U are invited to the following. 1. Okorosha masqurade dance of umunze village, eziachi community, orlu LGA. 2. Ebu na anu masqurade dance of umuisu community of isu LGA. 3. Ekpe masqurade of amaigbo community, nwangele LGA. All in imo state.

ichidodo: ndigbo ndewoo, a n' am a la na 27th na obodo eziama-obaire,nkwerre l.g.a imo state, k' am ga zuru-ike. daalu!

onye eziama, kedu mpaghara obu? Ezealaobi? Ezekwemba? Umuduru? Umuakuma? Umunam? Umuogbo? Ezemanaha? Umunwokwe?. Puta na mgbabano junction ka anyi gbaa oringo.

senator2k9: so??

sharrap

francdec4:
Nwanne are frm Nkwerre? My beautiful papa land. Ndewo

ya bro, am frm nkwerre opia egbe imee enyii. Which part of nkwerre are u frm?

buchibabe:

Is dis d skool dat Rochas made free for students?? If yes,d guy dey try o. He's type is rare

ya. They are 5 in number, kano, jos, ibadan, owerri and ogboko in ideato

Wao! Dats my beatiful cousin sitting next to rochas (left) amaka ihekwaba of rochas foundation owerri.

Why all the brouhaha? Pls lets calm down. I, Nwa_Igbo, the ugwumba 1 of nkwerre land cast my votes in favour of: onlytruth for ezeigbo and policewoman for ezenwanyi. Note. I luve odumchi, but he is too cool headed for this important position. I wanna commend the electoral team headed by PointB. Thanks.

i have finally resurrected. It was not easy bros. All the same am happy again being here once again.

Ihitte women in Imo embark on self-help projects
From OKEY SAMPSON, Aba
Wednesday, November 23 , 2011



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For Ihitte women in Mbaitoli Local Government Area of Imo State, development of the town should not be left only in the hands of their husbands.
Therefore, each year, women from the area return from wherever they are to embark on one development project or another to help transform the community and also make life more meaningful, particularly for the womenfolk.
In the last seven years, this has become an annual ritual but last August, when they came home for the now popular August meeting, they unveiled the numerous projects they would like to execute, which they believed would not only add to the aesthetics of the community but would also enhance the economic well-being of the rural women.

The President of Ihitte Women General Congress, Mrs. Ngozi Goddy-Egbuchulam, threw more light on the women’s plans for the community in the next one year, which she said would impact positively on the people.
Speaking on the theme, “Ihitte must be better,” which was culled from Governor Rochas Okroacha’s rescue mission statement, “Imo must be better,” she emphasised on what the women would do in the coming year to enhance the socio-economic growth of the community.
One of the landmark projects the women would embark on, she said, was the community’s hall, which would gulp N200 million.

The menfolk were not aloof in this project. Apart from their donating money as requested by their wives to show solidarity and support, their traditional ruler, HRH (Eze) G.C Duru donated a parcel of land for the hall project, a benevolence the women applauded.
The community’s health centre, the women also promised to fully equip in order to attract more patronage from the people of the area.
If the women of Ihitte were happy over the hall and health centre projects as enunciated by their president, they were the more elated for yet another set of projects which would have direct bearing on their economic and social well-being.

The women were overwhelmed with joy when their president announced the formation of a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), which a committee was inaugurated to facilitate its registration.
The major aim of the organization when finally in place would be to reach out to the less privileged which women from the area would expectedly be in the front list.

Out side the NGO, the women of Ihitte had already started to enjoy a revolving loan scheme which was initiated by their president who made a personal donation of N50, 000.
The loan as made known by Mrs. Goddy-Egbuchulam which was made available to co-operative farmers and petty traders was for women in the five towns that made up the community.
With the free interest loan facility, the affected women would have been economically empowered as others await their turn by this time next year.

In empowering her members, the women of Ihitte are looking beyond the four walls of the community. The women through their leadership are involved in the FADAMA 2 project.
“Predominantly, we farm cassava, but we intend to make them diversify into vegetables like okro and pumpkin leaf. Already 10 people have registered under Ihitte Women Congress and we have about 1,005 members. We expect to get a fund of N5 million from Fadama 2 when we pay up our counterpart fund,” Mrs. Goddy-Egbuchulam explained.

The essence of the August meeting to the community, the Treasurer of the congress and a lecturer in the department of Public Administration, Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, Mrs. Nnenne Ugorji said: “Igbos are known for self-help projects, we don’t wait for government to do things for us and that is what we want to inculcate in our women so that we can pool our resources together and develop our community. We want to continue with self-help projects which the Igbo are known for.

“Most communities are almost in turmoil, but we are trying to bring the people together because you know that without peace there won’t be development. We want to create a sense of unity among us and that was why we came together to develop our community”.
While enjoining the women to always come home to identify with developmental projects in their communities, she was not so happy with the men folk.

“I don’t really know what is happening to our men. In most communities, you will find out that the men are quarreling. It is either they are quarreling over chieftaincy title or Ezeship title and lose sight of development. Nobody wants to render service; we are just quarreling over things that are inconsequential,” she said. Indeed, the women in unison believed the menfolk had not fared too well in the development of the community at large, which made them to take enduring steps to excel where their husbands had failed, thus they see the August meeting as a veritable avenue of achieving their heart desire.
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/nov/23/national-23-11-2011-0020.html

20 feared dead
…as NURTW members clash in Ogun
From Moshood Adebayo, Abeokuta
Wednesday, November 16 , 2011

 

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Hell was let loose in Sango-Ota, Ogun State yesterday as no fewer than 20 persons were feared killed in an early morning rival clash among factional members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).
The bone of contention was the control of the Sango motor park.Similar attempts to take over control of other parks and garages violently, had led to the loss of many lives in the past.

Daily Sun investigations revealed that pandemonium broke late Monday night, when a faction of the union attempted to  forcefully overthrow the Baruwa -led faction of the NURTW in the town.

Chief Tajudeen Ibikunle (a.k.a Baruwa), who is currently the national treasurer of the union and is based in Abuja was the immediate past chairman of the union in the state.

The attempt met a stiff resistance from those loyal to the former chairman, who resisted the dissident group with dangerous weapons, shooting sporadically all night.

This is coming barely 24 hours after a state high court struck out an application challenging the conduct of a proposed election by a faction of the union in the state.

There has been protracted crisis in the state branch of the NURTW following their attempts at conducting a fresh election after the expiration of the leadership of Ibikunle .
Similar crisis was believed to be responsible for the indefinite banning of the union’s activities in Ijebu-Ode by the state government.

During yesterday’s violent clash, residents, motorists and pedestrians were shocked at the brazen manner in which members of the union freely used dangerous weapons, including guns, charms and matchetes on one another.
Vehicular movement and commercial activities were paralyzed for greater part of the day as police and other security agencies struggled to maintain law and order.
While it lasted, commercial banks, traders and shop owners could not open for business while many landlords and tenants kept in doors for greater part of the day.
Commuters and travellers, who were caught in the bloody clash lamented their ordeals, calling for urgent arrest of the ugly development .
Mrs. Agnes Richards, who spoke with Daily Sun said she could not believe what she saw during the intra-crisis of the transport union.

“I ran  the way I never  did in my life, when I saw able-bodied men carrying sophisticated guns, shooting indiscriminately  with corpses of people on the streets and in gutters.
There was confusion on the Lagos-Abeokuta road as efforts by commercial drivers, who were caught up in the violence attempted to make a retreat while many travellers jumped through the windows of their buses.
When the Police in the state  doused the tension, 20 people were feared  killed,  with many corpses littering the town. One of such corpses was left under the major  bridge in the town in the pool of his blood.
Many others were seriously injured, including a staffer of the construction giant, Julius Berger Plc, who was stabbed in the neck.

