₦airaland Forum

.1. Implementation of UNEP report on Ogoniland 2. NNPC reforms
3. Revamp of the Niger Delta amnesty program through proper
verification of beneficiaries and payment of funds.
4. Enforcement of fuel price at Naira 87 in most places through DPR
5. Gradual stabilization of fuel supply
6. Ban on fraudulent foreign vessels lifting oil
7. Stream line of local oil importers to check corruption.
8. National carrier relaunch project
9. Alignment of biometric databases
10. Reduction of police allocation to VIP’s
11. Restriction of family from use of presidential jets
12. Rejection of new official cars worth 400 million naira
13. Abolishment of office of first lady
14. Presidential salary cut by 50%
15. Appointment of quality persons in key roles 16. Appointments of persons from perceived opposition States
17. Rehabilitation of IDP’s
18. Meeting with Bring Back Our Girls campaign group
19. Mobilization of Neighboring countries to fight Boko Haram
20. Reverse of sack/ conviction of 2500 soldiers 21. Relocation of military command to Borno state
22. Equipping and morale boosting of military to fight Boko Haram
23. Revamp of Nigeria local arms manufacture 24. Audit of military arms procurement since 2007
25. Dismantling of unnecessary police checkpoints
26. Police reform processes
27. Single treasury account
28. Increased monthly allocation to States despite oil price fall
29. Increase in excess crude account by 200 million naira
30. Increase in foreign reserves by over 2 billion dollars
31. Conversion of State debts to bonds
32. Plugging revenue leaks and loopholes
33. Increased transparency through regular presentation of Federation
accounts
34. Audit of federal agencies and parastatals by KPMG and co
35. Meetings with Nigerian diaspora groups in South Africa, Niger, USA,
etc.
36. Reset of relationships with USA one of the Nigeria’s main trading
partners
37. High level international shuttle diplomacy
38. Mediation in Guinea Bissau crises
39. Enhancement of power generation through payments to gas
suppliers, etc.
40. Audit of electricity companies
41. Saving funds by ending pilgrimage sponsorships
42. Audience and interaction with media
43. Establishment of new level of process and procedure in corridors of
power e.g. well planned schedules at Aso Rock (based on Dele
Momodu’s reports)
44. Bringing back a culture of proper planning and thorough process.
45. Demonstration of commitment to anti-corruption war- restoration of
focus on non-corrupt public officers.
46. Constitution of anti-corruption advisory committee
47. Revamped and active EFCC and ICPC
48. Timely funding of Nigeria Sports commission in preparation for All
Africa Games
49. Operation of open door policy where both allies and perceived
opponents are given access
50. Encouragement of new culture of accountability in Army (e.g. formal
apology from Army to Benue Governor for soldiers indiscipline and
GOC in Lagos order to soldiers against harassment of danfo(bus)
drivers)
Culled from African leadership magazine

basilo101:
SS already have more appointments than SW. yorubas are funny ppl, they kip exaggerating other ppl's problems and claim that all is well with them (yorubas) to console themself. we are talking about an issue of North vs South in appointment and look at the nonesence u r talking here.

No,u where talking abt are there no competent people in south east,

EastLebanon:
So you people mean that there is no competent individual for any of those positions from the south east.i pity this country,AHMADU BELLO said he hated the igbos because they are too smart,intelligent and over ambitious while buhari's excuse is that they are not competent.we are watching in 8D.

Even though buhari is a leader but he is also a politician,you can't expect buhari to appoint those he dont know,we all know in SE nd SS pmb dont have many political associates,so basically his appointments there will not be many,and its a pity that igbos deceive themselves by voting massively for pdp,therefore not having a single apc representative in the National Assembly,if sen chris ngige has been voted,he would have been the senate president now,and beside people like amaechi(though not an igbo)who has been tipped for a major role in the pmb administration is under attack by the same SE nd SS,that he is corrupt,untill when u represent the whole SS and SE and become one,then u can achieve your god given potentials

It’s no longer a breaking news that President Buhari
has appointed the Chief of Staff, Secretary to the
government of the federation, Immigration and
Custom bosses, Advisers on National assemblies.
Some might argue that appointing a chief of staff and
secretary of the government after almost 90 days is too late. But One thing for sure; Baba slowly,
carefully selected these men, and if there should be
anything you can accuse them of is their tribe may
be. Not even Paul ‘The world cup octopus’ could have
predict such appointments, no one saw that coming.
One good thing about the appointments is that the wailers are now crying NORTHERNISATION agenda,
not that Islamisation rubbish again. With about 5000
appointments to make.. they’ll soon understand that
it’s only a Nigerianisation thing, based on
competency. The only thing the men lack is.. not
integrity, not the requisite, not the competency. But that they aren’t from the South. It’s true that Buhari is predictably Unpredictable. After
all the Rotimi Amaechi, Mama Oby, Ogbonoya Onu,
Raji Fashola, Hameed Ali as SGF or Chief of staff
rumours, PMB went for Engr. Babachir David Lawal
as the Secretary to the Govt. Of the federation.
Those crying that this man is a northerner won’t tell you that he’s also a Northern Pastor. Exactly the kind
of people we need, to trust. Engr. Babachir is from
Adamawa state. Abba Kyari is the new Chief of staff, his CV is even
more impressive. Holds 2 degrees in law from
Cambridge and another one in Sociology. Described
as a sociologist, lawyer, banker, editor.. and also a
former commissioner, former director Unilever, once a
member Presidential Advisory council 2000-05, Director ExxonMobil. Very good one, from Borno
state. Just like Monguno, Buratai and others.. he
won’t throw dollars to his Borno state people but he’ll
do his job. Effectively, I heard. Buhari’s chief of staff before he became president.
Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (rtd). This man is as Buhari,
(I mean tough) as Buhari. A retired Colonel. Former
military administrator, Kaduna State. He missed out
on the EFCC and the chief of staff job, just as re-
speculated again 2 days ago. But it’s because Baba had some other plans for the Nigerian custom
service. With 2 degrees in Criminology, a due
process man and his no nonsense stance he’ll tackle
the issue of custom duties, illegal importation and
waivers, smuggling, land piracy, and other border-
related crimes. If custom service can meet the new N35b weekly target, then in a year custom alone will
generate over N1.8 tr. Not to talk of FIRS and NNPC
which all are under competent hands. To show that
President Buhari isn’t joking with our revenue
generating institutions. I don’t know if a retired army
has ever done it before. But it’ll be nice to see Mr. Netanyahu in a custom uniform. For sure he’ll clear
the mess in the Nigerian custom service. Not only
that the borders will be safe, but the revenue also will
be. He is also from North east, just like the other 2
men above, Bauchi state. Mr. Martin Kure Abashi, another northerner. After his
former boss was suspended last week, Mr. David
Paradang. He took over as Ag. Comptroller, as he
was the most senior officer. How a terrorist got a
Nigerian VISA, illegal recruitment, Stampede in the
name of massive recruitment .. he must have learnt a lot from Mr. Parradang’s suspension, adding that
even his (Paradang) state governor couldn’t save
him. Unlike Ali Hamid, Martin Kure is an insider, he
joined the immigration service over 25 years ago. He
holds a masters in public administration, hails from
Nasarawa state. Hon. Kawu A. Sulaiman appointed SSA to the
President on National Assembly (House of reps). A
former member of the House of reps, Represented his
Sumaila/Takai zone. He was a 2-time deputy minority
leader of the house. Some have complained that we
are now having 2 advisers on national assembly matters, not really the change they wanted. I know
he’s the kind of man PMB can trust. Kawu is from
Kano. Sen. Ita S.J Enang is the new SSA on NA (Senate).
A Lawyer turned lawmaker, Enang who like Hon.
Kawu is a former member house of reps, he was
elected to the federal house of Representatives in
1999, later elected to the upper chamber in 2011 to
represent Akwa Ibom North-East. The surprise isn’t that he’s the only southerner in the list but that’s he’s
a PDP member. Even when there are former
Senators like Sen. Chris Ngige in that zone but
President Buhari belongs to everybody… and belongs
to nobody. One of the reasons some President(s) of the past
failed wasn’t (only) because of their failure to
represent everyone. But rather, they surround
themselves with people from every part of the county
with qualities in common; ‘corrupt’ & ‘Incompetent’
fellows who don’t have the qualities at all to make things better and a boss ready to defend them at
anytime and no matter what. But we believe things
have now #changed. Even the APC family are as
confused as the one writing this. At the end of your
tenure Nigerians won’t ask you ‘how many of brothers
have you appointed?’, but ‘what have you done for our brothers?’ #MarchOnBaba!

Of 19 key appointments made so far by President Muhammadu Buhari, six are from the north-west geo- political zone, five from north-east, four from south- south, three from south-west, one from north central and nil from south-east.
Those from the north-east are Secretary to the Government of the Federation Babachir David Lawal, National Security Adviser Major-General Babagana Monguno, Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali, Chief of Army Staff Major-General T.Y Buratai and Chief of Air Staff Air Vice Marshal Sadique Abubakar.
Appointed from the north-west are Director-General of the Department of State Services Lawal Daura, Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation Aliyu Yahaya Gusau, Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commissiom Umar Danbata, State House Chief of Protocol Lawal Kazaure, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity Mallam Garba Shehu and Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives) Samaila Kawu.
From the South-south are Chief of Naval Staff Rear Admiral Ibot-Ete Ibas, Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Emmanuel Kachikwu, Coordinator of the Niger Delta Amnesty Programme General P.T. Boroh and Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate) Senator Ita Enang.
Those from the south-west are Chief of Defence Staff
Major-General Abayomi Olonisakin, Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service Fowler Babatunde and Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity Femi Adesina.
From the north-central geo-political zone is Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service Mr Kure Martin Abeshi.
So far No major political appointment has come from the south-east. Send What do you think ab

