http://www.africanexaminer.com/ensubeb-chairman-ikeje-asogwa-in-hot-water-over-brutalisation-of-perm-sec/

ENSUBEB Chairman, Ikeje Asogwa in Hot Water Over Brutalisation of Perm Sec

African Examiner
Featured, Latest News, News Across Nigeria, News From The State Wednesday, December 13th, 2017

Photo: Mr Ikeje Asogwa

From Ignatius Okpara, Enugu

…As Enugu APC Demands Investigation

A human Rights lawyer, and chairman of Enugu state chapter of All progressives Congress APC, Dr. Ben Nwoye, has called on security agencies and other relevant bodies to investigate the recent alleged brutalization and assault of a serving permanent secretary in Enugu state, by chairman, of Enugu State Universal Basic Education Board (ENSUBEB), Chief Ikeje Asogwa.

Nwoye, who spoke to newsmen in Enugu, described the act as a big shame to the state, urging Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi to protect the sanctity of the state civil service and administer sanctions on erring officers so as to avoid breakdown in law and order.

He insisted that sweeping the heinous and barbaric act under the carpet portends serious danger to the growth of democracy in Enugu state, because “it shocks the conscience that a Permanent Secretary could be brutalized, humiliated and stripped in the premises of the (ENSUBEB) with pictures of his unclothedness shown all over by hired thugs led by the chairman of the board, Asogwa, without a pronouncement from government about two weeks after the incident occurred.

Nwoye, who said he was speaking as a human Rights lawyer and concerned citizen of the state, declared that the alleged silence of the government could lead to break down in law and order in the state, because such incident could not have been swept under the carpet if it had it been meted to somebody from Nsukka axis, where the governor hails from “but because it happened to an Nkanu man, nobody, including government is talking about it

African Examiner recalled that thugs allegedly led by the ENSUBEB, chairman, Asogwa, had about a

week ago brutalized and stripped the Permanent Secretary, Onaga Ogbodo inside the premises of the commission, over issues said to be connected with the running of the affairs of the establishment .

Eye witnesses, told newsmen that Asogwa, had after ordering his “men”to lock the gate dragged the Perm sec out of his official vehicle and rained slaps on his face before stripping him with the aid of his hired thugs in the full glare of staff of the commission.

But Asogwa denied committing the act when he was contacted by journalists.

Nwoye, maintained that sweeping such sensitive matter under the carpet would do the state more harm than good, insisting that a thorough investigation be carried out and perpetrators be brought to book, noting that the continued silence of the government was further eroding the confidence of civil servants as true representatives and image of government in the ministries.

According to him, “Ogbodo rose to the ranks to become Permanent Secretary, he has been in the service for 34 years and will retire by next year. For him to be brought to the public square, stripped and beaten in front of staff who should ordinarily be taking orders from him on the supervision and directive of the chairman is to say the least a disgrace.

This is a mockery on the state civil service, it is the height of insult if we know what it means to be a Permanent secretary and what it takes to be there.

“A Permanent Secretary is the face of government in any Ministry and any humiliation on him is a humiliation of the government. He is the person that formulates policies for the Ministries and he is publicly beaten and stripped with his unclothedness being shown around the world and government is saying nothing, it means Enugu is doomed.

“We have returned to the era where appointees of government will do anything and go scout free, they now behave as if they are above the law; it is unheard of”.

The APC chairman in the state equally expressed disappointment with leaders of the state and Permanent Secretaries in Nigeria over what he described as ‘conspiracy of silence”,pointing out that their continued silence was an indication that impunity could be accepted as a way of life.

Nwoye, wondered the type of policy that could emanate from the ENSUBEB, for primary education in the state when the two key heads in the board live like cat and mouse, calling on the governor to save education in the state by doing the needful.

He also lambasted religious, traditional and political leaders from Nkanu land where the victim hails from,

for equally keeping mum over the incident, stressing that he had expected them to rise up and condemn the barbaric act, even as he flayed teachers in the state who last week staged an alleged sponsored solidarity rally from the Nnamdi Azikiwe stadium to Okpara square with the state governor, describing such exercise as a shame.

The teachers had during the rally endorsed Ugwuanyi for a second term in office, an act Nwoye described as lacking common sense, saying it was hasty, because 2019 is still very far.

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Truth4life

Announcing the launch of Uzo Amaka’s 1st book- “Ages of suffocation- Remembered dreams”
Posted about 1 day ago | 0 comment
A thrilling memoir told in moments of flashbacks about a young beauty; OMA. She had a sudden recollection of a dark past while she sat in a counseling session and a question from the counselor; JUNE, to OMA, triggered a series of suppressed memories. OMA, who was usually used to being in control of her emotions, was no longer in control and was forced to deal with it. JUNE pressed OMA on during the session to speak more about her experiences with her stepmother and sisters as a child growing up in Nigeria and OMA unsuccessfully attempted to redirect the topic. OMA broke down in uncontrollable tears and began to tell JUNE of her first memory as a 7 year old girl in Nigeria.

OMA’s father (CHRISTIAN) had taken OMA and her two sisters from their mother (DENISE) after a bitter divorce, taking them to Nigeria where they stayed for over 10 years. CHRISTIAN re-married so the girls could have a mother figure at home. FLORESSA; was their beautiful, light-skinned, tall, well-built, stepmother. FLORESSA had a unique beauty about her; when she walked into a room, her presence demanded attention. Being light skinned in Nigeria was considered ‘beauty’ and ‘class,’ and being a tall woman was also quite rear and exotic and FLORESSA had both. To the outside world, FLORESSA was the one to be like; but in the walls of her home, no good person would have wanted to be like her.

OMA took comfort in her two older sisters to get through the torture and abuse they faced daily. They were protective of her, helped take care of her but they were also just one year and two years older than OMA. How much could young girls in Nigeria do to protect themselves?

Going through marital life was meant to be easy; well, as easy as they come considering OMA and SEBASTIAN’s relationship was the envy of all their friends. OMA began her marital relationship being submissive to her husband. She let him make all the decisions, pay all the bills, and even followed all his directions with pride. Prior to getting married, OMA was a well educated, work driven, independent woman. But OMA had the belief that a woman should be a bit submissive to her husband to allow him be the ‘man’ and provider of the house. To OMA’s marital detriment, this belief was observed by her charming, handsome husband who began to take advantage of the leniency OMA had given him.

OMA finds herself struggling with, what some may find easy to decide; staying in a distrustful marriage, or fighting to keep her family together. The pressures of trying to come up with an answer, pushed OMA to spend more time with her high school friend VICTOR who; unbeknownst to OMA, had secretly loved her since high school and is hurting for OMA in her current marital struggle. VICTOR hopes OMA leaves SEBASTIAN for him.

For more information please visit her website below.
www.theonlyuzo.com

VIDEO:Nigerian Sports Minister's Police guards Man handle Former World Boxing Champion Bash Ali
Nigerian boxing legend, Bash Ali, 57, was manhandled by policemen after attempting to see the Minister of Sports, Bolaji Abdullahi in Abuja on Thursday June 6th.

According to the Nigerian Telegraph, the boxer, who is seeking to become the oldest man to hold a world boxing title defence, and wants to have his defence staged in Nigeria, jostled to get an audience with President Jonathan, who was at the Abuja National Stadium to inaugurate ‘Rhythm ‘N’ Play on Thursday. Ali scuffled with the president’s aides, which got the attention of Jonathan. After having been allowed to approach the president, and after stating his mission, Jonathan directed that the boxer see the Minister of Sports for further discussion on the matter.

Ali however alleged that when he tried to see Abdullahi at a private luncheon held with celebrities and a few others, he was manhandled by the minister’s aides and denied audience with the minister.

“There is no respect in this country for the people who should be respected,” Ali fumed. “How can I, when all I am trying to do is lift up my country’s name, be assaulted by a bunch of scoundrels all in the name of protecting their master? I was already a world champion when they were in primary school.”

http://eagleyereportconnect..com/2013/06/nigerian-sports-minister-ask-his-police.html

Let me start by stating that prior to my brief visit I have been very doubtful with the possibility of Nigeria becoming better in the future. Each time cynicism gets a better par of me, my friend Okafor C. Udoka would always say something that would keep the light of hope burning though very deem. Now I know for sure that Nigeria will not be

good not to talk of better in this generation nor in the next 100 years. Now before you crucify me read this and see if in your patroitism you have been a victim of exploitation all your life in Nigeria.

1. Impression is everything. On arrival at the Muritala Mohammed international airport, Lagos, I was rudely shocked to my marrows and that shock dampened my emotions and I never recovered from it till now. If you travel you would agree with me that every nation brings out their best at the airports. Impression is everything because through the first people you saw on arrival you begin to imagine how nice the people in the citiy would be. You see curvy ladies, smiling faces of young men well dressed and welcoming with a smile. Clean and beautiful women, always smiling showing you their willingness to assist you should you need help.

I was shocked to see first the heat at the airport arrival part. No aircondition the heat that greeted you first is a minus. Then the first group of Nigerians you would see are people looking like kwashiokor survors. Urgly, malnutritioned, dirty with parched trousers and dress. Some looking like baby lizards, baby monkeys, sickly no smiles and no friendliness in their faces. I perceived the image of a dirty, poor striken, and hungry people. My expectations droped to zero. Unfortunately I saw every Nigeria lady on the streets as dirty, and unkept. I know I might be wrong but that is how the images I saw at the airport affected me. I tried very hard to overcome this perception but I could not. It is very bad that at our airports our best are touts, beggers, loafers, baby lizards, and those who have never smiled before and never have reason to be happy or express happiness.

As I was cleared to enter my country, while waiting for my lauguagge to arrive, I went to get a trolli. I wanted a big one that would carry all my bags. I was told the big trolli is 2,500 naira, and the small ones was 250 naira. That was the first trouble. The second after that I was so pissed. On my way out I met about four ugly looking ladies dressed in customs uniform. They stopped me. The leader asked to search my bags. I said go ahead and opened the bags for her. As she was flipping through my stuffs I said to her, ''ma'm can I ask you a question?, "Sure ask'' she said. Then I asked, ''are you a thief'? ''No o. shebi I'm doing my job'', her hands in the air. I asked her, and what the hell is your job? To violate my privacy and flipping through my personal stuff? IS THAT YOUR JOB? Now all of them had become angry. I continued, I have passed through all security, certified to go and here you are searching me again and throwing my stuff. I said you have no right to do this and I believe you are a thief. This how people get robbed at the airport. You are searching people to see who has what so you can send your men to check me out. At this point my voice was loud and people had gathered. Other visitors were in support of me and they too started complaining swearing and cursing. I told the woman to bring her boss, the person she is working for. Her boss came and denied sending anybody to search people. He apologized and promised to handle the situation. This is the woe called Nigeria. I planned to spend 2days in Lagos with this experience Lagos became repulsive to me.

