tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34405376432847133792024-02-08T03:09:54.095-08:00NIGERIAN NAIRA NEWSNIGERIAN NEWS AND TECHCNOLOGYChima Martinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17679897632309694705noreply@blogger.comBlogger73125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440537643284713379.post-70881291891189831622011-11-01T00:08:00.000-07:002011-11-01T00:08:12.907-07:00Abia non-indigenes sack: Ebonyi waits for official confirmationGOVERNOR Martin Elechi is yet to make<br />
any official statement with regards to<br />
the sack of non-indigenes by Abia State<br />
Government.<br />
Speculation has it that the Governor still<br />
sees the expulsion of non-indigenes<br />
from Abia State as a rumour and has so<br />
far refused to take any official stand on<br />
the matter, pending when Abia State<br />
Governor would communicate him<br />
officially and or the state executive<br />
council decides unanimously on the<br />
matter.<br />
Although, some sacked Ebonyi State<br />
indigenes from Abia State Civil Service<br />
have staged a protest in Abakaliki, the<br />
state government appears to be waiting<br />
for an appropriate time to react on the<br />
matter.<br />
However, major stakeholders in the state<br />
are not happy with the development,<br />
stressing that such actions were capable<br />
of disintegrating the unity, collective<br />
responsibility and cultural affinity of the<br />
Ndigbo both in the country and in the<br />
Diaspora. While others are of the view<br />
that the Ndigbo Presidency, 2015, would<br />
remain a mirage if the issue of sacked<br />
non-indigenes was not carefully<br />
addressed.<br />
It is also feared in some quarters, that<br />
some South-East governors may sack<br />
non-indigenes in their states, a<br />
development that may completely erode<br />
Ndigbo unity.<br />
In an exclusive chat with Vanguard, the<br />
Commissioner for Information, Hon.<br />
Chike Onwe noted that the state<br />
government was yet to be<br />
communicated officially on such<br />
proposition, adding that it would at this<br />
stage be considered as a mere rumour<br />
except proven otherwise in due course.<br />
He however noted that if implemented<br />
that it would threaten the corporate<br />
existence of Ndigbo and also the well<br />
being of Nigerians.<br />
“Disengaging people from service on<br />
account of place of origin is backward<br />
thinking. But as I said, it is still on the<br />
plane of rumour and we don’t react to<br />
rumours but to substance. For now it is<br />
not true, when it is true the issue will be<br />
addressed. I think the Ndigbo is a united<br />
people and we shall not allow anything<br />
to disintegrate this unity. I think it will<br />
be unfortunate if such a thing happens.”<br />
He stressed that the state government<br />
would not be part of any process that<br />
would cause disaffection among citizens<br />
because of indigenization. He added that<br />
non-indigenes in the state were<br />
gainfully occupying sensitive positions,<br />
even in the state executive council.<br />
His words:“Since we talking about true<br />
federalism, we cannot achieve much by<br />
being sectional or calling some<br />
‘indigenes’ and some others ‘non<br />
indigenes.’ So, for us to achieve true<br />
federalism, we must get people to feel at<br />
home wherever they are. We looking at<br />
a situation where an individual from<br />
Kaduna comes to Ebonyi State and<br />
stands for any election and the man<br />
from Ebonyi goes to Lagos, stands for<br />
an election and gets elected and serves<br />
his term.<br />
“The position of Abia State government<br />
is yet to be made available to the Ebonyi<br />
State Government but as I said it is still a<br />
rumour. But if that turns out to be true,<br />
the matter will be looked at collectively<br />
by the state executive council and a<br />
position will be taken. In the interim, it is<br />
still a rumour and we shall treat it as<br />
such. But I want to inform that there are<br />
Abians and people who are from other<br />
states that work in Ebonyi unhindered<br />
and unmarginalized, not witch hunted<br />
and we see ourselves as brothers and<br />
sisters.”Chima Martinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17679897632309694705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440537643284713379.post-9536202714385351242011-11-01T00:05:00.001-07:002011-11-01T00:05:51.196-07:00Despite Gaddafi’s fate, Africa’s despotstrudge onSulaimon<br />
Olanrewaju<br />
reports<br />
that<br />
despite<br />
the<br />
dethronement<br />
and<br />
death<br />
of<br />
Muammar<br />
Gaddafi,<br />
former<br />
Libyan<br />
ruler,<br />
which has further decimated the rank of<br />
Africa's despots, the continent's remaining<br />
dictators show no sign of relinquishing<br />
power even after being in the saddle for<br />
decades.<br />
AT the initial stage of his 42-year reign in<br />
Libya, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was the<br />
common man's hero as he pandered to the<br />
whims of the people. He brought visible<br />
changes to the country and made life<br />
meaningful to the average citizens. He was<br />
said to have provided electricity, housing,<br />
education, infrastructure, health care,<br />
employment, executed world's largest<br />
irrigation project, shared part of the oil<br />
receipts with the people and more. But he<br />
ran into problem with his people because<br />
he denied them their fundamental right; the<br />
right to choose their own leaders.<br />
Throughout his 42-year reign, he<br />
successfully reined in opposition. He<br />
brooked no contrary opinion; everyone<br />
who voiced a converse concern was treated<br />
as an enemy because dissent was<br />
pronounced illegal in 1973 and those found<br />
guilty of the law either ended up six feet<br />
below the ground level or hundreds of<br />
miles away in foreign lands. In 1974, the<br />
former Libyan ruler also declared that<br />
anyone found guilty of forming a political<br />
party would be executed. Thus, Gaddafi<br />
steadily depleted opposition groups until he<br />
came to see himself as Lord over Libya. By<br />
then, he had reached the peak as Libya's<br />
maximum ruler, but that also was the<br />
beginning of his decline.<br />
As more people who Gaddafi perceived as<br />
enemies escaped from Libya, the exiles<br />
began to gather outside their homeland to<br />
form a force against Gaddafi. The exiles,<br />
working in concert with dissatisfied Libyans<br />
within the country, formed an interim<br />
government known as the National<br />
Transition Council (NTC), which capitalised<br />
on the delay in the delivery of housing<br />
units promised by the government to cause<br />
unrest by staging series of protests in<br />
January this year. The government<br />
promptly reacted to this by floating a<br />
20billion euro investment fund to provide<br />
housing and development.<br />
Though the government's gesture scaled<br />
down the level of protest, it did not last as<br />
there were fresh outbreaks of violence in<br />
February. Aided by the North Atlantic Treaty<br />
Organisation (NATO) forces, the Libyan crisis<br />
escalated daily until it became a civil war.<br />
Initially, Gaddafi discountenanced the<br />
protesters, but with the fall of Benghazi in<br />
February, followed by Tobruk, Misrata,<br />
Bayda and other cities, the heat became<br />
very fierce on the maximum ruler. But there<br />
was no respite until he eventually lost<br />
Tripoli to the rebels and was later captured<br />
