₦airaland Forum

Flets:
Again... the North has it. The purported change is taking shape and all the competent people to work in this government are either from the north or part of the cabal that has held Nigeria down since 1960.

Interesting days ahead.

I am surprised that you are surprised! Expect more surprises!!

blackcat1:
But if you were to recommend which ones would be the best to stay at? Security and comfort wise.

Sorry boss, I left that town long ago and only visit so cant advice as many new ones have been opened and known old ones have folded up.

Benue State has so many and too many hotels. In fact they are all over and every where especially in Makurdi the State capital. You will find enough in Otukpo and Gboko towns.

Olsoo:
Thanks alot zik. One more question tho.
I heard sometimes the HOR passes a bill into law and the senate may reject the same bill when proposed in the NASS. Question is: What then happens to that kind of law? The kind that the HOR passes but the NASS doesn't?

Yes it’s true. The House can pass a bill and Senate reject it. Senate can pass a Bill and House reject it. Both chambers need to concur (agree) on a bill before it is passed. If they pass different versions of the same bill, they will set up a committee (conference committee) to harmonise it. They will take the harmonised version back to their respective chambers to ratify it. The harmonised version so passed will be sent to the Executive (The Presidency). If the President signs it, it becomes an Act of the National Assembly.
If as you asked, either chamber outrightly rejects a bill passed by another, that bill has failed. For example, the House passed the PIB but because the Senate didn’t pass it or concur, it has died naturally!

So who runs NNPC from today and throughout the weekend? Please don't tell me to be patient! We all knew the board would be sacked and it has taken this while so I expected at least an interim administration would be immediately named in the same statement. And hope we are not going to wait long for appointees to be decided? Oil prices are low, the low revenues have lots of leakages and no one should be insulted for wanting "change" ASAP. We are in a national economic emergency.

medar:
Oh! I pity Livie Ajunumah (permit my spelling), the guy go don chop tire.

How? Are'nt you aware he dies in the Dana Crash?

BARRING unforeseen circumstances, drastic and sweeping changes are imminent in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Nigerian Tribune has learnt.

Sources in the NNPC revealed that some powerful forces close to the corridors of power had submitted a proposal for the restructuring of the corporation to President Muhammadu Buhari for immediate implementation.

In the proposed arrangement, eight key northerners, mainly from the North-West and North-East geo-political zones, had been penciled in for the proposed new structure, leaving out the four other zones in the country, Nigerian Tribune learnt.

The development is already creating ripples within and outside the NNPC, just as sources said some top members of the corporation, as well as stakeholders, were unhappy with the proposal.

Findings by the Nigerian Tribune indicated that in the proposed new structure, key positions such as Group Executive Directors (GED) and other strategic ones, which include that of the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), as well as the position of the Managing Director and Group General Manager for the Crude Oil Marketers Division (COMD), have been zoned to the North, leaving out the oil producing zones.

Nigerian Tribune also gathered that some powerful forces that included a new governor in one of the core states in the North were believed to be leading in lobbying President Buhari to approve the new structure.

In the proposed structure, Dr. M.K. Baru from Bauchi, a former Group General Manager of NAPIMS, one of the subsidiaries of the NNPC, is believed to have been penciled in for the position of Group Managing Director of the corporation, while Alhaji Sa’adi Farouk, who hails from Sokoto State in another proposed structure, is to be made the GMD, same as Isa Mohammed Inuwa, whose background is in Accounting and currently the Deputy Managing Director/Chief Executive Office of Nigeria LNG Limited.

Inuwa, who is from Kano, had worked at the NNPC for over eight years and held various posts that included Group General Manager, Corporate Audit, General Manager, Budget and Projects, General Manager Finance, NAPIMS.

With the proposed structure, qualified contenders from other zones of the country for the GMD position had been shut out, sources said.

An oil expert from the South-South zone, Oscar Oti Abuam, told the Nigerian Tribune that the proposal did not take into cognisance the complex nature of the Nigerian state, particularly when considered against the backdrop that oil is mainly from the South-South.