2. NIGERIANS EXPLOITATED PEOPLE.

In Abuja and even in my 12hours stay in Lagos, you can see a mass of people being exploited by organizations. The PHCN, NEPA, forcing citizens to pay for services they did not receive. It does not matter whether you had electricity or not, you must pay your bill. There is no government agent to complain to. Your government does not care about you. The telephone companies are there robbing everybody through poor services. No one to complain to. No government to protect the people from exploitations. Are you taking public transportation to work? Your government has no plans for you. You are not considered when the roads were constructed. No pedistrian crossing. You are at the mercy of drivers. Bus drivers are free to pack you like the slave ship five in a seat meant for three. You cant complain. Every car, kek na pep or motorcycle that passes you blows the horn into your ears. Every minute its all pee peem peeeee peem peem pee pee pee. Haba are passengers that dwaft?

Where and how would Nigeria change? I doubt and I sympathize with those who hope. There is no order or organization. Everybody is robbing everybody. The government is even robbing her citizens. I weep for the country called Nigeria. The worst of it all are the drivers. They are thoughtless and selfish. They have no respect for pedistrians. You make me the president today, the first thing I would do is seize the liscences of all Nigerians and no one gets it back till they go for a 4days driving school and passed it. It is horrible. Where do we start to making it better? Nowhere!

Onyema Uche

http://elombah.com/index.php/articles-mainmenu/14823-my-experience-in-nigeria

Articles
HOME > NEWS
Why Ministers of State for Power, Niger Delta Were Swapped
01 Nov 2012

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President Goodluck Jonathan

By Muhammad Bello and Chineme Okafor
President Goodluck Jonathan Wednesday rejigged his cabinet by swapping the portfolios of two ministers of state.
In the minor cabinet reshuffle announced during the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the State House, Abuja, Minister of State for Niger Delta Affairs, Hajiya Zainab Ibrahim Kuchi, was moved to the Ministry of Power in the same capacity.

Mr. Darius Dickson Ishaku, the Minister of State for Power until the shake-up, will replace Kuchi in the Niger Delta Affairs. The cabinet swap takes effect immediately.
Presidential spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, said in a statement that the president’s decision was taken to strengthen the power sector.

The president also ordered that the council should not receive fresh memos for contracts from November 30.
However, THISDAY checks revealed that the cabinet shake-up was carried out because of Jonathan’s dissatisfaction with the performance of Ishaku in the power ministry.

Sources said the president ran out of patience with Ishaku’s inability to fully grasp the complexity of the power ministry in the wake of the resignation of Prof. Bart Nnaji last August, which threw him up as the substantive minister in the ministry, albeit in an interim capacity.

Nnaji’s sudden exit had created two vacancies in the cabinet, following the sack of the Minister of Defence, Dr. Haliru Bello, along with the then National Security Adviser (NSA), General Patrick Owoye Azazi (rtd), last June, which the president is yet to fill.

The minister has also been accused of an attempt to manipulate the management contract with the Canadian firm, Manitoba Hydro International (MHI), for the running of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

It was gathered that Jonathan finally made up his mind on Tuesday to reassign Ishaku, following increasing complaints of inefficiency in the ministry, continued drop in electricity supply and the poor monitoring of chief executive officers (CEOs) of power generation and distribution companies to ensure that they comply with the schedule on power supply to major cities.

THISDAY had exclusively reported in September that two weeks after Nnaji’s exit, homes and factories across the country had started witnessing prolonged blackouts.

It was also gathered that the drop in electricity supply was occasioned by the loss of about 1,100 megawatts (mw) of electricity from the national grid.

This development, it was learnt, had fuelled speculation that the workers of the successor companies of PHCN, who have been celebrating Nnaji’s exit, had resorted to their business-as-usual work ethic.

Presidency sources said that the president might have made up his mind to redeploy Ishaku during Tuesday’s meeting of the Presidential Action Committee on Power (PACP) when most of the contributions of the minister on the sector he is overseeing were shot down by Jonathan.

The president might also have been dissatisfied with the minister’s inability to effectively enforce the implementation of Manitoba’s management contract for the running of TCN.

Another source told THISDAY that Ishaku had expressed reservation about certain terms of the management contract and in this regard attempted to change the terms of the recently executed contract.

Ishaku’s attempt to tinker with the contract, it was gathered, has been responsible for his reluctance to allow Manitoba to assume the management of TCN.

He, however, stated last week that Manitoba had resumed work at the TCN, a clear contradiction of what actually exists at TCN.

In line with its power sector reform agenda, the Federal Government through the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) had contracted Manitoba after a competitive bidding process, to manage the operations of TCN for three years at a contract sum of $23.72 million (about N3.72 billion).

Upon execution of the management contract, the minister was also supposed to appoint a supervisory board for TCN.

But the sources told THISDAY that Ishaku was dissatisfied with Manitoba taking over strategic positions in TCN, especially that of Market Operator (MO) which he allegedly sought to reserve for a Nigerian and has thus frustrated the Canadian firm.

The MO is technically responsible for the collection of revenue and disbursement across the value chain in Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).

In his response to THISDAY’s enquiries on when Manitoba will take over at TCN and over the delay in appointing a supervisory board, Ishaku said: “They have resumed and have started work and so I don’t see any problem there. Government will do it in due season.”

In a related development, barely five days after the country witnessed two total system collapses, electricity generation has dropped to 3,422.8mw, down from the 4,321.3mw recorded on August 31, 2012, representing a drop of 898.5mw.

Before it dropped to its present level, power generation had previously dropped to 3,649.8mw on Monday, with 1,775.3mw as the lowest amount of electricity for the day.

THISDAY gathered that the electricity supply situation has worsened in recent days with a collapse of the whole electricity system on October 26 and 28, while a partial system collapse was experienced on September 7.

It was learnt that inadequate gas supply, high vibration, high exhaust temperature, brake failure and other technical problems were largely responsible for the failure of some of the units at the power plants.

The daily broadcast obtained on Tuesday from the National Control Centre, Osogbo, revealed that Kainji Hydro Station was performing epileptically, generating 39mw, against its installed capacity of 260mw, while Afam VI in Rivers State was generating 408mw, against 650mw.

Egbin Power Station in Lagos with an installed capacity of 1,320mw and available capacity of 660mw was generating 582mw, while Shiroro was generating 575mw, against 600mw.

The 414mw Geregu plant in Kogi State was generating 276mw, while the Alaoji power plant in Abia State, which recently came onstream, was not generating power at all, as it was still undergoing a pre-commissioning run.

Other stations not generating electricity included the Omoku plant in Rivers State and the Olorunsogo plant in Ogun State

Why top bidders lost power firms – NCP
October 31, 2012 by Stanley Opara 14 Comments

A power plant
| credits: premiumtimesng.com

Some firms that emerged as leaders in the race to acquire controlling stakes in the electricity distribution companies during the bid opening eventually lost out at the final hurdle because they failed to meet the stringent requirements put in place by privatisation agencies.

The control mechanisms were put in place by the National Council on Privatisation, Bureau of Public Enterprises and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.

The Chairman, Technical Committee, NCP, Mr. Atedo Peterside, who disclosed this in an exclusive telephone interview with our correspondent on Tuesday, said the bids for the Power Holding Company of Nigeria’s successor generation and distribution companies were subjected to three levels of control.

According to him, for every level, there was more than one check.

“This is targeted at ensuring that the most qualified firm emerged winner,” he told our correspondent.

He said a sub-committee on power and a NERC committee re-examined the process at every level.

“It was the final result that got to the NCP,” he added.

Peterside likened the process to being cross-examined by an external examiner, saying it did not matter who was found wanting at a point, but the final result was what mattered for the firms that participated in the bid process.

When asked why the preferred bidders were given six months to pay for the acquisition of the power companies, he said, “Payment terms were fixed in 2010 and nobody complained.

“After paying 25 per cent, additional six months will ensure that any credible bidder can organise financing for the balance of 75 per cent. Any money that you cannot raise in six months, you probably cannot raise in six or 60 years.”

Responding to the controversy that Interstate Consortium ought not to have won the bid for the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company because it had allegedly failed in two areas of the bid, Peterside said the firm and others were subjected to the same control mechanisms, which resulted in Interstate losing out on the Abuja Disco where it was the leading bidder during the bid opening.

The Chairman, NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi, also corroborated the NCP Technical Committee chairman, saying, “The firm (Interstate) failed the initial test because there was a problem of decimal point in its figures.......Oh my God!!!!! Wake me up from this nightmare.....the school that this guy got his PhD from should be disaccredited. What he was saying was that N20M will now become N2M or N200M. Lord have mercy!!!

“This was corrected, and it passed. Its new figures were consistent with the business plan and I reviewed it myself through my staff and confirmed that it deserves to be the preferred bidder for Enugu Disco.”

In the result of the bidding process announced on Monday after the meeting of the NCP, the firm being backed by a former Head of State, Gen, Abdusalami Abubakar, Integrated Energy Distribution and Marketing Limited, emerged the preferred bidder for the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company.

The company had led other bidders for the Eko, Ikeja and Ibadan distribution companies, considered to be the biggest and most commercially viable in the country, when the bids were earlier opened on October 16, 2012.

However, the NCP, in approving the outcome of the financial bid opening for the PHCN successor companies, had named Integrated Energy as the winner for the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company, with NEDC/KEPCO approved as the reserve bidder.

Significantly, the consortium being backed by the Ekiti, Delta, Edo and Ondo state governments to acquire 60 per cent stake in the Benin Distribution Company, Southern Electricity Distribution Company, was disqualified for submitting two different bids in violation of the rules.

Instead, the company went to Vigeo Power Consortium.

One of the rules guiding the privatisation process states that no company can be allowed to win more than two bids.

Instead of giving the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company to Interstate Electronics Limited, being promoted by business mogul, Mr. Emeka Ofor, which emerged the top bidder by offering Average Technical, Commercial and Collection loss reduction of 21.62 per cent, NCP awarded the company to Kann Consortium Utility Company Limited.

The Eko Distribution Company went to West Power & Gas, which came third behind Integrated Energy and New Electricity Distribution Company Consortium, while Honeywell Energy Resources International Limited, which came fourth in the bid opening round, was approved as the reserve bidder.

For the Enugu Distribution Company, Interstate Electrics Limited was named as the preferred bidder, while Eastern Electric Nigeria Limited was approved as the reserve bidder.

For the Ikeja Distribution Company, New Electricity Distribution Company/KEPCO emerged as the preferred bidder, while Vigeo Power Consortium was approved as the reserve bidder.

The Jos Distribution Company had Aura Energy Limited as the preferred bidder.

Sahelian Power SPV Limited was named as the preferred bidder for the Kano Distribution Company; 4Power Consortium emerged as the preferred bidder for the Port Harcourt Distribution Company.

For the Yola Distribution Company, Integrated Energy Distribution & Marketing Limited was named as the preferred bidder.

However, the bidders that offered the highest amounts of money for the electricity generation companies were approved as the winners.

With the approval, the highest ranked bidder for each of the companies was required to post an additional bid security (Preferred Bidder’s Bank Guarantee) in the form of a Letter of Credit or bank guarantee for 15 of the transaction values within 15 business days of notification by the BPE.