in his home town of Sirte before being<br />
killed.<br />
Gaddafi was the hero of many African<br />
despots because he was seen to be firmly in<br />
control of his country and had enough<br />
resources to ward off unwanted foreign<br />
meddling even as he helped many<br />
dissidents to power in other countries.<br />
Therefore, his conquer should have sent a<br />
signal to other dictators that they cannot<br />
have their way perpetually. However, this<br />
has not been the case as many of them<br />
believe they are invincible and stubbornly<br />
hold on to power despite rebellion in their<br />
homesteads.<br />
Teodore Obiang Mbasogo<br />
The Equatorial Guinea strongman became<br />
the country's president in 1979 after<br />
staging a coup that ousted Francisco Macia<br />
Nguema. With the coming of a new<br />
constitution in 1982, he was elected in an<br />
election where he was the sole candidate as<br />
president for a term of seven years and<br />
was re-elected in 1989 also as a sole<br />
candidate. Even after other political parties<br />
were allowed to participate in the election,<br />
he was re-elected in 1996, 2002 and 2009.<br />
One of the rationales for the coup that<br />
brought Mbasogo to power was that his<br />
predecessor was brutal and had embarked<br />
on genocide. Though, initially Mbasogo was<br />
seen to be moderate, in order to have<br />
absolute control on the state, he is also said<br />
to have embarked on “unlawful killings<br />
using security forces, government-<br />
sanctioned kidnappings, systematic torture<br />
of prisoners and detainees by security<br />
forces, life threatening conditions in prisons<br />
and detention facilities, impunity, arbitrary<br />
arrest, detention, and incommunicado<br />
detention.”Chima Martinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17679897632309694705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440537643284713379.post-12835564668882712782011-10-31T23:59:00.001-07:002011-10-31T23:59:31.543-07:00Nationalised banks AMCON namesAjekigbe, Onwuka, Bello as heads •CBNmay peg naira at N155 per dollarTuesday, 01 November 2011<br />
Share<br />
IN exercise of part of its responsibilities, the<br />
Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria<br />
(AMCON) has appointed non-executive<br />
directors for the three banks that were<br />
nationalised recently.<br />
However, these appointments are subject to<br />
final regulatory approval from the Central<br />
Bank of Nigeria (CBN).<br />
According to a statement from the<br />
corporation on Monday, these nominees<br />
emerged from an exhaustive process,<br />
which involved wide consultation and<br />
review, stressing that it is confident that the<br />
prospective directors are well qualified to<br />
add significant value to their institutions.<br />
For Keystone Bank, the chairman is Moyo<br />
Ajekigbe. The non-executive directors are<br />
Prince Niyi Akenzua; Adolphus Ekpe; Charles<br />
Chidebe Umolu; Yakubu Shehu; Mustapha<br />
Ibrahim; Brigadier-General Aminu-Kano;<br />
Maria Olateju Phillips; Yusufu Pam and<br />
Jacob Olusegun Olusanya.<br />
The Mainstreet Bank is headed by Falalu<br />
Bello. The non-executive directors are<br />
Yabawa Wabi; Mohammed Gulani Shuaibu;<br />
Professor Osita Ogbu; Joshua Ogunlowo;<br />
Abdullahi Sarki Mahmoud; Shuaib Idris;<br />
Shehu Saad; Chris Osiomha Itede and Mr Ayo<br />
Ajayi<br />
On the other hand, the Enterprise Bank has<br />
Emeka Onwuka as the chairman. The non-<br />
executive directors are Sanusi Monguno;<br />
Ebenezer Foby; Asmau Sani Maikudi; Lamis<br />
Dikko; John Aderibigbe; Garba Imam; Ogala<br />
Osaka; Ismaila Shuaibu and Ezekiel Gomos.<br />
The statement noted that with these<br />
appointments, the boards of these banks<br />
were now fully constituted, urging them to<br />
set a standard for good governance and<br />
efficiency.<br />
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Deposit Insurance<br />
Corporation (NDIC) disclosed in Abuja on<br />
Monday that it had so far recovered over<br />
N22.158 billion debt from liquidated banks.<br />
Senate heard from NDIC that as of August<br />
this year, the cumulated debt recovery from<br />
liquidated banks stood at N22.158 billion.<br />
The Managing Director of NDIC, Umaru<br />
Ibrahim, who appeared before the Senate<br />
Committee on Banking, Insurance and other<br />
Financial Institutions, added that the<br />
depositors’ fund in the 24 operating banks<br />
in Nigeria was N12.15 trillion.<br />
He briefed the committee chaired by<br />
Senator Ayoade Adeseun that the sum of<br />
N8.33 million had been recovered to date, in<br />
respect of closed micro finance banks<br />
whose number is now 882.<br />
According to him, “the total assets of the 24<br />
deposit money banks in operation as at<br />
September 2011 stood at about N18.40<br />
trillion, while total deposits amounted to<br />
N12.15 trillion.<br />
“For the 24 operating banks, as at<br />
September 2011, the total insured deposits<br />
stood at N1.65 trillion, while the deposit<br />
insurance fund was N347 billion.”<br />
On the micro finance banks he said “their<br />
assets as at June 2011 stood at N154.34<br />
billion, while their total deposits amounted<br />
to N68.60 billion. The insured deposits for<br />
the reporting MFBS as at June 2011 stood at<br />
N51.45 billion, indicating that about 75 per<br />
cent of funds in the MFBs are fully covered.”<br />
Ibrahim revealed that the cumulative<br />
liquidation divi-dend paid to the depositors<br />
and other claimants of the affected banks<br />
was N6.161 billion out of N16.85 billion,<br />
representing about 37 per cent, saying that<br />
“so far, the corporation has paid a total sum<br />
of N1.28 million as liquidation dividends to<br />
shareholders of three banks in-liquidation.”<br />
He informed that NDIC had established the<br />
exi-stence of 560,882 claims by members<br />
of the public against 440 illegal banks<br />
known as wonder banks and which<br />
amounted to N106.94 billion, saying that<br />
“the situation had implica-tion for financial<br />
stability.”<br />
From the figures pre-sented before the<br />
committee, total assets of existing banks<br />
were put at N18.40 trillion; total depositors,<br />
44.218 million and total number of insured<br />
depositors fully covered was put at<br />
42,884,446.<br />
NDIC put the figure of non-performing loans<br />
at N688 trillion; total insider credits,<br />
N559.58 billion; non-performing, N21.19<br />
billion and gave the figure of female<br />
borrowers and amount owed at 130,885<br />
and N22.62 billion.<br />
The total number of male borrowers and<br />
the amount owed was put at 118,373 and<br />
N25.53 billion respectively, shareholders’<br />
funds put at N38.05 billion, while the total<br />
loans figure was put at N48.15 billion.<br />
In another development, as part of<br />
measures to check volatility in the foreign<br />
exchange market, the Central Bank of<br />
Nigeria (CBN) Governor has concluded plans<br />
to review its target band for the naira in the<br />
next few days.<br />
In an interview with a foreign news media<br />
organisation in Abuja, on Monday, CBN<br />
Governor, Lamido Sanusi, said the review<br />
would depend on where the exchange rate<br />
settled, as it might be moved to midpoint of<br />
N155/N156 to the dollar, compared to its<br />
current N150.<br />
According to Sanusi, the apex bank’s policy<br />
is currently to maintain the naira within<br />
around three per cent either side of the<br />
