₦airaland Forum

They had to find a scapegoat - and Conrad Murray foots the bill.

Money . . . Money. . . . .Money,

make sure becomrich doesn't catch you!!

only prayers can sustain a nation and the Church too has a responsibility in the transformation agenda of this government which is meant to develop the economy and move Nigeria forward.”

What a statement - I wouldn't even expect such trash from Patience.

Clueless

One Rogue organisation being investigated by another Rogue organisation.

I think the 'AU' led by Zuma/Mugabe should launch their own and hold trials - in Africa.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the court’s chief prosecutor, told the United Nations yesterday that Nato troops would be investigated alongside rebel soldiers and regime forces for alleged breaches of the laws of war during the battle to overthrow Col Muammar Gaddafi.

As well as the original charges that Gaddafi and his close family perpetrated attacks on Libyan civilians, there are a series of complaints about the Western alliance and its allies in the National Transitional Council (NTC) under consideration.

“There are allegations of crimes committed by Nato forces, allegations of crimes committed by NTC-related forces … as well as allegations of additional crimes committed by pro-Gaddafi forces,” said Mr Moreno-Ocampo. “`These allegations will be examined impartially and independently by the prosecution.”

In the last weeks of the war, the Gaddafi regime alleged that 85 civilians were killed in a Nato air strike near the front line town of Ziltan. Khaled Hemidi, a regime general, filed a lawsuit before a Belgian civil court in Brussels accusing Nato of killing his wife and three children in an air strike on June 20 near the town of Surman.

Mr Moreno-Ocampo also said that reports continued to emerge that Gaddafi’s son, Saif, is trying to flee Libya with the help of mercenaries. He said his organisation had “received questions from individuals linked to Saif al-Islam about the legal conditions attaching to his potential surrender”.



Representatives asked questions such as what would happen if he appeared before judges and the various conviction and acquittal possibilities, the prosecutor told the UN Security Council, which referred the Libya case to the ICC.

The court had “clarified” that under its founding Rome statute “he may request the judges not to order his return to Libya after his conviction or acquittal”.

“Judges can also decide if he may be extradited to another state,” the prosecutor said. “We are also receiving information that a group of mercenaries may be endeavouring to facilitate his escape from Libya. We are calling upon states to do all that they can to disrupt any such operation.”

Mr Moreno-Ocampo said it was possible that Libya’s new government could be given jurisdiction in the case against Saif Gaddafi and Abdullah al-Senussi, the late dictator’s brother-in-law and intelligence chief.

In the written text of a speech to the Security Council, Mr Moreno-Ocampo said he was investigating if Gaddafi, who died shortly after his capture by government forces last month, and his former spy chief ordered mass Desecrates.

The ICC issued warrants on June 27 against Gaddafi, Saif and Senussi accusing them of crimes against humanity during operations against Libyan protests.

Charges against Gaddafi could be formally dropped when the court gets official proof of the former dictator’s death on Oct 20, the prosecutor said.

Saif Gaddafi and Senussi had not been seen since and Mr Moreno-Ocampo said his office was “galvanising efforts” to bring the pair to justice.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8866007/Libya-Nato-to-be-investigated-by-ICC-for-war-crimes.html

Boko have released a statement - Whilst Reuben Abati is still thinking about what to say on GEJ's behalf.

Boko - thanks for he warning.

Islamic sect, Boko Haram has threatened to carry out more attacks, a day after a series of blasts and gun battles claimed by the group killed more than 100 people in the country’s northeast, the Nigerian Red Cross has said.

Ibrahim Bulama, an official from the humanitarian organisation, said on Sunday that the death toll is expected to rise as local clinics and hospitals tabulate the casualty figures from Friday’s attacks in Damaturu, the capital of rural Yobe state.

A spokesman for the Islamist armed group, using the name Abul-Qaqa, promised “more attacks are on the way”, speaking hours after witnesses reported “scenes of carnage”.

