[size=13pt]@homerac 7

Well Jonathans policies are all encompassing and credit should go to him. . .Heres a lil taste of them below in case u have amnesia[/size]



[B][size=14pt]THE BUSINESSDAY ARTICLE BELOW PUTS IT IN PERSPECTIVE[/size][/B]

[B][SIZE=13pt]FG requires N31trn for economic reforms, says Jonathan [/SIZE][/B]

[B][SIZE=13pt]Tuesday, 14 September 2010 [/SIZE][/B]01:19

•Submits sovereign wealth bill to National Assembly

[B][SIZE=13pt]President Goodluck Jonathan’s N31 trillion economic reform package announced yesterday in Abuja targets key sectors of the economy including the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), power, oil and gas, banking as well as the capital market. [/SIZE][/B]

[B][SIZE=14pt]These are all key sectors that have come into renewed public focus in recent times. The electoral commission has come up with a final time table for the 2011 general elections scheduled to hold in January, 2011 and is set to commence voter registration[/SIZE][/B].

The power sector, on its part has continued to be seen as a let down over many years, with the government unable to provide steady electricity supply to citizens and industry. [B][SIZE=14pt]But the government recently issued a roadmap that will resuscitate the power sector, spelling out the roles of the private sector in the exercise. [/SIZE][/B]

[B][SIZE=13pt]Speaking at the opening session of the 10th meeting of the Honorary International Investor Council (HIIC), held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, President Jonathan said the achievement of the goals would also enable the country position itself as one of the greatest economies by the year 2020[/SIZE][/B]. “Current estimates indicate that we require about N31 trillion or approximately $200 billion in investments to realise the economic transformation that we envision,” the president said but noted however, that funding gaps exist in the financial estimate.

[B][SIZE=14pt]“One of the ways we can fill this gap is through increased international investment and we are taking all the steps necessary to improve Nigeria as an investment destination,” he said. The president also told the gathering that he had sent a bill to the National Assembly to create a sovereign wealth fund, and that federal and state governments had set aside $1 billion as seed capital[/SIZE][/B].

[B][SIZE=13pt]The sovereign wealth fund is to divert more of Nigeria’s revenues towards badly-needed infrastructure development, save for future generations, and set aside a financial reserve to weather any economic downturn[/SIZE][/B]. The fund would replace the current system by which the Federal Government is meant to save oil revenues above a benchmark price into an excess crude account (ECA), a pillar of reforms backed by the International Monetary Fund and launched in 2003.

[B][SIZE=13pt]“I have forwarded a bill to the National Assembly to create a national sovereign fund to ensure that we have the legal underpinning for national savings,” Jonathan said. He told the meeting that the government was “committed to a stable macroeconomic framework” based on sustainable public debt levels and fiscal deficits[/SIZE][/B].

[B][SIZE=14pt]The president said: “We have a new Electoral Act which significantly improves INEC’s ability to conduct free and fair elections. We have also appointed globally acclaimed men and women of integrity to conduct the elections. All that is now required is the support and cooperation of everybody. I believe that we are now at the tipping point of Nigeria’s social, political and economic transformation. We will however have to work more closely in order to bridge the funding gap that we see as an impediment to meeting our target of placing Nigeria among the 20 largest economies in the world by 2020.” [/SIZE][/B]

Jonathan said [B][SIZE=14pt]as a key factor in re-engineering the economic policies of the nation, “we recently launched the electric power roadmap and have forwarded the list of appointed Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission to the Senate to signpost the diligent implementation of the Electric Power Sector Reform Bill of 2005”. He said the move “will enhance the provision of stable electricity based on a model that has worked here in Nigeria in the telecommunications sector and elsewhere in the power sector.” [/SIZE][/B]

[B][SIZE=13pt]The president also said the government has taken a far reaching step to reform the oil and gas sector with the enactment of the Petroleum Industry Bill and the Nigeria Content Development Law, stressing that the government is “aware of some concerns raised by a few of the international oil companies and we are addressing some of these concerns within the context of fairness and our national interests”. [/SIZE][/B]

President Jonathan said that the global economic crisis revealed significant weakness in the nation’s financial regulatory framework as well as corporate governance, and noted further:[B][SIZE=13pt] “We have enacted the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) bill. AMCON will ring-fence a significant portion of the impaired assets of our banks and help restore the financial health of the banks”. [/SIZE][/B]