“Nigerians voted for change, irrespective of religion and or ethnic background. NNPC remains the cash cow for sustaining the economy and any attempt to implement such will affect the economy terribly,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Association of Crude Workers of Nigeria, has alleged that the new proposal was nothing short of marginalisation.

According to it, the proposal negated President Buhari’s campaign promises, one of which was inclusivity in his administration.

It, therefore, called on the president to quash the proposal.
http://tribuneonlineng.com/content/nnpc-restructuring-northerners-may-take-juicy-positions

damidamsel:
Got my passport back yesterday and yea........it was DENIED!!!. So unperturbed, would spend my summer elsewhere but Belgium embassy aint gonna stop me, will def reapply soonest. Won't appeal.

Waoh... this is incredible. You got passport back after nearly 2 months with a rejection? Does delayed application suggest potential for rejection? I like your spirit sha.

For those who claim that they love PMB more than other Nigerians, if you have access to him, quickly tell him to get his own loyalists within the DSS to take over his inner security ring. I know a guy in DSS who paid campaign money into the advertised campaign account of APC and announced it openly on Facebook before the elections. Not all DSS "hate" him or "worked against" him and certainly not all of them support the present management of the service. If you are a professional and you watch the recent close protection or vehicular convoy formation around PMB, you will be concerned for his security. You can’t use "untrained" loyalists to do what is not their core job. This is a public forum and we can’t analyse too much detail. Almost all the services were accused in one way or the other -recall the Ekiti election and the alleged role of service chiefs in the election postponement etc. What has happened to those accused in those agencies or to those agencies? I hope it’s not true, that some persons with personal aspirations in the DSS and others with issues against the DSS are behind this? When OBJ took over in 1999, he purged the military of "politicised" officers. PMB can do same for DSS and other agencies. Which sector of Nigeria doesn’t need sanitisation? You can’t DSS to limit CP operations to outer gates. It’s a no no any day. In fact, it’s a polite and political way of saying "we don’t need you here".

For those who claim that they love PMB more than other Nigerians, if you have access to him, quickly tell him to get his own loyalists within the DSS to take over his inner security ring. I know a guy in DSS who paid campaign money into the advertised campaign account of APC and announced it openly on Facebook before the elections. Not all DSS "hate" him or "worked against" him and certainly not all of them support the present management of the service. If you are a professional and you watch the recent close protection or vehicular convoy formation around PMB, you will be concerned for his security. You can’t use "untrained" loyalists to do what is not their core job. This is a public forum and we can’t analyse too much detail. Almost all the services were accused in one way or the other -recall the Ekiti election and the alleged role of service chiefs in the election postponement etc. What has happened to those accused in those agencies or to those agencies? I hope it’s not true, that some persons with personal aspirations in the DSS and others with issues against the DSS are behind this? When OBJ took over in 1999, he purged the military of "politicised" officers. PMB can do same for DSS and other agencies. Which sector of Nigeria doesn’t need sanitisation? You can’t DSS to limit CP operations to outer gates. It’s a no no any day. In fact, it’s a polite and political way of saying "we don’t need you here".

THE North-East caucus of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Senate refused to yield to pleas by the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, to allow Senator Ahmad Lawan as Senate majority leader, after some marathon meetings that ended in the early hours of Thursday.

Consequently, the caucus adopted Senator Ali Ndume, who was announced as Senate leader on Thursday.

Saraki, who made the announcement, said the North East caucus had written him to confirm Ndume as their choice for the majority leadership position.

Saraki also named Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah from Kebbi State as the deputy majority leader, following communication from the North West caucus, while he also announced Senator Francis Alimkanah as deputy majority whip. He is from the South South.

The South West did not submit its letter to the Senate president, though there appears to be consensus of opinion that Senator Sola Adeyeye was being tipped for the position of Senate chief whip.

Sources in the Senate confirmed that Saraki held series of meetings with senators from the North East zone and attempted to talk them into accepting Lawan, who is the choice of the APC as Senate leader.

It was gathered that the senators insisted that only two of the 13 APC lawmakers from the zone were backing Lawan, while the lawmakers insisted that Saraki could not decide for the zone after the North Central had produced him.

