₦airaland Forum

Studies have shown that waiting until you are older to marry (twenty-five and up) dramatically reduces your chances of divorce. It gives you time to really know and understand yourself, to understand what you need in a spouse, and what you have to offer a spouse. Marriages of people younger than twenty-five, however, are not automatically doomed. I’ve known several thriving marriages of couples who married young; however, one of the common denominators among those young couples with flourishing marriages was maturity.

Mature people view the world and themselves differently than children. Children have a small world and, until their horizons broaden, they think they are the center of it. Before you start passing judgment on little kids, believe me, you were the same way at one time, as was I. ~smile~ When children grow up, they realize that the world does not revolve around them; they are able to empathize with the needs of others and they can interact with the world as a member of the human race – and not necessarily as the leader.

Our culture praises age as its own rite of passage. When kids turn eighteen, we slap a ‘grown’ sticker on them and allow them to do adult behaviors, but many eighteen-year-olds have not yet been given the responsibilities and lessons needed to grow into mature adults. When someone looks like an adult, walks like an adult, drives like and adult, works like an adult, and talks like an adult, some people might actually mistake him or her for an adult when the child is faking – it’s not difficult to do.

However, once you know someone well (i.e., you have seen him or her react in a lot of different and difficult situations), you will be able to catch true glimpses of his or her maturity level. In a dating situation, it is crucial that you notice both your boyfriend’s (or girlfriend’s) mature moments and immature moments.

We ALL have immature moments, but truly immature people will consistently have many unapologetically childish moments. Pay careful attention to how he or she acts when events don’t go his or her way.

The marriage of an immature person to a mature person is not pleasant, but it happens day after day, year after year, all over the world. Sometimes mature people marry immature people assuming they will mature in the future – and hoping for ‘soon.’ Occasionally mature people marry what appear to be a mature person only to realize too late that his or her spouse is a child in disguise. Then, there are those cases when a mature person marries an immature person because he or she is comfortable having the upper hand and control in the marriage.

What often happens in the marriage of a mature person to an immature person is a parent/child relationship. The spouse who is focused on running the home, paying the bills, and planning for the future can begin to “parent” (whether that looks like nagging, coddling, or enabling) the immature spouse. The dynamic that is created is unhealthy to say the least.

Marriage is a partnership with two people having different, but equally important, roles in the home. Constantly trying to teach, motivate, correct, and direct one’s spouse has the effect of creating a father/daughter or mother/son marriage. It does not allow for each person’s natural talents to shine through; rather, the dominant spouse is trying to mold the other spouse into something that he or she is not (and often, it will look like him or her – as if he or she is trying to make the spouse into his or her own image). And just because one spouse is immature does not mean that he or she will take kindly to being treated like a child. Adult children can throw worse temper tantrums than young children (it will often manifest itself in destructive behavior rather than yelling and screaming).

How many immature fifty-year-olds do you know? Probably not many, but they are out there… and many of them are married to people who thought they would eventually mature. Never marry anyone with the ‘implied guarantee’ that you or time will change that person.

If you know that you are not mature, take some time to develop first and wait to get married. Being immature does not make you less valuable as a person; however, it just means that you need to grow and experience life more before stepping into the adulthood role of husband or wife. It’s just like those tomatoes in the picture at the top of this post. They just take time and preparation to get where they need to be before enjoying them in a delicious meal – the top few are ready and the ones at the bottom… it’s just not their time yet.

If you are dating someone who is immature, give it additional time to see which way he or she is going to pan out. If you see no signs or strides towards maturity over an extended period of time, you might want to consider ending the relationship. After all, marriage is for adults, not for children.

With the above, I’ll leave you with two quotes to consider:

“Maturity begins to grow when you can sense your concern for others outweighing your concern for yourself.” – John MacNaughton
“Maturity is achieved when a person postpones immediate pleasures for long-term values.” – Joshua Loth Liebman
Are you comfortable proceeding into marriage from your current maturity level? Are you comfortable proceeding into marriage from your boyfriend’s/girlfriend’s or fiancé’s/fiancée’s current maturity level?
http://preengaged.com/the-importance-maturity-marriage/

LagosNIV:
Maybe? Honestly, whether it causes a delay or not is not relevant because if she lies about it and it is discovered she will be banned for life. Best to just do it the right way the first time.

Highly noted ma

LagosNIV:
She can switch to another category (married child) without having to re-file. You just have to contact NVC. Also, this new category allows her husband and child to immigrate to the US with her.

But there will be delay for her interview ?

LagosNIV:
I don't know what visa class she was filed under. You all need to review the various visa criteria and contact USCIS - she may simply have to switch to another category.

It was F1 visa for unmarried child of us citizen, now she is married with a child, will dad need to refile for them again or SWITCH TO ANOTHER CATEGORY hope this won't delay their priority date ?

Ha

Looking

Greetings VO , my dad filed for my big since 2009 , since then she as not been called for interview , now she is married and with a child , will that filling be sufficient for her spouse and child to migrant over here.

Thanks for your swift response

Former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon (rtd), the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnemeka Achebe, former Head of Interim National Government (ING), Chief Ernest Shonekan, former Chief of General Staff, Lt. General Oladipo Diya (rtd), Chief Ayo Adebanjo, and other prominent Nigerians attended the one year memorial service of the late Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, Olubuse II, in Ile-Ife Osun State, Thursday.
The service was held at St. Paul Anglican Church, Ayegbaju, Ile-Ife.
In his sermon, the former Bishop of Ife Anglican Diocese, Rev. Oluranti Odubogun, who praised the late Oba Sijuwade for living a worthy life, advised Nigerians to emulate his exemplary life, which according to him was characterised by selfless service to humanity.
Saying the late monarch left many worthy legacies, the cleric maintained that his memory would linger in Ife.
He also advised Nigerians, irrespective of tribe, religion and political divide, to work and support the development of our immediate society and country at large.
He said the late monarch diligently served God and his people until his last days on earth.
He said: “Late Oba Sijuwade lived well and died well. He was a follower of Christ. I had personal relationship with him when he was alive. We should always remember that this world is transient in nature and that death remains the only inevitable end of all mortals. So, we should be cautious of our actions and inactions on earth because nobody, no matter highly placed would escape judgment of the Almighty God after death.”

http://thenationonlineng.net/gowon-shonekan-diya-attend-sijuwades-memorial/

James Dobson wrote: ‘A sixth grade teacher shared with me the results of a creative writing project assigned to her class. She asked the kids to complete a series of sentences that began with the phrase, “I wish…” The teacher expected her students to write about their desires for bicycles, toys, animals, and trips to theme parks, etc. Instead, twenty of the thirty students made reference to the breakup of their families or conflict at home: “I wish my parents wouldn’t fight.” “I wish my father would come back.” “I wish I could get straight A’s, so my dad would love me.” “I wish my mother didn’t have a boyfriend.” “I wish I had one mum and one dad, so the kids wouldn’t make fun of me. I’ve three mums and three dads, and they botch up my life.” “I wish I had an M-1 rifle so I could shoot those who make fun of me.” It’s hardly front-page news that the family is in trouble today, but it continues to distress me to see little children like these struggling at a time when simply growing up is a major undertaking. Millions of their peers are caught in the same snare. Every aspect of their young lives is influenced by family instability during their developmental years. Without gaining access to professional counselling, many of these kids will drag their problems into future relationships. Then the pattern of disintegration will repeat itself in the next generation. Returning to the responses given by these sixth grade students, I wonder how your children would complete a sentence that began with the words, “I wish…”’