[B][SIZE=14pt]Speaking further on the reform agenda of government, Jonathan said: “The Debt Management Office (DMO) has continued to restructure our public debt and to develop our bond market, thus creating new opportunities for corporate access to long term debt finance.” [/SIZE][/B]

[B][SIZE=12pt]“I am convinced that with the reforms and strengthening of our public institutions, we are effectively eliminating the key foundations and support systems that have allowed corruption to thrive in Nigeria,”[/SIZE][/B] he said.

http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13487:fg-requires-n31trn-for-economic-reforms-says-jonathan&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=18

when a polished man like this talks. . .u all should listen

of course the Independence Bomb Blast(IBB) supporting clowns on here are too fool.ish to reason like the PROF. . .

[size=14pt]I’d have been stoned to death by now if Fashola were a bad person[/size]
By ADEOLA BALOGUN
Saturday, 9 Oct 2010



Deacon Iyanda, Gov Fashola lookalike


[size=14pt]As far as resemblances go, Deacon Olusola Iyanda could be said to be the twin brother of Gov. Raji Fashola of Lagos State. Iyanda shares the story of how his resemblance to the governor has caused him anxious moments with ADEOLA BALOGUN
[/size]

Lagos State governor, Raji Fashola, SAN, no doubt, is popular among Lagosians. He is seen as a governor who is doing something, at least, to change the face of the Centre of Excellence.


And so his face has become as common as the naira note. [size=14pt]But there is a young man who daily prays that the governor continues to remain in the good books of the masses through the provision of quality governance.


And as Fashola continues doing that, the young man too can walk freely on the streets without being molested – or stoned[/size].


[size=14pt]It is not that Deacon Olusola Iyanda belongs to the same political party with the governor or shares any familial affinity; his own burden is that there is a striking similarity between him and Fashola.


Iyanda, the Fashola lookalike, not only shares same physical features with the governor, he dresses the same way, especially as he also wears the famous etu (a Yoruba) cap and the clean pair of glasses being worn by the governor.[/size]


Iyanda, who is a branch manager of a multinational company in Lekki, Lagos, has since 2007, when Fashola came into the limelight, become an object of embarrassing stares from Lagosians who think he is actually their governor.


[b]Iyanda tells SATURDAY PUNCH that he has for almost four years been battling embarrassment from the public, who have countless times mistaken him for the governor.


He says, ”There was a day I was waiting for the traffic light on the road here and while I was eager to see the green light, a group of secondary school pupils came to my side and knelt down and said, ‘Good afternoon sir.‘


”I was so embarrassed because they thought I was the governor. And it has become a daily thing. There was a day I wanted to buy my children‘s books at a bookshop around here.


”As I parked the car and entered the shop, come and see how everybody started starring at me. After a while, one of them who was bold enough and maybe was satisfied that I was not the governor, came up to me and said, ‘We thought the governor has decided to pay us a visit today.‘


”In fact, this thing took a dangerous dimension one day when an okada (commercial motorcycle) rider nearly ran over me in his attempt find out whether I was actually Fashola.


”I had just parked and was about walking into a place when the okada man cornered me and I nearly fell in my attempt to escape being knocked down.


”He said people around the place had been watching me for some time, that an argument had ensued among them that I must be governor. He told me that he did what he did to find out whether it was true that I was actually the governor.


”Can you imagine that? And this has become a daily affair unless I don‘t go out.”


To compound Iyanda‘s plight, he is a chartered marketer, who before his elevation to the post of a branch manager a few months ago, was a sales manager in his outfit and was always on the road in Lagos.


And very often, Lagosians have been used to tales of how Gov. Fashola often disguises as an ordinary citizen, visiting places in Lagos. So many times Iyanda has been mistaken as the governor in disguise without his security details.


”There was a day I had a meeting with the management of an eatery that we supply in Lagos and just as I entered the room, everybody stood up just as it is done when an important dignitary such as a governor enters a place,” Iyanda recalls.


”I was so embarrassed and I had to ask them why they did that. They told me that they actually thought I was Gov. Fashola.[/b]


”Nowadays, I don‘t want to remain so long in a public place because once people start staring at me, I know why and such stares could be embarrassing.


”I am not a politician at all, but I thank God that Lagosians love their governor. My prayer is that God will continue to guide him so that the goodwill he has among his people is not frittered away by becoming unpopular among them.