Peterside had said on Monday, “Within 15 business days after signing of the Sale and Purchase Agreement, the Shareholders’ Agreement or the Performance Agreement, whichever is earlier, or at a mutually agreed earlier time, the bidder shall make a down payment of 25 per cent of the share purchase price.

“Within six months after signing of the Sale and Purchase Agreement or the Shareholders’ Agreement, whichever is earlier or mutually agreed upon time, the bidder will be required to pay the outstanding 75 per cent of the share purchase price to complete the transaction.

It added, “Upon receipt of payment, the preferred bidder’s bank guarantee will be returned to the bidder within a maximum of four weeks.

“After the completion of payment, the handover of the successor company to the preferred bidder will conclude the transaction.”

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We ‘ll appoint new power, defence ministers in two weeks – Jonathan
on SEPTEMBER 5, 2012 · in NEWS
11:02 pm
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ABUJA—President Goodluck Jonathan said Wednesday in Abuja he would forward names of replacements for ministers of defence and power immediately the Senate resumed from recess on September 22.

The President disclosed this at the inauguration of the reconstituted Presidential Action Committee on Power and Presidential Task Force on Power.

At the ceremony, Jonathan directed the Minister of State for Power, Mr Darius Ishaku, to take charge of the power ministry in the interim. He said it was important to reconstitute the two committees on power so that the achievement recorded in the sector would not relapse. The President set up the two bodies in 2010 to closely monitor and implement the Power Reform Agenda.


President Goodluck Jonathan addressing the Nation at The State House in Abuja. on Tuesday
The President said: “Definitely immediately the National Assembly comes back especially the Senate, we will clear the two vacancies that we have. They will get cleared and we will place people accordingly so that the Ministry of Power will come up.

“But, in the interim, the Minister of State Power is holding on to that. But whether the Minister of Power comes or not, we want to reconstitute the two teams because Nigerians will not be happy if we relapse and I believe that as we progress from now till December if Nigerians can go home in December and do their parties without generators and can drive to their States without gutters (potholes) on our roads stopping them, I think the rating of government will improve. So we must work hard to get to this level.”

Dagogo-Jack appointed as NIPP chairman

The President appointed, Mr Reynolds Dagogo-Jack of National Integrated Power Project, NIPP, as the Chairman of the reconstituted Presidential Task Force on Power.

The body was hitherto chaired by the former Minister of Power, Prof Barth Nnaji, who resigned his appointment on ground of conflict of interest.

“We have done it this way because, the other time when Nnaji was the Chairman, the secretary was my special adviser; so there was a lot of conflict between the two of them because they say two captains cannot drive a ship. This time around we just want one captain and others will work with him.”

Members of the task force include Messrs Rumundakaa Wonodi, Olusola Akinniranye and Abdulganiyu Umar, the managing directors and chief executive officers of Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Plc; Transmission Company of Nigeria; and Abuja Electricity Distribution Company respectively.

Others are Mr Paul Umunna and Mr Oladele Amoda, the chief executive officers of Ughelli Power Plc and Eko Electricity Distribution Company respectively, as well as the Managing Director of Niger Delta Power Holding Company, Mr James Olotu.

The MD of the Nigerian Gas Company, Mr Saidu Mohammed and the CEO of Geregu Power Plc, Mr Adeyemi Adenuga, are also members of the task force. The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Power, Dr Dere Awosika, will serve as the Secretary of the task force.

Meanwhile, the Presidential Action Committee on Power will be chaired by Jonathan with Vice President Namadi Sambo as Deputy Chairman. Members of the committee are the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sen. Anyim Pius Anyim; the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Alhaji Ali Sali; and the Chief of Staff to the President, Mr Mike Oghiadome. The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Mohammed Adoke; Minister of Finance, Dr, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; and Minister of Labour and Productivity, Mr Emeka Wogu, are members.

Some other members of the committee are Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezzani Allison Madueke; Minister of National Planning, Dr Shamsudeen Usman; and the Chief Economic Adviser to the President. The special adviser to the President on Performance Monitoring and Evaluation; the directors-general of the Bureau of Public Enterprises and Bureau of Public Procurement are also members of the committee.

Others are the Group Managing Director of NNPC and the Chairman of the National Electricity Regulatory Commission. It will be recalled that the President, on June 21, relieved the former Minister of Defence, Dr Haliru Bello of his appointment. The President is expected to name replacements for Haliru and Nnaji, who while in office, represented Kebbi and Enugu States in the cabinet respectively.

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ECONOMIC SABOTEURS IN OUR MIDST......COMRADE AJAERO, WHY?‏
Economic Saboteurs in Our Midst
27 Aug 2012
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Behind the Figures by Ijeoma Nwogwugwu


Nigeria is a bundle of con tradictions. For years we’ve lost sleep over the amount of money wasted on private electricity generation, how the lack of regular power supply has shut down businesses, led to job losses, and turned thousands of artisans into commercial motorcyclists that constitute a menace on our roads. For years we have pressurised the government to clean up the fuel subsidy scheme, clampdown on the cabal that has been feeding fat off the regime, and prosecute the fraudsters who have taken advantage of a policy meant to subsidise our consumption of petroleum products and keep the refineries from functioning.

And yet, just when the government seems to be getting round to reforming the electricity sector and is half-heartedly prosecuting a couple of oil marketers, the labour unions rise up in arms against the government, threatening to shut the economy and foster hardship on the same masses that they claim to protect.

Starting from the power sector, it is appare nt that the junior workers are being led by the nose by Joe Ajaero, the general secretary of the National Union of Electricity Employees to scuttle the reform and privatisation programme for self-serving reasons. Ajaero, as this column has pointed out in the past, has grandiose dreams of some day emerging president of the Nigeria Labour Congress. He is also currently one of three deputy presidents of the NLC.

But his ambition is under threat, as the transfer of electricity assets to private sector operators, will whittle down his stranglehold over junior electricity workers, one of the biggest affiliates of the NLC. So, for selfish reasons, Ajaero has been running amok in the electricity sector, threatening to shut down the power grid and costing the economy several billions of naira.

His latest grouse with the Minister of Power, Professor Bart Nnaji stems from a disagreement over the severance benefits to be paid to electricity workers, post-pri vatisation. Despite the mismanagement and decimation of the in-house Defined Pension Scheme, which NEPA (the predecessor of PHCN) operated before the commencement of the Pension Contributory Scheme in 2004, the government has accepted to plug the gap by committing to set aside N85 billion as severance pay to PHCN workers.

In addition, the government has committed to paying the backlog of contributions of 7.5 per cent apiece by the employer and employees as provided under the Pension Reform Act, which, again, PHCN failed to comply with. In total, severance benefits to be paid PHCN workers, who have been largely incompetent and contributed very little to the economic development of the country in almost two decades, will cost tax payers some N140 billion, much of which will come out from the privatisation proceeds.

Still, Ajaero would have none of it, insisting that the severance package be left at 25 per cent from the day the in-house pension schem e was set up to date, unmindful of the fact that the in-house scheme, which was barely funded by PHCN workers in the first instance and was mismanaged by its trustees, ceased to be operational on the day the Pension Reform Bill was signed into law. Should the government succumb to such a spurious demand, it will increase its liability to PHCN workers to N433 billion.

As if Ajaero’s demands are not unreasonable enough, he has also threatened to shut down the power facilities on the grounds that military personnel have been deployed to safeguard them from terrorist strikes and misguided PHCN workers who might want to vandalise electricity installations. But what does he care about the implications of shutting down the grid for a few days? What does he care that Nigerians for the last few weeks, even if it is short-lived, have enjoyed some measure of stable electricity supply? Insofar as Ajaero gets his way, and attains his inordinate ambition to someday lead the NLC, he will do whatever it takes, including committing a crime against the state.

It is not just Ajaero that has been leading the workers under the union he leads astray. Another union, in the very vital oil and gas sector – the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers – has been equally irresponsible. Its president, Igwe Achese without any consideration for the hardship he would cause Abuja residents, stopped fuel supply to the federal capital for over a week and threatened to extend the strike to the rest of the country if the federal government failed to pay all outstanding subsidy claims to oil marketing companies and importers.

Although the nationwide strike was averted in the nick of time and fuel supply to Abuja has been restored, it took this newspaper and some other concerned voices to point out that Achese was not fighting for the workers in the downstream oil and gas sector but for indicted oil marketers wanting to escape pr osecution for defrauding the fuel subsidy scheme.

For the record, Achese caught this column’s attention over a year ago when NUPENG threatened to go on strike over some oil marketing companies whose bad loans had been called in by the banks. At the time, he offered himself as a willing tool for bad debtors who were trying to fight the system. The goal of the marketers was to force the government or Central Bank of Nigeria to grant them some form of forbearance on depositors’ funds that they had borrowed and obviously frittered away on private jets, expensive mansions and other luxury items. Fortunately, his attempt to call a strike was stymied by CBN, which made it clear that the bad debtors must repay their loans or lose their businesses.

As if that did not serve as lesson, Achese, again, offered himself to the same set of marketers led by the so-called Jetty and Petroleum Tank Farm Owners Association and Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers As sociation – both unions, mind you, boast some of the biggest fraudsters of the subsidy scheme. The bigger irony is that NUPENG is supposed to represent the interest of junior workers in the industry. But somehow, Achese always seems to serve the interest of the ownership or employers in the sector, not the other way round.

What is worse is that in the midst of these mindless threats to sabotage the economy and open attempts to commit crimes against the Nigerian state by the leadership of its affiliates, the NLC never deemed it necessary to call them to order. Owing to the check off dues they all contribute to sustaining the umbrella body, the NLC foolishly backed their misdeeds with myopic zeal.

But if the leadership of the NLC, NUEE and NUPENG must know, they derive their support base from two major sources – the workers and the streets (the masses). So as they continue to disenfranchise and erode their support base for selfish and personal gains , they should be mindful of the fact that Nigerians are wisening up to their antics.

Besides, the reform in the electricity sector that Ajaero so desperately wants to stall cannot be stopped, even by a speeding train. Nigerians are desperate for improved electricity supply, so if the likes of Ajaero are incapable of staying on the bandwagon, he should be pushed off. He needs to kiss his ambition to lead NLC goodbye and thank his stars that he was even given the chance to lead a union in a sector in which he’s never worked for one day in his entire life.

Just the same, what is expected of NUPENG and NLC is to push for improved management of the fuel subsidy scheme and the prosecution of fraudulent oil marketers and their accomplices in the public sector that the government continues to shield. When they threaten to stop fuel supply and hold the government and nation to ransom, what they don’t realise is that they become allies of the fraudsters in the system and will be painted with the same brush. That the unsustainable fuel subsidy regime has been sustained and abused for so long is as a result of NLC’s insistence that it is the only benefit enjoyed by the masses. That being the case, when any of its affiliates sides with the fat cats that have taken advantage of the system, the NLC should see through the scam, and with all sincerity, act in the interest of the Nigerian people.

