₦airaland Forum

President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday evening finally
moved into his official residence in the Presidential Villa,
Abuja.
Buhari and the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo have lived
outside the Villa and used the Defence House, Abuja as their
offices since their inauguration three weeks ago in order to
allow renovation works to be carried out at the facility.
The President’s wife, Aisha Buhari had moved into the
official residence since last Thursday.
Buhari, who returned to Abuja from Katsina State on
Saturday, began the movement of his properties to the seat
of power on Sunday evening.
www.thenationonlineng.net/new/buhari-moves-into-presidential-villa/

Scholes007:
Those refineries did not start working in just 20days, it has been functional (but not to optimum) since the last four years and till today
I have not heard or read from any official source
it has been denied by your lord and personal savior
Electricity supply improved during the last Administration and seems to be suffering from stagnancy recently(Example...Aba).
yes as we can see by the latest wardrobe allowance
hahaha, relocated to Maiduguri and housed in Gombe...pls note difference between political stunt and security blunder
the previous administration also did what just wrote here,so whats the noise So been invited to A meeting is now a giant strive right? Ok, what will you say about the world economic forum held in Abuja during GEJ govt(billions of $$ investment where drawn to the country)? what will you say about similar invitations by the world powers during the last Administration hahaha giant strive indeed AU conference meeting is a routine and every member state is expected to Attend. so whats the strive?...
Abegi make we here EFCC don start their normal gragra...until i see the out come. for now it is just a jamboree
others before him did visit the same place also but Gej did not only visit he also built more power stations than any before him... lets wait and see what happens. do you mean: 20 days of travelling, 20days of accidents and horror,20 days of senseless killing,20days of giving accusations and excuses etc,20 days of tribal and regional division, 20days of herdsmen kills,20days of unorganized govt,.... ?

Enemy of progress....... Ogun fire u, bad belle na im go kill u, thunder wai go fire dey do pressup

A group, Patriotic Northern Coalition for Justice, Peace and
Equity, will hold a solidarity rally in Kaduna to express
gratitude to the national leader of the All Progressives
Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
The National Coordinator of the coalition, Alhaji Babangida
Sule-Manchok Jnr, told newsmen in Kaduna yesterday that
the rally will hold immediately after the fasting period.
He pledged that all its members across the 19 northern
states in the country and beyond have been notified about it.
He said the coalition was working for the development of
the north and will therefore support any individual or group
that works towards the success of the region.
“As a group, our basic interest is to work for the progress of
the country in general and the North in particular.
“So, we will support anyone who has worked or is still
working for the betterment of the region or have the interest
of our region at heart.
“By working tirelessly to ensure the victory of our son,
brother, father and leader, President Muhammadu Buhari,
Bola Tinubu has shown that he is a true friend of the region.
“Even though people have grown tired of former President
Goodluck Jonathan, it would have been difficult to defeat
him if not for the unique commitment of Tinubu towards
ensuring that his South-West region voted overwhelmingly
for Buhari.”
He went on: “So as part of our gratitude, we are organising
this solidarity rally is to show him that we, the Northerners,
are grateful to him for what he has done for us.
“It is not a political rally because electioneering campaigns
have come and gone. ?
“This is a rally of gratitude and of a grateful people. In the
rally, we shall also acknowledge all those who played one
role or the other in the victory of Buhari.”
Asked if there were moves by some to work against Tinubu
in APC as being reported, he said: “We won’t even allow
anybody or group of persons from any part of the country to
plan anything against Tinubu’s interest in APC.
“It is true that such moves are ongoing and we even know
some of the people involved, but they won’t succeed.
“Selfish politicians can’t just sit down and begin to plot
against someone we in the North are planning to appreciate
for what he has done for us.”
www.thenationonlineng.net/new/solidarity-rally-for-tinubu-in-north/

1. Refineries will resume work by July after 4 years of no
production under GEJ.
2. Payment of militants to protect pipelines stopped.
Nigerian military to take over.
3. 9 out of 11 jets to be sold from Presidential fleet.
4. Electricity supply has improved.
5. RFMAC to review salaries of national assembly and civil
service.
6. Military command and control center for fighting boko
haram relocated to Maiduguri. Already reduction in Boko
Haram strikes.
7. Presidential shuttle to Niger, Chad on Boko Haram,
attended G7 meeting to get support on fighting terrorism
and corruption. America offers $5 billion support to the
military to fight BH. Something they refused to do under the
kleptomaniac GEJ govt.
8. Attended AU conference in South Africa on cooperation
against terrorism and poverty in the continent.South African
President to visit Nigeria.
9. EFCC has woken up to prosecute corrupt governors. Ikedi
Ohakim former governor of Imo state under EFCC
searchlight,Sule Lamido of Jigawa questioned by EFCC,
Haruna of Yobe still being prosecuted. Femi Fani Kayode to
be sentenced by July 1.
10. PMB visited kanji dam and Shiroro to understand the
issues with power generation.
All these In only 20 days.
HOW WOULD NIGERIA BE IN 4 YEARS FROM NOW?
CHANGE IS GOOD and GOD IS GREAT.

omenka:
Op thanks for raising this. It was exactly what my friend and I discussed at a point in the club last night when images of the incident were flashed on the tv screen. It is nothing but religious profiling. Had a muslim carried out this act, ain't no chance it hell it wouldn't be tagged "terrorism". In this case they call it a "hate crime" or any other fancy names. The only person who came close to calling it what it truly is is the NWACP president who called it "racial terrorism". The word has been misapplied so much one is tempted to think the definition has been changed in the dictionary to apply to only acts committed by people of a particular faith.

White westerners are only deceiving themselves. Another case in point is them breathing down our necks to handover our leaders for prosecution at the ICC when men such as Bush and Blair are walking freely commanding respect across the world, as though the court was established to handle only cases with African origin.

Smh.

Yeah.... Does white fools still underate us, we aint animal more and more often, Islam has been
associated with terrorism and violence due to the actions of
a few extreme individuals who’ve taken it upon themselves
to do the most heinous crimes in the name of Islam.
Tragic events such as the attack on the twin towers in New
York, the bombings of Bali, Madrid and London are assumed
to be justified by Islam in the minds of some people. This
idea has been fueled further by many media channels which
defame Islam by portraying these bombers as ‘Islamists’ or
‘Jihadists’, as though they were sanctioned by Islam, or had
any legitimate spokemenship on behalf of Muslims. The
actions of a few fanatical individuals who happen to have
Muslim names or ascribe themselves to the Muslim faith
should not be a yardstick by which Islam is judged. For the
same reason, that one would not do justice to Christianity if
it where perceived as sanctioning the genocide of the Native
Americans, the atrocities of world war II or the bombings of
the IRA.
To understand Islam’s stance on terrorism, one must refer
to its original sources, the Quran and the teachings of
Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him,which are explicit
in their prohibition of any form of injustice including that of
wanton violence which seeks to instill fear, injury or death to
civilians.
The Quran turns our attention to the high value of human
life, whether it is Muslim or Non-Muslim and makes it
absolutely forbidden to take an innocent life unjustly. The
gravity of such a crime is equated, in the Quran, with the
killing of all humanity.

