₦airaland Forum

N12bn pension fund stolen through 56 accounts –Witnesses

January 17, 2013 by Agency Reporter

The Federal High Court on Wednesday in Abuja admitted, in evidence, bank documents in respect of 56 accounts allegedly used in siphoning N12bn Federal Civil Servants pension funds.

Sani Teidi, a former Director of Pension Administration in the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation, and 33 others are standing trial for the missing funds.

Mr. Anthony Mapkwe, from Zenith Bank Nig. Plc produced information on 52 accounts, while Mr. Emphriam Atajiri, an official of Skye Bank Nig. Plc produced information on four accounts.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the EFCC claimed that the accounts, which were officially used by the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation for pension purposes, were hacked into by the accused persons.

Justice Adamu Bello adjourned the matter to March 14 for the hearing of the substantive issues.

NAN reports that Phina Chidi, Deputy Director (Finance and Accounts) and Aliyu Bello, Personal Assistant to Shuaibu, are among the accused.

In a related development, an EFCC operative, Mr. Mustapha Gadanya, told the court that the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation invited the commission to investigate allegation of ghost pensioners.

Gadanya spoke while giving evidence in another criminal suit brought against Teidi.

Others standing trial are President, Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Ali Abacha, and actor Zal, the Secretary-General of the union.

He said, “From our investigation, it was discovered that there were several thousands of ghost pensioners being paid monthly that ran into millions of naira.

“The accused persons were also linked to a fraud of inflating check-off dues of pensioners.’’

The EFCC had alleged that the second and the third accused persons (Abacha and Zal) retained the sum of N1.3bn from the deal.

According to the charge, Teidi allegedly spent the sum of N430m as his own share of the loot within the period of the alleged illegal transactions.

Mr. Sunday Ameh (SAN), the counsel for Teidi, however, opposed the attempt by the Prosecution counsel, Mr. Emmanuel Egboagwu, to tender the witness’ written testimony as evidence.

Ameh argued that, “There is no practice in our law books that allows a written evidence to be tendered in a criminal matter.’’

In support of the objection, Mr. Solomon Umoh (SAN), the counsel for Abacha and Zal, submitted that it was only in civil matters that written testimonies could be tendered, adding, “the court must disregard the attempt by the EFCC to give the court a new practice.’’

Egboagwu, however, urged the court to discountenance the objections raised by counsel for the accused persons, adding that “there is indeed a practice recognised by our law books that support tendering of written evidence in criminal matters’’.

http://www.punchng.com/news/n12bn-pension-fund-stolen-through-56-accounts-witnesses/

Affected families lobby passengers to boycott Dana Air over safety

On January 16, 2013 · In Business 12:13 am

BY RITA OBODOECHINA

Forty families of dead victims in the Dana plane that crashed on June 3rd, 2012 have called for a boycott of the airline by air travellers, following irregularities recorded in the compensation of the victims’ families.

Speaking through M.O. Awoyemi & Co. the law firm representing their interests, the families said, “If you love your life, boycott Dana Airline. You owe it to yourself and your family. We want to call on all well meaning Nigerians to condemn the resumption of Dana Airlines and we call on the House of Representatives to summon the Aviation Minister, Mrs. stella Oduah on this issue and ensure that Dana Airline operating license is withdrawn in line with the resolution of the House of Representatives.”


File Photo: Dana air crash fire

Mr. Bunmi Awoyemi, Managing Partner of the law firm fingered Prestige Assurance Plc and its re-insurer of 70 per cent of the risk, Pritchard Insurance Limited/Lloyd’s of London in the irregularities associated with the compensation, blaming them for instructing their solicitors to pay only $30,000 per family, irrespective of whether the families lost more than one person in the crash.

According to him, only 13 of the 40 victims have been paid $30,000 per victim, while only 80 victims’ family members have been paid any form of compensation.

“Many of the 80 include families which lost multiple members of their families to the crash. For such families most of them were paid $30,000 per family instead of the mandatory $30,000 per victim in order to discourage them from suing in the United States.

“They deliberately want to postpone the remainder to be included with the balance of $70,000 they are offering in order to make victims family members sign off their rights to a law suit. They are doing this despite the fact that the Civil Aviation Act makes the payment of $30,000 per victim mandatory and payable within 30 days of any fatal air crash.

“This action is being perpetrated by Prestige Assurance Plc and its Re-insurer of 70 per cent of the risk, Pritchard Insurance Limited/Lloyd’s of London, who have instructed their solicitors to pay only $30,000 per family which explains why the Oyosoro’s and Ibe’s were each paid $30,000 each instead of $60,000 despite the fact that they each lost two family members each. As of today only one more of our remaining clients have been paid.”

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/01/affected-families-lobby-passengers-to-boycott-dana-air-over-safety/

Ban CAN, JNI, ACF, Afenifere, others – Sanusi

On January 16, 2013 · In Headlines 12:02 am

BY EMEKA MAMAH, CLIFFORD NDUJIHE, OKEY NDIRIBE & DAPO AKINREFON

LAGOS— CENTRAL Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, yesterday, turned his attention to ethno-religious groups in the country and urged the Federal Government to ban them as a way of curbing insecurity in the country.

Sanusi made the suggestion at an inter-faith dinner organized by the Northern Reawakening Forum (NRF) in Abuja, yesterday.

He also asserted that all ethnic and religious groups in the country were actually political associations donning false cloak.

He said: “I almost didn’t want to attend this occasion because I am opposed to regional, ethnic and religious groupings in this country. In fact, I would like the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Jamatul Nasril Islam (JNI) , Afenifere and all such other groups to be banned.”

The call elicited immediate condemnation from leaders of the affected groups, who described Sanusi’s comments as irresponsible. This came as former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Audu Ogbeh and one-time Permanent Secretary, Ahmed Joda offered suggestions on how to tackle poverty and insecurity in the North.

Elite fan embers of insecurity with religion

Sanusi, who attributed the state of insecurity in the country to a fall-out of the exclusiveness and marginalization which many Nigerians belonging to the younger generation had been subjected to, traced the current insecurity in northern parts of the country to power struggle among the elite who use religion to pursue their goals.

He lamented that despite the fact that the Northern region’s land mass constitutes about 60 per cent of the Nigerian landmass and agriculture contributes 42 per cent to the Nigerian economy, the region remained impoverished.

He blamed the northern insurgency on the selfishness of the nation’s elite which had failed to see the future.

Economic failure, cause of insecurity in the North – Ogbeh

In his remarks, Ogbeh recalled that past northern leaders laid the foundation for a peaceful region by accommodating people of all religious beliefs.

He said: “A former Sultan of Sokoto named Saddiq had a Christian Igbo cook and the late Ahmadu Bello had a Christian doctor.”

Going down memory lane, he revealed that Shehu Malami, a notable Northern Muslim offered him accommodation in Abuja after he escaped assassination in 1998.

He further posited that the on-going insurgency in the Northern region was a fall-out of economic failure in the region, adding he had predicted that the situation would degenerate to the present level over a decade ago.

Sound education remains solution to northern poverty – Joda

Also speaking at the event, Ahmed Joda queried why disease and poverty were ravaging the northern region while industries and economic development was expanding in other parts of the country.

He lamented that all the old industries in the region which were located in Kaduna, Kano and Jos had collapsed. He proposed that for this trend to be reversed, the region needed to give its children sound education.

In his remarks at the occasion, the Chairman of the group Hon. Mohammed Kumalia said NRF had organized programmes in Plateau State to promote peaceful coexistence among people of different faiths.

Sanusi’s call a huge joke – Afenifere

Leader of the Afenifere, Chief Reuben Fasoranti, described Sanusi’s call as a huge joke, countering that banning the ethno-religious groups would not in anyway help combat the wind of insecurity in the country.

Fasoranti, who roared into a laughter when asked his views on the apex bank boss’ comment, said: That is a big joke. We (Afenifere) are not given to violence. We want unity and progress. He is shooting the wrong target. We want progress and improved welfare for our people. They know where the problem of insecurity is coming from. They should tackle Boko Haram. They should talk to their leaders to put their people in check. I n Afenifere, we generate ideas for the society to become vibrant. We don’t preach violence.”

Sanusi is living in the past – Ohanaeze

Outgoing Ohanaeze Ndigbo National Secretary, Chief Nduka Eya, wondered why ethno-religious organisations should be banned, saying Sanusi should not be dignified with a response because his comments were frivolous.

His words: “What is wrong with Nigeria is that everybody has a solution to Nigeria’s problems. Too many cooks spoil the broth. Sanusi does not deserve our response because his comment is frivolous. How can they ban CAN, Ohanaeze, Afenifere, etc? Nobody is going to respond to the nonsense he is talking about.”

Sanusi’s comments capable of breaching security – CAN

On its part, CAN, which said it could not be banned, said Sanusi’s barrage of controversial comments portended more danger to security than any non-religious group in the country.

Secretary-General of CAN, Rev Musa Asake, said: “CAN is not the cause of trouble or insecurity in this country. CAN was formed to protect the interests of Christians, especially in fighting persecution. CAN is not a government institution like NEMA, which any person can wake up and disband. The 1999 Constitution guarantees freedom of association and Sanusi cannot just wake up and call on anybody to proscribe it. Sanusi has been making several controversial statements and as a CBN governor, he should not make controversial pronouncements like this one. It is this type of statement that causes problems, not CAN as an institution. It is unfortunate that at a time like this, when Christians are being killed and churches burnt he is making this type of insensitive comment. CAN and JNI have come to stay. We have no quarrels and nobody can curtail CAN’s freedom of association as guaranteed by the constitution.” .

Ethno-religious groups re-enfore national unity – ACF

National Publicity Secretary, Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, Anthony Sani, picked holes in Sanusi’s call saying banning ethno-religious groups would do more harm than good to the country.

He said: “The existence of different regional and religious fora are not as divisive as posited by Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi; precisely because they have overlapping interests whose countervailing forces reinforce the unity of the country. So, their place in the order of things is to advance the cause of national solidarity through relative pluralism and not to promote insular particularism that cannot fit into their place in the order of things. This is because it is easier to bring the people together through such groups and help them unleash their synergy by living up their collective challenges for public good, rather than to allow ‘toyour tent O Israel’ to prevail which is capable of inspiring ethnic nationalism that is not helpful.”

Sanusi is pursuing a hidden agenda – OPC

Founder of the South West militia group, Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC, Dr Frederick Fasehun urged Nigerians to pray that somebody like Sanusi should not emerge as the president of the country.

“When democracy is failing, autocracy comes in and we all know that the Governor of the CBN is an autocrat. So, let us all go on our knees and pray to God that he does not come as the leader of this nation,” he said.

Also, OPC National Coordinator, Otunba Gani Adams said the CBN Governor had a hidden agenda for making such calls.

“He is becoming too controversial nowadays because I don’t know what concerns Sanusi with religious bodies and pressure groups. As the CBN governor, his role is to discuss the economy and the financial state of the country. To say CAN, JNI and other pressure groups should be banned shows he has a hidden agenda. Any reasonable person should be careful in delving into religious affairs because it can cause crisis that can consume any country,” he averred.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/01/ban-can-jni-acf-afenifere-others-sanusi/

N195b pension scam: No hiding place for Maina, says Senate

Posted by: Sanni Onogu, Abuja Posted date: January 15, 2013

The Senate yesterday vowed to ensure that the Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), Alhaji Abdulrasheed Maina, faces justice, no matter how long it takes.

It said it was not sure whether the 2013 Appropriation Bill it passed on December 20 has been forwarded to President Goodluck Jonathan for assent.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Information, Media and Public Affairs, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, said this at a news conference in Abuja.

On the 2013 budget, he said the fiscal estimate may still be undergoing “mechanical and bureaucratic processes”.

Asked whether the 2013 Appropriation Bill has been sent to the Presidency for assent, Abaribe said: “The Senate has passed the 2013 budget. Any other thing going on is the normal course of the bureaucracy involved and I don’t think there would be any problem with that.

“The important thing is that the 2013 budget was passed on December 20 by a concurrence of both Houses and the passage also by both Houses of the National Assembly and this officially is the passage of the budget by the parliament.

“I will have to assume that such has been done because after you have passed the budget, what is left is simply mechanical. You get a clean copy and then, you send it. I’m assuming that it must have been passed.”

The Senate spokesman said the decision to invite Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Abubakar over the Maina issue was a collective decision of the Senate and not that of the joint committee probing the administration of pension funds.

He said the Senate should not be seen as “helpless” in tackling the refusal of Maina to appear before its joint committee despite several summonses and an arrest warrant.

Said Abaribe: “It is necessary for Nigerians to know that a committee of the National Assembly in either House is a representative of the House.

“It means if a committee of the Senate is operating or summoning anybody, it’s not just that committee; it is the whole Senate.

“It means whatever sanctions coming are not just from that committee, but the whole Senate.

“So, if a committee says ‘we have already discussed with our leadership and this is the step we are going to take’, then, you have to assume that such is a step approved by the Senate.

“But when committees seek further power, they bring it to the floor of the Senate. Then, we can vote for it, but the rule is that every committee is a representation of the Senate as a whole.

