner.
In Plateau State, under Jonah Jang, workers are currently owed three months of pay. In Ondo State, Governor Olusegun Mimiko has also failed to pay secondary school teachers and other categories of workers for the last three months.
In Benue State, workers have been at a longstanding confrontation with the governor, Gabriel Suswam, who has yet to pay them for months.
In Abia State, led by Theordore Orji, beside secondary school teachers who were last paid in August, and primary school teachers, last paid in October, secondary school teachers told PREMIUM TIMES on Monday they have not received leave allowances in the last five years.
In Enugu State, civil servants are yet to be paid for November, more than three weeks into the new month. Workers who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES said in past years, the culture was that by now, they would have been paid for December.
On Monday, labour union leaders in the state gave the state governor, Sullivan Chime, a 21-day ultimatum to clear salary backlog and resolve other pending issues relating to staff welfare or face strike.
A statement signed by Igbokwe Igbokwe, the state Chairman of the Joint Public Service Negotiating Council (JPSNC), and the chairmen and secretaries of all labour unions in the state, vowed to commence an indefinite strike January 15, 2015, if the demands are not met.
Akwa Ibom’s case remains one of the most intriguing given the amount the state draws monthly. While other states receive an average of N5billion, Akwa Ibom and Rivers State receive as much as N25 billion monthly as federal allocation.
Still, state workers and pensioners have not received pay for several months, and local government workers are currently on strike.
While the state is not directly responsible for paying local government workers, all states in the country operate a compulsory joint account with local governments, and disbursement of local government funds are carried out by the governors.

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/173690-akpabio-jang-imoke-suswam-others-donate-n1billion-pdp-owing-workers-months.html

'semi-illiterate' PDP Secretary Prof. Wale Oladipo

A Rejoinder To 'Semi-Illiterate' PDP Secretary Prof. Wale Oladipo By Dr. M.K. Hassan

BY DR. M.K. HASSANDEC 22, 2014

I was shocked to read a press statement from Wadata Plaza issued by a so called Professor Wale Oladipo, secretary of the PDP, saying that General Muhammadu Buhari is a semi illiterate jackboot. It is no wonder that our education system has fallen so low, else how can one explain a professor making such a statement? How did Wale Oladipo become a professor to start with? It is quite astonishing that he can say this. The professor doesn’t seem to understand the basic rudiments of learning and what it means for one to be literate or not.

[b]Buhari attended the best military schools in the world. In case the professor doesn’t know, Buhari graduated as a military officer (Lieutenant) in Royal Military Academy, Aldeshot UK. He attended the Defense College India. Col Buhari attended the US Army War College Carlisle in Pennsylvania from 1979 -1980 and earned his command as a Brigadier General. The respected General Collin Powel attended the same school in 1976 to become Brigadier General. Some of Buhari’s classmates include General Beltson, General Thomas P Carney, General Bill Matz, General David E.K. Cooper etc. all of them are alive and can be reached and they will give glowing tributes of the man, Buhari, they know as their classmate.

Anyone interested in verifying Buhari’s academic credentials can write the school instead of reading jargon from a deranged Wadata Plaza Professor of Politics of Destruction Party (PDP). I have checked Google Scholar hoping that Prof. Wale Oladipo’s name and publications will show up and nothing is showing up, that says a lot about him as a Professor than Buhari as a retired decorated General who served his country so well and has not claimed any scholarship.

The curriculum at the U.S. Army War College earns one a Masters Degree in Strategic Studies and that is what Buhari has. For somebody to claim that a graduate of such a prestigious school is semi-illiterate, means something is very wrong with that person’s brain. By all academic and military standards, Buhari’s education is superb and the best any general can get in the world. Therefore, for Wale Oladipo to claim Buhari is semi-illiterate speaks volumes about his understanding of what education is even all about. The unlearned professor thinks education is about earning paper degrees only, and even if it was the case, Buhari has them from the most respected military institutions in the world.[/b]

General Muhammadu Buhari has the kind of military strategic education and experience to deal a decisive blow on Boko Haram and end the insecurity challenges facing Nigeria. Buhari is the only army officer with the opportunity to command 3 out of 4 Nigeria’s army divisions as a GOC.

In 1983, when rebels from Chad took over our land, seizing more than 19 villages (much like what the Boko Haram is doing now), Major General Buhari led a successful operation as the GOC to push back the Chadian rebels and reclaim our territory.

In 1984, when the Maitatsine sect decided to declare war on Nigeria like what Boko Haram is doing now, Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari wasted no time in crushing them. Boko Haram is a descendant of the Maitatsine sect with the same extremist ideology and anti-western education philosophy. It is surely President Buhari that will be able to handle them: eliminating these terrorists when he comes to power like he did before. Muhammadu Buhari as a captain fought in the Congo Civil War and won the Congo Medal. He was there during our civil war to bring peace and keep Nigeria one. That is true patriot: a man that gave his life to another country not only his fatherland.

Since the goons in Wadata Plaza have started the literacy debate, it is very appropriate to ask them that they produce Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s Ph.D thesis and publications in renowned journals. Goodluck’s speeches, attitude, and interviews with international media don’t portray him as a Ph.D holder. His past interview with Christiane Amanpour was quite embarrassing; he couldn’t even make eye contact with her. Nigerians are eager to read his thesis and publications.

In conclusion, it is obvious to all Nigerians that the PDP government and its illiterate professor are only interested in playing dirty politics with the lives and properties of Nigerians. Nigerians now need Buhari, a man with international military education and experience, a seasoned administrator with zero tolerance for corruption to end this insecurity, bring prosperity, and place Nigeria at the seat it deserves in the comity of nations.


Dr. MK Hassan writes in from Washington D.C.

http://saharareporters.com/2014/12/22/rejoinder-semi-illiterate-pdp-secretary-prof-wale-oladipo-dr-mk-hassan

Govs, businessmen, others donate N21.27bn to Jonathan

DECEMBER 21, 2014 BY OLALEKAN ADETAYO

President Goodluck Jonathan’s reelection bid received a major boost on Saturday, as businessmen, multinational organisations, interest groups and individuals donated the sum of N21.27bn to support his campaign for the 2015 presidential election.

The naira rain was at the Peoples Democratic Party Fund Raising Dinner held at the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The chairman of the occasion, Mr. Tunde Ayeni, set the ball rolling, when he announced a donation of N2bn.

He said the sum consisted of N1bn donated by him and his partner, and another N1bn contributed by their unnamed friends.

Players in the Oil and Gas sector announced a donation of N5bn; those in Real Estate and Building donated N4bn; Transport and Aviation, N1bn; Food and Agriculture, N500m; Power, N500m; Construction, N310m; Road Construction, N250m; National Automative Association, N450m; and Shelter Development Limited, N250m.

The Chairman of the fundraiser committee, Prof. Jerry Gana, said his friends and associates in the power sector were donating N5bn.

The PDP Governors Forum announced a total donation of N1.05billion.

The Bauchi State Governor, Isa Yuguda, who spoke on behalf of the PDP governors, said each 21 of them would donate N50m each.

The SIFAX Group announced N100m donation, while PDP stakeholders in Rivers State supported Jonathan’s bid with N50m.

The 15 states on the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission donated a total of N15million, among other donations.

Several private individuals also gave donations.

Mr. Joseph Makanju, representative of the Chief Fund Raiser and Chairman of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote said his principal, who was outside the country, did not leave a mandate.

He, however, promised that as soon as Dangote returned to the country, he would personally see the National Chairman of the PDP, Adamu Mu’Azu, to offer his support.

Makanju assured those at the event that his principal would justify his position as the Chief Fund Raiser with his donation.

Donation pledge forms were made available to guests at the event for personal donations.

Jonathan, in his remarks, described Saturday as a special day, due to the fundraiser. He thanked the donors, while assuring them that the funds would not be wasted or misused.

“I thank everyone who made donation tonight,” said Jonathan.

The President stated that the money was for the PDP, stressing that the amounted generated would help to run the PDP better.

‘2015 elections will be competitive’

Gana admitted that the 2015 general elections would be keenly contested.

He warned the leadership of the party, which has President Goodluck Jonathan as its presidential candidate, not to underestimate their opponents.

Gana, a former Minister of Information, said the coming elections would be competitive because it is going to be more of a two-party contest.

He said, “Therefore, the PDP must not take things for granted. We must campaign very well. We must not underestimate the opponent. Because we have been in power for 16 years, we are at a disadvantage. We need to spread the message of our achievements diligently.

“The campaign should be issues-driven. While the other side will be talking of theory, we shall be showing what we have done.”

Gana, also, warned the party’s leaders to ensure that PDP candidates at all levels are good ones.

He stated that serious work must be done in states where the party primaries had caused rancour among members.

He also warned the leaders against the imposition of unpopular candidates.

Mu’azu seals fate of losers at primaries

The National Chairman of the PDP, Adamu Mu’azu, sealed the fate of aspirants who lost at the party’s primaries at all levels.

Mu’azu said, “Power and glory come from God and nobody else. Those who have won should involve everybody in their campaigns in order to make them family campaigns.

“For the losers, I pray for you that God will answer you at a later date. Join us to campaign for all our candidates at all levels to have success.”

Copyright PUNCH.
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.

Contact: editor@punchng.com

http://www.punchng.com/news/govs-businessmen-others-donate-n21-27bn-to-jonathan/

Cert. scandal: How long before Jonathan sacks Oduah?

Posted by: Theophilus Ilevbare in Opinion

It never rains but pours. The storm is certainly not over for the embattled Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah who is now embroiled in a scandal of towering proportion – certificate forgery.

Stunning revelations by the intrepid online whistleblower, SaharaReporters, revealed that Princess Oduah (‘Princess’ as she has insisted she be addressed), lied about her Masters degree.