There were, however, conflicting figures of casualties as some said 10 while an eye witness account further told Daily Sun that the casualty figure had risen to 20.
There was still palpable fear in the town, even though police personnel from the Divisional Police Office, Sango had deployed its men and officers to the strategic points of the town.
But for the early presence of armed police personnel, who were drafted to the scene, the situation would have been worse.

When the crisis subsided in Sango, it shifted to the   neighbouring Ijoko, a suburb of Sango, forcing traders and workers to rush home.
The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Muyiwa Adejobi, who confirmed the incident said the clash was caused by NURTW members over the control of the garage.
“We are on top of the situation and we have sent  our men to the place on time.  “We are even sending more men there, we are sending additional 40 men to that place. Our men in the place are in a show of force now, at least to show the people that we are fully on ground.’’

However, he denied knowledge of casualties, saying ’’for now I don’t have the exact number. Nobody can say somebody is dead, a medical doctor has to certify. The CP has not given us the exact figure.’’
We have deployed Armoured Personnel Carrier there too.’’ “The CP may personally visit the place later but I think the area is calm now.”

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/nov/16/national-16-11-2011-007.html


pls, i want to know whether this union (nurtw) only exist in south western nigeria,
why is it that we don't hear of clashes and killings of this nurtw from south-south, north or south-east.
i have spent many of my life in owerre, imo state, but i have not heard of this nurtw of a thing not to talk of seeing a single member.

since last year, these clashes among different factions of this union have claimed aproximately 200 lives or even more than,
i am tired of all these nonsense, tomorrow, if u don't hear baruwa, u will hear tokyo, elemowo, auxilary, japan etc.
the most painful part of it, is that, the bone of contention is always ' control of motor packs'
from lagos cities to ejebu-ode, abeokuta, oshobo, ife, ibadan, oyo, illorin etc. it is the same thing.

pls what happened to south west education? i thought they said they are the most enlightened and educated group in africa.

something is wrong somewhere, pls brothers, we need resolve some ugent issues before things get out of hand

YORUBA RONU

Help! Ritual killers on the prowl in Ilorin
From LAYI OLANREWAJU, Ilorin
Wednesday, November 16 , 2011
Yemi Arigbede showing her scar
Photo: Sun Publishing

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Residents of Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, are living in palpable fear. They are living in perpetual fear of attack from suspected ritualists.
Investigations by this reporter in the metropolis show that the attackers usually hide in the dark to perpetrate this heinous act.

Their usual weapon is the cutlass. Yemi Arigbede, one of the victims, who spoke to our reporter at the hospital where she is being treated, is in her mid thirties and a member of the Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (ANTP). She is also a producer and has just released a movie entitled Olamide.

Narrating her ordeal, she said: “I was coming from Tanke last Sunday. I dropped at Oro Road Junction around 10.00 pm. A man just emerged from a hideout and attacked me with a cutlass. After the attack, I had severe cuts and blood was oozing out of my head. I managed to run a little, even though I was very weak. The man did not run away immediately. He just went and hid somewhere as I was shouting for help. One man came out, but immediately I shouted again, he ran back.

“The man that hit me was wearing black all over, and he was still a young guy. I saw some cars and cabs, and I beckoned to them for help. But they were all move their way. After a short while one man came and assisted me to a nearby hospital.”
Arigbede appealed to government to beef up security, saying such attacks had been happening in so many places within the town.

She gave an instance: “It even happened some few days ago at Agric Junction here. They also hit one man with a cutlass. I don’t think they are armed robbers. I think they are ritual killers. It appears that they are using people’s blood. At the hospital, they stitched my head.”
Another man, Baba Jacob Igbape who worked at a security outfit was murdered penultimate Sunday at CBN Road while returning from work between 6.00am and 7.00am. The man, who lives at Irewole, along Asa Dam Road, had been buried in his home town in Edo State.

Speaking on the latest attacks, Police Public Relations Officer for the Kwara State Command, Mr. Dabo Ezekiel said: “We have arrested four suspects, two from A Division and two from Adewole. Three of them were found with cutlasses, and one was found with a stick. We have charged them to court.”

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/citysun/2011/nov/16/citysun-16-11-2011-003.html

Teachers, students applaud literary icon’s rejection of national honour
Thumbs-up for Achebe
By MOTUNRAYO SANNI
Wednesday, November 16 , 2011


Achiebe
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Abuja wore a colourful attire on Monday. Top Nigerians converged at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel at the nation’s capital, as President Goodluck Jonathan conferred national honours on 335 distinguished Nigerians.

Conspicuously missing in the crowd, however, was Africa’s foremost storyteller and one of the world’s most celebrated novelists, Professor Chinua Achebe. For the second time in seven years, Achebe rejected his Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR).

In 2004, then President Obasanjo had included the globally renowned literary icon. But Achebe turned down the honour, citing the government’s alleged involvement in the political crisis in his native Anambra State.

Said he at the time: “I write this letter with a very heavy heart. For some time now, I have watched events in Nigeria with alarm and dismay. I have watched particularly the chaos in my own state of Anambra where a small clique of renegades, openly boasting its connections in high places, seems determined to turn my homeland into a bankrupt and lawless fiefdom. I am appalled by the brazenness of this clique and the silence, if not connivance, of the Presidency.

“Nigeria’s condition today under your watch is, however, too dangerous for silence. I must register my disappointment and protest by declining to accept the high honour awarded me in the 2004 Honours List.”
And while rejecting this year’s honour, Achebe said “the reasons for rejecting the offer when it was first made have not been addressed let alone solved. It is inappropriate to offer it again to me. I must therefore regretfully decline the offer again.”
Was he right or wrong in rejecting the honour? This reporter met some teachers, students and a businesswoman who believe Achebe treaded the right path by rejecting the honour. They gave their reasons.

Akpan Monday – Educationist
Chinua Achebe has contributed immensely to this country. Talk of the educational sector, his literary works, and so on. But when you look at the situation of this country, things are not going on well. The administration is poor. I believe before one accepts the award, he has to put into consideration the economy of the country, the interest of the people. So I think he is doing the right thing. The government should tackle the issue of security and create job opportunities.

Ifeoma Akpuru – Student, National Open University
Actually, I don’t know his reasons. Maybe he wants the best for the country, as things are not put in their right places. I don’t know his mind. The work of the government is to save the citizens, make them happy and get everything done right. The National award is not the next step that should have been taken by the government. They should rather come together and think of ways and how the country would be better. We should be able to lay down steps for the upcoming generation.

Mr. ipadeola – Vice Principal, Timi Comprehensive College, Itire, Mushin
Chinua Achebe is doing a good thing. He is trying to send a signal or pass a message across to the government that Nigerians are not interested in their conscience being bribed, or eating out of the national cake at the expense of the masses. The government should make moves that will bring change into the country. The government should look into issues that will positively affect the lives of the people. Things like creation of job opportunities, provision of good roads, potable water, good education for the poor man’s child, and make life comfortable for them. They should rather take a look back and see how far the country has grown. The most important duty of the government is to see to the welfare of the citizens.

Government should provide food for the masses and look into the agricultural sector. Our roads have become death traps. The award should not be restricted to the rich. It should be based on the good work of the common man. The way I see it, the award is limited to a certain caucus; probably their party members.

Ogechi Ebule, student, University of Lagos (UNILAG)
I have mixed feelings concerning Achebe’s rejection. I think I understand why he turned the honour down. Nigeria is not how he expects her to be. Things are not in order. There is money laundering, terrorism, hunger and strike in the country. But then, since it is Nigeria that is honouring him, he should have accepted it.

