₦airaland Forum

marv1:
Send to me please taiwo1122@yahoo.com. Thanks

Sorry, no more free copy bro. it is now going for the stated price.

Thanks

Sent to all the mails.

If you didn't get it in your mail just inform me.

Your success my delight

No time to magnify mediocre

emeijeh:
U make $500 everyday, and you are selling book N1500.
And you expect guys to believe you?!
Gerrarahia men.
You still a hungry hustler as far as i m concerned.

Thank you very much for the observation.
If I had fixed the price @15k or 20k you kind will still shout help your fellow Nigerian.

To tell you am not selling jagon, the first 3 persons to drop their e-mail gets the material free. But for you I won't give for free.

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Drop you e-mail and get a copy

Your success is my delight

Hello Dear,

Just know is a test of your faith and for God to know if He can trust and also to know if you are keeping the Virginity because is a family thing or because it was a personal decision to do it.

Note: For every trials and temptation you overcome, moves you to a new level in life.
You can decide to be an employee for life because of situation or better still you decide to become and employer that will even employ your current boss in your own establishment.

See the enemy will also attack the things you cherish most, if you cherish your Virginity and you trust in the power of the Blood of Jesus, Then I will advice you don't give in before you sale your future just like Esau did and till today we here of Jacob but Esau remains a story to be told.

I shall pray along with you.

Just be still and know that He is the Lord.

Shalom

The candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Abubakar Audu, has emerged winner of the Kogi State Governorship election held on Saturday.
With just one local government to go, Mr. Audu has so far garnered APC 220, 436 votes as against the 188, 942 votes scored by his closest challenger, Ibrahim Wada of the Peoples Democratic Party.
APC defeated the People’s Democratic Party candidate and incumbent, Idris Wada in 15 of the 20 local government areas already declared.
The local governments won by Audu are Ofu, Ida, Kabba Bunu, Yagba East, Yagba West, Adavi, Koton Karfi, Ankpa, Okehi, Ajaokuta, Ijumun, Olamaboro, Igalamela, Bassa, Lokoja, local governments.
The PDP was victorious in five local governments namely Ogori Mangogo, Omala, Okene, Dekina and Mopa-moro local governments.
Ibaji Local government is still pending and would soon be announced.

BY NEWSPUNCH ON OCTOBER 7, 2015 HOME, LOCAL NEWS, NEWS, POLITICS


ministerial nomineesPresident Muhammadu Buhari’s ministerial nominees were yesterday read on the floor of the Senate by Senate President, Bukola Saraki. These nominees were without their portfolio. But a source within the presidency (pleaded anonymity) has revealed the portfolios of the minister designates.

The Speculated Portfolio of the Ministers as obtained are;


1.Chris Ngige-Anambra (Health)
2. Kayode Fayemi- Ekiti (Foreign Affairs)
3. Rotimi Amaechi – Rivers (Ministry of Niger-Delta)
4. Babatunde Fashola -Lagos (FCT)
5. Abdulrahman Danbazau (Defence)

6.Aisha Alhassan – Taraba (Women Affairs)
7.Ogbonaya Onu-Abia (Science and Technology)
8.Kemi Adeosun -Ogun( Trade and Investment)
9. Abubakar Malami (SAN) -Kebbi (Justice)
10. Sen Hadi Sirika -Katsina (Aviation)

11.Barr. Adebayo Shittu -Oyo (Works)
12. Suleiman Adam -Jigawa (Labour and Productivity)
13. Solomon Dalong -Plateau (Interior)
14. Ibe Kachikwu-Delta (Petroleum and natural resources)
15. Osagie Ehanire -Edo (Water Resources and Solid Minerals)


16.Audu Ogbeh – Benue (Agriculture)
17.Lai Mohammed -Kwara (Information and Communication)
18.Ahmed Isa Ibeto – Niger (Transportation)
19.Amina Mohammed – Kaduna (Finance)
20. Udoma Udoma- Akwa-Ibom ( Culture and Tourism)

The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has finally appeared before the Code ofConduct Tribunal where he is being charged for alleged false declaration ofassets.Mr. Saraki failed to appear before the tribunal on Friday, and again on Monday, despite an arrest warrant issued against him.He faces a 13-count charge bordering on corruption and false assets declaration.Mr. Saraki said Monday that he would appear before the tribunal, after the Court of Appeal in Abuja dismissed his application for a stay of execution.He arrived at the tribunal at about 9.320 a.m, accompanied by deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, and other senators.The tribunal has disallowed live broadcast of its proceedings. But you can follow highlights of the session below.=====================UPDATE
1: The Chairman of the Tribunal came into the courtroom at 10.32 a.m, and apologised for the delayin the commencement of proceeding. He said the tribunal was sorting out some matters.

UPDATE 2: Officials of the Tribunal seems desperate to stop the live coverage of this trial. Shortly before theSenate President arrived, an unnamed member of the Tribunal beckoned on TVC (television station) to stop the live coverage. And for over 10 minutes after, there was power cut at the chamber.-The light was still out when Senate President arrives. But the light is still out.-The light is back.– Tribunal announces it was banning live coverage of proceedings

UPDATE 3: Argument ensues as to where Saraki should be seated

UPDATE 4: Prosecutor Rotimi Jacob says the business of the day is for the accused person to take his plea

UPDATE 5:Prosecution wants the Senate President to be seated at the dockMr. Saraki’s counsel, J.B. Daudu, says Tribunal is not a court to try criminal casesTribunal Chairman, Danladi Umar, insists Mr. Saraki must take his plea.

UPDATE 6: [11:16] Argument still ongoing with Mr. Saraki’s lead counsel saying that according to paragraph 18, Subsection 1 of the 5th Schedule of the1999 Constitution and that the case is either not criminal in nature or that the Tribunal has no jurisdiction to hear it.

UPDATE 7: The prosecution counsel argued however that going by Section 2of the Administration of Justice Act, 2015, the matter can be heard since theTribunal was set up by An act of the National Assembly. The Tribunal chairman is currently analysing both points

UPDATE 8:The Tribunal ruled that the trial is criminal in nature. “I hold that the trial before the tribunal is purely criminal,” Chairman Danladi Umar said.He further ruled that the accused enter go ahead to take his plea.

UPDATE 9: Saraki goes to the dock. The 13-count charge of corruption levelled against him by the Code of Conduct Bureau being read to him.

UPDATE 10:Saraki is asked to plead either guilty or not guilty.

UPDATE 11:Saraki responds: “I believe that I am here as the Senate president, to indicate my respect for the Tribunal. I am puzzled why I am being compelled. He said he is not guilty.Quoting Subsection 3 of the Code of Conduct Act, he said this was not the first time arraignment like this has happened, adding that he should not have been brought before the court. Hethen pleaded not guilty.

UPDATE 12:Before pleading not guilty, the Senate President reiterated the provision of Paragraph 18 of the 5th Schedule of the Constitution – the point earlier argued by his counselThat provision says:18.(1)Where the Code of Conduct Tribunal finds a public officer guilty of contravention of any of the provisions of this Code it shall imposeupon that officer any of the punishments specified under sub-paragraph (2) of this paragraph and such other punishment as may be prescribed by the National Assembly.(2)The punishment which the Code of Conduct Tribunal mayimpose shall include any of the following –(a)vacation of office or seat in any legislative house, as the case may be;(b)disqualification from membership of a legislative house and from the holding of any public office for a period not exceeding ten years; and(c)seizure and forfeiture to the Stateof any property acquired in abuse or corruption of office.(3)The sanctions mentioned in sub-paragraph (2) hereof shall be without prejudice to the penalties that may be imposed by any law where theconduct is also a criminal offence.(4)Where the Code of Conduct Tribunal gives a decision as to whether or not a person is guilty of a contravention of any of the provisions of this Code, an appeal shall lie as of right from such decision or from any punishment imposed on such person to the Court of Appeal at the instance of any party to the proceedings.(5)Any right of appeal to the Court of Appeal from the decisions of the Code of Conduct Tribunal conferred bysub-paragraph (4) hereof shallbe exercised in accordance with the provisions of an Act of the National Assembly and rules of court for the time being in force regulating the powers, practice and procedure of the Court of Appeal.(6)Nothing in this paragraph shall prejudice the prosecution of a public officer punished under this paragraph or preclude such officer from being prosecuted or punished for an offence in a court of law.(7)The provisions of this Constitution relating to prerogative of mercy shall not apply to any punishment imposed in accordance with the provisions of this paragraph.