Finally, some serious thought ought to be given by the National Assembly to passing some form of legislation to protect critical infrastructure in the country. The law should include penalties, ranging from harsh penalties to long prison terms for individuals and the unions who form the habit of vandalising and sabotaging government and private sector infrastructure set up for the benefit of the people. Since electricity workers have shunned the Industrial Court where employer-employee disputes can be settled and have continued to disobey a Supreme Court judgement, which, owing to the essential service that they render, bars them from strike actions, perhaps a law will serve as a deterrent against their penchant for flippant strikes and threats of vandalisation.
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THE REAL OWNERS OF NIGERIA‏
DEPRIVATION & DERIVATION PRINCIPLES: WHY THE NORTH IS POOR (I)The real owners of Nigeria !

The North is poor, this much no one disputes, the poverty has bred millions of destitutes, who have become instant and easy recruits for Boko-Haram. But the question is: Who impoverished the North? I want to posit that the Core North through ...their aristocrats and ex-military rulers rake an enormous income from oil money (from the Niger Delta) individually, much more than any Individual/group of individuals from the South, and collectively more than 10 times the entire Niger Delta business men in the oil and gas industry put together.

In this disquisition, I have attempted to show that an estimated 75% of crude oil and gas produced by indigenous companies is controlled by the North. It is an area they have well conquered through General IBB, Abacha and Abdulsalami. However, the loots never get back home.

In this first part I will attempt to describe the very uneven nature of the distribution of the nation’s wealth among the Northern aristocratic families and their military generals who for decades looted Nigeria . They did so blatantly, and while Nigeria was weeping about oil windfall loot and others, Nigerians would wail if they know how much of the nation’s resources these folks allocated to themselves and their business fronts before they stepped aside.

Let us therefore begin.
To the state of origin of Boko Haram: Borno State .

Enter Cavendish Petroleum, the operators of OML 110 – with good yielding OBE field. This oil block was awarded to Alhaji Mai Deribe - the Borno patriarch, who even in death will remain the richest man dead or alive in the history of Borno state- by General Sani Abacha on the 8th of July, 1996.

OML 110 has a proven oil reserve in excess of 500 million barrels (More than the entire 300milliom barrels reserve of Sudan ). As yet with the capacity to produce about 120,000 barrels of crude oil daily from its OBE 4 and OBE 5 wells.

At current production levels, the Mai Deribes net circa N4billion monthly in crude oil sales (Using oil price estimates of $100 p/B).
Mai Deribe’s mansion, in allegedly poor Maiduguri is one of the most lavish mansions anywhere on earth; it used to be a tourist attraction, b4 Boko Haram’s tourism deterrent activities -

I will then shift to the centre of the Fulani aristocratic hegemony in the North – Kano . Here. Enter the Fulani Prince Nasiru Ado Bayero, Mallam (Prince) Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s cousin.
He is a Key shareholder and director in Seplat/Platform petroleum operators of the Asuokpu/Umutu Marginal Field with a capacity of 300,000 barrels monthly and A 30mmfcsd gas plant capable of feeding 100MT of LPG. The Ado Bayeros, Yar’Aduas and Atiku Abubakar are Nigerian holders of Intels. It runs a private port that has grounded three Federal ports in the South. Intels is discussed later.
Enter South Atlantic Petroleum Limited (SAPETRO). South Atlantic Petroleum (SAPETRO) is a Nigerian Oil Exploration and Production Company that was created in 1995 by General T. Y. Danjuma (also Chairma of ENI Nigeria). General Sani Abacha awarded the Oil Prospecting License (OPL) 246 to SAPETRO in February 1998.

The block covers a total area of 2,590km2 (1,000 sq. miles). SAPETRO partnered with Total Upstream Nigeria Ltd (TUPNI) and Brasoil Oil Services Company Nigeria Ltd (Petrobras) to start prospecting on OPL246. Akpo, a condensate field was discovered in April 2000 with the drilling of the first exploration well (Akpo 1) on the block. Other discoveries made on OPL 246 include the Egina Main, Egina South, Preowei and Kuro (Kuro was suspended as a dry gas/minor oil discovery).

In June 2006, General TY Danjuma divested part of its contractor rights and obligations to China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) for $1 billion (N160bn). Akpo exports about 230,000 barrels of condensate daily. Condensate export is not regulated by OPEC, so SAPETRO/TOTAL exports as much as possible each day. Egina exports about 75,000 barrels of oil daily.
Therefore, Akpo and Egina fields export just over 300,000 barrels of oil/condensate daily (three times what the country Ghana exports). SAPETRO (TY Danjuma) get’s 25% of this. Now, note I have not talked about the gas component – it’s about 2.5 trillion cubic feet. The money SAPETRO nets each month is more than the monthly statutory allocation to any Nigerian state and also more than the oil revenue of Ghana . Do your math.

Enter AMNI (or is it AMIN?) International Petroleum Development Company. AMNI owns two oil blocks – OML 112 and OML 117. In the production-sharing contract, AMNI gets 60% for owning the oil block and Total gets 40% for providing technical advice. OML 112 was awarded on the 12/02/1998 while OML 117 was awarded 04/08/1999 all by Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar. Operations started on both blocks 0n 26/02/2006. The licenses are due to expire 11/02/2018 and 05/08/2019 respectively. (Now you see why the next election is important?).

The Okoro and Setu fields in OML 112 are operated by Afren Energy, a company substantially controlled by Rilwanu Lukman. The Okoro and Setu oil fields have about 50 million barrels in reserve and currently produce/exports just a little below 20,000 barrels per day. The chairman of AMNI International Petroleum and Development Company is Alhaji (Colonel) Sani Bello a Fulani from Kontagora , Niger State. Lest I forget, Alhaji Bello’s son- Abu, is married to General Abdusalami Abubakar's eldest daughter.
Enter Oriental Energy Resources Limited, a company owned by Alhaji Mohammed Indimi, a close friend of General Ibrahim Babangida. Also worthy of note is that General IBB’s first son is married to Alhaji Mohammed Indimi’s daughter – Yakolo Indimi-Babangida, who also serves as a director in the company. Alhaji Indimi hails from Niger State .

Oriental Energy Resources Limited runs three oil blocks: OML 115, the Okwok field and the Ebok field. OML 115 and Okwo are OML PSC, while Ebok is an OML JV. All of them crown offshore oil blocks.

OML 115 on its own is 228 sq Km. On OML115 Oriental Energy Resources Limited has 60 per cent while Equity Energy Resources AS, which Alhjai Aliko Dangote’s oil and gas investment vehicle has 40 per cent (Aliko Dangote is from Kano ). On Okwok, Addax has 40% and on the Ebok field, Oriental Energy Resources shares with none: its 100%. AMNI produces twice as much as Cavendish Petroleum.
Enter Express Petroleum and Gas Limited floated by Alhaji Aminu Dantata, solely for the purpose of fronting for winning oil block(s) even though he and the company are in no way qualified for the award. General Abacha awarded him OML 108 on the 1st of November, 1995. CAMAC Houston, a company owned by Kase Lawal bought 2.5% of Express Petroleum’s 60% holdings. The other 40% on OML 108 is owned by Sheba E&P Limited an IBB tributary company. SEPCOL operates the Ukpokiti offshore field in Shallow water Nigeria , which was acquired from ConocoPhillips in May 2004.

Enter Shebah Exploration And Production Limited (SEPCOL) . It is the operator of the Oil Mining License 108 offshore Nigeria . Head office is in Lagos , but ‘head quartered’ in Minna.
Enter Consolidated Oil. Conoil Producing Limited is an integrated upstream oil and gas company. They are the operator of six blocks in the Niger Delta as well as 25% Equity holder in the Joint Development Zone (JDZ) Block 4. Corporate Head office is in Lagos , but its ‘Headquarters’ is in Minna , Niger State.
Conoil signed a technical operator agreement with Continental Oil and Gas Limited (CONOG) to provide 100% funding and technical service agreement to operate blocks OML 59 on a 40% (Conoil) / 60% (CONOG) basis. Conoil entered into a Production Sharing Contract with the NNPC by virtue of an agreement executed on 17th October 2008.
Conoil’s has overall potential hydrocarbon resources of over 1.0 Billion Barrels of Oil and 7.0 Trillion Cubic Feet of Gas. General Ibrahim Babangida (IBB owns a substantial interest in conoil held in blind trust [same arrangement in Glo] ) awarded the first oil block to Conoil in 1991. The company produces about 100,000 barrels per day.
Enter Rilwanu Lukman, another Fulani multimillionaire with fronted controlling holdings in Afren, the operators of AMNI oil blocks and also with very key interest in the NNPC/Vitol trading deal, Vitol is a London based oil trading company. Vitol lifts 350,000 barrels of crude oil daily from Nigeria .
Enter Intels and the Yar’Adua , Ado Bayero family and Alhaji Abubakar Atiku. The Oil and Gas Free Zone and Oil Services Centres, as well as Support Bases, are operated from government-owned facilities, leased to Intels under long-term agreements. Intels runs a ‘private port’, a venture that has systematically killed the Calabar, Warri and Port Harcourt ports. There are over one hundred major companies operating at the Intel facility in Port Harcourt . The company makes more money in profit than the government of Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta states put together. I shall give details and figures in the part two of this disquisition.

Finally, for the Part I of this disquisition, I introduce you to NorthEast Petroleum. The name is as clear as the message it sends. I do not need to write so much about NorthEast Petroleum registered as NorEast. NorthEast Petroleum Nigeria Limited is the holder of OPL215 license, covering an area 0f 2,564 square kilometres in water depths between 200 to 1600 metres. NorEast is the parent company of Rayflosh Petroleum was awarded the blocks OPLs 276 & 283 closing thereupon a Joint Venture Agreement with Centrica Resources Nigeria Limited and CCC Oil and Gas.

Not surprising, NorthEast Petroleum is owned by another Fulani businessman from the North East, Alhaji Saleh Mohammed Jambo. The license was awarded to him by General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida in 1991 and then renewed in 2004. So far $50Million has been spent on the very promising Okpoi-1 and Egere -1 exploratory well.

In the Part II, we shall finish the discussion. We will table other North Eastern billionaires who make more money than their states of origin from Niger Delta oil blocks.

Sadly, National Bureau of Statistics reports from 2010 show Niger State as the poorest state in the Federation, and the North East the poorest region. With these figures from the National Bureau of Statistics, I rest my case. BY Samuel Diminas

NNAJI ORDERS INDIAN FIRM TO VACATE GAS RIGHT-OF-WAY‏
Nnaji Orders Indian Firm to Vacate Gas Right-of-Way

From: Ikeogu Oke
Fri 8/17/12 4:24 PM


The Minister of Power, Prof. Bart Nnaji, yesterday issued a 20-day ultimatum to an Indian firm, Ringardas Nigeria Limited, to dismantle its facility obstructing the right-of-way of a gas pipeline at Sapele power station.


“Move your facility out of the right-of-way in 20 days,” Nnaji told an official of the firm, which imports and processes bitumen, during their meeting at the facility very close to equipment belonging to the power station.


The official responded that there was a court injunction on the matter and that the facility was installed above the ground and not on the ground like the gas pipeline. To this, the minister expressed shock that anyone could apply for a court injunction, let alone obtain one in the country, to engage in such a patent illegality.