At least nine people were shot dead at a church in the US
state of South Carolina on Wednesday by a man identified
by the FBI as 21-year-old Dylann Roof.
Roof, who was arrested just before noon local time on
Thursday, reportedly let one woman survive so she could
tell others what happened. He is said to have told her: “I
have to do it. You rape our women and you’re taking over
our country. And you have to go.”
Dylan Roof, who was apprehended by police on Thursday and is expected in court Friday.
As data from Mother Jones shows, the majority of mass
shootings in the US are committed by white men - but they
are labelled as “lone wolves” rather than “terrorists”, even
when they are found to hold racist or misogynistic world
views.“

ABC just referred to the #CharlestonShooting as a tragedy.
Nah. A car crash is a tragedy. Shooting up people in a church is terrorism.
— whitney (@whitnaay_70) June 18, 2015“

They're always quiet, softly spoken & acting alone when they're white. Otherwise terrorism/extremism/entire religions to blame #Charleston
— James Rhodes (@JRhodesPianist) June 18, 2015
So what constitutes what? Definitions of terrorism are wide-
ranging.
One of the only core definitions of a terrorist act is that it is
designed to strike fear in a large group of people. With hate
crimes, that is not necessarily true.
Defining “terror” has a long history. According to Vox the
first federal anti-terrorism law ever passed in the US was to
stamp out acts of violence against freed black people by the
Ku Klux Klan back in 1871.
But a 2014 study from the University of Albany in New York
which looked at data from the 1970s to the present day
defined terrorism as an “upward crime”, where perpetrators
are usually of a lower social standing that the targeted
group. By contrast, they found that hate crimes usually involve perpetrators who belong to the majority or most powerful groups in society, who then inflict violence on minority or less powerful victims.
The US government has traditionally used four criteria in
determining what counts as an act of terror:
•Premeditation
•Political motivation
•Aimed at civilians
•Carried out by sub-national groups, rather than the state or army
A sticking point is if Roof is found guilty of acting on white
supremacist ideals as a motive, does he count as a terrorist
even if he wasn’t a member of an organised group?
The FBI and police in South Carolina have defined the
shooting as a hate crime.
Whether you agree with the official classification or not, the
one thing we know for sure is that it struck fear into the
hearts of many.
As Richard Cohen, the President of the Southern Poverty
Law Center said in a statement on Thursday, the massacre
at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church is an
“obvious hate crime”:
“
Since 2000, we’ve seen an increase in the number of hate
groups in our country — groups that vilify others on the basis of characteristics such as race or ethnicity… The increase has been driven by a backlash to the country’s increasing racial diversity, an increase symbolised, for many, by the presence of an African American in the White House.
Since 9/11, our country has been fixated on the threat of Jihadi terrorism. But the horrific tragedy at the Emmanuel AME reminds us that the threat of homegrown domestic terrorism is very real. „
•Richard Cohen, President of the Southern Poverty Law Center
www.i100.independent.co.uk/article/what-do-we-mean-when-we-say-hate-crime-and-terrorism--WygXUSzzqbl
cc: lalasticala

France’s top Muslim official has suggested turning empty or
abandoned Catholic churches into mosques, saying as
many as 5,000 are needed for the country’s Muslim
population – the largest in Europe.
“It’s a delicate issue, but why not?” Dalil Boubakeur, rector of
the Grand Mosque in Paris and the president of the French
Council of Muslim Faith, told Europe 1 radio on Monday.
There are currently about 2,500 mosques in France with
another 300 under construction, but the number falls short
of what is needed, he said. With roughly 5 million Muslims
in France, at least 5,000 mosques are needed, Boubakeur
said.
During the interview with French radio he gave an example
of the transition of a church into a mosque in Clermont-
Ferrand, which was welcomed by the local religious
community. The church had been abandoned for more than
30 years and the building was given to the Muslim
community in 2012.
“It’s the same God, these are neighboring rites, fraternal, and I
think that Muslims and Christians can coexist and live
together, ” he said.
It’s not the first time the lack of places of worship for
millions of Muslims has been brought up in France. In April,
Boubakeur called for doubling the number of mosques.
His remarks were welcomed by the Christian community as
a “ legitimate” demand.
“Muslims should, like Christians and Jews, be able to practice
their religion, ” Monseigneur Ribadeau-Dumas, spokesperson
for the Bishops’ Conference of France, told French radio
station Europe 1.
However, this suggestion has been criticized by the far-right
National Front party. In April, Florian Philippot, its vice-
president, argued France doesn’t need more, because “ 100
percent of places of radicalization are mosques.”
The party’s leader Marine Le Pen called to stop the
construction of new mosques in March.
“ We must today freeze the construction of new mosques while
we verify the origin of their financing, ” she said in an interview
to France 24.
The question of building closer ties with the Muslim
community was discussed at the talks between the French
government and about 150 Muslim leaders in Paris on
Monday.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls stressed there was no
link between extremism and Islam.
“We must say all of this is not Islam, ” he said. “ The hate
speech, anti-Semitism that hides behind anti-Zionism and hate
for Israel… the self-proclaimed imams in our neighborhoods and
our prisons who are promoting violence and terrorism…
“Islam still provokes misunderstandings, prejudices, and is
rejected by some citizens,” he added. “ Yet Islam is here to stay
in France. It’s the second largest religious group in our
country.”
The first conference between the government and Muslim
community leaders comes five months after the Charlie
Hebdo and kosher store jihadist attacks in Paris that killed
17 people.
The terrorists responsible for the attacks “ belong to a
different world than we do, ” said Boubakeur, speaking at the
conference.
There has been a huge increase in anti-Muslim incidents in
France following the Islamist attacks in Paris. A report
issued in January by the National Observatory Against
Islamophobia said that over the month there has been an
110-percent increase in attacks.
www.muslimvillage.com/2015/06/18/82867/french-muslim-leader-make-empty-churches-mosques/

mohince:
Chad warplanes invaded Nigerian airspace, carrying out
airstrikes on Boko Haram camps based in Nigeria in
retaliation for suicide bombings in N’Djamena, country’s
capital. Source in Chad’s military told that “ no drop of
Chadian blood spilt goes unpunished. ”
Chad warplanes carried out airstrikes on Boko Haram
Chad’s military informed the press of carrying out several
airstrikes on Nigerian territory. Chadian warplanes
destroyed six camps of Boko Haram militants, causing
“ considerable human and material losses” to jihadists
militants.
The military source of the neighbouring country told that the
air strikes were carried out as retaliation for previous
suicide bombings in Chad’s capital, N’Djamena, attributed
to Boko Haram militants, adding that “ no drop of Chadian
blood spilt goes unpunished ”.
At least one suicide bomber who is considered to be Boko
Haram member attacked the Police Headquarters in the
capital of Nigeria’s neighbour Chad, N’Djamena.
Reports also say that one of bombers attacked the police
academy where a graduation ceremony was going on.
At least 30 cadets were reportedly killed.
Chad has become a major assistant in the fight against the
insurgency across West Africa, playing a significant role in
assaults on al Qaeda-linked groups in Mali and Boko Haram
terrorists in Nigeria.
There have been a number of attacks near Chad’s border
with Nigeria.
www.naij.com/464801-chad-carries-out-airstrikes-on-nigerian-territory-in-retaliation.html

.