The three senators had since assumed office.
http://tribuneonlineng.com/content/north-east-senators-reject-saraki%E2%80%99s-plea-lawan

Former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, yesterday urged Nigerians to pray for President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Muhammad Abubakar Badaru.

Lamido, who spoke to journalists, said the success of the APC government is the success of Nigerians.
“I want to reiterate my earlier call that Nigerians should pray for the success of the APC government at the national level and Jigawa State. I am not of the belief that if my party loses election then the winner should fail. It is wrong to think like that. Government is an institution, whose policies affect the lives of the people. If government fails, it means the people will suffer and I don’t think any right thinking person would want his people to suffer just because his party is not in power. I am praying for them to succeed and I am calling on Nigerians to pray for them to succeed,” he said.
He said all his life, he has always been a nationalist in his views and politics, adding that he will continue to be a nationalist for the rest of his life.
http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/daily/index.php/news-menu/news/58340-buhari-s-success-is-for-nigerians-lamido

Olsoo:
Hey fellow politicalanders. I really want to know the difference(s) between the SENATE and HOUSE of REPRESENTATIVE and their functions. Though I've done some research on google but I just get more confused. Someone once told me that they practically perform the same function and is more of a waste of public resources. Please just like that Rivers state collating officer,I need more light abeg.

Indeed, practically most of their functions are the same. One big exception I know is that Ministers and other presidential nominees are ONLY confirmed by the Senate and not the House. In terms of composition, all States have equal number of Senators -3 per State and 1 for Abuja FCT to make 109. The House has 360 members but the number varies. If I am not mistaken, Bayelsa has far less than 10 while Kano State should have like 20, more or less not very sure. Each house member represents a federal constituency, delineated on the basis (theoretically or in principle) on the basis of population. For instance, while a member may represent ONLY one LGA being the federal constituency like Obio Akpor Federal constituency in Rivers State is just one LGA (Obio Akpor), which is heavily populated, another constituency can be made up of 2 or even 3 LGAs. But this is Naija, the constituencies needed to have been reviewed to reflect current population and realities but was opposed by the last National Assembly and some political powers due to politics! Truly, we need only one lawmaking body but our constituition provides for bicameral legislature. So we have two chambers -Senate and House with these people having legislative aides, assistants etc and a lot of hangers-on to be settled. Real waste of public funds in my view. They only seat in plenary 3 days a week -Tuesday to Friday; they often go on recess like they have today after fighting! They will rest till 21st June and collect their pay. Some of them can fly into Abuja on Tuesday morning because sitting starts 10am and they can take off after seating on Thursdays. Sometimes they have other committee meetings and public hearings on plenary days or Mondays/Fridays. Many of them never contribute Bills, Motions or Resolutions. Some are permanent bench warmers or spectators, others just manage to second motions and others come and mark attendance/do other things. It’s typical for some to owe Banks even when they get heavily paid. So much to say....

spencekat:
So Lawan and Akume lost out again.

These guys are clearly not on ground with their colleagues. We are so fixated on Saraki yet both guys were rejected by their own colleagues in an all APC zonal caucus? So what do we do now? Force them even on their own fellow APC colleagues? Is this culture of imposition not one of the factors for implosion in PDP and why "we" wanted "change"?

modath:
Is the senate going to sit before 21st of July?

Was it not Lord Saraki that called for a recesss before Dogara did?

The comment is lumping them all together!!

Apologies. Didn’t know that the Senate also adjourned. It doesn’t speak well for the APC/Government because they are one and the same -they should put their house in order and not hold Nigerians hostage. They had since the elections, to tidy up all these and hit the ground running. Anyway, I tell you what, on a lighter note it remind me of school days then in the North. We knew that any opportunity, there are some seasons when it was "strategic" to go on holiday. As it, these people have gone on holiday till after the expected public holidays around 17-19 July!

modath:



They've also pushed Cabinet Appintment by another month!! What kind of F up country is this?? God why did I have to be born here?

Nope! Only the Senate screens and confirms ministerial appointments.

From what I have read, all the majority party positions read out were taken by APC members and its same APC members that rejected those nominated by their party? What to do now?

