₦airaland Forum

Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation and former governor of Rivers state, says governors demanded the sharing of money from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) under the last federal government because it was not properly managed.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, has consistently maintained that governors lacked the political will to save during the tenure of Goodluck Jonathan, former president.

But speaking on One on One, an interview programme on NTA, on Wednesday, Amaechi said Okonjo-Iweala was only “partially correct”.

“I heard Mrs Okonjo-Iweala say that in the past administration, governors were unwilling to save; she is 30 percent correct and 70 percent incorrect,” he said.

“In 2009, we had an economic crisis so President Yar’adua put $1billion in the economy so no one felt the crisis. I can’t remember what was left in that account, the excess crude account.

“During Goodluck Jonathan, every month when the governors went for the economic council meeting, the amount in the account kept dropping. If we asked about what happened to the money, the response we got was that the president approved for it to be spent.

“So we said can we please share this money because the rate at which it was going, the president would have continually approved $1billion to spend and we won’t know what we are spending for and they won’t give us an account.

“So we told the vice president and the minister for finance that there was a need for us to share part of this money and we began to agitate. They now agreed to share part of the money and they did. In the first six months of Goodluck Jonathan, oil subsidy increased. Governors started complaining and then we had a meeting in the office of the president’s wife.

“At the meeting, we asked for assurance that the presidency would no longer collect for oil subsidy and he promised. It is not right for Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to say governors were not willing to save; governors were willing to save but we insisted on sharing the money when we saw that the money was not properly managed.”

The former member of the Rivers state house of assembly said he agreed to serve as a minister because he believes in the administration’s capacity to serve.

“Refusing to serve when the president invited me to serve would mean that I did not have confidence in him. I am serving under the president because I believe that he is the man to help us at this particular time.”


https://www.thecable.ng/amaechi-govs-asked-jonathan-to-share-oil-savings-because-he-was-mismanaging-it?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ThecableTopStories+%28TheCable+%C2%BB+Top+Stories%29

Better man

How can Osibanjo be at the back.

And why celebrate something you stole in the first place... Pathetic

Working governor

Some protesters known as Citizen Action to Take Back Nigeria (TBN) have stormed the national assembly to demand an end to “illegal” allowances termed as “running cost” received by lawmakers.

The protesters, who have been camping out at the national assembly for two days running, said the only reason Nigerians are suffering is that “we are cowards in our own country”.

They lamented that while the lawmakers were collecting huge allowances in the name of “running costs”, children were dying of hunger in the north east due to the brewing humanitarian crisis.

Protesters 2

“Citizens are demanding that senators should stop stealing through the running cost; they should terminate the running cost. They collect this and citizens are dying,” Ibrahim Garba said on behalf of the group.

“We are suffering because we are cowards in our own country. We are here to take back the national assembly. That is why we are here. We are not for the fun of it but because we are representing Nigerians.

“When you try to manipulate the budget… you put N7.2 billion in your constituency then say it’s lobby. What kind of lobby is that?

“We are frustrated because students have no classes, teachers don’t have no teaching aides but senators are being paid their allowances. Children are dying in the north east.protester

“Their convoy alone can build factories. Running cost is ruining our lives. EFCC, ICPC and the police should arrest them, they should consider the citizens, we need children to go back to school.”

https://www.thecable.ng/just-in-protesters-at-nassembly-say-illegal-allowances-must-stop?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ThecableTopStories+%28TheCable+%C2%BB+Top+Stories%29

This war no go end

Danladi Umar, chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), has ruled that he will not withdraw from the trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki.

Saraki had asked Umar to withdraw from his trial on the grounds that he was biased.

The senate president, through his counsel, Kanu Agabi (SAN), had said that he had no ‎faith in the tribunal to give him justice.

He cited a statement wherein the chairman said that the defendant was afraid of “final consequences”, hence he was stalling the trial as a case of bias against the tribunal.

‎But in his ruling on Wednesday, Umar held that he would not withdraw from the trial because there would be no one to sit in judgment over the case.