How RCCG evangelist was murdered while preaching


A Deaconess at the Divine Touch Parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Eunice Elisha, was murdered by unnamed suspects while she was preaching around the pipeline area of Kubwa, a satellite town of the FCT on Saturday. Reports indicated that Eunice, a mother of seven, was cut in the neck and stabbed in the stomach. Late Eunice Olawale Her husband, Olawale Elisha, who is also a pastor at RCCG, told journalists that his wife had gone out to preach in the neighbourhood at about 5am and never returned home. “My wife always goes out early in the morning for ‘Morning Cry.’ There was a particular day she went out and she told me that there is a mosque at the back where they commented about what she said. So I just cautioned her. “This morning (Saturday), she went around 5am and I was still in bed because we did vigil which she participated in for a while because of the ‘Morning Cry’ she planned to undertake. Two of my boys are footballers, so they went to the field to play. And when they came back, they told me that they heard some footballers saying that some hoodlums had butchered a woman who was preaching early this morning. “So, when I heard this, we trekked down in the shorts I was putting on and we didn’t see anybody but we saw blood on the ground. I asked a policeman around and he said it is true but that they had taken her to Phase 4 Police Station. “I went to the station with my children and when we got there, I saw the lifeless body of my wife at the back of the police van and from there, she was taken to the mortuary. The incident happened between 5am and 5:30am because she usually goes out 5am and comes back 6am.” He said. The deceased, according to her husband was born on July 23, 1974 while he got married to her on July, 2000. Meanwhile, the Federal Capital Territory ( FCT) Police Command said it has arrested some suspects in connection with the murder of the 42 year-old female preacher. The spokesperson of FCT Police Command, ASP Anjuguri Manzah said the Commissioner of Police, Mr Alkali Usman has directed the homicide section to take over the investigation. “We have made some arrests and they are helping in our investigation. “The commissioner of police has ordered the homicide section of the command to take over the investigation of the case,” he said. The spokesman, however, did not mention the number of suspects arrested. He said that personnel of the command had visited the scene of the incident and investigation had commenced in earnest. Some residents of the area where Eunice was killed, speaking under anonymity, said they heard the woman preaching in the morning, before her voice faded off, followed by screams. “I heard her voice as usual in the morning around 5am preaching and at a point, her voice faded. “By the time I woke up to start my morning chores, I started hearing people say that a dead body has been found in my area. “On getting there, I discovered that it was the body of the woman preacher. She is such a nice and jovial person, she doesn’t deserve to die at all and if at all, not in that manner,” a source said. “She was practically slaughtered. Her legs were injured and she was lying in the pool of her own blood before policemen came to evacuate her body,” he said of how the woman was murdered. Another resident simply identified as Idris said: “I heard her preaching today like every normal day. “Later on, I heard someone screaming but because of the security situation in the country, I decided not to come out. “By the time I came out, I saw people gathered discussing the death of the woman. I believe if most people had come out when she screamed, she would have been saved.” Also, the head of security outfit in charge of the area, Sam & Co, Mr. Sam confirming the gruesome manner Eunice was killed said: “I saw a deep cut on one side of her stomach and her leg. “She was not stabbed. I feel if she was stabbed, we would have met her gasping for breath. But when we got to her place because we heard someone shouting blood of Jesus repeatedly, she was already gone. “This is a woman who preaches every morning. She always admonishes people to repent and that the kingdom of God is at hand. “We heard someone shouting the blood of Jesus and we noticed that the rate at which the person was in the pool of her blood.”

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/07/abuja-evangelist-murdered-preaching/

BREAKING NEWS: Ibrahimovic claims he will join Manchester United

Former Sweden international Zlatan Ibrahimovic has indicated he is set to sign for Manchester United.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has claimed he is set to join Manchester United.

The Swedish striker published an instagram and Twitter post on Thursday in which he indicated he will move to Old Trafford after leaving Paris Saint-Germain at the end of last season.

"Time to let the world know. My next destination is @manchesterunited. #iamcoming."

For years, Facebook has courted publishers of all sizes, asking them to depend more and more on the social media giant to expand their audiences. Now, Facebook has a new message for publishers: Tamp down your expectations.

Facebook said on Wednesday that it planned to make a series of changes to its news feed algorithm so that it will more favorably promote content posted by the friends and family of users.

The side effect of those changes, the company said, is that content posted by publishers will show up less prominently in news feeds, resulting in significantly less traffic to the hundreds of news media sites that have come to rely on Facebook.

The move underscores the never-ending algorithm-tweaking Facebook undertakes to maintain interest in its news feed, the company’s marquee feature that is seen by more than 1.65 billion users every month.

It is also a reminder that while Facebook is vastly important to the long-term growth of news media companies, from older outlets like The New York Times and The Washington Post to upstarts like BuzzFeed, Vice and Vox Media, publishers rank lower on Facebook’s list of priorities.


http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/06/30/technology/facebook-to-change-news-feed-to-focus-on-friends-and-family.html?_r=0&referer=http://apple.com/spotlight-suggestion

Dead story

Hmmm

Officials of ZenithBank kneeling down to 'beg' Fayose today, the governor claims.