N150 level.Chima Martinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17679897632309694705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440537643284713379.post-82370350025044617362011-10-31T23:54:00.000-07:002011-10-31T23:54:58.636-07:00Tension in Jonathan’s, Buhari’s camps•As Appeal Court declares winnertoday •Supreme Court dismissesJonathan’s caseTuesday, 01 November 2011<br />
Share<br />
THE presidential election tribunal sitting at<br />
the Court of Appeal, Abuja, will today deliver<br />
judgment in the petition brought by the<br />
Congress for Progressive Change (CPC)<br />
challenging the declaration of President<br />
Goodluck Jonathan as the winner of the<br />
April 16 presidential election in the country.<br />
In a notice to counsel in the matter obtained<br />
by Nigerian Tribune, the tribunal has<br />
scheduled judgment in the matter for 9.00<br />
a.m.<br />
The tribunal had, on October 20, ended its<br />
sitting on the CPC petition after taking all the<br />
witnesses and all parties adopted their<br />
addresses.<br />
At the last hearing of the matter, counsel for<br />
the CPC, Oladipo Okpeseyi (SAN), had, while<br />
adopting his final address, told the court<br />
that he filed a preliminary objection against<br />
the defendants’ written addresses to the<br />
effect that INEC abandoned its pleading<br />
having not called witnesses to substantiate<br />
them.<br />
He said that the INEC had called only three<br />
witnesses out of the 36 states of the<br />
federation and the Federal Capital Territory<br />
and, as such, had abandoned its defence.<br />
He pointed out that INEC had not provided<br />
any evidence before the tribunal to defend<br />
the victory of President Jonathan, who it<br />
returned on April 18, 2011 as the winner of<br />
the presidential election.<br />
Okpeseyi said: "We submit that the<br />
confusion epitomises what we are saying<br />
about INEC and that is why we have asked<br />
them to bring those documents which it<br />
used in conducting the presidential election<br />
to court,” even as he urged the court to<br />
nullify the election.”<br />
Counsel for President Jonathan and Vice-<br />
President Namadi Sambo, Wole Olanipekun<br />
(SAN), in his final address, said "we have<br />
referred to earlier ruling of this court on<br />
July 14, 2011, where the court struck out<br />
relief number six.”<br />
Olanipekun said the tribunal had refused to<br />
grant relief six, which sought for a conduct<br />
of a fresh presidential election between the<br />
CPC candidate, Muhammadu Buhari and<br />
President Jonathan on the grounds that<br />
Buhari was not a party to the petition.<br />
Olanipekun added that, notwithstanding,<br />
that evidence had been taken on the<br />
petition, the hearing amounted to a mere<br />
academic exercise.<br />
He consequently urged the court to dismiss<br />
this petition, which he said had been<br />
abandoned against President Jonathan and<br />
his deputy.<br />
In his own submission while adopting his<br />
address, counsel for INEC, Adegboyega<br />
Awomolo (SAN) said, "a party is supposed to<br />
rely on evidence presented before court<br />
and also authorities cited. But in this case,<br />
the petitioners tendered as evidence<br />
documents that belong to INEC.<br />
“These are documents that are meant to<br />
support INEC and its chairman, Professor<br />
Attahiru Jega’s position that the election<br />
was conducted in full compliance with the<br />
Electoral Act 2010."<br />
He, therefore, asked the court to dismiss the<br />
petition.<br />
In adopting his address, counsel for the PDP,<br />
Amaechi Nwaiwu (SAN), said outside the<br />
criminal allegation made, what was left<br />
could not sustain the petition and that the<br />
criminal allegation was on the basis of non-<br />
compliance with the Electoral Act.<br />
He added that what CPC filed as a<br />
preliminary objection did not merit to be<br />
called a preliminary objection, hence he<br />
asked the court to dismiss both the petition<br />
and the preliminary objection.<br />
Buhari, who had stormed the tribunal<br />
alongside his running mate, Tunde Bakare,<br />
CPC chairman, Tony Momoh and the party’s<br />
National Secretary, Buba Galadima, among<br />
other party faithful, told journalists after the<br />
court session that he was in court as a<br />
member of the CPC.<br />
It will be recalled that before the CPC filed<br />
the petition, Buhari was reported as saying<br />
that he would not go to court to challenge<br />
the victory of the PDP but when he was<br />
spotted in court among his party loyalists,<br />
journalists confronted him on the issue and<br />
he replied that he was in court like any<br />
other member of the CPC.<br />
According to the former head of state, who<br />
has contested the presidential poll three<br />
consecutive times but lost: “I have never<br />
distanced myself from the CPC petition. I am<br />
part of the party and subscribed to the<br />
petition. I have confidence in the judiciary. I<br />
have never said I don’t have confidence in<br />
the judiciary."<br />
Also speaking to journalists, the National<br />
Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Rufai Ahmed<br />
Alkali, said he had been so happy with the<br />
proceedings at the tribunal as, according to<br />
him, “except that the opponent<br />
overdramatised the situation. Quite a<br />
number of times, our opponent has<br />
overdramatised the situation in an attempt<br />
to achieve a predetermined political<br />
objective.<br />
“The presiding justice reminded everybody<br />
in court that we do not have any other<br />
country except Nigeria. Each and every<br />
citizen of this country has a responsibility<br />
to pursue goals and actions and other<br />
strategies to protect our institutions. If you<br />
destroy our institutions, you are invariably<br />
destroying our country.<br />
“We are confident that with the<br />
submissions of our counsel, who asked the<br />
court to dismiss the petition of CPC, that we<br />
would win the case."<br />
He pointed out that what has happened to<br />
the CPC national publicity secretary “is what<br />
we have earlier expected him to do, that is<br />
to apologise to the court about the<br />
publication he authored.”<br />
The PDP spokesman slammed the CPC for<br />
allegedly failing to allow morality to take<br />
centre stage in the way and manner it had<br />
been playing politics since the party came<br />
into existence.<br />
Alkali accused the CPC of desecrating the<br />
judiciary and ridiculing judges with<br />
impunity and cautioned that the party<br />
leadership should learn how to play politics<br />
with morals.<br />
The PDP national publicity secretary insisted<br />
that it was a big shame for the CPC to cast<br />
aspersions on the judiciary in the public<br />
only to come before open court to swallow<br />
his pride with apology.<br />
The PDP chieftain maintained that the<br />
judiciary today, irrespective of any person’s<br />
opinion, remained the vibrant hope of the<br />
common man and a strong pillar for<br />
democracy in the country.<br />
He thanked the appeal court justices sitting<br />
in the panel for accepting the apology of<br />
Fasakin, but appealed that the CPC<br />
leadership should learn to be cautious and<br />
learn how to respect institutions.<br />
Alkali said those aspiring to lead the nation<br />
must protect and preserve the integrity of<br />
the judiciary, for the sake of the nation.<br />
The party also expressed confidence that it<br />
would emerge victorious in the judgment<br />
billed to be delivered in the CPC petition.<br />
Alkali said the entire proceedings had been<br />
evaluated by the PDP and its team of<br />