Make no mistake about it; fixing Nigeria
should never be left to any one individual
or entity. The rot and stench
successively left by the ultra-narcissistic
leaders have not only brought the country
to its knees, her limbs are so badly crushed that the surgery needed to make
her walk again will have to be ruthless
and total. Let’s face it; the Nigerian story is the
stuff paradoxes are made of. The level of
poverty is simply mind-boggling, in a
country touted to be growing
economically. And there is enough blame
to go round here. Is it redeemable? Oh yes! But
suggesting that the government alone at
whatever level is left to bear the
responsibility can best be described as
naïve. Perhaps, there has never been a better
time in our history to cultivate the Public
Private Partnership model in nation
building than now. This is because, even
with all the good intentions in the world,
this government, and even the one to come after it, will just be scratching the
surface if ever it decides to walk alone. Aside strengthening public institutions
with its multiplier effects on the business
environment, any government of the day
must work with individuals and
organisations in the private sector if it
wishes to succeed. One man who has already shown – and
still showing – the way is Aliko Dangote,
the president and chief executive officer
of Dangote Group. Maybe it has do with
his having to build a business right from
the scratch and nurture it into a global brand, or being confronted daily with a
prevalent level of poverty that should
never be rationalised, or, as he said
recently, because he owed his wealth to
the society that has been kind to him. Whatever his motivations are, Alhaji
Aliko Dangote is daily making, not just
Nigeria but also Africa a better place one
plant at a time. With the commissioning of another
cement factory today in Duala, Cameron,
Africa’s richest man leaves no one in any
doubt of his intentions and readiness to
create wealth by creating opportunities
on the continent. Just recently, he also commissioned
another Dangote Cement plant in
Ethiopia, which he says is in line with his
vision to become one of the world’s
biggest cement producers, a dream that
has seen him planning and setting up new cement plants and terminals across
16 African countries, including Senegal,
Ghana, South Africa and Zambia. But even beyond Africa, he is also
expanding his cement empire to Nepal in
Asia. That project, he says, will be
operational in 30 months. Coming home to Nigeria, Dangote has
the largest sugar refinery in Africa and
the third largest in the world, producing
800,000 tonnes of sugar annually. His efforts have achieved four major
goals of strengthening local
manufacturing capacity, generating
employment, preventing capital flight, as
well as providing locally produced goods
for the people. The group presently employs over 11,000
people and you can only imagine the
multiplier effect on thousands of families
across the continent. You can say he is a man on a mission;
development and wealth creation
mission, that is. Of course, it is easy, and also tempting,
to point to privileges in terms of waivers
and other opportunities that he might
have leveraged on to grab a piece of the
moon. And yes, no one can shrug off
these props – and perhaps a bit of luck – in the making of Africa’s richest man. But as we reflect on the life of a former
Nigerian president who was propped to
office and even named goodluck, we see
that props and luck are not always a
guarantee of performance. Within five years that president produced
propsters who raised Nigeria’s private jet
club from zilch to a $4billion industry;
those who borrowed millions of dollars
from bailout funds and used same to buy
houses in Dubai and South Africa; crooks whose expensive lifestyles were
subsidised by a miserable public. Clearly, Dangote has chosen a different
path. Beyond his wealth creation efforts
within Nigeria and Africa, Dangote has
also invested very heavily in
developmental efforts. His foundation
donated about N30bn to charity between 2012 and 2014. That is about N1.5bn
monthly in philanthropy. From taking electricity to 15 villages in
Benue to founding a scholarship scheme
in Yewa, Ogun State, there is hardly any
region of this country that Aliko Dangote
has not touched positively through his
foundation. The world has also noticed. At the
gathering of Nigeria’s business leaders
and philanthropists in Abuja last week,
the UN secretary–general, Ban Ki-moon,
singled him out for special
commendation for his dedication to humanity. In a country where the super-rich are
usually identified by their almost
criminally extravagant routine, aimed
sometimes at devaluing the weak and
poor, the Dangote example cannot be
lost on anyone.

Sam Amadi is the chairman, Nigerian
Electricity Regulatory Commission
(NERC). In this interview with PEMBI
DAVID-STEPHEN and PAUL CHIAMA,
he speaks of the recent successes made
in the power reform initiative, the challenges in the power sector and what
Nigerians should expect from the sector,
among other issues. It has been observed that power
supply seems to have improved lately,
why is there “light” now? Well, we are happy that we are seeing
increase in capacity even though we are
not satisfied with what we have. We need
to do a lot more than we have done and
we hope to do more. But essentially, we
have light because, one; it is a combination of several activities we have
taken especially towards the end of last
year. We had meetings with Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
We thought that we have done everything
we could do in terms of general regulatory framework but what was
missing was project management; closer
effective look at the detailing of the
electricity market. So, we started the Chief Executive
Officers (CEOs)’ meeting, a regular
meeting of all the CEOs in the electricity
market. It involves the CEOs of every
electricity generation, distribution and
transmission companies, including government institutes like the Bureau of
Public Enterprises, bulk traders, special
taskforce on power and NERC. We meet
every second Wednesday of the month.
The meeting, which is our innovation, is
an idea to move away from the bill picture and get down to problem solved. At the meeting every month, we flag all
the issues that people in the field have
contributed. We flag all the issues that
the CEOs of these companies have
raised. So, at each of those meetings,
we sit down, pay closer attention to these problems and provide solutions to
them. Therefore, what you are seeing is partly
as a result of the success of those
meetings because initially, we were more
concerned with regulations. But now,
since last year, we are now saying, ‘let’s
now sit back and look at how these regulations are working’. So, we discovered, for example, that gas
is a problem. So, NERC started the idea
of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
intervention fund. It was an idea, and the
idea was simple; we felt that you need to
put liquidity into the sector. If you do not have the components of gas supply,
then, they won’t send to the market;
rather, they will send to fertilizer and
other industries. We wanted to pay off
debt of over $14bn owed to gas
suppliers. So, that is the first measure. The second measure is that we now
focus on contracts. In fact, in the past,
there were no contracts. So, we
established a process by which you have
contracts. We now moved to the
electricity market which is a contract- based market. So, what all these have done is that they
have created confidence. They have
been able to help us to tie some loose
ends in the power value-chain. The power
system is inter-related; if you don’t take
care of the gas, it will affect generation; if generation is not up, then, distribution will
have problem and it goes on in
transmission until it gets down to the
household. So, we have built different parts; we are
now coupling them and in coupling them,
we discovered that they have problems.
We are now going back to those
problems and dealing with them one after
the other. So, that is what helped us. The second thing that helped us is that
the change of government has brought
greater urgency. I do believe before
election, the NNPC told us and gave us
guarantee that by July, things would
work. By then, we were pushing them and the GED came here and we had
meeting with all the stakeholders. We
laid out a plan for them to recover, repair
their gas pipelines and get more gas. So,
they gave us assurance that by July,
things would work but in the past, we have had plans that slipped. But with the
new government, with the change now,
there is high degree of discipline and
urgency to deliver. The third reason will be that essentially,
the very direction of the reform right from
President Obasanjo to President
Jonathan who really worked very hard for
the electricity reform. The Transmission Company of Nigeria
(TCN) was divided into two different
companies at the end of last
administration’s tenure but you were
reported to have kicked against it.
Why? No, no, no! We didn’t kick against it.
NERC, as a regulator, the very first day
we came to this job, we were convinced
of two things – one; if there must be a
credible regulator, it has to be an honest,
incorruptible regulator and today, for instance, the staff here and the
commissioners are probably the most
honest, accountable and transparent in
this country. For the Independent System Operator
(ISO), first, there will be public hearing
and consultation. The regulator will now
provide the terms by which it will be done
through the board of the TCN. That board
will be the board that will unbundle it in line with the regulator’s direction. The Independent Service Operators all
over the world are usually owned by the
industry, not the government. It exists
like a trustee between the consumers
and the Discos (Distribution companies)
to guarantee non-discriminatory and impartial distribution of power. Our job is to survive the electricity
market according to the Act. There is
only one licensed company called the
TCN and that company has three
business units – system operation,
market operation and transmission service provider. The law says that at the
appropriate time, NERC will lay condition
for those three business units to become
two companies which mean that there
will be no TCN any more. So, you can’t
have an ISO and have a TCN. We have an ISO and it is registered under the law.
We are proposing that it should be a non-
profit organisation. That means it is a
company owned by all the operators.
Alternatively, one can say it is a publicly
owned company. However, government said it must be a different company
registered under the law. So, NERC now says when government
gives us instruction, in the meantime, the
process outlined in the Act has to
continue. Based on our letter, the
minister, before he finally departed, said,
“revert” and that there is no ISO. He said it is now system operator (SO) and
market operator (MO) but the SO is
already a business unit of TCN. The problem with TCN now is that there
are confusions as to which is which and
NERC has had a meeting to streamline
and set up a committee to say ‘you have
to run things here like a regulated
company under the best code of conduct and corporate governance’. You cannot
have multiple structures with five
different people answering managing
directors (MDs), say, MD of SO, MD of
Manitoba, from Nigeria. That is
confusion. So, we stepped in. We said we were
trying to solve this problem but the
bottom-line is that as part of this reform,
the government itself must be a
disciplined player. The rules should apply
and when the rules are no longer good or when the government wants to change
the rules, it should change the rules, not
to act against the rules. We have seen in
the past, some degrees of interference in
the management of TCN and I have
always stood up against it. I have always made it clear. I believe in an independent
regulator. People think I am being
confrontational or radical but the point is
simple. The government created the
rules; the government set up the
regulator; the government decided that they are going to do it in a rule-based
market. Therefore, the government
should try its best to follow the rules in
running even government-owned
companies as long as those companies
are part of the regulated electricity market. That is NERC’s position. As a matter of fact, if the government
tells us today that they want TCN to be
done in XYZ way, our job is to point out
the rules, the process and change them
to suit what the government wants. But
so far, there are no policies of government, past or present, conflicting
with or contradicting or cancelling the
policies already in the Act and in NERC’s
rules. So, it is our job to point out those
contradictions (if they exist). We made it
clear, no ISO has been created by the
government and if they want to create it,
they will go to Corporate Affairs
Commission (CAC), Ministry of Finance, PPA, who have been customary
shareholders of these companies. Then,
they will create a new company. Two; nobody has spoken to us to say,
‘today, we want you to start a process of
creating an independent system
operator’. It was our own process in the
market and that process is still running
and until it concludes, we don’t have an independent system operator. There is the general feeling by people
that they are being short-changed over
service (fixed) charges and estimated
billings. What are you doing about
pre-paid metres which seem to be
scarce? I spoke last Monday with the Nigerian
Bar Association (NBA) and I made it
clear. By the way, NERC’s regulation
says that every customer should have a
metre and that the only condition
precedent to connecting a consumer to the grid is via a metre. But this is the
problem. For the last 30 or 40 years, we
have not done anything significant about
metering until between 2010 and 2012.
We set up a committee to ascertain the
extent of metering in some countries. That committee presented a report which
says that we have about 40 (or slightly
more) per cent metered customers in
Nigeria. So, if you have an electricity
market where about 50 per cent of the
customers are not metered, it is a huge legacy problem. So, you don’t expect that the new owners
would have metered everybody in short
duration. So, what we have done is that
we introduced the idea of customer-
credited metre (because there is also a
cash flow for financing problems). You can see how rich or poor the new owners
are. They bought their assets with
borrowed money; they are over-
leveraged; they don’t have easy access
to capital. It is not really reasonable to
expect that they would have metered everybody. So, we came up with a very
brilliant idea which South African
electricity regulator is trying to borrow by
introducing the customer-credited metre.
That means customers can now pay and
reimburse. Why did we do that? It is because we want to find a fast track
means of getting financing. All over the world, there is a concept
called crowd-sourcing of financing. So,
instead of crowd-sourcing, we source for
the crowd. Instead of waiting for Abuja
Discos to borrow money and metre all of
us, we now say why don’t you lend me the money and I give you the meter and I
pay you by discounting your fixed charge
over time, plus interest? That is a very
innovative idea. So, today, we have seen
some movements in metering customers
but it is still insignificant considering the amount of the gap. The metering gap is
huge and therefore, the little effort looks
like a drop of water in the desert. So,
there is still the need for more. What we
are doing today is that we are proposing
a new measure to try to locate the problem: Why is it that the Discos are
not doing enough? Perhaps, they are making more money
through estimation. How do we
discourage that? We now came up with
‘capping’ – a proposal to reduce charges
on unmetered customers. It is a
restriction to the effect that any person who doesn’t use metre should not pay
more than a certain amount of money. Secondly, metering is just like tariff. We
want to make sure that the Discos have
sufficient revenue. So, we expect that in
a couple of months, there will be much
faster and aggressive improvement in
metering but there is no false promise here that all customers will be metered. On the issue of fix charge or service
charge, what we have said to the Senate
is that fixed charge is not illegal, it is not
unusual. It is only paid for in Nigeria
because we had large hours of low
electricity supply in the past. But if you watch, since we moved above 4,000 or
about 4,500 megawatts, you discover we
have few hours of low electricity supply.
What we are doing, therefore, is to
ensure that we pay fixed charges
proportionate to what we are consuming.