UPDATE 13:On the various assets allegedly acquired by the Senate President, which the Conduct Bureau said were beyond his legitimate earnings, the Senate President said heis not guilty. He said he acquired the assets through the selling of rice.On Count 3, which refers to his refusal to declare assets worth N280 million acquired when he was Kwara State Governor, the Senate President said he is not guilty.The Senate President pleaded not guiltyto all charges.

UPDATE 14:Drama ensued when, in a bid to buttress his point, the prosecution counsel (Rotimi Jacobs) stated that the defendant made four declarations and included an asset sold to him by El-Rufai. The chamber became rowdy with laughter.Mr. Jacobs then asked for two clear days of trial.

UPDATE 15:The chairman asked both counsels to agree on a date. And they agreed for 21st, 22nd and 23rd of October.

UPDATE 16:FINAL RULING: The matteradjourned to 21st and 23rd October for hearing

WHERE is the $1.6 billion Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd’s contribution to the multi-billion naira  package for states coming from?

The question, which has sparked a row between the Presidency and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has been settled.

The fund is from the NLNG’s Company Income Tax and Education Tax, which it paid on June 17 to the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), The Nation confirmed yesterday.  The money has nothing to do with dividends from the LNG giant.

This is contrary to the PDP’s claim that the money was from the Goodluck Jonathan administration’s savings. PDP spokesman Olisa Metuh, in a statement on Wednesday, claimed that LNG’s dividend stood at $5.6 billion before the May 29 handover and would have been shared but for the insistence of former President Jonathan that it should be left for the incoming administration to manage.

NLNG Managing Director Babs Omotowa, in an exclusive interview with The Nation in Lagos,  said the company paid $1.6b as Income Tax and Education Tax to the Federal Government through the FIRS for the 2014 financial year as required by law.  He added that the company paid $1.3b last year. Its recent payment has generated a buzz because of the transparency of the Muhamadu Buhari administration, according to Omotowa.

Omotowa explained that dividends are paid quarterly or bi-annually, depending on income, adding that in the last 10 years the company has paid over $30b to its shareholders, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Shell, Eni and Total (49 per cent of this has gone to the NNPC).



The NLNG chief said: “The $1.6b we paid on June 17 was our Company Income Tax and Education Tax. The money was paid to the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) as our 2014 income tax payment. You may recall that last year we paid $1.3b to the FIRS as our Company Income Tax and Education Tax for the previous year. So, that particular amount is for tax. Dividend is a different issue and different payment. We make dividend payment to our shareholders, who include NNPC, Shell, Eni and Total. Those dividends are paid to them quarterly or bi-annually, depending on how much cash we generate.  Of course, in the past, over the past 10 to 15 years, we have paid over $30b as dividends to all our shareholders.”

On how much of the $30b has gone to the NNPC, Omotowa said: “We can only tell you that we have paid $30b. Dividends are paid by the equity shareholding of each shareholder. NNPC holds 49 per cent. Shell owns 25.6 per cent, Total owns   15 per cent and Eni owns 10.4 per cent. Those are the percentages the dividends are paid.”

On why the 2014 Income Tax and Education Tax are just being paid, he said: “It is for the 2014 accounting year, which ended December. Of course, you have to do your audited accounts and you have to get that audited accounts approved and the CIT Law requires you to pay it before June ending.”

Speaking on its position on the table of major contributors to government coffers, Omotowa said: “It will be difficult for me to know what other companies pay, but I know that in terms of Company Income Tax, we are the highest in the country. In fact, we are the highest in sub-Saharan Africa in terms of Company Income Tax. But of course, there are other payments other companies pay. Some of them pay royalties and pay other funds. We in addition to our Company Income Tax pay dividends to our shareholders. I think when the government looked at it last year, we were ranked the No 4 company by the government’s own ranking. But, in that ranking, we were the No 1 indigenous, home-grown company because the other three are foreign companies. We believe we are in that sort of region in the top contributor to the Nigerian economy.”

He explained thataside the CIT and Education Tax, the company also pays Value Added Tax (VAT) and other levies.

“We also pay VAT and withholding tax of which over the years we have paid over $1.4billion. Over the last 15 years, we have paid over $1.4billion. At state level, we also pay taxes, the PAYE taxes. We pay about N6b annually to state government. At local government, we also pay our local government fees and charges of over N100million as well. And then for various agencies, including DPR, NIMASA, Federal Ministry of Trade and Industry and a whole raft of agencies. I think we pay more than 20 agencies various fees, including the NCAA for our airstrip… I think that is one of the big challenges in Nigeria that makes us less competitive in the global market because our operating environment is just challenging. Today, we have more than 16 people from various agencies who are in our plant from the government trying to carry out regulatory activities. This is just something that could be better streamlined,” he said.

President Muhammadu Buhari has turned down an offer by the Federal Government to procure five new armoured Mercedes Benz S-600 (V222) cars for his use.

The cars which total cost is put at about N400m were planned to be purchased by the State House.

A Presidency source told journalists on Thursday that Buhari got to know of the plan when the Permanent Secretary, State House, Mr. Nebolisa Emodi, was briefing him of his ministry’s activities on Wednesday.

Miffed by the revelation, the President was said to have told Emodi that the purchase was unnecessary.

Describing it as a waste of scarce resources, the source said Buhari told the permanent secretary that the cars he inherited from former President Goodluck Jonathan were good enough for him.

“I don’t need any new cars. The ones I am using now are just fine,” the source quoted the President as saying.

The top government officials, however, said Buhari welcomed other initiatives presented by the permanent secretary to reduce the operating costs of the State House and strengthen its Finance and Accounts Internal Control Mechanisms.

He however directed that more efforts be made henceforth to capture all State House expenses within the approved national budget.

This, he said, was to avoid the frequent recourse by past administrations to “Presidential intervention funds.”

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, confirmed to our correspondent that Buhari had withheld approval for the purchase of the new cars.

Shehu said the President would continue to use the cars left behind by Jonathan in keeping with his commitment to prudent management of national resources.

Our correspondent learnt that the proposal to procure the new cars was first made to Jonathan before he left office.

The former President was however said to have directed that it be represented to Buhari for approval on his assumption of office since the cars could only be delivered some months after the May 29 handover date.

Sure, eggs are great for eating. They are full of healthy fats and protein, are affordable, and delicious. They are filled with B vitamins, zinc, iron, riboflavin, lutein, among other important nutrients. But did you know eggs have other uses too? Here are unexpected uses for your favourite go-to breakfast food.

Face mask. Mixing an egg yolk and a couple of teaspoons of raw honey into a paste makes a great face mask. Spread it over your face for 10-15 minutes to moisturise the skin. The emulsifier lecitihin found in egg yolks moisturises and raw honey contains anti-inflammatories to soothe the skin.

Facial cleanser. Eggs white are useful for oily, acne-prone skin. Mix an egg white and a small squeeze of lemon juice to make a mask. Let it dry on your face for 15 minutes, and rinse off. Egg whites can promote skin firming while the acidity in lemon juice can brighten your complexion.