Photo credit : Lere Olayinka

THE LAST STATEMENT OF KEN SARO WIWA AT THE MILITARY TRIBUNAL IN 1995
My lord, since my arrest on the 21st of May, 1994 I have been subjected to physical and mental torture, held incommunicado and denied food for weeks and medical attention for months.
My seventy-four year old mother has been whipped and arrested, my wife beaten and threatened with detention, the three telephone lines to my office and residence cut and the they remain cut to this day, my office and home have been ransacked on three different occasions and personal and family property, official files and documents taken away without documentation.
I have been calumniated in the press and on satellite television before the whole world by a Rivers State government anxious to prejudice the mind of the public and to convince that public of my guilt even before trial. Only recently, before the United Nations Committee for the Eradication of Racism and Discrimination in Geneva, an official delegation of the Federal Government which included the Special Adviser on Legal Affairs to the Head of State, Professor Yazudu, declared me responsible for the murders which are the subject of this Tribunal, even before Tribunal has found against me or anyone else.
The fact that a case of homicide is being charged before a Tribunal set up under Decree No. 2 of 1987 speaks for itself. I am aware of the many strictures laid against the decree and this Tribunal by local and international observers. All the same, I have followed the proceedings here with keen and detailed interest, not only because I am charged before this Tribunal, but also because, as a writer, I am a custodian of the conscience of society. I regret that the legal counsel I freely chose, Gani Fawhimi, the human rights hero and pride of this country, was forced to withdraw. His withdrawal has denied credibility to this
trial.
With the permission of the Tribunal, I would now like to make a filmic representation which will graphically demonstrate all that I have said here and amplify the details thereof.
My lord, we all stand before history. I am a man of peace, of ideas. Appalled by the denigrating poverty of my people who live on a richly-endowed land, distressed by their political marginalization and economic strangulation, angered by the devastation of their land, their ultimate heritage, anxious to preserve their right to life and to a decent living, and determined to usher to this country as a whole a fair and just democratic system which protects everyone and every ethnic group and gives us all a valid claim to human civilization, I have devoted all my intellectual and material resources, my very life, to a cause in which I have total belief and from which I cannot be blackmailed or intimidated.
I have no doubt at all about the ultimate success of my cause, no matter the trials and tribulations which I and those who believe with me may encounter on our journey. Nor imprisonment nor death can stop our ultimate victory.
I repeat that we all stand before history. I and my colleagues are not the only ones on trial. Shell is here on trial and it is as well that it is represented by counsel said to be holding a watching brief. The company has, indeed, ducked this particular trial, but its day will surely come and the lessons learnt here may prove useful to it for there is no doubt in my mind that the ecological war the company has waged in the delta will be called to question sooner than later and the crimes of that war duly punished. The crime of the company's dirty wars against the Ogoni people will also be punished.
On trial also is the Nigerian nation, its present rulers and all those who assist them. Any nation which can do to the weak and disadvantaged what the Nigerian nation has done to the Ogoni, loses a claim to independence and to freedom from outside
influence.
I am not one of those who shy away from protesting injustice and oppression, arguing that they are expected from a military regime. The military do not act alone. They are supported by a gaggle of politicians, lawyers, judges, academics and businessmen, all of them hiding under the claim that they are only doing their duty, men and women too afraid to wash their pants of their urine. We all stand on trial, my lord, for by our actions we have denigrated our country and jeopardized the future of our children.
As we subscribe to the sub-normal and accept double standards, as we lie and cheat openly, as we protect injustice and oppression, we empty our classrooms, degrade our hospitals, fill our stomachs with hunger and elect to make ourselves the slaves of those who subscribe to higher standards, pursue the truth, and honour justice, freedom and hard work.
I predict that the scene here will be played and replayed by generations yet unborn. Some have already cast themselves in the role of villains, some are tragic victims, some still have a chance to redeem themselves. The choice is for each individual.
I predict that a denouement of the riddle of the Niger delta will soon come. The agenda is being set at this trial. Whether the peaceful ways I have favoured will prevail depends on what the oppressor decides, what signals it sends out to the waiting public.
In my innocence of the false charges I face here, in my utter conviction, I call upon the Ogoni people, the peoples of the Niger delta, and the oppressed ethnic minorities of Nigeria to stand up now and fight fearlessly and peacefully for their rights. History is on their side, God is on their side. For the Holy Quran says in Sura 42, verse 41: "All those who fight, when oppressed incur no guilt, but Allah shall punish the oppressor." Come the day.
Ken Saro-Wiwa
Port Harcourt
21st September, 1995.

Sani Abacha, (born September 20, 1943, Kano, Nigeria—died June 8, 1998, Abuja) Nigerian military leader, who served as head of state (1993–98).

Abacha received his formal military training at Nigerian and British military training colleges. He rose through the ranks in the Nigerian military and by 1983 had achieved the rank of brigadier when he assisted Ibrahim Babangida in overthrowing Shehu Shagari, who had been elected to his second presidential term in 1983. Muhammad Buhari became Nigeria’s leader, but just two years later Babangida overthrew Buhari and installed himself as leader with Abacha second in command. Elections were held in 1993 and were won by Moshood Abiola, a candidate supposedly supported by Babangida, who, however, annulled the elections and set up a civilian interim government, which Abacha quickly overthrew.
Although Abacha promised a return to democracy, his actions were anything but democratic. He banned political activity of any kind, fired a large portion of the military, controlled the press, and assembled a personal security force of some 3,000 men. While he supported the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and its military arm, ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), in sending troops to restore democracy in Liberia and Sierra Leone, he brutally suppressed dissent at home. Abiola and Olusegun Obasanjo, a former military leader of Nigeria (1976–79), were jailed for treason. Wole Soyinka, Nigeria’s Nobel laureate, was also charged with treason, although he had voluntarily left the country. Perhaps Abacha’s most brutal act was the imprisonment, trial, and subsequent execution for treason of writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and other Ogoni activists who were concerned with the environmental exploitation of their region by multinational petroleum companies.

Abacha’s sudden death in June 1998 moved along the process of returning the country to civilian rule. His military successor, Abdusalam Abubakar, oversaw the return to an elected civilian government in 1999. After Abacha’s death, it was rumoured that he and his family had enriched themselves by some $3 billion, most of it held in European banks. In 2002 a settlement, which returned most of the money to the government in exchange for dropping criminal prosecution, was reached between the Obasanjo government and the Abacha family.


facts about Late Sani Abacha.
In 1990 Abacha became the first Nigerian soldier to attain the rank of a full General without skipping a single rank.

General Sani Abacha increased fuel price just once in his four-and-a-half years in office.

The National Hospital, Abuja, was established by Mrs Maryam Abacha, wife of General Sani Abacha.
General Abacha played a vital role towards restoration of peace in Liberia and Sierra Leone, after year of bloody civil war.

General Abacha played a vital role towards restoration of peace in Liberia and Sierra Leone, after year of bloody civil war and Abacha, being the secretary of defence and the most senior member of government, took over.

Sani Abacha oversaw an increase in the country's foreign exchange reserves from $494 million in 1993 to $9.6 billion by the middle of 1997.

General Sani Abacha increased fuel price just once in his four-and-a-half years in office.

Gen Abacha was responsible for setting up the Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund in 1994

Mrs Maryam Sani Abacha initiated Nigeria's Family Support Programme (FSP).

Gen Sani Abacha administration started a major housing projects, witnessing the execution of 125,000 houses across the country.

It is on record that the late General Sani Abacha started a major railway rehabilitation and modernization projects.

General Sani Abacha contributed greatly to the restoration of the lost glory of the military in Nigeria by especially providing adequate training.


The Gwarinpa Estate was part of Gen Abacha housing project, which is the largest single housing project in Africa.

Officially, Gen Sani Abacha didn't overthrow the interim national government in 1993. The head of government, Chief Ernest Shonekan resigned and Abacha, being the secretary of defence and the most senior member of government, took over.

Gen Sani Abacha stabilised exchange rate at N22/$1 but the unofficial rate was N80/$1.

Hi nairaland,
i am in need of adobe photoshop application ,i have tried to download it online but couldn't, suggestions on how to get it is highly welcome.

The attempt to tarnish my name, paint me as a common criminal and convict me of wrongdoing in the court of public opinion without even hearing my side of the story is petty, shameful and nauseating.

“The truth is like a lion. You don’t have to defend it. Let it lose and it will defend itself” – St. Augustine.

For the last few weeks I have been the subject of absurd and outlandish headline stories in various newspapers that have accused me of being a fraudster and that have claimed that funds were transferred into my bank account by the former National Security Advisor, Col. Sambo Dasuki and by the Governor of the Central Bank Bank of Nigeria.

They have also claimed that I used public funds for the Presidential campaign of President Goodluck Jonathan.

The attempt to tarnish my name, paint me as a common criminal and convict me of wrongdoing in the court of public opinion without even hearing my side of the story is petty, shameful and nauseating.