The minister expressed shock that the foreign official would be talking about an injunction even though the rules are quite clear that the right-of-way means that “nothing can be installed below, above or on the sides of the gas pipeline” by a specified margin which the Indian firm’s facility violates.


The minister’s visit followed the refusal of the firm to comply with his earlier directive to respect the right-of-way and desist from endangering the gas infrastructure and putting electricity supply to Nigerians under threat.


The directive was issued through a letter with Ref. No. FMP/HMP/002/vol1/25 dated August 3, 2012, and addressed by the minister to the Managing Director of the firm at its Ogorode office near Sapele power station.


The letter, titled “Re: Ringardas Obstruction of Main Gas Supply Piping to Sapele Power Station” reads: “The attention of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) has been drawn to the fact that you put up an elaborate bitumen pump house squarely on top of the right-of-way of a 32-inch natural gas main supply pipeline supplying gas to Sapele Power Station …


“The said 32-inch pipeline developed multiple leaks on a 150-meter stretch and needs to be immediately repaired to avoid interruption in gas supply to the power station with its attendant negative impact on power generation in the country.


“Reports reaching my office recently indicate that several attempts by the CEO of the power station for you to remove your bitumen pump on the pipeline’s right-of-way to enable repairs to take place have all been in vain. It is equally shocking that you ignored the warning from [the] Nigeria Gas Company concerning risk and danger of fire outbreak that could result from your operation in view of the ruptured gas pipeline as well as the directive by the Honourable Minister of Environment.


“As you must be aware, the main thrust of the present government of [President] Goodluck Jonathan is to reform the power sector. Your act of obstructing a gas pipeline’s right-of-way and thereby frustrating the necessary repairs is therefore a clear act of sabotage on the reform agenda of the FGN.


You are hereby directed to remove your bitumen pump from the aforesaid 32-inch gas pipeline’s right-of-way within 48 hours of the receipt of this letter to enable necessary repairs to be effected. You are further directed to remove all your facilities from the FGN property within 7 days of the receipt of this letter.


I am to put you on notice that failure to remove your facilities will leave the FGN with no option than to deploy resources at its disposal to remove your illegal structures.”


In a related development, the minister during a visit to Ughelli power station on the same day commissioned Unit GT 18 of Delta IV of the station restored as part of the effort of the Power Sector Reform to recover installed capacities from generating stations nationwide.


The newly commissioned generating plant added 130 megawatts to the station’s power generation capacity, bringing it to a total of 360 megawatts.

MINISTER ASKS NGOS TO LOOK INTO PHCN PENSION FUNDS‏

The Minister of Power, Professor Bart Nnaji, has requested leading Civil Society Organizations (CSOS) in the country to look into the management of the funds of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) staff pension scheme.
The public scrutiny to be led by the CSOs, according to the minister, has become imperative because of the “the huge amount of money which should be in the scheme but cannot be traced”.
If the PHCN 50,000 employees have over the years been contributing 25% of their salary to the pension as alleged by the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), argued the minister, they should have over N300billion in their bank account.
“What we have rather found is a paltry N3b which cannot cover the terminal benefits of up to 30% of the workforce”, said Nnaji.
Even so, he explained, “the money came from PHCN internally generated revenue, rather than as a contribution from the PHCN staff towards their retirements”.
The minister said that “it is clear from the reports I have that it is either the PHCN staff did not contribute 25% of their salary or that some unscrupulous officials made away with over N300b which was over the years deducted from their pay”.
He hinged the call for a public scrutiny of the management of the pension funds on the need for values of probity, accountability and public morality.
Exonerating the Ministry of Power and the Federal Government from culpability in a possible fraud in the pension scheme, the minister stated that the funds were managed by only a group of trustees made up of the PHCN management and officials of the three trade unions in the PHCN “who are also the sole signatories to the bank accounts”.
Payment of severance benefits to PHCN employees in the wake of the privatization of 17 PHCN successor companies has pitched the leadership of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) against the government.
Despite the failure of the PHCN staff to contribute to the pension scheme, said the minister, the government has decided to pay them 25% of their salary up to June 30, 2004, when the law allowed the PHCN to operate a special pension scheme.
He added: “And in spite of the PHCN refusal to comply with the new Pension Reform Act which came into existence on July 1, 2004, and which requires each worker to contribute 7.5% of his salary to the scheme and his employer another 7.5%, the government has offered to pay the staff 15% of their salary from June 1, 2004, to June 30, 2004.
“We intend to take this money from the public treasury, that is, money belonging to Nigerian tax payers because we do not want the thousands of hardworking PHCN workers to retire into penury after several years of considerable contributions to national development”.

Prof Nnaji’s letter, written today, was addressed to the Save Nigeria Group led by Pastor Tunde Bakare, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre run by Comrade Ibrahim Awaal Rafsanjani, Concerned Professionals headed by Professor Pat Utomi, Civil Liberties Organisation founded by Olisa Agbakoba ,Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria headed by Comrade Shehu Sani, Law and Social Development Centre chaired by Bamidele Aturu, Institute of Human Rights and Democratic Studies led by Dr Josephine Okei-Odumakin and the Transition Monitoring Group which comprises over 200 Non Government Organisations and led by Moshood Erubani who used to head the Campaign for Democracy.

Signed

Ogbuagu Anikwe
Special Assistant ((media) to Minister of Power

NNAJI AS AN CHANGE AGENT--Tribute to Minister on his 56th birthday‏

NNAJI AS A CHANGE AGENT
Tribute to the Minister on his 56th birthday
By General Ishaya Bakut (retd)

Before me on my table as I am writing this short essay is a couple of media reports on the signing on July 4 , 2012, of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Ministry of Power and Daewoo Construction and Electrical on ways Daewoo could help generate 10,000MW in Nigeria, with the South Korean engineering giant taking up 20% equity in new plants. I am particularly excited at the statement attributed to the Minister of Power, Professor Bart Nnaji, to the effect that Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) like Daewoo would no longer be allowed to just sell finished products like turbines to Nigeria. The minister reasons that if OEMs cannot manufacture in our country yet, they should at least begin to assemble here and consequently add value to our national economy. Nigeria, the minister added, should not remain forever the dumping ground for foreign manufacturers.

As I was reading the reports, my confidence in the Nigerian possibility became rekindled. Prof Nnaji spoke on the occasion with authority; not the authority of his personal accomplishments which, in any case, can humble practically anyone but the authority arising from unprecedented international investor confidence in the Nigerian power sector. In other words, Nnaji is not on his kneels pleading with foreigners to come to Nigeria to invest. The international investors are coming daily in large groups, and for once Nigeria has the confidence to dictate the terms to them—and they are complying enthusiastically!

I am not just a student of strategic studies who follows international affairs with interest, but someone who has been in government at a high level and has seen at close quarters how international investors view Nigeria. I served as Principal Staff Officer in The Presidency during the time of General Ibrahim Babangida and was appointed the Field Commander of the multinational ECOWAS peacekeeping force in Liberia in the 1990s, only to return to State House under General Sani Abacha years later. These two positions, among others, enabled me to have a bird’s eye view of how foreigners really perceive Africans, all the more so in matters of long term investments. CitiBank/NIB was for some years about the most profitable bank in Nigeria, but it did not bother to acquire one single property here! It was in Nigeria for hot money. If anything had gone wrong, CitiBank/NIB would have simply repatriated all its money to New York, together with its expatriate staff.

Now, there are some Nigerians who think all this was happening because our country was then under military rule. Well, they could be right, but only to some extent. President Olusegun Obsanjo, for instance, spent a substantial part of his first tenure of 1999 to 2003 on foreign trips, campaigning for foreign investments in Nigeria. But there was little to show for his dedicated effort. Let us cite the telling example of Obasanjo’s spirited lobbying of the British telecom company, Vodafone (which is the world’s largest mobile telephone operator) to invest in the Nigerian GSM market in the wake of the liberalization of the telecom sector and of the restoration of democratic governance in the country. Vodafone turned down Obasanjo’s offer, which included incredible tax reliefs. The rejection by big telecom firms enabled relatively smaller players like Southern African MTN and Econet to have a field day. It does not matter that the Vodafone chairman, Sir Christopher Gent, was to deeply regret his investment decision.

Against this backdrop, I am, like most Nigerians, over the moon to know that world class electricity companies are taking far-reaching steps to participate, in very concrete terms, in the ongoing power sector in our beloved nation. General Electric of the United States, the world’s biggest manufacturer of electricity equipment, has signed an MoU to assist in the generation of 10,000MW and invest between 10 and 15% equity in new plants using its equipment. Put succinctly, GE is no longer contented with selling turbines to Nigeria. In addition, GE is planning to build an assembly plant in the country, the first time it will do so in sub-Saharan Africa. As if in competition with GE, Siemens of Germany has signed an MoU to help generate 10,000MW, build a service station (the first time in West Africa) and sponsor a study for the integration of traditional and alternative sources of energy. Electrobra of Brazil has signed a similar MoU with the Nigerian Ministry of Power.

Just before the MoUs were signed, the United States EXIM Bank signed an MoU last year with the Nigerian Ministry of Power providing $1.2b credit to investors in Nigeria’s power sector using American products and services. This is a very interesting development. US EXIM’s total credit to sub Sahara Africa the previous year was $1.4b, with only $200m coming to Nigeria. It is worth emphasizing to state here that the credit to Nigeria’s power sector alone is more than the combination of all the sectors in the whole of Black Africa received in 2010. I am even informed by my contacts in the US EXIM Bank that the financial institution is willing to raise the facility to $2.5b. It was the same sources who disclosed to me that the chief executive of the American bank came himself to Nigeria to sign the MoU only two weeks after the Minister of Power visited him in Washington, DC, and persuaded the top banker to get involved in Nigeria’s power sector reform. The CEO has tremendous arespect for Prof Nnaji who lived in America from 1975 to 2005 and shone like a star in the American academia.

The tremendous international investor confidence in the power sector displayed by the GEs, Siemenses, Dawewoos and US Exim Banks of this world need not have come to all of us as a surprise. As early as 2010 when the Bureau of Public Enterprises called for Expressions of Interest (EoIs) in the 18 PHCN successor companies mapped out for privatization, the signs had been there. There were as many as 331EoIs from blue chip companies from various regions of the world. Nnaji was then serving as the Special Adviser to the President on Power and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Power. It is gratifying that 135 companies have now been shortlisted to bid for PHCN six generation companies and eleven distribution firms this month. Already, Manitoba of Canada has won the bid to manage the 18th PHCN successor company, Transmission Company of Nigeria, and the contract will be signed this month.

All these fantastic developments in the electricity sector do give our people hope that, much as power takes a long time to become available, the revolution which our dear nation has seen in telecoms since 2001 will be repeated in the power sector someday. The success thus far owes to essentially the character, competence, integrity, foresight, knowledge and doggedness of one Nigerian: Prof Bart Nnaji, a very pleasant and unassuming person whom I met when I was a principal officer in State House and worked closely with as a fellow engineer when he was setting up the Abuja 22Megawatt Emergency Plant in 2000; Nnaji has since gone on to achieve other feats for himself and for the Nigerian people. I am using the occasion of his 56th birthday on July 13, 2012, to pay him this well deserved public tribute. May the Almighty continue to bless, guide and protect him for us.