The US Embassy in Nigeria has issued an emergency warning to its citizens living there that bomb attacks could be possible at luxury hotels in the capital Abuja.

Boko Haram, which means “Western education is sacrilege”, has claimed responsibility for previous attacks and the latest was the deadliest since the group attacked a UN building in Abuja in August, killing at least 20 people.

“We will continue attacking federal government formations until security forces stop their excesses on our members and vulnerable civilians,” Abul-Qaqa said in an interview with the the Daily Trust, the newspaper of record across Nigeria’s Muslim north.

Suleimon Lawal, the police commissioner of Damaturu, told Al Jazeera a suicide bomber drove a vehicle apparently laden with explosives into a building housing the anti-terrorist court.

Lawal said the attack killed 53 people but he did not disclose how many among the casualties were security officials.

“The explosives rocked the building and there were casualties. Two of them [suicide bombers] perished in the bomb,” he said.

Lawal insisted the group was not gaining an upper hand and vowed that it would be crushed.

“My strategy is a security strategy [that] I cannot disclose on air. So as they’re not [Boko Haram] disclosing their security strategy, I don’t think it is safe for me to tell the whole world what I am doing,” he said.

The violence followed a series of attacks reported in the neighbouring cities of Maiduguri and Potiskum on Friday afternoon.

“There’s that fear that something might possibly happen again,” Ibrahim Bulama, a spokesman for the Nigerian Red Cross, said.

Security vehicles torched

News agencies, quoting officials, said after the attack on the building, armed men went through Damaturu, blowing up a bank and attacking at least three police stations and five churches, leaving behind their rubble.

People began hesitantly leaving their homes on Saturday morning, after seeing the destruction left behind, which included military and police vehicles burned by the armed men, with the burned corpses of the drivers who died still in their seats.

Boko Haram wants the strict implementation of Islamic law across the nation of more than 160 million people, which has a predominantly Christian south and a Muslim north.

Nii Akuetteh, a former executive director of Africa Action, a Washington-based rights group, said the group appeared to be growing strong.

“The government has been saying that it will deal with them and that it will get a handle on the problem, but it’s not been able to,” he told Al Jazeera.

“Previously, the attempt made was to try and fight them militarily – to send the secuirty forces after them – but that has created its own problem.


One of the scenes of the mayhem in Damaturu. Photo: Sahara reporters

“I know for a fact that there’re Nigerian groups in and outside the government, including the media, who are suggesting that the government should try to talk to Boko Haram.

“But my own impression is that they don’t seem to be particularly ready or inclined to talk.”

Split into factions

The AP news agency, quoting a diplomat, said the government was facing an increasingly dangerous threat from Boko Haram, adding that the group had split into three factions, one allied with al-Qaeda’s North Africa branch.

It said one faction remains moderate and welcomes an end to the violence while another wants a peace agreement with rewards similar to those offered to MEND, which has been fighting for a greater share of Nigeria’s oil wealth.

The attacks occured just before Eid al-Adha, or the feast of sacrifice, celebrated by Muslims around the world.

Police elsewhere in Nigeria had warned of violence in the run-up to the celebration in the country that has previously been rocked by religious violence.

Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria’s Christian president who took office amid religious and political rioting that saw at least 800 die in April, cancelled a trip to his home state of Bayelsa for his younger brother’s wedding on Saturday.

His spokesman, Reuben Abati, said the president did not consider those who launched the attacks “true Muslims,” as the assault came during a holy period.

Abati also promised that “every step will be taken” to arrest those responsible – the same pledge made again and again as Jonathan has visited other sites bombed by Boko Haram.

“The security agencies will tell you that what happens on this scale is even a fraction of what could have happened considering the scope of the threat,” Abati said.

“The security agencies are busy at work trying to make sure the will of the majority of the Nigerian people is not subverted by a minority [group] with a suicidal streak.”

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Isaac Olawale, a researcher for Oxford University Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity, says: “The present attempt to deal with the problem using confrontational strategies will not work.