In her citation to the Senate during ministerial screening in 2011, Mrs. Oduah claimed she attended St. Paul’s College, Lawrenceville in Virginia, United States, from 1978-1982, where she bagged her first Degree in Accounting. “On completion of her first degree, she was not lured into taking up paid employment but was determined to have the best education and at the highest level, so she immediately stayed back to study for her Masters Degree which she achieved in 1983,” the citation said.

Thorough investigations have revealed that St. Paul’s College, Lawrenceville in its 125-year history never ran a graduate (masters) programme. More so, there was no trace of evidence that she earned a Bachelor’s degree from the said university.

Barely 24 hours after her claim to have acquire a Masters degree from St. Paul’s University in the United States was punctured, further investigation uncovered another false claim by the embattled Minister – fast gaining notoriety for earthshaking scandals – that she lied on oath to the Nigeria Senate, and indeed the Nigerian people, in her audacious claim that another American ‘university’, Pacific Christian University based in Glendale, sometime in 1998, awarded her an honorary doctorate degree in Business Administration.

Investigation by grapevine online news platforms showed that there is no university in Glendale called Pacific Christian University. It was on the strength of this qualification she was grilled and eventually confirmed by the lawmakers as a minister. This is a scandal and the law should be allowed to take its course.

Silence, they say, is acquiescence. Unsurprisingly, all her aides and spokesmen of departments and parastatals under her ministry have so far failed to respond to enquiries by journalists to the latest findings indicting the minister. To lend credence to the these scholarly journalistic work, it has been observed that frantic efforts have been made by the minister and her aides to revise her profiles on the internet in a desperate bid to clean up every reference to St. Paul’s College and Pacific Christian University. On Wikipedia for instance, it was observed that her page was edited 19 times between 1.56am and 5.05pm on Tuesday, January 7.

Meanwhile, the dust is yet to settle on the reckless abuse of office by the Minister’s approval of the purchase of two bulletproof BMW cars at an unimaginable cost of $1.6m (or about N255m) by the National Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), a federal agency under her ministry’s supervision. Coscharis Motors Limited, a dealership from which the two BMW cars were purchased by NCAA, gave N112million to the aviation minister, Ms Oduah as kickbacks while Cosmas Maduka, who owns Coscharis Motors, pocketed N60 million for each of the two BMW cars.

But how long will President Jonathan continue to shield her from anti-corruption agencies despite massive criticism trailing her corrupt acts is the big question on everyone’s lips. Many reason that with the latest revelations, she does not deserve to stay one more second as a minister of the federal republic. The longer she remains in Jonathan’s government, the more embarrassment she becomes to the country, making a huge joke of the much touted anti-graft crusade of the present administration.

President Jonathan should not use any probe panel to cover-up or create a leeway to delay investigations, lull public outrage and ultimately distract the anti-corruption agencies from prosecuting the aviation minister. At this point, Ms Oduah is (seemingly) unshaken; the subterfuge of a panel has been a fortress.

Those who revel in ignominy have resorted to such crude ways as clannishness to support her reckless abuse of office. Such Nigerians have been blinded by ethnic jingoism that no deed is too heinous as long as the offender is of their ethnic bracket. For such staunch backers, she is being ‘persecuted because she is igbo.”

It is inconceivable that such tribalists try so hard to validate impunity with ethnicity. It is even more worrisome when so called enlightened Nigerians join in this stupefying vulgarity. Nigeria will turn the corner when we stop invoking the ‘ethnic card’ to perpetuate criminality and defend corruption.

The Senate must now do more than ‘take a bow and go’ during subsequent screening exercises. Independent verification of documents must be done by the upper chamber of the National Assembly and not left to security agencies alone that it now seems take orders from powers above.

The most probable option left for Stella Oduah is to throw in the towel, if for nothing at all, so she can save us all the embarrassment she unduly attracts to the country.

Our sit tight leaders have already gained a reputation that no amount of disgrace constrains them to lose their tight grip on power. What better way can President Jonathan prove to Nigerians that he is dedicated to taking the fight against corruption in 2014 up a notch, as he promised in his new year message, by asking her to step aside.

The damage she has done to his administration is incalculable. The fight against corruption requires leaders at all levels with high voltage public morality. People who occupy public offices must be made to feel they have moral obligations to our sensibilities to save us from being the laughing stock of the bemused international community.

It is time we began to address the issue of academic dishonesty in public service in Nigeria. We need to raise ethical standards and morality that’s the more reason why the Stella Oduah certificate scandal should not be swept under the carpet. If other scandals can be ‘ignored’ by this government, certainly not this.

If Oduah is left to continue as a minister, then it sends the wrong signal to young Nigerians that you can cheat your way to attain such lofty heights in government. Every effort of the government at curbing exam malpractice and certificate forgery will effectively be brought to its knees if this shameful act as widely expected, is ignored by Mr. President.

If Jonathan had given her the boot in response to the outrage that greeted her BMW scandal, he would have maybe, saved his administration this embarrassment.

In this part of the world where politics of mudslinging hold sway, issues of certificate forgery are lethal weapons in the hands of the opposition. It is weighty enough to nail her political coffin. Nigerian political history is replete with examples. But it takes bovine guts to hang on to your job in the face of public opprobrium when you’reprivy to mystifying facts about your certificates. Her bravery has become her undoing.

One is only left to wonder how many political office holders have forged certificates. It is a shame that in the 21st century with advancement in science and technology, authenticity of documents of public office holders cannot be easily verified by authorities saddled with such responsibilities. It is left to the imagination how many ministries such scandals exist, worse still, we may never know the extent of the rottenness in such places.The integrity of some ministers in Jonathan’s government have long been questioned. This justifies that. Merit and competence have long been thrown in the dust bin.

Searchlights should now be beamed on more certificates of political office holders.



Theophilus Ilevbare is a public affairs commentator. Engage him on twitter, @tilevbare. He blogs at http://ilevbare.com.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/cert-scandal-how-long-before-jonathan-sacks-oduah/

still waiting for justice

Lemo bows out of CBN Friday

Posted by: Nduka Chiejina (Assistant Editor) in Business, News


The Deputy Governor in charge of the Operations Directorate at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Babatunde Olakunle Lemo, will retire from the apex bank tomorrow on Friday, after serving two full terms of five years.

A statement from the CBN said Lemo’s retirement takes effect from January 11.

“Lemo is expected to be pulled out of service on Friday, being the last working day before his retirement date,” the statement said.

Prior to his appointment as a Deputy Governor in CBN in 2003, Lemo was the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Wema Bank Nigeria, Plc between 2000 and 2003.

He was born in 1959, and he attended Lisabi Grammar School, Ogun State and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he emerged as the best overall graduating student in the Faculty of Social Sciences with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accountancy (First Class Division) in 1984.

He attended Advanced Management Programme (AMP) at the Wharton College, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States in 2002 as well as executive training programmes in world class institutions including Harvard University, INSEAD, Fontainbleau, France and Brandies University, Boston.

The retiring Deputy Governor is credited with playing a key role in the implementation of the Banking Sector Consolidation resulting in the 24 stronger and well capaitalised banks with combined equity of over N1.6 trillion from 89 largely weak banks, formulation and implementation of the Microfinance Policy and Supervisory Framework both under the supervision of the Governor.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/lemo-bows-out-of-cbn-friday/

Stella Oduah Certificate Scandal: Senate Does Not Independently Verify Documents Presented By Security Agencies, Spokesman Confirms

Posted: Jan, 07 2014, 2:01PM

Posted by siteadmin
Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, the spokesperson of the Nigeria Senate, has revealed that the upper legislative chamber does not carry out independent verification of documents presented to it for nominees of the President.

Abaribe, who spoke with Saharareporters following Monday’s revelations by SaharaReporters that Aviation Minister Stella Oduah does not possess the Masters’ degree of an American university she claimed during her nomination process, said the Senate typically uses the screening done by the State Security Service and others to complete and conclude on the eligibly of ministerial nominees.

The Senator did not address the notorious political habit of the chamber, which, following widely-known wheeling and dealing that lets unqualified people into sensitive positions, simply tells nominees, “bow and go.”

A “BRIEF CITATION ON PRINCESS STELLA ADAEZE ODUAH,” presented to the Senate during the 2011 process [see accompanying document], stated that Mrs. Oduah attended St. Paul’s College Lawrenceville, in Virginia, United States, “from 1978-1982, where she bagged her first Degree in Accounting.

“On completion of her first degree, she was not lured into taking up paid employment but was determined to have the best education and at the highest level, so she immediately stayed back to study for her Masters Degree which she achieved in 1983,” the citation said, trying to underline Mrs. Oduah’s “greatness.”

In our routine follow-up story yesterday published in the interest of the transparency and accountability that is often trumpeted by the Goodluck Jonathan government but never implemented, SaharaReporters reported it could find no evidence she ever earned such a degree, as St. Paul’s College Lawrenceville has never had a graduate programme.

Pressed to explain the consequences of the scam, Senator Abaribe said he was unable to say what action the Senate would take as the upper legislative body, which is currently on break, will not resume until January 14.

On her part, Mrs. Oduah has yet to comment publicly on the new scandal. In a follow-up story today, Premium Times reported that the Minister and her associates have since the publication of our story been scrambling to clean up her biographies on the Internet.

On her personal Facebook page, for instance, she eliminated St. Paul’s College completely as her school. Similar modifications were made to her Wikipedia page at about 14: 41 GMT today, ostensibly to remove links to interviews she personally granted where she admitted obtaining degrees from St. Pauls’ College.

Her public profile on the Nigerian Aviation website also now merely states that she obtained her Bachelors and Master’s degree from the “United States.”