Natural glue. Instead of buying Elmer’s, try egg whites in a pinch. If you are gluing paper together, the proteins in whites set hard when they dry. Simply use a paint brush to paint egg whites onto paper or cardboard — especially great for papier-mâché — and non-toxic!

Fertilise plants. Eggs can boost your plants in two ways. The crushed eggshells can impart calcium into the soil. Also, the cooled water from hard-boiled eggs is another great source of calcium for plants, so reuse your water to hydrate your houseplants.

Deter garden pests. Sprinkle eggshells over gardens to discourage slug and snail infestation. Not only will it keep unwanted pests at bay, but, as aforementioned, it will nourish the plants and soil.

Make less bitter coffee. Brew your coffee with crushed leftover eggshells from hardboiled eggs to reduce bitterness and acidity. Enjoy a much smoother brew while utilising all those excess eggshells that would normally get tossed in the trash (or hopefully composted).

Some top lawyers have called on a Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, to commit the Managing Director of the Nigerian Agip Oil Company, Insula Massimo, to prison for disobeying its order.
Itse Sagay and Sebastian Hon, both Senior Advocates of Nigeria, SAN, expressed disgust over the blatant way the multinational oil firm has disobeyed a legitimate order of the country’s court.
Justice Lambo Akanbi had last week reiterated an earlier order restraining the Italian oil major from taking any action in the gas plant maintenance dispute it has with an indigenous company, Arco Group.
Arco Group, formerly Arco Petrochemical Engineering Limited, employs of over 400 Nigerian engineers and technicians.
The company had dragged Agip, the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Conoco Philips Petroleum Nigeria Limited, and the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) to court early in the year, stating that under the Nigeria Content Act, Agip was under obligation to it, the award maintenance contract of OB/OB, Ebocha and Kwale gas plants.
Having successfully maintained the OB/OB, Ebocha and Kwale gas facilities for many years, Arco had averred that it had the prescribed equipment, machines and skilled manpower to execute the contract and further prayed the court to grant it several other declarative and injunctive reliefs.
But Justice Akanbi had expressly directed parties to the case to maintain the status quo in the maintenance contract dispute for which he had previously ordered Agip to stay action until motion on notice was determined.
He also adjourned the case to October 26, for determination of jurisdiction.
But on Tuesday, the Chairman of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASAN, Arco Chapter, Clinton Amadike, said his colleagues were ordered out of the gas plant in Omoku, Rivers State.
Mr. Amadike said Agip, through a Joint Venture Partner, General Electric, gave the order after staff of the indigenous oil company reported for work.
“Agip has violated the court order. They have asked our staff to surrender operations to Plantgeria,” the union leader said.
“GE is the company that is supervising the contract. Once GE gives orders, Arco obeys. But we are asked to stay out of the process. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow. We don’t know whether they will allow us into the plant.
“Our staff are currently in confinement. We have locked ourselves inside the workshop to prevent any form of harassment either by NAOIC and security operatives at the plant.”
But reacting to the development, Mr. Sagay strongly argued that nobody has the right to disobey the order the court.
“Nobody or entity or organisation has the right to disobey the order of a court in Nigeria. A court order is binding until it is vacated by that court that granted it or a superior court,” said the lawyer.
“Unless that happens, the court order is binding and must be respected. Anyone who refuses to carry out that order is guilty of contempt of court.
“And from the facts of the matter, if there is no contrary court order from a higher court then obviously Agip is guilty of contempt of court and what it is doing is illegal.”
On the recurrent case of disobedience to court orders by some multinationals operating in the country, Mr. Sagay advised interested parties to commit the leaders of the offending companies to jail.
He insisted that the managing director of the Italian oil firm should be committed to prison to serve as a deterrent to others.
On his part, Mr. Hon said, urged the court to commit the leadership of Agip to prison for disobeying a legitimate order of the court.
“If any action has been after the court had issued an injunction, it means Agip is in contempt of court and its leadership should be held responsible. The judicial powers of the Federation are vested in the courts and the rule of law has also been established in the prosecution,” Mr. Hon said.
“Nobody is above the law and no organisation should operate in such a way as to be seen to be above the law.
“If indeed Agip has flouted the court order, the affected party should urgently take steps to reverse it through restorative injunction. The court has the powers to restore what Agip has caused to be done wrongly.”
Attempts to speak with Agip’s Community Relations Manager, Daniel Onyeayala, failed as he would neither pick calls nor respond to text messages sent to his phone.

The Progressives Governors’ Forum on Friday failed to resolve the crisis rocking the ruling party, the All progressives Congress, over leadership positions in the National Assembly

The party’s National Executive Committee, which met in Abuja early Friday, had mandated the party’s 22 governors to meet with the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives in a bid to resolve the dispute between the party’s rival groups.

The Rochas Okorocha-led PGF met for the first time with feuding party members in the National Assembly in Abuja on Friday.

Senate President, Bukola Saraki; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara; Senator Ahmed Lawan and Femi Gbajabiamila, who are the APC’s preferred candidates for the positions of the Senate President and Speaker respectively, attended the meeting.

The peace moves of the governors failed because the rival groups could not agree on the peace proposals of some party leaders as of the time the meeting was adjourned till Saturday (today)

The meeting, which was held at the Imo State Governor’s Lodge in Asokoro, Abuja, was sequel to a directive by the party’s National Executive Committee for the governors to work out modalities to end the crisis at its meeting on Friday.

Saturday Punch learnt that the governors had told the party’s chieftains that the crisis should be left for them to resolve.

A National Assembly official, who confided in Saturday PUNCH, said that on the request of the APC’s governors, the NEC did not bother to discuss the issue at its meeting on Friday.

The source said, “The crisis on the sharing of leadership seats at the National Assembly did not receive any frontal attention at the NEC against expectations. What happened was that, on the request of the governors, the issue was referred to them to discuss and resolve.”

Investigations showed that the governors and the APC lawmakers at their meeting considered proposals by some party chieftains on ways to end the crisis.

The proposals, it was learnt, included a plan that those who lost out in the race for the National Assembly leadership should be allowed to chair their preferred committees.

A top member of the party, who attended the meeting said, “Also under consideration is another proposal to ask Dogara and Saraki to share the leadership positions between ‘party loyalists’ and those who defied it.”

It was gathered that the rival groups had not agreed on terms for truce as of the time the meeting was adjourned till Saturday.

It was learnt that Dogara and Saraki were not favourably disposed to the proposal, particularly sharing of leadership positions, which had already been announced in the Senate.

But another member, who confided in Saturday PUNCH, said that there were positive signs that the issues would soon be resolved.

The party leader said, “The party leadership took cognizance of the role some of the governors played to get us to where we are.

“We thought it wise to throw the matter back to them to let them find a solution to it. In politics, you don’t ignore anyone and for a party like ours, you have to accommodate as many of the power blocks as you can in order to have peace.”

According to him, the party is slowly coming to terms with the reality that the deed has been done, hence the need to find a way of accommodating loyal party members.

Okorocha, who spoke to newsmen after the meeting, said efforts were being made to resolve the dispute to enable the party to forge ahead with its promise to deliver the dividends of democracy to Nigerians.

Okorocha said, “You will not see more disagreements as against the past, peace has come to our party.

“Both Senate President (Bukola Saraki), and the Speaker; (Yakubu Dogara), Senator Ahmed Lawan and Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, will work together for the unity and progress of our party.

“By next week, we will give you people the details of the outcome of this peace meeting, but so far so good, all things being equal.

“The party has accepted the leadership of the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. To God be the glory.”

Speaking in a similar vein, his Edo State counterpart, Adams Oshiomhole, expressed confidence that the crisis would have become a thing of the past by next week.