lawyers and was confident that there was<br />
no cause for Nigerians who voted<br />
massively for the president to panic.<br />
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court had, on<br />
Monday, struck out the appeal filed by<br />
President Jonathan, INEC and the PDP, over a<br />
ruling delivered by the presidential election<br />
petitions tribunal on July 14, which held that<br />
the petition filed on a Sunday by the CPC,<br />
seeking to upturn Jonathan's election is<br />
competent and proper in law.<br />
The five-man panel of the apex court,<br />
headed by Justice Walter Onnoghen, while<br />
dismissing the appeal, held that it was no<br />
longer alive, because it had stayed more<br />
than 60 days, contrary to Section 285 (7) of<br />
the 1999 Constitution (as amended).<br />
He further held that since the appeal was<br />
dead, it had become an academic exercise.<br />
The justice said Section 285 (7) mandated<br />
the appeal to be determined within 60 days,<br />
but it was coming after the specified<br />
number of days, hence it could not be<br />
regarded as being alive.<br />
The court, therefore, struck out the appeal<br />
for lacking in merit.<br />
President Jonathan and PDP had, last week,<br />
expressed divergent views on whether the<br />
appeal filed against the hearing of the<br />
petition of the CPC should be heard or not.<br />
While the PDP, which filed the appeal, stood<br />
its ground that the case was still alive, the<br />
president said it was dead and should not<br />
be heard, having been filed outside the<br />
mandatory 60 days provided by the<br />
constitution.<br />
The appeal arose from the July 14 ruling by<br />
the suspended president of the Court of<br />
Appeal, Justice Isa Ayo Salami, to the effect<br />
that CPC petition was in order, though it was<br />
filed on a Sunday, a non-working day for<br />
government institutions.Chima Martinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17679897632309694705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440537643284713379.post-58982923110817995042011-10-31T23:49:00.000-07:002011-10-31T23:49:14.174-07:00Olubadan blasts Ajimobi over Obas’councilIBADAN – OLUBADAN of Ibadan, Oba<br />
Samuel Odulana Odugade, has expressed<br />
displeasure with Oyo state government<br />
over alleged indefinite suspension of<br />
the meetings of the Oyo state Council of<br />
Obas and Chiefs. Ajimobi, a native of<br />
Ibadan, is one of the Oba’s subjects.<br />
But Governor Abiola Ajimobi, said he had<br />
great regards for the traditional stool of<br />
the Olubadan of Ibadan, all traditional<br />
institutions in the state and would not<br />
look down on the ancient stool, saying<br />
“the case under consideration is in<br />
court.”<br />
To the monarch, the action of the<br />
governor is tantamount to illegality<br />
since the law of the state recognizes<br />
holding of the meeting being presided<br />
over by him.<br />
It will be recalled that the immediate past<br />
governor of the state, Adebayo Alao-<br />
Akala signed into law a bill forwarded to<br />
him by the then state House of Assembly<br />
amending the laws of the council which<br />
recognized the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba<br />
Lamidi Adeyemi as the permanent<br />
chairman of the council.<br />
The amended law recognizes rotation of<br />
the chairmanship among the Alaafin,<br />
Olubadan and the Soun of Ogbomoso,<br />
Oba Jimoh Oyewumi. Upon the<br />
amended law, the Olubadan of Ibadan<br />
summoned a maiden meeting about<br />
three months ago but the development<br />
triggered fresh controversy between<br />
those that prefer rotation of the seat<br />
and Alaafin who prefers the permanent<br />
chairmanship to be his exclusive<br />
preserve.<br />
Olubadan who spoke through Osi<br />
Olubadan, High Chief Lekan Balogun at<br />
the 10th anniversary of the Premier FM<br />
held in Ibadan, said “The governor has<br />
suspended the Council of Obas. I don’t<br />
think he has the power to do so, but he<br />
has done it. I don’t know what he is<br />
doing about it. Olubadan is the<br />
Chairman, and that is the law. As at<br />
today, that is the law. The governor<br />
must have thought otherwise and that<br />
must have informed the suspension of<br />
the Council. We wish him luck and we<br />
are not rocking the boat. But he is<br />
wrong and his action is illegal.”<br />
Reacting to the Olubadan, Ajimobi, said,<br />
“the governor of Oyo State, Senator<br />
Abiola Ajimobi, has great regards for the<br />
traditional stool of the Olubadan of<br />
Ibadan, all traditional institutions in the<br />
state and would not look down on the<br />
ancient stool.<br />
However, the case under consideration<br />
is in court. Indeed, the Alaafin of Oyo<br />
went to court before the Council of Oba<br />
meeting was convened. It would thus be<br />
an affront on the authority of the court<br />
to allow the meeting to hold while the<br />
state government was aware of the<br />
court process.<br />
“Indeed, it is common jurisprudential<br />
knowledge that no party to a case shall<br />
take any action during the pendency of<br />
a case as this may prejudice judgment.<br />
As a government that swore to uphold<br />
the integrity of the judiciary, Governor<br />
Ajimobi had no option than to abide by<br />
the law. We are not a lawless<br />
government,” the governor said.<br />
Also speaking at the event, Senator<br />
Olufemi Lanlehin representing Oyo<br />
South in the National Assembly, faulted<br />
the way federalism is being practised in<br />
the country.<br />
Senator Lanlehin, who was the chairman<br />
of the occasion commented on the topic<br />
of the lecture entitled: “Peace as Panacea<br />
for National Development” said:<br />
“Federal Government has no business<br />
handling matters relating to agriculture,<br />
transportation, labour and so on. This<br />
should be the major concern of State<br />
and local governments because they<br />
have direct link with major players in<br />
those sectors.”Chima Martinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17679897632309694705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440537643284713379.post-1328432350494371092011-10-31T23:44:00.000-07:002011-10-31T23:44:58.063-07:00Making Nigeria ’s stable outlookmeaningful to citizensLast week, Nigeria ’s sovereign ratings<br />
outlook was revised to stable, from<br />
negative, by Fitch Ratings, citing fiscal<br />
consolidation and reforms in the various<br />
sectors of the economy as responsible for<br />
the new disposition.<br />
“The revision of the Outlook on Nigeria ‘s<br />
ratings to Stable, from Negative, reflects an<br />
improved outlook for reforms, following<br />
elections in April and the appointment of a<br />
strong economic team. In addition, tighter<br />
monetary policy and slightly better fiscal<br />
discipline have arrested the rapid pace of<br />
reserves decline seen in the first three<br />
quarters of 2010, which had prompted the<br />
Negative Outlook in October last year,” says<br />
Veronica Kalema, a Director in Fitch’s<br />
Sovereign group.<br />
The Stable Outlook anticipates continued<br />
reforms progress, a tighter budget for<br />
2012, including progress towards scrapping<br />
the petroleum subsidy and making Nigeria<br />
Sovereign Investment Authority, the<br />
sovereign wealth fund, operational.”<br />
Nigeria ‘s key credit indicators - strong<br />
growth, low public debt and a strong<br />
external balance sheet - continue to provide<br />
strong support to the rating. Fitch expects<br />
Nigeria to sustain its high growth rates of<br />