It is also a reflection of the desperation of those who seek to pull me down and destroy me simply because my opposition to this government has been unrelenting.

In January 2015, I was appointed as the Director of Media and Publicity for the Jonathan/Sambo Presidential Campaign Organisation by President Goodluck Jonathan.

The Director-General of the Campaign Organisation was Senator Ahmadu Alli and the Deputy Director-Generals were Alhaji Ibrahim Turaki SAN (North) and Governor Peter Obi (South).


Chief Tony Anenih, an elderstatesman and one of the most distinguished and reverred leaders in our country, was the Presidential Advisor to the Campaign Organisation.

There were at least 10 other Directors and Directorates apart from me and mine including the Directorate of Mobilisation, which was led by the respected Professor Jerry Gana and the Directorate of Administration which was led by Alhaji Aliyu Modibbo. There were also zonal and state Directors of the Presidential Campaign Organisation in all the zones and states of the country.

All these names that I have mentioned including all the other Directors whose names I have not mentioned are, as far as I am aware, men and women of immense integrity and good character and they have mostly been either ministers of the Federal Republic or state governors at one time or the other in our history. It was an honour to serve alongside such people and I have absolutely no regrets in doing so.

Yet given the fact that I was not the only Director in the Campaign Organisation and in view of the fact that all the Directors and zonal and state Directors got their funds from the same source and account as I did, one wonders why only I and three others should be singled out for this reprehensible treatment and these false allegations?

I chose to remain silent on the issue up until now simply because the allegations have not been officially made by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) or anyone else, but the newspapers keep citing sources “inside the EFCC” as their basis for these shameful allegations.

Mr. Josef Goebbels, Chancellor Adolf Hitler’s Information Minister when Germany was in the terrible grip of the Nazi party, said that once a lie is repeated enough times it becomes truth to those who are continuously subjected to it. This is especially so if it goes unchallenged.

I cannot sit by silently as my name is dragged through the mud in this way and I am convicted in the court of public opinion. This happened to me once and it took seven years to clear my name. It will not happen to me again.

Consequently I am constrained to take this opportunity to state the facts of this matter, set the record straight and await my traducers and accusers to make their next move. It is indeed time to challenge those who are making these allegations and to kill the lie.

The fact that my bank account was frozen on the orders of the EFCC two weeks ago without any explanation is proof of the fact that I am being targetted and that those who seek to have their wicked way with me are about to pounce.

Given this, it is important that all the relevant facts are put before the world before I am subjected to the Dasuki treatment – put away indefinately and not given the opportunity to defend myself before the public. Meanwhile, in their usual manner, after this is done, the EFCC will then flood the media with all manners of lies about my so-called atrocities which only exist as figments of their imagination.

The allegations of fraud and the receipt of public funds from the National Security Adviser’s Office and the Central Bank into my bank account are false.

These allegations are baseless, wicked, shameful and irresponsible. It is not true that ANY money was paid into my account by or from the National Security Adviser’s Office, the Central Bank of Nigeria or any other government agency or institution last year or at any other time.

As the Director of Media and Publicity of the Jonathan Presidential Campaign Organisation, I was asked to submit a budget for my Directorate by Chief Tony Anenih, the Presidential Adviser to the Presidential Campaign Organisation and Mrs. Nenadi Usman, the Director of Finance.

My team and I prepared a budget and it was approved.

Rather than collect cash, for security reasons and the purposes of accountability, I was advised by the Director of Finance to open a bank account for the task ahead then, which I did.

The funds were paid into that account in installments at the beginning of last year by the Director of Finance and each deposit was authorised and approved by the Presidential Adviser to the PCO, Chief Tony Anenih. The account through which I was transferred money was a private company account which was owned by or under the control of the Director of Finance.

It was the same company and account that was used to send money to all the other Directors of the PCO and the Zonal Directors, State Directors and all our PDP governorship and legislative candidates during the various campaigns.

I made a point of asking what the source of the funds in this account were and I was told by the Director of Finance that the funds were sourced from private individuals and private companies who opted to support and fund President Jonathan’s campaign. She told me that no money was paid into her company from any government official, account or agency. This she told me in the presence of witnesses and I believed her.

I was told that there was a fundraising event held by our party (PDP) which took place in early January 2015 in which billions of naira was raised specifically for the Presidential campaign. I believed this to be true and I had no reason to doubt it.

Our funds were given to us by the president who was the leader of our party through the Director of Finance of the PCO and we were not in a position to inquire into the sources of funding of the party’s campaign. Indeed, it was not our responsibility to do so.

Once I got these clarifications and confirmation, I agreed to receive the funds into the said bank account and use these for their stated purpose.

The transfers were made and I used the funds to carry out all our operations during the course of the presidential campaign.

It was an aggressive and well-run campaign and we gave our opponents a very hard time indeed. It was also very expensive and we barely had the resources that we really needed but we did an effective job with the little we were given.

The whole nation, including our friends and our enemies, can bear witness to that and they saw the excellent quality of our work. Hardly can anyone dispute this, yet some fail to appreciate the fact that such a strong showing costs a lot of money. Media and publicity campaigns cannot be run on goodwill alone: you need cash, and plenty of it.

During the course of the election and after its conclusion, I submitted detailed accounts of our expenses and evidence of our work to the Director of Finance of the PCO for onward transmission to the Director-General of the PCO and ultimately President Jonathan himself about how the money was spent and they were satisfied.

Given the fact that these were not public funds, the only legal person that can inquire into our expenditure of campaign funds is President Goodluck Jonathan who set up the PCO.

I was commended for my efforts by him and I can proudly say that my Directorate did not owe any individual, service provider, organisation or media outfit that provided any services to us one kobo at the close of the campaign.

All our debts were paid and obligations met during and just after the election. The suggestion that there was any fraud in any of this or that I colluded and conspired with others to use government money to run a campaign is false and very insulting.

The suggestion that the money was some kind of “cash bonanza” or “bazaar” as has been reported by the leading pro-government newspaper in the country today is childish and absurd.

If that had been the case, I doubt that I would have been foolish enough to open a bank account to receive government funds or “bazaar funds” as this would have been easily traced.

If I had anything to hide or if I was doing anything wrong I would have insisted on collecting cash for my operations which would have been far easier to conceal.

The fact that the EFCC gained access to my bank account and leaked details of it to the media including my inflows is not only a gross violation of my privacy but it is also unlawful.

I was a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria ten years ago and I was a key official in the Presidency thirteen years ago. I had the honour and privilage of serving my country in these two capacities when the father of our nation, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, was our president. Consequently I am familiar with the workings and importance of accountability, due diligence and due process.

This is why I was very careful with how we managed our resources at the Directorate and why I appointed a seasoned civil servant, who retired from the civil service with commendation at the Director level, as my Director of Finance in my Directorate.

I was also mindful of the fact that I had to be very careful with the management of funds that were put under my care given the fact that I had been wrongly accused and viciously persecuted by the Yar’Adua administration and the Farida Waziri-led EFCC through trumped up and baseless criminal charges for the previous seven years.

That whole ordeal almost ruined my life and career but God was with me throughout and He delivered me from their evil because I had done nothing wrong. On July 1st 2015, I was acquitted by a duly constituted court of law of all those charges and I give God the glory for that.