Gen Bakut (retd), an engineer, was Governor of Benue state and ECOMOG Field Commander.

Coup in Mali condemned by South Africa, U.S; looting of President Toure's office continues‏
http://www.usafricaonline.com/2012/03/22/coup-in-mali-condemned-by-south-africa-u-s-looting-of-president-toures-office-continues/

SSS parades 8 suspected killers of kidnapped Briton, Italian
SSS parades 8 suspected killers of kidnapped Briton, Italian
News Friday, March 16, 2012


By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

ABUJA - Eight suspected members of the Boko Haram sect accused of complicity in the kidnap and killing of a Briton, Christopher McManus and his Italian counterpart, Franco Lamolinara, in Sokoto on March 7, were yesterday paraded in Abuja by the State Security Service, SSS.



A set of the alleged killers: Bashir Ibrahim (aka Adda'u), Ibrahim A. Habibu and Gambo Maiborodi.
Mohammed Rabiu Adam (aka Dan Hajiya), Abubakar Abdulrahman Habibu, Shitu Salihu, Abubakar Umar and Ahmed Samaila who allegedly kidnapped and killed Christopher Mcmanus and Franco Lamolinara, expatriate staff of Stabilini Visinoni Construction Company in Birnin Kebbi, Sokoto State being paraded by the State Security Service, SSS, yesterday. Photos: Gbemiga Olamikan.



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Three of the paraded suspects, Bashir Ibrahim (aka Adda'u), Ibrahim A. Habibu and Gambo Maiborodi, were aged between 19 and 20 years.


Other suspects were Mohammed Rabiu Adam (aka Dan Hajiya), Abubakar Abdulrahman Habibu, Shitu Salihu, Abubakar Umar and Ahmed Samaila.

SSS said its investigations revealed that the plot to abduct the foreigners who were staff of Stabilini Visinoni Construction Company, from their residence in Birnin Kebbi on May 12, 2011, was masterminded by the Abu Mohammed-led faction of the Boko Haram Islamic sect.

It added that the said Abu Mohammed died on March 9, 2012 following severe bullet wounds he sustained during a raid at his hideout at Layin Hanwa area of Zaria on March 7.

A statement by the SSS, yesterday, said: "After a painstaking investigation process, the Service made a number of arrests in Adamawa, Katsina, Kaduna, Sokoto and Kebbi states. The following youths aged between 19 and 20 years, who were discovered to have conducted surveillance on the victims before their abduction, were subsequently arrested.

"Further investigations revealed that the plot was masterminded by the Abu Mohammed-led faction of Boko Haram in Nigeria. Following a raid on Abu Mohammed's hideout at Layin Hanwa area of Zaria on March 7, 2012, Abu Mohammed and five others were arrested while holding a Shura Council (the sect's highest decision making body) meeting.

"In the ensuing exchange of gunfire, a soldier was killed and his throat slashed while one service personnel was seriously injured by members of the Boko Haram sect. Abu Mohammed and the other suspects sustained various degrees of bullet wounds.

Order to kill captives

“Preliminary interrogation of the arrested suspects revealed that the guards protecting the two foreign hostages in Sokoto had been directed to kill them in the event of any envisaged threat. The arrested suspects, therefore, advised that a rescue operation be immediately initiated more so as one of them had escaped during the Zaria raid.


"Consequently, a joint security operation was launched. One of the arrested suspects, Mohammed Rabiu Adam (aka Dan Hajiya) who killed the soldier during the Zaria raid, led the security team from Zaria at about 11pm on Wednesday,March 7, 2012 to Sokoto and arrived their destination about 0430 hours on March 8, 2012.

"Prior to their arrival, security operatives had mounted a street cordon and search operation along all routes around Mabera Estate, Sokoto to prevent any attempt by the guards to smuggle out the hostages.

"Apparently acting on the directive of the members of the sect who escaped from Zaria, the guards murdered the hostages before the arrival of security forces. However, the guards could not leave the building because of the presence of security men in the area.

Exchange of gunfire

"Upon arrival of security forces at the building where the hostages were being held, there was a prolonged exchange of gunfire during which three of the guards were killed while the wife of one of them sustained bullet wounds and was rushed to the hospital. No life was lost on the part of security forces though some service personnel sustained gunshot injuries.”

"While the service commiserates with the families of the murdered expatriates, it wishes to reiterate that the long arm of the law will surely catch up with terrorists and perpetrators of evil wherever they are.

“Once more, we wish to appeal to Nigerians to remain sensitive to their environment and report suspicious activities to security agencies."
http://odili.net/news/source/2012/mar/16/300.html

22 police recruits arraigned over fake certificates
22 police recruits arraigned over fake certificates
On March 16, 2012 · In News 5:02 pmTweet

Ilorin – No fewer than 22 police recruits undergoing training at the Police Training College, Ilorin appeared before different magistrate courts on Friday for allegedly using fake documents to secure employment.

The accused persons were arraigned on a four-count charge of criminal conspiracy, forgery, impersonation and using as true a certificate known to be false, contrary to sections 97, 363,132 163 of the penal code law.

The prosecuting counsel, Insp. David Wodi and Sgt. Mathew Ologbonsaye, told the respective courts that the accused were arrested after a screening where their certificates were discovered to be forged.

However, all of the accused persons in separate pleas pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.

The prosecutor told the courts that investigation into the case was ongoing and urged the court to remand them in prison pending the completion of investigation.

Mr Shina Ibiyemi, the Director of the Legal Aid Council in Kwara, who represented the accused persons, pleaded for their bail on liberal terms.

He told the court that section 36 (5) of the penal code law still presumed the accused innocent until the contrary was proven.

Ibiyemi added that the accused persons would present reliable sureties.

In his ruling, Magistrate Wahab Saka granted 11 of them bail in the sum of N50,000 and a surety each while Magistrate Shuaib Olanikewu granted bail to the other 11 accused under similar bail bond.

Olanikewu, however, added that the sureties must swear to an affidavit of means before the court registrar.

The magistrates adjourned the cases till April 12 and April 14 in their respective courts. (NAN)

[b]22 police recruits arraigned over fake certificates
22 police recruits arraigned over fake certificates
On March 16, 2012 · In News 5:02 pmTweet

Ilorin – No fewer than 22 police recruits undergoing training at the Police Training College, Ilorin appeared before different magistrate courts on Friday for allegedly using fake documents to secure employment.

The accused persons were arraigned on a four-count charge of criminal conspiracy, forgery, impersonation and using as true a certificate known to be false, contrary to sections 97, 363,132 163 of the penal code law.

The prosecuting counsel, Insp. David Wodi and Sgt. Mathew Ologbonsaye, told the respective courts that the accused were arrested after a screening where their certificates were discovered to be forged.

However, all of the accused persons in separate pleas pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.

The prosecutor told the courts that investigation into the case was ongoing and urged the court to remand them in prison pending the completion of investigation.

Mr Shina Ibiyemi, the Director of the Legal Aid Council in Kwara, who represented the accused persons, pleaded for their bail on liberal terms.

He told the court that section 36 (5) of the penal code law still presumed the accused innocent until the contrary was proven.

Ibiyemi added that the accused persons would present reliable sureties.

In his ruling, Magistrate Wahab Saka granted 11 of them bail in the sum of N50,000 and a surety each while Magistrate Shuaib Olanikewu granted bail to the other 11 accused under similar bail bond.

Olanikewu, however, added that the sureties must swear to an affidavit of means before the court registrar.

The magistrates adjourned the cases till April 12 and April 14 in their respective courts. (NAN)

[/b]22 police recruits arraigned over fake certificates
22 police recruits arraigned over fake certificates
On March 16, 2012 · In News 5:02 pmTweet

Ilorin – No fewer than 22 police recruits undergoing training at the Police Training College, Ilorin appeared before different magistrate courts on Friday for allegedly using fake documents to secure employment.

The accused persons were arraigned on a four-count charge of criminal conspiracy, forgery, impersonation and using as true a certificate known to be false, contrary to sections 97, 363,132 163 of the penal code law.

The prosecuting counsel, Insp. David Wodi and Sgt. Mathew Ologbonsaye, told the respective courts that the accused were arrested after a screening where their certificates were discovered to be forged.

However, all of the accused persons in separate pleas pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.

The prosecutor told the courts that investigation into the case was ongoing and urged the court to remand them in prison pending the completion of investigation.

Mr Shina Ibiyemi, the Director of the Legal Aid Council in Kwara, who represented the accused persons, pleaded for their bail on liberal terms.

He told the court that section 36 (5) of the penal code law still presumed the accused innocent until the contrary was proven.

Ibiyemi added that the accused persons would present reliable sureties.

In his ruling, Magistrate Wahab Saka granted 11 of them bail in the sum of N50,000 and a surety each while Magistrate Shuaib Olanikewu granted bail to the other 11 accused under similar bail bond.

Olanikewu, however, added that the sureties must swear to an affidavit of means before the court registrar.

The magistrates adjourned the cases till April 12 and April 14 in their respective courts. (NAN)
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/03/22-police-recruits-arraigned-over-fake-certificates/

Legalizing marijuana: What would Jesus do?
By James Eng, msnbc.com
The Rev. Pat Robertson says America should legalize marijuana. Would Jesus agree?

Msnbc.com put that question to a few theologians and religion experts, and the answer is … decidedly hazy.

Robertson, the outspoken Christian evangelist and host of “The 700 Club,” made national headlines this week when he told The New York Times that pot should be decriminalized and tr, because the government’s war on drugs has failed miserably and is costing taxpayers billions of dollars.

“I’ve never used marijuana and I don’t intend to, but it’s just one of those things that I think: this war on drugs just hasn’t succeeded,” he told the newspaper.

Scholars disagree on whether the Bible lays down the law on use of mind-altering drugs such as marijuana, also known as cannabis.

"It’s not so simple that you can just go to the Scriptures and say, 'Hey, that (passage) says marijuana should be illegal,' or 'that says marijuana should be legal.' There is no such passage," says Father Thomas Reese, S.J., senior fellow at Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University.

Some pro-pot Christians refer to Genesis 1:29 and interpret it to mean God does not frown on ingesting plants such as marijuana:

And God said, Behold, I have given you every plant bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, which has seed in its fruit; to you it shall be for food.

Indeed, several websites have sprung up contending that it’s OK for Christians to smoke pot to get high, including God Gave Us Cannabis, Christians For Cannabis and holyhemp.org.

But Todd Johnson, associate professor of theology at Fuller Theological Seminary, an evangelical institution in Pasadena, Calif., says the more relevant biblical passage is 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 in the New Testament, in which the apostle Paul writes about wrongdoers and ills affecting the early church:

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor sexual perverts, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God.
Paul goes on to describe food and the body, and concludes:

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
“Paul is addressing the issue of morality. One of the concerns he has is drunkenness. He concludes your body is in fact a temple of the Holy Spirit,” Johnson says.

“What substances do you put in your body? I think Paul implies there is a connection there.”