“On the issue of Maina, let me say that the Senate cannot be said to be helpless.

“On the contrary, the Senate will and I want to lay emphasis on that word, the Senate will pursue the matter to its logical conclusion.”

Maina has been under fire from the Upper Chamber for failing to heed the summonses of its Joint Committee on Establishment, Public Service and States and Local Government Administration to defend himself over allegation of N195billion pension fraud.

The Chairman of the joint committee, Senator Aloysius Etok, last week said the Senate would summon the IGP to explain his failure to arrest Mania following an order from Senate President David Mark.

The lawmaker was optimistic that the implementation of the budget could still begin this month.

He said: “I don’t think it is late. This is January 14 and whenever the assent is done this month, the budget can start to operate.

“I want us not to focus on this question of whether there is some time lag.

“I don’t think such time lag is significant for it to mean that the operation of the budget will not start from January.

“We worked assiduously to deliver to Nigerians what we have promised to do.

“In line with what President Jonathan said when he delivered the budget address in the National Assembly,

his thoughts were that it was time for us to keep to schedule.

“We have kept to our own schedule and I think Nigerians will not find us lagging behind with regards to that.”

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news/n195b-pension-scam-no-hiding-place-for-maina-says-senate/

Soludo may be charged soon- EFCC

Posted by: Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf Posted date: January 13, 2013

THERE are indications that the immediate past Governor of the Central Bank (CBN),Professor Chukwuma Soludo, may be charged to court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the contract for the printing of the N20 polymer notes in 2006.

Soludo was quizzed last Thursday and Friday by operatives of the commission in connection with the N750million alleged bribe in the process of awarding the contract.

Some CBN officials were said to have received bribe from the Australian firm of Securency International Pty which secured the contract.

The Nation gathered that the EFCC legal team is sorting out all the necessary details which would enable them file charges against Soludo.

Confirming this development to The Nation yesterday, Wilson Uwujaren, Head, Publicity, EFCC, said: “Don’t forget that the investigation on the matter is ongoing.

“But I can assure that the EFCC’s legal team is working round the clock to ensure that all the paper work is perfected to enable us prosecute the case against the former CBN governor anytime soon.”

Pressed further, he said: “The public will definitely be carried along as we proceed with the case. But I can assure you that the whole process will be as transparent as possible.”

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news/soludo-may-be-charged-soon-efcc/

Pipeline contract: 5,000 ex-militants spoil for war

Posted by: Shola O’Neil, Warri Posted date: January 12, 2013

The fragile peace in the Niger Delta in the last few years may be at risk should the Federal Government proceed with the alleged plan to cancel the pipeline surveillance contract awarded to ex-militant leaders in the region, Chief Government Ekpemupolo (Tompolo), Asari-Dokubor, Victor Ebi.

An Ijaw leader and chairman of Izon-Ebe Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, Chief Favour Izoukumor, said the alleged plan,if effected ,is capable of sparking fresh crises in the region.

He warned that stopping the contract will push thousands of families in the region back into poverty. “This will unleash more hardship and attendant effect of more restiveness and violent agitations in the creeks and towns of the region,” Izoukumor said.

Izoukumor’s warning came against the backdrop of reports that thousands of the aggrieved ex-militants are poised for a showdown with the Federal Government over their fate. Sources said the aggrieved youths have concluded plans to hand the Federal Government a 31-day ultimatum to renew the contract or face dire consequences.

It was gathered that at least 8,000 angry youths will be affected by the non-renewal of the contract, which was awarded in 2010 to Chief Government Ekpemupolo (Tompolo), Asari-Dokubor, Victor Ebi and others for an initial period of one year.

Tompolo is said to be finding it difficult to convince his former foot-soldiers not to return to the trenches on account of non-payment of their salaries in the last few months.

Izoukumor told The Nation that every ethnic group and interest group in Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers benefited from the contract while it lasted .

He said:“As a leader of Ogbe-Ijoh Kingdom and chairman of IOPCF, we held a series of meetings and I made my inputs along with others.”

“The slot is for oil producing communities and oil producing communities in these areas benefit. I am surprised that people are saying it is Tompolo’s contract. Yes, he is involved, along with others, but the benefit is not for him; it is for the host communities.”

The IOPCF chief said that the impact of the contract’s cancellation would not be felt by Tompolo, stressing that thousands of hitherto jobless youths who were the beneficiaries of the initiative would be the ones to suffer.

“My advice to Mr. President is that he should not succumb to pressure to cancel this contract because those advising and pressuring him to do so do not mean well for him and this country because nobody who really knows the benefit of the surveillance contract will contemplate that.

“If we even think that only eight or ten thousand lives would be affected, then we are grossly wrong because these young men and women have dependants whose lives have been changed by the stipend they receive to do this genuine job. Right now, most of these workers are in school to improve their lives.

“Again, I will continue to say this: those who say the contract is just settlement for the former armed agitators do not know what they are saying. I say this because if you know the degree of sanity that has returned to the creeks, particularly Delta and parts of Bayelsa, you will appreciate what I mean.”

Izoukumor, who is also the Chairman of oil-rich Ajuju Community Development Community, urged the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to put machinery in place to check allegations of non-performance levelled against some of the beneficiaries.

“You can throw away the baby with the bathwater in this situation, particularly with the situation in the Niger Delta region. You can see that the region has been very peaceful, in fact residents of Warri will tell you that the last Christmas was the most peaceful in years,” he added.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news/pipeline-contract-5000-ex-militants-spoil-for-war/

N750m scandal: Soludo granted bail, passport seized

January 12, 2013 by Friday Olokor 30 Comments


A former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Charles Soludo, who was arrested on Thursday, has been granted bail.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission picked him up over alleged complicity in the Australian polymer banknotes bribery scandal estimated at over N750m.

He was said to have been allowed to go home having been grilled for several hours by the commission’s team of investigators.

A source in EFCC told Saturday PUNCH that Soludo was asked to drop his diplomatic passport and to produce two sureties who must be senior federal civil servants not below the level of permanent secretaries or directors.

The source said, “The former CBN governor was eventually allowed to go yesterday (Thursday) night. I think he left around that time you people left.

“He was waiting for journalists to go and immediately you people left, he sneaked out. But that is not the end because he is also expected back for further interrogation.

“I don’t have much details on the other 12 ex-staff members of the CBN and the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company, who were linked with the scandal; it is not as if the suspects are here. But a number of them have been questioned over time and they are from NSPMC and CBN, they are not in our station at the moment.”

Several efforts to get the confirmation of Soludo’s release from the spokesperson for the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, were unsuccessful as he did not answer his telephone calls.

When our correspondent called back later, his two telephone lines were switched off.

Soludo arrived at the EFCC headquarters at about 2 pm on Thursday from his Abuja residence and immediately faced a team of operatives who quizzed him for several hours to ascertain his level of complicity in the scandal.

http://www.punchng.com/news/n750m-scandal-soludo-granted-bail-passport-seized/

Eminent citizens to Jonathan: disband your cabinet now
Posted by: Our Reporter Posted date: January 11, 2013 In: Featured, News | comment : 22

The ship of the Nigerian state is sinking, eminent Nigerians said in Lagos yesterday.

The Patriots urged President Goodluck Jonathan to take radical steps to stop the country from descending into anarchy.

The group’s leader, Prof. Ben Nwabuaeze, an octogenarian constitutional lawyer and one time Secretary of Education, read a statement at a Lagos news conference in which the group urged Dr. Jonathan to “reconstruct his government immediately and appoint a competent, energetic, selfless, patriotic team, which will assist him in initiating the peaceful but far-reaching revolution involved”.

The Patriots also insisted on a national conference, saying the increasing demands for more states and local governments is “seen by many of the would-be rulers of the new entities as the quickest way to personal fortune and not necessarily for dedicated public service, to spread development and improve the standard of living and quality of life of the vast majority of our people”.

Nwabueze said the government has failed to tackle the Boko Haram challenge. “Security of lives and property is the foremost challenge for any government. On the issue of Boko Haram, we do not believe that it is being tackled effectively by the Federal Government. There is need to do more, though we are not in a position to say more about security because it is a sensitive matter.”

With Nwabueze at the briefing were Olorogun Felix Ibru, Gen Alani Akinrinade, Sir Olaniwun Ajayi, Chief Philip Asiodu, Mrs. Bola Kuforiji-Olubi, Chris Okoye, Chief Solomon Asemota, Senator Ben Obi, Mr. Michael Orabotor and Chief Ayo Adebanjo.

The challenges facing the country, according to them are: pervasive corruption; outrageous remuneration of political office holders; detoriating security situation; proliferation of government agencies and government’s failure to improve power and transportation.

They also pointed out the inability to improve educational facilities, failure to punish appropriately and promptly the few persons found guilty of corruption and failure to embark on effective and widespread publicity of Vision 2020 and the Jonathan 2011 – 2015 Transformation Agenda to demonstrate the commitment and determination of the leadership to implement them.

The Patriots said: “In order to avoid the horrors of descent into a very bloody and destructive anarchy, there is need for a revolutionary change of attitude among key elements of the national leadership and the emergence of a re-awakened and re-vitalised responsive government.

“It is the duty and historical challenge of President Goodluck Jonathan as the democratically elected president of the country in whom authority for government is vested, to initiate and lead the necessary revolutionary changes to enable the nation avoid the horrendous holocaust which threatens.”

The Patriots said: “The purpose of this conference is to enable the people of this country, as members of ethnic groups and as individuals, to deliberate and agree on how they are to live together in peace and unity, and to work out a programme of ensuring development and progress for the benefit of all Nigerians and for promoting nation-building and integration of the various ethnic groups in the country in equality and freedom, and the continuing development of the Nigerian nation.

“The Patriots believe that a national front comprising itself, Project Nigeria, Afenifere, Arewa Consultative Forum, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Northern Elders Forum, Middle Belt Forum, Conference of Ethnic Nationalities of the Niger Delta, South-South Peoples Assembly and other civil society organisations, is necessary to facilitate the process of convening a National Conference.

“We (The Patriots) are at present actively engaged in efforts to create such front. When the effort is completed, a meeting of the front with Mr. President and leaders of the National Assembly will be organised, and a memorandum on the National Conference submitted to them, accompanied by a draft bill on the subject, covering all aspects of it, particularly representation at the conference, election/selection of delegates, preparation of a draft constitution and its submission and adoption at a referendum.”

The Patriots said they will approach certain persons who command reverence and credibility as “fathers of the nation” to join in appealing to the President and the leaders of the National Assembly to accede to the demand for convening the National Conference.

Nwabueze said: “We are only postponing the evil day, until we have a National Conference. We must have it, if we don’t have it now, we will have it some day.”

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news/eminent-citizens-to-jonathan-disband-your-cabinet-now/

$1.5b loan: NNPC under fire

Posted by: Shola O’Neil Posted date: January 10, 2013 In: Featured, News | comment : 22

Former World Bank Vice President Dr. Oby Ezekwesili has joined the condemnation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s (NNPC’s) planned $1.5b syndicated loan to pay off its debts.

She lashed out at the decision in her twitter account yesterday, her criticism following that of the Senate, which on Tuesday queried the plan, saying it was not informed about it.

According to Mrs. Ezekwesili, the process the NNPC is following to obtain the loan, which she said was unnecessary, is not transparent.

Lagos Lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) urged the National Assembly to probe the oil giant.

Reuters news agency blew the whistle on the loan at the weekend, but NNPC spokesperson Ms Tumini Green said it had not been obtained, although the process was being finalised.

The state oil company is believed to be owing major commodity trading houses, including Glencore and Mercuria, about $3.5 billion in unpaid fuel supply bills.

President Goodluck Jonathan is reported to have authorised the loan.

The NNPC spokesperson said: “The loan has not been obtained yet. It is still being worked out. This is a purely business transaction and it is done in good faith. If you owe somebody, you have to look for how to pay. So we are looking for money to pay our debts.”

Ms Green said the loan deal was a crucial measure to help the corporation stay in business, insisting that by taking that step, NNPC had not contravened any aspect of the law establishing it as a state-run oil company.

She added: “Why would anybody not want us to pay off our debts, especially when it is done legitimately? I don’t think it is right.”

Sections 6 (1)(c) and 8 (1)(2) of the NNPC Act states: “The corporation, in fulfillment of its duties, can enter into contracts or partnerships with any company, firm or person, which in the opinion of the corporation will facilitate the discharge of the said duties under this Act.

“Subject to the other provisions of this section, the corporation may from time to time borrow by overdraft or otherwise howsoever such sums as it may require in the exercise of its functions under this Act and the corporation shall not, without the approval of the National Council of Ministers, borrow any sum of money whereby the amount in aggregate outstanding on any loan or loans at any time exceeds such amount as is for the time being specified by the National Council of Ministers.”

Managing Director, Financial Derivatives Company (FDC), Mr Bismark Rewane, also justified the NNPC’s borrowing.

He said if the NNPC failed to honour its obligations for offshore processing transactions, it would affect the country’s international credit rating.

“If the NNPC does not borrow and pay its foreign creditors, our (Nigeria’s) credit rating will go down and this is not good for our financial institutions and the country,” he said.