Sam Amadi is the chairman, Nigerian
Electricity Regulatory Commission
(NERC). In this interview with PEMBI
DAVID-STEPHEN and PAUL CHIAMA,
he speaks of the recent successes made
in the power reform initiative, the challenges in the power sector and what
Nigerians should expect from the sector,
among other issues. It has been observed that power
supply seems to have improved lately,
why is there “light” now? Well, we are happy that we are seeing
increase in capacity even though we are
not satisfied with what we have. We need
to do a lot more than we have done and
we hope to do more. But essentially, we
have light because, one; it is a combination of several activities we have
taken especially towards the end of last
year. We had meetings with Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
We thought that we have done everything
we could do in terms of general regulatory framework but what was
missing was project management; closer
effective look at the detailing of the
electricity market. So, we started the Chief Executive
Officers (CEOs)’ meeting, a regular
meeting of all the CEOs in the electricity
market. It involves the CEOs of every
electricity generation, distribution and
transmission companies, including government institutes like the Bureau of
Public Enterprises, bulk traders, special
taskforce on power and NERC. We meet
every second Wednesday of the month.
The meeting, which is our innovation, is
an idea to move away from the bill picture and get down to problem solved. At the meeting every month, we flag all
the issues that people in the field have
contributed. We flag all the issues that
the CEOs of these companies have
raised. So, at each of those meetings,
we sit down, pay closer attention to these problems and provide solutions to
them. Therefore, what you are seeing is partly
as a result of the success of those
meetings because initially, we were more
concerned with regulations. But now,
since last year, we are now saying, ‘let’s
now sit back and look at how these regulations are working’. So, we discovered, for example, that gas
is a problem. So, NERC started the idea
of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
intervention fund. It was an idea, and the
idea was simple; we felt that you need to
put liquidity into the sector. If you do not have the components of gas supply,
then, they won’t send to the market;
rather, they will send to fertilizer and
other industries. We wanted to pay off
debt of over $14bn owed to gas
suppliers. So, that is the first measure. The second measure is that we now
focus on contracts. In fact, in the past,
there were no contracts. So, we
established a process by which you have
contracts. We now moved to the
electricity market which is a contract- based market. So, what all these have done is that they
have created confidence. They have
been able to help us to tie some loose
ends in the power value-chain. The power
system is inter-related; if you don’t take
care of the gas, it will affect generation; if generation is not up, then, distribution will
have problem and it goes on in
transmission until it gets down to the
household. So, we have built different parts; we are
now coupling them and in coupling them,
we discovered that they have problems.
We are now going back to those
problems and dealing with them one after
the other. So, that is what helped us. The second thing that helped us is that
the change of government has brought
greater urgency. I do believe before
election, the NNPC told us and gave us
guarantee that by July, things would
work. By then, we were pushing them and the GED came here and we had
meeting with all the stakeholders. We
laid out a plan for them to recover, repair
their gas pipelines and get more gas. So,
they gave us assurance that by July,
things would work but in the past, we have had plans that slipped. But with the
new government, with the change now,
there is high degree of discipline and
urgency to deliver. The third reason will be that essentially,
the very direction of the reform right from
President Obasanjo to President
Jonathan who really worked very hard for
the electricity reform. The Transmission Company of Nigeria
(TCN) was divided into two different
companies at the end of last
administration’s tenure but you were
reported to have kicked against it.
Why? No, no, no! We didn’t kick against it.
NERC, as a regulator, the very first day
we came to this job, we were convinced
of two things – one; if there must be a
credible regulator, it has to be an honest,
incorruptible regulator and today, for instance, the staff here and the
commissioners are probably the most
honest, accountable and transparent in
this country. For the Independent System Operator
(ISO), first, there will be public hearing
and consultation. The regulator will now
provide the terms by which it will be done
through the board of the TCN. That board
will be the board that will unbundle it in line with the regulator’s direction. The Independent Service Operators all
over the world are usually owned by the
industry, not the government. It exists
like a trustee between the consumers
and the Discos (Distribution companies)
to guarantee non-discriminatory and impartial distribution of power. Our job is to survive the electricity
market according to the Act. There is
only one licensed company called the
TCN and that company has three
business units – system operation,
market operation and transmission service provider. The law says that at the
appropriate time, NERC will lay condition
for those three business units to become
two companies which mean that there
will be no TCN any more. So, you can’t
have an ISO and have a TCN. We have an ISO and it is registered under the law.
We are proposing that it should be a non-
profit organisation. That means it is a
company owned by all the operators.
Alternatively, one can say it is a publicly
owned company. However, government said it must be a different company
registered under the law. So, NERC now says when government
gives us instruction, in the meantime, the
process outlined in the Act has to
continue. Based on our letter, the
minister, before he finally departed, said,
“revert” and that there is no ISO. He said it is now system operator (SO) and
market operator (MO) but the SO is
already a business unit of TCN. The problem with TCN now is that there
are confusions as to which is which and
NERC has had a meeting to streamline
and set up a committee to say ‘you have
to run things here like a regulated
company under the best code of conduct and corporate governance’. You cannot
have multiple structures with five
different people answering managing
directors (MDs), say, MD of SO, MD of
Manitoba, from Nigeria. That is
confusion. So, we stepped in. We said we were
trying to solve this problem but the
bottom-line is that as part of this reform,
the government itself must be a
disciplined player. The rules should apply
and when the rules are no longer good or when the government wants to change
the rules, it should change the rules, not
to act against the rules. We have seen in
the past, some degrees of interference in
the management of TCN and I have
always stood up against it. I have always made it clear. I believe in an independent
regulator. People think I am being
confrontational or radical but the point is
simple. The government created the
rules; the government set up the
regulator; the government decided that they are going to do it in a rule-based
market. Therefore, the government
should try its best to follow the rules in
running even government-owned
companies as long as those companies
are part of the regulated electricity market. That is NERC’s position. As a matter of fact, if the government
tells us today that they want TCN to be
done in XYZ way, our job is to point out
the rules, the process and change them
to suit what the government wants. But
so far, there are no policies of government, past or present, conflicting
with or contradicting or cancelling the
policies already in the Act and in NERC’s
rules. So, it is our job to point out those
contradictions (if they exist). We made it
clear, no ISO has been created by the
government and if they want to create it,
they will go to Corporate Affairs
Commission (CAC), Ministry of Finance, PPA, who have been customary
shareholders of these companies. Then,
they will create a new company. Two; nobody has spoken to us to say,
‘today, we want you to start a process of
creating an independent system
operator’. It was our own process in the
market and that process is still running
and until it concludes, we don’t have an independent system operator. There is the general feeling by people
that they are being short-changed over
service (fixed) charges and estimated
billings. What are you doing about
pre-paid metres which seem to be
scarce? I spoke last Monday with the Nigerian
Bar Association (NBA) and I made it
clear. By the way, NERC’s regulation
says that every customer should have a
metre and that the only condition
precedent to connecting a consumer to the grid is via a metre. But this is the
problem. For the last 30 or 40 years, we
have not done anything significant about
metering until between 2010 and 2012.
We set up a committee to ascertain the
extent of metering in some countries. That committee presented a report which
says that we have about 40 (or slightly
more) per cent metered customers in
Nigeria. So, if you have an electricity
market where about 50 per cent of the
customers are not metered, it is a huge legacy problem. So, you don’t expect that the new owners
would have metered everybody in short
duration. So, what we have done is that
we introduced the idea of customer-
credited metre (because there is also a
cash flow for financing problems). You can see how rich or poor the new owners
are. They bought their assets with
borrowed money; they are over-
leveraged; they don’t have easy access
to capital. It is not really reasonable to
expect that they would have metered everybody. So, we came up with a very
brilliant idea which South African
electricity regulator is trying to borrow by
introducing the customer-credited metre.
That means customers can now pay and
reimburse. Why did we do that? It is because we want to find a fast track
means of getting financing. All over the world, there is a concept
called crowd-sourcing of financing. So,
instead of crowd-sourcing, we source for
the crowd. Instead of waiting for Abuja
Discos to borrow money and metre all of
us, we now say why don’t you lend me the money and I give you the meter and I
pay you by discounting your fixed charge
over time, plus interest? That is a very
innovative idea. So, today, we have seen
some movements in metering customers
but it is still insignificant considering the amount of the gap. The metering gap is
huge and therefore, the little effort looks
like a drop of water in the desert. So,
there is still the need for more. What we
are doing today is that we are proposing
a new measure to try to locate the problem: Why is it that the Discos are
not doing enough? Perhaps, they are making more money
through estimation. How do we
discourage that? We now came up with
‘capping’ – a proposal to reduce charges
on unmetered customers. It is a
restriction to the effect that any person who doesn’t use metre should not pay
more than a certain amount of money. Secondly, metering is just like tariff. We
want to make sure that the Discos have
sufficient revenue. So, we expect that in
a couple of months, there will be much
faster and aggressive improvement in
metering but there is no false promise here that all customers will be metered. On the issue of fix charge or service
charge, what we have said to the Senate
is that fixed charge is not illegal, it is not
unusual. It is only paid for in Nigeria
because we had large hours of low
electricity supply in the past. But if you watch, since we moved above 4,000 or
about 4,500 megawatts, you discover we
have few hours of low electricity supply.
What we are doing, therefore, is to
ensure that we pay fixed charges
proportionate to what we are consuming.

Northern youths, under the aegis of Arewa Youth Forum (AYF), have commended Lagos State Governor Akinwumi Ambode for nominating a leader of the Hausa/Fulani community in the state, Mohammed Kabiru for commissioner. Speaking on behalf the youth, AYF President, Gambo Ibrahim Gujungu urged other state governors in the country to emulate Governor Akinwumi Ambode, by appointing non-indigenous cabinet members who have the capacity to deliver in line with the mandate and vision of their governments. Gujungu noted that Governor Ambode’s gesture was one of the unifying factors need to build national integration in the country, saying it would heartwarming to see a Yoruba or Ibo being appointed a commissioner in Zamfara State. “We look forward to the day when we will see a Yoruba or Ibo being appointed a commissioner in Zamfara or Sokoto. It is gestures like Ambode’s that can truly unite the different tribes and religions in the country. “We commend Governor Ambode for this uncommon political gesture, and want to assure him that the Government and good people of Lagos State will never regret the appointment of Mohammed Kabiru as commissioner in the state,” Gujungu added. He further urged Arewa youths to continue to be good ambassadors of the North wherever they may find themselves, saying Governor Ambode has found Mohammed Kabiru worthy of his cabinet membership owing to his strong character and integrity.