“The application to recuse myself has not been contemplated in the constitution. In the absence of a chairman, this trial cannot go on, therefore I cannot recuse myself. The chairman is the tribunal, without the chairman there is no tribunal.” he said.

“The application of the applicant is founded on mere conjecture. The application of the applicant is not well-founded, it is hereby dismissed.”

This is the second time Umar is dismissing Saraki’s application for him to withdraw from the trial.

In April, Saraki had filed a similar application alleging corruption against Umar.

Then, he alleged that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), was using the chairman against him.

But Umar dismissed the application for lacking in merit.


https://www.thecable.ng/breaking-wont-quit-case-cct-judge-tells-saraki?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ThecableTopStories+%28TheCable+%C2%BB+Top+Stories%29

Dem no go feel am for their pocket at all... Good step anyway.

Hmmmmmn. He has seen the handwriting of Nigerians on the wall and decided to back out. We know your plan is to buy the whole of Nigeria. But e no go happen

Aliko Dangote, president of of Dangote Group, says if the federal government offers to sell the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) to him on credit, he is not interested.

Reacting to the criticisms that have trailed his advocacy for the sale of national assets, Dangote told THISDAY that his proposal was borne out of the desire to see Nigeria get out of the current economic recession.

In an interview with CNBC Africa, the billionaire had said the government would be able to raise between $12 billion and $15 billion from the sale of the company.

“If I had challenges in my company, I would not hesitate to sell assets, to remain afloat, to get to the better times, because it doesn’t make any sense for me to keep any assets and then suffocate the whole organisation,” he had said.

“The African finance corporation; it can fetch them $800million easily. My own suggestion before was that they should even sell 100 percent of NLNG. I don’t think government should be in any business of investing in sectors of LNG.

“A company like that, with earnings of $1.5 billion on the average, they should get anywhere between $12 billion and $15 billion.”

The comment had generated reactions, with some saying the billionaire was interested in buying the company.

But Dangote waved aside the criticisms, saying he offered the suggestions as “a true Nigerian who really wants the issues about the economy to be sorted out”.

“You know the issue, once your reserves are low, the banks, entrepreneurs, including external forces, would definitely attack your currency. They would speculate on your currency,” he said.

“We all know that the exchange rate of almost N500 to the dollar is not a true reflection of the value of the currency – the naira cannot be almost N500 to the dollar!

“But you see, if this thing is not handled properly, it can get out of hand. It can get to N600 to the dollar, or even N700 to the dollar.

“But the issue is, why did I suggest that we should sell some of the assets? I know the touchy one is the NLNG. I want to make it categorically clear that even if the government is selling NLNG on credit, I am not interested in buying.

“I don’t have any interest in NLNG and I will not buy it. It is not a business that I want to invest in. It is a mature business; that is what people don’t understand.

“You see, we should have invested heavily in all these Brass LNG, Olokola LNG, etc, when former President Olusegun Obasanjo started work on the projects, but we missed the opportunity.

“Today, you have massive LNG projects that have been done by Qatar, Australia and the United States is also exporting. But right now, all the gas that we have is even in the ground. Even Mozambique has a massive amount of gas and also Tanzania, and they are nearer to the markets than we are.

“So, if somebody is even going to invest in LNG, he would go to those areas and invest there and not here in Nigeria, because the investment here is daunting. So my own suggestion is that even if we must sell, it doesn’t have to be 100 per cent of our interest in NLNG.”


https://www.thecable.ng/dangote-even-if-fg-wants-to-sell-nlng-on-credit-i-am-not-interested?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ThecableTopStories+%28TheCable+%C2%BB+Top+Stories%29

If our government wakes up

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected that Nigeria’s economy will be out of recession in 2017, growing by 0.6 percent that year.

According to the IMF World Economic Outlook (WEO) released on Tuesday in Washington, the fund projects that the current economic recession will outlast 2016, with a gross domestic product (GDP) contraction of 1.7 percent.

“Sub-Saharan Africa’s largest economies continue to struggle with lower commodity revenues, weighing on growth in the region,” IMF said.