A Lawyer who was selected out of 300 candidates for a fully sponsored event in the Netherlands, finally got visa 3 days AFTER the event ended in The Netherlands. He applied since 14th May. I heard he had to send 15 emails to the Embassy. The guy is so devastated. Some others have filed a complaint about the delay at the Foreign Affairs but I'm not sure much (if anything) will come out of it. I know someone who applied on same date and hasn’t got a response yet.

Lawmakers at the Benue State House of Assembly on Tuesday literally turned the hallowed chamber to a boxing ring after engaging each other in what could be tagged a legislative show of shame.

The brawl, DAILY POST learnt broke out following the election of Barr Adanyi of the (APC Makurdi south) as Majority leader.

Apparently not okay with Adanyi’s election, Hon. Martins Aza (PDP Makurdi North) objected, saying they were 16 in the house so should have the majority.

Argument ensued between two lawmakers in the process who reportedly descended on each other, thus exchanging deadly blows.

However, the timely intervention of other lawmakers present prevented the lawmakers from causing more harm.
http://dailypost.ng/2015/06/23/war-at-benue-state-house-of-assembly-as-lawmakers-exchange-blows/

Written by Mahmud Jega mmjega@dailytrust.com 08054102925 (SMS only)

First, you bungle a process leading to the election of National Assembly leaders. Then, you compound the error by rejecting the result of an election conducted on live television because, even though the winners are your party members, they were not the ones that party leaders preferred.