In the quest for fast money, a 28-year-old Nigerian man identified simply as Chukwudi, has lost his life in bizarre circumstances after he traveled to Malaysia to donate one of his kidneys » to a patient needing a transplant. According to a Nigerian business man based in that Middle East country, Chuwkwudi is not alone in this risky and dangerous business of selling internal organs » for money as many young Nigerians undertake this venture just to get rich quick. This is what the business man (name withheld by Pulse) reported exclusively to Pulse: "I know many Nigerians will say it is none of my business how others make their money but I want to bring this to the notice of our country people how many of our young men die here in Malaysia in very
disturbing circumstances. I can tell of this young Igbo boy named Chukwudi, from Owerri, (Imo State) who was paid the sum of N6 million by one rich man to donate his kidney for a transplant. The young man was brought in from Nigeria and I had the privilege of interacting with him and tried to dissuade from undertaking such a risky venture but he was adamant, telling me he had made up his mind already and nothing could stop him. I even offered he join me in my little car washing business from which I have been able to build a house back home but Chukwudi did not want to struggle to make money. He wanted fast money and he ended up a dead man because the operation was not successful. he died in the process while the rich man had a successful kidney transplant. I felt so bad because I kind of liked the boy who was graduate and had a lot of life ahead of him. I want to use this opportunity to warn our young people not to always be in a hurry to make fast money."
Source:pulse.ng

Commonwealth Scholarships for Master’s
and PhD study in the UK are offered for
citizens of developing Commonwealth countries. These scholarships are funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), with the aim of contributing to the UK’s international
development aims and wider overseas
interests, supporting excellence in UK
higher education, and sustaining the
principles of the Commonwealth. For
information on other scholarships offered by the CSC, visit our Apply page. You can apply for a Commonwealth
Scholarship for the following levels of
study: Master’s (one-year courses only) PhD All subject areas are eligible, although the
CSC’s selection criteria give priority to
applications that demonstrate the
strongest relevance to development. You should apply to study at a UK
university with which the CSC has a part
funding agreement. Click here for a list of UK universities which have part funding
agreements with the CSC Eligibility To apply for these scholarships, you must: Be a Commonwealth citizen, refugee,
or British protected person Be permanently resident in
a developing Commonwealth country Be available to start your academic
studies in the UK by the start of the
UK academic year in September/
October 2016 By October 2016, hold a first degree of
at least upper second class (2:1)
honors standard, or a second class degree and
a relevant postgraduate qualification
(usually a Master’s degree) The CSC promotes equal opportunity,
gender equity, and cultural exchange.
Applications are encouraged from a diverse
range of candidates. The CSC is committed
to administering and managing its
scholarships and fellowships in a fair and transparent manner – for more
information, see the CSC anti-fraud policy. Terms and conditions For full terms and conditions, see
the Commonwealth Scholarships 2016 prospectus Selection process Each year, the CSC invites selected
nominating bodies to submit a specific
number of nominations. The deadline for
nominating bodies to submit nominations
to the CSC is 17 December 2015. The CSC invites around three times more
nominations than scholarships available –
therefore, nominated candidates are not
guaranteed to be awarded a scholarship.
There are no quotas for scholarships for
any individual country. Candidates nominated by national nominating
agencies are in competition with those
nominated by other nominating bodies,
and the same standards will be applied to
applications made through either channel. Each nominated candidate’s application is
first considered by a member of the CSC’s
panel of advisers with expertise in the
subject area concerned, and then by the
CSC’s selection committee in competition
with other candidates. Applications are considered according to the
following selection criteria: Academic merit of the candidate Quality of the proposal Potential impact of the work on the
development of the candidate’s home
country For further details, see the Selection criteria for 2016 Commonwealth
Scholarships for developing Commonwealth
country citizens You may also find the Feedback for unsuccessful candidates useful. How to apply You must apply to one of the following
nominating bodies in the first instance –
the CSC does not accept direct applications
for these scholarships: National nominating agencies – this is
the main route of application. Click
here for a list of national nominating agencies, with contact details Selected universities/university bodies,
which can nominate their own
academic staff. Click here for a list of nominating universities/university
bodies Selected non-governmental
organizations and charitable bodies All applications must be made through your nominating body in your home
country. Each nominating body is
responsible for its own selection process.
You must check with your nominating body
for their specific advice and rules for
applying, and for their own closing date for applications. The CSC does not impose any
age limit on applicants, but nominating
bodies may do so in line with their own
priorities. You must make your application using the
CSC’s Electronic Application System (EAS).
Click here for full information on how to use the EAS, including detailed guides. Your application must be submitted to and
endorsed by one of the approved
nominating bodies listed above. The CSC
will not accept any applications that are not
submitted via the EAS to a nominating
body in your home country. All applications must be submitted by 19 November 2015 at the latest. Please note that this is an earlier deadline than in
previous years.

The United Nations secretary general,
Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, yesterday said that he
was impatient to meet with President
Muhammadu Buhari due to his strong
political commitment to good
governance, participatory democracy and his commitment to fighting terrorism. In his address at a dialogue on
democracy, human rights, development,
climate change and countering violent
extremism, hosted by the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Abuja and chaired by
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Ban Ki- Moon stated that he was in Nigeria to
visit President Buhari and to ensure
strong United Nations (UN) partnership
with the country. He commended Buhari for pledging to
tackle inequality and corruption in his
inaugural speech, urging the government
against marginalising the citizens. Ban Ki-Moon urged Nigeria to tackle
terrorism and extremism, noting that
insecurity takes root due to
mismanagement of resources, injustice,
marginalisation of vulnerable and minority
groups and inequality. He stated that the UN has the ambition
of ensuring sustainable development
goals, ensuring gender parity, ending
hunger and poverty and combating
corruption by 2030. The secretary-general stressed the
importance of tackling climate change,
noting that sustainable development
goals may not be realised without
addressing the phenomenon. He said, “Apart from the Chibok
schoolgirls, many other boys and
children have been kidnapped by Boko
Haram. But why has insecurity and
extremism been able to take root among
the people? “I think that comes from
mismanagement, bad governance,
inequality and injustice. When you have
no hope for your future, when leaders do
not care about inclusive government,
people find some other ways. The five- year war in Syria started because the
leaders had not been paying attention to
the people and the country became a
perfect breeding ground for extremism.” In his remark, Osinbajo noted that about
110million Nigerians are poor, adding that
the government is working to develop the
nation’s economy so that the citizens
could be empowered. He stated that the federal government
would continue to work hard to provide
jobs and alternatives for Nigerians. On climate change, he said Nigeria will
join the rest of the world in tackling the
menace. The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad
Abubakar, urged the United Nations
secretary general to assist Nigeria to
recover its stolen money stashed in
foreign countries by corrupt politicians. FG to hand over Abuja UN common
Building in 6 Months – Chukwu The permanent secretary of the FCT, Mr
John Chukwu, has assured the UN
secretary-general, Ban Ki-Moon, that the
federal government will hand over the
damaged United Nations Common
Building in six months. Chukwu gave the assurance shortly after
laying a wreath in honour of the victims
of the unfortunate bomb attack on the UN
House on August 26, 2011. He said the federal government would do
everything possible to ensure that the
renovation and reconstruction work is
completed within the period of six
months. He challenged the contractor, Julius
Berger Nigeria, to work round the clock
even if it means running three shifts to
complete the work.

Jelani Aliyu, hails from Sokoto State, Nigeria and is General
Motors Lead Exterior Designer and the designer of the Chevy Volt. General
Motors is the world’s largest automobile maker. The car has been described
as an American Revolution and one of the hottest concepts in the design
line. Jelani was born in 1966 in Kaduna, to Alhaji Aliya Haidara and Sharifiya
Hauwa’u Aliyu. The fifth of seven children, theirs is a very close-knit family.
For him, it was an amazing experience growing up in Sokoto, surrounded
by the rich culture of the people and the state and enjoying excellent
access to the latest and international information.
From 1971 to 1978, he attended Capital School, Sokoto, an excellent
school and this served as a very productive educational experience for him.
In 1978, he gained admission into Federal Government College, Sokoto,
from where he graduated in 1983 with an award as the best in Technical
Drawing. Jelani was privileged to meet and make many good friends from all parts of
the country and beyond during this time. He had tremendous
encouragement and mentoring from his family and friends and his creative
art develop the ed. He drew a lot, designed his own cars, and even built
scale models of them, complete with exteriors and interiors. After FGC, he got admission into the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria to
study Architecture, but soon discovered that curriculum did not support
his future vision and plans. After considering other institutions in Nigeria and their academic
programmes, he concluded that only one of them had the study criteria
that would support his future goals. The institution in which he chose to
pursue his education was one he felt offered the best creative programmes
and had experience that would give him the best foundation required to
study Automobile Design abroad. That institution was the Birnin Kebbi Polytechnic. He was there from 1986 to 1988 and earned an associate
degree in Architecture, with an award as Best All-Round Student. While
there, he did some in depth research into home design and construction,
looking into materials and structures that would be most compatible with
our environment and climate; buildings that would stay cool in a hot
environment with little, or no artificial electrical air conditioning. Upon graduation from the polytechnic, Jelani worked for a while at the Ministry
of Works, Sokoto. In 1990, Aliyu moved to Detroit, Michigan to enroll at the College for
Creative Studies in Detroit under a Sokoto Schorlarship board
sponsorship. Having always wanted to study Automobile Design, this was
a dream come true and an absolutely fascinating experience. The course
was very practical and emphasis was put on creativity and the development
of new designs to provide solutions . He received his degree in automobile design in 1994. In 1994 he began his career with the design staff of General Motors. He
worked on the Buick Rendezvous and was the lead exterior designer of the
Pontiac G6. He also worked on the Astra with General Motors’ Opel
Division. With his brilliant work on the design of the Chevrolet Volt, which was
unveiled in 2007, Jelani Aliyu is considered by many to be the super star of
the General Motors renaissance.