He said, “When you have some little disagreement among friends, the only way to solve them is to talk and we have started the process. The fact that the two sides are present, the foundation for peace is there.

“If people refuse to see eye to eye or refuse to sit together then you can’t even discuss and the fact that they all turned up and we listened to all the sides and we have a couple of suggestions; we have agreed to continue with the conversation and we are meeting again tomorrow (Saturday) night here again.

“So, I believe we are making some progress, not that everything is signed, sealed and delivered.”

Earlier, our correspondent learnt that the National Executive Committee meeting did not produce the expected fireworks.

This, it was learnt, was largely because of the presence of President Muhammadu Buhari and the absence of those who had raised issues with the party’s National Working Committee.

President Muhammadu Buhari, at the NEC meeting, had appealed to warring factions within the party to sheathe their swords in the interest of the party and the nation.

In his opening remarks, Buhari recalled the journey of opposition political parties in the country before three of them merged to form the APC.

He explained that his respect for party supremacy compelled him to attend the NEC and Board of Trustees’ meetings when he was invited.

Buhari said, “I have appealed to you all through our chairman, the leadership of our party, through their Excellencies, our governors, through our senators and House of Representatives (members) that the APC must not disappoint its constituency of our nation state.

“Let us not throw this success to the wind. Let us, as members of the APC, no matter our personal differences, get together and meet the mandate given to us by this country. This is my personal appeal. In the name of God, no matter your personal interests and your ambition, please keep it to your heart and in your pocket, let APC work and let the system work and let us have a government that will earn the respect of our constituencies.

“My problem is helping the constituencies. I cannot confine myself to the cage within these our quarrels and refuse to participate in meetings of NEC and eventually BoT because I respect the superiority of the party.”

In an interview with journalists after the meeting, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki said the party was at the verge of resolving all the issues.

“You can see the smiles on everybody’s face; it is a good way to go.”

Those who attended the meeting included President Buhari; Governors Ibrahim Geidam, Yobe; Ibikunle Amosun, Ogun; Simon Lalong, Plateau; Abubakar Sani Bello, Niger; Aminu Bello Masari, Katsina; Sen. Bindow Jibrilla, Adamawa; Akinwumi Ambode, Lagos; Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, Sokoto; Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, Kano; Sen. Atiku Bagudu, Kebbi; Adams Oshiomhole, Edo; Rochas Okorocha, Imo; and Abdul’aziz Yari, Zamfara.

Others were: Deputy Governors Nuhu Gidado, Bauchi; Ahmad Zanna Mustapha, Borno; Silas Agara, Nassarawa; Saraki; Speaker House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara; Senator Ahmed Lawal; Femi Gbajabiamila; Senator Ali Ndume; Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah; Deputy Speaker, Yusuf Suleman Lasun; and Odigie-Oyegun.

But Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the party’s national leader, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, and the former Interim National Chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande, were absent from the meeting.

It was learnt that the process of reconciling aggrieved members of the party could not be advanced a step further due in part to the absence of these party leaders.

Although no official reason was given for their absence, it was learnt that Tinubu was in Abuja, as of the time of the meeting.

National Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, while addressing journalists after the meeting, said he did not know why Tinubu was not in attendance. He, however, added that he was not a member of the party’s executive.

Mohammed explained that Tinubu was free to attend or not to attend the meeting.

The publicity secretary however explained that the NEC mandated the party’s governors to hold further meetings with the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, in a bid to resolve the crisis.

Mohammed said, “Also important is the fact that the NEC has also provided an enabling environment to look into ways of resolving the National Assembly logjam and I know that today, the governors would be meeting with both the Speaker and the Senate President.”

He equally explained that all those in attendance agreed on two things, the supremacy of the party and the need for the party to deliver on its promises to the Nigerian people.

Speaking to journalists at the end of the NEC meeting, Oshiomhole said party members came out of the meeting better than they went in.

He said each member of the party came out with a better understanding of the challenges facing the party and the need to resolve it in order to fulfil its promises to the Nigerian people.

Oshiomhole said, “I am happy with what has happened today, those who expected us to come out of the meeting wearing long faces have been disappointed. God has crowned our efforts with success. Of course, like any human society, we are not perfect. We can’t be perfect because we are human.

“In all cases, we uphold the supremacy of the party, the fact that he (President Muhammadu Buhari) came to the party secretariat is his own demonstration of respect for party supremacy.

“Nigerians are expecting that we will govern as one united party to deliver. We restated our confidence in the leadership of the party. The good thing about politics is that you allow the fool to be foolish and the intelligent person to be intelligent (and) at the end of the day, in the process of discussions, you come out with a position.”

Also, Okorocha said, “Many people think that there will be problems between APC members at this meeting. But I am assuring Nigerians that we have met and discussed what affects all of us and we have understood one another.

“We have also reiterated our support and loyalty to our leadership. We are also going to meet on the issue of the National Assembly crisis and it will be resolved amicably. So, I can confidently say that the crisis facing the party is almost over now.”

The President arrived the party’s National Headquarters at 11am.

He was received by the party’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun; in company of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki; the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara; and other members of the party’s National Working Committee

Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, on Thursday, fell head-over-heels in love again, and saluted his wife, Leah, who has been at his side for the past 60 years. The couple celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary by renewing their wedding vows at a Eucharist service at St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town. Tutu, the Nobel Laureate, who played a pivotal role in the struggle against Apartheid said the woman he met in Soweto in the 1950s had played a pivotal role in his career.

After renewing their vows at the ceremony attended by Njongkulu Ndugane, who succeeded him as Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Rev. Barney Pityana, and the cathedral’s pastor, Rev. Michael Weeder, among others, the couple danced to marimba music performed in the cathedral. The couple would attend another service in their honour in Soweto on Saturday.
Thabo Makgoba, the current Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, who was unable to attend, described Tutu as a channel of God’s richest blessings. Tutu, who was now retired, received many laurels.
They includes the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism in 1986, the Pacem in Terris Award in 1987, the Sydney Peace Prize in 1999, the Gandhi Peace Prize in 2007 a South Africa Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. The 83 years old Tutu was one year older than his wife and they have four children and seven grandchildren.

The naira fell to 226.5 on Monday against the United States dollar at the parallel market.

The development mean the local currency has lost about 2.8 per cent of its value against the dollar since Wednesday when the CBN introduced a new rule to the foreign exchange market.

The naira was sold for 220 to the greenback before the new forex rule was announced last week.

The CBN, as part of measures to conserve the dwindling reserves, barred importers of 41 items including rice, textiles, poultry products and private aircraft from buying hard currencies at the interbank forex market.

Traders said the dollar might be sold for 230 this week if the trend continued.

Trading on the interbank market, which is pegged around the central bank’s rate of 196.90 naira, was at 198.90 naira on Monday.

The naira had dropped against the dollar from 222 to 225 on Thursday, barely 36 hours after the CBN imposed the new forex rule.

The regulator had said the new rule would help preserve the external reserves, facilitate the resuscitation of domestic industries and generate employment opportunities.

But the ban, which economists said would see about $5.7bn quarterly forex demand by importers of the items move from the official to the parallel market, had continued to fuel artificial scarcity of dollar at the black market and the Bureau De Change segment of the forex market.

The Acting President, Association of Bureau De Change Operators, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, had said.

the hoarding of forex followed the CBN’s new policy banning importers of 40 items from the forex market

After three weeks of consultations with international and Nigeria’s political leaders, President Muhammadu Buhari appears set to effect major changes in the administration of the country in a bid to translate the ‘change’ mantra of his party into reality. To start with, the President  is said to have accepted the recommendation of the transition committee he raised a few weeks ago to slash the number of ministries from the present 42 to 19 with a view to saving cost and making them more effective and responsive to the needs of  Nigerians.
In the same vein, many of the ministries have been merged to ensure proper coordination of duties and ensure greater efficiency and service delivery.