But the Chairman of Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, said: “Under the law, no government agency can borrow money without the approval of the National Assembly.”

Senate Committee chairman on Petroleum (Downstream Sector), Magnus Abe, said there was no record of the deal before the Senate.

Dr. Ezekwesili, a former Minister of Education and one-time chair of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), warned that such financial recklessness and lack of transparency in the NNPC should not be allowed to continue.

“What?” she exclaimed. “Counter Trade in 2013 to pay commodity traders opaque debt?

“This level of elite parasitism that has been the hallmark of our oil sector is fatal. It’s unsustainable.”

Dr. Ezekwesili, pioneer head of the Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Unit – known as Due Process Unit – also lampooned the Federal Government for allowing what she termed “Federal Republic of NNPC”, wondering: “Why does this administration encourage the idea of a “Federal Republic of NNPC in a Democratic Nigeria in 2013?”

She faulted insinuations that the delay in cleansing the rot in the NNPC and the oil sector was caused by the non-passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB). He insisted on twitter: “The government can drive a change agenda in the messy sector even without the PIB. It is all about sincere commitment.”

Wondering why the unbundling of the NNPC has taken so long, she said plans to unbundle and make the corporation a public company was already in place before President Olusegun Obasanjo handed over power in 2007.

“We had left behind building blocks to take NNPC out of opaqueness by subjecting it to market discipline.”

Responding to an enquiry, Dr. Ezekwesili stated: “The demand for the cleanup of this decadent oil sector has to be sustained. It (decadent oil sector) is killing the greatness of this nation. This paradox of affluence that has been our lot with oil needs to end soonest. We cannot sustain our nation on ironies. Not only has elite binge on oil corrupted our governance, it has also dulled the brain of our nation to all other prospects for greatness.”

The former minister urged Nigerians, particularly the youth, to demand answers and transparency in government.

She advised them to speak out to engage the National Assembly and other arms of government.

Falana said: “The decision of the NNPC to take a loan of $1.5 billion is illegal and unconstitutional. The federal government or any of its agencies has no right to take local or foreign loans without the approval of the National Assembly. Section 6 of the NNPC Act which empowers it to borrow money with the approval of the Federal Executive Council has to be read subject to the powers of the National Assembly before taking such loans.

“In the 2013 Appropriation Bill awaiting the assent of President goodluck Jonathan, there is no provision for the loan of $1.5billion.

“Apart from stopping the loan, the National Assembly should investigate the pit of corruption that the NNPC has been turned into. The NNPC is owing the Federation Account the sum of N450 billion. In the fuel subsidy scam, the NNPC benefitted to the tune of 50 per cent


http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news/1-5b-loan-nnpc-under-fire/

EFCC Nabs Imo State Commissioner of Finance, Accountant General
Posted: January 9, 2013 - 15:11

Posted by siteadmin

By SaharaReporters, New York
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) today arrested two Imo government officials for fraud related charges. The agency interrogators are currently quizzing the Imo state commissioner of finance, Deacon, Okafor Chike John and the accountant general of the state, Eche Ezenna George.

The two officials are currently in the Abuja office of the EFCC. It is unclear how the agency effected the arrest of the two officials however, a source at the EFCC office in Abuja involved in the investigations said their arrest is linked to a loan transaction from Zenith bank involving N47 billion.

UPDATE: The officials are being interrogated regarding their activities with the current regime of Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo state. The governor enjoys constitutional immunity from arrest and prosecution

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/efcc-nabs-imo-state-commissioner-finance-accountant-general

Chime: Where are the people of Enugu?

January 9, 2013 by Nwobodo Chidiebere 113 Comments



“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter”

—Martin Luther King, Jnr.


It should be of utmost concern to the indigenes of Enugu State that the peaceful state is gradually drifting into a state of anarchy, following the intrigues playing out on the whereabouts of the state governor, Sullivan Chime. It is obvious now that the absence of Governor Chime for more than four months has truncated the political hierarchy of the state, thereby turning Enugu into a motionless and ungoverned state! Unfortunately, the people of the state have been pretending that all is well, while on the contrary, the state is sitting on the keg of gun powder!

The nonchalant attitude of Enugu people on the political crisis ravaging the state like a wildfire can be likened to the story of the proverbial frog and how it endured to the point of death! The parable of the frog is a typical story of change. When you put a frog into a bucket of hot water, it will quickly jump out of the hot water. But if you put a frog inside this same bucket of water at ordinary room temperature, it will stay put. If you now put the bucket on a stove and increase the temperature of the water gradually with the frog inside it, the frog will remain inside the bucket. If you continue to do this until the water boils, the frog will still be there inside the hot water until it dies of heat and burns. What a tragedy!

This is how Enugu citizens are behaving now concerning the political turmoil going on in the state. In an attempt to adjust to the current political crisis in the state following the long absence of the governor from office, they continue to endure executive rascality and legislative indolence until the whole state goes up in flames! It is no longer news that Chime is overseas treating an undisclosed ailment many say has incapacitated him. Funny enough, we live in a country that has good laws, but has little enforcement mechanics for her laws. The constitution has envisaged a situation where the governor may be incapacitated by reason of illness, in order to ensure that the smooth running of the state government is not interrupted. The constitution has made it expressly clear that the deputy governor will take over as the substantive governor, but what is happening in Enugu is different; an obviously incapacitated governor has refused to toe the path of honour by throwing in the towel! To me, Chime should resign now and allow his deputy to take over. It will be wise and more honourable for him than what he is doing now, lying on a sick bed fighting two battles: his life and the governorship seat he left behind.

Chime is a public figure whose earning is got from the taxpaying Enugu citizens. His health status information is deceptively managed by his aides who see the seat of the governor as a personal property of the Chimes. While in an Indian hospital, his salaries and allowances are still running including security votes when he is in a limbo with only his aides becoming his mouthpiece. Almost a replay of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua incident. Not even the acting governor in the employ of the state has spoken with him. I think this is an instance of a ghost governor in office! His media crew are still insulting the sensibilities of the people of the state by insisting that he is on “vacation”. Since September! What a load of horse crap! I am not wishing him death, because as mortals we are, none of us is immune from sickness or death, but until he learns to start showing respect to the people of Enugu State who elected him, then he does not deserve the respect and sympathy of Enugu citizens either. Governor Chime should do the right thing and abdicate power as he is incapable of continuing in office, he is an elected governor and not an emperor or a King! He was not born as governor of Enugu State, but as Sullivan Iheanacho Chime. His life and that of his family members are not tied to Lion Building (Governor’s Office), he did not inherit the governorship throne from his father, because Enugu State is not practising a monarchy!

Some people have been calling for prayers for the quick recovery of the ailing governor. As good as that might be, I think there is no how someone should start telling the people of Enugu State to pray for a governor which the Government House, Enugu declared fit. How can Enugu citizens pray for quick recovery of someone who is on “vacation” or holidays? Who is fooling who? I wonder whether they see Enugu citizens as a bunch of dullards and dummies! It is only in Africa that her leaders want to die in office. They rather leave offices in their corpses than resign or retire. How many times have we heard that the Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, went for cancer surgery in Cuba last year? Whenever he was going; he would tell Venezuelans that he was going for operation on this or that. They would join hands and pray for their leader to go and come back successfully, but ours is a different ball game: our rulers will hide it till the person dies! South African legend, Nelson Mandela, spent his Christmas in a hospital, the whole world was aware of that. The late president of Ghana, John Atta-Mills, died in a Ghanaian hospital after a long battle with cancer, Ghana citizens were aware of that unfortunate sickness. A situation where we have an absentee governor for more than four consecutive months is not only crazy, but shows that we do not have a country in the first place!

It is a known fact that Chime has not been in a sound health all this while. He has been reported to be debilitating and in an instance, reportedly collapsed in a state function. It is very sad that the national leadership of the PDP, his party, has refused to address this issue appropriately, thereby leaving the good people of the state in a political quandary. The fact that his deputy is acting is not enough reason to keep an incapacitated and non-functioning governor in office. As pathetic as it may sound, the 1999 constitution as amended, did not stipulate the time limit within which the deputy governor can act, before he will be sworn in as a substantive governor if the governor fails to show up and resume normal duties. Instead, it just says “…until the governor returns…” (even if he is away for eternity?). If this is the case, it is absurd! It is very unfortunate that a state that has produced great men such as the late C.C. Onoh, Chief Jim Nwobodo, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, Senator Ken Nnamani, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani, Prof. Barth Nnaji, among numerous others has been hijacked by a cabal led by some power hungry elements!

Despite the hue and cry of the citizens of the state, Eugene Odoh has refused to use the powers conferred on him as the Speaker of the House of Assembly to resolve this quagmire. There is this Igbo adage that says an elder does not sit in the house and watch a goat being strangulated by a rope. Where are the elders from Enugu State? The Nwobodos, the Nnamanis, the Nwodos, the Nnajis, the Mbakas, the Igwesis, among others? Can we continue to sit down and watch Enugu State run into a ditch like a fully-loaded luxury bus without a driver steering the wheels? I wonder whether the Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, is waiting for the state to drift into a full-blown anarchy before he intervenes to ensure the resolution of the political crisis in the state accentuated by Chime’s long absence by ensuring the swearing-in of Sunday Onyebuchi as the substantive governor of the state, because there is a time when silence becomes a betrayal. An injustice done anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere; apology to Martin Luther King, Jnr.

- Nwobodo wrote in from Abuja via chidieberenwobodo@yahoo.com


http://www.punchng.com/opinion/chime-where-are-the-people-of-enugu/

Patience Jonathan, Turai Yar’Adua To Give Final Address On Disputed Abuja Land-PREMIUM TIMES

Posted: January 7, 2013 - 21:04

By Ini Ekott

After repeatedly failing to reach an amicable solution, a court will now rule on the disputed plot.

A sour dispute between first lady, Patience Jonathan, and her immediate predecessor, Turai Yar’Adua, over a prized plot of land in Abuja, turned out a full-fledge legal tussle lasting months after repeated attempts at settling out of court failed.

A ruling on the right to the contentious property, located at Abuja’s Central Business District, is now expected to follow final presentations to be made by both sides before the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, court handling the case, a lawyer to Mrs. Yar’Adua said.

The final addresses are to be laid on January 24, to set the stage for a judgement.

Attorney General, Mohammed Adoke, who was joined in the case, and has led unsuccessful out-of-court mediation efforts, has given testimonies through witnesses, PREMIUM TIMES was informed.

The two women have laid claims to the plot, first allocated to Mrs. Yar’Adua by the Federal Capital Territory authorities in February 2010, while she held office, and later reallocated to Mrs. Jonathan after she took office.

While Mrs. Yar’Adua obtained the plot for her pet project, Women and Youth Empowerment Foundation, WAYEF, Mrs. Jonathan got the allocation for her initiative, African First Ladies’ Peace Mission, AFLPM.

A lawyer to Mrs. Yar’Adua, Innocent Lagi, said repeated offers made to replace the plot were unacceptable due to size or location, and the matter has remained in court since.

“We did not accept any of the offers and the matter became a full-fledge court case,” Mr. Lagi said.

He said Mrs. Yar’Adua’s team is satisfied no activity was taking place on the disputed plot.

The scandal which broke mid 2012, gave a rare glimpse into the subtle feud between Mrs. Jonathan and her predecessor- a long running rift dating from the turbulent months of former President Umaru Yar’Adua’s death, and the transition of power to President Goodluck Jonathan.

Critics have also highlighted the controversial transfer of ownership titles in the case as characteristic of the abuse and the rot in land administration in Abuja.

The FCT minister who approved the transfer, Bala Mohammed, said the revocation was in public interest.


History of transfer

Mrs. Yar’Adua’s WAYEF sued the FCT minister, the ministry, and the Attorney General of the Federation on November 23, 2011, challenging the reassignment of the plot.

On March 5, 2012, Justice Peter Affen of the Abuja Court at Bwari granted an injunction restraining the minister or any other person from affecting the title or interest of WAYEF over the property pending the determination of the case.

In turn, Mrs. Jonathan approached the court, through the Federal Ministry of Justice, seeking a discharge of the order on the land, or at worst, a stay of execution.

A lawyer to Mrs. Jonathan, Ballah Ali, said in a court affidavit that the president’s wife reached out to Mrs. Yar’Adua and assured her of a replacement.

But matters soon degenerated after the first lady’s attention was subsequently drawn to the injunction obtained by her predecessor after she was made to believe that the matter had been resolved.

Mrs. Yar’Adua’s organisation has maintained its ownership of the land and its lawyers say WAYEF obtained the requisite approvals, including the statutory payment of N184 million to the Abuja Geographic Information System, AGIS, for the right of occupancy.

After preliminary court outings from both sides and the office of the Attorney General, an attempt at an out-of-court resolution was agreed at the counseling of the presiding judge, Mr. Affen.

But the talks broke down after first offers were made in July 2012, with Mrs. Yar’Adua rejecting both.

One offer was for a smaller plot in the same highbrow area of Abuja, while another was for a sizeable plot in an undeveloped part of Abuja, their lawyers said.