Less than four months after the end of
the administration of President Goodluck
Jonathan, the robust and millionaire
lifestyles of known ex-militant leaders
from states of the Niger Delta has
changed tremendously. Gone are those days when monetary rewards and multi-
million naira contracts in various forms
came their way. It was not uncommon to see some of
them flying private and chattered flights
and living larger than life while Jonathan
held sway as president. Theirs was more a replica of the new
kids on the block who came into sudden
wealth and decided to flaunt it with
careless abandon. A drive to the home of
a typical ex-militant leader would reveal
the presence of scores of armed mobile policemen as security aides, escort
vehicles and exotic cars in abundance.
One was also bound to meet a lot of their
boys hanging around their bosses and
enjoying choice drinks while elderly
people in need of one favour of the other thronged the house. But with the exit of Jonathan from power
following his defeat at the polls, a lot of
the ex-militants’ lavish lifestyle has
tapered off, especially those among them
who failed to plan for the future; they
have seemingly returned to the pre- Jonathan era when they had nothing
except their monthly allowances from the
Presidential Amnesty Office. However, few of them decided to plan
ahead. Some ventured into businesses
like sand dredging while others ventured
into politics. Bayelsa ex-militant leaders such as the
second-in-command in charge of the
defunct Movement for the Emancipation
of Niger Delta (MEND), Dr Ebikabowei
Victor-Ben, known along the creeks as
BoyLoaf; Pastor Reuben Wilson, known as Pastor Reuben; Comrade Eris Paul,
known as General Ogunboss, and Africa
Ukparisia, known as General Africa, who
hitherto enjoyed a robust lifestyle of
millionaires, have adopted quieter
lifestyles. Investigation by LEADERSHIP showed
that the defeat of the Jonathan
administration, which was the major
source of revenue and patronage, and
the cancellation of the million-dollar
pipeline surveillance contracts awarded by the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) may have got them
to realise that they have to tone down on
their lavish lifestyles. Mujahid Asari Dokubo The Leader of the Niger Delta People’s
Volunteer Force (NDPVF) has been one
of the most prominent latter-day militant
leader to champion the cause of the
Niger Delta people. The emergence of
the Jonathan presidency was like a payback for the ex-militant leader as a lot
of financial windfall came his way
through various means. He was a strong
advocate for the continuation of the
Jonathan presidency beyond 2015. It got
to a stage he and Edwin Clark were competing to be the major voice agitating
for Jonthan to win the 2015 elections.
However, with the defeat of Jonathan,
sources close to LEADERSHIP
Weekend said he has almost faded out
of the public glare, same with the robust lifestyle he was indulging in. In fact, it
was gathered that he now spends more
time in Benin Republic where he owns
the Amachree African University, KAAU,
in addition to the soccer academy he
runs in the West African country. Government Ekpemupolo, alias
Tompolo Having been reduced financially by
President Muhammadu Buhari through
revocation of most of his lucrative
contracts, especially the one to Global
West Vessel Specialists Nigeria Ltd
(GWVSNL) which he is the chief promoter, Tomplo has also reduced his
lavish lifestyle. Though, he’s still being looked at as
“warlord,” sources said hundreds of his
followers have allegedly dumped him as
they search for other means of
sustenance. It was reliably gathered that the ex-
militant leader can longer use his private
jet because of high maintenance cost.
Unconfirmed sources also said the many
women that flocked around him have
thinned out. An aide who did not want his name in
print said: “Oga Tompolo is not all that
broke as people see him at present,
though he has stopped the lavish
lifestyle he was used to when President
Goodluck Jonathan was there (Aso Villa).” Ebikabowei Victor Ben, alias
Commander Boyloaf Boyloaf works hand-in-hand with Gen
Africa to coordinate MEND activities in
Bayelsa State though his area of
operations is in the Ekeremor and
Southern Ijaw axis of the state. With his education and exposure,
BoyLoaf is said to have gotten a better
deal out of the Amnesty Programme and
was able to build houses in Abuja and
Port Harcourt. He also has business in
shipping and dredging. Even though he has always kept a low profile, the exit of
Jonathan has further forced him to cut
down on his public exposure. High Chief Ateke Tom Ateke, popularly known as the
‘Godfather,’ was one of the field
commanders of MEND. Now a chieftain of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), Godfather
contested the governorship ticket of the
party but later withdrew due to pressures
from the former First Lady, Dame
Patience Faka Jonathan. Ateke’s contribution to the success of
the PDP in the last general elections,
which led to the emergence of Governor
Ezebunwo Nyesom Wike, has made him
one of the decision makers within the
party. It is an open secret that Ateke’s
nominees made the list of members of
the newly inaugurated caretaker
committees for Port Harcourt City, Ogu/
Bolo and Okrika local government
councils of the state. He has become an institution of sorts in
Ijaw politics, has strong influence in
Okrika land, and is a leading figure in the
sponsored media campaign which
discouraged youths in the state from
violence and criminality. Others that have also toned down are:
Hon Fara Doctor Dagogo, Eris Paul alias
Ogunboss, Pastor Reuben Wilson alias
Gen Pastor and Commander Ukparasa
Africa Owei, alias Gen Africa.

It’s not exactly on the mark yet, but it
would be on September 5. President
Muhammadu Buhari will be 100 days in
office and the question will be, what has
he done for us lately? From what I hear,
the president is not a huge fan of this 100 days business. He is aware that he is expected to
perform the biblical equivalent of feeding
180 million people with five loaves and
two fish but I guess he is also
uncomfortable with being taken hostage
by popular milestones. Yet, there are at least two reasons why
he cannot escape it this time. One, since
former US president, Franklin Delano
Roosevelt, tried to save America from
the Great Depression with remarkable
work done in his first 100 days in office, that record has become a common
standard by which public officers are
judged. Two, shortly before the presidential
election in March, a document, said to be
Buhari’s 100 day covenant with voters,
was widely circulated and taken to be,
well, Buhari’s covenant. It has turned out
that it is not. The document, which covered nearly
everything – from corruption to insecurity
and the Niger Delta, and from agriculture
to diversity and a promise to publicly
declare his assets – was neither issued
by Buhari nor signed by him. But since it has taken nearly 100 days
for this to come to light, a disclaimer
would be even more embarrassing as we
have seen with the assets issue. So, he is stuck. A combination of history
and accident compels us to ask the
question, what has happened in 100
days? If the spokesperson of the opposition
PDP, Oliseh Metuh, were in the room,
your guess is as good as mine what his
response would be. He would say it’s been a 100 days of
witch-hunt, flip-flop and motion without
movement. This response would be
consistent with the excerpt from a
popular online diary kept for former
President Goodluck Jonathan by his supporters when he travelled briefly out
of the country in July. The diary, under the heading, “While you
were away,” gave the ridiculous
impression that the country was missing
Jonathan so badly it was on the verge of
collapse. While he was away, Boko
Haram had seized half of the country. While he was away, Buhari bailed out
some states despite complaining of an
empty treasury. While he was away,
Buhari launched a massive witch-hunt
against those who served in the last
administration. It was pure Fayosespeak. In the last 100 days, Buhari has dealt
with a few issues rather awkwardly: the
flip-flop on a few high level appointments;
the delay in key appointments – for
which the Barack Obama example was
an incorrect reference, and the poor handling of the sharing of offices in his
party, which has had a knock-on effect
on pace and cohesion. Yet, the while-you-were-away diary
couldn’t have been for anyone who lived
in the country in the last 16 years of the
Peoples Democratic Party during which
Jonathan was here as deputy governor,
governor, vice president, acting president and president. It would be dishonest to assess the last
100 days without taking into account
what happened in the last 16 years under
PDP, especially the five on Jonathan’s
watch. The former president came to power
under very difficult circumstances and a
number of the serious problems he
inherited, including widespread
kidnappings, decaying infrastructure and
Boko Haram, predated him. But the problems also presented
opportunities. His predecessor, Umaru Yar’Adua, had
laid the foundation for peace in the Niger
Delta, curtailing years of violence that
had reduced oil production by nearly 50
percent; the power sector reform was
confused but redeemable, as were the institutions charged with fighting
corruption. To top off his luck, crude oil prices
remained at around $100 for four straight
years. Confidence in the economy grew
and the foreign reserves peaked at
$46billion in 2013. Jonathan seized his
spell of luck – or, more correctly, allowed his cronies to seize it – but not for lifting
the burdens of the millions who voted
him into office and the country that
looked up to him for service. Instead, he stretched his luck almost
exclusively for a presidency of five and a
half, comprising four women, some
cowboys and the rest of us. The result is that, by the time we were rid
of him in May, he left behind a country
robbed to a strand of hair and fighting for
its very life. It’s fair to argue that Buhari should – or
ought to – have known what he was
asking for. Why did he come to the party
unprepared? This argument
underestimates the shock, fear and
desperate response of Jonathan’s government when it became clear that
the administration was finally on its way
out. In those final days, the modus
operandi in everything, including the
transition programme, became ‘whatever
cannot be made difficult must be obfuscated’. Still, some progress has been made in
100 days. Terror attacks have not abated
significantly, but for the first time in
years, we have in place a government
that is serious and determined to win the
war. That message is resonating with our soldiers in the frontlines and our
neighbours and partners in the war. Power supply has improved remarkably.
On the day of Buhari’s inauguration, the
total power generated in the country was
3,155 megawatts. It was 4,067.1
megawatts on Monday. And in-between
both values a new peak generation of 4,545 megawatts was recorded on July
7. The improvements have more to do
with a change in attitude than anything
else. Impunity is in regress, confidence is
growing and thieves are running even
when no one’s chasing them – yet.
These may be small, small steps but a
feeling of confidence, of knowing that
there is someone in charge, is crucial to long-term success. Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah has been
getting the stick for reportedly saying
that, for stepping down, Jonathan should
get a free ride even if he and his friends
stole all the money. That was a mistimed
hyperbole. Stealing was not just a small part of the
16 years of PDP; it was the overriding
purpose of government, which reached
its golden era in the last five years. In contemplating the last 100 days, the
point for me is not whether Buhari has
done anything at all; it is that we have
been saved the utterly disastrous
prospect of another four years of
Jonathan. That is not just Buhari’s greatest
achievement; it’s our collective
redemption song.

The acting comptroller-general (CGC) of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Dr John Atte, has ordered the customs area comptrollers to ensure an increase in weekly average revenue from the current N13 billion to N35 billion. If this target is achieved, the service will generate no less than N1.6 trillion annually. Atte, from Bayelsa State, took over the leadership of the NCS on Tuesday this week, following the voluntary retirement of the former CGC, Abdulahi Dikko, after serving for six years as the CGC. Atte was until now the deputy comptroller general (DCG) in charge of Finance Administration and Technical Service (FATS). Atte’s directive on revenue collection was part of decisions taken during a strategy session of the customs management and customs area comptrollers in Abuja, yesterday. The session presided over by him was convened to discuss various areas of revenue leakages and put in place measures to plug them. To this end, the acting CGC directed the immediate setting up of anti-corruption seats in all area commands to monitor officers’ conducts and report to the office accordingly. With regard to anti- smuggling activities, while the Federal Operations Units (FOUs) were directed to intensify their border patrols to bring smugglers to book, Atte ordered an immediate review of operational procedures to give maximum effect to the ban on all hinterland patrols in the country. Similarly, “All task forces under any name or guise operating in all seaports, airports, and land borders were disbanded with immediate effect. Officers serving in these adhoc units were to be withdrawn and redeployed immediately,” a statement by the public relations officers of Customs, Wale Adeniyi, said yesterday. The meeting further directed area comptrollers to take full control of their areas even as the acting CGC stressed that they will be held responsible for staff conduct and discipline in their jurisdictions.