7%-8%, which are far higher than the ‘BB’<br />
five-year median of 4.4%, as a result of the<br />
planned reforms, continued recovery of oil<br />
production and strong domestic demand.<br />
Since then government and analysts have<br />
been celebrating, saying it is a sign of<br />
confidence in the ongoing reforms and also<br />
that it is capable of increasing foreign fund<br />
managers’ interests in her financial<br />
instruments.<br />
Rated entities in a number of sectors,<br />
including financial and non-financial<br />
corporations, sovereigns and insurance<br />
companies, are generally assigned Issuer<br />
Default Ratings (IDRs) on the entity’s relative<br />
vulnerability to default on financial<br />
obligations. The “threshold” default risk<br />
addressed by the IDR is generally that of the<br />
financial obligations whose non-payment<br />
would best reflect the uncured failure of<br />
that entity.<br />
Fitch Ratings had lowered Nigeria ’s<br />
sovereign credit outlook to Negative last<br />
October from Stable, citing the depletion of<br />
its windfall oil savings and heightened<br />
political uncertainty, ahead of elections at<br />
the time.<br />
But, even as government and some analysts<br />
are celebrating, others are asking of the<br />
relevance of the upgrade to the citizens, in<br />
terms of disposable income, cost of doing<br />
business, exchange rate and interest rate<br />
among others.<br />
“The upgrsde is okay, but how has this<br />
translated into improved living standard,<br />
how has government’s large spending<br />
positively affected my life of how have the<br />
banking sector reforms improved access to<br />
credit by the private sector or citizens, apart<br />
from big corporations and high networth<br />
individuals?”, querries Mustapha Sulaiman, a<br />
chartered stock broker. Wale Abe, Executive<br />
Secretary, Financial Market Dealers<br />
Association of Nigeria commended the<br />
upgrade but worried whether those<br />
indicators used by Fitch would finally<br />
translate into a better Nigerian economy.<br />
Abe was optimistic that the finance minister,<br />
based on her past records, would likely pull<br />
through the implementation of those<br />
economic reforms, but noted government’s<br />
plans to cut down recurrent expenditure by<br />
just 4 percent within four years, as not “just<br />
exciting.” Ngozi Okonj-Iweala, the<br />
Coordinating Minister for the Economy/<br />
Minister of Finance, attributed the upgrade<br />
to government’s determination to embark<br />
on some strategic structural reforms,<br />
particularly fiscal consolidation.<br />
Okonjo-Iweala, described the upgrading<br />
as“Great news for the country and a strong<br />
foundation for the country to keep building<br />
the ongoing economic reforms”.<br />
“Fitch did this because of the medium term<br />
budget of fiscal consolidation proposed by<br />
the Ministry of Finance, in line with the<br />
transformation agenda,” the economic<br />
coordinating minister commented.<br />
“We have to keep working hard to realise<br />
the key priorities of the transformation<br />
agenda – job creation and building key<br />
infrastructure. But this positive<br />
development gives us a strong foundation<br />
to build on,” she added. But, some<br />
stakeholders are of the opinion that a lot<br />
needs to be done to make Nigerians benefit<br />
from the positive outlook. They posited that<br />
Nigeria should leverage on her natural<br />
endowments to improve productivity in<br />
other sectors and competitiveness,adding<br />
that the current cost of doing business in<br />
the country is still prohibitive and therefore<br />
does not in any way make the positive<br />
outlook to Nigerians.<br />
Apart from the positive outlook, the agency<br />
also affirmed Nigeria ’s long-term foreign<br />
currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘BB-’<br />
and Long-term local currency IDR at ‘BB’. The<br />
agency also affirmed the Short-term rating<br />
at ‘B’ and Country Ceiling at ‘BB’. Fitch<br />
Ratings had lowered Nigeria ’s sovereign<br />
credit outlook to Negative last October from<br />
Stable, citing the depletion of its windfall oil<br />
savings and heightened political uncertainty<br />
ahead of elections at the time.<br />
The ratings agency had also indicated that it<br />
would further lower its assessment of<br />
Nigeria ’s economic prospects if the country<br />
did not follow through with post-election<br />
reforms to put the economy on a<br />
sustainable path.<br />
Johnson Chukwu, managing director/chief<br />
executive officer, Cowry Asset management<br />
limited said the rating is a good<br />
development saying that by the time fuel<br />
subsidy is removed and power sector<br />
reforms take shape, Nigeria’s rating will<br />
improve and that there are signs to agree<br />
with the report that the outlook is stable.<br />
Oby Ezekwesili, vice president, World Bank,<br />
said although it progress of some sort, it<br />
does not call for celebration when other<br />
countries are getting triple As.<br />
Ezekwesili, a former minister of education<br />
and solid minerals, was of the opinion that a<br />
lot needs to be done to make Nigrians feel<br />
part of the upgrade.<br />
She said, for instance, that private sector<br />
cannot come into an economy where there<br />
is negative rating; it cannot come into a<br />
country where there is infrastructure<br />
deficiency and where the cost of<br />
transaction is too high. They will not come<br />
into a country that has a key bottleneck and<br />
in an environment with many hurdles in<br />
doing business.<br />
And so government has to focus on things<br />
that will improve the business climate. Some<br />
of those things include the bulk<br />
bureaucratic reforms that have been going<br />
on, but the most important is having a<br />
macro economic stability that will ensure<br />
that your fiscal activities are well ordered,<br />
prudential and your monetary policy is such<br />
that checks inflation, guaranty stability and<br />
prohibits exchange rate volatility, so that<br />
such stability will make investors take you<br />
serious when making investment decision.<br />
So, in order to address the infrastructure<br />
deficit, the role of government and private<br />
sector will become complementary.<br />
“In terms of additional financing in an<br />
annual basis that is needed, at least more<br />
than $25 billion is needed to address<br />
infrastructure; you can find private sector<br />
and government sharing the risk that is<br />
involved in it.”<br />
Commenting on the fiscal problem facing<br />
the country, Ezekwesili, said: “Well, it has to<br />
do with fiscal consolidation of the budget.<br />
By fiscal consolidation, we mean taking<br />
hard fiscal responsibility in our budget. The<br />
entire budget has to be looked at, not just<br />
the size alone but the quality and structure<br />
of the budget.<br />
“There is urgent need to reduce the portion<br />
of the recurrent expenditure of the<br />
government, it is really urgent for<br />
government to do so because no economy<br />
can develop its infrastructure with the kind<br />
of budget we have. It does not create the<br />
basis of economic growth. The bride of<br />
economic growth is the investment in<br />
infrastructure and human capital for an<br />
overall economic growth.<br />
The part of fiscal consolidation really must<br />
be considered. The government must live<br />
within its means and it should not crowd<br />
out the private sector by borrowing from<br />