Below is the CV Ms. Oduah presented to the Senate in 2011:



BRIEF CITATION ON PRINCESS STELLA ADAEZE ODUAH, OON- HONOURABLE MINISTER OF AVIATION FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA

Princess Stella Adaeze Oduah was born on the 5th of January 1962 into the Royal family of HRH, Igwe D.O Oduah, the Igwe of Akili-Ozizor in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State. William Shakespeare wrote in one of his many literary works that “some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them”. Princess Stella Adaeze Oduah was born and has achieved greatness not by any stroke of luck but through years of hard work, dedication, focus and determination. There was therefore no surprise that she rode roughshod and carved a niche for herself in a male-dominated industry.

She realized very early in life the indispensability of a sound education in her growth plans in life and therefore pursued her education with all diligence and sense of purpose. Her educational development began in Anambra state where she had her primary and secondary education at St. John’s Primary School Odoakpu and Zixton Secondary School Ozubulu before proceeding to St. Paul’s College Lawrenceville from 1978-1982, where she bagged her first Degree in Accounting. On completion of her first degree, she was not lured into taking up paid employment but was determined to have the best education and at the highest level, so she immediately stayed back to study for her Masters Degree which she achieved in 1983.

Princess Stella Adaeze Oduah returned to her Fatherland in 1983 to participate in the mandatory National Youth Service Corps Scheme (NYSC) and she was posted to NECA for her place of primary assignment. On successful completion of her National youth service she got a permanent employment with the NNPC where she worked for years before voluntarily retiring into private business. During her period of employment with NNPC, she served in different capacities and won numerous accolades and awards for excellent performance including the “THE NNPC GMD AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE”

Spurred on by her entrepreneurial abilities, Princess Stella Adaeze Oduah left the NNPC to establish her own business. This led to the birth of SEA PETROLEUM & GAS COMPANY LIMITED, a company that was to become a leading player in the Oil and Gas Industry in Nigeria. Princess Stella Adaeze Oduah nurtured this company from humble beginnings to an enviable position in local, regional and global business. The company is today a conglomerate with no fewer than 7 subsidiaries offering diverse services and providing employment for the youths and people of Nigeria.

Princess Stella Adaeze Oduah has a large philanthropic heart and is involved in numerous philanthropic initiatives some of which are provision of a farmers loan scheme in Ogbaru and Benin to enable farmers have access to soft loans, construction of schools and skill acquisition centers for orphanages and communities, scholarship schemes, construction of health centers for primary health care. The list is endless and this goes to show that Princess Stella Adaeze Oduah is and continues to be a blessing to humanity.

In recognition of her immense contribution to national, society and business development in Nigeria, Princess Stella has been honoured with numerous awards for outstanding achievements, including the National Honour of “Officer of the Order of the Niger,OON” by the Federal Government of Nigeria. There are others too numerous to mention here. She also holds membership of renowned and numerous social and business associations.

Princess Stella Adaeze Oduah has built a very successful business empire through hard work and dedication which makes her one of the foremost business personalities in Nigeria. This is a coat she wore until her recent call to National service, first as Chairman of the Board of the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN and now the HONOURABLE MINISTER OF AVIATION, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA.

Princess Stella Adaeze Oduah,OON is indeed a gem of our generation and a blessing to this Country. WE BELIEVE IN HER TRANSFORMATION AGENDA FOR THE AVIATION MINISTRY !!!! CONGRATULATIONS OUR DEAR HONORABLE MINISTER.

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/stella-oduah-certificate-scandal-senate-does-not-independently-verify-documents-presented-

so when are we going to get justice?

WiKi screenshot

Sack Oduah now, Mr President

January 6, 2014 by Editorial Board 317 Comments


HAVING tried all the delay tricks in the book, President Goodluck Jonathan is now confronted with a choice: retain the Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah, or sack her. The President’s body language and vacillation demonstrate unmistakeably that he prefers to keep the controversial minister. This is a tragic error of judgment and confirms to the whole world what many Nigerians already know: that Jonathan’s body language encourages corruption.

Indeed, most Nigerians believe that under the current administration, the war against corruption is virtually lost. Jonathan will only be confirming the view of critics by his continued waffling over Oduahgate. Surely, he does his credibility no good by retaining a minister that has been so tainted in a corruption scandal. Just two weeks ago, in response to an acerbic letter to him from a former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, which was leaked to the press, he pompously declared that he (Jonathan) was fighting corruption. “I have been strengthening the institutions established to fight corruption. I will not shield any government official or private individual involved in corruption…,” he declared.

But he has been shielding Oduah in the full glare of the public. When the news first broke in October via an online publication that the minister had allegedly caused two bullet-proof BMW limousines to be purchased for her by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, in violation of the law, he kept quiet. It was only after much public outcry and a probe got under way at the House of Representatives that he belatedly asked her to be queried. As more revelations emerged from the House probe demonstrating how the minster exceeded her spending limits of N100 million, how import duty waivers were misapplied and how NCAA officials and other aviation parastatals “contravened the Appropriation Act 2013,” Jonathan sought to buy time by setting up an unnecessary three-man administrative panel to examine the case.

Diversionary though it was, the panel had submitted its report since mid-November. While one can concede to the President the need to be cautious to avoid penalising the innocent, seven weeks after the panel turned in its report and another two after a damning verdict by the House probe should surely be enough for the President to demonstrate that he truly abhors corruption. If his concern, as he said in his response to Obasanjo, is “to follow due process in all that I do,” this high-minded requirement has been amply met by the House probe and his own panel.

Jonathan is simply not serious about combating corruption as widely alleged by his critics and confirmed by all global corruption rating agencies. The standard worldwide by nations where corruption is truly detested is to fire any official tainted by even a whiff of wrongdoing if the person fails to resign. Jonathan has not been asked to convict Oduah; only a court of law can do that. All that Nigerians expect of him, and as the House of Representatives recommended, is that he should fire Oduah. She has been sufficiently tainted to make her continued presence in government odious.

In Turkey, three top cabinet ministers have resigned in a corruption case that does not even name them directly as beneficiaries; in Ghana, a deputy minister of communications was promptly sacked by President John Mahama for merely expressing a desire to make $1 million in politics; in Italy, a three-time prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has been convicted on corruption charges, while a former Israeli president, Ezer Weizman, was investigated and only avoided criminal prosecution due to the statute of limitation. In any other country, Oduah would have since resigned or been sacked and, together with the complicit aviation officials, prosecuted. Indeed, prosecution would afford Oduah an opportunity to prove the innocence she has steadfastly claimed.

Jonathan is letting another opportunity to take a stand against corruption slip by. Does he relish Nigeria’s persistent rating as one of the most corrupt nations on earth? The nation’s landscape is littered with unresolved corruption scandals to the extent that many Nigerians consider corruption to be much worse than our latest rating as the world’s 144th out of 177 in the Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index. His declaration in his 2014 New Year message that he would “take additional steps to stem the tide of corruption and leakages” sounds patently hollow.

Nigerians should not allow Jonathan and Oduah to get away with this missuse of public office. Since our President cannot live up to the standards of decorum in public office that the world has now come to accept, the House of Representatives should not stop at its recommendations; it should insist that Nigeria meets global practices in public morality and seriously combats corruption.

The Oduah case goes beyond partisan politics; corruption has laid Nigeria low and handicapped all development efforts. Public officials are stealing the people blind at the federal, state and local government levels and the anti-graft agencies appear to have lost their bite.

However, it is not too late for Jonathan to stamp out the stench of corruption swirling around his Presidency by genuinely backing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission and the Code of Conduct Bureau to fulfil their mandate. He should change his body language and send clear signals that corruption will no longer be tolerated.

The place to start is by sacking Oduah.

http://www.punchng.com/editorial/sack-oduah-now-mr-president/

Nigerians Yawn Over Missing Billions By Okey Ndibe

Posted: Jan, 01 2014, 12:01PM


On December 9 and 10, several websites and newspapers published a startling letter that Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had written to President Goodluck Jonathan. In the letter, Mr. Sanusi alerted the president that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had failed to remit $49.8 billion in crude oil revenues into the federation account at the Central Bank.

The letter provoked verbal bedlam. The NNPC claimed that the country’s chief banker was ignorant on matters of oil earnings and remittances. It also accused Mr. Sanusi of Nigeria’s version of the capital sin: playing politics.

A week later, Mr. Sanusi appeared before the National Assembly along with Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke. The three announced that their officials had been in marathon meetings to “reconcile” accounts. The Central Bank chief regretted his astonishing estimate of nearly $50 billion as missing remittances. The figure yet to be accounted for by the “reconcilers,” he announced, was $12 billion. Ms. Okonjo-Iweala interjected that the figure was $10.8 billion.

Nigerians, initially irate that somebody may have pocketed $50 billion, were exceedingly delighted to learn that they were out only $12 billion (according to Sanusi) or approximately $11 billion (by Okonjo-Iweala’s calculation). And since many—perhaps most—Nigerians don’t bother to get worked up over any sum smaller than $50 billion, there was a collective yawn throughout the country.

Some Nigerians heaped abuses on Mr. Sanusi for inflating the missing funds to $50 billion. What was the man up to? Perhaps, he sought to shock us into momentarily raising our faces from our piping hot bowls of goat meat pepper soup and chilled bottles of Star lager to pay attention. Perhaps he plotted to compel us, even if for a fleeting moment, to abandon our obsession with English and Euro soccer leagues long enough to carry placards in protest. No question, the banker was out to play with our minds, to mess up our routines, to ginger us into unfamiliar modes of reaction.