In its effort to protect Nigerian Children
from physical, sexual and emotional
violence,the federal government has
revealed that it is set to launch the
Violence Against Children(VAC) report
recently conducted by the National Planning Commission (NPC). This was revealed by the Chairman of
the Commission , Eze Duru Iheoma
Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) at a
two days Interractive Workshop for the
Launch and Year of Action to End
Violence Against Children which began in Nassarawa state, on Thursday. Speaking in his remarks at the workshop
themed ” Working with the Media to End
Violence Against Children ” The
Chairman who was represented by the
Commissions Chief Public Officer Mrs
Ngozi Nwagbo said “the 2014 Nigeria Violence Against Children Survey is the
9th Conducted in the world and 1st in
West Africa” The Chairman said “the Survey was
conducted using the Random Sampling
Method,with over 4000 Respondents
across all 36 states of the federation
including the FCT.
The 2014 NACS was carried out by the National Population Commission and
supported by the US Centre for Disease
Control(CDC) and the United Nations
Childrens Education Fund (UNICEF). Speaking on the topic Reporting Violence
Against Children: Ethics and Practice,
UNICEF External Relations Officer,
Geoffrey Njoku charge media practitioner
to be sensitive to the needs of the child
in their reportage. He noted that unfortunately VAC was
more rampant in places thought to be
safe havens for victims including,homes
schools and immediate communities. Mr Njoke charged participants to be
mindful of not causing further harm,giving
voice to the child,investigate and ensure
stories of VAC are balance and objective
as we as accord dignity to the child in
their reportage. He stressed the need for more media
advocacy and sensitisation to better
educate Nigerians and policy makers on
the need to end violence against children

Tips For Married Brothers
1) Dress up for your wife, look clean and smell good.
When was the last time you went shopping for designer pyjamas? Just like the husband wants his wife to look nice for him, she also wants her husband to dress up for her too.
Remember that the Prophet (PEACE BE UPON HIM) would always start with Miswak when returning home and always loved the sweetest smells.
2)Use the best names for your wife. Call your wife by the most beloved names to her, and avoid using names that hurt their feelings.
3)Don’t treat her like a fly. We never think about a fly in our daily lives until it ‘bugs’ us. Similarly, a wife will do well all day – which brings no attention from the husband – until she does something to ‘bug’ him. Don’t treat her like this; recognize all the good that she does and focus on that.
4)If you see wrong from your wife, try being silent and do not comment! This is one of the ways the Prophet (saw) used when he would see something inappropriate from his wives (ra). It’s a technique that few Muslim men have mastered.
5)Smile at your wife whenever you see her and embrace her often. Smiling is Sadaqah and your wife is not exempt from the Muslim Ummah. Imagine life with her constantly seeing you smiling. Remember also those Ahadith when the Prophet (saw) would kiss his wife before leaving for Salaah, even when he was fasting.
6)Thank her for all that she does for you. Then thank her again! Take for example a dinner at your house. She makes the food, cleans the home, and a dozen other tasks to prepare. And sometimes the only acknowledgment she receives is that there needed to be more salt in the soup. Don’t let that be; thank her!
7)Ask her to write down the last ten things you did for her that made her happy. Then go and do them again. It may be hard to recognize what gives your wife pleasure. You don’t have to play a guessing game, ask her and work on repeating those times in your life.
Don’t belittle her desires. Comfort her. Sometimes the men may look down upon the requests of their wives. The Prophet (saw) set the example for us in an incident when Safiyyah (R.A) was crying because, as she said, he had put her on a slow camel. He wiped her tears, comforted her, and brought her the camel.
9) Be humorous and play games with your wife. Look at how the Prophet (saw) would race with his wife Aisha (ra) in the desert. When was the last time we did something like that?
10)Always remember the words of Allah’s Messenger (saw): ‘The best of you are those who treat their families the best. And I am the best amongst you to my family.’ Try to be the best!
In conclusion: Never forget to make Dua to Allah – Ta’ala to make your marriage successful.
And Allah Ta’ala knows best!!

A new twist has emerged in relation to the 18-man list of foreign based Super Eagles players that were invited by coach Sunday Oliseh. One of the main surprises was the exclusion of Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel and Oliseh today, Thursday, August 19 revealed that the player ignore his invitation which was why he left him out the squad. "I called John Obi Mikel to be a part of my team but he never responded," Oliseh said at the Super Eagles media parley in Abuja. "I'll treat all players equally and no one is bigger. All the players I called responded, only Mikel didn't, we have to go without him."
This is not the first time Mikel will be accused of ignoring the invitations from the national team. Former Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi revealed that the Chelsea midfielder did not reply his messages » before he left him out of the team to face Chad in the 2017 African Nations Cup qualifiers in June » . "When I heard that Mikel was injured I tried severally to get him on phone to ask after his health but surprisingly he did not pick the calls. I sent text messages too but up till now that I speak with you he hasn’t called back or sent me text," Keshi said at that time. Instead of representing his country in the AFCON qualifiers, Mikel instead chose to spend his summer holidays with his girlfriend, Olga Diyachenko in Dubai » . Olga has posted a series of photos of herself and her boyfriend on a summer trip to Dubai.

Authorities of the Nigerian Army on Wednesday, said it had identified the soldiers who violated the rights of a member of the public in Mararaba, Nasarawa state, on Aug. 8. Brig.-Gen. Yusuf Shalangwa, Director, Legal Services, Nigerian Army, made this known in Abuja when the army appeared before the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that on Aug. 8, a photograph of a man lying in the mud, with some soldiers standing over him was seen on the front page of a newspaper.
Consequently, NHRC carried out preliminary investigation and gave the army an ultimatum to identify and produce the soldiers involved in the act. "We have identified the soldiers involved in the violation of the rights of the man and we hope to take appropriate actions. The report of our investigations will be made available to the commission. We will give everyone a fair hearing," Shalangwa said.
He assured that no one found culpable in the torture
of the civilian would be spared after. In his remarks, Executive Secretary of NHRC, Prof. Bem Angwe, emphasised the need for the commission and the military to chart a way in ensuring that rights of citizens were not violated by soldiers or other persons. "We will have about 300 soldiers for training on human rights; we are sure that after the training the misconception on the issue of human rights violations will be brought to an end,’’ he said.

Sundar Pichai, head of product and
engineering at Google, was announced
as CEO of the company on Tuesday. A
shocking move on many accounts for
many, but logical, because Google
is arguably known as an extension of its co-founders: Larry Page and
Sergey Brin. Google as we know it now ceases to
exist. A new entity called Alphabet has
been created by Google's co-founders,
where Page takes over as CEO and Brin
the president. Google, on the other
hand, becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary. The new entity has
been created because Google itself was
moving into many divergent product
categories which were at loggerheads
with its core internet services business.
Research skunkworks groups like Google X, healthcare focused groups
like Calico and Life Sciences, and IoT
subsidiaries like Nest are now part of
Google. Hence, Alphabet has been created,
where a much trimmed down Google is
another cog in the wheel, focusing on
internet products - Android, Chrome,
Apps, YouTube, Maps and Search. So here's why Pichai was made the
CEO of Google:
1. Pichai was already heading product management and engineering for all
these projects since last October. This
was intended so that Page himself
could focus on "moonshot" projects
that could have a 10X impact. For all
intents, Android, Chrome, Apps, YouTube, Maps and Search were being
headed by him. Pichai was making all
the big calls for these products.
2. Pichai is considered to be one of the most versatile executives in the tech
industry. With a shrewd instinct for the
product, coupled with business savvy,
Pichai is the perfect person to lead
Google's internet products. Perhaps,
even more than Larry Page, whose penchant for moonshot is sometimes so
long-term that it can be considered to
be illogical.
3. Pichai is Page's most trusted lieutenant. Since 2012, when Page took
over the reins of Google again from
Eric Schmidt, Page installed a core
team of vice presidents which included
people like Vic Gundotra, Andy Rubin,
Pichai, Nikesh Arora and more. Pichai has outlasted all of them at the
company partially because one by one
he managed to cannibalise their roles
into his initial role of being the head of
Chrome. Rubin relinquished control of
Android in 2014, for a robotic project at Google and Pichai was made the
singular overlord of Google's two
operating systems. Under him both
operating systems have come closer. By
October 2014, Pichai was made the
single most influential executive at Google because he took over product
management and engineering for
everything from Chrome to Google
Maps.
4. Pichai being an extremely talented executive has also been a target for
Google's competitors. Back in late
2013, when Microsoft was looking to
succeed Steve Ballmer as CEO, Pichai
for some time was in the running to
replace Ballmer. Eventually, Microsoft chose internally with Satya Nadella.
However, with Page being CEO, there
was little room for growth for Pichai.
Now that Alphabet has been created
Pichai is now Google's CEO. Alphabet
could also be a move towards retaining some of the Google's talent. In the last
few years, many old hands have moved
on from the company. Pichai's exit will
be a big blow.
5. Pichai is also the person at Google who's focused more towards emerging
markets than any other Google
executive. As emerging markets are
seen as future growth markets, a focus
on them is seen to be critical. Under
Pichai, Google launched the Android One programme in India and other
emerging markets. Chrome OS was
conceived as a OS for low-cost
computers and that are tethered to the
internet, something Pichai believes to
be the future of computing in emerging markets. YouTube is now offline and
content can be consumed without the
internet and the same holds true for
Google Maps. Google Now, Search and
Voice Search provide the best machine
learning adaptive experience and are widely available in emerging markets
unlike competing products from
Microsoft, and Apple. Under Pichai,
even Google+ is being rejigged as its
powerful photos tool has been
transformed into arguably the best free photos solution available on Android
and iOS.