Chad warplanes invaded Nigerian airspace, carrying out
airstrikes on Boko Haram camps based in Nigeria in
retaliation for suicide bombings in N’Djamena, country’s
capital. Source in Chad’s military told that “ no drop of
Chadian blood spilt goes unpunished. ”
Chad warplanes carried out airstrikes on Boko Haram
Chad’s military informed the press of carrying out several
airstrikes on Nigerian territory. Chadian warplanes
destroyed six camps of Boko Haram militants, causing
“ considerable human and material losses” to jihadists
militants.
The military source of the neighbouring country told that the
air strikes were carried out as retaliation for previous
suicide bombings in Chad’s capital, N’Djamena, attributed
to Boko Haram militants, adding that “ no drop of Chadian
blood spilt goes unpunished ”.
At least one suicide bomber who is considered to be Boko
Haram member attacked the Police Headquarters in the
capital of Nigeria’s neighbour Chad, N’Djamena.
Reports also say that one of bombers attacked the police
academy where a graduation ceremony was going on.
At least 30 cadets were reportedly killed.
Chad has become a major assistant in the fight against the
insurgency across West Africa, playing a significant role in
assaults on al Qaeda-linked groups in Mali and Boko Haram
terrorists in Nigeria.
There have been a number of attacks near Chad’s border
with Nigeria.
www.naij.com/464801-chad-carries-out-airstrikes-on-nigerian-territory-in-retaliation.html

As President Muhammadu Buhari hosts the head of the
leading global corruption watchdog Clare Short this week,
top on the agenda will be a probe of how Nigeria allegedly
remitted only $100m for the sale of oil blocks on which the
country was paid $1.85bn, credible sources have revealed.
Clare Short, who is the Chair of the Extractive Industries
Transparency Initiative (EITI) arrived in the country on
Monday on a three-day working visit. She is expected to
hold talks with President Buhari on the implementation of
the independent reports of the Nigeria Extractive Industries
Transparency Initiative (NEITI). The Meeting which is also
expected to provide the International Chair the platform to
brief the President on the importance of integrating the EITI
principles in his economic policy agenda as obtainable in
resource rich countries of the developed world, is also seen
as a global endorsement of President Buhari’s commitment
to good governance, transparency and accountability.
Buhari had listed the implementation of the findings and
recommendations of NEITI Audit Reports as a priority within
his administration’s 100 days in office. The executive
secretary of NEITI, Zainab Ahmed, had said last week that
over $7.5bn between 1999-2011 still needed to be recovered
from oil and gas companies in Nigeria. “ The amount
represents clear cases of underpayments, under-
assessments of taxes, royalties, rents... which have not
been adequately addressed in the past,” she said. NEITI has
suggested selling the state oil company’s stakes in
producing joint ventures to fix its budget woes, a call
echoed by many in the new administration, as well as
scrapping the expensive and graft-riddled fuel subsidy. The
government relies on oil sales for the bulk of its revenues
but there has been little oversight of how these are handled.
Central bank governor Lamido Sanusi was sacked by
Goodluck Jonathan after he said that up to $20bn in oil
revenues between 2012 and 2013 had not been remitted to
the government by the state oil company - NNPC.
Buhari said he would re-examine this allegation. Ahmed also
said NEITI audits showed that some $11.6bn of dividends
between 1999 and 2012 from the government’s
INVESTMENT in the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG)
company were not remitted by the state oil company.
“ NNPC was unable to provide any evidence that the funds
were remitted to the federation as required by law, ” she
said. NNPC said the issue of reconciling accounts had been
raised at a previous Inter-Ministerial Task Team and would
be discussed this week. The team was designed to
implement NEITI’s findings. NEITI has also said the sale of
eight oilfields to NNPC’s upstream arm in 2010-2011 under
Jonathan should be reviewed, as they were sold at $1.85
billion of which only $100 million was remitted to the
federation account in February 2014. Before his sack by
Jonathan, Sanusi also criticized some of these deals for
being awarded non-competitively to companies that
supplied no services.
www..com/talk/topic

.

Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote has insisted he will have
“enough time and resources” to buy English Premier League
side, Arsenal, at whatever cost very soon.
Dangote is Africa’s richest man having amassed a fortune
in the region of $18.4 billion (£12.2 billion). He is currently
ranked the 67th richest man in the world.
The business mogul reiterated his interest in purchasing the
Gunners last month, saying he already know his strategy on
how to take the club forward.
That day may arrive sooner than first expected, with
Dangote telling the BBC on Wednesday that completion of
his proposed oil refinery in Nigeria will provide the funds
necessary to launch a takeover of the English FA Cup
winners.
“When we get this refinery on track, I will have enough time
and enough resources to pay what they are asking for,” he
told BBC Hausa.
“There were a couple of us who were rushing to buy, and we
thought with the prices then, the people who were interested
in selling were trying to go for a kill.”
“We backtracked, because we were very busy doing other
things, especially our industrialisation.”
“They are doing well, but they need another strategic
direction,” he added. “They need more direction than the
current situation, where they just develop players and sell
them.”
Stan Kroenke is Arsenal’s majority shareholder, with the
American owning 66.64 per cent of the club’s parent
company, Arsenal Holdings Plc.
www.thenationonlineng.net/new/dangote-pledges-to-buy-arsenal-whatever-the-price/

Akon is using his fame to do something amazing. He grew
up in Kaolack, Senegal without electricity. Last year, he
introduced his initiative called Akon Lighting Africa. The goal
is to bring electricity to millions of Africans through solar
energy. To achieve this goal, he installed solar street lamps
and panels in 14 African countries. Now, he is taking
another big step.
PROVIDING POWER TO MILLIONS
Africa’s relative lack of electricity has presented serious
impediments to economic growth. “I always had a passion
for Africa because I am from Africa and I always felt Africa was
being taken advantage of,” Akon says. Now he can give back.
“As a celebrity you can influence millions of people, which
makes it a lot easier. Things can happen a lot faster, and I like
to take advantage of that and find more ways to bring
opportunities to Africa.”
HELPING SOLVE A MAJOR PROBLEM
The lack of access to electricity hinders infrastructure and
growth. People must get light from candles or kerosene; this
is expensive and gives off toxic fumes. Shops close early,
roads are hazardous, and food and medicine cannot be
properly refrigerated. Now the next step is to build a Solar
Academy in Bamako, Mali. This academy will teach the
skills needed to create and maintain these solar systems to
local engineers. This program will help create jobs and
improve infrastructure. This is investing in more than power,
this is investing in the people.
www.afrizap.com/en/akon-plans-bring-electricity-600-million-people-africa