“I think the issue is, are you doing something in excess that could damage your body, that is not reflective of the holiness that God invites you to love?”

Reese says because the Bible doesn't refer directly to marijuana, theologians can only draw moral analogies based on biblical references to the drug of choice at the time -- alcohol.

"Just as abuse of alcohol is sinful because of its weakening of character and our ability to do good, so too we look at drugs and can come to moral conclusion that if drug use is leading us to do things we wouldn't do if we weren’t on drugs … then the use of these drugs is also bad."

Casting out demons
Carl A.P. Ruck, professor of classical studies at Boston University and co-author of “Apples of Apollo: Pagan and Christian Mysteries of the Eucharist,” contends there’s evidence biblical figures used cannabis as an ingredient in holy incense and anointing oil, as well as medicinally.

He says cannabis was widely cultivated throughout early Christian times, and contends Jesus himself used it. Jesus’ anointment with chrism, a cannabis-based oil, may have caused his spiritual visions, he adds.

“Residues of cannabis, moreover, have been detected in vessels from Judea and Egypt in a context indicating its medicinal, as well as visionary, use. Jesus is described by the apostle Mark as casting out demons and healing by the use of this holy chrism,” Ruck wrote in a 2003 newspaper column titled"Was there a whiff of cannabis about Jesus?” “Earlier, from the time of Moses until the later prophet Samuel, holy anointing oil was used by the shamanic Levite priesthood to receive the ‘revelations of the Lord.’ The chosen ones were drenched in this potent cannabis oil.”

In an email Friday to msnbc.com, Ruck says there are also references in the Bible to the use of mandrake, a poisonous and mind-altering plant.

“The Bible … claims that Leah paid some mandrakes to Rachel in order to spend a night sleeping with her own husband that Rachel had stolen away from her. Understandably, some scholars would like to not identify the plants as mandrakes,” Ruck says.

“The Bible also speaks of 'strong wine.' There was no distillation known in antiquity to fortify the alcoholic content of wine. The strength comes from the fact that wine was usually the medium for administering a variable mixture of intoxicating additives.”

NYT: Pat Roberston says pot should be legal

Several Christian organizations, including the Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Methodist Church, and the Episcopal Church, have issued statements supporting medicinal marijuana use,according to a 2007 story on slate.com. But none of them seem to endorse smoking pot recreationally.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops didn’t immediately return a call to msnbc.com for comment on where it stands on the legalization of pot. But the Vatican has said that the use of drugs causes “very grave damage on, and adds that “their use, except on strictly therapeutic grounds, is a grave offense.”


Legalize or not?
So is legalization of marijuana the Christian thing to do?

Reese, who like Bill Clinton says he's "never inhaled," supports legalization. "There’s a tradition within Catholic theology that the purpose of law is not to outlaw every sin. Prohibition was a classic failure of trying to do that," he says.

"I think because of the terrible impact on society of these criminal gangs that control marijuana, we’d be better off legalizing it and putting a decent tax on it and having it branded like we brand cigarettes."

Scholars all agree on this much: Drugs are tearing apart America’s neighborhoods and society and current solutions aren't working.

"The war on drugs has been lost and like the war in Vietnam, maybe it’s time to cut and run," Reese says.

“Prohibition merely manufactures criminals. There should be an approach that tries to evolve an etiquette for the correct use, similar to the designated driver for alcohol parties,” says Ruck.

Adds Johnson: “In some ways I have to applaud Pat Robertson for posing that question. I think Robertson, agree or disagree, has raised a question about a very relevant topic. We as a society have to wrestle with that.”


Read more:http://www.gbooza.com/page.html#ixzz456 http://www.gbooza.com/forum/topics/legalizing-marijuana-what-would-jesus-do#ixzz1okHZfu5D

Driver kills six-yr-old girl in accident, escapes mob attack
Driver kills six-yr-old girl in accident, escapes mob attack
News Friday, March 9, 2012


By TONY EDIKE

ENUGU-Driver of a popular transport company narrowly escaped mob action in Enugu after crushing a six-year-old girl, Safiya Sanusi, to death while overtaking on the wrong side of the road. He is, however, in police detention, which rescued him from the mob. The deceased and five of her school mates were on their way home from school when the accident occurred.







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Eyewitnesses account said the bus was heading for Abakaliki from Enugu when it overtook vehicles on the right hand side and in the process overran the pupils who were walking on the untarred part of the road, killing little Safiya instantly.

Vanguard gathered that the driver of the vehicle escaped from the irate mob that was angered by the dangerous driving which resulted in the accident.

The crowd was reported to have broken the windscreen of the vehicle, which was later recovered by the police and taken to Emene Police Station.

The driver was also taken into custody by the police, while the corpse of Safiya was deposited in Annunciation Hospital mortuary.

Father of the deceased said the late Safiya was a pupil of Emene Practising School, near St. Joseph Catholic Church, Emene.

Meanwhile, human rights group, Civil Liberties Organisation, CLO, has intervened in the matter to ensure that justice was done. South East Director of the group, Mr. Olu Omotayo, wondered why a driver should overtake on the wrong side of the road without regards for pedestrians.

"It should be noted that the recklessness exhibited by drivers of the popular transport company has over the years resulted in death of hundreds," he said.

Omotayo said law enforcement agencies had a lot to do in this regard, especially the Federal Road Safety Corps.

"We cannot continue to close our eyes to recklessness on the roads, exhibited by drivers of a particular company who feel that they are above the law.

"We also call on well meaning Nigerians to also demand for justice, punitive and adequate compensation against the company (to be given to Mallam Sanusi and his family) to serve as deterrence to the company so that it can check its reckless drivers," he added.

Although the company has offered N100,000 compensation to the deceased's family and a promise to foot the bill of the little girl's burial, the father, however, rejected the offer.
http://odili.net/news/source/2012/mar/9/313.html

Reps to investigate British Airways landing in the dark
Reps to investigate British Airways landing in the dark
News Thursday, March 8, 2012


By EMMAN OVUAKPORIE

ABUJA-THE House of Representatives, Wednesday, mandated its Committee on Aviation to investigate circumstances surrounding how a British Airways flight landed in the dark due to power outage at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on February 9.







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The House, in its resolution, directed the Aviation Committee to immediately start the investigation and report its findings to the House within seven days, despite a plea from Chairman of the Committee, Nkiruka Onyejiocha, that the power outage only lasted two minutes.

This development was sequel to a motion sponsored by Hassan Saleh, tagged: "Urgent need to investigate the circumstances leading to British Airways plane landing in darkness at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja."

Saleh noted that in the early hours of Thursday February 9, 2012, at 5.55am a British Airways flight from London landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in darkness as a result of power and generator failure.

He explained that the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, had two supply lines dedicated to the airport to ensure that there was constant supply of electricity to the airport at all times.

He said: "As at the time the generator tripped off and the airport thrown into darkness, there was electricity supply according to PHCN, as both have claimed that there was no power outage of any sort as at 5.55am or thereabout when the plane landed and this negligent act could have resulted in a very fatal accident.

"It was also alleged that the spokesperson of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, had alleged that as at the time the generator tripped off, when the plane was about to land, there was power outage from PHCN, thereby necessitating their resorting to generator which tripped off.”

"However, PHCN is claiming that there was no power outage as at the time of the incident."

The motion, which was seconded by Abdulrazak Bello-Osagie, representing Oredo Federal Constituency, was unanimously adopted when speaker of the House, Aminu Tambuwal, put it to vote by members.

The House committee on Aviation was directed to investigate what led to the power outage at the airport and how such ugly incidents could be avoided in the future and report back to the House in one week.


http://odili.net/news/source/2012/mar/8/304.html

Enugu lawmakers decry poor security at assembly complex
News Wednesday, March 7, 2012


BY TONY EDIKE

ENUGU – MEMBERS of Enugu State House of Assembly yesterday expressed concern over the poor state of security at the Assembly complex.







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The member representing Igbo-Etiti West Constituency, Okechukwu Nwoke, who raised the issue, regretted that the premises of the House had become vulnerable to crime.

He cited the vandalization of a car belonging to a staff of the assembly parked in the premises on Monday.

The lawmaker disclosed that a huge sum of money was carted away from the said vehicle by the unknown vandals.

His words: "I want to express my concern over the vulnerability of this assembly complex. It worries me that somebody parked a car here and unknown persons vandalized the vehicle and made away with some money.

"It is a very bad development that this place has become this vulnerable. There is need to look at the security arrangement we have in place here.

"You can imagine that the particular place where this incident happened was also where most honourable members park their own vehicles. Something should be done about this situation".

Another member of the Assembly who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the recent incident at the assembly complex had instilled fears in them.

He observed that at a time when the country was facing serious security challenges, the assembly complex had remained porous to such attacks.

"We have all kinds of security men stationed within and outside this complex. The police, the civil defence and the bomb disposal unit are all there stationed both at the gate and inside the complex. Yet this kind of thing happened".
http://odili.net/news/source/2012/mar/7/301.html

Maina, others defraud police pension fund of N21bn -DCP

Maina, others defraud police pension fund of N21bn -DCP
On March 9, 2012 · In News 12:34 am, Email0
BY INALEGWU SHAIBU

ABUJA—More revelations of fraud in the pension scheme came to the fore yesterday as Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCP, Toyin Ishola told Senate panel that the Chairman of Pension Reform Taskforce Team, Alhaji Abdulrasheed Maina allegedly defrauded the Police Pension Fund of N21 billion.

Mr. Ishola who is the Assistant Chief Accountant in the Police Pension office told the joint Senate Committee on establishment, states and local government probing the alleged fraud in the pension scheme that Alhaji Maina committed many fraudulent activities within the three months period he spent at the police pension fund.

He said, “within the three month that the task force team can to the police pension, a lot of fraudulent activities went on, the chairman used N240 million to capture only 20 retirees with the biometric data. He also awarded contracts to the tune of N12 million for the machines and to cover for his frauds, the contract was divided into small units.

According to him, “the chairman opened three accounts within three months. There was N8 billion in Fidelity Bank, N3 billion in UBA, and N10 billion First Bank, Maitama branch.

“The account in the Fidelity Bank was domiciled in the name of the younger brother of the chairman, Danjuma Zubairu. We went to him to change the signatory to the account four times, he refused and said unless the chairman approved the change of signatory first.

“The said amount was fixed since then with monthly interest of N100 million. He has expended over N3 billion within this period with no proper records at the police pension office.”

DCP Ishola as said the fraud was so open officials from the office Head of Service of the Federation, Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offenses Commission partook in it.

He however added that an official of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, declined receiving N4.8 million kick back deposited in his account by the Chairman.

“The EFCC official said over his dead body for him to touch blood money. He returned the N4.8 million deposited in his account to us and this is the document to prove the return.” He said.

The Deputy Police Commissioner also accused Alhaji Maina of spending N4.9 million on his security aids within the three months period.

According to him, “Part of the security personnel also took part in the fraud. The chairman spent a whooping N4.9 million on his security aids under three months.”

The revelations prompted the chairman of the committee, Senator Aloysius Etok to issue warrant of arrest on Alhaji Maina.