I would accept the award if I were in his position. We have so many people who have actually done well. They might not be popular but they have made a difference. Those are the people we should honour.
But all we hear in Nigeria now is Boko Haram, ethnic problems, unemployment, low level of education, etc. A lot of things are not right.

Mrs. Fadipe, teacher
I wouldn’t say he is doing the right thing or wrong thing because he would have his personal reasons. According to him, that the country is not at its expected height is true. The situation of the country is not palatable. There are several poor people who have done very well but are not rewarded. Citizens are afflicted with several diseases, the electrical sector is not doing well, the PHCN does not give us light, unlike other countries where there is no power failure.
People and companies now rely on generators, which cause diseases. I’m not saying motivation is not good, but there are many things that ought to have been done. I don’t like to jump into conclusions but I heard that the government wants to rehabilitate the vice president’s house in Abuja with billions of naira. Should we say that is the next thing? We have several graduates that are jobless. You find B. Sc. holders riding okada just to make a living. The masses are crying despite the fact that we have many resources but they are being mismanaged. I think we should call on God for revival in this country.

Mr Tade Ajayi, teacher
I think the award has been sectionalised, and the ways of choosing those awards is aristocratic in nature. Sometime in 2005, a young guy came up with new innovations. He could make toys etc, and he was taken to the then Minister of Science and Technology. The only thing he said was that the boy could make only toys, discouraging and killing his dreams. Wole Soyinka also said he would not cut his hair until the last graduate has been employed. To me, I feel the government is using this award to seal the mouths of some people. The exchange rate is nothing to write home about. The US dollar is exchanged for N159. Government should know that Nigerians are following every step they are taking. Nigerians should wake up.

Samuel Ogundoro, SSS3 student
He is doing the right thing. The government should rather face the problems encountered by citizens. They should talk of infrastructural facilities, insecurity, Boko Haram and lack of health facilities and leave national honour which will not add value to us in anyway.

Balogun Deborah, SSS3 student
There are so many problems in the country, so I think declining the offer is a right thing. Though, the national honour is something we should be proud of but it is not what we need at this present time. Nigeria is a developing country and to measure up with other countries, several changes both from the government and citizens should be done.

Mrs. S. Toyin, businesswoman
Chinua Achebe is portraying himself as a very good citizen. He’s setting a good example. He is reliable, dependable and a man of good policy. He is actually laying down landmarks that the coming generations would see. And he’s also saying to the government that we can’t all be bought.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/nov/16/national-16-11-2011-0023.html

Why projects in South-east are abandoned –Ngige
From GEOFFREY ANYANWU, Awka
Wednesday, November 16 , 2011


Ngige
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For over 12 months , the South-east geo-political zone has been hit hard by untold hardship and uncountable losses of lives due to the death traps on the federal roads in the zone . The Federal Government has been paying only lip service to rehabilitation of roads in the region.

Year after year, all federal roads in the South-east, especially the ever-busy Enugu-Onitsha, Enugu-Port Harcourt expressways appear in the budget of the Federation, yet no reasonable work is done on the roads, ditto other federal projects, including the Second Niger Bridge which purported construction was commissioned by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

However, the disenchantment of the people of the South-east and their threat seem to have touched their representatives at the National Assembly who now are said to be working together to ensure that the zone is treated with respect and given infrastructure like other zones.

One of the moving forces in this new spirit in the National Assembly is Deputy Chairman, Senate Committee on Power and Mine and former Governor of Anambra State, Senator Chris Ngige, who in this interview with Daily Sun revealed what the South-east caucus of the National Assembly is doing to ameliorate the situation.
Dr Ngige spoke on the roads and why the jobs were not being executed; the second Niger Bridge which he said was commissioned for construction without design, the taking away of the South-east slot in the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court to another zone and other burning issues.

South-east roads
Alor in Idemili South is my place of origin. If anything happens to anybody, you run to your province and from your province to your place of birth; that’s what Gaddafi did. He had to run from Tripoli to his birth place and he said he should be buried with his forefathers. So, the custom is the same everywhere. So, there we are in that Senate as senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, legislating for the whole country, for the betterment of the whole people, and we then place our eyes to the peculiarities of our zone.

It is not true that nobody has said anything about the South-east roads. Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu had to go to the Minister of Works. Senator Andy Uba visited there too. I did not visit there, but when the man was being screened, I knew he was going to go to Ministry of Works, having looked at his CV and if you watched our screening, I asked him questions that concern roads and contract management in Nigeria, because you will be thinking about the roads and blaming everybody. Yes, it is true that they gave poor quality contractors our roads, but a contractor like Setraco is not a poor quality contractor.

He worked for me in Anambra State here. He did the road from Igboukwu through Ezinifite, Uga, Amesi, Umuchu, Umunze, Ogbunka, and Owere-Ezukalla into Isuochi. The road is seven years old, it’s carrying traffic, and it’s a good road. He also did for me Awka-Etiti, Nnewi, Utu, Ukpo, Osumoghu, Iseke. The roads are there shining, no crack, no single crack. I paid these contractors as at when due and they were happy working for me.

On Port Harcourt-Aba-Umuahia-Enugu expressway, we have been on that road for nearly seven years now or more. If you probe on why they have not been delivering, you will discover that government has not fulfilled their own part of the bargain of the contract; they have not been paying for continuity of those contracts.

If you go to Enugu- Onitsha expressway which they gave to CCC and one other contractor which they divided into parts, the contractors are not wonderful, but if you give them excuse to hide under non-payment, they will readily do so. Nigercat did so many roads for me in Onitsha, including Oguta Road which was in a very dilapidated state, Port-Harcourt Road and I went on supervision. I followed them up with serious supervision because I couldn’t trust them. I couldn’t trust their words because they tendered and bided the lowest. Even CCC did Mili John from Oba, Ojoto, to Umoji road. The road is still shining till today. So, everything depends on managers of contracts. I do not say that the contractors are blame-free, they are also to be blamed because I can see poor quality jobs being done on this Enugu- Onitsha expressway. If I’m their client, I will not take the job. I will come and condemn them and excavate them and they will re-do a large portion of them.

South-east caucus decision
So, we have decided as South-east caucus that we will make sure that there is good appropriation for this project in the 2012 budget. The former money that was there was project fund that were gathered by the senators themselves and pushed into this project. As we speak now this year, only the first quarter capital was released. They just released the second quarter the other day; and third and fourth are going to follow. No problem let them be released. Now that they are released, we domicile them in these ministries and that’s what is introduced into the budget as roll-over so that the money will not expire. Once there is a roll-over, it will not expire and we shall appropriate something for 2012 and with that we shall have enough funds. We shall do oversight.

We have agreed in the South-east caucus that even those of us that are not in the committee on Works, we will go on the roads that are in our areas, and I can tell you that I will head the team that will be inspecting federal roads in Anambra so that the people will better sit up. So, there will be sharing of functions, but on a global basis.

The committee is representing the interest of the Senate. So, this is what we have agreed to do; appropriate the funds, do serious oversight in terms of supervision of these contractors and the Ministry that is giving down the job and we have the capacity to do so because providentially, I won’t say its tactically, the committee for Works in the Senate is headed by Ayogu Eze, a Senator from Enugu State of the South-east. The committee on Works, House of Representatives is headed by Hon. Ozomgbachi from Enugu State. The committee on FERMA is also headed by another lawmaker from Enugu State. So, we will have no excuse not to oversight these people or not to do a correct appropriation.