Next, you rain insults on the country’s Number Three and Number Four citizens and accuse them of the highest political crimes. Afterwards, you threaten to drag them before a party disciplinary panel, a ruinous proposition in Nigerian politics. Finally, without an apology or a word of regret, you step back from the brink and say the National Assembly leaders were “duly elected” by their colleagues. There is no teacher in Nigeria, even one not registered by the Teachers Registration Council, who will mark APC’s script in the 10-unit course Political Strategy 101 and not give it an F.
As soon as Abubakar Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara were elected Senate President and House Speaker on Tuesday, APC’s spokesman Alhaji Lai Mohamed issued a very bellicose statement saying “Bukola and Dogara are not APC’s candidates. Neither are they candidates of a majority of its National Assembly members-elect for Senate President and House Speaker.” The question is, did the Constitution say anywhere that the Senate President and House Speaker must be supported by party leaders or even by a majority of ruling party members? To that extent Alhaji Lai had no point.
Only ten weeks ago, APC leaders were very happy when former president Goodluck Jonathan telephoned President Muhammadu Buhari and congratulated him on his election victory. That was an election involving 28 million voters in which many things went wrong but Jonathan still conceded. APC is rejecting an election involving only 450 people. This nearly brings it at moral par with Jonah Jang/Godswill Akpabio of the 16 is greater than 19 infamy.
According to Lai, the National Assembly election outcome “is nothing but a monumental act of indiscipline and betrayal to subject the party to ridicule and create obstacles for the new administration.” He said “some people, based on nothing but inordinate ambition and lack of discipline and loyalty, will enter into an unholy alliance with the very same people whom the party and indeed the entire country worked hard to replace and sell out the hard won victory of the Party. There can be no higher level of treachery, disloyalty and insincerity within any party.”
Now, now. Not a word there about how APC started, then abruptly halted the process of zoning the offices. Its National Working Committee actually zoned the Senate Presidency to the North Central zone, though its NEC never met to ratify or repudiate it. To that extent Bukola Saraki was right to aspire to the office. The party leaders’ later decision to try to give the post to the North East could only be attributable to the manoeuvre by the South West caucus and its powerful leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to avoid creating the impression that both Senate President and House Speaker are Yoruba speaking. This could weaken Asiwaju’s hand is subsequent jockeying for plum Executive positions. It was for the same reason that President Olusegun Obasanjo prevented Chief Sunday Awoniyi from becoming PDP chairman in succession to Chief Solomon Lar. So it was a crude regional manoeuvre masquerading as party discipline.
President Buhari’s stance on the election was also strange. His Special Adviser on Media and Publicity Femi Adeshina issued a statement soon afterwards and said, “President Muhammadu Buhari has noted the outcome of the just-concluded election of leaders of the National Assembly. The president would rather that the process of electing the leaders as initiated and concluded by the All Progressives Congress (APC) had been followed. Nonetheless the President took the view that a constitutional process has somewhat occurred.”
Not a word of congratulations to the victorious men. The president’s wish that the process initiated by party leaders be concluded forgot to mention that it was the president himself who truncated the process when he declared at a party caucus meeting to consider the national working committee’s zoning proposals that he saw no reason why the members should not be left alone to choose their leaders. If the party had zoned the posts, the contest could have been less acrimonious. To say that a constitutional process “somewhat occurred” was also strange; Jonathan did not say in his concession phone call that the 2015 election “somewhat adhered to the Electoral Act.”
The next day, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity Garba Shehu said Bukola Saraki and the Clerk of the National Assembly Salisu Maikasuwa should have delayed the Senate’s inauguration because they were aware that President Buhari and the APC leadership had arranged a meeting with APC senators at about the same hour. Shehu said both Saraki and the Clerk should have extended that respect to Buhari by postponing the inauguration but they failed to do so. Let us be blunt here; was it not the president who issued the proclamation for the inauguration to take place at 10am on Tuesday? How could he then fix another meeting and expect it to supercede his proclamation which has the force of a decree? Maikasuwa was totally correct to go ahead with the inauguration at the hour set by the proclamation. How would APC have liked it if Buhari’s inauguration on May 29 had been delayed by several hours because Jonathan fixed an impromptu meeting with Supreme Court Justices?
Last Thursday APC’s National Chairman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun finally said the party had decided to put the matter behind it and move ahead. He said “the party is now disposed to working with Dr. Saraki.” He said of the Senate President, “Of course he has been duly elected by his colleagues. We have a reality and we must live with it…We have faced greater challenges before and this too shall pass away. This may not even be the last time. We come out every time stronger and more determined.”
Coming out weaker is more like it. APC leaders squandered a lot of moral capital by disputing a transparent election result. They spilled more political capital by hurling insults at two men who had just been catapulted by their colleagues into top positions in the party caucus. It is true that for a partyman to connive with another party to grab a key position fully fits the definition of what is called here anti-party activity. Yet, APC has no moral right to condemn it because only four years ago its ACN, ANPP and CPC elements played a key role in electing Aminu Waziri Tambuwal as House Speaker despite his party’s zoning the post to the South West. What goes around must come around.
Certainly, if overall national and party cohesion are the point of consideration, it is much more advantageous for APC to produce a Senate President from the North Central than from the North East. Most Nigerians outside the two zones do not think there is much of a difference between the North West and North East zones, or what is called “the core North.” No two zones in Nigeria are as similar as these two, in political terms. Major Gideon Okar went so far as to excise and expel the two zones from Nigeria. Many North Easterners thought at the time that the crimes Okar accused them of were mostly perpetrated by North Westerners and even some North Central elements that were indistinguishable from core Northerners, such as Ibrahim Babangida.
APC leaders spread the rumour that their opposition to Saraki was because there are petitions against him at EFCC. The question is, what prevented EFCC from arresting and prosecuting him since 2011 when he left the governorship of Kwara? A man cannot be expected to forfeit all his ambitions just because someone failed to dispose of petitions against him. If Bukola had been cooling his heels at the Ikoyi Prison last Tuesday, he wouldn’t have bagged the Senate Presidency. Besides, what stops EFCC from going ahead with its case now since the Senate President has no constitutional immunity from prosecution?
http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/daily/index.php/columns/monday-columns/57123-apc-s-score-for-strategy-f

Anyone needing visa to the Netherlands will need to really apply early as in months ahead. The delay at Belgium Embassy to issue Schengen visas on behalf of the Netherlands is simply unbelievable.

Anyone with update on the visa delays at VFS Centre/Belgium Embassy?

Indications have emerged that members of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who dumped the party to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), are currently working underground to split the party over cabinet appointments.

Sources within the two parties have confided in LEADERSHIP that since the PDP defectors joined the APC, they have not proffered initiatives that would assist Governor Samuel Ortom led- administration to succeed but instead, are interested in being appointed as commissioners and special advisers.