[size=14pt]”As long as he remains a good person and a good governor, I am safe as an individual. Let me tell you, if Fashola had been a bad person or an unpopular governor, I would have been stoned on the streets of Lagos.[/size]


”I would have even been shot because I go out every day and people often mistake me for the governor.


”You know they say he is always on the street in disguise without his security aides, it would have been very easy for some disgruntled elements to tail me and attack me in retaliation for their grievances against the governor.”


Accepted that he shares facial features with the governor, why should he then begin to wear the same etu cap and the same pair of glasses being worn by the governor?


But the Igbo-Ora, Oyo State-born Iyanda says that it is a coincidence. In fact, he insisted that our correspondent followed him home to have a look at his various photo albums, where he appeared in the same apparel dating back 15 years.


[size=14pt]”This is how I dress,” he says. ”At least you can see the pictures here. I took many of them almost 15 years ago. I never knew Gov. Fashola before 2007 and even up till now, I have not met him as a person.[/size]


”I only see him on television or on the pages of newspapers. I admire him as a person because of what he is doing in Lagos because I am a Lagosian too.


”But it does not go beyond that, I am not a politician and I am not from his family. I am from Oyo State, while he is from Lagos, but it only happens that people say we look alike.”


Iyanda, a deacon, is a pastor in one of the Pentecostal churches in Lagos.


He attended the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, where he obtained a degree in Animal Production and Health.


He is also a master‘s degree holder in Animal Science from the University of Ibadan, Ibadan.

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201010091515293

[size=14pt]Plateau is now peaceful, says Jonathan[/size]

October 9, 2010

[img]http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/dt.common.streams.StreamServer.cls?CONTENTTYPE=image/jpeg&STREAMOID=5IrVfYBvhZlaO_m_5ZRmNy6SYeqqxXXqBcOgKOfTXxTe4C_8GqaVs9j$pWbm2vP8nW_PgxgftuECOcfJwS6Jtlp$r8Fy$6AAZ9zyPuHJ25T7a9GKDSxsGxtpmxP0VAUyHL6IDcZHtmM2t7xO$FHdJG95dFi6y2Uma3vSsvPpVyo-[/img]
President Goodluck Jonathan(L) with Gov. Jonah Jang of Plateau State, at Jos International Airport on arrival for a visit to Plateau State on Friday.


[size=14pt]President Goodluck Jonathan has expressed happiness that peace has at last returned to Jos, Plateau State after sectarian crises that rocked the state recently.

Speaking during a courtesy call on the Gbong Gwom Jos, Da Jacob Gyang, at his palace in the Plateau State capital, Friday, the President said "the last time I visited, the whole place was on fire, but today things are different."[/size]

Plateau State in the last few years experienced recurrent ethno-religious crisis resulting in damage to properties and loss of lives.

The President thanked the Gbong Gwom and other traditional rulers for their role in ensuring that peace and tranquility returned to city and appealed to the people of the state to maintain the peace, as there "can be no development and social activities without peace and stability."

He also said the crises might stain the reputation of Plateau state, which is noted for peace and pleaded that the "last crisis should be the last."

The President was in Plateau to commission projects which showed a different Plateau.

Break from the past

The city, though quiet in some places, was agog with excitement at the news of the President's visit, as a peaceful crowd lined up on the side of the road amidst tight security.

Mr. Jonathan, who promised that the peace committee prepared by a committee led by Solomon Lar would be considered and government action made known, also commended the government and people of the state for the warm reception.

The Gbong Gwom Jos expressed the joy of the people in welcoming the President and thanked him for showing "keen interest in what is happening in Plateau State with the setting up of the Lar Committee."

He called on Nigerians to join hands with Mr Jonathan to move Nigeria forward, while urging "politicians not to consider the game of politics as war because power comes from God."

The President used the first of his two-day working visit to commission several state government roads and bridges as well as one agricultural project and a federal government road.

The governors of Bauchi, Benue, Nasarawa and Kogi also came to welcome the President.

First it was 3 then 4 now 5 blind mice?. . .

[size=14pt]2011: Ayu’s Ambition Complicates Consensus Candidacy[/size]

By Imam Imam, 10.08.2010

[size=14pt]Unforeseen complications have arisen over the much-hyped move by the four Northern presidential aspirants on the platform of the Peoples Democratic to pick a consensus candidate to contest for the party’s ticket, THISDAY can authoritatively report.