South-east slot in Supreme Court
If you also watched the deliberations in the Senate, I’ve also complained about the taking away of one slot of the Supreme Court position zoned to the South-east and given to one of our sisters married to River State, Justice Odili. She is my family friend, she is an erudite judge, very intelligent, but the truth of the matter is that she is married to a man from River State and she started her career as a magistrate from River State’s lower bench and moved to be judge in River State and moved to the Court of Appeal on River State’s slot. So, to now move her to Supreme Court with a slot of the South-east is even a disrespect to her, it’s a slight to her, for them to do that.

I raised it on the floor of the Senate when we were confirming Justice Oloruyi Ola and the Senate President on the chair informed me that in the Sixth Senate, screening was done and it was marginally raised, but that from the papers before them, the appointing authority which is the NJC, the president nominated her based on the slot of the South-east and I said it’s unacceptable to me and I will raise it at the appropriate time for that error to be rectified, so that South-east will get another slot. We can’t be short-changed like that.

Second Niger Bridge
We are doing what we are supposed to do. The road from Port Harcourt to Enugu is now our first line priority. The one from Enugu to Bridgehead, both of them rank higher and we are also doing something about Second Niger Bridge. It is now that it has been discovered, the anomalies, the untruth that have enveloped that particular project, and as we speak now, some foreign investors are coming to partner with us to make that bridge a reality. If we don’t do it that way, that bridge will not be built because as I speak to you, there is no engineering design.

Whatever has been paraded before you before was just a smoke screen, an effigy of lies and deceit that was told to you earlier on by the Federal Government, especially those who went and said they are commissioning it in 2007. You know those; Obasanjo was there, Andy Uba was there, Peter Obi was there, James Ibori was there, Uduaghan was there, outgoing and incoming. They were all there and they did that. But we are all alive and that is the good thing about life. So, there is nothing there as we speak. So, a new study has been commissioned for designs for that bridge and with God supporting us, we are hopeful that the designs will be ready in the next 15 months.

It was commissioned about two months ago, so we expect the designs back not in 15 months, but 18 to 24 months. It is taking that time because we have now included rail into the design. There was no rail in the former ones they were doing. We need a rail so that when the rail line comes down from Lagos; that is the West-East rail that will go to Port Harcourt through Benin- Asaba, Onitsha- Owerri- Aba, then to Port Harcourt. We want that rail design synchronized into the bridge. With that, it’s a new development, a new kettle of fish altogether. So, we had to start the design all over again.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/nov/16/national-16-11-2011-0015.html

oh! they killed my sister. it shall never be well with them.

Three big girls were having their bath @ the same place. Suddenly air blew their towels away, unfortunately a guy was coming, one covered her breast, the other covered her private part, while the third covered her face. Among these three girls, who do u think is the WISEST?

Crisis rocks Ekiti ACN over imposition of chairmanship candidate
From CHARLES ADEGBITE, Ado-Ekiti
Wednesday, November 09 , 2011



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Members of the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, yesterday stormed the party’s state secretariat in Ado-Ekiti, to protest the imposition of a former House of Assembly member, Hon Rotimi Ajidara as the chairmanship candidate of the party.

The party members who came from Omuo-Ekiti in Ekiti East Local Government Area of Ekiti State, with placards lodged their complaints with the Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi and the ACN chairman in the state, Chief Jide Awe their grievances.

They pointed out that the party stands to lose out in the January 21,2012 local government election if it fails to adopt Kayode Idiowo as the chairmanship candidate.

Idiowo, on his own threatened to challenge the party’s decision in court if it fails to respect the zoning formula in Omuo-Ekiti and the mandate given to him as the Vice Chairmanship candidate in 2008 with Hon Wale Akinlabi to contest the chairmanship election in the botched 2008 local government election.

The spokesman of the group, Mr. Femi Jegede, who is the Secretary of Ward 8 alleged Ajidara of conniving with the Commissioner for Housing and Environment, Mr Wole Adewumi of using the names of the governor, Awe and the chief of staff to the governor, Mr. Yemi Adaramodu to intimidate his main opponent, Idiowo.

Jegede emphasized the need for the party to pick somebody from ward eight or six in Omuo-Ekiti , which have not produced the chairman in the past for it to have a landslide victory over the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
According to him, the PDP had already respected the zoning formula by picking somebody from ward 8 and this might let the party have edge over the ACN in the next election if that imbalance was not addressed.
The party’s ward scribe advised Ajidara and the party leaders not to see the chairmanship slot as a compensation for the loss the former Assembly member suffered to Bamidele Faparusi in the House of Representatives primary election prior to 2011 election.

His words: “I am from ward 8, while Ajidara is from ward 9 that had produced chairman in the past. As I am talking to you, the Omuo Ekiti is pregnant with revolutionary annoyance and we will not allow them to deliver because it will not augur well for the town and our party.

“As a loyal party man, I cannot challenge the supremacy of the party or work against its interest, but the party must be seen to be fair, just and maintain equity in this issue”

Predicating his assertion on the Supreme Court ruling on the case of Governor Rotimi Amechi Versus Celestine Omehia, Idiowo demanded that the party must respect the zoning formula in Omuo-Ekiti and the party’s mandate he jointly owned with Hon Chief Wale Akinlabi, which he said still subsists.

The embittered politician hinted that Akinlabi had relinquished the mandate to him as the vice chairmanship candidate in the primary conducted in 2008, where the party had abstained from the local government election conducted by the ousted Governor Segun Oni due to shoddy composition of the State electoral body.
He then advised the party to learn from the loss it suffered in the House of Assembly in Ekiti East Constituency 2, when Hon Dele Ajibola defeated the incumbent caretaker chairman, Miss Anthonia Omonusi due to imposition.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/nov/09/national-09-11-2011-0011.html

2-week baby girl dumped in Ekiti NURTW boss’ home
From CHARLES ADEGBITE, Ado-Ekiti
Wednesday, November 09 , 2011



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Residents of Moferere in Ajilosun area of Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, on Tuesday made a shocking find of a two-week-old baby girl dumped in front of the home of the former state chairman of the National Union of Road Transport workers (NURTW) at Eke Olere close.
The girl, who was later taken to the Erelu Adebayo Motherless Babies Home at Iyin-Ekiti by the police, was wrapped in a white shawl and placed in a well ventilated Dangote Spaghetti carton.

While speaking to Daily Sun on phone , the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, in the state, ASP Victor Babayemi, confirmed the development and described the incident as barbaric. He said those dumping their babies after birth were behaving as if they were not human beings who could feel the pain such children would be subjected to.

A resident who preferred anonymity said the inhabitants of the palatial Eke Olere Villa started hearing the cry of the baby as early as 11pm on Monday. However, they did not suspect that the baby could have been dumped thereby as it turned out to be.

She confirmed that when the wife of the ex-NURTW boss started hearing the wailing of the baby again at about 5am the second day (Tuesday) she had to rise from her slumber and moved out of the fence where she discovered that the baby had been dumped there.

The wife of the NURTW boss was said to have alerted her husband and other residents within the vicinity, who rose from their beds and besieged the spot to see the abandoned baby.
According to our source, the mother of the baby wrote the date of the baby’s birth on a sheet and wrapped it inside the carton, which confirmed the fact that the actual mother of the baby must have dumped her there.
Daily Sun gathered that the ex-NURTW boss immediately contacted a former staff of the Broadcasting Service of Ekiti State, BSES, now a Senior Special Assistant to Governor Kayode Fayemi to help him connect the relevant authorities to help save the situation.