“There is poverty all over the country and an increased number of Nigerians are jumping into the warm embrace of ethnic, chauvinist and religious fundamentalism.

“Boko Haram expresses some of the social upheavals we are witnessing in Nigeria.”

Source: Al Jazeera


http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/11/expect-more-deadly-attacks-boko-haram/

GEJ the Zoologist - he should have an idea about how to deal with muslims animals.

All his other calamities I can put down to his ignorance - but not this.

He took the credit for calming 'Mend. down - so do the same with the 'Boko Haramists'.

Fight 'Fire' with 'Fire'.

[flash=400,300]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCFHxrZPJH0&feature=BFa&list=ULiyKLay9soM4&lf=mfu_in_order[/flash]

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_s5By7s8z0&feature=autoplay&list=ULsCFHxrZPJH0&lf=mfu_in_order&playnext=1[/flash]

[quote author=alj_harem link=topic=797379.msg9488803#msg9488803 date=1320519983]do you think so ? this is part of the population boom we were complaining about in Nigeria isn't it

would it not be better to have protected sex instead of the lady getting pregnant only to sell the baby like a commodity[/quote]So your infering abortion is better.

na wa for you,

And whats wrong with naija population? India has a billion plus and so has China.

Your illiterate brothers in the North are the problem - if they embrace education and don't marry so many wives despite being broke then naija would be a better place.

Are you now an agent of the UN?

Alj_harem,

Up to your usual tricks. . . . . . devilish human being.

So whats worse - selling an unwanted child or abortion?

If you ask me selling or giving up the child for adoption is better.

@op

He's a -  'Reta.rded Mornic Cretin'?

Fcu.k  B.A

Bring back Nigerian Airways (or even 'Okada Air')

I miss them (they used to serve 'Eba' and 'Soup' on long haul flights) 

And a national carrier should have monolpoly over the route.

alj_harem

- What are you up to now?

- Have you fallen and hit your head on a blunt object?

- Has your 'Papa' dis-owned you again?

- Have you found jesus?

- Who are you trying to deceive?

Shell can go to hell - is it their oil?

How can a man be accused of stealing something thats on or beneath his land by a foreign company?

Shell - go to hell.

Revenue Generation = Tax the masses?

Okay, I see,

Within 12 months 'Pol Pots' Cambodia will seem like a paradise when compared to Nigeria.

House Probes CBN's N1.4 Trillion to Troubled Sectors


Abuja — Worried by the seeming lack of accountability in the disbursement of intervention funds by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to some troubled sectors in the nation's economy, the House of Representatives, yesterday, directed its committee on Banking and Currency to investigate the source of funding as well as disbursement by the apex bank of funds to the banking an aviation sectors.

This is just as the Senate has also resolved to probe the management of Federal Government pension funds, after condemning the endless subjection of pensioners to verification exercises.

In a motion sponsored by Uzoma Nkem-Abonta, the House also requested President Goodluck Jonathan to include the statutory budget of the CBN as well as other independent revenue earning agencies of government in the 2012 Appropriation as required by the 1999 constitution.

Nkem-Abonta noted that the CBN granted public funds in the sum of N620 billion to private banks, N500 billion to private manufacturers, N200 billion to the textile industries and N100 billion to the aviation sector without approval of appropriate authority as provided in the 1999 constitution.

According to him, apart from these grants by the CBN, the apex bank, contrary to its core functions and mandate, acquired several hectares of land in the Federal Capital Territory for the purpose of investing in the hospitality industry, while also reportedly paying N17 billion for a property that had been sold for N1.8 bllion.

On the role of Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria's involvement in the injection of funds to troubled banks, the House noted that the earlier injection of N821 billion as well as planned injection of another N3 trillion without approval was worrisome and called for investigation.

Senate to investigate Pension Fund

Meanwhile, the Senate has resolved to probe the management of Federal Government pension funds, following the adoption of a motion sponsored by Senator Heineken Lokpobiri and 25 others.