A saving grace was expected if Mrs. Jonathan’s team made new acceptable offer ahead of a report of the progress expected to be made to the court on September 24, 2012.

For weeks, or even months, away from the media and public glare, the negotiation continued but failed to provide a resolution as Mrs. Yar’Adua’s team considered all offers unsuitable replacements for the revoked land, Mr. Lagi said.

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/patience-jonathan-turai-yar%E2%80%99adua-give-final-address-disputed-abuja-land-premium-times?page=1

North, South clash looms over PIB

January 5, 2013 by Fidelis Soriwei, John Alechenu, Abuja and Chukwudi Akasike, Port Harcourt 23 Comments


A North-South clash is looming over the controversial Petroleum Industry Bill currently before the National Assembly.

The central stage is the National Assembly, where senators and members of the House of Representatives are already sharply divided on the clause providing for the allocation of 10 per cent of oil revenue to oil-producing communities in the country.

Also joining the fray are leaders of the South-South, who have vowed to fight for the passage of the bill in its entirety.

The clash was sparked off by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Housing, Bukar Abba-Ibrahim, who said on Monday in Abuja that the North would oppose the PIB because it was lopsided in favour of Niger Delta states.

The All Nigeria Peoples Party senator reportedly described the PIB as “unfair and unacceptable,” especially the contentious clause.

Abba-Ibrahim had argued that the Niger Delta had several other sources of revenue from oil apart from derivation accruing from the Niger Delta Ministry, the Niger Delta Development Commission and the Presidential Amnesty Programme.

The senator said giving an additional 10 per cent of oil revenue to the oil producing communities in addition to existing ones was inimical to the prevalence of peace in the country.

He said, “Derivation is only one out of seven sources of revenue for the oil producing states. They have the Federal Government’s take home, the NDDC with over N500 billion being projects only in oil producing communities. They also have the Niger Delta Ministry with over N400 billion; Federal Government grants in the name of amnesty and oil companies doing social corporate responsibility.

“By adding another 10 per cent to the seven sources, I don’t know how you are going to have peace where resource allocation is so skewed to one side and unfair.’’

He received support on Thursday from another Northern senator, Danladi Sankara from Jigawa State, who told one of our correspondents on the telephone that the PIB must be stopped because it was designed to satisfy sectional interest.

Sankara, who is a Peoples Democratic Party senator, said that benefits accruable to the oil producing communities should not be to the detriment of other parts of the country.

“There is certainly no way the PIB will pass the way it was sent. It is clearer that the way it was crafted, only one section of the country is being favoured to benefit.

“While no one is saying they won’t benefit, such benefits cannot be to the detriment of other sections; we will not allow it. This country belongs to us all,” he declared.

But senators from the South, who reacted to the comments by Abba-Ibrahim and Sankara, disagreed sharply with them.

A senator from Abia North, Nkechi Nwaogu, said the provision of 10 per cent revenue for oil producing communities was not too much.

The senator warned that unless the host communities were taken care of, the country could start having problems that could hamper national development.

She said, “We cannot neglect the goose that lays the golden egg. I support the way the clause was captured in the bill. The figure of 10 per cent for host communities is not too much.

“The environmental degradation in the communities, is it happening across the country? If we don’t take care of the communities and we start having problems, it will affect our development.”

Also speaking, Senator George Sekibo (PDP, Rivers) faulted his Northern counterparts on the issue, saying it should be viewed from the perspective of the disturbing level of environmental degradation in the oil producing communities.

Sekibo insisted that Nigerians should look at the passage of the bill as a move to redress the environmental degradation suffered by the Niger Delta because of oil production.

He said senators should see the bill as a and not for a section like the HYPADEC bill that was passed to take care of the problem of degradation in the hydro electric power generation communities.

“The PIB that we have now is better than what was given to us before. As for whether the 10 per cent being proposed for oil producing communities is too much, that is not the right sense of judgment.

“The right sense of judgment is how much damage has been done to the environment in the last 50 years. In the next 50 years, we may not have a habitable environment in these places. As we speak, gas flaring is still going on with all the evils associated with it.

“For those who argue that the NDDC and the Niger Delta Ministry are already too much, I will say the NDDC was set up to assist with the infrastructural development of these areas. What has the Niger Delta Ministry done since apart from trying to do the East West Road, which is an initiative of the Federal Government?”

Senator Aloysius Etok (PDP, Akwa Ibom) urged the Northern senators to accept the PIB as a way of addressing the injustice done to the people of the oil producing communities over the years.

He said that it was wrong for anybody to oppose the provision in the PIB meant to take care of the communities which had suffered over 70 years of environmental degradation associated with oil production.

He called on all senators from the North to reciprocate the gesture of the southern senators who supported the HYPADEC bill to take care of communities devastated by electricity production.

“What is fair and equitable cannot be wrong. Nobody should be afraid of doing the right thing because doing the right thing can never be wrong.

“It is unfair for anybody to say that to give 10 per cent to oil producing communities to help ameliorate their plight is unfair.” he said.

An Action Congress of Nigeria senator from Oyo State, Olufemi Lanlehin, said the clause providing 10 per cent to the oil producing communities should be critically examined.

“Although I’m still studying the bill, the issue of 10 per cent should be carefully treated. I think there should be a holistic approach to the whole issue,” he said.

The situation is not different in the House of Representatives, which has already passed the bill to the committee stage for public hearing.

The Chairman, House Committee on Rules/Business, Mr. Albert Sam-Sokwa (Taraba State ), supported the 10 per cent provision for oil-bearing communities.

Sam-Sokwa, who is the chairman claimed that those opposing the provision did so out of sentiment.

“Nobody should be heard complaining about that money (10 per cent). This is not government but money that will come from international oil companies making investment in Nigeria.

“It is to be used to address the problems in oil communities like pipeline vandalism and oil theft. People should read the bill properly before they oppose the provision or condemn it.”

But his colleague from Enugu State, Mr. Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi, observed that the provision was skewed in favour of only communities that could produce crude oil.

Ozomgbachi explained that what Nigeria needed was a general provision that would be beneficial to “all communities producing mineral resources, not oil alone.”

He spoke further, “What we need is a general provision that sets aside a specified percentage of profit for any community that produces any mineral; it can be five or 10 per cent but let every mineral-producing community benefit.

“It is not only about oil, we need to deemphasise oil. In the South-East, some states like Enugu have coal. The communities there should be entitled to 10 per cent of the profit of what they produce.

“Same for the South-West, there is bitumen. Let them get their 10 per cent as well. In the North, let the states there benefit from whatever mineral they produce.”

Another lawmaker from South-South zone, Mr. Bassey Ewa, took a middle course, saying that Nigerians should be allowed to decide whether the 10 per cent was necessary or not.

Ewa, who is the chairman, House Committee on Gas Resources, told Saturday PUNCH that he was nominated as one of the lawmakers to conduct a public hearing on the PIB.

“Let the Nigerian public decide what is appropriate. This is why we are conducting a public hearing. It is not for us as a committee to say whether the provision is appropriate or not.”

Also speaking in separate interviews with Saturday PUNCH, some South-South leaders expressed outrage at the growing opposition to the bill by the North.

Those who spoke include the Ijaw National Congress, Mr. Robinson Esite; a former President of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, Mr. Ledum Mitee; and the leader of the defunct Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, Alhaji Asari Dokubo.

Dokubo said, “These people do not want peace, they do not believe in negotiation; what they want is to take what does not belong to them.

“We must stand to fight; the oil belongs to us; the people of the South-South, we want 100 per cent and not 10 per cent.

“When our political leaders don’t talk, these people feel larger than life… For me, this is just a rant, they are pushing us. The solution is for us to go back to fight.”

Esite, who described the comments as unfortunate, warned that the privilege of sharing the oil resources of the Niger Delta shouldn’t be abused.

“The oil is not a collective property; it is the sole property of the Niger Delta and shared among Nigerians out of care for neighbours. This privilege should not be abused by whatever means and by whosoever.”

Also speaking, Mitee said, “It is unfortunate if a regional position is taken on the PIB. A senator is supposed to make laws for the good of the country and not for a region. You don’t need to deal with PIB in a manner that suggests throwing the baby away with the bath water.

“It is not good to give an ethnic interpretation to the PIB. Most Nigerians have agreed that the PIB should be passed into law. The communities are not getting the benefit of the oil.

http://www.punchng.com/news/north-south-clash-looms-over-pib/

Victims cry for justice as Dana Air resumes flights

Posted by: Kelvin Osa-Okunbor and Precious Igbonwelundu Posted date: January 04, 2013

Exactly seven months after its plane crashed in a Lagos suburb, killing 153 people, Dana Air yesterday resumed its operations.

The airline’s return to business followed the clearing of the hurdles set by aviation authorities after the crash.

Its maiden flight 9J0359 on its MD-83 aircraft took off from the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 2 in Lagos to Abuja.

As early as noon, the airline’s ticketing personnel were at the terminal, selling tickets to passengers for the 4.20 pm flight.

The airline sold one-way ticket to intending passengers heading for Abuja from Lagos at N14, 400.

With Dana’s return, the number of domestic airlines operating in the country has increased to five. The others are Arik, Aero, IRS and Med-View.

A ticketing officer, who preferred to remain anonymous, told NAN that the fare was aimed at attracting passengers and to appreciate them for the support given to the airline during its trying period. Other airlines charge N24, 800 for a one way Lagos to Abuja trip.

After some hours of pre- flight preparations, the airline closed its ticket counter. Boarding announcement followed and the plane departed at 4.14 pm.

Passengers boarded the aircraft through Gate 8 of the MMA2.

Most would-be passengers said they were watching to see how the inaugural flight would go, before deciding on their patronage of the carrier.

It could not be ascertained how many passengers boarded the flight, but workers at the MMA 2 said they saw many passengers on the queue, buying tickets. Officials of the airline also did not give details of the flight.

An official of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mr. James Shallangwa, said yesterday in Abuja that Dana will operate a flight to Lagos from Abuja today.

Shallangwa, Head of Commercial at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Internatonal Airport, Abuja, said Minister of Aviation Princess Stella Oduah had issued a resumption letter to the airline to recommence operation after its plane crashed in Lagos on June 3, last year.

Mr Tony Usidamen, the Head, Corporate Communications, Dana Air, confirmed the resumption. Mr Kayode Adeniran, the Dana Station Manager at the NAIA, said the airline would have its inaugural flight at 9:45a.m. today from Abuja to Lagos.

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) revoked Dana’s operation licence, pending proper investigation into the cause of the crash.

In September, last year, the Federal Government reinstated the airline’s licence and allowed it to resume without any flight operations. In December 2012, NCAA issued a new Air Operators Certificate to Dana Air after it completed recertification.

But, the victims of the crash, who are yet to be compensated for property lost to the disaster which claimed over 150 lives, said the airline had been unfair to them.The victims, including widows and young parents with many children, have cried out to both the Federal and Lagos State governments to ensure that what is left of their lives is not shattered.Those who spoke to The Nation lamented the insincerity with which the airline has treated their case. Spokesman of ‘seriously affected victims’ Chike Okwuosa said he was disappointed that the Federal Government allowed the airline to address their matter with levity.He said: “My lawyer, Mr. Monday Ubani, told me they have not done anything. He said after several letters to them, they wrote more than two months ago that they needed additional information, which he forwarded to them.”But till now, nothing has been done; instead, we heard they are resuming their business when they have destroyed ours. Is that fair?”Ubani, who spoke to The Nation on the telephone, said he expected the government to ensure that all affected persons were compensated by the airline before returning the licence to the airline.He said: “What Dana is doing is really crazy. They have not paid anything or said anything to the victims. They wrote me two months ago that they wanted additional information, which I immediately provided.”Since then, I have not heard from them. The government should have ensured that they settle all the affected persons before returning their licence to them. But since their licence has been returned even before now, the government should compel them to attend to the aggrieved persons.”They are just trying to tie people down. They killed a lot of people, destroyed so many property and no one seem to be saying anything.”I have tried to avoid litigation, but if by the end of January they are still nonchalant about the plight of those their business are adversely affected, we will have no other option than to go to court.”Pastor Daniel Omuwunmi, who lost over N500 million to the disaster, said the airline, after a series of letters from his counsel – Messrs Dele Adesina and Co., made an offer of $30, 000. Omuwunmi, who spoke through a counsel at the law firm of Olumide Olaiya, told The Nation that the offer was rejected because the airline had not even written to accept or negotiate his claims.He said: “They have not done anything. We never heard from them until the last working week of December when they made an offer of $30, 000 to Pastor Omuwunmi as advance payment.”What are they advancing? All the efforts we made to bring them to the negotiation table were rebuffed. We expected them to reply our letter, or even say what they intend to pay from the claims before them which are verifiable.”$30,000 is less than N5 million. So, a man who lost nothing less than N500 million, what will $30, 000 do for him? He rightly rejected the money. Besides, $30, 000 was the same amount they paid to all on board victims as advance. So, why come to offer a man who lost everything he had $30, 000 without even writing to acknowledge or reject his claims?”They said their insurers are still processing our claims and so, we are also waiting to hear from them.”