The four northern aspirants are former military head of state General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd), former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former National Security Adviser Lt. Gen Aliyu Muhammed Gusau (rtd), and Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara State.

Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, widely believed to be the brains and architect of the consensus candidacy plot and is supposed to be one of the ‘17 wise men’ expected to decide on the candidate, has broken ranks by deciding to contest the presidential primaries of the PDP. [/size]

Ayu, sources confirmed, will on Wednesday next week declare his intention to contest next year's presidential polls, but will require a waiver from the party’s National Executive Committee to run.

The former senate president left the PDP in 2006 along with Atiku and only returned about a year ago. He is therefore ineligible to seek elective office on the party’s platform.

However, Ayu is said to have appealed to some of the ‘wise men’ saddled with the responsibility of picking a consensus candidate to support his candidacy, but their response could not be verified at the time of filing this report.

[size=14pt]Sources informed this newspaper yesterday that the failure by the 17 men to agree on the modalities for selecting the consensus candidate, as well as the seeming inability to compel the candidates to slow down their campaign activities pending the conclusion of the committee’s work, is making it difficult to reach an agreement on who should represent the North.
[/size]

Before the turn of events yesterday, some members of the committee had sought to include some emirs and other opinion leaders in the North, but the effort was not successful following a plea by the emirs that they did not want to be dragged into matters that are purely political.

[size=14pt]Phone calls to some members of the committee for clarification were not answered yesterday, but a source close to Ayu confirmed that the Benue-born politician had concluded arrangements to declare his candidacy next week.[/size]

"We have already received copies of his manifesto and declaration speech from the presidential advisory council he earlier set up. We are waiting for next week to formally join the race," the source who declined to be named said.
[size=14pt]Until now, all four aspirants had publicly committed themselves to abide by any decision reached by the committee, but with Ayu’s decision to run, they may have to go back to the drawing board.[/size]

However, another source close to the committee acknowledged that other members have been aware of Ayu’s ambition for a while, and that his decision to contest for the PDP ticket will not stop them from concluding their work.
“An announcement on the consensus candidate will be made next week,” he assured.“The committee does not believe that Ayu’s decision will stall the search for a consensus candidate.”

http://www.thisdayonline.info/nview.php?id=184767

[size=14pt]Okah should not be taken serious – Itse Sagay[/size]

Oct 9, 2010

Prof Itse Sagay:Okah not serious


[size=14pt]Professor Itse Sagay is known to be very outspoken on issues of resource control and other national issues of the moment.
In this interview, the Professor of Law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, speaks on the Henry Okah allegation on Al Jazeerah TV and dismisses him as a desperate fellow who is capable of any evil because his business of gun-running is already down due to the amnesty programme.[/size]

[size=13pt]The controversy over the independence day bomb blast at the Eagle-Square is still on.
MEND said it did it. The President said they did not. Henry Okah alleged he was asked to tell MEND to disassociate itself so as to implicate the North. What could be going on?[/size]

I don’t believe that the bomb blast was the handiwork of MEND. For one thing, the leaders of group assembled at Abuja, all their commanders had a meeting and we saw them.

They denied involvement. And that leaves us with two possibilities: We may have what one can call relative splinter which did it or people who are not MEND at all who devised this strategy so as to bring President Goodluck Jonathan into this problem of Nigerians saying that his people bombed Abuja to discredit him.

[size=14pt]But from what Henry Okah told Al Jazeerah, one cannot just sweep under the carpet his allegation that a Presidential aide approached him to tell MEND to withdraw its earlier claims that they were responsible.[/size]

[size=13pt]I think Henry Okah did what he did because he is a frustrated man. He was hoping to make a lot of money from Jonathan but when he saw he was not doing so, he was ready to do anything. So, really, I think Henry Okah made up his allegations.[/size]

[size=14pt]If we are already having these problems close to elections. What do you think will happen during elections?[/size]

We should be at alert. I’m sure the government has learnt from this and that is even why we should be more committed to putting a good government in power; a government that will be accountable to all of us, a government that is not corrupt and will obey the rule of law.
So, I think that we should be up and doing and I hope too that the security agents are equal to the task.