The Senate also urged President Jonathan to immediately stop verification exercises for pensioners which has brought untold hardship to most of the pensioners.

Senator Lokpobiri while moving the motion observed that pensioners are being subjected to degrading inhuman treatment in the process of verifications for their entitlements.

He further noted that pensioners were often made to loiter and sleep in public places for days for verification exercises that had become endless and persistent.

Senators were in support of the motion, even as they blamed the problem on corruption in the management of the pension scheme.

The Senators also called for the automation of the scheme to eliminate corruption, and make the process faster and efficient.

Senator Smart Adeyemi in his contributions decried management of pension schemes noting that the pains inflicted on pensioners was a sad tale for coming generations.

He said, AThe problem with our pension scheme is that of corruption, misplacement of priorities and misappropriation of funds,@ adding that the problems with the scheme would discourage people from being patriotic if something drastic was not done to change the situation.

Senator Ayogu Eze also contributing said it was inhuman to constantly subject very old people to long travels from their villages to the city for verification, making them to pass through very harrowing experiences.

Adding his voice to the poor pension management, Senator Barnabas Gemade called for the adoption of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC process where all voters were registered in the registration of pensioners.

He said, AIt is absolutely in human to engage people of 80 years and above to stand in line for many hours in the name of verification. If we can go and register voters in every village, we can also go and register every pensioner in the villages and local governments.

Senate President, David Mark, while ruling agreed with Gemade, and noted that the system of registering voters could be adopted in the verification of pensioners.

He said, the problem is not with the payment of the pensions, but the sufferings they go through to get paid. If INEC can register millions of Nigerians for elections, I don=t see why we cannot adopt the same method in the verification of our pensioners

http://allafrica.com/stories/201111031047.html

Seem everything and everyone is being or has been probed in Nigeria (even Beaf  )

Yet the bullsh.it and corruption continues to flourish.

Abuja — Following alleged unauthorised spending of public funds by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the House of Representatives yesterday mandated its committee on banking and currency to probe the sources of funds, expenditures and interventions of the apex bank and the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).

The is to determine whether or not the CBN has been operating in conformity with the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended).

The resolution to conduct an investigative hearing on the activities of apex bank followed a motion brought to the House by Hon. Uzoma Nkem-Abonta, entitled, "Expenditure of Public Funds by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN and the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) without Approval".

In his lead debate on the motion, Nkem-Abonta noted that the CBN had continually granted public funds to various entities and sectors without the approval of the National Assembly, which is constitutionally empowered to scrutinise and approve spending of public funds by agencies of government.

He alleged that the CBN had granted the sums of N620 billion to private banks, N500 billion to private manufacturers, N200 billion to textile industry and N100 billion to Aviation industry as well as other sectors without appropriation.

He also informed the House that contrary to its core functions and mandate, the nation's regulatory bank allegedly acquired several hectres of land in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja for purposes of investing in hospitality and property business.

The lawmaker further expressed concern that the CBN was reported to have paid N17 billion for a Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) property sold for N1.8 billion.

Abonta also lamented that the CBN injected N620 billion of public funds to rescue private banks in 2009, and in 2011 the apex bank, the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation(NDIC), and the Asset Management Corporation (AMCON) injected another N679 billion to recapitalise the same banks without approval of the National Assembly.

He further alleged that AMCON announced that it would inject another N821 billion to revive some ailing banks again; and equally pledged to inject up to N3trillion without approval.

He also expressed worries that the recurrent and capital budgets of the CBN were not subjected to appropriation or approval by the appropriate authorities as enshrined in the Constitution.


In addition to investigating the allegations against the CBN, Abonta also prayed that the committee on banking and currency should examine existing laws with respect to banking, such as the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act and recommend amendments where necessary to bring the laws in conformity with the Constitution.

He urged that President Goodluck Jonathan should be requested to include the statutory budget of the CBN and all independent revenue earning agencies of government in the 2012 appropriation proposal as required by the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 and the Constitution.