the domestic market where resources are<br />
available for the development of the real<br />
sector that has potentials for employment.<br />
Commenting on the banking sector reforms<br />
which the agency said was one of the<br />
reasons for the upgrade, she said, “these<br />
are early days we have to focus on both<br />
monetary and fiscal policies. The monetary<br />
authority has to keep focus on improving<br />
the performance of the banking sector. The<br />
most important thing is to ensure that credit<br />
is revitalized in the system to reactivate the<br />
real sector, because that is where the job<br />
creation has to come from.<br />
Some of the measures that are being taken<br />
are on course but the high cost of doing<br />
business by the Small Medium Scale<br />
Enterprises (SMEs) is not just from the<br />
lending aspect but from other transaction<br />
costs, such as transport, energy, etc. So by<br />
the time you reduce all the transaction costs<br />
then there will be a balance when you<br />
consider the cost of borrowing.”<br />
MONDAY, 31 OCTOBER 2011 00:00Chima Martinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17679897632309694705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440537643284713379.post-35670359815100868172011-10-31T23:40:00.000-07:002011-10-31T23:40:29.062-07:00LAPO to issue N4bn loan in Q12012Lift Above Poverty Organisation (LAPO)<br />
Microfinance bank limited has disclosed that<br />
by March next year, it would disburse about<br />
N4 billion to its customers.<br />
The bank in September 2011 disbursed a<br />
total of N3.2 billion. Godwin Ehigiamusoe,<br />
managing director of the bank who<br />
disclosed this in an interview with<br />
BusinessDay also said by the end of October<br />
this year, the bank would disburse about<br />
N3.3 billion to low income people it is<br />
serving.<br />
He said there are lots of poverty alleviation<br />
initiatives in the pipeline which the bank<br />
wishes to implement in no distant time.<br />
Ehigiamusoe who is an acknowledged<br />
microfinance practitioner and founder of<br />
LAPO has concluded plans to officially lunch<br />
a book titled, “Issues in Microfinance:<br />
Enhancing Financial Inclusion” in Lagos.<br />
The book which contains 15 chapters would<br />
be presented to the public on Thursday at<br />
the Nigerian Institute of Management at 10<br />
am.<br />
The event will feature Hayford Alile …… as<br />
the chairman of the occasion, Fola Adiola,<br />
founder of …..as the presenter and Segun<br />
Ogidan, microfinance consultant as the<br />
reviewer.<br />
In the book, Godwin provides an insight<br />
into the essential elements of microfinance.<br />
The book examines microfinance schemes<br />
and initiatives in Nigeria, such as the<br />
indigenous savings and credit group, non-<br />
profit credit scheme, so-operative financing,<br />
government and private sector<br />
interventions. It also explores the key<br />
provisions of microfinance policy and<br />
regulatory framework.<br />
He relied on his several years of<br />
engagement in the sector to address central<br />
operational issues such as product<br />
development, risk and delinquency<br />
management, client relationship and<br />
performance indicators management.<br />
The author was careful to address key<br />
issues of interest to a range of stakeholders<br />
in the sector. These issues include the<br />
nature and emerging features identifiable<br />
with microfinance practice across the world,<br />
history of microfinance initiatives in Nigeria<br />
and common operational issues.<br />
TUESDAY, 01 NOVEMBER 2011 00:00 HOPE<br />
MOSES-ASHIKEChima Martinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17679897632309694705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440537643284713379.post-21232287206399989802011-10-31T23:35:00.000-07:002011-10-31T23:35:08.424-07:00Senate summons, Okonjo-Iweala,Madueke, Sanusi, othersABUJA— THE Senate has summoned the<br />
Ministers of Finance and Petroleum, Dr.<br />
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Mrs. Diezani<br />
Alison-Madueke respectively, to appear<br />
before it and explain the alleged<br />
overshooting of oil subsidy funds from<br />
N240 billion appropriated in the 2011<br />
budget by National Assembly to N1.5<br />
trillion.<br />
Governor of Central Bank, Mallam Lamido<br />
Sanusi Lamido and the Comptroller<br />
General of Nigerian Customs Service, NSC,<br />
Alhaji Dikko Abdullahi were also<br />
summoned by the Senate Joint<br />
Committee probing the utilisation of<br />
subsidy funds.<br />
Chairman of the Joint Committee<br />
comprised of Senate Committees on<br />
Finance, Appropriation and Petroleum<br />
Downstream, Senator Magnus Abe, who<br />
briefed journalists in Abuja said the<br />
government officials will appear on<br />
Thursday to explain the alleged<br />
mismanagement of the subsidy funds.<br />
He said: “We will meet with the<br />
government agencies involved in the oil<br />
subsidy to get a clear brief from them as<br />
to the origin, nature, history and<br />
everything official about the operation<br />
of the oil subsidy in this country.<br />
“The invitation by the joint committee to<br />
the government officials involved in the<br />
management of the fuel subsidy scheme<br />
states clearly that the committee has<br />
resolved to request their reactions in a<br />
written brief.<br />
“We also said that the written brief<br />
should explain the entire procedure for<br />
administering the subsidy, sources of<br />
the fund and why they have been<br />
unprecedented rise in the quantum of<br />
subsidy in the later part of this year<br />
than we had at the beginning.<br />
“Those invited include Minister of<br />
Finance, Mrs Okonjo-Iweala; Minister of<br />
Petroleum, Diezani Madueke, the GMD of<br />
NNPC, Governor of Central Bank of<br />
Nigeria, Executive Secretary of the<br />
PPPRA, CG of Nigerian Custom Service,<br />
the Managing Director of Nigerian Ports<br />
Authority as well as Chief of Naval Staff.”<br />
Abe assured that the probe would be<br />
transparent and open for all Nigerians to<br />
make their contributions, adding that it<br />
was not a witch-hunting exercise<br />
targeted at an institution or an<br />
individual.<br />
He said: “The meeting with these heads<br />
of institutions and government agencies<br />
would be opened to Nigerians. We<br />
would meet them in an open fora and<br />
whatever they have to say to us, people<br />
would be privileged to hear whatever<br />
they say.<br />
“We want to assure Nigerians that this<br />
process will be open, transparent and<br />
whatever is the collective wisdom of the<br />
members of committee, at the end of the<br />
exercise, would be made available to the<br />
Senate for them to take a decision and<br />
also for Nigerians to see what we have<br />
done.”Chima Martinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17679897632309694705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440537643284713379.post-89599774365324160732011-10-31T23:33:00.000-07:002011-10-31T23:33:11.378-07:00Analysts differ over marketoutlook as buy opportunitiesexist in most stocksAmid intensified regulatory efforts to<br />
restore investor confidence at the stock<br />
market, as investor apathy continues to mar<br />
equities’ performance, stock market<br />
analysts vary in their views over the<br />
direction of equities trading this week at<br />
the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).<br />
At the nation’s bourse, companies earnings<br />
and investors optimism continue to move in<br />
different directions. Companies increased<br />