8.64billion naira wardrobe allowance for NASS.
Will this happen for real? In A country where workers who
contribute more to nation building are owed salaries for
months with no hope in sight to be paid and some tiny
'group of persons' are spewing such absurdity to our faces.
Na Madness abi na him brother, even after some of these
guys have looted their states to stupor leaving their states
broke and workers stranded with no pay? Una no get cloth
before una come NASS? Who cares about una designers?
Una no get conscience ni?
Is this the CHANGE we fought for? Hell No!
Where is Dino Melaye and Ben Bruce?
APC Senators and Hon. Reps should please reject this
absurdity or the 'CHANGE' Mantra will mean NOTHING!
#SayNoToWastefulSpending .
Good Evening, Y'all!

Sudan President Omar al-Bashir has alleged that the
American and Israeli intelligence agencies are responsible
for Boko Haram and Islamic State (ISIS) insurgency in
Africa.
According to him, the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
and Israel’s national intelligence institute (Mossad) are
behind Boko Haram and ISIS attacks in Africa.
Speaking to Euronews in an interview , al-Bashir said no
Muslim could do what the sects do, suggesting that it was
the intention of US and Israel to increase enmity against
Islam.
“I said CIA and the Mossad stand behind these
organisations; there is no Muslim who would carry out such
acts,” he said.
The 25-year-long ruler of Sudan advised that the battle
against ISIS and Boko Haram should not be confronted with
military power alone, but also with ideological conversion of
the radicals.
“Our policy has been largely successful; after we arrest
these young people, we bring a group of young scholars to
engage in dialogue with them about their thoughts, and we
succeed to bring a lot of them back from their radical
ideas,” he said.
Earlier, Lebanon’s Hezbollah group had also claimed that
CIA and Mossad were behind the terrorist sects in Nigeria,
Syria and Iraq.
The 71-year-old also spoke as regards the Human Rights
Watch (HRW) that 200 women were raped and abused in
Sudan, stating that the claims were “opposition-run and
Israel funded”.
Al-Bashir took over power in June 1989 and has since ruled
the north-eastern African country as its seventh president.
www.thecable.ng/us-israel-behind-boko-haram-isis-says-al-bashir?fb_action_ids=995820163773263&fb_action_types=og.comments&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%5B952403034777829%5D&action_type_map=%5B%22og.comments%22%5D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D

Nigerian Army has said that scores of “heavily-armed”
Boko Haram insurgents using women and children as
shields died during the attack on Babangida in Yobe state
on June 14, Sunday.
The information appeared on official account of Defence
Headquarter in Twitter.
FLASH: Scores of heavily armed terrorists using women
and children as shield died on Sunday when they attacked
Babangida in #Yobe State[i]Nigerian Army has said that scores of “heavily-armed”
Boko Haram insurgents using women and children as
shields died during the attack on Babangida in Yobe state
on June 14, Sunday.
The information appeared on official account of Defence
Headquarter in Twitter.
FLASH: Scores of heavily armed terrorists using women
and children as shield died on Sunday when they attacked
Babangida in #Yobe State[/i]Nigerian Army has said that scores of “heavily-armed”
Boko Haram insurgents using women and children as
shields died during the attack on Babangida in Yobe state
on June 14, Sunday.
The information appeared on official account of Defence
Headquarter in Twitter.
FLASH: Scores of heavily armed terrorists using women
and children as shield died on Sunday when they attacked
Babangida in #Yobe State
www.naij.com/461881-nigerian-army-killed-scores-of-
insurgents-in-yobe.html

The United States says it has announced a $5 billion
contribution to the Multinational Joint Task Force to boost
the military operation against the Boko Haram insurgency.
The U.S. Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs,
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, announced this at news briefing
via telephone from the African Union Summit on Monday.
“We have been working with Nigeria as well as the African
countries to address their concerns about Boko Haram
because we don’t see this as just a Nigerian problem.
“We are having discussions with President Buhari on how
we might bolster our support. We have already been
working with them and providing information.
“We are providing some training and support and we’ll love
to work with the new administration to see how we might
increase the level of support to Nigeria.
“At the same time, we’ve just announced at the venue of the
AU, five billion dollars contribution to the Multinational Task
Force.
“We are also providing some equipment and support and we
have a number of meetings with the countries who are
members of the Multinational Joint Task Force to look at
other areas we might support.”
Mr. Thomas-Greenfield said that Africa had faced “some
really horrendous terrorist attacks” over the past two years.
He listed the West Gate and Garissa University attacks in
Kenya, and the Boko Haram attacks particularly, the
kidnapping of the Chibok girls among others.
“While I would not say Africa is under siege, Africa has
some major security challenges.
“That requires a very strong and very concerted strategic
effort by African countries and partners to address the
security concerns of Africa.”
She said the U.S. is providing a strong support to AU on
security as the U.S. has a strong partnership with the
continent on security.
“We are working closely with the Lake Chad Basin countries:
Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon to address the issues of
Boko Haram,” she said.
She said that U.S. had so far trained about 250,000 African
peacekeepers, saying U.S. highest priority in Africa
remained security.
The U.S. envoy expressed support to the warrant of arrest
issued by the International Criminal Court against Sudan
President Omar Al-Bashir.
She said that the U.S. frowned at plans by some African
leaders to subvert the constitution to extend their terms in
office, saying U.S. supports two-term limit in office.
www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/185108-u-s-donates-5bn-to-joint-task-force-to-fight-boko-haram.html