After a vigorous debate on the motion, the Reps unanimously voted that it should be referred to the Committee on Banking and Currency for investigation before reporting back to the House.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201111030770.html

Who are the NNPC shareholders (and dont tell m the Nigerian Govt owns it!!)

The executive secretary of Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) , Zainab Ahmed, yesterday informed the Committee of the House of Representatives probing the alleged non-remittance of N450 billion into the federation account by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) that its debt to the federation account was N842billion and not N450 billion as alleged by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission.

This is just as the joint investigative committee comprising Finance, Petroleum (Upstream and Downstream) and Gas Resources condemned the failure of Nigeria Governors' Forum (NGF) to appear at the parley, stating that the governors should have been keen to attend the hearing on the grounds of alleged illegal deductions by the NNPC.

The Chairman of RMAFC, Elias Mbam, had during its presentation on Tuesday, accused the NNPC of running unmonitored secret accounts, claiming that the NNPC illegally deducted N533.95billion from oil proceeds between January to September 2011.

At the resumed hearing yesterday, the executive director of NEITI, who said the withheld payment was from the domestic sale of crude oil between 2004 and 2008 said, "We are reporting here today that we have details of what NNPC is owing on month by month basis and we have discovered unauthorised deductions on subsidy and NNPC did not give any authority or circular on which the deductions are made.

"As at December 2005, the amount stood at N654 billion. We will help the committee, we have everything. We have all documents. We had asked for subsisting circular authorising the deductions but were given none."

But NNPC has faulted the submission of NEITI, which claimed that it has an outstanding N842 billion in unremitted funds to the federation accounts, saying that the contentious amount remains N450 billion.

In a statement made available yesterday, the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, Dr. Levi Ajuonuma, insisted that the figure presented by the NEITI boss did not capture the nature of the transaction as well as the current realities on ground

http://allafrica.com/stories/201111031074.html

Nigeria pirates hijack MT Halifax oil tanker

Pirates have seized an oil products tanker off southern Nigeria, security officials say.

Gunmen boarded the MT Halifax off Port Harcourt, the main city in the oil-rich Niger Delta, they said.

The owners of the vessel lost contact with the tanker on 30 October, according to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB).

The UN this week urged West African nations to increase naval patrols following a surge of pirate attacks.

The IMB says the crew of 25 are being held by the pirates, who are expected to steal the oil in the ship's hold.

In West Africa, crews are generally released unharmed after the crude oil is stolen from the ships, unlike in Somalia, where crews and their ships are held until ransoms are paid - often after several months.

The nationalities of those onboard are thought to be Filipino and Indian, with an Italian ship master.

Commodore Kabir Aliyu, a spokesman for Nigeria's navy, declined to comment.

Oil products tankers carry both crude and refined oil.

The pirates are thought to have sailed into the Gulf of Guinea, according to security officials.

The Halifax is owned by the Greek-based Ancora Investment Trust Inc and is flagged out of Malta.

West Africa has seen a growing number of oil tanker hijackings in recent months as pirates target oil shipments from Nigeria, one of the world's biggest producers.

On Monday, a top UN official, Taye-Brook Zerihoun, said that Somali pirates were inspiring copycat attacks in other parts of Africa.

The warning came as the UN Security Council called on West African nations to step up navy patrols and other measures to counter a new front in the piracy war.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15576373

Pirates seized an oil tanker with over 20 crew off the coast of Nigeria, an official of the International Maritime Bureau said on Thursday amid mounting concern at such attacks in West Africa.

"We believe it's been hijacked and we believe there are about 25 crew on board," Cyrus Mody, a London-based manager with the world's piracy watchdog told AFP on the phone.

The attack occured on October 30, he said.

Neither the nationalities of the crew nor details of the vessels could be immediately established. A Nigerian navy official was unable to confirm the incident.

It is the latest in a surge of attacks off the coast of West Africa in recent months.

Twenty Eastern European crew hijacked off Nigeria last month were freed along with the vessel around a week later.