Forget the NNPC’s charge that Mr. Sanusi was Mr. Unpatriotic, politicking. With his tenure at the Central Bank due to expire in May, 2014, perhaps the banker was simply rehearsing for a new role as a street dramatist. Perhaps his leaked letter represented an audacious attempt at a tragic production, with a cast of outraged Nigerians filling the streets with their rage, confronted by soldiers armed with the stoutest weaponry for crowd-pacification and a fanatical determination to defend the divine-favored looting class against any silly moves by the rude, wretched, demon-possessed masses.

At any rate, whatever were his designs, Mr. Sanusi failed woefully. He found out, in the most humiliating way, that Nigerians don’t even wake up for $12 billion. And when, according to the General Overseer of the Ministry of Finance, the missing or “unreconciled” funds amount to a mere $10.8 billion, forget it! It’s a mere fraction of what we permit our president, governors, legis-looters, ministers, commissioners, and sundry political aides to rake away in salaries and allowances as well as soirees in different foreign cities.

But seriously! Why are we so blest? What combination of factors has rendered Nigerians this apathetic, this nonchalant, this indifferent to their degraded condition? In a space where most so-called citizens exist in animal-level states, a country with no healthcare to speak of, a vast toilet of a country where millions defecate in the open, where highways are accident traps, where all public universities were just shut down for five months, where electric power remains ever epileptic, where unemployment rates are so high nobody bothers anymore to keep tabs, where insecurity reigns and kidnappers rule, where prisons are chockfull with petty criminals (but with no election rigger or big-time embezzler in sight), where the minimum wage can hardly buy a goat, where trash is piled up on major city streets and burned—why is it that, in this veritable hell of an address on earth, Nigerians scoff at $11 billion? Why do we treat $12 billion as if it were chump change, a poor widow’s lunch budget? My prediction is that we’ve heard the last about the “unreconciled” 10 or so billion dollars.

Why, I wonder, have we gone back to sleep, gone back to quaffing our beer and savoring our pepper soups, because Mr. Sanusi had admitted that we’re missing not $50 billion but (a mere) $12 billion? Nigerians shout themselves hoarse over the fortunes or misfortunes of English Premier league football teams. But tell them that more than $10 billion has taken wings from their treasury and they push the snore button!

The whole NNPC financial fiasco raises several troubling questions. Mr. Sanusi’s letter to President Jonathan was dated September 25, 2013. From all accounts, Mr. Jonathan did nothing. Perhaps he was too busy figuring out the 2015 jigsaw to ask questions about the astonishing letter. Mr. Jonathan did not set up a panel to investigate, did not report the matter to the National Assembly, did not summon Ms. Alison-Madueke (who oversees the NNPC) or Ms. Okonjo-Iweala (who coordinates Nigeria’s economy) to explain things to him. It was only after the CBN governor’s letter was leaked to the press—and drew national and international media attention—that a tripartite meeting was held to reconcile the record.

And what a “reconciliation”! While many reporters and commentators focused on Mr. Sanusi’s admission that his original figure of $50 billion was hugely inflated, they conveniently ignored the fact that the still “unreconciled” sum—whether it’s $10.8 billion or $12 billion—is a huge, huge deal. The collective yawn in the face of information that such princely sum was not accounted for speaks to a deep ethical malaise in Nigeria. In most other countries, rich as well as poor, missing funds as (relatively) low as $10 million would be regarded as a big deal, triggering a thorough scrutiny. Not in Nigeria, a country where five or so civil servants were able to stash away more than $200 million from the police pension funds. And these civil servants have effectively got away with their illicit haul. Next stop for the pension fund looters: the governorship of some state, or—at minimum—a seat in the House of Reps or Senate!

Did Mr. Jonathan ever receive Mr. Sanusi’s letter. If he did, why did he not take action? If he didn’t, then has he sought to find out and fire those who conspired to keep such an explosive document from him?

Nigeria is a place where things that ought to be simple are complicated while things that should be complex are made simple. The language of the NNPC’s first reaction to the whole curious incident of the missing billions struck me as an exercise in obfuscation. The NNPC’s Group Managing Director, Andrew Yakubu, inveighed against Mr. Sanusi’s letter, characterizing it as “an attempt to ridicule NNPC staff and the management of NNPC.” Then he stated, “We will continue to keep our operations in high integrity and transparency and we are available at any point in time to reconcile numbers as we do in our operations.” Mr. Yakubu blamed the CBN governor’s letter on “a surprising lack of understanding of how revenues from crude oil sales are remitted into the Federation Account.”

That’s problematic. The remittance of crude oil earnings is Nigeria’s major source of revenue. Mr. Sanusi has headed the CBN for about four years. Why would the CBN head suddenly become ignorant of how crude oil earnings are deposited at the bank? Mr. Yakubu “explained” that “all NNPC crude oil liftings is made up of the following: Equity Crude, Royalty Oil, Tax Oil, Volume for Third Party Financing, and NPDC equity volume. It is important to stress that remittances of proceeds from the above liftings are made according to statutory and production arrangements.” And so on and so on and so on.

It’s mostly mumbo jumbo, to my ears. Here’s the bottom line: somebody who knows should tell us where those “unreconciled” billions are hiding. Whether the amount is (Okonjo-Iweala’s) $10.8 billion or (Sanusi’s) $12 billion is of little import. It will take a lot of work, a lot of money, to turn Nigeria into a habitable address, to make the lives of Nigerians a little less dire and hellish. Yes, those “unreconciled” billions can make a big difference.

My new novel, Foreign Gods, Inc., will be published on January 14. Please follow me on twitter @ okeyndibe

(okeyndibe@gmail.com)

http://saharareporters.com/column/nigerians-yawn-over-missing-billions-okey-ndibe?page=1

December salary: Civil servants tackle Okonjo-Iweala, AGF

January 3, 2014 by Friday Olokor


The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria on Thursday described as incorrect and unfortunate the statement credited to the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and the Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr. Jonah Otunla, that all federal workers had been paid their December 2013 salaries.

The ASCSN emphasised that thousands of employees in 44 Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government had yet to be paid their December 2013 salaries.

According to the association, some of the 44 affected MDAs that have not paid the workers their December 2013 salaries include the National Boundary Commission, Public Complaint Commission, National Health Insurance Scheme, Federal Ministry of Finance, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, National Emergency Management Agency, National Lottery Commission and Federal Ministry of Works.

The association, therefore, urged the Federal Government to discharge its elementary function of paying the civil servants their December 2013 salaries and arrears outstanding since July of the same year “instead of embarking on empty propaganda.”

The ASCSN, an affiliate of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, in a statement obtained by our correspondent in Abuja and signed by its Secretary General, Mr. Alade Lawal, insisted that it stood by its earlier position that thousands of federal civil servants had not been paid their December salaries and arrears outstanding since July 2013.

He said, “Governance is not about propaganda. The government should, therefore, do the needful by paying the civil servants their remunerations without further delay or face industrial action because this is now a matter of survival for thousands of civil servants who have not been paid the pittance they receive as salary in the same economy where political office holders go home monthly with millions of naira as remunerations.

“These top government functionaries, who are claiming that the civil servants have been paid their salaries, receive millions of naira monthly as remunerations apart from the innumerable perquisites of office they are entitled to, and as such, are necessarily insulated from poverty and since they are in a comfort zone, they can afford to be insensitive to the plight of civil servants, who serve their fatherland diligently in spite of the meagre salaries they receive.

“The government should, therefore, pay the civil servants their legitimate incomes and stop waiting to look for scapegoats on this issue. More than half of the civil servants in the Federal Ministry of Education and the Federal Ministry of Transport have yet to be paid their December 2013 salaries.”

The association urged the government to take immediate steps to pay its employees their salaries, because it was their fundamental right to receive their wages as and when due.

Lawal said the union would not stand by and watch civil servants’ emoluments diverted to satisfy the greed of a privileged few.

http://www.punchng.com/business/business-economy/december-salary-civil-servants-tackle-okonjo-iweala-agf/

Niger Delta ex-militants to gulp N63b in new budget Published on January 2, 2014 by

Nigeria’s Federal Government will spend N63.28 billion on Niger Delta former militants in 2014, figures in the new budget reveal.

Out of the amount, stipends and allowance for an estimated 30,000 militants will gulp N23.6 billion, about half of the N48billion spent on the militants in 2012.

This year, a programme for the re-integration of the militants will also cost the Nigerian treasury N35billion. Two years ago, the programme of re-integration cost N924million.

Operational cost for the running of the programme called Presidential Amnesty Programme is estimated at N3.7 billion, far less than the N12.8billion spent in 2012.

There is an additional charge of N546million this year, meant for what is called ‘reinsertion, transition safety allowances for 3,642 former militants who fall under a third phase of the amnesty programme.

Statistically, Nigeria will spend an estimated N2million on every militant captured by the programme this year.

Last year, the amnesty programme gulped N66.28 billion. It gulped N66.17 billion in 2012.

In contrast, the Federal Government proposes to spend just N2billion on a pilot initiative to ameliorate the poverty in Nigeria’s Northeast, where a five year insurgency by Boko Haram militants has cost thousands of lives, and created a climate of insecurity.

The Federal Government special allocation to the three states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, represents just a part of what the programme will cost as the states in the region are also expected to make contributions.

Foreign and local analysts have blamed the raging insurgency in the region to poverty and have called on the government to do something about it.

The Federal response to these calls, which President Jonathan hinted at a programme in Gombe recently is the N2billion allocation.

While the amnesty programme for the Niger Delta militants takes 6.8 per cent of the ‘consolidated revenue fund charges’ estimated at N925.1 billion, Nigeria proposes to spend just about N8billion on job creation scheme, an acute national crisis and another N1billion on ‘Quick Win’, an empowerment programme in which Nigerian youths compete for Federal assistance to start their own enterprises.

http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2014/01/02/niger-delta-ex-militants-to-gulp-n63b-in-new-budget/

Jonathan’s 11th jet

Posted by: Editorial in Editorial 15 hours ago

•This is squandermania in the face of limited resources

For President Goodluck Jonathan, we must add one to the 10 commandments: ‘thou shalt purchase an 11th presidential jet’. This ‘11th commandment’ was contained in the budget estimates submitted to the National Assembly by the Presidency. If the National Assembly approves the purchase, the government is expected to make an initial deposit of N1, 520,000,000 for the aircraft next year.