revenues with sustainable strategic options<br />
have not impacted positively on share price<br />
performance. This development continues<br />
to trigger questions at various quarters,<br />
even as most analysts believe that there is<br />
little justification for a fall in market cap or<br />
anemic performance of share prices as<br />
indicated in the All Share Index.<br />
While some analysts say the market outlook<br />
remains bearish, with a ray respite likely<br />
from attractive third-quarter (Q3) earnings<br />
release by blue-chip companies, some<br />
others appear bullish, saying that<br />
impressive Q3 results posted by quoted<br />
companies may sustain investors’ optimism<br />
and further boost market activities.<br />
This varied views come amid the optimism<br />
that buy opportunities still exist in most<br />
stocks with strong fundamentals.<br />
According to Cowry Asset Management<br />
analysts, as interest rates mount up to the<br />
20 percent mark on the back of recent hike<br />
in the monetary policy rate (MPR) by 275<br />
basis points, coupled with the lingering<br />
investors apathy, “the Nigerian equities<br />
market remains disadvantaged as investors<br />
switch to higher yield instruments.<br />
“This week, we expect to see more bearish<br />
siege on the back of likely increases in<br />
money market rates, providing a more<br />
attractive alternative.” In line with most<br />
analysts’ prediction, the equities market was<br />
upbeat last week, having witnessed bargain<br />
hunting activities amid a number of<br />
positive company releases. As a result,<br />
trading at the NSE has closed on a positive<br />
note after about two weeks of bearish<br />
mood.<br />
The NSE All-Share Index appreciated by<br />
387.62 points or 1.9 percent to close at<br />
20,257.47 points, while the market<br />
capitalisation of the 188 First -Tier equities<br />
increased to N6.412 trillion. The NSE-30<br />
Index appreciated by 19.69 points or 2.2<br />
percent to close at 900.36.<br />
All four sectorial indices appreciated a<br />
reversal of the preceding week when all the<br />
indices depreciated. The NSE Food/Beverage<br />
Index appreciated by 0.88 points or 0.1<br />
percent to close at 632.65. The NSE Banking<br />
Index appreciated by 6.87 points or 2.5<br />
percent to close at 287.92. The NSE<br />
Insurance Index appreciated by 5.69 points<br />
or 3.9 percent to close at 149.57. The NSE<br />
Oil/Gas Index appreciated by 10.94 points<br />
or 4.6 percent to close at 245.47.<br />
Stock market report last week showed that<br />
a turnover of 1.4 billion shares worth N9.9<br />
billion in 16,934 deals was recorded in<br />
contrast to 1.3 billion shares valued at<br />
N11.48 billion, exchanged the preceding<br />
week in 18,940 deals. Sterling Capital<br />
analysts said this week they expect<br />
increased liquidity to moderate short-term<br />
interest rates in view of the anticipated<br />
release of Statutory Allocations for the<br />
month of September by the Federal<br />
Government.<br />
“This would most likely impact positively on<br />
the stock market, while the impressive Q3<br />
earnings should continue to give impetus to<br />
investors to take position in view of current<br />
low prices of stocks. Buy opportunities<br />
continued to exist in stocks with good<br />
fundamentals for long term,” they added in<br />
their recent market outlook.<br />
Analysts at Access Bank said the fact that<br />
companies, especially banks exceeding their<br />
profit expectations during the quarter, gave<br />
support to equities last week.<br />
They said: “Stocks also became the primary<br />
beneficiary of the uncertainty in the bond<br />
market. This was due to the significant dip<br />
in bond prices after the Monetary Policy<br />
Committee (MPC) decision to increase MPR to<br />
12 percent from 9.25 percent. The bond<br />
market is in a post-MPC price discovery<br />
phase and trading has been muted in recent<br />
days.<br />
“We are dialling back our outlook, stated last<br />
week, for the market (stock market) from<br />
‘possible sustained decline’ to ‘temporary<br />
rebound in buying momentum.’ Our view is<br />
premised on the impressive Q3 results<br />
posted by quoted companies. We believe<br />
these numbers may sustain investors’<br />
optimism and further boost market<br />
activities.”Chima Martinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17679897632309694705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440537643284713379.post-76209644280439871892011-10-31T23:30:00.000-07:002011-10-31T23:30:43.418-07:00Labour crisis: Threat to shut downEnugu laughable- GovtENUGU—Enugu State Government,<br />
Monday, dismissed as laughable and<br />
mischievous, claims by the coalition of<br />
human rights and pro-democracy<br />
groups in the South-East zone that it was<br />
behind the current travails of Comrade<br />
Osmond Ugwu who was remanded in<br />
prison custody by the state Magistrates<br />
Court last week for attempted murder.<br />
The government also dismissed as<br />
uninformed and ill-thought, the threat<br />
reportedly made by the group to “make<br />
Enugu State ungovernable” if Ugwu was<br />
not released from prison custody within<br />
one week.<br />
A release signed by Chukwudi Achife,<br />
Chief Press Secretary to Governor<br />
Sullivan Chime, said the tone of the<br />
claims and threats made by the group as<br />
published in a national daily, confirmed<br />
its suspicions that the labour issues in<br />
the state were being sponsored and<br />
orchestrated by some disgruntled<br />
elements trying to create a false<br />
impression of crisis in Enugu State.<br />
He said even the most uninformed<br />
person would know that a criminal trial<br />
was a matter totally within the domain<br />
of the judiciary and that an order to<br />
remand or release an accused person in<br />
or from prison custody could only be<br />
made by a court of competent<br />
jurisdiction.<br />
The human rights and pro-democracy<br />
groups, including Save Nigeria Group<br />
and Lawyers of Conscience, had on<br />
Saturday given the state government a<br />
week ultimatum to release the<br />
incarcerated labour activists, Comrade<br />
Osmond Ugwu and Raphael Elobuike, or<br />
the state would be shut down by the<br />
group and organized labour.<br />
Coordinator of the group, Mr. Benedict<br />
Ezeagu, at a press briefing in Enugu said:<br />
“While the legal process is going on, we<br />
have decided to give the Enugu State<br />
Government one week ultimatum to<br />
release Comrade Osmond Ugwu and<br />
Raphael Elobuike unconditionally.”Chima Martinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17679897632309694705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440537643284713379.post-7278910053455719062011-10-31T22:54:00.000-07:002011-10-31T22:54:59.889-07:00LP’s appeal: Tinubu knows fate todayLAGOS—Senator Oluremi Tinubu of<br />
Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, will<br />
today know her fate in the appeal by<br />
Labour Party, LP, and its candidate, Mr.<br />
Oladapo Durosinmi-Etti, against the<br />
judgment of the election Tribunal, Lagos,<br />
which upheld her declaration by<br />
Independent National Electoral<br />
Commission, INEC, as winner of the April<br />
9 Lagos Central senatorial election.<br />
The Appeal Court, had last, fixed today<br />
for judgment, after listening to<br />
submissions by appellants and the<br />
respondents.<br />
LP and Durosinmi-Etti, seeking the<br />
nullification of Mrs. Remi Tinubu’s<br />
election to the Senate, are sking the<br />