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news/victims-cry-for-justice-as-dana-air-resumes-flights/

Fed Govt owes Lagos N51b

Posted by: Okwy Iroegbu-Chikezie Posted date: January 02, 2013

The Federal Government owes Lagos State over N51 billion for roads constructed and certified on behalf of the Federal Government in some parts of the state.

The state Commissioner for Works & Infrastructure Dr Femi Hamzat made this known during an interview with The Nation in Lagos.

He listed some of the roads as Funsho Williams and several others at the Central Business District (CBD).

He urged the Federal Government to expedite the payment since the projects have been certified okay by its engineers.

Hamzat frowned at the blocking of the proposed $600million loan from the World Bank by the Federal Government, saying that it smacks more of a political move than economical, especially as the state has been able to prove its mettle in upgrading its infrastructure and services to Lagosians.

He said the achievement proves that the state government has used its funds in the best interest of its people.

Asked what the state would do if the Federal Government does not okay the World Bank loan, Hamzat said the state would deploy its ‘plan B’ to go ahead with its provision of infrastructure and social services to the people.

He, however, said there was no reason the loan request should not be granted.

He stressed that there is nothing wrong with the proposed borrowing as far as it is put into good use and serviced.

He added that the state has awarded the contract for the construction of Isheri Osun Bridge in the Jakande Estate, Isolo axis of the state to reduce the traffic snarl in the area, which is not only time consuming, but also affects the people.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/business/fed-govt-owes-lagos-n51b/

Lagos-Ibadan Exp: No contract between FG, Julius Berger

January 2, 2013 by Ifeanyi Onuba, Abuja 57 Comments

Construction of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway may not start anytime soon, investigation by The PUNCH has revealed.

Also, no definite date for the signing of the contract and commencement of major work on the road has been fixed, our correspondent learnt.

The construction companies to handle the projects Julius Berger Plc and RCC Nigeria Lted. have reportedly said that no serious work would be done until the details of their engagement were worked out and the contracts signed.

The Federal Government, last month, revoked the three-year-old concessionary agreement on the reconstruction of the road it awarded to Bi-Courtney Highway Services and consequently named Julius Berger Nigeria Plc and RCC Nigeria Limited as the two new firms to handle the project.

While Julius Berger was put in charge of section 1 of the road, covering Lagos to the Shagamu interchange, RCC will construct the section 2 stretching from Shagamu to Ibadan.

The 125 kilometre road was concessioned to Bi-Courtney in 2009. The company was expected to spend N89.53bn and recover same in 25 years under the Build, Operate and Transfer deal.

Our correspondent found that major work had not begun on the road and would not start this month because there had been no formal agreement between the parties on the cost and other modalities of the contracts.

The development was confirmed by a senior official in Julius Berger.

The official, who pleaded not to be named said, “We are not doing any major work on that road.

“What we are asked to do is to make the road motorable for the holiday period so that Nigerians who will pass on that road will have a smooth journey.

“As I speak to you now, no contract has been signed with us on that road. Maybe the contract will be awarded later in the year when the 2013 budget has been signed. I can tell you that Nigerians should not expect any major work on the road until the contract is signed. I cannot give you a definite date for the commencement of the project.”

It was learnt that owing to the huge resources needed to execute the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway project, such huge contracts would be subjected to the approval of the Federal Executive Council.

This process, according to sources, is usually rigorous and takes a long period of time.

Section 15 (4) of the Public Procurement Act of 2007 stipulates the guidelines to be followed by the procurement committee in the award of contracts.

For instance, it said such contracts should be advertised; bids solicited, documented and examined; certificate of no objection to the proposed contract obtained from the Bureau of Public Procurement and submissions made to the Tenders’ Board.

After these, the bid losers would be debriefed and complaints resolved before the awards of such contracts.

A top official in the Ministry of Works told our correspondent that all these process had not been concluded before the names of the new contractors were announced by the Federal Government last month.

The source said what the government did was just to mobilise the contractors to repair the worst portions of the road and make it motorable for the Christmas and New Year holidays.

The source, who pleaded not to be named as he was not officially permitted to speak on the issue, said it might take a while to conclude the details of the contract owing to the rigorous process involved in the procurement act.

“I don’t think any major contract has been entered into because the contractors and the Federal Government are still meeting,” the source said.

It was gathered that the contractors had not worked out the costing and other details that would enhance the contract.

Investigations also revealed that the construction companies were insisting that the contracts must pass due process.

This, it was learnt, was to ensure that the project did not run into any hitch like the one that between the Federal Government and Bi-Courtney Highway Services.

http://www.punchng.com/news/lagos-ibadan-exp-no-contract-between-fg-julius-berger/

Fuel subsidy is not working – FG
January 1, 2013 by Niyi Odebode and Everest Amaefule 123 Comments

The Federal Government on Monday said payment of subsidy on local consumption of petroleum products was not working because it was subject to abuses.

“The system (fuel subsidy) will not work because there is so much room for abuse. Whereever you go outside Lagos and Abuja, fuel is hardly sold for N97 per litre. Civil society organisations are not speaking against this. They only attack the government. Government cannot be at all filling stations,” Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, said in Abuja.

The declaration came barely hours after media reports of a suit in which a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party in Anambra State, Chief Stanley Okeke, is asking a Federal High Court to compel President Goodluck to totally withdraw subsidy on fuel.

Reacting to the Okeke suit, key figures in the civil society on Sunday, as reported by The PUNCH on Monday, described the court action as dubious and diversionary.

The government in January 2012 had a tough time repelling mass unrest coordinated by civil groups in protest against the wholesale removal of subsidy and the consequent jump in the per litre pump price of petrol from N65 to N141.

The government, following a two-week paralysis of the system, later retreated and fixed the price at N97 under a regime of partial subsidy removal.

But Maku, who spoke while briefing the media on the achievements of the Federal Government for 2012, said petrol could hardly be bought at the control price of N97 per litre outside Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory.

The minister said civil society organisations needed to rise up against exploitation by dealers in petroleum products, arguing that the government could not be at every filling station across the country. He said the people needed to ask questions on why they cannot buy fuel at the control price.

Despite the abuses in the system, Maku said the government would retain the subsidy regime because that was what the people wanted.

He said, “Government has paid subsidy for every litre of fuel sold in this country but dealers are selling above the regulated price. We have not deregulated fuel pump prices. For every price above N97 per litre, Nigerians are paying twice.

“People are profiteering from the system and it is wrong. Nigerians should have mercy on Nigerians. We are retaining the subsidy because that is what people want now.”

Okeke in his suit is asking the court to stop Jonathan from further payment of subsidy because the process is fraught with abuses.

The only way to stop abuse of the fuel subsidy scheme is the removal of the policy by the Federal Government, according to the plaintiff in a 27-paragraph affidavit deposed in support of the suit.

But while the spokesman for the Save Nigeria Group, Yinka Odumakin, said the suit was a grand plot to deceive Nigerians, human rights activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Femi Falana, vowed that civil society organisations would oppose Okeke and what the suit represented “vehemently”.

A political activist and elder statesman, Dr. Tunji Braithwaite, also described the suit as a “dubious diversion.”

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Labour Congress in its review of the state of the nation in 2012 said the year was “a year of unparalleled impunity” and that fuel subsidy thieves must go to jail.

The NLC, in a New Year message by its National President, Abdulwahed Omar, said the country was characterised by incessant job losses and unemployment, insecurity and corruption. It said that massive poverty in the country failed to tally with the growth rate claimed by the Federal Government.

Omar said, “Government will be unfair to the Nigerian people if it fails to expeditiously prosecute those who have stolen so much, and caused so much trauma and death to the people.

“We hold the view that no one is above the law in any decent society and if our government is committed to the enthronement of good governance and a corrupt-free society, they must get the named beneficiaries of the oil subsidy scam to not only refund all the money they have stolen, but also serve appropriate jail terms.”

The NLC said that revelations at various probes into the downstream sector of the oil industry showed unprecedented and horrendous corruption.

According to the union, the probes revealed “the rabid obsession of the ruling class to make the economy dependent on imported petroleum products was for the purpose of enriching themselves to the detriment of the Nigerian people.”

The NLC commended what it described as the heroic protests of workers and the Nigerian people against fuel subsidy.

It also commended members of National Assembly, particularly the House of Representatives for their positive interventions.

The union lamented the high rate of poverty in the country, adding that increasing number of families had become impoverished.

The NLC said, “Given the disturbing trend in the economy and governance in the past year, which was characterised by incessant job losses and unemployment, insecurity, and corruption, as well as unparalleled impunity, the sustenance of good governance would require re-srategising and more commitment to a peoples-focused and oriented policy thrust in the interest of the Nigerian poor.”

Tension in Enugu as Chime fails to return

January 1, 2013 by Ozioma Ubabukoh, Enugu 74 Comments

There was anxiety in Enugu State on Monday as the lingering absence of Governor Sullivan Chime entered the New Year with his whereabouts still shrouded in secrecy.

Chime had handed over power to his deputy Sunday Onyebuchi before leaving the country on September 19 for a six-week vacation in the United States.

One hundred and three days later, the governor has not returned to the state and the state government has maintained silence over his whereabouts.

However, it is reported that the governor is being hospitalised in India.

The PUNCH recalls that on December 15, the day that Kaduna State Governor, Patrick Yakowa and Gen. Andrew Azazi, died in a helicopter crash alongside four other persons, there were rumours that Chime had died in an Indian hospital.

However, the state government debunked the claim.

Last weekend, there were reports that the governor would return to the state on December 31, but as at 4pm on Monday, journalists, who converged on the Akanu Ibiam Airport, Enugu left when the last flight for the day landed without the governor on board.

When our correspondent visited the Government House, Enugu, the place looked deserted, except for the office of Chief of Staff, Mrs. Ifeoma Nwobodo, who is seen as the de facto governor of the state.

However, there was a notice at the manifest inviting all political appointees and elected office-holders for a meeting at the governor’s Udi hometown by 8pm.

Contrary to initial feelers that the meeting was summoned to discuss latest developments in the state, a source, who pleaded anonymity, said it was the usual New Year vigil and nothing more.

He said, “If you have been conversant with events here, you will know that the governor usually invites appointees and elective office-holders to keep New Year vigil with him in his house since he became governor in 2007.

“The notice of meeting you saw is in line with this tradition. There is nothing special about it.”

http://www.punchng.com/news/tension-in-enugu-as-chime-fails-to-return/

APGA to Anyanwu: you’re disrespectful

Posted by: Okodili Ndidi Posted date: December 31, 2012

The Imo State All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has berated the Senator representing Owerri Central, Mrs Chris Anyanwu, for quarrelling with Governor Rochas Okorocha.

The party accused the senator of disrespecting the Office of the Governor and other constituted authorities in the state.

APGA noted that the senator’s feud with Okorocha was not the first time she was showing disregard for constituted authorities.

It said she had a similar encounter with former Governor Ikedi Ohakim and a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Chief Innocent Nwoga, with who she allegedly fought in public.

Addressing reporters in Owerri, the state capital, APGA Chairman Prince Okafor Anyanwu alleged that Anyanwu “has the antecedent of disrespecting her elders and constituted authorities as well as fighting in the public.”

He added: “It is on record that the senator had a similar encounter with the former Governor Ikedi Ohakim and, on another occasion, slapped Chief Innocent Nwoga, a PDP chieftain, and broke his walking stick. She also assaulted a commissioner in the state.”

Anyanwu described Okorocha as “a man too frightened to tell the truth about simple matters”.

She added: “This incident is a message to the governor. He can’t brutalise the people that he is elected to serve and protect and hide behind propaganda and lies. All lies being fabricated to mask the truth of his brutality are doing him indelible harm globally.”

In a statement by her Senior Assistant (Political), Chief Obinna Ibe, the senator alleged that Okorocha had brutalised her workers on a number of occasions.

She said: “Barely three months after his victory, the governor instructed his men to attack one of my drivers for packing my car inside his compound.

“The governor’s police detail broke a bottle to cut the lips of the driver. Till today, the boy’s upper lip is deformed. We covered it for him then. But this time, he cannot hide behind the shield of a folk hero. He has opened himself up by his propaganda. Now, the world is seeing the real man behind the angelic smile.”

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news/apga-to-anyanwu-youre-disrespectful/

Aregbesola inaugurates N125m power station

Posted by: Our Reporter Posted date: December 31, 2012

Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s administration has completed 77 electrification projects across the state.

The governor made this known in Moro, Ife North Local Government, at the weekend while inaugurating a 7.5 MVA Power Injection Station for Origbomeje Community.

He said 27 electrification projects are ongoing.

Aregbesola said they would be delivered in the next three months.

He said these were in addition to the 35 transformers given to various communities this year.

Arebesola said the past administration completed only 48 electrification projects in the seven and a half years it spent in office.

He said his administration’s performance has “clearly shown the difference” between them.

The governor said the provision of the Injection Station was a demonstration of his administration’s commitment to providing stable electricity supply.

He said the state government went out of its way to provide the transformer, even though it was the responsibility of the Federal Government.

Describing the project as a reward of democracy, Aregbesola said: “In our recent past, whenever the government was mentioned, what came to the people’s minds was some far away institution.