Presently, the aircraft in the Presidential Air Fleet (PAF) are two Falcon 7X jets, two Falcon 900 jets, a Gulfstream 550, one Boeing 737 BBJ (Nigerian Air Force 001 or Eagle One), and a Gulfstream IVSP, one Gulfstream V, Cessna Citation 2 aircraft and Hawker Siddley 125-800 jet. Each of the Falcon 7X jets purchased in 2010 is said to cost about $51.1 million, while the Gulfstream 550 was purchased for $53.3 million.

As we have always said, the Goodluck Jonathan presidency is not giving the impression that the country is facing any economic challenges, given its proclivity for frivolous expenses. Many of these have already been condemned at various fora.

Honestly, we do not know how those preparing the budget for the Presidency reason. What does the President need an 11th presidential jet for? Jets are money guzzlers, whether on air or on ground. This is clear from the planned expenses on the items to be purchased by the PAF. Expectedly, there is a long list of fresh items in the budget for the fleet, including completion of hanger project for N405,500,000; tyre bay tools and equipment – N106,000,000, Towberless tow tractor for aircraft towing – N58,740,000, hanger sweeper – N31,870,000, luggage conveyor belt truck – N28,898,000 and harlan tow tug for aircraft equipment towing – N27,590,000.

President Jonathan has something to learn from British Prime Minister David Cameron who slummed it out in business class on a flight from London for scheduled talks in Washington in 2010. This was unusual as British PMs usually travel on their own planes, use a Boeing 747 or 767, or use military jets. In this particular instance, Cameron did not even fly first class. He wanted to prove a point. As one British official put it then, “When we are asking the country to tighten their belts as much as we are, it’s very hard to justify hiring big jets to swan around the world. It may make his travel a little harder, but the Prime Minister believes it’s up to him to set an example.”

Cameron’s point was that if government said it was broke, this should reflect even in the First Citizen’s actions and travels. What the government saved by his taking commercial flight was no more than $300,000, but that was beside the point. The real issue was in the huge gesture.

We know it will be difficult to ask President Jonathan to travel by commercial flights, as he would readily cite security reasons; but then, he can set the tone by at least reducing the number of jets in the presidential fleet. Leaders should learn to cut their coats according to their country’s purse. It is not only the citizens that should make sacrifices in times of economic adversities. A gesture like that of Cameron in 2010 would have gone a long way in convincing the Britons.

As we have said in previous editorials on the frivolous expenditures of the presidency, the National Assembly has a lot of work to do on the Federal Government’s 2014 budget. In 2010, Britain, like much of Europe, was in the midst of making drastic cuts to many government programmes in order to keep its economy afloat. Downturn in government’s finances would be a hard sell in a situation where the presidency is competing with individuals for private jets.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/jonathans-11th-jet/

Court remands Bamidele’s aides over alleged murder

Tuesday, 31 December 2013 19:44 Written by From Muyiwa Adeyemi, Ado-Ekiti


THE Chief Magistrate’s Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti yesterday ordered the continued detention of two aides of a House of Representatives member, Opeyemi Bamidele, who were accused of plotting to murder Senior Special Assistant on Internal Security to Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Deji Adesokan.

The accused, Afolabi Oyediran and Oluwafemi Sunday, were arrested on December 20, 2013, at 7.30 pm at Adesokan premises at Irewolede Estate along Ilawe Road, Ado-Ekiti with a Barretta pistol loaded with eight rounds of ammunition.

They were slammed with two-count charge of conspiracy and illegal possession of firearms punishable under Sections 324 of the Criminal Code, Cap 16 Laws of Ekiti State and 3(1) of the Robbery and Firearm Act, Cap R11, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.

When the charge sheet was read, the accused pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against them.

The presiding magistrate, Simon Ojo, who ordered that the duo be detained in prison pending the next adjournment date, in his ruling, said the offences committed by the accused could pose serious security threat to the state.

Ojo averred that granting the bail at this “stage might not be appropriate because the offences are serious and the issue of security can’t be taken lightly. So, the application is hereby refused”.


Earlier, the prosecutor, Olasunkanmi Bankole, told the court that the police are not against bail for the accused persons, saying it is an exclusive prerogative of the court to exercise such discretion.

Counsel to the accused, Chris Omokhafe, while arguing for bail, said “bail application is not a foreclosure of a case. It is not the finality, but a rudimentary legal way of making an accused person attend to trial.

“The two accused persons have no criminal records. There are credible sureties to stand for them and we as lawyers will make sure they obey the court if granted bail”.

Citing the Supreme Court judgment in the case of Asari Dokubo Vs FG reported in 2007 AFWLR and Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution, Omokhafe stated that accused persons are presumed innocent until proved otherwise.

The magistrate adjourned the case till January 20, 2014, for further hearing.

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php/news/national-news/142272-court-remands-bamidele-s-aides-over-alleged-murder

Jonathan and his Afenifere allies

Posted by: Idowu Akinlotan in Columnists, Idowu Akinlotan

In December 20, Governor Olusegun Mimiko led representatives of the Yoruba socio-cultural and political organisation, Afenifere, to visit President Goodluck Jonathan. The visit came some eight or so days after former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s venomous letter to Dr Jonathan was made public, and a few days before the president’s insipid reply was published. The president is under enormous pressure to opt out of the 2015 presidential race and to accept responsibility for what his critics describe as the unremitting dullness of his government. But he not only soldiers on valiantly, even if the opposition to his presidency increases and renders his hold on power tenuous, he also appears eager to clutch at any straw within his reach in order to give the impression things have not yet spiralled out of his control.

There are not many straws Dr Jonathan can clutch at in the near future, especially with the withering look he gets from the North, and the barely disguised contempt he attracts from the Southwest. But there is at least one straw he can clutch at gutsily outside the fawning regions of the South-South and Southeast where his canonisation remains unquestionable and irreversible: the Afenifere. The Afenifere, not the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), of course, is not only irredeemably splintered, as everyone knows, it is also neither as ideologically coherent and consistent as before nor as relevant as it used to be when the Southwest was buffeted by Gen Sani Abacha’s oppressive machines and Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar unfurled his presumptive transition programme.

Dr Jonathan is by all considerations out of favour. His arch supporters in the oil rivers have seemed to exhaust their ethnic jingoistic cries, and were in fact dealt a massive blow by Chief Obasanjo’s letter which described the Jonathan government as mindlessly and unconscionably mining the region’s ethnic sewers. Whatever raucous noise they make henceforth in those forbidden creeks will continue to weaken into hoary whispers of disjointed support. His supporters in the Southeast stand ramrod, but it is not altogether clear on what foundations the region’s brazen support for him stands, or that given an accentuation of the bolt from the national political stables begun by the All Progressives Congress (APC), the region would not be tempted to burn the barn. The amperage of Dr Jonathan’s support in those parts may still be burning high, but it has not stopped the president from despairing or from showing signs of paranoia.

The Afenifere has a rich and enviable history of enduring pain and rejection. Indeed, in its long and proud years of existence, it always preferred complete ostracism than any romance with the forces of reaction and conservatism. If by its associations today it has appeared to jettison its historical principles, that fact is explained both by the philosophical makeup of its current leaders, most of whom are ordinary pragmatists relying more on common sense than any deep introspection, and the circumstances of its bitter loss to regional political rivals, particularly the All Progressives Congress (APC). For whatever pretences it makes, the fact is that Afenifere is much more political than cultural, and more sneakily autocratic than Yoruba history richly demonstrates.

It was, therefore, not surprising that Dr Jonathan and the Afenifere were driven into each other’s arms, the former because of the rejection and humiliation he suffered at the hands of Nigerians appalled by his government’s lack of initiative and charisma, and the latter by their regional loss, flat-footedness and poor political manoeuvrability. Dr Jonathan’s desperation is not surprising, nor does anyone expect him to spurn any alliance, no matter how opportunistic. What is really earth-shaking is the ease with which the Afenifere jumped into bed with a government that has all but transformed into fascism. Sometime in October, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, an Afenifere chieftain, seemed to have set the stage for the Afenifere romance with the Jonathan government when he declared his support for the convocation of a national conference before the modalities had been stated. That support remains intact even after it became clear that what Dr Jonathan had in mind is not exactly what the true proponents of national conference have in mind.

In the interview Chief Adebanjo granted a newspaper in October, he went as far as suggesting that if need be the constitutional provision of periodic election should be subordinated to the conference, for, in his opinion, a conference was more exigent than an election or a constitutional provision. It was no use, he argued, to hold an election when the country had not been restructured, and the fear of conflict not dissipated. On the surface, he would appear to be making a logical presentation. However, not only did he fail to question the motives of Dr Jonathan who was obviously driven by pressure and circumstances into yielding to a measure he once roundly loathed, Chief Adebanjo kept talking of sovereign conference as if the president had decided on making the conference sovereign.