The Buhari Administration at the weekend declared that
there are ongoing plans to implement one of its striking
campaign promises that it will pay N5000 each to the
poorest Nigerians across the country.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo who gave the hint noted that
government is “currently evaluating the best ways to
collapse existing cash transfer and social welfare schemes
to ensure consistency and alignment.
“Once this is completed, we will implement the first phase
of this program, using recognized identification platforms
and transparent payment solutions”, he added.
Osinbajo who disclosed this at the 10th Year Anniversary
Lecture of Crescent University, Abeokuta, Ogun State titled,
‘The Nigerian Economy and the Future’, also said the federal
government has identified the weak transmission grid,
which prevents the wheeling of more than 5,000MW as a
gridlock to be removed.
He assured that the Buhari administration would work with
the distribution companies to ensure the necessary
investment to get electricity to consumers is in place.
On the pervasive poverty ravaging the country, Osinbajo
said the payment of N5000 each to poor Nigerians was
necessary because “we cannot talk about the economy of
the future without addressing how we move people out of
poverty.
“One of the most striking promises we made during the
campaign was the payment of Five Thousand Naira to the
poorest Nigerians across the country”, he noted, even as he
regretted that today, “about 112 million (66% of Nigerians)
are deemed extremely poor, measured by World Bank
parameter of those living on less than US$1.25 per day.”
The Vice President observed that the level of poverty
explains much of the Nigerian situation because it affects all
aspects of life,including why over a million Nigerians die
yearly of preventable diseases.
“It reflects in our alarming rates of infant mortality and
maternal deaths at childbirth. It also tells why so many
children of school age are out of school and why so many
adults lack access to healthcare and proper vocational
training; why, in effect, they are less efficient and less
productive at work”, Osinbajo noted.
Giving a succinct analysis of the nation’s economy, the VP
said, “The vexed questions of the day pertain mainly to the
economy. What is the real state of affairs? With so much
reliance on a single commodity, how do we survive in an era
of oil glut and falling commodity prices?
“With so many indications of waste, corruption and
impunity, how do we set our economy on the right path?
With so many unemployed, how do we offer hope and
sustain the enthusiasm of our children still in school? And
with so many of our consumer goods imported from abroad,
how do we continue to live well without going bankrupt?
Indeed, what is the place of Nigeria in the African and World
Economy?” He further queried.
He lamented that, while many public servants were being
owed arrears of salaries across the country, many traders
are experiencing a downturn in sales.
“Artisans abound, whose businesses cannot thrive without
power supply and many of our youths are searching in vain
for employment”, the VP added.
On power generation, Osinbajo noted that the APC
manifesto, is to deliver a minimum of 10% GDP growth
annually, while ensuring an inclusive economy that
improves the lives of all Nigerians.
This, he said, cannot happen unless we achieve a significant
improvement in the power sector, even as he assured that
the administration will focus on improving the supply of gas
to power plants, which will ensure sufficient gas supply that
will help maximize the 13,000MW of generating capacity.
His words: “The plans for the power sector will be supported
with a National Infrastructural Master Plan that requires an
investment of Three Trillion Dollars over a thirty-year
period. This is the minimal requirement to improve our
infrastructure stock from 35% of GDP to the benchmark for
our peers, which is estimated at 70% of GDP.
“Apart from enabling manufacturing and other sectors, we
expect that the investment in infrastructure will also directly
create thousands of jobs in construction and maintenance
activities”.
On the petroleum sector, the VP also noted that Nigeria has
the 6th largest gas reserves and 8th largest crude oil
reserves in the world, yet itnis struggling with high
unemployment and low industrialization.
He regretted that “this embarrassment is compounded by
the recurring scarcity of refined petroleum products which
deal goes further still to harm our economy.
“Also corruption and a lack of transparency has dealt a
massive blow on the petroleum industry thereby depleting
our resources and creating a business environment which
repels serious minded investors, whether locally based or
international”, he added.
He expressed dismay that with the huge natural and human
endowments in the country, the most recent World
Economic Forum’s Report on Global Competitiveness Index
(GCI) 2014 -2015 ranked Nigeria 127 out of 144 countries.
“This is in comparison with many other countries in Africa,
ranking higher including Mauritius – 39, South Africa – 56,
Rwanda – 62, Botswana 74, Algeria – 79, Kenya – 90,
Zambia – 96 and Ghana – 111. Similarly, the World Bank’s
Report on Ease of Doing Business Index ranks Nigeria, 170
out of 189 countries surveyed”, he noted.
Osinbajo assured that in order to address the myriads of
problems and challenges facing the economy, the Buhari
Administration will tackle corruption in all sectors of the
economy and establish a sufficient tax culture.
He further assured that the Administration will encourage
Public-Private Partnerships and ensuring a transparent
framework that reduces the bottlenecks in doing business.
“We are hopeful that an influx of domestic and international
capital will begin to chase the huge opportunities in Nigeria
very soon”, the VP noted, adding that the administration will
give top priority to agriculture and education sectors.
Osinbajo expressed appreciation for the great work being
done at the University to secure the future of Nigerian
children and the country.
“Crescent University represents that bold effort of some
private individuals in Nigeria who, of their own volition and
with their personal wealth, decide to build institutions of
higher learning”, he said.
Earlier, the Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Ibraheem
Gbajabiamila, while welcoming the dignitaries who came to
grace the occasion, said the students of Crescent University
were doing well in their academics and are brought up in a
well disciplined environment.
The Proprietor, Judge Bola Ajibola expressed gratitude for
the Vice President’s visit as well as other dignitaries.
He said students of the University have maintained
academic excellence nationally and internationally and all of
them are accommodated in the school hostel, adding that
“there is no cultism and other social vices”.
www.leadership.ng/news/440494/unemployed-poor-nigerians-to-get-n5000-monthly-fg

.

Call it whatever you will but reports have it that Kenyan
women on Thursday held a serious demo in Limuru, Kiambu
County protesting the dwindling performance of men in the
bedroom.
A Kenyan website, Tuko, reports that a section of women
held a peaceful demonstration in Ndeiya ward claiming that
most of their men, including young men have failed to
perform their conjugal rights.
The women said the trend was worsened by high levels of
alcohol consumption which saw many men abandon their
families.
The women further claimed that only a few newly married
women are currently pregnant with the rest of the bulk
dreaming about ever having a baby since men have failed to
impregnate them.
“If you walk in this village, you will find so many young
married women but only a few are pregnant,” Nancy
Wangare, one of the protesters, is quoted as saying.
Women have now threatened to move outside Kiambu to
other counties where they can find real men who are
serious enough to impregnate them.
They further called on government to make strict laws
restricting drinking from 5pm to 11pm for week days and
2pm-11pm for weekends.