The coast of Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer, has long been a dangerous place to sail, and the risk has extended in recent months to the coast of the small neighbouring nation of Benin.

Benin's coast has seen at least 20 piracy incidents this year compared to none in 2010.

Nigeria and Benin launched joint sea patrols last month in a bid to tackle the piracy surge.

The maritime bureau has warned that the spate of ship attacks off West Africa indicates the region could emerge as a new piracy
http://news.yahoo.com/pirates-seize-tanker-off-coast-nigeria-171442152.html

Nigeria is placed 156 out of 187 countries in a new UN study, which ranks countries on their education, income and life expectancy.

The 2011 Human Development Index (HDI) released on Wednesday by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) put Norway, Australia and the Netherlands on the top three countries to live in.

Nigeria placed 142 out of 169 a year ago and was listed among “least human development” countries in terms of wealth and low educational ranking.

However, the 2011 HDI covered a record 187 countries and territories, up from 169 in 2010 and according to the authors, the 2011 country rankings “are therefore not comparable” to last years figures.

The 2011 report entitled ‘Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for All’, put Nigeria’s life expectancy at 51.9 years, below that of Libya at 74, Mauritus 73.4, Gabon 62.7 and South Africa, 52.8.

The UN ranks a country’s life expectancy by the number of years a newborn infant could expect to live if prevailing pattern of age specific mortality rates at the time of birth stay the same throughout the infants life.

A country’s educational achievements is assessed by combining adult literacy rates along with enrolment in primary, secondary and university institutions.

On education, the index on Nigeria shows that the average number of years of schooling received by people’s ages 25 and older is 5.0.

The report puts the highest possible years of schooling for a child in Nigeria at 8.9, if the prevailing patterns of age-specific enrolment rates persist throughout the child’s life.

With a gross national income (GNI) per capita of $2,069, Nigeria lags behind countries like Equatorial Guinea ($17,608), Botswana ($13,049) and Gabon ($12,249).

However the report shows Nigeria to be among sub-Saharan Africa countries that recorded the highest average HDI improvement over the past decade of any region in the world.

Between 1970 and 2010, countries in the lowest 25 percent of countries ranked - the majority of them African - improved their overall HDI achievement by 82 percent, twice the global average.

The report shows that extreme poverty has declined in both Kenya and Nigeria, noting that these advances are attributable in part to improvements in water, sanitation, health and other living standards.

Mauritius is the highest HDI achiever in sub-Saharan Africa followed by Gabon Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.

Nonetheless, sub-Saharan Africa is still home to the 10 countries with the lowest HDI levels of the 187 nations and territories included in the 2011 index.

The 10 countries that place last in the 2011 HDI are all in sub-Saharan Africa: Guinea, Central African Republic, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Chad, Mozambique, Burundi, Niger, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

These low-HDI nations still suffer from inadequate incomes, limited schooling opportunities, and life expectancies far below world averages, partly due to deaths from preventable and treatable diseases such as malaria and AIDS.

The report added that in many of these countries lingering armed conflict had further compounded the problem.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5746922-146/nigeria_places_156_on_un_quality.csp

So the Fed Govt if breaking the very law it created?

Can the Govt not be sued for the minimum payment of 18k back dated to when it became law?

If the Fed Govt doesn't abide the the laws of the land, then why should Nigerians?

President Jonathan Owes Aides Six Months Salaries!


President Goodluck Jonathan is yet to pay his aides salaries six months after he hired them. Those affected are chief of staff, special advisers, senior special assistants, special assistants and personal assistants.

A senior government official told LEADERSHIP last night that initially, the non-payment of the salaries was affected by the inability of the aides to finish the documentation of their appointments and later the dispute between the federal and the state governments over the monthly federal allocation.

It was also gathered that, civil servants have continued to express worry over the delay in the payment of their staff salaries. It was learnt that by the 25th of every month, salaries of government employees in the ministries, departments and agency were usually ready, but most workers have continued to express dismay over the delay in the payment of their salaries, especially as there was also a delay in payment of September salary. As at press time, workers' salaries were yet to be paid.