The source said, “The baby immediately slept off as soon as the sympathizers carried her from the carton. Though, she was first given a first aid to help her recover from the cold she must have suffered in the night.
“In fact, the baby is beautiful to the extent that I even pleaded that they should allow me to take care of her”, the sourced recounted.
When contacted on telephone, the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Gender Empowerment, Mrs. Fola Richie-Adewusi as well confirmed the incident, saying the baby had been taken to Motherless Babies Home in Iyin-Ekiti for better upbringing.
Her words: “I did not have the detailed history of the baby. Even, as I am speaking to you, I don’t even know the sex of the baby, but I had been contacted that a baby was dumped in that street.”

The PPRO on the other hand advised anyone who knows he or she is not ready to become parent to abstain from getting pregnant and whoever finds abandoned baby to quickly contact the police for appropriate steps to be taken on such ugly development.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/nov/09/national-09-11-2011-0012.html

Day Amankwo clan in Enugu was besieged
…As Prof Okolo gives out daughter in marriage
From CHIDI NNADI, Enugu
Wednesday, November 09 , 2011


Prof. Okolo blessing his son-in-law while his daughter watches
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The Amankwo village in Eke town, Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State could not contain the unprecedented crowd that thronged to its community last Thursday, November 3. According a certain youth from the area, for many years, no festival or occasion had attracted such a high number of dignitaries to the community.

It was the traditional marriage of Miss Ugochinyelu Okolo, daughter of Prof Bartho Okolo, vice chancellor, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
She was being given out in marriage to Mr Chukwuka Anidi, who hails from Aboh in the same Udi Local Government Area.

At noon, one hour before the scheduled time for the occasion to start, the country home of the vice chancellor has been filled to the brim.
As the Okolo compound was already filled with exquisite and state-of-the-art cars those who could not come into the compound struggled to get parking spaces even two kilometers away from the family house.
At 4:10 p.m., shortly after Governor Sullivan Chime and his wife, Clara, arrived, the in-laws of the Okolos from the Aboh clan started bringing out their marriage items according to Igbo tradition.

The items they came with included the traditional palm wine, a giant goat and 35 cartons of beer.
After bringing out the items, the eldest man who led the Aboh people urged their in-laws from Amankwo Eke to reconfirm what they had brought to ensure they are complete.

The Amankwo people led by their oldest man, Chief Donatus Ilo agreed that the items were complete and then the stage was set for the wife-to-be to the Anidis to come out to greet her would-be husband’s people.
Thus, by 4:30 p.m., young Ugochinyelu led by a retinue of other young ladies in beautiful red ashebi attire that formed her bridal party came out to welcome formally the Aboh people and this charged the Okolo compound as people rose up in appreciation of the bridal train.

After the greeting, Ugochinyelu and her bridal train retired to the house to get ready for the main action of the day which was to come out to search for the husband.
By that time, it was already evening and Governor Chime and his entourage were taken into the Okolo family house for refreshment after Prof Okolo had brought his amiable wife, Nwanneka to greet the governor and his team.
By 5:08p.m. Ugochinyelu came out and went straight to her father who sat close to elder Ilo and his younger brother and Secretary to State Government (SSG) of Enugu State, Amechi Okolo, to receive the wine with which she would begin the search for the man who had come to marry her.

When Ugochinyelu got to where her father and his kinsmen were seated, Chief Ilo took time to advise her, directing her to collect the wine from her father after which she should go in search of the man in a bid to show them who he was.
After this, Prof Okolo before he finally gave the wine cup to her advised Ugochinyelu of the importance of what she was about to do, urging her daughter to carry her good upbringing to her new home.
Then the search for Chukwuka began as Ugochinyelu carried the wine in her two hands, traversing the traditional marriage arena to look for her husband-to-be.
There was great joy when she found him at the extreme of the arena where he was sandwiched by his friends and relations from the Aboh clan.

As soon as Ugochinelu gave the wine to her husband, they smiled to themselves as they walked out, dancing to meet Prof Okolo and Chief Ilo to go get their blessings in marriage.
After receiving their marital blessings from the bride’s parents, they took to the open floor to dance with their friends and family members coming out to appreciate the new union; and the Okolo compound went up in joy and jubilation as the traditional marriage rites had been completed and accomplished.

Ordinarily, refreshment for the traditional marriage would have started after the search, but this was not followed as the large crowd could not be allowed to remain unattended to; so there were buffet points at strategic locations in the compound from where guests helped themselves.

Besides the Enugu State governor who came with his wife, former Vice President Alex Ekwueme, former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, Igwe Laz Ekwueme, APGA National Chairman, Chief Victor Umeh, VCs of other universities in the country, heads of departments at the UNN, among many other dignitaries, attended the traditional wedding.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/nov/09/national-09-11-2011-0020.html

Mbaise folks in Sokoto celebrate New Yam Festival in style
From TUNDE OMOLEHIN, Sokoto
Wednesday, November 09 , 2011
Mbaise elders performing the rites
Photo: Sun Publishing

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Indigenes of Mbaise, resident in Sokoto, recently celebrated this year’s New Yam feast in grand style. They also launched their maiden magazine, The Mbaise people in Sokoto at the Immigration Command Training School in Sokoto.

Mbaise is a clan found in today’s Owerri Federal Senatorial Zone of Imo State of Nigeria. They live in the rain forest belt area of southern Nigeria, comprising Agbaja, Ahiara, Ekwereazu, Ezinihitte and Oke-Avuru. The community is bounded by Owerri, Mbaitoli, Ikeduru, Mbano, Etiti, Isiala-Ngwa and Ngor-Okpuala Local Government Areas.

The people, who are described as the most populous homogenous clan in Africa, were predominantly farmers but are mostly educated, while entertainment and artistry remain their greatest industries till date.

On the D-day, some indigenes of the community had travelled from far and near to join their kinsmen in celebration, identifying with their kith and kin and demonstrating their uniqueness of indivisibility, procreative, peace and harmony on the occasion.

The rites of new yam festival in the olden days were usually declared by the chief priest of the community who would sacrifice the yam to the goddess of farmland in thanksgiving for the people to start consuming. But that has changed in modern times to some extent. It is usually performed in a different manner due to the advent of Christianity and the civilisation.

While performing the rites, the chief priest, represented by Mazi Polycarp Anaeme, read some incantations in thanksgiving to Almighty God. He cut a roasted yam and followed that with the breaking of kolanuts for the consumption of the people in attendance.

Speaking at the occasion, chairman of the management committee, Chief John Chilaka said: “Iri ji Mbaise had its origin and evolution from the ancestral period and has become an event to be remembered by the awareness of oral tradition from the stories told by the forefathers.”
According to him, “this specie (type of yam) could be cut-off early, leaving the head underground. That would later grow and produce tuber for consumption while some are reserved for the next planting season.”

He further said: “The people have survived over the years through the bumper harvest of yam. Therefore, in thanksgiving to God, this wonder of nature calls for a special celebration as a day has been set aside for eating of the new yam. That is what we are demonstrating today in line with the launching of our maiden magazine to further express the cultural heritage of our community-Mbaise.”

In his speech, the chairman of the occasion, Chief Julius Dike expressed satisfaction over the package of the magazine. He commended the organizers of the festival for coming out with a magazine that contained the historical contents of the clan and also urged the people to use their valuable heritage to promote peace and unity in the state they found themselves.

Earlier in his address, the Chairman of the community in Sokoto, Engineer Hillary Anyanwu said the new yam feast in the state was aimed at showcasing the huge cultural values that Mbaise people are known for, adding that “this is a unique annual event celebrated at home on the 15th of August, every year.”
According to him, “this community comprises Agbaja, Ahiara, Ekwereazu, Ezinihite and Oke-uvuru, an entity clan that makes up three local government areas called Aboh Mbaise, Ahiazu Mbaise, and Ezinihitte Mbaise. We are known as the most populous homogenous clan in Africa.”