Instant noodles is a common food in most people’s kitchen,
This is because its a fast, cheap and easy to cook food for
the man on the go but it is important to note that this food
can kill faster than known poison. Here is 10 Reasons Why
You Should Stop Eating Instant Noodles
1. Nutrient Absorption : Noodles inhibit the absorption of
nutrients for the children under 5.
2. Cancer : The ingredient in the instant noodles called
“Styrofoam’, is a cancer causing agent.
3. Miscarriage : Women who are Eating instant noodles
during their pregnancy causes miscarriage, because it
affect the development of a foetus.
4. Junk Food : instant noodles are enriched with full of
carbohydrates,but no vitamins, fiber and minerals. This
makes the instant noodles considered as a junk food.
5. Sodium : Instant noodles are power packed with high
amounts of sodium. Excess consumption of sodium leads
to heart disease, stroke,
hypertension and kidney damage.
6. MSG : Monosodium Glutamate is used to enhance the
flavour of instant noodles. People who are allergic to MSG
consume it as part of
their diet, then they end up suffering from headaches, facial
flushing, pain, burning sensations.
7. Overweight : Eating Noodles is the leading cause of
obesity. Noodles contains fat and large amounts of sodium,
which causes water
retention in the body and surely it leads to overweight, and
obesity leads to heart problems.
8. Digestion : Instant noodles are bad for digestive system.
Regular consumption of instant noodles causes irregular
bowl movements
and bloating.
9. Propylene Glycol : The ingredient in the instant noodles
called “Propylene Glycol” which has a anti-freeze property.
This ingredient is used
because it prevents the noodles from drying by retaining
moisture. It weakens the immune system of our body. It is
easily absorbed by the
body and it accumulates in the kidneys, heart and liver. It
causes abnormalities and damage to thoseareas.
10. Metabolism : Regular consumption of instant noodles
affect the body’s metabolism, because of the chemical
substances like additives, coloring and preservatives inside
the noodles
www.ngalive.com/10-reasons-why-you-should-stop-eating-instant-noodles/

Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State on Friday said the
economic situation in the state that led to his
administration’s inability to pay workers’ salaries was
beyond his control
He said it was heart-rending that he had found himself in the
situation which he described as a quagmire.
Aregbesola spoke with State House correspondents after
meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari behind closed-
doors at the Defence House in Abuja.
He said he was not happy the same way a head of a family
would feel when he cannot meet the needs of his family
members.
He said, “No head of the family will be happy that he cannot
feed members of the family.
“Extend that to state, it is heart-rending that I am in this
quagmire.
“But no matter how sad (I don’t want to use the word
‘depressed’), no matter how unhappy I am, the truth is that I
will not fail to say that it is a situation absolutely beyond my
control.
“I led an administration in receipt of regular allocation in
which I do my budget.
“Unfortunately, this allocation started falling in rapid form
that totally disorganised my budget and any other
arrangement.”
Aregbesola said those who want to be objective would
readily admit that the Osun State of November 2010 when
he assumed office and Osun of today are not the same.
He said people must give credit to the changes that his
administration had brought about in the state, saying the
changes were not miracles but were occasioned by
application of resources.
The governor further explained that with the unexpected and
sharp decline in revenue, his administration had a
dislocation.
The result of that dislocation, he explained, is the sad
experience.
The governor added, “Were it to be Osun alone, probably I
would not have an excuse.
“I pray it does not continue. I am not sure if there will be
any state that will actually escape from the biting effect of
the absolute sharp drop which I call economic disaster that
we are grappling with.
“Since my inauguration on November 27, 2010, I had made
it a duty to pay salary on or before 25th of every month up
until January 2014 when that became practically
impossible.
“I have been giving the same staff who today are,
regrettably and painfully, not being paid annual bonus that
we call 13th month salary. There was no demand for it. I
just felt that workers must be encouraged, they must be
inspired.
“I did that religiously and faithfully from 2010 to 2013. The
development that led to this began precisely in July when
we received the June allocation and it was short by 40
percent.
“Since then, what we have been receiving from the
Federation Account is less than the wages, personnel cost.
It is far and not mildly less.”
Aregbesola said he struggled with it till October 2014 when
there was nothing else he could do.
He said the situation was further compounded by the fact
that his government could not go to bank to borrow to pay
the wages commitment.
The governor however said that with the efforts he was
putting in place, there might be solution by month end.
“It is a sad development. I am struggling to reduce the pain
as much as possible and I am almost at the end of the
efforts I am making to ensure that by the end of this month,
I will have enough to at least meet to a large extent the
salary needs of the workers,” he declared.
www.punchng.com/news/osun-crisis-beyond-my-control-aregbesola/

Fatai Kolawole, a 400 level student of Ladoke Akintola
University of Technology (LAUTECH) slumped and died
earlier this week during a football match organized by his
department.
The young man who was studying Chemical Engineering
was said to have collapsed in the middle of the pitch and
was immediately rushed to the University health centre.
According to his colleague, the officials at the health centre
asked the students who had brought him to take him to
Bowen Hospital, Ogbomoso which was a few miles away
from the campus and a nurse was assigned to accompany
them. The ambulance was requested for but was not
provided because the driver had gone to buy food.
The colleague continued: “On our way, we were stopped by the
SARS (Special anti-robbery Squad) we tendered our urgency
and they helped us clear the way to Bowen Hospital, when we
got there he was rushed inside the emergency ward with news
only reaching us outside that the Doctor has certified him dead. We got back to Health center to report situation of things, when we met the Doctor-in- charge (named withheld) who said Fatai was dead even before we brought him from the field. That was a big lie, i was the one who carried him in my arms inside the health center and i am very sure he was still gasping for air, fighting for his dear life”.
The University declared three day mourning in honour of the
deceased and expressed sympathy to the family.
The students, led by the President of the Student Union,
Bakare Solace however embarked on a peaceful protest as
a way of showing their dissatisfaction at the way the issue
was handled.

AFRICA Black Beauty so cute, An alleged darkest baby
in the world that was recently born in South Africa is
creating a buzz in social media. Many citizens however
were wondering if this photo is real or fake.
By quick research, the photo has no origin or nobody claims
it. There is also no report from mainstream media about
this news. Guinness World Records online databasedoesn’t
have this information also from their database.
Here is the photo:

Thats cool.... But Is there 24hr power supply in kano?

President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote
yesterday said plans have been concluded to construct a
gas pipeline to address power supply challenges in Lagos
State.
He disclosed this during a courtesy visit to the office of the
Lagos State governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode.
He said; “We also assured him that we are going to do a
Gas Pipeline from Bonny (River State) to pass under the sea
(to Lagos.) When it is completed, Lagos state will never ever
experience blackout. There will be electricity 24 hours a
day.”
Addressing newsmen after the meeting with Ambode,
Dangote said they also discussed the ongoing construction
of the largest fertilizer plant of two to three million tonnes of
Uranium and Amonia in the Lekki Free Trade Zone, Ibeju-
Lekki.
He noted that the company is also building ”the largest ever
single refinery of 650,000 barrels per day, which is by far
more than the consumption of Nigeria and that would
satisfy our consumption at least for the next seven to 10
years by the time we finish.”
All these projects Dangote said are no small projects.
‘’We will have challenge in getting people to work there,
because at the height of it, there will be close to 38,000
people working at the same location, this is something that
we have to partner with the state government.
‘’Having 38,000 people on one site, not every one of them
will be from the community, others will be from other states,
there would be cultural issues and all that, we need to
integrate everybody to ensure that the whole thing works
out fine.”
He stressed that the visit afforded him the opportunity to
assure the governor of his commitment to complete these
ongoing projects already embarked upon by the company.
The business mogul promised to continue to support the
state government initiatives geared towards securing lives
and properties, adding “I have assured him that we really
love doing business here, it’s a friendly state for doing
business.”
According to him, “There are quite a lot of things that will
come along with creating so many jobs. I think Lagos will be
one of the fastest growing cities in Nigeria and Africa as a
whole.
‘’ I can assure you that we would do our own bit in terms of
your efforts in policing Lagos, for security and whatever the
need is, feel free to call us, we would partner with you and
whatever you want us to do to make Lagos a better place”.
Responding, Ambode vowed to embark on strategies that
would open the state for new investors, aimed at reducing
the rate of unemployment in the state.
He said “I will just call on other investors that wherever it is
that we can assist we are willing and ready to make sure
that investors have comfortable life and comfortable
business profile in Lagos State.”
The governor promised that his administration would open
up the state to attract new investors and growth of existing
business in the state, adding that the bottom line “is to
create jobs for our youths.”
www.vanguardngr.com/2015/06/dangote-to-supply-24-hour-power-to-lagos/