Yet the struggle continues. I am appalled at the behaviour of the EFCC in this latest matter but I am not surprised because they have had it in for me for many years.

Their almost obsessive interest in me and their motivation to destroy me is essentially political and partly personal and this has always been so. In short, just as was the case seven years ago, they are being used by the powers that be and by forces that are far above them. To that extent I sympathise with them.

Yet, if this is an attempt to intimidate, silence or distract me they shall fail because I am not a coward and I do not fear them or those that sent them to torment me.

And neither will I sit by idly and watch them trying to destroy me again. Their allegations are malicious and self-serving and there is no substance or truth in them. We did not run the Presidential Campaign Organisation or my Directorate with paper or hot air: we ran them with money. There is no crime in that.

A substantial portion of that money was paid by my Directorate directly to the media for rallies, television, radio and newspaper adverts and jingles, together with many other services rendered and we have all the records and documents to prove it. As stated earlier, those records have been duly submitted to the relevant quarters and they commended us for our work.

I did not run the Directorate alone and I had at least 10 Deputy Directors, Assistant Directors and Sub-Directors, who were all also appointed by President Jonathan, working under me.

I was responsible for the funding of each and every one of their various operations. Our entire team was dedicated and we all worked very hard because we believed passionately in our candidate and our party.

I have yet to hear of any Presidential Campaign Organisation anywhere in the world that was run without any money and that was funded with just goodwill.

I might add that we spent far less money than the APC and the Buhari Presidential Campaign Organisation because they had access to massive amounts of state government funds and they used those funds effectively. For every million naira we spent, they spent ten.

They even contracted the services of a famous American media consultant (the same one that President Obama used in 2008) and paid him ten million U.S. dollars for his counsel and advice. They had fleets of cars and buses whilst my Directorate was not even given one vehicle to get our people around.

The official SUV that was meant to have been given to us for our operations during the campaign was hijacked and it never arrived.

We were forced to use our personal vehicles and we were glad to do so. Yet the other side had everything that money could buy. They even chartered numerous private jets throughout the campaign to get around the country. Where did they get all their funding from? Why is the EFCC not leaking stories or talking about that?

Instead of using the EFCC to try to rubbish me and my colleagues and smear our good names, those that are in power today should tell us where they got their campaign funds from and how much of it came from the governments of Lagos and Rivers States.

The two people that headed those two state governments then are now both Federal Ministers today. One of them, who was the Director-General of the Buhari Campaign Organisation, was specifically indicted by a Judicial Commission of Inquiry for using millions of dollars of state government funds to run the Buhari campaign, yet nothing has happened and his reward has been to be appointed as a minister.

Again, what about the five billion naira cash that was flown down to Port Harcourt in Rivers state from Abuja in a chartered plane a couple of days before the re-run election that took place on March 19th, 2016? Where did they get that amount of cash from and what was its purpose and source?

What has the EFCC said or leaked about that? It appears that there is one law for those who are in power today and another for those that are not. Why persecute the innocent and leave the guilty? Was it a crime to fight and lose an election?

If Jonathan had not been a gentleman and had insisted on remaining in power at all costs or challenging the outcome of the election in court, would we have the peace that we are enjoying in our country today?

Have those who are behind all these nonsense forgotten all that so soon or is it that they are just drunk with power and they are on a mission of revenge? If that is the case are they then worthy of the power that God has given them and should He not take it away from them before it is too late and they set the country on fire?

If there was any wrongdoing, can the EFCC honestly put their hands on their chest and say that those of us that were asked to do a job and given money to do that job knew anything about it?

Were we the ones that sourced the funds and were we expected to launch our own private investigation into where the funds came from before accepting to receive and use them for the job we were asked to do?

In their heart of hearts they know that the answer to the two questions are both in the negative. Instead of going after the right people, they wish to use the situation to embarrass and shame those of us that they see as the president’s political enemies and critics just to further defame, malign and humiliate us and destroy our future and careers.

This is vindictive, petty and wicked and, as long as the Lord is on the throne, it will not stand. It is a very dangerous precedent and I sincerely hope that all stakeholders take note of the implications of what is brewing and going on.

It would be a very dangerous thing and utterly counter-productive for this government to open a can of worms and try to implicate innocent men and women who were simply doing their job and who knew nothing about any wrong-doing or illicit and illegal transactions or bank transfers of public funds from or to government accounts.

I wish to remind them that they will not be in power forever. Sooner or later the tables will turn and they themselves will be subjected to the malicious lies, false allegations, smear campaigns, injustice, brutality and persecution that they are presently subjecting others to. It is only a question of time.

Now let the Ancient of Days and He who never sleeps or slumbers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, judge between this government and all those innocent men and women that they are demonising and persecuting and that they seek to torment and destroy.

As long as Jesus is on the throne and our hands are clean, no matter how long it takes, we shall prevail and ultimately they will pay a heavy price for their malice, injustice and wickedness.

These are facts and readers can be rest assured that I will say nothing different to this if and when I am formally asked by anyone or any agency. When the EFCC begin to leak their falsehood and sallacious allegations to their agents in the media kindly take note of the fact that, as usual, they will be telling tall tales and they will be lying.

Now I challenge them to do their worse. I have no fear of them or of those who have sent them to do this dirty job. May God judge them all and may He reward them for their wickedness.

Femi Fani-Kayode, a lawyer and former Minister of Aviation, is a leading member of Nigeria’s political opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

http://blogs.premiumtimesng.com/2016/04/22/172389/

I recently received a message through my Facebook page from a wife struggling with a very common issue in modern marriages. To paraphrase her message, she said, “My husband always has his cell phone with him. Sometimes, he even sleeps with it in his pocket. He never wants me looking at it. I’m afraid he’s communicating with other women or hiding something else, but I don’t want to snoop or make things awkward by demanding to look at his phone. He gets so defensive when I mention it. I’m heartbroken, but I feel stuck, and I don’t know what I’m supposed to do to make the situation better. Am I being overly sensitive or is he the one who is out of bounds?”

Over the years, my wife Ashley and I have interacted with countless married couples, and a trend we’ve discovered is that the way a couple handles their cell phones reveals a great deal about the overall health of their marriage. Let me explain..

When a spouse is defensive or secretive about his/her phone, it’s usually a symptom of some kind of unhealthy behavior. It’s not aways infidelity, though inappropriate interactions with the opposite sex are certainly common among people who keep passwords from their spouse. When you don’t give your spouse full access to your phone, you’re essentially saying, “I’m not giving you full access to myself. There are secrets I don’t want to tell you, behaviors I don’t want to reveal to you or activities I don’t want to share with you.”

You might pridefully believe that you have the right to keep secrets from your spouse, but any form of deception or secrecy in a marriage is toxic. The healthiest couples value transparency over personal privacy. When a spouse operates in secrecy, it creates distrust and disunity in the marriage. This goes against the very definition of marriage. As a Christian, I believe that marriage was God’s idea and His timeless instructions for the sacred covenant is still the best plan. The Bible tells us that the first married couple was, “…naked and they felt no shame.”