[size=14pt]Would you say the security agencies are really up to the task?[/size]

I wouldn’t say I’m impressed with their performance this time. If they were, what happened at Abuja wouldn’t have happened because we learnt there was warning some days to the incident and some hours before it happened. But it is either they didn’t take the warning seriously or they are thoroughly incompetent.

[size=14pt]Many Nigerians suspect all these have to do with Jonathan contesting election in 2011. Do you think what happened is enough reason for him to withdraw?[/size]

[size=14pt]He should continue. It is his constitutional right. But there are a lot of people who are living in the past and who think ruling this country is their inherited right but it is not.
And by sheer coincidence, these are the people who are contributing the least in terms of resources; people, who are surviving on other peoples’ resources and they want to continue to rule the people who generate these resources.
It is an unsustainable situation. So, anybody can vie for any political office in this country whether the North likes it or not because democracy must be a level playing field for every Nigerian.
Every Nigerian is entitled to power and that includes Jonathan as well. So, Jonathan must conclusively pursue this agenda to run for presidency to the end[/size].

[size=14pt]But it becomes a minus when this kind of thing happens in one’s regime and for the first time in this country. It is believed the perpetrators are the President’s kinsmen of the South-South.[/size]

The militants are being re-habilitated. They have already put down their guns. But the investigation is on and those responsible must be fished out so that a stop can be put to it.
[size=14pt]Nobody can blame any part of the country as being responsible because we don’t really know who did it. Another part of the country can do it and blame MEND so as to give a bad name to the South-South[/size]. We hope the rehabilitated MEND and members of the government would  unravel this mystery so that those responsible should be given the appropriate punishment.

[size=13pt]So, nobody should take Henry Okah’s allegations seriously?[/size]

[size=14pt]Nobody should. He is a disgruntled fellow, he’s a gun-runner. He lives by selling guns and now that arms have been put down, he is badly affected. So, he is desperate and he is capable of any evil at this point in time.[/size]

[size=13pt]Was it his decision to go and live in South-Africa?[/size]

Well, he is already undergoing trial in South-Africa. If there is enough evidence to connect him to the independence day bombing, FG can extradite him for trial in Nigeria.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/10/okah-should-not-be-taken-serious-itse-sagay/

[size=14pt]SSS Gets Court Order To Remand Bomb Suspect[/size]


Saturday, 09 October 2010

[size=14pt]Nigeria’s secret service will hold four suspects in last week’s car bomb attacks for a further two weeks for questioning in an investigation which has ratcheted up tensions ahead of presidential elections next year.

According to Reuter, the State Security Service (SSS) won a court order allowing it to hold on to the four suspects, whom it did not identify, while it probes the attacks near an independence day parade in the capital Abuja last week,[/size] which killed at least 10 people.

“The four suspects should be remanded in the custody of the State Security Service for two weeks for further investigation,” Chief Magistrate Oyeyeola Oyewumi told a court in Abuja.

The bombs have brought regional rivalries in Africa’s most populous nation to the top of the political agenda ahead of what was already set to be the most fiercely contested presidential race since the end of military rule a decade ago.

President Goodluck Jonathan is fighting for the ruling party’s nomination, but his bid is contentious because of an unwritten agreement that power should rotate between the North and South every two terms.

The Abuja bombs were claimed by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the main rebel group in Jonathan’s southern home region.

MEND’s claim was an embarrassment to Jonathan, who helped broker an amnesty in the oil-producing region last year. He said the blasts had nothing to do with the Niger Delta and MEND’s name had been used as a cover.

The secret service declined to comment on whether the four suspects being held in Nigeria were Okah’s associates.

“Investigations continue. We can’t give you their names now because we don’t want other suspects who are not in our net to run,” an SSS official said, asking not to be named.

http://www.tribune.com.ng/sat/index.php/news/2221-sss-gets-court-order-to-remand-bomb-suspect.html

[size=14pt]Abuja Bomb Blasts: Odds Against IBB[/size]


Saturday, 09 October 2010

[size=14pt]Former military ruler, General Ibrahim Babangida, has again come under intense pressure to quit the 2011 presidential race,

following indications that his camp is being linked with the Abuja bomb blasts of October 1.
Sources in Abuja’s political circles confirmed that besides the arrest and interrogation of the Director General of the Ibrahim Babangida Campaign Organisation, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, in connection with the bomb blasts, there have been other sources linking the former leader’s camp with the incidents.[/size]

The former military ruler said on Thursday that it would be idiotic to link him with the bomb blasts.
Before the bomb blast incident, some former loyalists of the former General popularly called IBB Boys were said to have asked the former head of state to back out of the presidential race so as not to avoid being rubbished by a non-General.