Also, author of the magazine, Sir Imo Casmir Chibuzo, a lecturer with Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnics, Birnin Kebbi, described the people of the community as progressive, proactive, predominant and prominent in all sphere of life. “We celebrate life and without any fear of contradiction, our greatest industries include procreation, education and entertainment.”

Chief launcher at the event, Chief Athan Keke (Ogbuefi I of Mbaise) made a donation of N250, 000 to declare the fund raising of the magazine open. He, however, encouraged the people of the community to always show their generosity in order to sustain the existence of the magazine.

Those that graced the occasion include the Igbo Community President-General, Chief Matthew Chukwu as well as the Presidents of the five south-east states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo. Others were the representative of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Igbo Community Presidents-General (Emeritus), Chief Innocent Udeh, Prince Emma Eze and other dignitaries, among others.

The whole concept, according to the organisers, was to express the rich cultural heritage and social activities of Mbaise community and how much the people still reckon with their values till date. The occasion was glamorized by cultural dancers of Abigbo and Ekere-Avu.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/citysun/2011/nov/09/citysun-09-11-2011-002.html

Imo to attract N150bn investments
From  VAL OKARA, Owerri
Wednesday, November 09 , 2011

 

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Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has said his administration would attract over N150 billion investments into the state at the end of his tenure.
Okorocha, who dropped the hint yesterday  during an interactive session with correspondents  of the Nigeria Union of Journalists  in Owerri, disclosed that some foreign investors from the United States and Asia had signified interest to invest in the Imo Plantation (former Adapalm Plantation).

On some  of the uncompleted  projects  embarked upon by the immediate administration of  Chief Ikedi Ohakim, Okorocha assured that government would  complete them but, not without  renegotiation with the contractors currently handling the project.

He alleged that some of the contracts were highly inflated, describing the N7.5 billion fly over bridge under construction in the state as outrageous . According  to him, Ohakim had already  paid N1.3 billion  out of N2.3b  to the contractor handling the Ahiajoku convention  centre still under construction and  hurriedly commissioned the project, stressing that the centre could be constructed with the sum of N600 million.

He pointed out that  the cost of governance  in the state had cut down to near zero to provide infrastructure  and democracy dividends to various parts of the state.
He further  reassured the people of the state that the free education of the present  administration  was still on course as government had commenced the building of 305 modern primary schools and each to be cited  in one ward in the state.
He also disclosed that plans had been concluded to commence the building  of 27 new general hospitals in the 27 council areas of the state.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/politics/2011/nov/09/politics-09-11-2011-003.html

nigeria after 2015

R.I.P Eucharia Remmy!!! She graduated from UNN in Dec. 2010 and was doing her Youth Service in Damaturu, Yobe State when she was attacked and killed by the Boko Haram last week. She is from Enugu State (Nsuka). ***Shall we continue to live as one?

Policeman shoots boy, 13
From PAUL ORUDE, Bauchi
Monday, October 24, 2011


•
Photo: Sun News Publishing
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A 13-year-old boy has been rushed to the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital, Bauchi after being allegedly shot by a policeman during the crisis that erupted in Yelwa Kagadama area in the state capital last week.

Musa Wali, a student of Government Day Secondary School, Yelwa Tudu, Daily Sun learnt was standing near his house in Yelwa area on Thursday October 20 when he was allegedly shot by the police. The house of the teenager is a stone throw from the house of Charity Augustine who was shot dead by a trigger happy soldier inside the family house.

The elder brother of Musa, Timothy Wali said he was standing with a group of other people including some women, a patrol vehicle stormed the area and the policemen in the van were ordering people to go into their houses.
“Then a policeman shot my brother. The bullet hit him in the face and he collapsed. We rushed him to the hospital and the doctors said he is responding to treatment,” Timothy said.

Timothy said that the witnesses who were at the scene said the policemen boarded the Hilux van and just sat there as everyone was crying that Musa had been killed. He said that his brother was lucky that the bullet did not penetrate his face and that the Human Rights Watch office in the state had taken over the matter.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Mohammed Barau, was not available for comments on the matter as he did not pick our correspondent’s call nor reply the text message sent to his mobile telephone number.
Meanwhile, The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Bauchi command have refuted the allegation that Musa was beaten to death by their officials.

The boy who was not identified at the time of writing reports was alleged to have been beaten by men of the NSCDC as testified by some witnesses and widely reported in the media. But the State Commander of the NSCDC, Haruna Shehu disclosed this to newsmen in his office none of the men of the command was involved in beating of any civilian in the course of quelling the crisis.

Shehu said the men who were alos invited to assist other security agents to curtail crisis have been civil and had always maintained a cordial relationship with members of the public. Shehu who said that his men are not to carry weapons in relating to members of the public in the discharge of their duties not to talk of guns, said his men were always on crisis areas to assist the security agencies.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/oct/24/national-24-10-2011-016.html

Baba Suwe: We’re not moved by public outcry
By CHRIS ANUCHA
Monday, October 24, 2011


• Baba Suwe
Photo: Sun News Publishing
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The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said it is not perturbed by the public outcry over the continued detention of the ace actor/comedian, Mr. Babatunde Omidina a.k.a Baba Suwe.

The recent position of the agency was informed by the fact that the large chunk of substance, suspected to be hard drug was found in Baba Suwe’s stomach by a CT scan at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH). The scan was said to have been carried out in collaboration with an Indian doctor.

A source at the agency told Daily Sun that the suspect would still remain in court, after the 15 days ordered by the Federal High Court, presided over by Justice Okechukwu Okeke, until the scan machine proves otherwise.

“There is reasonable ground to still keep him in our custody. We are not perturbed about the public outcry. He is not going anywhere until he excretes the drugs detected by the CT scan,” he said. Keen watchers of the drama said the recent position of NDLEA portended danger for the popular actor, as he risked having his intestine ruptured or being operated on to have the alleged drugs evacuated from his stomach.

Baba Suwe was arrested at the Murtala Mohammed International airport (MMIA) on Wednesday, October 12, 2011 while on his way to France, what the anti-narcotic agency called ‘suspicion of drug trafficking.’

The agency, which seemed confused over the matter, especially, since the actor failed to excrete the alleged hard drug and the fact that some human rights activist dragged the agency to court for violating his human rights, took him to LASUTH where the machine still indicated that he had some hard drugs stuck in his stomach .



http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/oct/24/national-24-10-2011-011.html

Monday Business Report
Show interest in govt budget, Ezekwesili advises Nigerians
From HENRY CHUKWURAH, Port Harcourt
Monday, October 24, 2011



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Vice President of the World Bank in charge of African Region, Nigeria’s Mrs Oby Ezekwesili over the weekend in Port Harcourt advised Nigerians to have more than a passing interest in the planning and implementation of government’s budgets.

Mrs. Ezekwesili made the call in a key note address she presented at the opening session of a two-day forum on public procurement organized for 12 states of the federation even as Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State complained that strict adherence to due process law slows his government’s project execution.

The former minister in the Obasanjo-led administration warned that it was dangerous for citizens to disregard the content of their government’s budgets because even with a good public procurement system in place, could encourage misplacement of policies with attendant adverse effects on the masses.

“Now, if the citizens and the indigenes do not take any interest in their budget, the wrong priority may seal up the budget. And if you have the wrong priority in the budget, and you have a perfect public procurement system, what will you have? A perfectly conducted wrong priority, isn’t it. Does that benefit the poor? Definitely not.” Mrs Ezekwesili who was nicknamed “Madam Due Process” while in government, harped on the need to develop “a robust public financial management in the country .