A source close to the Presidency told  Sunday  Vanguard that the number of  Federal Government departments and agencies had also been trimmed in line with the policy of the administration.
Effectively, it means that no fewer than 50 of the MDAs that were not backed by relevant laws might be scrapped and their staff moved into relevant departments to save cost.
The Presidency source hinted,”But the point being made is that relevant MDAs that will exist under the present administration must be those backed by laws.
“What that means is that the era of doing things the wrong way to please certain persons in positions of power is over.”
Shedding light on some of the ministries that had been merged, the official pointed out that the Ministry of Aviation and relevant agencies had been subsumed with Inland Waterways and associated agencies.
Similarly, the Ministry of Agriculture has been merged with that of Water Resources under what the  Presidency source described as the consolidation of larger ministries.
It was learnt that under the administration of Buhari,  only 19 ministers and 17 ministers of state would operate as opposed to the previous arrangement where there were at least 42.
It was further gathered that some ministries would be run by senior ministers while others would be manned by junior ministers to save cost.
On the fight against corruption, the source disclosed to  Sunday  Vanguard that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission  (EFCC) is to be merged with the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC, to tackle graft in a new way that would be prompt, fearless and decisive.
Buhari, who travelled out of Abuja since returning from the African Union meeting in South Africa, late last week, is expected to join his wife, Aisha, at the Presidential Villa, for the first time after being sworn-in on May 29.
The wife had moved into the Villa  on Thursday  ahead of  the President to prepare the ground for his formal assumption of work at the seat of power. He has been operating from the Defence House in the last three weeks.
A top source also said Buhari was expected to make some key appointments this week so as to get the machinery of his administration running. The delay in naming the critical staff of his office had forced some of his key loyalists to demand that he acts fast to deliver the change he promised Nigerians during the campaigns

Nigeria’s maritime sector appears set to compete with South Africa’s as the Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) moves to attract foreign investment for a USD1.5 billion  (about N300 billion) shipyard begin to pay off.
NLNG, owned by Nigeria’s state-oil company Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), UK’s Royal Dutch Shell, French oil company Total and Italy’s Eni, has been holding discussions with strategic investors for the project.
Spokesman for the nation’s gas company, Mr Tony Okonedo, told Reuters that Samsung Heavy Industries and Hyundai Heavy Industries have both agreed to invest funds towards the construction of the facility, which would be located in Badagry, Lagos.
NLNG had organised a roadshow earlier this year to market the dry dock project to investors, which included multinational oil companies in Nigeria, with large exploration and upstream activities.
When completed, the shipyard ‘’could potentially be used to transport a 2.5 million barrels a day crude business in Nigeria,” Okonedo said.
Nigeria is the world’s eighth biggest crude producer and Africa’s top oil exporter but it does not have a drydock for maintaining and repairing large crude vessels, a major drawback for carriers sailing to the country, Okonedo told Reuters, adding  that only South Africa had such a facility on the continent.
Currently about 12 companies operate shipyards in Nigeria with Nigerdock, another federal government owned shipping concern, playing a leading role in the area of ship building and repairs in Nigeria.
West Atlantic Shipyard, one of the few private organisations in the shipyard business, set up on Bonny River, in the Onne Oil and Gas Free Zone, Port Harcourt – River state, came on stream in 2005 to build and support ships for the offshore oil and gas industry in accordance with the Nigerian Coastal and Inland Shipping Act and in keeping with the spirit of promoting “local content”.
The NLNG project would position Nigeria as a dominant shipping hub in the Gulf of Guinea, competing effectively with South Africa where big vessels presently go to in Africa for all major services.
‘’The construction of the dry dock, with a size that can accommodate 185 football fields, will take up to 48 months to complete and would commence once all the funding was in place’’, Okonedo said

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did not change its directive on the use of card reader for the governorship and Houses of Assembly elections, its chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, said yesterday..

Jega, who spoke during a post 2015 general election assessment retreat for resident electoral commissioners in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, said it was only during the Presidential election that the commission instructed states that wherever there was evidence of card readers failure they should revert to manual accreditation.

The retreat’s theme: “2015 General Elections: Lessons and way forward.”

There was manual accreditation in some states, including Rivers and Akwa Ibom.

The chairman, who said no elections had ever been perfect, insisted that the last general elections were highly successful.

Jega said: “If you recall there was at least an interval of two weeks between the presidential and governorship elections; we studied everything that was a problem with the card readers within those two weeks and rectified them.

“We were absolutely sure that for the governorship election card readers would not be a problem. That was why for the governorship election we instructed that the card readers must be used.



“And so, if there is evidence of any place where they just put aside the card readers and use manual accreditation, that election can be examined; I am sure the tribunal will look at the evidence clearly as to what happened.

“As far as I know, the commission did not change that directive: so card readers must be used, and there were places where card readers were not used for the governorship election, then people were entitled to produce evidence for that so that the commission could take necessary actions.

“What we meant by card readers must be used is that we did not expect that in any polling unit, people will say card readers were not functioning, people would say we were going to use manual accreditation, no; because we said if a card reader failed, come back the following day, we would replace the card readers for the election to take place. As far as I know, virtually in all the places, where the card readers actually failed, we came back the following day and did the elections.

“We have repeatedly said that the elections were not perfect, and no elections have ever been perfect, but the last general elections were highly successful, but we are doing this retreat in order to assess what we did so that we can continue to improve, because there is still room for improvement.

“I am happy about what we had done, and of course, I am bowing out because my tenure has expired. We all have tenures, and once our tenure expires, we all leave and other persons will come.

“So, we are happy that we had been given the opportunities to do 2011 and 2015 general elections, and we are also happy that the outcome had been generally commendable. We hope the next commission will keep on doing a better job than what we had done."

Certainly, any moment from now, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Muhammadu Jega will be leaving office as the nation’s chief electoral officer.

The question now is not whether the erudite scholar will be bowing out because he has said that he will not even accept reappointment by the government. So what matters now is who will be taking over the baton from Jega and what type of person is he?
Jega was on June 8, 2010 appointed the INEC chairman by former President Goodluck Jonathan to replace another university don, Prof. Maurice Iwu who conducted the election that brought in the administration of President Umaru Yar’Adua and his then vice, Goodluck Jonathan in 2007.
That election was highly criticized as falling short of acceptable international standard. To that effect, Late President Yar’Adua even admitted that the process that brought him to power was flawed and he set up the Mohammed Uwais Electoral Reforms Committee.