In March 2011, President Jonathan signed the Minimum Wage Bill into law after its passage by the National Assembly. The new law also states that private sector employers with more than 50 employees must pay workers the new wage.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) had before the elections in April, threaten to withhold workers' votes, unless the minimum wage law was signed and paid to workers. But the organised labour later backed down from its threats when it went ahead to allow its members to vote during the April elections.

LEADERSHIP investigation can confirm that the N18,000 minimum wage is yet to be paid to any worker in federal ministries, departments and agencies(MDAs) till date. Instead, what the least paid civil servants have been receiving remains the N17,000 approved by President Jonathan upon inception of his administration last year.

In the same vein, the salary structure of all other categories of federal employees remains the same without any increment. Until this salary adjustment was done, the least paid worker went home with a paltry N7,500.

An employee of the Federal Ministry of Health, who spoke with LEADERSHIP under condition of anonymity, condemned the development and likened it to the growing culture of impunity in the Nigerian society.

He said: "What can we do? If the federal government says they will pay N18,000 and up till now we have not seen any increase in our salary, who do you complain to, are we to take them to court?

But I want to tell you that we are not happy. Even though the least paid worker now, as of today, earns N17,000, we expect the federal government to honour the promise by paying the N18,000 it promised. Although, it is just a matter of adding a few hundreds to our salary to make it N18,000, still, we want it. Even though it is still not everything but it is something. If you go to the market, things are so expensive based on this new minimum wage of N18,000 but we are yet to receive it,"

When contacted for his comment on the development, acting Secretary-General of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Owei Lakemfa, denied knowledge of the situation. He said, " We are yet to get any complain from our members in the public sector. We are surprised that the Federal Government is not paying the N18,000 minimum wage. In July, the organised labour signed an agreement that this would be done, and at the end, a circular was issued to all our members. That is the instrument of implementation of the minimum wage.

The minister of labour and productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, had in an interactive session with the media recently declared that the new minimum wage had become a law, adding that failure to pay the new rate to workers in the public or private sector was unconstitutional and a violation of the law.

When LEADERSHIP visited the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation for clarification on the delay in payment of N18,000 minimum wage to federal workers, spokesperson of AGF's office, Hassan Timon Dodo, said government regretted the delay and was working round the clock to offset the payment in all the MDAs.

He said: "Government is finalising plans to commence payment of the minimum wage soonest. When these plans have been concluded, payment would immediately commence in all ministries, department, and agencies (MDAs) in uniform manner, without any disparity," he said.

Our investigation further revealed that employers in the private sector are also adamant with the N18,000 minimum wage. This is even as most private sector employers with well over 50 staff strength are not complying with the new wages law.

For instance, those employed in private security outfits, gatemen, street sweepers, gardeners, among other categories of unskilled workers continue to earn far below the N18,000 prescribed by the law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

A Higher National Diploma (HND) graduate of accounting who works in one of the top private security guard firms in Abuja (names withheld), lamented his plight as an employee of the security sub-sector. He said despite the new minimum wage law, his employer still pays him and other secondary school leavers as low as N10,000 monthly. But efforts to get the owner of the firm to comment failed.

But when contacted, a very liable source in the presidency disclosed to LEADERSHIP that the payment of minimum wage had since commenced at the time the President declared it. He however, stated that before the actual declaration by the president, federal workers were being paid about N17,000 plus.

The source also stated that Jonathan's approval of N18,000 only gave way for the addition of N1,000 to the already paid N17,000 plus to make it N18,000. Though, our source claimed not to know the actual amount of money added to the N17,000 plus, he added that the appropriate information could only be supplied by the Salaries and Wages Commission.

Further investigation by LEADERSHIP regarding the non- payment of Minimum Wage revealed that federal workers have not been paid as at Friday October 28, a development described by which many workers who were interviewed by our correspondents as quite unusual.