[size=14pt]It was also gathered that some northern politicians have calculated that the negative effects the bomb blast saga could have on Babangida may add to the political burden he already has to carry.

“Those seeking the consensus option among northern presidential aspirants appeared to be getting worried about what they called political liabilities of the former military ruler. They are coming to the realisation that somehow, the General has to be made to face the reality of dropping out of the contest,”[/size] a source close to the political settings in Abuja said.

Sources also said that the General is under pressure to quit the race as a result of his alleged misdeeds in office.

It was gathered that the man is coming under pressure even from unusual quarters, following what is called unabating hostility to his presidential bid.

[size=14pt]“Several persons are pointing attention to the fact that everywhere Babangida turns, he seems to be facing hostility. If you talk of his economic sense, people will easily point to the $12.4 billion Gulf Oil windfall. When you talk of political experience, people will easily remind you of the June 12 election annulment and when you talk of his experience in security, people quickly remind you of the bombing of Dele Giwa and the killing of a crop of soldiers in the Hercules C130 plane crash in Lagos. It is an all round crisis for us at the Babangida front,”[/size] a source said.

Another source said that the bomb attacks on Abuja on October 1 had not only reawakened the concerns about security in Nigeria, but also appeared to point some fingers at Babangida.

[size=14pt]“People are saying that why should he be the one to lament insecurity in the land when bombing was introduced to Nigeria during his regime when Dele Giwa was bombed,” [/size] another source said, adding that the arrest of Chief Dokpesi was another dent on the IBB 2011 campaign.

Only recently, the security agencies were said to have discovered of $20 million traced to the account of one politician who is involved in the presidential campaign of an aspirant.

http://www.tribune.com.ng/sat/index.php/front-page-articles/2238-abuja-bomb-blasts-odds-against-ibb.html

[size=14pt]Bomb blasts: SSS takes suspects to court[/size]

Saturday, October 09, 2010


[size=14pt][b]The State Security Service (SSS) yesterday took three of the suspects behind the October 1 bomb blasts in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) before a magistrate’s court in Wuse, Zone 6, Abuja. The security source, who confirmed the development to Saturday Sun, said it was done to seek the court’s approval to remand the suspects in SSS custody, while investigations continue.

Asked if the Director General of the Ibrahim Babangida Campaign Organisation, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, was among those arraigned, the source said no.

He revealed that Dokpesi was granted the privilege of reporting to the SSS office from home.
“You are a free man until proved guilty. The three we took to court are linked to the blasts and we need the court to grant us the appeal for them to remain in custody while investigations continue and it was granted,” said the source.

The SSS said, during the week, that nine suspects have so far been arrested in connection with the bomb blasts that almost marred the country’s golden jubilee celebrations, which claimed lives and several others injured.[/b][/size]
The SSS spokeswoman, Mrs. Marilyn Ogar, told newsmen: “So far, nine arrests have been made and all have direct links with Henry Okah, the incident and some unscrupulous prominent elements in the society. Due to ongoing investigations, the names of the suspects and their sponsors cannot be disclosed at this stage.”
On the number of casualties recorded so far, Mrs. Ogar said eight security officers died and one civilian, who was the sachet water seller at the bomb blasts scene.

Ogar had denounced the insinuation that security agencies were not prepared for the bomb blasts, stressing that it was the preparedness of the security agencies that led to the low death toll.
She noted that most of those who died and/or sustained injuries were security officers, adding: “ I won’t subscribe to the fact that we were not prepared.
“As far as I am concerned, the security measures were effective. Imagine a situation whereby the bombs were planted at the Eagle Square. What would have happened to that large crowd at the venue?
“I refuse to believe that the security measures put in place were not effective. They were very effective and that is why security operatives died to protect innocent Nigerians.”