He said, “The Inspector General of Police should deliver the chairman of the Taskforce, Abdulrasheed Maina to this committee by 10 am tomorrow (today).

The committee also summoned the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, erstwhile and current chairman of the EFCC, Mrs. Farida Waziri and Ibrahim Lamorde to appear before it and explain their roles in the alleged frauds.

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala was said to have given directives to the taskforce team to take over the police pension payment following allegation of N110 million frauds in the police pension office.

The committee lauded courage of Mr. Ishola in revealing the alleged frauds perpetrated by the chairman of the taskforce and other for police protection for him.

Etok said, “God will bless you, Nigeria needs people like you, thank you for your bravery and courage. This gentleman is our witness and should never be tempered with.”
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/03/maina-others-defraud-police-pension-fund-of-n21bn-dcp/

Former New Jersey governor goes undercover as homeless man
By Barbara Goldberg | Reuters – 17 hrs ago

Click image for more photos


Former New Jersey Governor Richard Codey is made up to be a homeless man as he has …

Mary Jo Codey looks at her husband Richard Codey (R) as he is made up to be a homeless …

Former New Jersey Governor Richard Codey arrives at the Goodwill Home and Rescue …
(Reuters) - A phony beard, a fake tattoo and clothes dragged through grass and stained with coffee were all it took to transform former New Jersey Governor Richard Codey into a homeless man looking for shelter on a frigid night this week.

His self-appointed undercover mission to spotlight what he calls discrimination against men by shelters took about three months of planning before Codey stood at the door of the Goodwill Rescue mission in Newark, New Jersey at 8 p.m. on Monday, asking to be let in.
Codey, 65, who is a state senator but disguised himself as a homeless man, had already been denied admission to about 25 other local shelters because he was not receiving welfare or other government assistance, he told Reuters on Wednesday.


"We called and I said, 'My uncle, he's homeless, we want to find him a place at night to sleep.' Each time I was told, 'Does he have SSI? Welfare? Disability?' When we said 'No,' we were told there was no room at the inn."

Codey, frequently mentioned as a possible Democratic candidate for governor, plans to take his findings to seek more federal money for the homeless. The National Alliance to End Homelessness said more than 636,000 people were homeless in the United States in 2011.
He is particularly concerned with single men and those with mental health issues, who he says are unfairly shut out of the shelter system. He said women and families have far greater access to emergency housing.

When Goodwill agreed to take him in, offering a thin bedroll, a blanket and a spot on a linoleum floor with 20 other men, he thought he'd finally found a haven.

Then came the shower call.

"I was terrified because I knew if I had a shower, my makeup was coming off," said Codey, whose undercover team included a makeup artist who spent nearly an hour transforming him, painting tobacco stains on his teeth and drawing broken blood vessels and dirt on his skin.

By avoiding eye contact with the worker rounding men up for showers, he managed to slip by.

Sitting on the hard floor, he eyed chairs that were stacked nearby but declared off-limits to men in the shelter.
"No one is allowed to sit in them. You are strictly there to lay down," Codey said.
WrestleMania blared on television for two hours until it was lights out at 10:30 p.m.

Codey said he drifted off for about an hour, his hip sore from sleeping on the uncomfortable floor. In the middle of the night, he struck up a conversation with another man and asked him what he would do when he left the shelter.

"He told me 'I'm really lucky' and explained that he had a bus pass so he could ride and keep warm," Codey said.

The man, better dressed than Codey, said he was out of work and had hoped to stay with a friend but it didn't pan out.

"I'm laying there, thinking about how good my life is and he says he's lucky. Wow. That really puts it in perspective," Codey said.

Codey, who served as acting governor of New Jersey for two years following the 2004 resignation of Gov. Jim McGreevey amid a sex scandal, has been a longtime advocate for the mentally ill. Government statistics show that a vast majority of homeless people suffer mental illness.

In 1987, in his early years in the state Senate, Codey went undercover to help expose flaws in care at a state-run psychiatric hospital.

This week, Codey said he was admitted to Goodwill shelter on the condition he register for federal assistance in the morning but he left early and avoided it.

Ron Schober, the shelter's executive director, said help signing up for benefits is offered to shelter residents but not mandatory. He also said residents are welcome to use the chairs before the shelter closes at 6:30 p.m. but since Codey was taken in after hours, the room was being prepared for sleeping.

On a wintry Tuesday morning, Codey stepped out of the shelter and headed back to his work at the New Jersey statehouse. He rejected any suggestion that his undercover mission was politically motivated.

"My goal is to get homeless people a room at night and to speak with the federal government about getting the money to do that," Codey said.

Asked whether he plans to run for governor, he said that was a decision he would make after the November presidential election. Political pundits say there could be a vacancy in the New Jersey governor's mansion as Governor Chris Christie is often mentioned as a potential vice presidential candidate.

(Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Paul Thomasch)
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/former-nj-governor-goes-undercover-as-homeless-man-1331218682-slideshow/#crsl=%252Fphotos%252Fformer-nj-governor-goes-undercover-as-homeless-man-slideshow%252Fformer-jersey-governor-richard-codey-arrives-goodwill-home-photo-023749370.html

Despite Gowon and Obasanjo's distortions, vindication of the Biafran generation continues. By Nkem Ekeopara.

By Nkem Ekeopara.
Exclusive USAfricaonline.com commentary
http://www.usafricaonline.com/2012/03/08/usafrica-despite-gowon-and-obasanjos-distortions-vindication-of-the-biafran-generation-continues-by-nkem-ekeopara/

USAfrica, March 8, 2012: Since January 12, 1970 when the Nigeria-Biafra 1967-1970 war ‘ended’, the former Nigerian military dictators, Generals Olusegun Obasanjo and Yakubu Gowon have persistently told the world that the late Biafran President, General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu misled his people into the Nigeria-Biafra War. They used every opportunity that came their way to sell this lie hoping that by frequently doing so the lie will stick till eternity. They were mistaken!

Even on the transition of Ojukwu the Great who died on November 26, 2011), these men have not left their habit of lying about the root causes of the war, thinking, perhaps, that they need a lot of lies to cover their hands massively stained with the blood of millions of our people, especially women and children sent to their early graves through strafing of markets, churches and schools, and through a total blockade that turned millions into skeletons before they died undignified.
FULL text

http://www.usafricaonline.com/2012/03/08/usafrica-despite-gowon-and-obasanjos-distortions-vindication-of-the-biafran-generation-continues-by-nkem-ekeopara/


http://www.usafricaonline.com/2012/03/08/usafrica-despite-gowon-and-obasanjos-distortions-vindication-of-the-biafran-generation-continues-by-nkem-ekeopara/

By Nkem Ekeopara.
Exclusive USAfricaonline.com commentary
http://www.usafricaonline.com/2012/03/08/usafrica-despite-gowon-and-obasanjos-distortions-vindication-of-the-biafran-generation-continues-by-nkem-ekeopara/

USAfrica, March 8, 2012: Since January 12, 1970 when the Nigeria-Biafra 1967-1970 war ‘ended’, the former Nigerian military dictators, Generals Olusegun Obasanjo and Yakubu Gowon have persistently told the world that the late Biafran President, General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu misled his people into the Nigeria-Biafra War. They used every opportunity that came their way to sell this lie hoping that by frequently doing so the lie will stick till eternity. They were mistaken!

Even on the transition of Ojukwu the Great who died on November 26, 2011), these men have not left their habit of lying about the root causes of the war, thinking, perhaps, that they need a lot of lies to cover their hands massively stained with the blood of millions of our people, especially women and children sent to their early graves through strafing of markets, churches and schools, and through a total blockade that turned millions into skeletons before they died undignified.
FULL text

http://www.usafricaonline.com/2012/03/08/usafrica-despite-gowon-and-obasanjos-distortions-vindication-of-the-biafran-generation-continues-by-nkem-ekeopara/


http://www.usafricaonline.com/2012/03/08/usafrica-despite-gowon-and-obasanjos-distortions-vindication-of-the-biafran-generation-continues-by-nkem-ekeopara/

Get a Visa and Travel Abroad; preferably South Korea where you will work in the factory and make guarantee $1000.00/month without street hustling. Secondly, you can take part of the money you made while working in the factory to buy whatever goods you feel like at a discounted rate, then send it to Nigeria through air cargo groupage; it probably will take within a week for your goods to arrive in Nigeria; sell it with little profit margin to a reliable retailer. The key is fast returns on your investment; believe me, you will be supprise how fast you will make it. If you can, invest on ladies beauty supplies mainly hair stuffs, nails, watches; you can't go wrong with ladies beauty supplies; it's a recession proof business. Also inquire from people traveling to South Korea for business, they probably will help you with the latest info on the countries situation; don't tell them you are going there for business, they probably will not feel comfortable disclosing their business to you; however, they might still be able to provide you with info if you tell them that you are going there to work.

Dont's
If you ever decide to travel inquire at Korean Embassy on how to get their Visa, then fine tune the rest. Don't pay money to some travelling agencies that will promise you heaven and earth.
If you ever make it to SK, don't share container cost with people you don't trust, they will sell your goods when it arrives Nigeria and feed you with cock and bull stories. Remember, start first with airline groupage.  
Don't let any body discourage you that, nothing is happening in this country anymore. You always have to tell yourself that if Nija guys still live in that country, that you will surely survive there.

Finally, I wish I was of help to you; but am just giving you my honest opinion. I used to live there (south Korea) and that's what I did to make my first hundred thousands of US dollars in 2years. Now am in the western world as an exporter, doing the same thing. I would have recommended the western world, but the visa requirements are very hard. Good luck

Ghanaian Professor Killed In Nigeria
A Ghanaian Professor of Botany in the Ambrose Alli University Ekpoma has been shot and killed by Niger-Delta militants in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

The late professor Peter Akomeah was killed along with a younger colleague while on field study for oil giant, Shell last Thursday.

The professor, a consulting environmentalist at the university had left his home in Ekpoma, Edo State in Nigeria for Port Harcourt on an assignment for the Consultancy Directorate of the university to Shell Nigeria on Monday last week.

He and his 9-member team had just concluded a field study at a small community in Port Harcourt and were waiting in a boat for one of their members from the community to join them so they could go back to their hotel.

A militant boat quickly sped off past them without raising their hands to signify they are unarmed, as is the custom on the Niger-Delta. The 4-member military escort considered this a threat and fired at the militants.

By this time the nine people in the boat had prostrated as is also the norm when civilians hear gun shots on the river. The militants started shooting at the escort soldiers, who fled when they ran out of bullets.

Some of the professor’s team fled leaving 3 of them including the professor in the boat. The militants attacked and shot the professor and his younger colleague while they sent the other person to sprinkle petrol on the nearby houses. He subsequently escaped.

Professor Akomeah had been with the university since 1983. He hails from Konongo-Odumasi in Asante Akyem in the Ashanti region.

He had recently been to his hometown and left for Nigeria 3 weeks ago. The 58-year old professor was survived by his wife, 7 children and 2 grandkids.

http://www.gbooza.com/forum/topics/ghanaian-professor-killed-in-nigeria#axzz1iGD1J1RX