The source also revealed that the payment of October salaries for federal workers which has been delayed has been cleared for payment, saying that workers would be getting their salaries as from today

http://allafrica.com/stories/201110310922.html

Enugu / Gov Chime - well done,

RECENTLY, Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi, ACN, Ekiti North, made a baseless statement concerning Enugu State in the Senate. He claimed that Enugu State is in a financially critical state and that she is facing bankruptcy.

He did not state the basis of his assertion and offered no extraneous proof. He did not explain whatever informed the, but simply tossed out such a weighty statement. The senator is wrong and we believe that a retraction and an apology from him would be in order.

Does the senator know that since May 2007, Enugu State has paid salaries on time, every month, without fail? Does he know that Enugu State, without borrowing,has paid October, 2011 salaries even when the federal allocation for the month of October 2011 has not been shared, even before the ‘healthy states?’

Does he know that this is not the first time such has happened and that Enugu State does in fact pay monthly salaries, on time, every month, whether monthly allocations have been shared for the month or not? Does the senator know that Enugu State is not owing a single contractor despite the massive infrastructural projects that Governor Sullivan Chime has embarked upon since 2007? Does he know that Enugu State was the first state to pay the minimum wage in the South East, and was perhaps one of the first two or three in the whole country to first pay the minimum wage?

Does he know that Enugu State was buoyant enough not only to pay the minimum wage but to also to clear the minimum wage arrears beginning April, 2011?

Does the senator know that unlike some other states, Enugu State has not rushed to the capital market to raise long-term bonds to finance the numerous infrastructural developmental projects that Governor Chime has embarked upon since 2007. The senator and I know that bonds are debt, and that the proceeds from such bonds, if misused, could spell future financial doom for the states in question.

Thus states such as Lagos (N15bn) in 2002, Lagos (series 1-N50bn), Lagos (series II-N57.5bn), Imo (N18.5bn), Kwara (N17bn), Niger (N6bn), Bayelsa (N50bn), Kaduna (N8.5bn), Ebonyi (N16.5bn), Ogun (N50bn), Delta (N5bn) in 2007), Kebbi (N3.5bn) in 2006, and Yobe (N2.5bn) in 2002 are in a comparatively more precarious situation than Enugu State.

Again, the senator should know that Enugu State did not rush to the capital markets to raise bonds/ borrow and perhaps mortgage her financial future. Instead Governor Chime has used a sound and uncanny fiscal sense to manage the little allocation/IGR that Enugu State gets every month.

Does it not amaze the senator how Governor Chime has achieved so much with so little?

Does he know that since May 2007, Enugu State has religiously paid up her counterpart contributions for almost all of her syndicated-funding projects? Does he know that Enugu State has invested heavily and prudently in key sectors of her economy? Does he know that with her sound investments in agriculture and food production that Enugu State is geared to achieve self-sufficiency in food production by 2013 (well short of her earlier goal of 2015)?

Does he know that Enugu State’s wise investments in physical infrastructure especially in the metropolis is now paying off with increasing investor interest in the state, and a population boom through migration from other states to Enugu State, and healthy and increasing real estate values, a returning manufacturing/ industrial base, and a down-ward unemployment index, and a rising middle class etc?

We cannot believe that the senator did not know these things before he made such a baseless claim against Enugu State in the hallowed halls of the Nigerian Senate.

Furthermore, senator, on the matter of the revenue allocation formula between the federal, state, and local governments, we also understand that he and Senators Ndoma-Egba, James Manager, Sola Adeyeye, etc, would like an upward review of the allocation formula so that state governments would end up with a higher percentage than the federal government as is currently the case.

We understand that he wants to portray that the current financial state of the state governments compel his desire for an upward review, but he did not have to attach a false, baseless and irresponsible label on a fiscally prudent and exemplary state such as Enugu in order to make his point. In conclusion, Senator, you were wrong. A retraction and an apology from you would be in order.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/11/enugu-not-bankrupt-an-open-letter-to-senator-adetumbi/

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