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/newsonthehour/2010/oct/09/newsbreak-09-10-2010-001.htm

[size=14pt]NIGERIA TO MAINTAIN 7.4% GROWTH RATE TILL NEXT YEAR – IMF[/size]

Friday, 8 Oct 2010

[size=14pt]Nigeria will sustain a 7.4 per cent output growth from 2010 till 2011, the International Monetary Fund has said.
The IMF said in its World Economic and Financial Survey made available to journalists on Thursday in Washington DC, that Nigeria’s output (real Gross Domestic Product) growth was expected to accelerate from seven per cent in 2009 to 7.4 per cent in 2010 and 2011.
The Fund’s growth forecast for Nigeria is stronger than sub-Saharan Africa’s estimates,[/size] which it put at five per cent and 5.5 per cent for 2010 and 2011, respectively.

[size=13pt]It said continued strong growth in Nigeria’s non-oil sector was being supported by increasing oil production, adding that this was as a result of reduced instability in the Niger Delta region.[/size]
According to the Bretton Woods institution, the recovery in global demand and the strengthening of oil prices are supporting growth in Africa’s oil-exporting economies.

[size=14pt]Meanwhile, the World Bank said that 3.4 million beneficiaries from Nigeria’s agricultural sector were able to increase their income by about 63 per cent between 2004 and 2009,[/size] through its International Development Association’s funding.
It said that 385,000 borrowers and 1.2 million customers were also able to access medium, small and micro-enterprise facilities.

http://www.nigerianbestforum.com/generaltopics/?p=71348

[size=14pt]A VOTE AGAINST IBB[/size]
07/10/2010
[img]http://thewillnigeria.com/thumbnail.php?file=Ibrahim_Babangida_23s_115138139.jpeg&size=article_medium[/img]


Significant in the political and economic affairs of Nigeria was when Gen. Ibrahim Babangida seized power in August 1985, cutting short the military regime of Buhari/Idiagbon. For the first time in its history, Nigeria had a military president, against conventional ideas of Head of State.


[size=14pt]Trifling, as the change of title may have seemed, it was a telltale sign that smacks of insincerity which showed in coming years of his administration. He announced 1990 as the date of handover of power to civilians, which was not to be. Babangida’s methodology befits the popular aphorism that power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.[/size] He manipulated and manoeuvred every stratum of society earning the nickname, Maradona after the self-styled Argentine legendary soccer-star, Diego Maradona.


[size=14pt]He adopted the Machiavellian principle as an art of governance to the extent that at a point in our national existence, it became impossible to determine in which direction the nation was headed.[/size]


He launched the country into the most excruciating pain ever in the belt tightening formula of economic recovery, popularly known as Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP). Basic amenities needed by Nigerians such as staples, rice, beans and garri disappeared from the daily meals of the people and everybody had to queue up for ration of food.


The evil genius is another catch phrase by which Babangida was known in his heyday as a military ruler. He was seen as one who can spring sudden surprises on the Nigerian people. [size=14pt]Some of his deeds were, in fact, shocking to say the least. Nigerians woke up one morning to hear that the country has been enrolled in the organization of Islamic conference in a secular state such as Nigeria.[/size]


[size=14pt]Babangida’s approach to governance is riddled with insincerity as his administration deceived the Nigerian people, the most when it came to promises delivery. After assuring that power would be returned to civilians in 1990, he reneged, shifting to it 1992 but not until June 12, 1993 was the presidential election held.


The election which was adjudged the freest and fairest election Nigeria ever had with M.K.O Abiola as the acclaimed winner was annulled by Babangida, eliciting national and international outcry. The annulment caused widespread violence in the country[/size], leading to his stepping aside on August 1993. He then appointed an Interim National Government (ING) led by Ernest Shonekan who held forte briefly before the late Abacha seized the reins of power.


[size=14pt]Nigerians know better who IBB is, and the assertions of Abraham Lincoln, former American President that: "you can fool some of the people some of the time; you can fool all the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time", is a soothing epithet of Babangida’s immoral choice to seek the presidency again under a democratic platform after ruling for eight years as a military president.[/size]


His years in office were replete with misdeeds which today, Nigerians cry out for justice to take its course. Hence, Nigerians are vehement and are digging out the archives of history in the present circumstance, because this is a man that has wittingly made feeble attempts to explain away the murder of Dele Giwa, founder of Newswatch Magazine, one of the brightest and best professional and investigative journalists Nigeria has ever produced.


The circumstances linking Babangida to Giwa’s death are all too revealing, in particular, his harassment by Col. Halilu Akilu then Director of Military Intelligence and Ajibola Kunle Togun, then Deputy Director of State Security Service who accused him of gun running and plotting a socialist revolution. Afraid of threat to his life, he had called on the late Gani Fawehinmi, his lawyer, to prosecute the security chiefs.


