₦airaland Forum

@Omobadan I love your reply. Do u write?

hitv needs strategic marketing and repositioning

Series have come to stay and we all enjoy them. But can we get a team of creative writers who will create a long lasting series of international standards

The recent transfer window has seen a few Nigerian footballers make a move to England notably Peter Odewemgie and Obinna Nsofor. Nsofor and Yobo are now the 2 Nigerians in West Ham and both are on loan.

Notin for the man IBB.
Visit http://lesssa..com and say no to political recycling of garbage

What does Saraki know about technology?

"a politician is a lawyer, pyschologist and a smooth talker rolled in one"
----Comr Paul, President, League of Southeast Southsouth Students Activists (LESSSA)

The governors are mostly only after their second tenure interest. If a goat assures them of getting that they would follow the goat. So it's a matter of time.

1) Obama set the pace and it is already catching fire here; GJ, Fashola and some governorship candidates like Lanre Banjo are already pushing ahead.
2) More Nigerians are spending time online at forums and facebook
3) Online campaign will give the politicians more reach
4) Anyone who ignores campaigning online especially presidential aspirants will lose some valuable exposure.
5) This is the 21st century. All candidates will not want to be seen as archaic and outdated hence they will more or less join the train.

The plot of the nation’s political drama thickens as President Goodluck Jonathan plans to reshuffle his cabinet next week, said sources privy to the decision.

As politicians in the last few weeks focused on zoning and its attendant problems or benefits, Mr. Jonathan, who political watchers say never ceases to surprise, was doggedly entrenching his hold on the nation’s polity.

A few days back, he forwarded the names of three nominees to the Senate for approval as new ministers. It was not immediately clear, however, who the new people will replace. The Senate has acknowledged the receipt of the nominees and decided to reconvene Tuesday next week to screen, and possibly confirm them.

Although the Senate would not reveal the identities of the nominees, it was confirmed that the candidates, two men, and a woman, are from Yobe, Delta, and Borno states. A source further confirmed that one of them is a member of an opposition party, the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).

Curiously, Mr. Jonathan’s action is coming nine months to the end of his administration and he still refuses to confirm if he will be contesting in next year’s presidential election or not. Former president Olusegun Obasanjo also effected such a cabinet reshuffle towards the end of his second term in 2006 when he re-assigned Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala from ministry of finance to foreign affairs.

The usual suspects

Sources confirmed that the proposed changes will most likely affect the finance minister, Olusegun Aganga and the minister of state for finance, Remi Babalola. It was unclear if Mr Babalola’s statement last month that the state oil company, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was broke led to his been considered for possible removal. Mr. Babalola had told a group of journalists during a workshop on “Understanding the operations of the Oil and Gas Industry in Nigeria” organised by the NNPC for members of the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), that the only reason the corporation has not paid the ₦450 billion debt owed to the federal government was “its cash flow problem.” He reportedly lost favour with Mr. Jonathan after that statement.

At the federal executive council meeting that took place after Mr. Babalola’s comment, the council denied, through Dora Akunyili, the Information minister, that NNPC was insolvent.

“NNPC, from the auditor’s account, is a going concern, and does not have solvency issue as a corporation. Therefore, categorically, NNPC is not insolvent,” Mrs. Akunyili said.

She added that there will always be an outstanding balance between the federal government and the oil giant because of the regular transactions between them.

One of the nominees is supposed to fill the vacancy in the power ministry which had no substantive minister, apart from the junior minister. The others are expected to fill the junior minister positions in the petroleum and foreign affairs ministries.

Although the cabinet reshuffle was not mentioned during the briefing that followed the federal executive council meeting yesterday, the Presidency is said to be awaiting the senate’s endorsement of the nominees whose names are currently en route to the national assembly.

The Director-General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Ndidi Okereke-Onyuike, has been fired.

Her sack was announced in a statement signed by the Assistant Director/Head Media of the Commission, Lanre Oloyi. The statement also announced the removal of the embattled President of the NSE Council, Aliko Dangote.

Mr. Oloyi, in the statement, said the decision was taken in response to “the developments in the Nigeria Stock Exchange, particularly with respect to inadequate oversight of the Exchange, ongoing litigation, allegations of financial mismanagement, governance challenges, and the inordinate delays in the implementation of the succession plan for the Exchange.”

Mr. Dangote had on Tuesday accused the Director-General of mismanaging N11 billion which led operators in the capital market to protest her continued stay in office.

In a petition to the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Arunma Oteh, Mr Dangote had urged the regulatory authority to investigate irregularities in the accounts and finances of the NSE.

Mr. Oloyi said that “given the gravity of the allegations around financial mismanagement of the Exchange, the Commission has also directed the conduct of an independent investigation into the allegations.”

According to the statement, the affairs of the Exchange will be managed by an interim administrator appointed by the Commission pending the selection of a new Director General

The federal government yesterday withdrew the operational license of the Ondo State University of Science and Technology (OSUTECH), Okitipupa, in Ondo State.

According to documents released in Abuja after an emergency meeting with the management of the National Universities Commission (NUC), the action was taken because of concerns about the school’s academic performance and admissions policies.

The school had not commenced academic activities since it was formally recognised in 2008 and all application forms of the school’s candidates had been sent to be absorbed by the nearby Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko.

“Having waited for two academic sessions, with no activity taking place, it has become obvious that the university is not ready to commence academic activities,” said the commission’s executive secretary, Julius Okojie.

Also evidence showed that the University of Education, Ikere-Ekiti, may have submitted fictitious evidence to get approval for the school.

No evidence of a school

NUC officials who visited the site of the school found that the stated infrastructural facilities, that had been listed along with the application did not exist at the school’s location.