This simple verse in Genesis reveals the power of a “Naked Marriage.” It’s a bond of complete transparency and trust with unclothedness (physically, emotionally and spiritually) with nothing to hide from each other. It’s the kind of intimacy we all long for but it takes courage and vulnerability to achieve it. Secrecy is the enemy of intimacy. Every healthy relationship is built on a foundation of honesty and trust.

As it relates to your smart phone, you can start building this kind of intimacy and transparency by taking the “Secret Free Guarantee” in your marriage. It’s a pledge of total transparency including shared passwords and nothing to hide from each other. My wife knows the passwords to every device and account I own, because if it’s “mine,” she owns it too! Giving her total access to my phone is one of 7 “rules” I follow to promote transparency and prevent infidelity in my marriage.

So, if you’ve truly got nothing to hide from your spouse, give him/her the security and comfort of knowing that they have full access to your phone (and everything else). Don’t make him/her have to ask. Be proactive about promoting transparency in your marriage. If you’re hiding something, get it out in the open. A painful truth is always better than a hidden lie. Your marriage is more important than your phone.

http://sixseeds.patheos.com/davewillis/phone-reveals-marriage/

The political intrigues playing out as being orchestrated by the advocates of Mr. Godwin Emefiele’s sack is nothing but sickening. You wonder what Emefiele’s sins are. The clamour is assuming a maddening crescendo without the advocates considering the implication of their endeavour on the economy. About two years ago, an unprecedented political action spearheaded by hawks around government made the government in power to suspend the governor of the Central Bank. Though unprecedented in the annals of Nigeria, the suspension by fiat had its consequences on the economy. The governor then was Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, now Emir of Kano. At that time the Nigeria economy was in good shape. But consequent upon that action, the economy began to have issues as the international community, out of panic lost interest in the economy and they began to recall their investments.

The case of Emefiele, the current CBN governor is even more laughable and dangerous. It is obvious that some powerful hawks want him out.

The same intrigues are now playing out. Emefiele and the Bank he runs in the last few months have been under undue vilification by supposedly critics but who are obviously agents of the enemies of the people of Nigeria. A lot of ignorance is playing out, with underserved blames being heaped on Emefiele’s head.

Mr. Godwin Emefiele may have been unlucky to be appointed as governor at a troubled time of the economy, but he came prepared. Rather than being supported, he is being bashed left right and center by those bent on seeing him leave the exalted position. Reasons as canvassed by these hawks in and around the corridors of power, both informed and uninformed, are that Emefiele is bereft of ideas and lack capacity to run the economy. What some of these enemies of Nigerians do not know or pretending not to know is that, the economy which is having some challenges is not caused by the governor. The global crude oil price which has witnessed its ever lowest point is majorly the cause of the bad shape of the economy. The nation’s revenue has dipped. Oil as we know is the only major source of financing the economy. Emefiele is not responsible for the dip, or volatility of crude oil price. Rather than lending all hands on the deck to fix it, we have embarked on blame games.

Worrisome to patriotic Nigerians is these unabated attacks on the Central Bank and Mr. Emefiele. It is certain that the governor has stepped on some powerful toes in the society when he promised Nigeria and Nigerians that the Central Bank under his watch will spend its energies on building a resilient financial system that can serve growth and the development needs of the Nigerian people. Keen watchers of the Nigerian economy will agree that, despite the current challenges which are not peculiar to Nigeria, the Bank under Emefiele has been resolute in fulfilling its mandate. This is why they are calling for his sack.

Those clamouring for Emefiele’s sack can be categorized into three groups – the FOREX speculators and looters who want their monies out at all cost, the BDC owners – some of who registered between 5 and 10 under different company names and the international currency sharks and their media.

Though the Bank over the years has been a whipping child of all manner of political and economic pundits and the novice alike, the battle for the removal of the governor started immediately after he pronounced the suspension of 41 items from the FOREX window of the Bank. A patriotic decision he took (as if he foresaw the impending shortfall in the nation’s revenue) to encourage local production of the items, and rein-in the drain in the foreign reserves.

Instead of Nigerians asking – why it took any government official this long to take this kind of policy decision? The local investors and their international cronies took up arms against the Bank. Nigeria’s economy is almost down and out, just because of the precarious situation we found ourselves as a mono-economy. Should we not note as a nation that instead of vilifying Emefiele, he should be encouraged further with his economic diversification agenda of making the CBN a model central bank that is delivering price and financial stability, aimed at promoting sustainable economic development.

Emefiele’s second sin was his battle against currency speculators and looters. He came out strong with reforms in the Bureau de Change sub-sector, and immediately after, both local and international conspirators took up battles with the CBN using their accomplices in the media – particularly the online outfits and some international magazines and broadcast media like the Financial Times of London, The Economist of London, Reuters, Bloomberg, to mention but few and the local media demanding for his removal.

In an edition of the Financial Times of August 16th, 2015 it derogatively tagged the decision by the Bank to reform the BDC sector in its editorial as “Nigeria Adopts Unorthodox Measures to Defend the Naira” written by one Maggie Fick. So was the editorial of edition of July 15th, 2015 entitled “Toothpick Alert”.

The local media has also been awashed with warped, uninformed stories and articles from emergency economic commentators and columnists, doing the bidding of their paymasters. The rating agencies were not excluded in their neo-colonialism enterprise. Since Mr. Emefiele embarked on his radical reforms in the financial sector, Standards and Poors has never hid his aversion for some of the policies churned out by the CBN. So was JP Morgan’s delisting of Nigeria from its Government Bond Index. Was the decision taken by this commercial bank to delist Nigeria not an insult on our national integrity? Just because CBN refused to further devalue the naira? What about the dire consequences of devaluation on some Nigerians who spend over 70% of their expendable income on food items alone. And since the CBN refused to heed their satanic campaign, these neo-colonialists and their collaborators, veiled as intellectuals, businessmen, NGOs and journalists, particularly the online media, have embarked on ‘tailor-made sack campaigns’ to make way for the candidate they want to replace Emefiele.

Surprisingly too, is the unpatriotic attitude some NGOs that enjoy annual subventions from these neo-colonialists. They have joined the fray, raising their voices to the roof calling for Emefiele’s sack apparently to satisfy their masters. They may not like the face of Emefiele, but has anyone come out with superior argument to fault his monetary policies? We cannot continue growing other economies and kill our own. Has Godwin Emefiele, and the CBN, decided to chart a new course for Nigerians, who are these detractors to say otherwise. The United States dollar is not Nigeria’s currency, why should we dollarize the economy? Why must we kill the naira?

With some of the revelations coming out from the media lately about the CBN, it is also obvious that many of its staff may have been compromised and recruited into this unpatriotic endeavour. And as moles, they are likely to have been induced to compromise and undermine the system, while not ruling out the activities of the deposit money banks. Many of the managing directors of some deposit money banks have been undermining the CBN, and this is simply because they had expected Emefiele, being a former colleague, to churn out policies that will favour them. Under Emefiele, the CBN has accelerated the e-payment systems, thus making it difficult to perpetrate fraud hitherto rampant in the banking sector. The CBN through its Biometric Verification Number (BVN) has blocked avenues through which bank customers are duped of their hard earned money. Are these the sins of Emefiele?