Commission, INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega
The conduct of the 2015 general elections became very decisive because many observers both from within and outside the country saw it as a watershed to the corporate existence of Nigeria. This even became more problematic going by the vicious campaign which the political class brought into the electioneering campaign.
Before now, some international analysts had predicted that Nigeria was going to disintegrate in 2015 and the way and manner the main two political parties, the PDP and the All Progressives Congress (APC) went about their campaign added to the apprehension that ushered in the elections.
Therefore all eyes were on Jega and his INEC to conduct an election that will be generally acceptable to everybody.
Members of the international community were equally interested in what was happening in Nigeria with special reference to the polls.
Planning for the 2015 polls
In order to ensure that the usual electoral frauds were at least brought to a reasonable check, INEC introduced the use of the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and the Card Reader Machine for the verification and accreditation of voters. From the beginning, INEC brought all the registered political, parties into the picture of what they intended to do to eliminate the flaws and they all gave their seal of approval.
The PVC made it difficult for people to vote with voter cards that do not belong to them, it also rendered useless the idea of buying off the voter cards of some people by desperate politicians. Before now some voter cards used to trade from about N5,000 to N10,000 naira. And to use the PVC, there must be a Card Reader that will authenticate it.
Low point of the 2015 polls
However, it must be noted that despite the outcome of the election and its endorsement by both the domestic and international observers, there were a lot of areas where INEC failed to tidy up prior to the conduct of the polls.
The Commission could not carry out enough voter education and enlightenment of the voting public so as to know what was expected of them during the exercise. Most of the voters did not know where to place their thumb hence the prevalence of void votes at the general elections.
There were a lot of issues with the PVCs as well as the card reader. Granted they were good innovations aimed at ending electoral fraud, the Commission again failed in educating the people on their usage. It is on record that the demonstration of the workings of the card reader which took place in 12 states of the federation was only done after the postponement of the presidential election from February 14 to March 28.
There were a lot of child voters in some parts of the country even with the use of the PVCs. This means that NEC failed or refused to ensure that only Nigerians who were 18 years of age and above got on the voters register which INEC had at various times preached. The question should be why INEC registered these under-aged children in the era of the PVC and card reader machine?
Again INEC is yet to get its logistics arrangement right hence the usual story of electoral materials arriving at polling units late which equally affected the credibility of the elections in a no small way. In fact in some places the materials reportedly got to the voting points in the afternoon when the accreditation of voters ought to have ended.
It also goes to show that the staff were not properly trained because in some places they proved not able to operate the card reader machines, another factor that affected the credibility of the entire exercise.
The remuneration of the ad-hoc staff was equally shabbily handled in most places because even after the polls we have continued to hear of some groups of the staff demonstrating and calling on the electoral body to pay them the stipend approved for them for taking part in the elections.
Challenges
Now the big challenge that has continued to bedevil INEC is what to do with the numerous electoral offenders. The electoral body has shouted it clearly that it does not have the financial base and time to prosecute these offenders hence the request for the establishment of an Electoral Offences Tribunal but so far little or nothing has been done in that regard.
Many analysts have also argued that to be really independent, INEC should be made to be drawing its funds from the first line of charge instead of the present practice where it draws its funds from the presidency which could expose it to some undue manipulation by the government in power.

The man for the job
With the relative success recorded by Jega, it goes to say that his successor must be able to raise the tempo from what it is currently or at worst maintain it. Care must be taken that somebody who will even lower the standards was not foisted on the nation because it has been shown that getting the electoral process right is the first step towards the development of the country because that will make the politicians to really understand that power truly resides with the people.
The new INEC boss must be a man or woman who truly sees himself or herself as a Nigerian in truth and indeed and ready to work for the entire country. An ethnic or religious jingoist (there are many of them) must not be given the most sensitive job in the land.
Apart from having the necessary academic and professional qualification, the man for the job must be passionate and ready to ensure that he contributes his quota to the growth of the electoral system by not secretly working for any politician or political party to the detriment of the others.
In the out-going era, there were issues about lopsided appointments and promotions, such should not be a hallmark of a true nationalist because merit must always be respected and protected from the altar of regionalism.
He must also be ready to take the welfare of the staff very seriously because that is one sure way of stopping them from colluding with desperate politicians to manipulate the process.

Group Managing Director, NNPC, Dr. Joseph Dawha
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation on Wednesday said a committee working on the alleged unremitted $11.6bn (N2.3tn) Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas dividends had not concluded its meetings.

A statement issued by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC, Mr. Ohi Alegbe, explained the circumstances surrounding the reported non-remittance of the $11.6bn NLNG dividends.

Alegbe said contrary to the impression created by Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative that nothing was being done to get the money remitted, the matter had since been referred to the Inter-Ministerial Task Team for reconciliation and resolution.

He said, “At the last meeting of the IMTT, it was resolved that the Minister of Petroleum, Chairman of NEITI, Executive Secretary of NEITI and the Group Managing Director of the NNPC should meet on the issue of the NLNG dividends and report back to the IMTT.

“Unfortunately, that meeting has not held. However, another meeting of the IMTT is coming up next week and the issue will be taken up from there.

“NEITI, as a member of the IMTT, is aware of the ongoing efforts to reconcile and resolve the issue of the NLNG dividend remittance.”

NEITI had on Tuesday called on President Muhammadu Buhari to consider the recovery of over $7.5bn (N1.4tn) from oil and gas companies operating in the country as a major priority of his economic policy agenda expected to be unfolded very soon.

The agency said in a statement that the amount represented clear cases of underpayment and under-assessment of taxes, royalties and rents revealed by its independent audit reports on the industry, which had not been adequately addressed.

The Executive Secretary of NEITI, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, also said that a total of $11.6bn, which represented outstanding total dividends arising from loans and interest repayment from the Federal Government’s investment in Liquefied Natural Gas also needed to be recovered into the government’s coffers.

She had said, “Our 2012 audit report discovered that total dividend, loans and interest repayment from the LNG paid to the NNPC in 2012 was $2.8bn; however, in the course of NEITI’s audit, the NNPC was unable to provide any evidence that the funds were remitted to the Federation Account as required by law.

“The total amount received by the NNPC from the LNG under the same circumstances, which has not been remitted to the Federation Account, stands at $11.6bn.”

Ahmed also called for full investigation into the transfer of eight oil wells sold by the NNPC to the Nigeria Petroleum Development Company in 2010 and 2011

A 49-year-old Los Angeles, USA, father of 10, Titus McDonalds, who said he was having marital problems and decided to experiment with some prostitutes for a party, was shocked to his bone marrow when the two call girls he ordered turned out to be two of his daughters who had left home some years earlier.

When the girls came into the room, McDonalds reportedly had a panic attack and collapsed on the floor while the ladies fled the room after they realised that the man who had invited them was their own daddy.

McDonalds who swore he had never been with a prostitute in his life, went to Las Vegas to blow off the steam of his troubled marriage and what he saw there made him appreciate his family the more.
“I have never gotten a prostitute in my life, I swear to Christ. What are the odds it was my own flesh and blood that showed up? I think this is Lord’s way of Dam-slapping me.”

When he came to, he sought out his daughters who are 20 and 23 respectively in a casino bar and had a long talk with them.

“I told them I was sorry for what I did. I apologized for my actions and said I just want my family whole again. My daughters and I have patched up our relationship.
My marital problems are not over, but we have a wonderful counselor who is helping us to get over this most difficult period.”

COLD blood between Senator Liyel Imoke the immediate past governor of Cross River State and his predecessor, Mr Donald Duke were glaring on Friday at the International Conference Centre venue of the inauguration of Senator Ben Ayade where Imoke conspicuously left out Duke’s name in his list of recognition of dignitaries before delivering his valedictory speech.

Imoke
Duke who came in with his wife, Onari from his Lagos base sat at the far corner of the hall   a distance away from Imoke and his wife Obioma to observe the proceedings. While acknowledging cheers from his friends and crowd who were obviously excited with his presence and after the event he simply walked off with his entourage without going over to share pleasantries with Imoke.
The event which held at the International Conference Centre Calabar went on smoothly and attracted a mammoth crowd which cheered endlessly for the new governor, Senator Ben Ayade while delivering his inaugural speech in which he promised to set in motion a process for the realization of a new Cross River.
“We are witnessing the rise of a rainbow which marks the pollination of our metaphorical petals and the flinging open of the floodgate of possibilities, prosperity and I therefore urge you to look inwards and envision the future of our dear state and the role we must all play to make it a better place”
He called on the people of the state to dream big because one can only be as big as his imagination and the state has “come to that bend in the river where we must all rise to our full height to envision and carve out a better future for ourselves and posterity”

Nasir-El-Rufai
Kaduna State governor-elect, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai yesterday said the incoming administration must adopt a zero-budget system and reform the civil service systemically and structurally. These, among other things are the keys to success, he notes.
Speaking on the second day of the policy dialogue organized by the All Progressives Congress (APC), el-Rufai called for the abrogation of the office of the permanent secretary in the civil service, asserting that it was an aberration in the presidential system of governance operated in Nigeria.