Will you consider getting married to a celeb? Nigerian
entertainers are rarely identified with stable
relationships. And there are increasingly more baby
mamas and daddies than brides and grooms.. Photo:
Instagram/NET Many celebs like to keep their private lives private. Others enjoy PDAs. There are loads of unreported trysts as they use all the rules in the book to keep prying eyes off. But why is it difficult for some of our most eligible bachelors and bachelorettes to keep stable relationships? We found five reasons that could be responsible.
1. They devote a lot of their time perfecting their
careers. Who has time for marriage?
We keep speculating. has he dated Genevieve? has
he not? How about Andrea? Niyola? Truly, no one
knows what’s up with Banky W. And he likes it so.
2. Trust issues. For the male celebs, the fear of
groupies is the beginning of wisdom. The ladies?
They’re taking lessons from Funke Akindele and
Ini Edo and who else? Too many thirsty touts
masquerading as Romeos?
It should be a sin to look this amazing at 40. Rita
Dominic is as refined and sophisticated as they
come. Yet she’s never been known to be in a
relationship. Does marriage ever cross her mind? Will
she consider settling?
3. Some are being judged by the roles they play
in movies and their persona on big screens.
Think about it, how many ladies are bold enough
to take Jim Iyke The kind of man you won’t take home to your parents
until you’re certain you’re like 5 months pregnant and
there’s nothing your parents can do? Those who
know Jim Iyke say he’s nothing close to what he’s
like in movies and the media. But even Nadia has
now had babies by someone else.
4. Some of these celebs are surrounded by
scandals, not everyone can live with that. to Papa?
Scandal magnet. Ladies magnet. yeah he’s also a hit
magnet and money magnet. But ladies, would you
seriously consider settling down with a Wizkid? Not
that he’s looking for a replacement for Tania
Omotayo anyways!
5. Then there are those determined to not sacrifice their freedom and fame for marriage. These ones will choose their career ahead of any other thing. Perhaps that’s why there are more ‘baby mamas’ and ‘out-of-wedlock’ babies than ever?D’banj does’t even have a baby mama yet. But…
never mind

The former Senate President, David Mark on Tuesday shied away from his own defence in the
petition filed against him by Mr Daniel Onjeh challenging his return to the senate by INEC. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalled that Mark’s counsel, Mr Kenneth Ikonne had on Aug
13 asked the National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Makurdi for an adjournment
to enable him bring Mark as a witness so he could close his case. However, when the Tribunal resumed hearing today, even with the presence of Mark in the court,
Ikonne announced that he would no longer call him as a witness to avoid harassment from
petitioner’s counsel, Mr Tunji Oso during cross-examination.
Ikonne only asked the Tribunal for permission to tender some documents from across the bar to
enable him close defence, saying that he had exhausted his witnesses. Ikonne, therefore, tendered a certified true copy of a press statement by INEC where INEC
stated that the guidelines for the conduct of the 2015 general elections were relaxed. He also tendered relevant pages of Sunday Mirror Newspaper and This day Newspaper both of
March 29, 2015 in evidence. Tendering the documents, Ikonne urged the Tribunal to admit them in evidence, explaining that
they were relevant and were pleaded in page 2 paragraph 5 and 116 of the first respondent’s
reply to the petition
Ikonne also urged the Tribunal to evoke paragraph 41(6) of the First Schedule to the Electoral
Act as well as paragraph 20 rule 2(d) of the Federal High Court ruling, 2009 in the evidence
before it. Counsel to all parties in the case did not object to the admissibility of the documents so the
Tribunal admitted them and marked them as exhibits. Counsel to PDP, Mr Chris Alechenu then prayed the Tribunal for a short adjournment, explaining
that he did not know that the first respondent would close his case on time so he was not
prepared to begin his defence. The Tribunal Chairman, Justice Mosumola Dipeolu therefore, adjourned the matter to Aug 19,
2015 for continuation of defence. Speaking to newsmen shortly after the proceeding, Onjeh’s counsel said that the implication of
Mark’s refusal to testify in his own defence even though his name was among the witnesses
was that he had abandoned his defence. Also speaking to newsmen, Mark’s counsel who earlier called 10 witnesses to defend the case
said that he did not want to waste the time of the Tribunal by calling Mark to testify since the
petitioner had no case against him.
.
Source:Daily Post

John Okafor, 25, has been arrested by men of the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency for being in possession of N48m. According to Punch, the suspect was reportedly apprehended with the money on the Abaji-Abuja Expressway on Monday by the anti-narcotic officials who were on a routine patrol. He was said to be among the passengers of a commercial bus coming from Onitsha, Anambra State, when he was arrested. Okafor insisted that the money belonged to an unnamed bureau de change firm in Onitsha, adding that he was an employee of the firm. He said he was heading for the foreign exchange market in the Federal Capital Territory to convert the sum to dollars when he was arrested. He said, “I work for a bureau de change in Onitsha. I was asked to purchase dollars at the foreign exchange market in Abuja with the money. When we got to Abaji, our vehicle was searched and the money was found. That is all I know.” The FCT commander of the NDLEA, Mrs. Chinyere Obijuru, confirmed the two arrests in a statement. She said Okafor would be handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for further investigation, while Ugbai would be charged to court. She said: “Okafor was on board a commercial bus from Onitsha in Anambra State when N48,450,000 was found in a brown carton concealed in a sack. He also had on him 86,500 CFA. He claimed that the money belongs to a bureau de change at Onitsha. He is suspected to be engaging in money laundering and will be transferred to the EFCC for further investigation."
Source:pulse.ng

Credibility crisis has hit the senate over the swearing in of two different persons to represent a single senatorial district.
General Mohammed A. Garba and Malam Mustapha Sani Mohammed, who are both claiming to have won election under the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), have been sworn in to represent Niger South Senatorial District.
Daily Trust learnt that General Garba was sworn in when the senate was inaugurated on June 9 while Malam Mustapha was sworn in last Wednesday by Senate President Bukola Saraki for the same seat.
Sources said Saraki was influenced by his associates to swear in Malam Mustapha for the post, even though General Garba is still the legal occupant of the seat.
But the senate president’s special adviser on legal and constitutional matters, Barrister Ibrahim Tukur El-Sudi, said the confusion was caused by a lack of information from the judiciary.
Both General Garba and Malam Mustapha are currently at the appeals court claiming the seat.
Daily Trust learnt that the dispute began over their candidacy in the APC from their constituency during the nomination for the contest of the senatorial seat.
Malam Mustapha was first nominated as the APC candidate, but when his membership of the party was challenged, his name was reportedly substituted with that of General Garba who was said to have won the general election and was sworn in at the senate’s inauguration.
Malam Mustapha has, however, challenged General Garba’s claim to the seat in court, insisting that he was the legally elected senator as he was the original nominee of the party.
Daily Trust learnt that the case was still in court when Malam Mustapha was sworn in last Wednesday.
The swearing in of Malam Mustapha has now created a legal logjam as there is no court order declaring the seat of General Garba vacant.
The special adviser on legal and constitutional matters to Saraki said the senate was not given adequate information on the issue in good time and that the case is now being investigated.
Barrister El-Sudi said the office of the senate president was not aware that one person had been sworn in earlier for the same senatorial district.
“Before Mustapha was sworn in, we wrote to the Supreme and appeals courts, asking whether there was application on the senatorial district. The Supreme Court replied (to) our letter on the 7th August, the following day after we wrote to them,” he said.
“The Supreme Court said there was no any pending application, but the appeals court did not reply (to) our letter until on 12th of this month, just hours after Mustapha has been sworn in.
“It was the appeals court that told us that there was a pending application on the seat. We acted because we thought nothing was pending,” he said.
In a telephone interview, General Garba said he remained the authentic senator for the Niger South Senatorial District.
“It is true that Mustapha Mohammed won the primary election but it was nullified by the Federal High Court on the ground that he was not a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC). So, the party made me the candidate.
“I contested the election and I defeated the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Zainab Kure. INEC declared the result in favour of my name.
“I was sworn in and I took the oath of office like other senators on June 9 when the senate was inaugurated. But Mohammed went to the appeals court and he secured a ruling that the Federal High Court lacks the jurisdiction to entertain the case that we should go to the State High Court,” he said.
But when contacted through text messages, Malam Mustapha said he travelled out of Abuja and declined a phone interview.
Efforts to get the reactions of the Clerk to the National Assembly Salisu Maikasuwa on the issue yielded no result as he neither picked his calls nor responded to the text message sent to him.
Source:Daily Trust

In all honesty, a lot of things happened during Jonathan
administration, unfortunately he was not aware and he
solely put his trust and relied on the appointed
personalities. This is quite unfortunate! The former
president, Jonathan did not bother to supervise or
monitor the activities of the people in his cabinet that is why they rubbished his administration with corrupt
practices. He was ignorant of the monumental treasury
heist that took place under him. In a meeting with President Buhari recently, it was
gathered that the Bayelsa born politician was shocked
when facts and figures were tabled before him about
how corruption reigned supreme under his leadership.
According to the report gathered from the private
meeting, he was quoted to have said that he’s just realizing this corruption for the first time. Facts, however, are beginning to emerge about the
presidential meeting, which was said to have been
facilitated by the former Head of States, Abdusalam
Abubakar, former President Goodluck Jonathan at the
Presidential Villa, Abuja was shocked to see how his
aides milked the economy of the country dry. We gathered that the meeting was at the instance of
the 2015 Elections Peace Committee, after former
President, Jonathan complained that President Buhari
was not sticking to the peace accord they signed. Jonathan was reported to have also sought for
understanding on alleged corrupt practices and
mismanagement of funds under his administration, with
a source saying the former President claimed he was
hearing about some of the graft allegations for the first
time.
The report however claimed that President Buhari
reportedly insisted that all looted funds must be
returned to the nation’s coffers, adding that the
President also restated his pledge that Jonathan had
nothing to fear at all. According to a source quoted by the report, the
outcome of the meeting between Buhari and Jonathan
formed the motive behind Vice President, Yemi
Osinbajo’s declaration at the weekend that the target of
the administration’s anti-corruption war was not
Jonathan. The report further disclosed that the former President
was not comfortable with the way Buhari moved
against his ex-Chief Security Officer (CSO), ex-
National Security Adviser (NSA) and some ministers,
asking the Abdulsalami committee to prevail on Buhari
not to rubbish him. Malok Jerry and Dele Ogunsakin didn’t waste much
time to fire him back on reading this statement he
made. Amazingly, the former president, GEJ has
always been known to take leave of the truth. On so
many occasions as president, he spoke from both
sides of his mouth. At a campaign rally, he said stealing was not corruption. The case at hand now is
so bad that even those he trusted who have come to
him for succor are likely not to get the desired shelter
because Mr. Jonathan has made it clear to them that
everybody should now bear his father’s name whether
you knew of corruption or not. A source said, “This man is always economical with
the truth. When the allegations against former Minister
of Aviation, Mrs. Stella Oduah broke, what did he do?
What of those allegation against Diezani Allison-
Madueke? Was it not Jonathan who allegedly blamed
the House of Representatives of inviting Diezani too much? Was it not under his leadership Diezani took the
House of Reps to court? Was it not same Jonathan
who allegedly said stealing was no corruption? Where
did he get the dollars with which he was bribing
traditional rulers from? Lie has strength, but truth has
endurance.” Another concerned citizen who were privy of this
information said, “It’s so unfortunate to hear a chief
executive of a country claiming he is just knowing if
corruption perpetrated under his administration after
someone’s else has taken over the office, which
means he does not have a way of checking people he employed to work for him. Anyway, Law does not know
ignorance he should be punished according to the law
of the land. The issue on the loot should stand,
because it will serve as a lesson those thinking in that
direction.”

Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir el-
Rufai yesterday declared that the people
who encroached into public institutions
with genuine certificate of occupancy and
approved building plans would be
compensated. el-Rufai who disclosed this while
addressing some groups comprising of
students, National Union of Road
Transport Workers (NURTW), markets
associations who staged peaceful
protests in support of his policies at the Government House, explained that his
administration would compensate only
land owners with genuine papers. “ We are only recovering public schools,
hospitals land for the benefit of our
children and grand children in the state. “ Our public schools and hospitals were
built to benefit less privileged, therefore,
we will not allow some selfish individuals
to take over these lands. “ Why we commenced demolition
exercise from Alhudahuda College was
because majority of those who built
houses within the college premises did
not have papers and so their houses
were demolished. “ Those who built their houses close to
students classrooms or hospitals no
matter how much it will cost us we will
compensate them to get back our lands,”
he said. Hundreds of peaceful protesters
yesterday declared support for Governor
el-rufai’s land recovery exercise in public
hospitals and schools. The protesters under the auspices of
NURTW, Kaduna State Market
Association, New Panteka, Old Students
Association for Skill Acquisition, as well
as GSM Handset Sellers, after peaceful
roads protest in different locations stormed Sir Kashim Ibrahim House
entrance gate to register their support
and encourage Governor el-rufai to go
ahead with the exercise. The large number of youths who carried
placards with different inscriptions such
as “ Don’t be afraid of anybody , just
continue with the demolition exercise”, “
We are strongly behind you while you
recover our stolen land from greedy politicians” , “ el-Rufai save the future of
children and get back our school lands
from the rich”, and several others,
begged el-Rufai to demolish any house or
structure erected within any school
premises or compound.

The Nigerian Army has appointed Major
General Yusha’u Mahmood Abubakar to
lead “Operation Lafiya Dole,” an offensive aimed at crushing Islamist insurgents operating in
the northeastern zone of the country.
The appointment was contained in a short press
release circulated late yesterday by the army. General Abubakar had previously served as the
Commander of Nigerian Army Armored Corps. His
appointment takes immediate effect. The announcement stated that General Abubakar
was appointed to head the military offensive in
order to “meet up with the established time line of
bringing to a successful conclusion the fight
against terrorism and insurgency.” The military statement, signed by Colonel Sani
Kukasheka Usman, acting director of Army Public
Relations, disclosed that the operation would be
operate as “a unified command coordinating 3 and
7 Divisions of the Nigerian Army as well as other
elements of Operation Lafiya Dole.” The statement pointed out that the appointment
was “the first time the Nigerian Army in its history
is deploying Corps Headquarters in the field.” Boko Haram insurgents have intensified suicide
bombings and other armed assaults at different
locations in the beleaguered northeastern states of
Borno, Yobe and Adamawa. The group has also
launched attacks in such neighboring countries as
Cameroon, Chad and Niger. President Muhammadu Buhari has been meeting
with leaders of neighboring countries to coordinate
counter-offensives to dislodge the insurgents.
Source-sahara reporters

Africa’s richest man and chairman of
Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, will
address a global audience at the 2015
edition of DEMO Africa on September
24-25, 2015, in Lagos, the chairman of
the local organising committee (LOC), Yele Okeremi, has confirmed. DEMO Africa is one of the flagship
initiatives of LIONS@frica and aims to
connect African startups to the global
ecosystem. It is the place where the most innovative
companies from African countries get a
platform to launch their products and
announce to Africa and the world what
they have developed. According to Okeremi, who is also the
chief executive officer (CEO) of Precise
Financial System (PFS), Dangote is
expected to share his entrepreneurship
and startups experience with 30
technology startups that have been selected to demonstrate how their
products will positively impact the world.
The event which is co-hosted by the
National Information Technology
Development Agency (NITDA) and
Ministry of Communication Technology will feature notable speakers like the
permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of
Communication and Technology, Dr Tunji
Olaopa; managing director, Kuramo
Capital (a venture capitalist company
with current investment of $5 million in hotel.ng) Mobolaji Adeoye; and director,
Intel Capital, Tobi Oke. Others are the director-general (DG),
NITDA, Peter Jack; founder, Meltwater
Entrepreneurial School of Technology
(MEST), which trains, mentors and
invests in world-class technology
entrepreneurs and African startups from Ghana and Nigeria, Jorn Lyseggen; CEO,
African Technology Foundation, Stephen
Ozoigbo, among others. However, DEMO Africa recently released
a list of 30 technology start-ups from
across Africa that will pitch at the 2015
edition of the event. With eight
representatives, Nigeria tops the list
again. Kenya is second with six startups. South Africa is third with three
representatives while Ghana, Egypt,
Cameroon, and Zimbabwe have two
entrepreneurs respectively. Uganda,
Tanzania and newcomer, Ivory Coast,
have one startup each. The 30 start-ups were selected from a list of over 600
applicants with four earning direct
nominations during the DEMO Africa pre-
pitch events. The DG of the NITDA, congratulated
these start-ups and welcomed them to
Nigeria for the epic Pan African
technology event. “We are excited at the opportunities that
technology has presented to our African
youths in creating jobs and wealth. This
is a great moment in the history of
Africa, steadily rising to establish its
digital footprint in the world. As an IT agency, we will continue to support and
grow our innovation ecosystem through
great platforms such as DEMO Africa,”
Jack said. According to DEMO Africa’s executive
producer, Harry Hare, globally, the
DEMO experience has helped to
introduce new products and services that
have become popular brands in the
business and consumer markets, which include Evernote, Salesforce, Cisco
webex, Jawbone, Waze, and Tivo among
others.[img] Africa’s richest man and chairman of
Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, will
address a global audience at the 2015
edition of DEMO Africa on September
24-25, 2015, in Lagos, the chairman of
the local organising committee (LOC), Yele Okeremi, has confirmed. DEMO Africa is one of the flagship
initiatives of LIONS@frica and aims to
connect African startups to the global
ecosystem. It is the place where the most innovative
companies from African countries get a
platform to launch their products and
announce to Africa and the world what
they have developed. According to Okeremi, who is also the
chief executive officer (CEO) of Precise
Financial System (PFS), Dangote is
expected to share his entrepreneurship
and startups experience with 30
technology startups that have been selected to demonstrate how their
products will positively impact the world.
The event which is co-hosted by the
National Information Technology
Development Agency (NITDA) and
Ministry of Communication Technology will feature notable speakers like the
permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of
Communication and Technology, Dr Tunji
Olaopa; managing director, Kuramo
Capital (a venture capitalist company
with current investment of $5 million in hotel.ng) Mobolaji Adeoye; and director,
Intel Capital, Tobi Oke. Others are the director-general (DG),
NITDA, Peter Jack; founder, Meltwater
Entrepreneurial School of Technology
(MEST), which trains, mentors and
invests in world-class technology
entrepreneurs and African startups from Ghana and Nigeria, Jorn Lyseggen; CEO,
African Technology Foundation, Stephen
Ozoigbo, among others. However, DEMO Africa recently released
a list of 30 technology start-ups from
across Africa that will pitch at the 2015
edition of the event. With eight
representatives, Nigeria tops the list
again. Kenya is second with six startups. South Africa is third with three
representatives while Ghana, Egypt,
Cameroon, and Zimbabwe have two
entrepreneurs respectively. Uganda,
Tanzania and newcomer, Ivory Coast,
have one startup each. The 30 start-ups were selected from a list of over 600
applicants with four earning direct
nominations during the DEMO Africa pre-
pitch events. The DG of the NITDA, congratulated
these start-ups and welcomed them to
Nigeria for the epic Pan African
technology event. “We are excited at the opportunities that
technology has presented to our African
youths in creating jobs and wealth. This
is a great moment in the history of
Africa, steadily rising to establish its
digital footprint in the world. As an IT agency, we will continue to support and
grow our innovation ecosystem through
great platforms such as DEMO Africa,”
Jack said. According to DEMO Africa’s executive
producer, Harry Hare, globally, the
DEMO experience has helped to
introduce new products and services that
have become popular brands in the
business and consumer markets, which include Evernote, Salesforce, Cisco
webex, Jawbone, Waze, and Tivo among
others.[/img] Africa’s richest man and chairman of
Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, will
address a global audience at the 2015
edition of DEMO Africa on September
24-25, 2015, in Lagos, the chairman of
the local organising committee (LOC), Yele Okeremi, has confirmed. DEMO Africa is one of the flagship
initiatives of LIONS@frica and aims to
connect African startups to the global
ecosystem. It is the place where the most innovative
companies from African countries get a
platform to launch their products and
announce to Africa and the world what
they have developed. According to Okeremi, who is also the
chief executive officer (CEO) of Precise
Financial System (PFS), Dangote is
expected to share his entrepreneurship
and startups experience with 30
technology startups that have been selected to demonstrate how their
products will positively impact the world.
The event which is co-hosted by the
National Information Technology
Development Agency (NITDA) and
Ministry of Communication Technology will feature notable speakers like the
permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of
Communication and Technology, Dr Tunji
Olaopa; managing director, Kuramo
Capital (a venture capitalist company
with current investment of $5 million in hotel.ng) Mobolaji Adeoye; and director,
Intel Capital, Tobi Oke. Others are the director-general (DG),
NITDA, Peter Jack; founder, Meltwater
Entrepreneurial School of Technology
(MEST), which trains, mentors and
invests in world-class technology
entrepreneurs and African startups from Ghana and Nigeria, Jorn Lyseggen; CEO,
African Technology Foundation, Stephen
Ozoigbo, among others. However, DEMO Africa recently released
a list of 30 technology start-ups from
across Africa that will pitch at the 2015
edition of the event. With eight
representatives, Nigeria tops the list
again. Kenya is second with six startups. South Africa is third with three
representatives while Ghana, Egypt,
Cameroon, and Zimbabwe have two
entrepreneurs respectively. Uganda,
Tanzania and newcomer, Ivory Coast,
have one startup each. The 30 start-ups were selected from a list of over 600
applicants with four earning direct
nominations during the DEMO Africa pre-
pitch events. The DG of the NITDA, congratulated
these start-ups and welcomed them to
Nigeria for the epic Pan African
technology event. “We are excited at the opportunities that
technology has presented to our African
youths in creating jobs and wealth. This
is a great moment in the history of
Africa, steadily rising to establish its
digital footprint in the world. As an IT agency, we will continue to support and
grow our innovation ecosystem through
great platforms such as DEMO Africa,”
Jack said. According to DEMO Africa’s executive
producer, Harry Hare, globally, the
DEMO experience has helped to
introduce new products and services that
have become popular brands in the
business and consumer markets, which include Evernote, Salesforce, Cisco
webex, Jawbone, Waze, and Tivo among
others.

: Funny how girls think of wat to wear,while guys think of how to take it off.

Ipad replacing bible in the church and u call it modern day. ok,can u cast awt demon wit an ipad?


U take her to a show nd she fainted bcox of wizkid,my broda leave her there na wizkid go carry her go hospital.

Wanted to buy apple at shoprite nd on d price tag was N500. I was lyk..."Shey na Adam nd Eve pluck am?

U send 3k recharge card to olosho and 100naira recharge card to ur mother,God iz watching u!

Not every marriage start wit 'will u marry me' some start with 'I don get belle'.

Only in calabar will armed robbers come ur house steal ur dog,instead of money.

We love u,but God love u more,may Aljannah firdause be your final abode