Importantly is the Oputa ‘s panel recommendation on the death of Dele Giwa. It says:[size=14pt] "As for the case of Dele Giwa, we are of the view that beyond legal technicalities that some of the key witnesses hung on to, the federal government should be encouraged to re open this case for proper investigation.


"On General Babangida, we are of the view that there is evidence to suggest that he and two security chiefs, Brigadier General Akilu and Togun are accountable for the death of Dele Giwa by letter bomb. We recommend that this case be reopened for further investigation in the public interest."[/size]


However, a Supreme Court decision of February 3, 2001 had stopped the official gazetting of the Oputa panel report to make it a public document saying that "the 1999 constitution made no provision for tribunals of inquiry." [size=14pt]Babangida also filed a suit at an Abuja High Court, precluding the government of Obasanjo from considering or accepting observations and recommendations of the panel and from implementing any recommendations, report or white paper arising from the report of the Oputa panel as they affected him, pending hearing and determination of the suit.


It is expected that as a man who has no skeletons in his cupboard and has nothing to hide or fear, should have allowed the full course of justice to determine his innocence in the murder of Giwa.[/size]


Also revealing of Babangida’s incompetence to offer himself again for leadership of this country [size=14pt]is the report of Dr. Pius Okigbo which probed the $12.4 billion, gulf war oil windfall receipts. The full report submitted on 27 September, 1994 has never seen the light of day. Interestingly, the full report is now in the public domain, despite desperate efforts to keep it out of view.[/size]


Parts of the report reads: "in 1988, the president authorised the dedication of crude oil of 65, 000 barrels per day for the finance of Special Priority Projects including Ajaokuta iron and steel, Itakpe Iron Mining and Shiroro Hydro electric projects. The account was also to be used for external debt buy-back and the build-up of reserves. The quantity was subsequently increased to 105, 000 barrels per day and in early 1994 to 150, 000 barrels per day.


[size=14pt]"In addition, a stabilization account to receive the windfall of oil proceeds from the gulf-war and a special account for Mining rights and signature Bonus were opened. Altogether, $12.4 billion was received into those accounts from 1998 to June 1994, all of which have been spent, leaving a balance of $206 million as at the 30th of June, 1994."[/size]


What else do Nigerians want in a leadership figure other than one who is transparent and exhibits honest disposition to free the nation from want and deprivation? [size=14pt]The nation’s wealth and resources were squandered and wasted by a regime that did not give cognizance to the rights of Nigerians to good living standards.


Infrastructural decay and capital flight were the order of the day and Nigerians suffered in anguish and frustration from high cost of essentials and other commodities.


Babangida had eight years of uninterrupted governance to place Nigeria on a better and sound footing but failed to do so. Nigerians have become wiser from the events of the past and they are even more today, ever than before. We need a transparent president, not one who has destroyed our historic past, to beg for forgiveness as a ploy to mount the national leadership. To this, we say no! And on a resounding no, we insist![/size]

http://thewillnigeria.com/opinion/6151-VOTE-AGAINST-IBB.html

[size=14pt]Presidency claims Okah’s Al-Jazeera interview is fake[/size]
By Ihuoma Chiedozie, Abuja
Friday, 8 Oct 2010


[size=14pt]The Presidency has cast doubts on the authenticity of Tuesday’s interview granted an international satellite network, Al Jazeera, by a former leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, Mr. Henry Okah[/size].


The interview, in which Okah claimed that a close aide of President Goodluck Jonathan called him to get MEND to retract an email statement claiming responsibility for the October 1 bomb blasts in Abuja, had been a subject of controversy, particularly relating to the 2011 presidential election.


Okah, who is currently standing trial on terrorism charges in South Africa, claimed in the interview that Jonathan intended to put the blame for the attacks on Northern politicians contending for the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential ticket with him.


But the Presidency on Thursday added another twist to the development, which had since become a political issue.


A highly placed presidential source in the presidency, who did not wish to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter, [size=14pt]told journalists on Thursday that there were considerable doubts about the authenticity of the interview.


The source explained that the doubts stemmed from latest findings by intelligence operatives. The source claimed that the voice in the report might not have been Okah’s own, but was faked and sold to the network.[/size]

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201010083284868

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