– Michael wrote in from Jos, Plateau State


http://leadership.ng/opinions/511130/why-they-want-emefiele-out

President Muhammadu Buhari has disclosed that his administration is facing the classic dilemma on the subject of power holding companies privatisation.

He also declared that epileptic power supply in the country is no longer a laughing matter.

President Buhari stated this yesterday in his address at the National Economic Council retreat on the economy at the State House Conference Centre, Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He lamented that the power sector has been privatised but has yet to show any improvement in the quality of service.

He also disclosed that his administration had given itself the target of generating 10,000 megawatts of power in the remaining three years of its tenure.

He said: “Nigerians’ favourite talking point and butt of jokes is the power situation in our country. But, ladies and gentlemen, it is no longer a laughing matter. We must and, by the grace of God, we will put things right.

“In the three years left for this administration, we have given ourselves the target of 10,000 megawatts distributable power. In 2016 alone, we intend to add 2,000 megawatts to the national grid.

“This sector has been privatised but has yet to show any improvement in the quality of service.”

Buhari listed the common public complaints as constant power cuts destroying economic activity and affecting quality of life; high electricity bills despite power cuts, and low supply of gas to power plants due to vandalisation by terrorists.

“Others are obsolete power distribution equipment such as transformers; power fluctuations, which damage manufacturing equipment and household appliances, and low voltage which cannot run industrial machinery.

“These are some of the problems which defied successive governments. In our determination to change, we must and will, insha Allah, put a stop to power shortages.”

Mentioning the key elements in the power matrix, he said, “We are facing the classic dilemma of privatisation – public interest versus profit motive. Having started, we must complete the process. But National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the regulatory authority, has a vital job to ensure consumers get value for money and that the over-all public interest is safeguarded.

President Buhari also urged the 22 states governed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to build 250,000 housing units per annum.

This, he said, is to meet up with the election campaign promise of providing one million houses for Nigerians yearly. He said some estimates put Nigeria’s housing deficit at about 16 million units.

“In our successful campaign to win the general elections last year, our party, the APC, promised to build a million housing units a year. This will turn out to be a very tall order unless: the federal government builds 250,000 units, the 22 APC states together manage another 250,000 units, and we invite foreign investors together with local domiciled big construction companies to enter into commercial housing building to pick up the rest.”

On agriculture, President Buhari noted that both the peasant and the mechanised farmers agree with the general public that food production and self-sufficiency require urgent government action.

He lamented that, for too, long government policies on agriculture had been half-hearted, suffering from inconsistencies and policy somersaults.

He also said that the cost of fertilizers, pesticides and labour compounded the problems of farming, just as he lamented that extension services are virtually absent in several states, among others factors.

“Banks should be leaned upon to substantially increase their lending to the agricultural sector. Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) should bear part of the risk of such loans as a matter of national policy.

States should increase their financial support through community groups. The appropriate approach should be through leaders of community groups such as farmers’ cooperatives,” he said.

On the difficulties in accessing forex by manufacturing industries, he said: “It grieves me that so many manufacturing industries in the country today are groaning and frustrated because of lack of foreign exchange to import raw materials and spare parts.

“Painful though this is, I believe it is a temporary phase which we shall try to overcome, but there are deeper, more structural problems bedevilling local industries which this retreat should identify short and long-term answers.‎”

President Buhari also recalled that, in his inauguration speech last May, he had remarked that the whole field of medicare in the country needed government attention.

He listed dirty hospitals, inadequate equipment, poorly trained nursing staff, and overcrowding as some of symptoms of a malfunctioning health sector.

He said: “Sound health system is part of the prerequisites for economic development. Nigerians travel abroad, spending an estimated $1billion annually to get medical treatment. Despite huge oil revenues, the nation’s health sector remains undeveloped.

In attacking the challenges of this sector.

“We could start with‎ more funding for health centres to improve service delivery. World Bank and World Health Organization (WHO) could be persuaded to increase their assistance.”

The president recommended that a fresh campaign to patronize Made-in-Nigeria goods be launched, saying that a perfect example would be to source all uniforms in government-sponsored institutions from local factories.”

On Labour, he said: “We need to protect our workers from exploitation, but unions must cooperate with entrepreneurs to substantially improve productivity and quality of products if we are to move forward.”

As for smuggling, he stated: “Smuggling: Need I say more?”

The two-day retreat is to generate immediate, medium and long-term viable policy solutions to the economic challenges facing us at both the Federal and State levels.



Power Ministry To Blame for Nigeria’s Electricity Woes – Minister

The Minister of State for Power, Works and Housing, Mustapha Shehuri, yesterday in Abuja said the ministry of power is to blame for Nigeria’s electricity sector woes.

The minister while speaking yesterday during the induction of 100 graduate engineers for further training at the National Power Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN) under its National Graduate Skills Development Programme (NGDSP), said he came to the realisation that the ministry was the reason behind the under-development of the nation’s power sector following his appointment as minister of state for power.

He said, “I think Nigerians deserve better than this. I came to the ministry of power some four or five months back and I am privileged to know the troubles. I understand the ministry is the reason why Nigeria is not moving forward.

“It has been pulling back Nigeria from independence till date and I believe this government is here to change this for the better. I assure the inductees that after four years of this government, it will hand over to Nigerians a power sector that is better than what is obtainable today.”

Shehuri further disclosed that by 2020, the government plans to ensure that Nigeria generates 25,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity. The current generation is less than 5,000MW, even as past targets have not been met.

However, speaking further, the minister explained that the progress of Nigeria’s power sector had been frustratingly slow considering that the country’s first electricity generation firm was set up in 1896 in Ijora, Lagos with a capacity of 20MW.

“The journey from 1896 to 2016, that is 120 years, has been very long, slow and frustrating. And I think Nigerians deserve better than this.

Nigeria’s plan is to continually increase the level of electricity generation to the target of 25,000MW by the year 2020.

“This can only be achieved through a robust infrastructural development accompanied with a competent technical workforce. This is a national developmental agenda which the ministry of power is committed to,” he added.

He further pointed out that globally there is an increased challenge of supply, adding that Nigeria must therefore, learn new skills and harness opportunities based on research and meaningful development to improve power supply.

In his remarks, the Director General of NAPTIN, Reuben Okeke, urged the National Assembly to consider strengthening NAPTIN with a legislative Act to enable it improve on its mandate to train people for the power sector.



NNPC Did Not Remit N4.9trn To Federation Account – RMAFC

Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has confirmed that the sum of N4.9 trillion was yet to be remitted into the Federation Account by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC) between January 2011 and December, 2015.

This is following the Auditor General’s report that the Corporation did not remit N3.2 trillion in 2014.

RMAFC, in a statement signed by its spokesman, Mr Ibrahim Mohammed, said that available records at the Commission’s disposal indicate that between January 2011 and December, 2015, the total indebtedness of NNPC to the Federation Account was N4.9 trillion, a figure that included NNPC’s claims for subsidy on petroleum products, crude and product losses, strategic reserves and the pipeline maintenance cost.