According to one of the sources who pleaded for anonymity, “ It is quite unimaginable that since Ortom was announced by INEC as governor of the state, PDP state officials, gubernatorial aspirants, ardent members of the party, as well as groups and organizations have continued to defect to the ruling APC.”

It was further gathered that the hasty and massive defection of the PDP stalwarts into the APC fold is already generating crisis which, if not carefully handled, would possibly split the party because the founding members of the party in the state are being relegated to the background.

The likes of the state vice chairman of the party, Chief Joe Nyam and state Auditor, Mr Nyikwagh and other prominent elders of the opposition party, as well as former governorship aspirants have all decamped.

But Ortom had at the inception of the administration insisted that his administration would promote excellence above mediocrity and that appointments would strictly be made on competence, credibility and not in any way for political connection or whatsoever.

However, a chieftain of the APC who also spoke to our reporter on condition of anonymity, said, “ The influx of PDP members into the APC is already generating crisis and the defectors are working seriously to split the party instead of developing it. It is discovered that they are only concerned with appointments, even at the expense of the original APC members who nursed the party at the onset.”
http://leadership.ng/news/442135/appointments-pdp-defectors-split-benue-apc

We have gotten to the level unfortunately where immorality, fornication, so-called casual sex, extra-marital affairs and debasing of human dignity is openly celebrated. We should rather lament the moral filth, decadence in our society, throwing of human sexuality to the dogs and rampant rape, reckless living in our society. Children, toddlers, babies, infants, housemaids, and even animal pets are being raped and defiled. Its sick and sickening. No wonder marriage and family life has become cheap and divorce is the "new normal". In the time of ignorance God winked at but now commandeth and commendeth every man and woman to repent. Quit sin and repent. Even the rate of teenage and so-called unwanted pregnancy, STDs, VDs, shattered dreams, broken hearts, abused and exploited emotions are ample warning of earthly judgment and eternal judgment in view.

buddy221:
ya.. They returned all my documents.... Mehhnn... I felt like start crying again, once I saw those my documents tears nearly fall out of my eyes..oooo! Imagine how Belgium vfs or embassy jst killed my European dreams.. Anyway since there is life, I believe there is hope.

My brother, dont despair. God has something better for you. Life is really challenging now in Europe including Netherlands. Nigeria is a great country with awesome God-given potential. You can make it in Nigeria.

You can double check but I hear it requires average of 20 working days to get feedback on Dutch visa via the Embassy of Belgium.

ireosime:
Hi,i am having the same issue,i submitted at d vfs application centre to belgium on the 4/5/15 up till now i havent heard from them.and my booking date was on the 14/6/15.its more than a month since i submitted my documents to them.does anyone know d delay?

I think it’s just their way! Some aggrieved applicants went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja yesterday and the ministry asked them to write a formal letter of complaint. Even a Ministry staff narrated his own ordeal! Not sure they can help at all and no clear explanation. It’s a case of always applying months ahead if dealing with Belgium Embassy.

Of course he is APC ...but coming from this particular Newspaper, he may not have said it the way it is being said here jor! No be The Nation Newspaper? Most politicians are actually APC any way .... As Politically Convenient. Whether they are PDP, APGA, Labour, or APC or whatever other political party, the truth is that majority are APC! ..As Politically Convenient! They will decamp once their interest is at stake. It’s normal for them and I sympathise with anyone who wants to get worked up for a politician of whatever public profession or purported persuasion.

People, the rate of immorality in our society is alarming. See the unacceptable increase in rape, abortion, fornication and adultery. Repent, flee fornication. This issue of consensual sex outside wedlock, co-habitation and adultery so-called extra marital affairs is ungodly and damns the soul now and in eternity. Break the jinx of sin and give your life to Jesus Christ.

I have read other versions of what the panel said. Won’t be surprised if they are being misquoted or the comments are being sensationalised. Don’t see any cause for internet insults over this because it won’t even change anything!
Oh, sorry I just noticed the report was from The Nation Newspaper? No comment jor!!