El-Rufai spoke on the topic “Governance and Improving Efficiency in Public Service” which was subsequently discussed by former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mr. Steve Oransonye, the Director-General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Dr. Joe Abah and his predecessor in the bureau, Dr. Goke Adegoronye. The session was moderated by the former Lead, Public Sector Management Specialists at the World Bank, Professor Ladipo Adamolekun.
“We must operate a zero-based budgeting system. Let us dump the PDP budget of saying every government agency must justify every penny it wants to spend, because what often happens is that every year they take the budget of last year and reduce or increase the number so if we do that as APC we are implementing PDP budget,” the former FCT Minister said.
“We must draw a line and say no more, let every agency justify every penny from personnel cost, how many people do you have? What are their salaries? Why are you paying them this salary? If it is recorded we would know why you are taking more tea than in any other country in the world?
“Why do your vehicles consume more petrol than all the vehicles in Kaduna State? We must ask this question and start the budgeting cycle now; it has to be zero based. In Kaduna that is what we are doing, I am not going to even look at the budget that is there, we are going to do a budget from 30 May.
“Permanent secretaries in a presidential system of government are abnormal. There is nothing like permanent secretaries. We learned that nomenclature because we came from colonial tradition and some permanent secretaries that have refused to disappear still exist. If there is one, show me who is a permanent secretary in the US.
“A permanent secretary is a deputy minister. It is a political appointee. He should even be cleared by the Senate. So, let us stop all these things about permanent secretary and so on. The highest level in the civil service in a presidential system of government is director.
“The moment you move from director, the civil service career has ended and you enter into the political realm and you will be treated like a politician. They don’t want to hear it. But it is the truth and I hope the APC government will streamline it.”
Speaking further, el-Rufai said: “Now our performance as a government will depend on two things; first our political legitimacy and second, the administrative capacity. It is the combination of these two; political legitimacy and second, the administrative capacity that will ensure we succeed or we fail.
“To improve governance, we need to develop political vision, courage, and political will along with enhancing administrative capacity.
“It is clear from what I have described that political leadership provides the vision and will while the public service contributes administrative capacity and it is impossible to succeed without the two.
“The effectiveness of public service is vital to progress and we must all be interested in it. Where is our public service? I want to give you a quick summary of what we found in 2005. Our public service has been perceived as dysfunctional, inefficient, corrupt, lacking administrative capacity and incapable of attracting the best and brightest. Those of us old enough to remember would remember that the best graduates of Oxford University, Cambridge, Ahmadu Bello, and Ibadan University used to join the civil service. Not anymore.
“Our public service is too large. We have 1 million federal employees and between two and three million in states and local governments. So the entire public service in Nigeria is three to four million in size. In 2005, we found that public service was aging. The average age was 43 in a country where 75 percent of the population was below the age of 35.
“The public service was inadequately educated. Seventy percent of public service workers had secondary school leaving certificate compared to UK, China or the US. In China, you need to have a Masters Degree to even attempt the civil service exams but here we have 70 percent with secondary school certificate.
“Our public service is also expensive because it consumes 60 percent and 120 percent of federal, state and local government revenue. In some states like Kano, it was observed that the payroll of the public service was 120 percent of the revenue of the state. Our public service is outdated.
“Less than 5 percent of the public service is computer literate. The poor pay in the public service is also a problem. The pay hardly covers for transportation which accounts for 80 percent of our spending in this country, and finally, there is a complete breakdown of human resource management in the public service and ghost workers account for between 15 and 25 percent.
“Finally because there have been previous reform efforts that have had limited success, there is an inbuilt feeling in the public service when you mention reform or you want to check something, they just wait because they know you will leave in four years. They are there for 35 years. There is a culture of cynicism and change resistance. So, unless you are ready to take really difficult decisions they will just delay you and in four years you are gone and another government starts from where you left.
“I am putting this in perspective because if we are going to have to achieve anything we have to go in with a knife and take drastic actions in the shortest possible time to put things in perspective,” he said.

Nigerian leading phone retailer,  Slot  Systems Limited in partnership with Matrix Certified Pre-Owned Nigeria Limited, a leading name in pre-owned devices have  launched a “trade-in” program to enable customers trade-in their old phones for brand new ones.
The  Managing Director of Slot , Mr. Nnamdi Ezeigbo, who disclosed this to Technology Journalists in Lagos  said that  customers who want to be part of the  program can  walk into any of the Slot’s   stores  with  their   old phones  by paying the  price difference and exchange the old device with either  Blackberry, iphone, Samsung and Nokia.

The program tagged,  ‘Slot  Trade-in’, according to him  is available in 50 Slot stores across the nation .
He said that the initiative among other things seeks to  fulfil customer’s  desire to own state-of-the-art phones at affordable prices.
To avoid the  possibility of  customers bringing in stolen phones for trade-in, Ezeigbo said: “However, as a way of guarding against increasing theft of mobile devices, a new website www.stolenphone.org has been launched to provide platform for consumers to register every lost device.
“This process is very simple: just register the model of the device, IMEI number and your phone number.  This website makes it easy for our Staff to check if the device is stolen or not before proceeding with the process of Trade-in which means  that if you buy a phone from Slot , you are sure of the source”.
“We will   continue to provide the shopping and wonderful after sales service experience that we are known for which is the underlying principle and philosophy of Slot  is to add value to people’s lives by making the all-important use of mobile phones a pleasurable experience”.

Also speaking,   Managing Director of Matrix, Pastor Dimeji Matesun, said that with the ‘Slot  Trade-in’, the  value of a phone could  be used in exchange for another phone , thereby giving customers real value for their money.
He added that  the  traded phones   received from this program would  be sold by Matrix  through its used phone retail stores across Nigeria.
The bottom-line is to bring benefit to the Nigerian people at this, he said that the the program would allow customers get latest devices available in the market.
Meanwhile, sources at the  Ikeja head office of Slot, disclosed that customers can exchange their old phones in any of  the Slot’s shops irrespective of where the product was purchased including their competitor’s shops.

“It does not  matter where the customer purchased their phones from, even from our competitor, they will also enjoy the privilege of trading it for a new and authentic device with one year after sales warranty.  What the  customer needs to do  is  to present a copy of their identity card to authenticate  ownership”, he said

@barcanista or whatever you might want to be called,

I don't pedle remours like you do on social media, the images maybe be old, but does not make the information false.

Only fools doubt prove.

ABUJA- THE thirty- Six State Governors under the aegis of Nigeria Governors’s Forum, NGF yesterday asked the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala to as a matter of urgency account for the money that were accruable to the Excess Crude Account which they put at over $ 20 billion.

Rising from a meeting in Abuja yesterday, the Governors urged the minister to explain how much of this money entered the said account in three years from June 2013 to April 2015, adding that funds in the excess crude were last disbursed in May 2103.

Reading a Communiqué at the end of the meeting which started 9pm and ended 1am, Chairman of NGF and governor of Rivers State, Governor Rotimi Amaechi announced the election of governor Abdullazeez Yari of Zamfara State as the new Chairman of the forum for a period of one year from May 2015 to May 2016 through consensus.

The Governors at the meeting which took place at the Lagos/ Osun Hall of Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, also approved the establishment of a Governors’ Forum Academy to be tagged the NGF Leadership Academy that would be responsible for capacity building of Governors and other officials holding public office and to be overseen by the secretariat of NGF.