While confirming that the figure of N3.2 trillion was from the 2014 Annual Audit Report obtained from the records of the FAAC Technical Sub-Committee on Domestic Crude Oil Sales and reconciliation statement as contained in the NNPC’s mandate to Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

nnpc_1The Statement adds that while the said report claimed that NNPC owed the sum of N3.2 trillion to the Federation Account in 2014 from Domestic crude sale, the Commission’s records revealed that the Corporation owed the Federation Account the sum of N1.99 trillion only in 2014 from domestic crude sales. Therefore, the figure quoted by the Auditor-General of the Federation must have included revenues from other sources.

With regards to the alleged payment of US$235 million realised from the sale of Natural Gas into an undisclosed Escrow Accounts by the NNPC, the Commission explained that the NNPC on behalf of the NLNG had entered into agreements with three international oil companies (IOCs) namely Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC), Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), Total E&P Nigeria Limited (TEPNG) under a Modified Carry Agreement (MCA) proceeds from which are deposited in Escrow Accounts for funding the various Gas projects under the LNNG.

The total amount transferred to the various accounts from 2012 to November 2015 was $1.615 billion. The Commission, through the FAAC Post Mortem, has consistently requested the NNPC to provide it with updated financial statements on the projects but NNPC was yet to respond.

The RMAFC said it has been working with NNPC to reconcile the figures following a tripartite meeting held with the NNPC, Federal Ministry of Finance (FMF) and RMAFC in December, 2015 where it was agreed that in view of the subsidy and other claims by NNPC, the Forensic Audit of the NNPC was very critical in establishing which party was actually indebted to the other. The Forensic Audit was expected to be concluded by the end of March, 2016



http://leadership.ng/news/511105/pmb-fg-dilemma-power-privatisation

Confiding in SaharaReporters, a police officer disclosed that some of the members of the kidnapping gang who carried out the operation are from the community and security officers are closing in on them.

Unidentified gunmen on Sunday kidnapped a 91-year-old former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Director of Foreign Operations, Joseph Ogedegbe at St. Michael’s Anglican Church in Emevor of Isoko North Local Government Area (LGA), Delta State. 



Central Bank of Nigeria
Guardian
SaharaReporters reliably learned that the armed kidnappers ambushed the nonagenarian at about 8:30am on the church premises.

Confiding in SaharaReporters, a police officer disclosed that some of the members of the kidnapping gang who carried out the operation are from the community and security officers are closing in on them.

A member of the family told SaharaReporters on the phone that the entire family has been traumatized following the incident, saying that until now the kidnappers have not established any contact with the family.

"We are praying seriously that they don't kill our father. We are also calling on the Chief Security Officer and Chairman of Isoko North LGA of Delta State, Mr. Emmanuel Egbabor, and Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to see that something urgent is done to rescue our father,” the family member stated.

It was gathered that as the victim was exiting his ash-colored Passat, the kidnappers swung into action and seized the former bank director and forced him into a car. The gunmen then drove off through the Otibio-Orogun to an unknown destination


http://saharareporters.com/2016/02/29/gunmen-abduct-ex-cbn-director-church-delta-state

Life And Times Of Samuel Oshoffa, Founder Of Celestial Church Of Christ


Prophet Samuel Bilehou Joseph Oshoffa (sometimes Oschoffa) (1909–1985) was the founder of the Celestial Church of Christ after reportedly resurrecting people from the dead. He founded the church in 1947 after being lost for three months near Porto-Novo in Benin.



The church now has its main offices in Nigeria. Five percent, or 400,000, of the 8,000,000 people of Benin are Celestial Christians. Oshoffa was reported to have had 34 wives and 150 children when he died in 1985, although some say these figures are high.

S.B.J. Oshoffa was born into a Yoruba family of mixed religion. His father was a Muslim but had become a Methodist, whilst his mother followed traditional religions and objected to Christianity. His father was a carpenter (a fact which was later thought important to a person who later reported receiving visits from Jesus Christ). He was born May 19, 1909 in Porto-Novo, which is now the capital of Benin but was then the new capital of the French colony of Dahomey. His family was also involved with the Cherubim and Seraphim Church.

Felicia Yaman was Oshoffa’s first wife, and she was involved with the launch of the new church. She was said to be able to prophesy conflict and was invited to many of Oshoffa’s meetings.


Oshoffa was working in the ebony trade in 1947 when he was instructed to found the new church. He reported that he had been searching in the forests to find the correct type of tree. He said he lost his way and had to live off the land for three months. When he emerged he was empowered with the gifts of healing and prophesies.

His first act of healing was reportedly the resurrection of his nephew. As a result his elder sister, Elizabeth, was the first convert. The nephew was to become recognised as the first prophet of the new church. Over the next few years, several other people were reportedly brought back from the dead by Oshoffa.

Between 1947 and 1951, the church grew in the country of Benin. In 1976, it was relocated to Nigeria because Oshoffa was in a minor conflict with the government of Benin. This was timely as he was just about to be arrested. Very soon after arriving in Nigeria, Oshoffa cured a mad woman, although many people doubted this account. Oshoffa held a public meeting in Yaba, Lagos, where those gathered reported his ability to prophecy. In the same year he again claimed a resurrection.

The new church grew rapidly, and it gained followers across West Africa and the world. The church was estimated to have several million followers in 1998.


In Nigeria, Oshoffa was sold a large piece of land after the owner was assisted by a “holy man’s” intervention in a dream with a legal dispute. The new church continued to receive resistance from the Nigerian authorities, but it was officially recognised in 1958. He took on two partners for the church, namely Reverends Alexander Abiodun Bada and Samuel Ajanlekoko.

Oshoffa died on 10 September 1985 following a car crash. He was buried at Celestial City, Imeko.


http://gist.mp3bullet.com/2016/02/25/92079/

K

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arrested Donald Chidi Amamgbo, said to be a cousin to a former Petroleum Resources Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report.
Mr. Amamgbo, who is chief executive of Mezcor Oil and Gas limited, Tridax Oil and Gas Limited, Lynear Energy Limited and Bulk Strategic Reserved Limited, was arrested in Lagos at about 4.20 P.M Thursday.
Investigators told PREMIUM TIMES that evidence gathered so far suggested the oil mogul might have acted as front for Mrs Alison-Madueke, who granted him approval to lo lift Nigerian crude oil without any requisite experience.
“Through his companies, Amamgbo lifted crude oil and gas worth billions of dollars over a period of four years,” an official said.
“A search conducted in the office and premises of Mezcor Oil and Gas Limited at No. 5 Sannar street, Wuse 2, Abuja yielded documents which included payments for the purchase of houses and vehicles.”
Sources at the anti-graft agency said the investigation was continuing.
When contacted, the spokesperson for the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, said, “I am told there is something like that but I don’t have the details.”



http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/199054-suspected-front-man-for-ex-petroleum-minister-alison-maduekwe-arrested.html

LagosNIV:
F1 immigrant visas are for unmarried children, so yes, this does affect her. You should write to NVC to get her class adjusted to an F3 which is the married child. This will allow her to bring both her husband and any children when she is scheduled for an interview.

If she fails to adjust her visa class and the Consulate investigates her situation because they suspect she is married, she will end up with her visa being sent for revocation and a lifetime ban.

I appreciate your swift answer

it was filled as F1 cos she was ju Sa t above 21 then but now she is married , hope the petition will nit be affected