She urged that those involved in the distribution and management of public funds should ensure that available resources are spread to impact on all facts of the people’s lives and reduce poverty.
“If you do not improve the result that comes out from each state year in year out, you will increase the number of the classification of poor people in your state”.|

Speaking on public procurement, which she said is “at the center of the way public money is spent”, the World Bank Vice President warned that, “poor governance and corruption in procurement invariably reduces development outcomes and are likely to discourage investment.

Mrs. Ezekwesili told states that for procurement to become an integral part of the broader governance agenda, it cannot be reformed away from the political economy of the country. She urged state governments to be patient with the new public procurement system because it might seem slow pointing out that, “if you are going to set a new process, it will take some time”.

Addressing the gathering, Governor Amaechi said that although the Bureau on Public Procurement has been doing a good job, it has to increase its speed adding that, “if they continue to be slow, we will be tempted to override them.”


http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/businessnews/2011/oct/24/bussines-24-10-2011-003.html

Okorocha signs N20,000 minimum wage for Imo workers
From VAL OKARA, Owerri
Monday, October 24, 2011


•
Photo: Sun News Publishing
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Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, will today, sign a new minimum wage of N20,000 with the organised Labour in the state at the state secretariat along Portharcourt Road, Owerri.

In a statement by the Special Assistant, Media (Print) to Governor Okorocha, Ebere Uzoukwa yesterday said the gesture to the state workers represented a substantial increase in the N18,000 national minimum wage approved by the Federal Government.

According to him, it also demonstrated Governor Okorocha’s commitment to the upliftment of the welfare of workers and to further motivate them towards living up to expectation in their responsibility to ensure that government policies and programmes were effectively implemented.

Okorocha who had earlier expressed that N18,000 minimum wage approved by the Federal Government was grossly inadequate to be regarded as living wage, promised to pay above the national minimum wage in Imo State.
Also, the recent report released by the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) rated Imo among 15 healthy states in Nigeria that could pay minimum wage and embark on capital projects owing to the prudent financial management policy of Governor Okorocha.

Apart from the N20,000 minimum wage, Governor Okorocha had equally approved the construction of 15km of roads in each of the 27 LGAs, construction of European standard schools in each of the 305 INEC wards in the state as well as other ongoing capital projects initiated by his administration.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/oct/24/national-24-10-2011-013.html

N174bn FCT road contract fraud uncovered
• Senate summons FCT minister, FCDA chiefs, Chinese firm
• Another project inflated by N16bn
From ADETUTU FOLASADE-KOYI, Abuja
Monday, October 24, 2011


• FCT Minister, Bala Mohammed
Photo: Sun News Publishing
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Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory {FCT} has uncovered N147 billion fraud in the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) over duplicity in the award of expansion of Kubwa-Abuja Road in Abuja.

The Senator Smart Adeyemi-led FCT Committee discovered that the same road, with the same length and engineering design was awarded to two different companies at the whooping sum of N147 billion. One kilometre of road, it was further discovered, was estimated at N4 billion.

These facts were uncovered by the Senate FCT committee during an oversight on the road projects designed to ease the traffic congestion along the Kubwa –Abuja axis of the nation’s capital.
Details showed that FCDA awarded the construction of the 19.5 kilometre road to CGC, a Chinese company at N81.9 billion in June 2009 with the completion date put at November 2011.

The project involves construction of left and right service carriageway, additional lane of main carriage way as well as rehabilitation of existing carriageways of Kubwa Express Road. Thereafter, the second part of the same road was awarded to an indigenous company, Dantata and Sawoe at N66.6 billion. The only difference in both projects, Daily Sun gathered, is that one has to construct a bridge across the road and the other has 800 metros added to its contract.

Completion date of the road project has been shifted to March 2012. Already, the committee has summoned the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed to explain the discrepancies in the contracts. The contractors have also been summoned to appear before the Senate FCT Committee.
Also invited is the Chinese firm, which is expected to explain to the committee how “it got the N81.9 billion contract with a clear difference of over N16 billion,” said Senator Adeyemi.

Also summoned to appear before the committee within one week is the supervising ministry and the officials from the Federal Capital Development Authority{FCDA}. The committee has also summoned another Chinese company whose activities are reportedly “impeding completion of the mono-rail project in the FCT.” Although, no date has been set for the appearance of the minister and other invited officials, Senator Adeyemi said it might likely be this week.

Speaking with newsmen at the project site at the weekend, Senator Adeyemi who led other members of the committee on the tour, disclosed that he was a member of the same committee in the sixth Senate and discovered same discrepancy when the same contractor was directed to explain in writing to the committee.
“The contractor ignored the directive from this same committee in the last Senate.“Unfortunately, up till the present moment, there has not been any explanation or communication with the committee.”

Adeyemi explained further that, “ Dantata and Sawoe, an indigenous firm got same length of road for N66bn, CGC a foreign company got it for N81bn on the same terrain.“l don’t see any difference on the road. CGC should please and come and explain how it got the N81 billion with a clear difference of over N16 billion.” Speaking directly to CGC officials, Adeyemi said: “You cannot defend N16billion difference. We are going to summon you with the FCT Ministry and if we come to the conclusion that the contract is inflated, you will refund to the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“It is unjustifiable; it is not acceptable to the Senate. We will get a different consultant to review the project. At the end of the investigation, if we find out that it was inflated, the difference would be refunded and paid into government treasury.[b] The company even imported fabricated street light poles thereby wasting our scarce foreign resources. “This is a thing that could be done in Nigeria, in Nnewi, Anambra State. It would even be done better there. How, then, are we going to grow technologically?”[/b]Defending importation of street light electric poles, the company’ site construction manager said the decision to import materials was reached on realising that even the locally-produced materials are also imported.
CGC Engineering Construction Manager, Mr. Jiang Kieng told the committee that approval to import the materials was given by the Federal Government. In it’s reaction to the committee, with only about 70 per cent of the work completed, the company told the Senate panel that due to “lack of funding and several other challenges,” it would not meet the November target and pleaded to be given till the end of March 2012.

Reacting to the additional contract sum of N16 billion for only 800 metres, the committee alleged sharp practices, adding that the contractor would summoned over the issue and if found guilty, would be required to refund the difference.

Representative of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) at the project inspection site, Mr. Felix Nwankwo told the committee that the military Barracks along the Expressway was not in the FCT Master Plan and may likely give way as road construction progresses.


http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/oct/24/national-24-10-2011-003.html

well done dual core, afam and others,

pls what of broadband? on several occasions i tried posting sth on this forum, i was interrupted and told that my broadband has expired.

what is really broadband?
can it be measured? if yes, how?

thanks

15 killed, over 50 houses burnt as ACN supporters engage in violent protest
From ROSE EJEMBI, Makurdi
Tuesday, October 18, 2011



Photo: Sun News Publishing
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At least 15 persons as well as over 50 houses have been burnt in a violent protest which erupted early hours of yesterday (Monday) in Ugbah, Logo Local Government Area of Benue State. According to eyewitnesses’ report, a young money lender was killed by yet to be identified hoodlums inside his house on Sunday night.

Daily Sun source revealed that while the police were still trying to unravel those behind the gruesome murder of the young man, some youth suspected to be members of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) mobilized and started attacking the homes of prominent PDP members in the area.
In the ensuing protest, no fewer than 10 persons were either hacked down or shot dead while over 50 houses were completely razed down.

Some of the houses touched included those of the traditional ruler, Zaki Terngu, two houses belonging to Kertyo, that of Iwar among others while four persons including a pregnant woman were also killed in the traditional ruler’s compound.