In any case, when the president eventually put his so-called conference ideas into words, he preferred to use the word ‘national dialogue’ rather than conference, let alone a sovereign conference. Neither Chief Adebanjo nor his colleagues in Afenifere were dissuaded by their past political failures in seeking for proof of government’s sincerity in policy enunciations. In 1998, they accepted to fully participate in Gen Abubakar’s transition programme even without the promulgation of a constitution, when they could have forced major changes in the constitution given the peculiar circumstances of the time. It is the same constitution that is now in focus. Before the 2003 elections, they also uncharacteristically embraced ethnic politics by throwing in their lot with Chief Obasanjo who was clearly the wrong choice for the presidency, not to talk of his questionable democratic credentials and poor policy conceptions. Now, barely a decade after those egregious blunders, the Afenifere leaders are embracing Dr Jonathan who has no grain of democracy or liberalism in him, cares nothing for the constitution he swore to defend, especially seeing that he prefers a monarchical form of government, and is merely using the dialogue to ventilate the pressures on his uninspiring government.

There are rules guiding the postponement of elections. In October, Chief Adebanjo discountenanced those rules and turned the constitution into a capricious document with flexible provisions and timelines. The Mimiko-led Afenifere took the extraordinary step of denouncing before the president those who questioned the convocation of a dialogue at this point, especially the decision of the president to forward the outcomes of the dialogue to the National Assembly for their deliberations. Femi Okurounmu, chairman of the committee tasked with working out the modalities for the conference, described the conference as a dialogue in at least one sentence during the presentation of his committee’s report to the president. While Afenifere’s support for Dr Jonathan is no longer in doubt, a support that is however antithetical to their history and credo, it is hoped that they and the Jonathan government will have settled whether to call the conference a conference or a dialogue before the talks begin. At least, it is already known that it won’t be sovereign.

The incurable optimists of the Afenifere see nothing wrong or alarming in embracing the agenda of the Jonathan government. If Dr Jonathan’s hidden agenda do not frighten them, perhaps because they are too hopeful to see the dangers of having a major conference in what appears to be an election year, they should at least be worried by their own transformation from a progressive and principled organisation of a majority of Yoruba people to a bitter, opportunistic and unthinking organisation of a minority of Yoruba people. They should be alarmed by how rapidly they have descended from the Olympian height of supporting democrats and charismatic leaders in office to wholeheartedly and unscrupulously embracing reactionary non-performers in office. And while they copiously quoted the sage, Obafemi Awolowo, in the presence of Dr Jonathan, it is hard to explain why they failed to hear how ludicrously they sounded when they flattered their host as an offshoot of Chief Awolowo’s First Republic campaign prediction.

But it was not unexpected that Governor Mimiko would lead the woolly hairs of the Afenifere to meet minds with the distressed and increasingly forlorn Dr Jonathan. Before his re-election, the Ondo State governor had been projected by the losing groups in the regional political sweepstakes of the Southwest as the counterpoise to the feisty iconoclasts of the APC. When he won, the bitter and unforgiving rivals of the APC concluded that Dr Mimiko would serve as the new core of Yoruba politics. Since he won, they have begun to practicalise their aspirations. It, however, does not occur to them that they are merely giving a contemporary feel to the cancer that relentlessly gnaws at the sinews of the Yoruba, a cancer that sees the losing group forming an alliance with the political and cultural antagonists of the Southwest. This cancer saw a bitter Afonja align with Oyo Empire enemies; and it saw a bitter and frustrated Ladoke Akintola align with northern hegemonic leaders against the Western Region. It is certainly not a mistake that the majority of south westerners are in the APC. The reasons can be located in the disruptive inclinations and influences of the Obasanjo presidency, the obnoxiousness of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which offended the civilisation and sensibilities of the Southwest, and the absolute ineptitude of those who govern the country so uninspiringly and so loathsomely from Abuja. Why the Afenifere thinks this movement is a fluke is hard to explain. Why the Labour Party (LP), which at the moment stands for nothing, hopes to make itself the rallying core for the Southwest is also hard to explain.

It is, however, evident that history is being replayed in the Southwest. When Afonja entered into an alliance with the Fulani against the empire he was appointed to defend, it was to spite his people whom he ended up betraying. When Chief Akintola forged an alliance with the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC), it was to underscore his grievances against Chief Awolowo and the Action Group (AG). Now that the same spirit has been awakened and blended in the alliance between Dr Mimiko and the Afenifere, the stage is set once more for a replay of the regions’ bitter and violent past. If history is a guide, however, not only will the opportunistic alliance fail, and its contraptions collapse, the end can be foreseen clearly in the failure of those who prefer to dine with the enemy because they hate the false dentition of their compatriots.

As they took pictures with Dr Jonathan in their starched agbadas, in addition to making sarcastic and caustic remarks about their Southwest compatriots, a diligent person must doubtless appreciate anew what it feels like to deaden the censorious pangs of conscience during the act of betrayal. For it would be too optimistic to suggest that the romantics of the rump Afenifere visited Aso Villa and met the president without the reproof of conscience that the ordinary man experiences on a daily basis in the process of telling a small lie or coveting a neighbour’s property.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/jonathan-and-his-afenifere-allies/

Tinubu raps Jonathan over missing $11billion, calls for change

Published on December 31, 2013 by


A national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has urged Nigerians to embrace his party, as it promises to be a harbinger of a much needed change in Nigeria.

In a goodwill message to Nigerians as they mark the transition from 2013 to 2014, Tinubu attempted to differentiate the APC from the ruling PDP, saying that the APC “is a vehicle to generate and accelerate the process of change towards the most beneficial end for the greatest number of our people.”

His party, he said, will not mimic the PDP.

Calling the PDP a ‘robber’ government, with ‘deaf leaders’, Tinubu urged Nigerians to hearken to the message of change that the APC has brought and to embrace the party as it seeks a change of leadership in Nigeria.

” We may not be perfect but we are dedicated to the well-being of something far greater and more important than ourselves. We seek a better Nigeria for all Nigerians. Thus, we are no more like the PDP than a broom is like the dirt it sweeps away.

“We do not copy the deafness of the ruling party. We shall orchestrate a new music of enlightenment, progress and hope for this country. As it moves nearer, the sound of imminent change will become music to the many. Those in power will dread it because the tune they want to hear comes not of the people’s happiness but from their misery.”


Bola Tinubu

Tinubu cited two developments this year that ought to compel Nigerians to dump the PDP: the disappearance of $11billion from the Federal earnings, being unremitted income by the NNPC and President Jonathan’s seeming casual, cavalier way of dealing with the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria’s north eastern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.

“Recently the media published reports of a letter from the CBN governor alleging a $50 billion dollar shortfall in revenues NNPC deposited into the federation account. After a frenzied dash to reconcile the irreconcilable accounting books kept by this government, it was reported that only approximately $11 billion was unaccounted!

“We have dropped so far that somehow losing $11 billion is now a sign of fiscal rectitude! This is tragic.

“In an atmosphere of good governance, this amount would never grow legs and walk away unnoticed. If it did, senior officials would have been duly escorted to the police station for criminal investigation. Under this administration, the matter is swept aside as if a minor thing, like a broken tea cup on the floor. If this government can treat a missing $11 billion dollars like a minor accounting infraction, much more than a teacup needs to be swept away.

“This robber government needs to feel the broom and the sweep of change as well.

“Regarding Boko Haram and our challenges of domestic security, President Jonathan gave a recent statement that showed no urgency or initiative. Instead, he told Nigerians to be happy because things could be worse. At least, we are not like Syria or other war-ravaged lands, he said.

“In the face of the nation’s greatest security challenge since the Civil War, this is the presidential policy: to lay low and measure your failure relative to the failure of other nations. As long as other nations suffer conditions worse than ours, we should accept our fate and commend government for allowing only one of our legs to be amputated and not both.

” Jonathan’s hands-off, laissez faire approach to civil insurrection does not commend itself to national greatness or wise statecraft. It is a lazy and dangerous policy he promotes. This nation will not improve simply by being content that we are not as bad as other nations. That is not way of improvement. It is the excuse of a leader grown too comfortable with failure.”

Tinubu further highlights areas his party will show marked differences from the ruling PDP: presenting an economic alternative plan, communicating with the people and practicing internal party democracy.

http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2013/12/31/tinubu-raps-jonathan-over-missing-11billion-calls-for-change/

Civil servants threaten strike over delayed salary

December 31, 2013 by Friday Olokor and Ifeanyi Onuba


Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu
The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria on Monday gave the Federal Government a notice of its intention to embark on a strike any moment from now over the non-payment of December salary and outstanding emoluments to civil servants since July 2013.

The ASCSN, an affiliate of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, in a statement by its Secretary-General, Mr. Alade Lawal, which was obtained by one of our correspondents in Abuja, urged the government to begin the payment of the salary and outstanding emoluments “immediately or face industrial action.”

However, the government said on Monday night that it would investigate the reasons for the delay in payment of the December salary of some civil servants.

The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said in a statement issued by her Special Adviser on Communications, Mr. Paul Nwabuikwu, that the investigation followed the protest by ASCSN over the alleged non-payment of some of the workers.

Okonjo-Iweala said the ministry had yet to receive any formal complaint about the delay in salary payment.

The ASCSN called on the TUC, Nigeria Labour Congress, civil society groups, The Patriot, the Nigeria Bar Association and prominent individuals to prevail on the Federal Government to pay the civil servants their salaries as and when due so as to avert disruption of services in the public service a few days after the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities was resolved.

The umbrella union of senior civil servants expressed shock that thousands of federal civil servants were not paid their December salaries.

The association threatened, “We wish to emphasise that if the federal civil servants are not paid their December 2013 salaries and arrears outstanding since July 2013 immediately, the entire Federal Civil Service will be shut down shortly.

“It is difficult to understand why civil servants cannot be paid their paltry salaries in an economy where the political elite are carting away millions of naira monthly as remunerations, while billions in public funds are also being looted without qualms and those involved in the stealing spree are not being brought to book.”

According to Lawal, Okonjo-Iweala owes Nigerians an explanation on what caused the delay.