“Nigeria’s economy is forecast to shrink 1.7 percent in 2016, and South Africa’s will barely expand. By contrast, several of the region’s non resource exporters, including Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Senegal, are expected to continue to grow at a robust pace of more than 5 percent this year.”

IMF also forecasted a GDP contraction and subsequent recession for Russia and Brazil throughout 2016.

The fund added: “Growth in emerging Asia and especially India continues to be resilient. India’s gross domestic product is projected to expand 7.6 percent this year and next, the fastest pace among the world’s major economies.”

Maurice Obstfeld, IMF chief economist and economic counsellor, who spoke on the outlook, said global economic growth would remain subdued in 2016, following a slowdown in the United States and Britain’s vote to leave the European Union.

Obstfeld also stated that the fund forecasted a slight pickup in 2017 and beyond, driven mainly by emerging market strength.

“Taken as a whole, the world economy has moved sideways,” he said. “We have slightly marked down 2016 growth prospects for advanced economies while marking up those in the rest of the world.”

Nigeria’s economy was earlier projected to contract by 1.8 percent in 2016, but the October version of the WEO has seen that reviewed positively to a contraction of only 1.7 percent.

The country has recorded a 0.36 and 2.06 percent contraction in the first and second quarter of 2016 respectively, plunging into its worst recession in 29 years.


https://www.thecable.ng/just-in-nigeria-will-get-out-of-recession-in-2017-imf-projects?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ThecableTopStories+%28TheCable+%C2%BB+Top+Stories%29

Lolz... CCB dul* sha. Just one property seized and nothing more. So this is the only punishment Saraki may likely get too. Saraki is Senate president till 2019. All those Zombies go cry tire

I pray he is found

The Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) has found Godsday Orubebe, former minister of Niger Delta affairs, guilty of false declaration of asset.

Danladi Umar, chairman of the tribunal, delivered the judgment convicting Orubebe of the offence.
‎
However, he gave him a light sentence.

“‎I hereby seize, on behalf of the federal government, the property known as plot 2057,” he ruled.

“The prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, and all evidence tendered are admitted.”

He held that Orubebe committed an offence for not declaring a piece of property in Abuja, which he claimed he had sold.

The federal government had filed a one-count charge of false declaration of asset against Orubebe.

The government claimed that he committed the offence while he was a public officer.

The former minister is better known for his outburst at the national collation centre of the 2015 presidential election, in an attempt to halt the declaration of results of the election.

https://www.thecable.ng/breaking-cct-finds-orubebe-guilty-false-declaration-asset?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ThecableTopStories+%28TheCable+%C2%BB+Top+Stories%29

Aboki kidnappers

International 419 kingpin

rusher14:
Is he too tall?

Maybe

Abcka811:
One can hardly beat those people. They never betray each other. When Amaechi, Oshiomhole dey abuse and finish off GEJ left and right, the typical northerner will never open their mouth and insult Buhari or another northerner. They so love and respect each other but will never allow others from other region to progress or move freely with them. That is Fulani for you. The greatest lovers of themselves.
At a time, Amaechi like, let me kill GEJ with my mouth. I pity the south south.

You have said it all

Minister for Darkness.... just like MTN, PHCN takes light everywhere you go

hehehehehehehehehehehehe

hmmmmmn

O ga ooo... Boko Haram that they have defeated...

jumobi1:
A priest shouldn't care about such consequences.

I don't even know what to say to you. If he had gone and kille in the process, your type would have called him a fool. Or tell him to call on His God to rescue him... Pathetic

Dream on boy. Ekweremandu has come to stay

Ok. Next super story

Uncle Lie has come again.

He doesn't look like the father.

Obiano won't be bad as President and Fashola his vice in 2019.

Ok. and he will attend a public secondary and later a public university. If anything changes, its a political stunt

This guy got the people at heart unlike the other selfish governors

Bushmeat has finally caught the hunter. You cant eat your cake and have it. He should just give up. The North is showing their true colour already