Nairaland is an online community created by Seun Osewa in
March 2005. It is targeted at Nigerians.
Nairaland currently has over 1,300,000 registered accounts
(March 2015), and is ranked as the 7th most visited site
in Nigeria (and the most visited indigenous site) according
to Alexa.com. Nigeria reportedly has over 55
million Internet users, corresponding to 32.9% of the
entire population. With Nairaland having a considerable but
unconfirmed number of users based in diaspora, this
statistic suggests that a maximum 3% of Nigerian Internet
users are registered on Nairaland compared to Facebook's
11 million Nigerian users which corresponds to
approximately 20% of the Internet population. Nairaland,
however, does have a considerable number of unregistered
users, as registration is only necessary for posting. Figures
published by Nairaland in June 2013 suggest that they had
16,668,654 visits from 6,845,453 unique visitors and
60,031,356 pageviews in the 30 days of that month. [9]
2014 down period
Following a successful hacking attempt, Nairaland went
offline briefly on the 22 June 2014. The hackers were
able to get access to the website's host server and backup,
and maliciously deleted all its content. Three days later, it
was back online after some data had been recovered from a
remote backup. However, data from 10 January 2014
through the date of the attack was lost.

A Nigerian former British police officer and security and
governance consultant, Mr Vince Onyekwelu has warned
that unless the governments of Nigeria and Niger Republic
act immediately, the dreaded Islamic State of Iraq and Syria,
ISIS terrorists may be on their way into both countries.
Onyekwelu gave the warning yesterday during a live
television programme, Sunrise Daily on Channels television
where he said that with the capture of the Libyan
international airport.
According to him, with the proximity between the borders of
Niger, Chad and Libya Nigeria must intensify collaboration
with both countries to ensure that the ISIS terrorists so not
sneak into the country.
Asked whether Nigerians should be worried that that the ISIS
has taken over the Libyan airport responded in the
affirmative saying the development should give enough
room for concern.
“Yes, we should be worried because if you look at the
distance between Libya and Nigeria the demarcation
between Chad and Niger Republic. Now the question is what
the Nigerian government is doing to make sure that Niger
and Chad are doing enough to protect their border between
them and Libya.
“We don’t need to worry much about this but we need to get
the immigration agencies of these countries to collaborate
and make sure that the borders is well secured because if
these criminals into Niger Republic or Chad they are going
to be heading into Nigeria so we need to make sure that in
this joint task force that we are talking about how do we
protect the borders of Chad and Libya, how do we protect
the border between Niger Republic and Libya. So we need to
protect our own but the bottom line is we should be worried
because it seriously worrying,” he said.
www.leadership.ng/news/439257/isis-will-enter-nigeria-chad-unless