“The reason for their negative view of the government stems from the years of poor governance they were subjected to by the previous administration. For us, government is owned by the people. It is an institution for improving their welfare. We believe the task of government is to improve the lives of the people by delivering social goods that have direct positive impacts on their daily existence.

“Our achievements in different areas so far have evidently convinced our people that we are truly in a different era; an era of responsible and focused government.

“This administration is one that keeps its promises to the people. Our government is one that puts the people first and keeps them in focus. We will continue to show our people that our word to them is a sacred oath that we will continue to honour.

“We are resolved to restore the reputation of government as the government of the people, for the people and by the people.”

He said his administration’s dream of making life comfortable for the people could hardly be achieved without electricity.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Rural and Community Development, Mr. Kunle Ige, said the project cost N125 million.

He said many communities that had lost hope on electricity have heaved a sigh of relief, courtesy of the Aregbesola administration.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news/aregbesola-inaugurates-n125m-power-station/

PSC stops use of Federal Character in appointment of AIGs, CPs, others

Posted by: Yusuf Alli Posted date: December 31, 2012

The Police Service Commission has stopped blanket use of Federal Character in appointing officers as Assistant Inspectors-General of Police, Commissioners of Police and ranks below that grade.

All appointments will now be based on merit and performance.

It was learnt that the latest disciplinary step is designed to ensure efficiency in the Police.

The Commission said it might look into the comments may be retired Plateau Commissioner of Police Mr. Dipo Ayeni against the police management.

The PSC said it would be open in its attitude the issues raised by Ayeni to find out if there is merit or not in his comments.

Ayeni, who had condemned the police for rewarding parochial loyalists. He spoke during his pull-out parade in Jos. He has been queried by the Police management for alleged misconduct.

The Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee of the Police Service Commission, Ms. Comfort Obi, who spoke exclusively with our correspondent on the new policy, said police officers will now be elevated on merit.

Obi said: “This PSC headed by DIG Parry Osayande has put a new policy in place which says that at the recruitment stage, the Principle of Federal Character will be observed to the letter to ensure fairness and equity for all the states.

“But after recruitment, all police officers and others are now left to their fate. They will now be promoted based on merit, performance/service, diligence, training and continuing education and excellence.

“We inherited a system in which undeserving police officers and men were promoted above their peers based on quota or Federal Character. We had cases where good officers and men were made to serve as juniors to their mates because of blanket adoption of Federal Character principle. But we have stopped such injustice.

“It is now left to officers and men to merit their promotion. We hope that the new system will promote efficiency and reduce tension in the Force.”

She however said the exception to the new rule is the appointment of the Inspector-General of Police.

She said IGP’s appointment is at the discretion of the President and the Nigeria Police Council and not the responsibility of the Police Service Commission.

On the choice of Deputy Inspectors-General of Police , she clarified that the commission is mandated to ensure that it is in line with the Federal Character Principle to reflect the six geopolitical zones in the country.

Ms Obi added: “The only position the PSC cannot handle is that of the IGP. As for the DIGs, we are mandated to reflect the Federal Character.

“If in a zone, the highest ranking officer is a CP, he or she has to be elevated to a DIG to fill the slot meant for the zone.”

Concerning the querying of a retired Commissioner of Police for Plateau State, Mr. Dipo Ayeni, over allegations against the police management, Ms Obi said: “.I think the Force Headqurters must have been very disappointed with what Ayeni said. If he was not getting job satisfaction, he ought to have quit the Force

“I don’t know why Ayeni had some grudges which the present PSC and police management did not know.

“We have not got a copy of the query but if we get it from the Force Headquarters, we will treat it on merit.

“If we see any merit in what he said, we will take appropriate action; if he was wronged by the police, we will look into it. But if he was not wronged and he decided to level such allegations, we will also invoke necessary disciplinary action.

“But if he was not misquoted, I think the pronouncements were unfortunate. This PSC management has tried its best to address injustice in promotion and it has restored merit system.”

Ayeni ran into trouble with his comments at the Farewell/Passing Out Parade in Jos on December 10.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news/woman-arrested-for-alleged-hate-crime-in-new-york/

PDP BOT Chair: Ahmadu Ali, Iwuanyanwu, others refuse to step down for Anenih

Posted by: Yusuf Alli, Abuja Posted date: December 30, 2012

The leadership of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is facing a serious challenge from members of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) over the planned use of consensus in filling the vacant position of the board chairman.

The Presidency is one with the party leadership on the issue.

However,the BoT members are pushing for voting to elect their chairman which some chieftains see as an unacceptable departure from the consensus tradition of the party.

Party sources told The Nation in Abuja that no less challenging is deciding which of the geo-political zones will provide the BoT Chairman in a manner that will not distort the zoning formula of the PDP in 2015.

About 20 top ranking members of the party are understood to have already obtained forms to occupy the seat which was vacated in June by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo.

In the race are a former Chairman of the BOT, Chief Tony Anenih; a former National Chairman of the PDP, Senator Ahmadu Ali; a former Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, Chief Shuaib Oyedokun; ex-President of the Senate, Chief Ken Nnamani; and Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu.

Also to contest are a former National Chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party(ANPP),Chief Don Etiebet, who is a returnee to the party; a former Chairman of the BOT of ANPP, Chief Harry Akande and 13 others.

Some who did not apply but are being pressurized to join the contest are Second Republic Vice-President Alex Ekwueme and a former acting National Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Kawu Baraje.

It was learnt that none of the applicants is willing to step down for another including Anenih whose BOT chairmanship was hijacked in 2007.

A highly-placed source said: “Members and some of the aspirants are pushing for outright election of the next BOT chairman of the PDP in line with Article 12.77 of the constitution of the party.

“They said the election will prove to the party leaders the level of acceptability of such a candidate to the leaders of PDP.

“The fear of the presidency and the leadership of the PDP is that election could create bad blood within the trustees and lead to crisis.

“The Presidency and party leadership believe that consensus, which had guided past choices of BOT chairman, could strengthen the unity of the party. The party thinks that it is ridiculous to ask leaders within the age bracket of between 70 and 80 years to face election.

“That is why the BOT has not been able to fix a date for the election. The party leadership is weighing consensus option. But where it fails, the aspirants may have to go for the ballot.

Another source said: “Ordinarily, some party leaders prefer Anenih to compensate him for the loss of the BOT office in 2007 but some aspirants do not want to step down for him.

“They also said that since Anenih has just been made the Chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority, he should forget the NPA.

“Also, Article 12.77 ( c ) of the PDP Constitution says the BOT chairman and Secretary shall serve a single term of five years. Some of the aspirants are of the opinion that Anenih had served his term.”

According to findings, if the party succeeds in adopting consensus, it may look within and beyond the 20 aspirants.

The third source said: “This is why some party leaders are pushing for Ekwueme, Baraje and Oyedokun who are rated as highly-experienced in party and conflict management.

“But the main challenge is the zone which should produce the BOT chairman. While the South-East is strongly pushing for it, the North wants it in line with zoning tradition in BOT.”

Article 12.77 of the PDP reads in part: “The BOT shall elect a chairman and secretary from members of the Board. The chairman and secretary shall also be members of the National Executive Committee.

“Without prejudice to the provision of this Constitution, ensure that the person to be elected chairman and secretary respectively are of proven integrity and have contributed immensely to the growth of the party.”



THOSE IN THE RACE

Chief Tony Anenih

Senator Ahmadu Ali

Chief Harry Akande

Chief Ken Nnamani

Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu

Chief Don Etiebet

Chief Shuaib Oyedokun



UNDER PRESSURE TO ENTER

Chief Alex Ekwueme

Alhaji Kawu Baraje

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news/pdp-bot-chair-ahmadu-ali-iwuanyanwu-others-refuse-to-step-down-for-anenih/

My Mumu Don Do. Your Mumu Don Do? By Sonala Olumhense

Posted: December 30, 2012 - 11:14

Columnist: Sonala Olumhense
In this column, I have endorsed candidates for the presidency in the last two national elections from the list of candidates published by the electoral commission.


In 2007, I supported the brilliant lawyer, Gani Fawehinmi, whom I had never met, and whom I did not meet until he died in 2009.
In my citation, I said that Mr. Fawehinmi had an unmatchable imprint of credibility and respectability, and was the correct choice for Nigerians who genuinely wanted change.

“Mr. Fawehinmi stands out for his integrity and his depth of principle, the absence of which have kept us shackled to yesterday,” I wrote, pointing out that for over 20 years, he had saved the country’s judiciary from being eaten alive by a greedy executive.

“A Fawehinmi Presidency would scare some people. That is because we all know he would speak a different language: he cannot be bought, he will not be looking for personal gain, and he will hold people and institutions to account. He would be applying the letter of the law, and applying it across the board. He would be looking for performance and productivity.”

As we all know, it was Umaru Yar’Adua who “won” the presidency in that election, and from his inauguration in May 2007, Nigeria began a predictable descent into hell.

Four years later, in 2011, from the slate of candidates published by the electoral commission, I endorsed General Muhammadu Buhari. As in 2007, I had never met the candidate. I have still never met General Buhari.

But I wrote of Nigeria: “Buhari can stretch out one of his long hands and arrest the drift. At this time in our history, his candidature is the wisest, the most promising, and the most logical. He has honour, discipline and strength of character: attributes every great leader must have but which are not a currency of the PDP.
“Furthermore, Buhari knows what is wrong with this country, and knows what to do about it...”
I did not choose the candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change in March 2001 without great deliberation. I asked: “Is Buhari an angel? No. Indeed, I have criticized him in the past. I have expressed my disappointment that people of his generation and background act as if they are all that Nigeria has got.
“That argument is still valid. At the April elections, however, he will be the best that Nigeria has got. Everyone knows that next month’s election will be the most critical in Nigeria’s history. It will show whether we have learned anything from our own history or not, and therefore whether we are determined to move forward or not.”
I examined Buhari’s most prominent opponent, the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Mr. Goodluck Jonathan. I argued that voting for Jonathan would amount to using a hammer to smash your thumb a second time and not expect it to hurt as much as it did the first.
I said: “Demographically, two kinds of people will offer their support to Goodluck Jonathan in April. The first comprises of beneficiaries of the incompetent, corrupt and unpatriotic system that has grounded Nigeria since 1999, and which Jonathan unapologetically represents…”
“[The] second category comprises of masochists who will vote against the best interest of their own children and their country… By doing so, they will be authorizing Jonathan to pick up that hammer the second time as they stick out their thumbs, telling him, “Hurt me, sir! Hurt me again! Hurt me, I am a fool!”
I said that Jonathan lacked a record of character, patriotism or commitment. “He is long on promises but extremely short on performance,” I concluded.
Still, Mr. Jonathan “won” the election.

And since then, Nigeria has descended from the gutter to the sewage; from the disappointing to the disgraceful, from the rottening to the rotten. The worst case scenario has become our reality: Nigeria shared between Jonathan’s Abuja, Boko Haram militants; “unknown gunmen” of the Middle Belt and the sahel; kidnappers; and the vultures of the PDP.

Demonstrating a singular lack of of both capacity and character, Jonathan has distanced himself from his electoral promises, and driven a wedge between himself and the Nigerian citizen who voted for him.

Even those who voted for Jonathan knew the argument was a tough sell. After the election, they invariably denounced the PDP in favour of Jonathan, as if you can separate the foetus from the pregnancy.

"I voted for Jonathan, not the PDP,” they said, as if you could separate the cause from the consequence.

It is less than two years since that election, but it has now been proved that the child is the pregnancy, and Jonathan the PDP at its most abominable.

This explains why excuses are now been served to the Nigerian people. Jonathan is buying more jets, since he no longer needs shoes, but he is not fulfilling the promises he made to the Nigerian people or even mentioning them by name. There are explanations for why the hoax called “transformation” will never happen. There are explanations as to why unemployment has doubled and why there is no electricity or freedom from hunger and crime and bad roads.

The truth is that there is no explanation for bad governance or corruption, because you do not need to explain the crippling greed the people can see, finally, with their own eyes.

Eyes: the capacity of an individual to understand a phenomenon that had previously been hidden, is the most potent political weapon a people can possess. The ability to see is therefore the most important lesson of 2012, beginning in January when Nigerians woke up to find the price of fuel manipulated and tripled. It is also the lesson as the 2012 comes to an end with Nigerians finally able to see just how uncomplicated the tyranny that binds them is: the greed of an elite that steals in broad daylight and lies through every orifice.

But it is perhaps destiny: that things would rot so badly it assails and assaults every sense of the human body and spirit and there is nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. If that is the definition of armaggedon, Nigeria today is its principal and scariest example.

The most amazing thing is that Mr. Jonathan recognizes it. He has called on Nigerians not to give up on his government, promising that 2013 will be different.

That is another ruse, and anyone who believes it has forgotten you cannot reap where you did not sow. Where is the evidence of what the Jonathan government actually sowed in 2012 from which he intends to reap in 2013?