“It is disheartening that thousands of civil servants employed by the Federal Government were not paid their December 2013 salaries, and so, these workers and their families spent the Christmas under the pain and pang of hunger. What is also clear is that these workers, their children and other dependants will also celebrate the New Year in sadness,” he said.

The ASCSN then called on the Finance minister to “speak out and tell Nigerians why the Federal Government can no longer pay salaries to its employees as and when due.”

Lawal added that it had become necessary for the minister to address the nation on the embarrassing situation because she had continued to say that the country was not broke.

The ASCSN posited that it was bad enough that the Nigerian civil servants were the least paid in sub-Saharan Africa, adding that the fact that thousands of them could no longer be paid their meagre salaries was driving the workers and their trade unions to the wall.

The association requested President Goodluck Jonathan to “step in and order the Finance minister” to pay the civil servants their salaries without further delay and put the necessary machinery in motion to ensure that such an embarrassing situation would no longer repeat itself.

The group posited that the inability of the Federal Government to pay salaries was lending credence to the belief in some quarters that the managers of the public sector of the economy were grossly incompetent.

http://www.punchng.com/business/business-economy/civil-servants-threaten-strike-over-delayed-salary/

Plot to suspend Tambuwal fails

Posted by: Dare Odufowokan, Assistant Editor in Featured, News 19 hours ago

A plot by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to suspend the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, over his alleged romance with the opposition, has hit the rocks.

The Speaker’s home chapter of the PDP in Tambuwal Local Government Area of Sokoto State rebuffed the national leadership of the party which had launched a hate campaign against him.

The plan was for the PDP local chapter to announce Tambuwal’s expulsion last Thursday with the national leadership intervening by converting the expulsion to suspension “pending further investigation.”

However, party sources said the local executive members of the party saw through the instigation and declared that it was beyond them to expel him.

They advised those who had complaints against the Speaker to lodge same with the state executive council of the party.

“The plan was to get the L.G.A chapter of the party to expel the Speaker. If that had happened, the national leadership would have intervened by revoking the expulsion order and placing the Speaker on suspension while it claims to be looking into the allegations against him,” sources said.

“That way, other lawmakers plotting to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC) would have been cowed. But in spite of the heavy pressure mounted on them, the leadership of the PDP in the council declined to go all the way with the plan. Instead, they requested that those with genuine complaints against Tambuwal should report him to the state executive committee.”

The Nation also learnt that days before the botched meeting, some chieftains of the party in the state had gone round urging PDP members in the LGA to append their signatures and names to a “vote of no confidence” motion meant to be passed on the Speaker after his planned expulsion.

It was however gathered that the Speaker survived the plot through the intervention of Governor Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko. The Governor, according to sources, prevailed upon the party chieftains in Tambuwal not to allow themselves to be used to disturb the peace of the state.

“The governor, though no longer a member of the PDP, enjoys the respect of many of the leading chieftains of the party, especially at the grassroots level. Aside that, he was able to explain to the politicians that any move that is capable of threatening the position of Tambuwal as the Speaker will create chaos in Sokoto State,” one source said.

The national leadership of the party is understood to have compiled a list of allegations against the Speaker with which it intended to defend the planned suspension.

The Nation learnt that senior party officials are not only displeased with the Speaker for his close relationship with the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) , they are also irked by his recent criticism of President Goodluck Jonathan.”His recent criticism of President Goodluck Jonathan and the party leadership and his presence at a meeting of APC stalwarts in Abuja are some of the reasons why the party wants to place him on suspension as soon as possible. He will soon be suspended,” a party source said.

It was also gathered that the current move against Tambuwal may be pre-emptive. According to party sources, some chieftains of the party and some senior presidency officials are of the opinion that it is better to take the shine off Tambuwal’s rumoured defection by kicking him out of the party first.

“Convinced that nothing can be done to stop the Speaker from joining the APC sooner or later, some stalwarts of the party within the presidency and the party leadership has been able to convince Tukur and Jonathan that it is better to kick him out of the party before he announces his defection to the APC. That way, they feel the shine will be taken off the Speaker’s alleged planned exit from the PDP.

Tambuwal may also have drawn the ire of his party leaders with his presence at a rally recently organised by the Sokoto State Governor, Aliyu Wamakko. The governor, along with four other governors of the PDP, recently defected to the opposition APC.

Before dumping the PDP, Wamakko himself was suspended by the party for allegedly disrespecting the PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.

Tambuwal is close to the Governor.

Among other things, the party is also said to be angry with the Speaker because of his presence at the launch of Opon Imo, the initiative of the Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, in Osogbo.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/plot-to-suspend-tambuwal-fails/

Oduah: Groups demand release of presidential panel report

December 29, 2013 by Allwell Okpi 30 Comments


Civil society groups have demanded the release of the report of the presidential panel that investigated the role of the Minister of Aviation, Ms Stella Oduah, in the purchase of two bulletproof BMW cars by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority.

The administrative panel, set up by President Goodluck Jonathan, submitted its report on November 13, two days after its deadline but as of the time of this report, the Presidency had not made it public.

Leaders of the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, and the Campaign for Democracy, who spoke to SUNDAY PUNCH asked the Presidency to make the report available to the public, the way the House of Representatives made its report known recently.

The Executive Director, CACOL, Debo Adeniran, urged the Presidency to release the report if it had no intention of shielding Oduah.

He said, “When they set up all these panels, we said it was like doing the funeral for the issues that led to the controversy. Up till now, we are still raising the question. They didn’t need to set up the committees. It was a case for anti-corruption agencies such as Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Code of Conduct Bureau, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, or the special fraud unit of the Nigerian Police.

“We are demanding that the report be made public. We said it from the beginning that when the panels finish their work, they should make their reports available to whoever wants it. We are still demanding that if the Presidency has nothing to hide, it should not treat the report of the panel with secrecy.”

Also the Coordinator of CD, Joe Okei-Odumakin, said civil society groups would resist any attempt to sweep the bulletproof car scam under the carpet.

She said, “We have said any attempt to sweep the matter under the carpet will be met with stiff opposition. We shall resist it with all our might and within the ambit of the law. Time has come for those who are holding onto the report to release it. We must get to the root of this, because we cannot continue to cure the symptoms and allow the cause of the problem.

“If an amount of money was spent in the purchase of bulletproof cars and we said we are interested in due process; they have refused to release the report, it shows that there is no political will on the part of those in government who claim they want to fight corruption. We are demanding the release of that report and those found culpable must not only be shown the way out, they must be made to face the full wrath of the law.”

The groups also urged the President to implement the recommendation of the House of Representatives committee that probed the scam.

http://www.punchng.com/news/oduah-groups-demand-release-of-presidential-panel-report/

President Jonathan Refutes Own Remarks About Terrorism, Blaming The Press

Posted: Dec, 26 2013, 12:12PM


By Saharareporters, New York
The presidency today called on the Nigerian media to “eschew undue negativity and join hands with the government to promote peace, national security and political stability.”

The advice is contained in a statement by spokesman Reuben Abati protesting reports which correctly quoted President Goodluck Jonathan at a Christmas church service as expressing pessimism about the war against terrorism. Churches in at least two northeastern States were closed at Christmas.

The spokesman declared the reports to be “completely untrue and a mischievous misrepresentation” of what Mr. Jonathan actually said.

“President Jonathan’s verifiable remarks at the Cathedral Church of the Advent, Life Camp Abuja were to the effect that in comparison with some other countries which have experienced the scourge of terrorism, Nigeria has made remarkable progress in dealing with the security challenges posed by terrorism and insurgency,” Abati said.

He added that headlines such as “Terrorism Has Come to Stay” and “Insurgency Far From Over – Jonathan” are incongruous with the thrust of the President’s remarks and amounted to taking “extreme editorial liberties” with his comments.

“It is apparent that in their indecent haste to cast the most sensational and negative headlines, some editors never paused to consider that it would have been most absurd for a President whose administration has done so much to reverse the tide of terrorism, to publicly assert the contrary,” the statement continued.

In terms of the substance of the remarks, he said Mr. Jonathan only pointed out that whereas terrorism remains a global challenge and a source of continuing concern in some countries, Nigeria has done comparatively better in reducing the incidence of terrorist attacks within its borders to a “reasonable level”.

“Interpreting those remarks, which are clearly in tandem with facts available to all objective observers of Nigeria’s war against terrorism, as an expression of defeat or helplessness, amounts to reckless scaremongering which can only serve the purpose of needlessly instigating fear among the populace and bolstering the confidence of criminal and unpatriotic elements,” Mr. Abati observed.

He described the war against terrorism as “very winnable” and that Mr. Jonathan’s administration as “steadily winning it” in Nigeria, adding that the government, the Armed Forces and national security agencies will continue to build on the successes they have achieved so against terrorists, insurgents and their sponsors.


In a front page lead today, the Abuja-based Daily Trust wrote as follows: “President Goodluck Jonathan says his administration is making headway in tackling security challenges but that the insurgency afflicting parts of the country is far from over. He said had it not been for the success recorded in the campaign against terrorism, the State House in Abuja might have been targeted by now.”