According to the Governors, there would be an induction course for new and returning Governors June, 2015 aimed at equipping them with knowledge of global and best practices establishing and running their offices.
The Governors who congratulated the President- elect, Muhammadu Buhari on the March 28 Presidential election victory, also hailed President Goodluck Jonathan for his statesmanship in accepting the outcome of the elections.

The Communique reads, ” We are hereby reconciled and reunited as a single umbrella association of the 36 State Governors of Nigeria regardless of party or region.
“Forum Congratulates the President- elect, Muhammadu Buhari on his victory in the recent presidential election which was held on March 28, 2015 and President Goodluck Jonathan for his statesmanship in accepting the outcome of the elections.

“In light of the fact that Funds in the Excess Crude were disbursed in May 2013, there is need for the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala to provide explanation for accruals to this account from June 2013 to April 2015 which is estimated at over $ 20 billion.”
It would be recalled that Amaechi who chaired one of the factions, was first elected Chairman of NGF in 2011 when he took over from former Kwara State governor and now Chairman, Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology, Senator Bukola Saraki.

It will be recalled that amidst political intrigues, speculations, scheming, backstabbing and character assassination, the governor of Rivers State and Chairman, Nigeria Governor’s Forum, NGF, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi was re-elected as Chairman of the Forum in May 2013.
Amaechi polled 19 votes to defeat governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State, the only governor who contested with him to score 16.
The Nigeria Governors’ Forum which was established to among others, provide a forum for discussion and exchange of ideas, help strengthen and promote Nigeria’s federal system and promote understanding among state governors.

In Attendance at yesterday’s meeting were
1. Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom
2. Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers
3. Adams Oshiomhole of Edo
4. Rauf Aregbosola of Osun
4. Muazu Babangida Aliyu of Niger
5. Ramallan Yero of Kaduna
6. Saidu Dankigari of Kebbi
7.Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta
8. Deputy governor of kano and governor- Elect, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje
9. Kashim Shettima of Borno
10. Deputy governor of Kogi, Yomi Awoniyi
11. Isa Yuguda of Bauchi
12. Deputy governor of Nasarawa State
13. Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo
14. Governor- Elect of Akwa Ibom, Emmanuel Udom
15. Deputy governor of Imo State
16. Abdulfatih Ahmed of Kwara
17. Abdullazeez Yari of Zamfara

ABUJA- GOVERNORS under the aegis of Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF agreed to put behind them, crises rocking the forum as they took a resolution that governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State is the authentic Chairman of the forum having won the May 2013 election of the forum.

Vanguard gathered Monday that soon after the meeting took off, there was an apology to be absent from the Chairman of the other faction of NGF and governor of Plateau State, Jonah Jang was taken, an indication that all decisions reached at the meeting would be binding to all.

According to the source, the Governors took a resolution that as part of moves to finally nip in the bud the lingering crises, they must first agree that Amaechi won the 2013 election and it as accepted by all and taken as a resolution.

The governors, made up of the All Progressives Congress, APC and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP are presently meeting at the Lagos/ Osun Hall of Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, just as this forms the first of its kind since 2013 when they fell out.
It will be recalled that since governor of Rivers State and Chairman, Nigeria Governor’s Forum, NGF, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi was re-elected as Chairman of the Forum in May 2013 where he polled 19 votes to defeat governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State, the only governor who contested with him to score 16, all has not been well with the forum.

The Nigeria Governors’ Forum which was established to among others, provide a forum for discussion and exchange of ideas, help strengthen and promote Nigeria’s federal system and promote understanding among governors and States, is the umbrella body of all the thirty-six state governors of the federation.

As at the time of sending this report at 10.40 pm, the governors were still inside for the meeting and the following were in attendance.

In Attendance

1. Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom
2. Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers
3. Adams Oshiomhole of Edo
4. Rauf Aregbosola of Osun
4. Muazu Babangida Aliyu of Niger
5. Ramallan Yero of Kaduna
6. Saidu Dankigari of Kebbi
7.Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta
8. Deputy governor of kano and governor- Elect, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje
9. Kashim Shettima of Borno
10. Deputy governor of Kogi, Yomi Awoniyi
11. Isa Yuguda of Bauchi
12. Deputy governor of Nasarawa State
13. Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo
14. Governor- Elect of Akwa Ibom, Emmanuel Udom
15. Deputy governor of Imo State

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/05/ngf-crises-ends-as-govs-adopt-amaechi-as-winner-of-2013-election/


Pix: NGF MEETING: From left: Governor Idris Wada of Kogi State; Governor Aliyu Babangida of Niger State; Chairman, Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF, and Rivers State Governor, Chief Rotimi Amaechi; Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State and other governors addressing newsmen shortly after the third meeting of the NGF, in Abuja, yesterday. Photo: Gbemiga Olamikan.

A two-day conference where the policy direction of the incoming government of the General Mohamadu Buhari would be unveiled is due in Abuja on Wednesday and Thursday, All a Progress Congress, APC said on Monday.
Themed “Implementing Change: From Vision to Reality”, the dialogue is a brainchild of the Policy, Research and Strategy Directorate of the APC Presidential Campaign Council.
The event would mark the winding up of the Directorate as the inauguration of the new government is almost a week a way now.
A statement by the Deputy Head of the Directorate and former Minister of Youth and Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said the President-Elect Mohammadu Buhari is expected to declare while the Vice President-elect, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, would chair it.

OFFICIAL PORTRAITS OF BUHARI, OSINBAJO
Also, former British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair would be the Keynote Speaker at the dialogue many other technocrats drawn from various fields of human endeavors are expected to deliver papers in the realization of the policy roadmap.
According to the deputy Head, the core areas of focus in the two-day dialogue included the Economy, governance, job creation and Security in line with the APC manifestoes for change.
He added that topics for discussion include: “Improving the National Economy for Shared Prosperity; “Repositioning Agriculture for Job Creation and Economic Prosperity”;  “Developing Infrastructure for National Development”; “Achieving Sustainable Reforms on Oil/Gas Sector”; “Reducing Inequality and Achieving Sustainable Human Development”; “Achieving Holistic and Sustainable Reforms in the Education Sector”; “Developing and Education System Relevant to Nigeria’s Developmental Aspiration”; “Achieving Qualitative and Affordable Healthcare”
Others include: “Achieving Diversity and Inclusion in Public Life”; “Exploring Sports, Tourism and Creative Industry for Job Creation”; “Governance and Improved Efficiency in Public Service”; “Tackling Corruption in Public Sector” and “Foreign Policy and Agenda for Change”
Some of the Speakers and Discussants expected at the dialogue include Ms Ifueko Omogui-Okauru, former Chairperson of the FIRS; Dr Rilwan Babalola, former Minister of Power; Dr Tajudeen Umar, former Country Chair, Nigeria –Sao Tome and Principe Joint Development Authority; Prof Niyi Ayoola Daniels, President International Institute for Petroleum Energy Law and Policy; Mr Tunde Ahonsi, Resident Representative UNFPA, Ghana; Major-General Ishola Williamsn (rtd).
Others include : Prof Pai Obanya, Chairman WAEC; Dr Ayo Teriba, CEO Economic Associates; Prof. Bolaji Aluko, Vice Chancellor Federal University, Otuoke; Prof Mohammed Tabia of the Department of Islamic Law, Bayero University, Kano; General Abdulrahman Dambazzau , former Chief of Army Staff; Prof Ibrahim Gambari, former Nigerian Permanent Representative, United Nations; Mr Fola Arthur- Worrey, former Solicitor-general, Lagos State;  Ms Bolanle Onagoruwa, former Director-general BPE; Mr wale Fapounda, of Legal Resources Consortium; and Prof Etannibi Alemika, Chairman CLEEN Foundation