If anything, 2012 was the year he consolidated corruption by refusing to implement critical anti-corruption reports, fire corrupt Ministers or lead by personal example. 2012 was the year he said he did not give a damn. 2012 was the year he did not announce his own Transformation Plan and did not implement the reports of his own Presidential committees. 2012 was the year he watched the anti-corruption agencies throw up their hands. 2102 was the year he appointed Mr. Fix-It Tony Anenih to chair the Board of the Nigeria Ports Authority.

In effect, 2012 was the year Mr. Jonathan made it clear he cannot do it, even while making it clear he wants a second term in office.
That leaves it up to the Nigerian people and to those running against him in 2015, a race that will begin in 2013.

I look forward, once again, to endorsing a credible candidate of character and honour; someone who sees public office as public service rather than a private storehouse.

To that end, the slogan for that race is easy to write: “My Mumu Don Do. Your Mumu Don Do?”

Happy New Year, Nigeria.

sonala.olumhense@gmail.com

http://saharareporters.com/column/my-mumu-don-do-your-mumu-don-do-sonala-olumhense

The Zero Development Budget Ritual Of The Nigerian Government By Leonard Karshima Shilgba

Posted: December 29, 2012 - 13:45


By Leonard Karshima Shilgba

In 2013, the sum of N 4.987 trillion shall be spent by the federal government of Nigeria. The capital expenditure is a paltry N 1.6 trillion, which is 32 per cent. But more worrisome is the established tradition of woeful implementation of budgets by the PDP governments since 2007. If the capital component of budgets in Nigeria was prudently implemented the country would have efficient public development infrastructure such as roads, railways, electricity, water supply networks, refineries, etc., which could drive down the cost of production, expand capacity utilization of manufacturing industries, preserve life, and reduce unemployment rate. The Nigerian on the street finds nothing or little to cheer in the yearly rituals.

This is a trend that must be pointed out. The Nigerian legislature has joined the choir of national lamentation rather than check the excesses, impunity, and negligence of the executive. The lawmakers do not presently retain the respect of President Jonathan and his government. The resolutions or motions of either the senate or House of Representatives are treated with disdain. They have been referred to as “mere opinions” by the presidency without any sanctions. The threats by the national assembly have turned out to be just pitiable bluffs.

They had demanded 100 per cent implementation of the 2012 budget by September, 2012 or some sanctions would be delivered by it on the executive. Besides being unreasonable to demand 100 per cent implementation of a budget only in the third quarter of a year, and when the commencement of implementation was supposedly in the second quarter of the same year, the national assembly ridiculed itself again as that deadline came and passed without as much as a whimper from that supposedly august body of serious lawmakers. The Nigerian people have spent so much of their resources and expectations on the national assembly with nothing to show for it. They have become an assembly of weaklings whose words mean nothing.

There is no democracy without an effective and productive legislature. What victories has the current national assembly won for the Nigerian people since May, 2011? Trillions of naira have been spent on “fuel subsidy” by the executive without appropriation, yet the national assembly has failed to react strongly. The Nigerian people were forced, in spite of the lame protestation of the legislature, to pay 50 percent more for petrol in 2012, yet, the senate, toward the end of 2012, approved additional N 161.6 billion for Jonathan to spend on fuel subsidy payments, bringing the total expenditure on fuel subsidy in 2012 to N 1.06 trillion! The national assembly only whines about amounts that the executive requests it to approve for funding; but in the end, they are approved, however indefensible! They have failed to punish; they have failed to bite. They are simply the rubber stamps of the executive. When the national assembly grandstands publicly, it is only a matter of time before the legislators defer to the lusts and greed of the executive.

The 2013 budget has passed without any significant mopping up of the fatty inclusions by the executive that added no real value. I agree that the recurrent expenditure has been pruned down by N 100 billion, and the savings have been assigned to capital expenditure. I agree that the crude oil benchmark has been raised from $ 75 to $ 79, which has reduced deficit spending from N 1.03 trillion to N 887 billion. But what is strange is that nothing in either the budget proposal by the executive or the budget appropriation by the legislature has addressed a huge source of bleeding on the commonwealth. There is no provision in the budget for building of refineries.

If in spite of the reduction of fuel subsidy spending in 2012, Nigeria spent more than one trillion naira on the subsidy, it should be a matter of concern to the national assembly that Nigeria does not own refineries that can refine both for domestic and foreign markets. It is not a secret that some legislators and the executive would like the scrapping of fuel subsidy because of “corruption in its implementation.” This is an open confession of the incompetence of the Jonathan government. If a government cannot defend the people against economic predators then it has outlived its usefulness. Should the 2004 pension act be abrogated and pension payment outlawed in Nigeria only because of the corruption that has been perpetrated in the management of the pension fund? Should government departments where corrupt practices have been established be scrapped then?

What is the philosophy that guided the formulation of the 2013 budget? I heard that President Jonathan was hopeful that 2013 would be “better than 2012”, with the assurance that jobs would be created. If jobs are going to be created, we should find evidence in the 2013 budget:

Public works

All federal roads in Nigeria are in a terrifying state of disrepair. Road contracts in Nigeria are inflated beyond shame or restraint of natural conscience. A road that is less than 100 kilometers long could be awarded for N 100 billion! Well, going by this obscene tradition of contract costing, the N 1.6 trillion voted for capital expenditure in the 2013 budget cannot complete even 2000 kilometer-length of roads (Do pardon the many kilometers I have stated). This should be considered against the background that there are about 30,000 kilometers of federal roads in Nigeria, almost all of which are dotted by yawning craters, broken bridges, and sharp-edged polygonical ditches.

The state of the most important road in Nigeria (The Lagos-Ibadan expressway) should tell us about the comedy of governance in this “Giant of Africa”. Maiduguri-Yola-Jalingo-Gboko-Otukpo-Enugu federal road is a disaster to drive on. Enugu-Port Harcourt federal road is legendary in the tale of failed governance. Ayangba-Ajaokuta-Okene road is a national disgrace. Ibadan-Ilorin-Abuja-Kaduna road is no better. Ore-Benin road has become a singsong without a beautiful end. I can go on. What economy can a government hope to build where road transportation has been so neglected in spite of yearly budget rituals?

I have read about the chest-beating by the federal government that it has revived the rail commute between Lagos and Kano on the colonial era single tracks that we used during our student days in the 1980s. The cars used on those tracks are so outdated and uncomfortable in the tropical heat. This is not how to build a nation. In an age of fast-moving air-conditioned cabin cars on rail, the Jonathan government is hypocritically siphoning public funds in the name of “rehabilitation of colonial-day railways”, being part of a government that had cancelled a contract for the construction of a dual track railway, which project would have been completed in 2010, and on which trains should have travelled at 160 kilometers per hour, and at a time when Nigeria had more than 20 billion US dollars in the Excess Crude account!

The aviation industry is in a trauma of its own. Many lives have been claimed through plane and helicopter crashes in 2012 alone. The summary is that transportation in Nigeria is a frightening experience. Now, where will job-creating investments come from when transportation has become a trap in Nigeria? The 2013 budget may likely go the way of previous budgets with no significant accomplishments.

Legislative oversight functions

Available evidence has shown that we do not yet have a legislature that is principled and dogged enough to make the executive succumb to good sense in managing of public resources. How can a group of contract-chasing legislators ensure effective implementation of budgets? Failure of both implementation of yearly budgets and sanctioning of corrupt and incompetent public officials offer little hope that the 2013 budget will be any different. What kind of transformation have Nigeria’s legislators and the executive undergone to assure Nigerians of “better things in 2013”? The greed, lack of empathy, and the cavalier attitude towards legacy building by Nigeria’s public officials tell us the story of the 2013 budget. It sounded awful but familiar, and it changed nothing except to worsen things.

It is my strong conviction that nothing changes that is left the same. What is so different about the 2013 budget that should excite? Well, some would respond that the “early passage of the budget would allow the executive enough time to implement.” I have a question, then. Has late appropriation of previous budgets been the true cause of poor implementation of past budgets, averaging only 40 per cent? Deliberate delay in allocation of funds to ministries, departments, and agencies has stifled execution of capital projects in the past. Poor and duplicitous supervision by relevant legislative committees is another reason for poor implementation of past budgets. Lack of punishment of contractors of failed or failing and abandoned projects and their collaborating civil servants has only emboldened impunity. What assurances do we have that things would change? Better still, what evidence do we have that the government of President Jonathan is ready to protect the commonwealth? Let me say why I believe Jonathan’s government will only get worse.

A government that pays little attention to matters of principle, integrity, reputation and perception cannot succeed. Mr. Tony Anenih who has been accused, from the time when Mr. Orji Kalu was a governor, of embezzling billions of naira budgeted for construction of federal roads when he was Minister of works, has just been appointed by Mr. Jonathan as chairman of the Nigeria Ports Authority. Mr. Doyin Okupe, whom the Benue state government has accused of collecting money to build roads in the state, which he failed to do, is presently serving in the government of the president. The current Minister of Petroleum supervises the NNPC and DPR, both of whom have been fingered in the mismanagement of the fuel subsidy funds. Yet, she sits pretty well in her job without compunction. The report of an investigative panel pretentiously set up by her with regard to oil revenues has been consigned to the bin. These are no cheering signs.

The Nigerian people can only rely on people power to pressure the government towards the desired course. It takes being purposeful and consistent. It requires Nigerian elite who have refused to lead the struggle. Nigerians don’t need elite who were on the other side of the oppressors, who now being shut out have suddenly become civil rights activists. But the people can only get what they deserve. Their courage tells when they are deserving of the desired.

Leonard Karshima Shilgba is an Associate Professor of mathematics with the American University of Nigeria and Chair of the Middle Belt Alliance (www.middlebeltalliance.org )
Email: Shilgba@middlebeltalliance.org

http://saharareporters.com/article/zero-development-budget-ritual-nigerian-government-leonard-karshima-shilgba-0

Inconsiderate Dangote not bothered about 5,000 workers- Nyako
Premium Times

Published: December 28,2012


Dangote shut the company in July 2011.

About 18 months after he ordered the closure of Savannah Sugar Company, rendering over 5,000 workers jobless, Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, said he is not bothered about the fate of the workers, Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa has said.

Mr. Nyako said he spoke to Mr. Dangote over the continuous closure of Savannah Sugar Company, during which the billionaire expressed his stance about the closure of the company.

Dangote Group acquired the company, located in Numan, Adamawa State, during the privatisation exercise of the Federal Government under President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2002.

The company was shut down in July 2011 following alleged security threat by some angry casual workers and the host community. The workers had protested their working conditions.

“The Israelites were better off in Egypt than we are at Dangote Savannah Sugar Company. We work from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and our daily pay is only N500. Can this money feed the dog of the managing director of the company for one hour?” Dimas Ishaku, leader of the protesting workers told Guardian Newspapers then.

A year and a half later, Mr. Dangote appears determined to continue to punish the workers.

I’m not bordered

Mr. Nyako told members of Adamawa Chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, who paid him a Christmas visit on Friday that he appealed to the management of Savannah Sugar Company in Numan to re-open the company.

“Government is worried over the shutdown of the company,” Mr. Nyako said.

The governor told the labour leaders that Mr. Dangote expressed a nonchalant attitude to the plight of the affected workers.

“I spoke with Dangote himself, the owner of the company over the situation, where I assured him clearly that we have learnt our lessons,” Mr. Nyako said.

“He told me that if he closes down the company for 20 years, he is not going to lose or be affected in any way or the other from his daily business all over the world,” the governor said.

The governor said re-opening the ailing company would contribute to the economic development and prosperity of the people.

Mr. Nyako said that he is worried because over 5,000 workers had been rendered jobless. He expressed concern over the prolong closure of the company, said that the development was having negative impact on the citizens of the state.

“I think it is now time for the authority of Savannah Sugar to consider the huge investment opportunity and the plight of the state to re-open it,” he said.

Resolving the differences

The governor said that his administration is genuinely interested in finding a permanent solution to the crisis between the company, the host community and the staff.

Mr. Nyako said that he met with the host Numan community where he clearly told them about the need to get the company operating as part of measures to resolve the problem.

In February last year, the Bachama kingdom (including Numan) cautioned that the Bachama traditional council would not guarantee the safety of Savannah investments if the problem of compensation was not resolved.

The state NLC Chairman, Dauda Maina, had earlier said that they were at the government house to pay Christmas homage aimed at building cordial relationship between government and civil servants.

http://premiumtimesng.com/news/113005-inconsiderate-dangote-not-bothered-about-5000-workers-nyako.html

Our Not-so-distinguished Senators By Chido Onumah
Posted: December 27, 2012 - 23:19

Columnist: Chido Onumah

Distinguished Senator David Alechenu Bonaventure Mark is a very lucky man. Indeed, he is one of the luckiest Nigerians dead or alive. In the last three decades, he has featured prominently on the national stage as minister of communications, Governor of Niger State, four-term senator and two-term Senate President.

Other things being equal, Senator Mark may yet end his long and illustrious career by emerging as President of the Federal Republic, an ambition I am sure he doesn’t take lightly, the constant denials by aides notwithstanding. Senator Mark has had occasion to take shots at the Jonathan government on the problem of insecurity, poor infrastructure and the government’s fiscal policies. It is the mark of a military strategist. In all, though, he is a loyal party man; and a patient one at that.