The Governor, Dr. Gabriel Suswam who was among the first callers at the scene of the protest, yesterday described the mayhem as the handiwork of the major opposition party (ACN) in the state.
The governor noted that the situation was totally unacceptable. He stated that the ACN had gone too far this time and called on the police and other security agencies to wade into the matter.

“Politics is not rascality, opposition is not criminality. ACN has gone too far and we cannot continue to condone this kind of arson. Anyone involved, no matter how highly placed would be made to face the wrath of the law.”
Suswam who decried the magnitude of the wanton destruction of life and property in Ugbah, his home local government area lamented that the opposition are bent on making state ungovernable for him.

He recalled that there was a thanksgiving somewhere recently where the ACN governorship candidate, Prof. Steve Ugbah and former Governor, Senator George Akume were making inciting statements capable of causing rancour in the state.
The Governor who called on PDP supporters and people of the state to remain calm disclosed that already, soldiers as well as mobile policemen have been deployed to the area to bring the situation under control.

Reacting, State Chairman of the ACN, Abba Yaro alleged that two chieftains of his party were killed in Logo by suspected PDP members.
Yaro also alleged that the PDP had at a meeting in the home of one Commissioner, vowed to eliminate prominent chieftains of the ACN. He maintained that the party would not be deterred until it reclaims its stolen mandate.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Alaribe Ejike, (ASP) confirmed the report and noted that the police had set up investigation to unravel the immediate and remote causes of the mayhem.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/oct/18/national-18-10-2011-001.html

Verification: One pensioner dies, 2 collapse in Asaba
From PAUL OSUYI, Asaba
Tuesday, October 18, 2011



Photo: Sun News Publishing
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Two pensioners reportedly fainted in Asaba, Delta State during the ongoing verification and screening exercise for federal retirees across the country. The two retirees were resuscitated by their colleagues. Their identities were still being concealed as at yesterday.

But another pensioner yet to be identified was said to have slumped and died in the process before he could get help. His corpse was said to have been left in the open for several hours before the family mobilized an ambulance to convey it. Investigation revealed that the health of the senior citizens was too fragile to withstand the harsh conditions they were made to go through for the verification exercise.

When Daily Sun visited the Federal Secretariat in Asaba yesterday, the place had practically been taken over by the senior citizens, most of whom were brought in by their children. It was observed that the pensioners were crammed under the few canopies provided while several other, who could not find space in the available canopies sat under the scorching sun waiting to be attended to.

The retirees expressed dissatisfaction with the exercise, describing it as excruciating for their age and health conditions.
They said they had to travel from different parts of the state to the capital to participate in the exercise to continue to earn pension.
A 74-year-old Joseph Agbademi said the screening was the height of suffering for him, saying that, “I have been coming from Kwale for three days now and I am yet to be screened. The system is very poor and this is not good for us.”

His colleague from Effurun, Mr. Samson Enafewa also said the screening exercise was very poor, adding that he was yet to be screened “after four days of coming here continuously. They said I should submit my papers and I have done that and still waiting for them to call my name.”


http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/oct/18/national-18-10-2011-0035.html

Herbalist, 52, commits suicide in Abeokuta
From Moshood Adebayo, Abeokuta
Tuesday, October 18, 2011



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A 52-year-old herbalist ended his life tragically as he committed suicide yesterday in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. The herbalist, Kamoru Gbogbolegbo took his life after the controversy which trailed the delivery of a baby boy in his maternity home in Oke-Ido, Abeokuta North Local Government area of the state capital.
The controversy had led to the detention of the late herbalist at a police station at Ibara for five days. He regained his freedom on Sunday only to take his life in the early hours of yesterday.

His lifeless body was found by one of his wives with whom he passed the night before committing the dastardly act.
Gbogbolegbo had used an empty drum to aid his hanging on the ceiling with a rope in his bungalow which curious residents has turned into a Mecca of sorts.

Before his death, Daily Sun learnt that Kamoru had allegedly committed a criminal act by giving a baby boy who he delivered of a woman last week to another woman.
One of his neighbours further told Daily Sun that one of his customers had brought the wife of her son to the herbalist for ante-natal.

“Gbogbolegbo was a popular herbalist in this area who also operates a maternity home. We learnt one of his customers had paid him to take care of her sister-in law who successfully delivered a baby boy sometime last week.
“We learnt that after the successful delivery of the woman, the herbalist exchanged the baby for money by giving him to another woman who was not pregnant, but was amonghis client.

“After the naming and celebration by the fake mother, the genuine mother of the new born baby was said to have accosted the fake mother and challenged her about the maternity of the baby she was carrying about.
It was further gathered that the genuine mother also accused the herbalist of selling his baby boy to another mother.
‘’After much pressure by the genuine mother, the herbalist was said to have told her that the baby boy she delivered died at birth and had been buried.
The allegation of selling a baby was said to have led to the arrest of the late herbalist who was subsequently detained for few days before his release on bail on Sunday.

As people thronged the area to catch a glimpse of the late herbalist, many of his colleagues have described his death as courageous.
A senior herbalist in the council area who spoke with Daily Sun on condition of anonymity said: “He has died a courageous death. It is better to die honourably than allow his image which he built for several years to be dragged to the mud. No matter what anybody or group says, he has behaved well by taking his own life.

“We can’t deny him in death. He was one of us. In spite of the circumstances that led to his death and how he died, we shall accord him the necessary rites so as to prevent re-occurrence of such among us.”
Meanwhile, the police from the Ibara Divisional Police Headquarters had removed his body from the ceiling and laid it on his bed where people struggled to catch a glimpse before his burial later in the day.


http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/oct/18/national-18-10-2011-008.html

Yoruba leaders seek way out of political setback
By RAZAQ BAMIDELE
Friday October 07, 2011




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Having dawned on the Yoruba nation that they are on zero ground in the scheme of things in the country, a forum was organized yesterday in Ikenne, the country home of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo under the leadership of the Awolowo Matriarch, Chief Mrs. HID Awolowo.

In her opening speech on the occasion, Mrs. Awolowo stated categorically that “this forum is to seek a way of moving the Yoruba nation forward and not at all seek leadership of any kind but to forge a unity that will enable us to be relevant again in the scheme of things in Nigeria.”

According to her, if proper steps were not collectively taken, the fate of the nation would be hanging in the balance, asserting that “coming together and speaking with one voice again can bail us out of the wood.”
In his own address, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade called for total forgiveness of and coming together of all the sons and daughters of the race for the benefit of all and not for self agrandisement.

The royal father, who also lamented that the race was moving backward also warned that “unless we come together and speak with one voice, we may not be able to take our rightful position in the the country’s affairs.”
The royal father, who said the forum was not to trade blames or pass bulk therefore appealed to all the Yoruba across the world to burry whatever grievances they might be nursing against one another and come together for the progress of the Yoruba nation.

Setting the tone of the discussion while delivering his welcome address, a clergyman and the Vice Chairman of Yoruba Unity Forum, Most Reverend Ayo Ladigbolu regretted that in the political hierarchy Yoruba was not in the first 15, blaming the setback on this unity among the people of the race.

He averred that unity and togetherness were the vital ingredients for peace, stability, growth and progress warning that where these ingredients were lacking, backwardness would always be the order of the day.
Yoruba, according to him, had had it better at a time, saying the forum was for self appraisal to assess the past and the present to know where things went wrong with a view to chart a new cause of moving forward.

Former Minister of Aviation, Chief Ebenezer Babatope in his own contribution admitted that Yoruba were on zero ground but quickly pointed out that it was not beyond redemption, saying the forum was to find a way out of the predicament.


http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/oct/07/national-07-10-2011-018.html