almost all of the questions that had been begging for
answers for years in a grand interview to This Day.
The excerpts of a two-hour long talk were published on June
7, 2015, Sunday, while the actual date of the talk has not
been provided.
Among the topics she mentioned were: accomplishments
and the structural problems of the petroleum sector, the $20
billion controversy and Emir Sanusi II, the PwC forensic
audit , the efforts to end the fuel subsidy regime and
privatise the refineries, her stand off with the National
Assembly, her current absence from the country , and many
more.
Naij.com brings you five most important blocks of the
interview (questions and answers):
1. Health
Q: So what exactly is the nature of your illness; is it true
that it is cancerous in nature?
A: That is a private matter that should not concern the
public.
2. About missing billions
Please do not say I stole $20 billion or $18.5 billion because
I did not at any point in time. And if NNPC misappropriated
funds or so, they have the entire explanation and more
forensic audit should be done to determine how and why.
But people should not make damaging accusations which
have nothing to do with an individual. At no point did I steal
from the Nigerian state.
In fact, the first mantra I had from the time I came in was
that I will never touch anything that has to do with the
Federation Account and I never did and I will take that to my
grave. So I will suggest that this issue of $20 billion or $18
billion be dropped because that is the major problem I had
with my job. I was accused of unsavoury things, but which
were actually accusations against NNPC and the audit was
deployed to clarify all these things. So let us deal with the
issues. I have never gone around accusing people of doing
this or that, I have always stuck with the issues even when I
was the most abused minister, I was professional, I stuck to
the issues and responded only to the issues.
3. About Sanusi Lamido Sanusi
Q: Emir Sanusi in a recent interview with the Financial
Times after the release of the full PwC report brought up
another figure of yet another $18.5 billion that is
unaccounted for with reference to the kerosene subsidy
issue. Kerosene subsidy has always remained controversial
and yet the product is not available to Nigerians at the
official price till now. What is it that can be done to stop
the scam in this area?
A: Well, like I said before, it has to be deregulated. Take
away the subsidy and let the market parameters of supply
and demand come into play whether it is DPK or household
kerosene. I think until that happens, we are not going to
achieve a clear landing where kerosene is concerned.
Secondly, we still have to come back to the fact that we
must get our security agencies to assist us in terms of
vandalism and sabotage. I know it is difficult.
I know the problem that they have as well and there is also
the problem of funding. But you know we have product
pipelines that transverse the majority of the country, but we
can’t use them because great tranches are sabotaged or
vandalised either all of the time or some of the time. What
happens is that we still have to truck products from one
part of Nigeria to another part of Nigeria, which is why the
Petroleum Equalisation Fund still exists because it still has
to pay bridging costs and we have transporters now having
to add the cost of moving those products from one part of
the country to another, which again causes the disparity in
the cost of these products. And again, you have people who
engage in unwholesome business practices and sell these
products at higher prices than the official price. So I would
say once more that we need to remove the subsidy on DPK,
just as we need to remove the subsidy on PMS as well,
which was why I pushed for complete deregulation on
January 1, 2012. And I will say it again, Nigerians have to be
prepared to go through a little period maybe of discomfort.
But the market forces of demand and supply means that as
some point there would be some sort of balance or
equilibrium in terms of the cost viz-a-viz the supply. I think
that is the only way we can get rid of the kind of corruption
and scam in that area.
Q: But Sanusi accused you of sustaining the subsidy
despite the directive by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua
that the subsidy on kerosene be stopped and he said that
had you obeyed that directive, the alleged amount of
unaccounted money, would not be missing?
A: Let me just make this very clear to Nigeria as a whole
because this is an area of great pain for me. That Sanusi
should say I sustained the subsidy is not true, when very
clearly in 2009, the late President Yar’Adua gave a written
directive to the late Minister of Petroleum Resources Alhaji
Rilwan Lukman that he should remove the subsidy on DPK.
This subsidy on DPK was never removed by the late
Minister of Petroleum Resources, whom I considered to be
somebody that I regarded almost as a mentor. For reasons
best known to late Alhaji Rilwan Lukman and the then
economic team, the Finance Minister and others, they never
implemented the directive to remove the subsidy. By law
and the Petroleum Act, you must gazette such a removal for
it to become law and of course it has to be published so that
Nigerians would know that there has been a change in the
price of the petroleum product. It is illegal to do it or to say
you have done it, if you have not gazetted it.
Even before that, former President Goodluck Jonathan who
was the vice-president at that time, had also clarified, even
in a public media broadcast and in person as well, that the
subsidy was never removed. So I sought clarification from
him and he also made the clarification clear in a public
media broadcast about a year and a half ago, that the
subsidy was never removed. So at no time did I go against
a president’s directive. It is not possible that I would have
come in as a Minister of Petroleum in 2010 and found that
kerosene subsidy no longer existed and that it had been
gazetted and I would have suddenly upturned it.
Government is a continuum and so it was not possible that I
could have done that. So I feel very pained that Sanusi
would make it sound like I was the one who went against
late President Yar’Adua’s directive. I think this should
clarify this issue once and for all.
4. About forensic audit
Q: On the PwC forensic audit, why did it take so long for
you to make it public, or why was it that you had to wait for
so much pressure to be applied, to the extent that President
Muhammadu Buhari had to say there would be another audit
of NNPC, which forced the government to release the full
PwC report?
I am not really in a position to answer that simply because
the PwC forensic audit was put in place by the Auditor-
General of the Federation and not by me. So the full
deployment of the forensic report was not under my purview
at all. We saw the summary just as everybody else saw the
summary and at some point, we had to request the full
details to be able to look at it as well. So the timing of the
release of the audit had nothing to do with the Minister of
Petroleum Resources. But we felt all along that the full
report should have been released from the get go, so that
Nigerians would have an opportunity to look at it. I had said
from the beginning that at any point in time, the NNPC
should be absolutely open for audit of any type. In fact, that
is necessary and so I am not sure whether or not the PwC
report coming out at the time it did or not coming out earlier
on, has anything to do with any other forensic audit that
may be done. I think that other forensic audits have to be
done on the NNPC.
5. About privatisation of refineries
Let me also add that even in terms of the refineries and
refined products for Nigeria which has been a major
problem for us over the years in terms of the optimisation of
our refining capacity and the run down state in which we
found the refineries when we came in between 2010 and
2011. When we looked at the situation and digested it in
every possible manner, it was found that just like the power
sector, government has no business being in major areas of
infrastructure such as refineries. It is inefficient for
government to be there.
So while government should in fact hold a certain
percentage, in terms of its ownership structure so that it has
a stake in the refineries, these refineries should be opened
up to private sector entrepreneurs who can take them and
run with them, and create them into models of private
sector efficiency for the benefit of the nation in terms of
refined products deployment in the short, medium and long-
term. Accordingly, we moved in 2013, prepared the
framework for the privatisation of the refineries to ensure
that indigenous players could come in and turnaround our
refineries, recreate them and begin to give us the needed
distribution and supply of products. With the president’s
approval, we moved on this aggressively. Unfortunately, as
we tried to deploy it, there was a major push back again,
this time from the unions, who were completely against the
privatisation of our refineries and as you can see, over the
last one-and-a-half years, it has been difficult to optimise
the usage of the refineries because the funding to invest in
them from the government side is just not there. And
unfortunately, we have seen over the last one year, a drop
in the price of crude oil by almost 50 per cent, which means
that our funding level has almost been depleted.
www.naij.com/454725-diezani-alison-madueke-interview-explained-in-5-blocks.html

President Muhammadu Buhari has assured that his declared
assets and those of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will be
released to the public after the completion of their
verification by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) in
fulfilment of one of their campaign promises.
The Senior Special Assistant, SSA (Media and Publicity),
Mal. Garba Shehu who announced this in a statement on
behalf of the President on Saturday , said “the duly
completed forms by both the President and the Vice
President were submitted to the CCB on March 28th, a clear
day ahead of their inauguration.”
Shehu said the process will hopefully be completed before
the expiry of the 100-day deadline within which they said
they would do this.
He said the clarification was warranted by some
suggestions that the President and the Vice-President may
not, after all, declare their assets publicly.
“While such public display of concern is appreciated and
valued, it must be said that it is a little precipitate.
“As required by law, the declaration and submission of
documents to the CCB have been made, but there still
remains the aspect of verification which the Bureau will
have to conduct to authenticate the submissions made to it.
“In the circumstances, it is only after this verification
exercise, and not before, that the declaration can be said to
have been made and validated; and only after this, will the
details be released to the public.
“There is no question at all that the President and the Vice
President are committed to public declaration of their assets
within the 100 days that they pledged during the presidential
campaign.
“The President and the Vice President wish to thank
Nigerians for their show of concern, and for the confidence
they have shown in their leaders’ integrity, as evidenced by
the high pedestal of uprightness and expectations on which
they have placed them,” Shehu stated.
www.thenationonlineng.net/new/buhari-osinbajos-assets-to-be-released-after-verification/

Report from national assembly elections in Abuja suggests
that lawmakers-elect under the platform of the All
Progressives Congress, ACP, are to sign an undertaking
pledging to abide by the party’s choice of candidates for the
leadership of the 8th national assembly.
The party had been facing internal crisis owing to the choice
of the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of
Representatives.
According to source in the APC hierarchy, the party would
conduct an internal election for its lawmakers on Saturday.
“The aim of the election is to present sole candidates for the
position of senate president and speaker of the house of
representatives”, a source told TheCable.
“The party is trying to avoid a situation in which its
lawmakers will be divided next Tuesday when the national
assembly election will take place.
“The party does not want the lawmakers to undermine its
supremacy. What we want do is to avoid crisis. We know
there will be hiccups, but we will get through them”, the
source added.
The APC leadership is currently meeting with its house of
representatives members-elect at the International
Conference Centre (ICC) in Abuja.
The meeting is replete with occasional shouts of “no, no”.
A consensus candidate for speaker of the house is expected
to emerge after the meeting.
www.newspunch.org/todays-senate-presidencyspeakers-election-updates/