Every now and again, aides of the Senate President alert us of mischief makers “bent on causing disaffection between President Goodluck Jonathan and the President of the Senate”. The reference is to the cacophony of voices championing the 2015 presidential ambition of Senator Mark. The Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, to Senator Mark, Kola Ologbondiyan, had this to say recently in response to one of the ubiquitous “Mark for President 2015” groups: “It is imperative to state and emphatically too, that Senator Mark and President Jonathan are on the same page in the onerous task of providing democratic dividends for Nigerians. It is therefore irresponsible, mischievous and misplaced for any set of Nigerians to embark on overheating the polity at this time of our national history. The Senate President is faced with providing qualitative legislative leadership for our nation and (has) urged mischief makers not to distract him”.

I had the fortune of encountering Senator Mark in all his power and splendor earlier in the year. It was during a casual visit to a friend, a former legislator, at the Apo Legislative Quarters in Abuja. After my visit, my friend decided to drive me home. A few metres down the road, as we drove out of my friend’s house, we were halted by a detachment of policemen. While I wondered impatiently what was going on, my friend who obviously was used to the scenario just rested both hands on the steering wheel and waited as a convoy of more than ten vehicles, including three black limousines, a bomb disposal van, an ambulance, numerous police escort jeeps with heavily armed policemen, crawled into an imposing edifice a few metres ahead of us.

After about five minutes, we were given permission to continue our journey. My friend commented off-handedly, “That is the Senate President”. My immediate reaction was amazement and then revulsion when I realised that the Senate President was coming from his office a few kilometres away. My mind wondered furiously about what democracy was costing the mass of our people; the cost of maintaining the Senate President’s fleet of vehicles and aides; of the imposing house we just drove past and the fact that the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Bala Mohammed, was building a new official residence for the Senate President and the three other presiding officers of the National Assembly, the Deputy Senate President as well as the Speaker and his deputy, for more than N1bn each.

So, it was a bit of a surprise when Senator Mark spoke recently during his condolence visit to the family of the late Senate Leader in the Second Republic, Dr. Olusola Saraki, in Ilorin, Kwara State. While praising Saraki, the Senate President noted: “Baba is not dead. He lives on because a man who lived as he did does not die. In everything, he was always himself. He did not pretend. He was a natural man doing what he loved best. He did all he did from the bottom of his heart. Unfortunately there are many actors and pretenders on the political scene in Nigeria today. Politics should be played with honesty, with honour and a lot of integrity”.

It seems Senator Mark never misses an opportunity to say the right things. But doing the right things is a different kettle of fish. Someone once asked: “What manner of ‘god’ is the office of Nigeria’s Senate President that the occupant should earn six times more than what President Barack Obama of the United States takes home and three times more than what the British Prime Minister earns, in a country where over 65 per cent of the citizens wallow below the $1 benchmark?” That is the tragedy of the Nigerian situation.

This piece is as much about David Mark as it is about the “hallowed chamber” he leads. It was prompted by an event earlier in the month involving the chairman, Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Deaconess Joan Ayo. During its 2012 budget performance before the Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service Matters, Deaconess Ayo was confronted by the vice chairman of the committee, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, who alleged that there was rumour making the rounds that “some staff of the commission were compelling young job seekers to part with N500,000 ($3,000) to get jobs”.

Senator Ojudu noted that “such a rumour is not good for the image of this committee, it is not good for the image of your commission and the image of the country.” The FCSC chairman responded by saying the commission had zero tolerance for corruption and corrupt practices and that she was hearing the rumour for the first time from Senator Ojudu. She challenged the senator to show proof of the alleged money-for-job scandal.

Of course, Deaconess Ayo was being economical with the truth. I don’t know if Senator Ojudu was able to provide proof as requested by Deaconess Ayo, but the exchange threw up an issue that is equally troubling. Talking about rumours, we have heard allegations that senators collect bribe before approving budgets. But this pales in comparison to the fact that many government agencies now insist that job seekers must get letters from senators before they are considered for employment. And this is no rumour because I have been involved with two federal agencies where this issue came up. It seems the only reason our senators enjoy this privilege is that they have control over the budget of these agencies. It is understandable if senators use their influence to help their “constituents”, but it is criminal for them to legalize it.

Dr. Sam Amadi, Chairman/CEO of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), put this phenomenon in perspective during the 7th Ralph Opara Memorial Lecture organised by the National Association of Seadogs (NAS), on Friday, November 2, 2012. In a speech titled, “Terrorism, Insecurity and Irredentist Movements: the Challenges for Nation-Building in Nigeria”, Dr. Amadi noted, “Today, Nigerian leaders have added to their sin of the exclusion of Nigerian citizens from the wealth of the nation, the sin of excluding them from employment opportunities. Every employment in private and public sector in Nigeria today is based on a letter of sponsorship from one Senator or Governor or Minister.

“Poor Nigerian working family that spent life savings to educate their children have little hope of them getting a good job because the people in power distort the recruitment process from merit to privilege. This is the new aristocracy in a republic. Recruiters in the public service will not ask for aptitude. They ask for a letter from a Senator, Governor or Minister. What will the much deprived graduate without such reference letter do if he is never considered for employment many years after leaving school than to seriously consider resort to violence and criminal enterprise?”

This is what the average job seeker in Nigeria has to contend with. Senators Mark and Ojudu can’t say they are not aware of this phenomenon. And if they are not aware, I am using this medium to bring it to their attention. They should denounce the agencies that are bringing the Senate into disrepute.
For the amount of money the country spends maintaining the Senate, the last thing we need is for our so-called lawmakers to become a menace to society by shamelessly acting out the despicable role of thoughtless enablers and overseers of an extremely dysfunctional polity.

conumah@hotmail.com

http://saharareporters.com/column/our-not-so-distinguished-senators-chido-onumah

Robbers kill U.S returnee in Enugu
Posted by: Chris Oji Posted date: December 27, 2012 In: News Update

Robbers on Boxing Day shot dead a man who came back from the United States to celebrate the Christmas with his family.

[/b]The robbers, two in number, were said to have trailed the man whose name was given as Bernard Ogbonnaya Edoga from a bureau de change where he made some financial transactions.[b]

He was shot in the house of a relation in Mgboko Aku in Igboetiti local council of Enugu State.

The victim was said to have branched into the relations house to drop some Christmas presents when the two gunmen shot him.

The gunmen made away with all the money in his possession and some documents, including his international passport.

Although the amount taken away from him was not known, it was disclosed to be a large sum.

Spokesman for Enugu State police command, Ebere Amaraizu said the police had commenced full investigation into the killing.

According to Amaraizu, the victim was rushed to the nearby Attah Memorial Hospital, Aku where he was confirmed dead, while the body was deposited at the hospital’s mortuary.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news-update/robbers-kill-u-s-returnee-in-enugu/

US to citizens: don’t visit Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, seven others

Posted by: Yusuf Alli Posted date: December 27, 2012 In: Featured, News | comment : 30

The United States has banned all its citizens from travelling to 10 states in Nigeria during the Yuletide – no thanks to insecurity.

The states are: Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Plateau, Gombe, Yobe, Kaduna, Bauchi, Borno, and Kano states.

The United States has also restricted its officials from visiting all the 19 Northern states and directed the officials to obtain clearance if the mission is essential.

It, besides, alleged that there is increasing attacks on commercial and private vessels by pirates off the coast of Nigeria in the Gulf of Guinea with the Nigerian Navy lacking the capacity to check the menace.

The US said it decided to take the step because the security situation in Nigeria “remains fluid and unpredictable”.

These observations are contained in the latest travel warning by the Bureau of Consular Affairs of the US Department of State.

The latest advisory has replaced the last one which was issued June 21.

The advisory reads in part: “The Department of State warns U.S. citizens of the risks of travel to Nigeria, particularly during the holiday season, and continues to recommend that U.S. citizens avoid all but essential travel to the following states because of the risk of kidnappings, robberies, and other armed attacks: Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Plateau, Gombe, Yobe, Kaduna, Bauchi, Borno, and Kano states.

“The Department also warns against travel to the Gulf of Guinea because of the threat of piracy.

“Based on safety and security risk assessments, the Embassy has placed further restrictions for travel by U.S. officials to all northern Nigerian states (in addition to those listed above); officials must receive advance clearance by the U.S. Mission for travel as being mission-essential.

“U.S. citizens should be aware that, in light of the continuing violence, extremists may expand their operations beyond northern Nigeria to the country’s middle and southern states. This Travel Warning replaces the Travel Warning for Nigeria dated June 21, 2012.

“Kidnappings continue to be a security concern that exists throughout the country. In the first six months of 2012, five foreign nationals, including two U.S. citizens, were kidnapped in Kwara, Imo, Enugu, Delta, and Kano states.

“Criminals or militants have abducted foreign nationals, including U.S. citizens from offshore and land-based oil facilities, residential compounds, and public roadways. Nine foreign nationals have died in connection with these abductions, including three who were killed by their captors during military-led raids.

“Local authorities and expatriate businesses operating in Nigeria assert that the number of kidnapping incidents throughout Nigeria is underreported.”

The US also gave its verdict on the increasing crime rate nationwide and alleged slow or no response of law enforcement agencies.

The advisory added: “Crime is a risk throughout the country. U.S. citizen visitors and residents have experienced armed muggings, assaults, burglaries, car-jackings, rapes, kidnappings, and extortion.

“Home invasions also remain a serious threat, with armed robbers accessing even guarded compounds by scaling perimeter walls, following residents or visitors or subduing guards to gain entry to homes or apartments.

“Armed robbers in Lagos have also accessed waterfront compounds by boat. U.S. citizens, as well as Nigerians and other expatriates, have been victims of armed robbery at banks and grocery stores and on airport roads during both daylight and evening hours.

“Law enforcement authorities usually respond slowly or not at all and provide little or no investigative support to victims. U.S. citizens, Nigerians, and other expatriates have experienced harassment and shakedowns at checkpoints and during encounters with Nigerian law enforcement officials. “Traveling outside of major cities after dark is not recommended because of both crime and road safety concerns.”

The US also took note of the current attacks on telecommunications facilities nationwide and how these had impaired security management.

It said: “Beginning in September 2012, extremists attacked cellular telephone towers in Northern Nigeria, damaging over 50 towers and degrading cellular telephone and internet communications nationwide. “Additional attacks could further weaken the ability of citizens to communicate through cellular telephones and the internet.

“Land line telephone communications in Nigeria remain extremely limited. U.S. citizens should attempt to arrange for multiple means of communication during emergencies.

“The situation in the country remains fluid and unpredictable. The U.S. Department of State strongly urges U.S. citizens in Nigeria to consider their own personal security and to keep personal safety in the forefront of their planning.

“U.S. citizens who travel to or reside in Nigeria are strongly advised to enroll in the State Department’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP). U.S. citizens without internet access may enroll directly with the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate.”

The Department of State identified Boko Haram as having accounted for attacks in the Northern part.

The document said: “In 2012, Boko Haram claimed responsibility for many attacks, mainly in northern Nigeria.

“Boko Haram is responsible for killing or wounding thousands of people. Multiple Suicide Vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Devices (SVBIED) targeted churches, government installations, educational institutions, and entertainment venues in Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Plateau, Taraba, and Yobe states.

“On October 1, 2012, more than 50 students were killed in attacks in Adamawa State. Several drinking establishments were attacked in Bauchi, Taraba, and Kaduna in September and October 2012. Churches were targeted in Bauchi, Kaduna, and Kogi in July and August 2012.

“There were also attacks against police stations and markets in Sokoto in July 2012. From July 6 to 8, sectarian violence claimed over 100 lives in the Jos metropolitan area and villages in Plateau State. In July, an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) exploded in the parking lot of an Abuja shopping center, and in June, an IED exploded outside a nightclub in Abuja. The June 17, 2012, attacks on three churches in the state of Kaduna led to violence throughout the state.

“At least 10 people were killed and an additional 78 injured in the ensuing riots, as groups barricaded roads, burned mosques, and used machetes to attack and kill.”



“ In response to the violence, the Kaduna state government imposed a 24-hour curfew and deployed additional security forces to restore peace; however, violence between Christians and Muslims continued throughout the week. In April, assailants attacked Theatre Hall at Bayero University, Kano, with IEDs and weapons. Also in April, VBIEDs simultaneously exploded at the offices of “This Day” newspaper in Abuja and Kaduna.

“Boko Haram also claimed credit for the June 2011 bombing of the Nigerian Police Headquarters building and the August 2011 suicide bombing at the United Nations building, both in Abuja.”

The US raised issues on the alleged increasing attacks on commercial and private vessels by pirates off the coast of Nigeria in the Gulf of Guinea with Nigerian Navy lacking the capacity to check the menace.

It said: “Attacks by pirates off the coast of Nigeria in the Gulf of Guinea have increased in recent years.

“Armed gangs have boarded both commercial and private vessels to rob travelers. The Nigerian Navy has limited capacity to respond to criminal acts at sea.”

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/news/us-to-citizens-dont-visit-bayelsa-delta-edo-seven-others/

Ikuru

Rose Uzoma