The Eagle Online, in a transcript published online, demonstrates that President Jonathan clearly expressed helplessness about terrorism. The following is a verbatim transcript of the segment of Mr. Jonathan’s extempore address relating to terrorism, which includes the remark that “countries that are infested with terror will hardly get out of it”:

“The primate mentioned a number of issues that deal with nations, which have crises.
“For those who know about terrorism, countries that are infested with terror will hardly get out of it.
“If you look at Pakistan, we even go there to train our soldiers in some parts of Pakistan.
“As we are even talking now, there appears to be no government.
“So, this country could have been worse.
“Look at the incidences in Abuja, even the police headquarters was bombed.
“The UN (United Nations) building right here in the seat of government.
May be the next target would have been State House.
“So, we have to thank God that we have been able to bring it to a reasonable level, though we are far from getting through.
“There are a lot of challenges but we have to thank God.
“The primate said if it were to be like Syria.
“Look at South Sudan too.
“They were part of Sudan and they felt that they were being dominated.
“They have resources, there is oil in parts of South Sudan.
“They carry arms against the state.
“Finally, the whole world, through the UN, liberated them.
“In fact, within this week, we will be going for a security council meeting on South Sudan under the African Union.
“My envoy just came back on Sunday from where he had a conversation with them.
“How do we stop this madness?
“So, we have to thank God even though we still have these security challenges in our country, at least we are reasonably better.
“In terms of Nigeria, if we have crises, the Primate was mentioning whether Ghana or Sierra Leone can accommodate us.
“Even now, Nigerians in these countries, the people who own the country are not even comfortable with the number.
“From Cameroon to Senegal, Nigerians are everywhere.
“If not for political and diplomatic reasons, they would have even asked some of them to go.
“Then assuming we have crises, what will be your state, where will you go?
“Is it the Atlantic Ocean?
“So, I urge you to continue to pray.
“I also thank the religious leaders of this country.
“They have been praying and I believe God has been hearing our prayers.
“We will do our best within the period that God has asked us to occupy the positions we are occupying.”

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/president-jonathan-refutes-own-remarks-about-terrorism-blaming-press

Okonjo-Iweala Releases More Half-Truths About Fraud-Ridden Import Waiver Scheme

Posted: Dec, 24 2013, 7:12PM

By SaharaReporters, New York
Yesterday, SaharaReporters wrote a letter to Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to explain her ministry’s questionable administration of the country’s import waiver scheme. Today, her Ministry issued a statement which “categorically refutes the allegation that it is running a corrupt waiver policy.”

Titled “The Truth About the Federal Government of Nigeria’s Waiver Policy,” the statement was signed by Ms. Okonjo-Iweala’s Special Adviser, Paul C. Nwabuikwu. It recalled previous editorials published by The Punch Newspaper accusing the government and the Ministry of corruption in the administration of the waiver policy, and challenging the Ministry to publish details of recipients of those waivers.

The statement claimed that the Nigerian government introduced a complete reform of the waiver policy two years ago, adding that waivers are now only granted on a sectoral basis. “This means that every company in the sector enjoys the same waiver privileges. All companies or entities involved in a sector or given activity will benefit from the same waivers once they meet the necessary criteria,” according to the ministry’s release.

It added that the Federal Ministry of Finance had never denied issuing waivers to the organizers of the African First Ladies Forum conference.

“This official event for First Ladies of all the other African countries necessitated vehicles for the transport of these visiting dignitaries. The waiver granted for this occasion is similar to other waivers issued to various state governments and government institutions such as Rivers, Lagos, and Akwa Ibom for similar official sporting and conference events,” said the ministry.

SaharaReporters stands by its position that the import waiver scheme administered by Ms. Okonjo-Iweala’s ministry is frequently manipulated and administered in a way that fosters fraud and corruption. Even though the minister authorized the publication of the names of beneficiaries from waivers, it was clear that the list was artfully doctored. The document was compiled in a way designed to feature names that would attract little or no curiosity. In addition, the document referred the public to the main page of the Budget Office rather than to a specific url containing the waiver information.

Besides, if any proof were required that the waiver policy was rotten, it can be found easily in the long-running scandal involving Aviation Minister Stella Oduah’s deal to purchase two BMW cars at the cost of $1.6 million. Ms. Okonjo-Iweala has admitted publicly that one the waivers she granted to the Lagos State government had been fraudulently converted by an auto dealer,

The fact is that Coscharis Motors, the auto dealer involved in the scandal, is a major recipient of import waivers from Mrs. Iweala.

We ask: Why has the Federal Ministry of Finance found it so difficult to release all the names of beneficiaries from import waivers, including public officials in the latest list? Why was the First Lady of Nigeria, whose office is unknown to the Nigerian constitution, offered waivers to import BMWs for a conference she hosted? And why did Ms. Okonjo-Iweala not question the fact that the First Lady then handed the waivers to Coscharis Motors Limited, an auto dealer implicated in some fraudulent deals, including Oduahgate?

In any event, Africa has only about 54 countries. If all the continent’s First Ladies attended the conference hosted by Mrs. Patience Jonathan, they would have numbered just slightly more than 50. Why were import waivers approved for 200 cars when 55 would have been enough? Were some cars meant to be given as take-away packages to Mrs. Jonathan’s guests or government ministers that approved the scam?

In its latest statement, the Federal Ministry of Finance claimed that it welcomed “all legitimate inquiries and criticisms” and that it could not be expected to remain silent when falsification and distortion of facts occur.

We insist—and the facts bear out—that the distortions are on the side of the Ministry, which seems to believe that Nigerians can be blindsided at every turn with half-truths, half-baked lies, and doctored information. We will continue to challenge the Ministry to tell the truth, to be completely transparent in its transactions and accountable to the Nigerian people whose money it is, after all. That accountability and transparency ought to begin with the release of full information on the waivers, not the piecemeal approach that has so far characterized the ministry’s actions.

Only when this is done can Ms. Okonjo-Iweala and her aides, known for doublespeak, hold their heads high and legitimately claim to have spoken “The Truth about the Federal Government of Nigeria’s Waiver Policy.”

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/okonjo-iweala-releases-more-half-truths-about-fraud-ridden-import-waiver-scheme

Three PDP members in Zamfara Assembly defect to APC

Premium Times Published: December 24,2013

The PDP now has 8 members in the 24-member Assembly.

Three members of the Zamfara State House of Assembly on Tuesday announced their defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The members are Mani Masamar-Mudi, representing Bukkuyum North Constituency; Lawali Dogon-Kade of Kaura Namoda South Constituency; and Umar Muazu, representing Maradun 2 constituency.

The lawmakers, who announced their defection at a sitting of the house in Gusau, said they had concluded arrangements to change their political lineage.

The number of APC members in the assembly has now increased from 13 to 16, while that of the PDP has reduced from 11 to 8 in the house, which has 24 members.

Mr. Masamar-Mudi, who spoke on behalf of the defectors, said their action was in line with provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which allows party members to change their political party at any time if they so desire.

“We, as representatives of our people, have to follow the party that our people want,” he said, adding “we took the decision because we believe that the PDP is heading towards self-destruction”.

The Speaker of the Zamfara Assembly, Sunusi Rikiji, said the house had accepted the defection of the members because “it is in line with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution as amended’’.

The Majority Leader of the House, Salisu Tsafe, described the defection as “a new and welcome development’’ in the activities of the house; saying that it would increase the level of unity and understanding among the lawmakers.

Mr. Tsafe also said that they were in consultations with the remaining eight members of the PDP in the assembly, and “we are hoping for a positive response from them’’.

http://premiumtimesng.com/regional/152032-three-pdp-members-zamfara-assembly-defect-apc.html

Resign or be fired - APC tells Oduah

Written by Lanre Adewole Tuesday, 24 December 2013 00:00


All Progressives Congress (APC) has urged the Minister of Aviation, Ms Stella Oduah, to either resign or be fired by President Goodluck Jonathan, following her indictment by the House of Representatives over the N255 million car saga.

In a statement by its spokesperson, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party commended the lawmakers for taking a definitive stand on the N255 million scandal by asking President Goodluck Jonathan to review the continued engagement of the Minister of Aviation over her role in the scam.

The party said by its action, the House of Representatives had again signalled its readiness to play its own part in fighting the massive corruption which had allegedly enveloped the country.

It also said that by its unequivocal stand on the scandal, coming on the heels of the recent criticism of President Jonathan’s alleged tepid fight against corruption by House Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, the House had left no one in doubt that the legislature was taking its oversight role very seriously.

‘’There is no doubt that the House of Representatives took its stand, which included asking the EFCC to investigate and prosecute all those involved in the scandal, after a painstaking work by its Committee on Aviation. This action is commendable and reflects the general opinion of Nigerians on the shameful scandal.

‘’Therefore, Ms Oduah has no basis for continued occupation of her post as Minister of Aviation and should step down immediately. If she fails to do so, she should be fired by the President,’’ it said.

APC said if the minister failed to resign and the president refused to fire her, it would confirm the general perception across the country that the president was not ready or willing to fight corruption.

The party said failure by the president to heed the call by the House of Representatives on Oduahgate would also add to his earlier alleged failure to act on the House’s decision on the massive oil subsidy scam, and the alleged failure of his administration to bring to justice all those behind the series of corruption cases that have dogged the administration.

‘’The list is long, and includes the pension scam, the Malabu scandal, the massive corruption in SEC, the Halliburton scandal, the unprecedented crude oil theft and the extensive corruption in the oil sector.

‘’It is now up to President Jonathan to take the fight against corruption seriously and work with other arms of government in combating the canker worm, or go down in the history of the country as the most corrupt administration ever. He can start by acting decisively on the Aviation scandal, and stop using ad-hoc panels to bury corruption cases,’’ APC said.

‘’The president’s decision to hug corruption rather than fight it has also been reflected in his comments, saying for example that the perception people have about corruption in Nigeria is exaggerated; and that his administration is ‘winning’ the war against corruption.

‘’But this overly simplistic take on corruption in Nigeria flies in the face of the available evidence that Nigeria has sunk deeper into the mud of corruption under President Jonathan, especially the latest ranking by Transparency International, which lists Nigeria as one of the most corrupt nations in the world, and the report of the US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012, which shows Nigerian government officials and agencies frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity.

http://www.tribune.com.ng/news2013/index.php/en/news/news-headlines/item/29308-resign-or-be-fired-apc-tells-oduah.html