Court of Appeal to order a fresh election.<br />
According to LP and Durosinmi-Etti, Mrs.<br />
Tinubu’s victory at election should to be<br />
upturned on the grounds of non-<br />
appearance of their party logo on the<br />
ballot papers used for the election.<br />
Counsel to Labour Party, Chief<br />
Chukwuma Ekomaru, SAN, at the hearing<br />
of the appeal, told the court that his<br />
client’s petition was dismissed solely<br />
because his pre-hearing notice was<br />
issued through a letter to the Tribunal’s<br />
Secretary, and argued that the pre-<br />
hearing notice need not come in the<br />
form of a motion.<br />
Ekomaru argued that such dismissal<br />
contravened recent decisions of the<br />
Court of Appeal, citing the case of Aliyu<br />
Ibrahim Gebi v Alhaji Garba Dahiru and<br />
others, where recently (August 22,<br />
2011) an Appeal Court decisions in Jos,<br />
admitted that the issuance of pre-<br />
hearing notice could be done by either a<br />
letter, by motion on notice or a motion<br />
ex-parte.<br />
Senator Tinubu’s counsel, Prof. Yemi<br />
Osinbajo, SAN, in his submission<br />
countered appellant counsel’s position<br />
on the pre-hearing notice with the<br />
Sokoto Appeal Court, which held that<br />
pre-hearing notice should be by a<br />
motion to the tribunal and not through a<br />
letter.<br />
He urged the court to dismiss the appeal,<br />
saying “there is no relief before the<br />
court seeking nullification of the<br />
election.”Chima Martinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17679897632309694705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440537643284713379.post-48881111986422939962011-10-31T22:52:00.001-07:002011-10-31T22:52:32.029-07:00President, Buhari know fatetodayThe Presidential Election<br />
Petition Tribunal chaired<br />
by Justice Kummai<br />
Bayang Akaahs will<br />
today deliver judgment in the petition<br />
filed by the Congress for Progressive<br />
Change (CPC) against President Goodluck<br />
Jonathan’s victory in the April 16<br />
election.<br />
Notice of judgment was served<br />
yesterday on counsel after the Supreme<br />
Court struck out the appeal filed by the<br />
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against<br />
the petition.<br />
The apex court held that the 60 days<br />
allowed for hearing and determination<br />
of an interlocutory appeal had elapsed.<br />
The appeal arose from the July 14 ruling<br />
of the Presidential Election Petitions<br />
Tribunal, then chaired by the suspended<br />
Appeal Court President, Justice Isa Ayo<br />
Salami, that held that the CPC’s petition,<br />
which was filed on a Sunday, is<br />
competent and proper in law.<br />
Jonathan contested on the platform of<br />
the PDP. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari was<br />
the CPC’s candidate.<br />
Jonathan and PDP had urged the<br />
Tribunal to dismiss the petition for being<br />
filed on Sunday, a public holiday.<br />
But the Tribunal said that the petition<br />
was filed on a Sunday conferred no<br />
advantage on the petitioner, adding that<br />
it will be determined on merit and not<br />
‘technicality’.<br />
Dissatisfied, the PDP approached the<br />
apex court. But the interlocutory appeal<br />
could not be heard within the 60 days<br />
allowed.<br />
The apex court directed all parties to go<br />
back to the Tribunal, which will deliver<br />
judgment in the substantive matter<br />
today.<br />
At the last sitting, Jonathan and the<br />
ruling PDP disagreed openly on the<br />
status of the appeal.<br />
The Justice Kummai Bayang Akaahs-led<br />
five-man panel will today deliver<br />
judgment in the substantive suit.Chima Martinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17679897632309694705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440537643284713379.post-51168734542309916412011-10-31T22:50:00.000-07:002011-10-31T22:50:07.501-07:00States shun Abuja cash sharing meeting, Abuja ...Jonathan to meet governors todayAnother attempt by the<br />
Federal Government to persuade the states<br />
to allow the sharing of the Federation<br />
Accounts cash for September failed<br />
yesterday.<br />
States insist that they will accept their<br />
September allocation only when the N250<br />
billion deducted by Federal Government<br />
agencies to fund “oil subsidy” is returned to<br />
the accounts.<br />
A meeting of the Federation Accounts<br />
Allocation Committee (FAAC) – the body that<br />
statutorily outlines the sharing formula of<br />
the cash in the Federation Account among<br />
the tiers of government every month –<br />
slated for Abuja was yesterday shunned by<br />
Finance commissioners.<br />
This is the second time in two weeks that<br />
they have boycotted the meeting.<br />
On October 18, the commissioners staged a<br />
walkout over the N250 billion deducted by<br />
the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation<br />
(NNPC) and the Petroleum Products Pricing<br />
and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).<br />
The action stalled the sharing of the<br />
September allocation, which is estimated at<br />
N1 trillion before the deductions. Anambra<br />
State Finance Commissioner Mr. Eze Echesi,<br />
who is the co-ordinator of Finance<br />
Commissioners, described the deduction as<br />
“illegal withdrawal”.<br />
At the Sheraton Hotel venue yesterday,<br />
some officials of the Federal Ministry of<br />
Finance were waiting for the<br />
commissioners, to no avail.<br />
But it was not clear whether FAAC chair said<br />
Minister of State for Finance Alhaji Lawal<br />
Yerima Ngama was at the venue.<br />
It was gathered that some of the<br />
Commissioners met with Ngama, but<br />
declined to show up for the FAAC meeting.<br />
“The refusal of the commissioners to attend<br />
the meeting is not unconnected with the<br />
scheduled meeting between President<br />
Goodluck Jonathan and governors,” a<br />
source said.<br />
The meeting between the President and<br />
Governors will now hold today at the<br />
Presidential Villa, it was gathered.<br />
The President is believed to have, while in<br />
Australia, called for the meeting to break the<br />
ice in the frosty relationship between the<br />
Federal Government and the states.<br />
“We operate under the instruction of our<br />
governors. If our governors ask us to<br />
attend the FAAC meeting, we will do so. But<br />
for now, we do not have such instruction,”<br />
a Commissioner said.<br />
A meeting of the Nigerian Governors Forum<br />
(NGF) will precede today’s meeting with the<br />
President.<br />
The governors are also battling the Federal<br />
Government over the Sovereign Wealth<br />
Fund (SWF) and the review of the revenue<br />
allocation formula.<br />
They are at the Supreme Court seeking the<br />
declaration of the SWF as illegalChima Martinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17679897632309694705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440537643284713379.post-81754239861977623112011-10-31T22:45:00.000-07:002011-10-31T22:45:14.992-07:00Nigeria: Another explosion hitsMaiduguriA loud explosion rocked the troubled North<br />
Eastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri on<br />
Sunday. Residents of the area in which it<br />
occurred, Bulabulin Ngarnam, say it was an<br />
attack on a military patrol vehicle.<br />
It has not been ascertained if there were<br />
deaths or injuries linked to the explosion<br />
which some residents described as "the<br />
loudest heard so far in the city".<br />
"Nobody knows the extent of the damage<br />
because the area has been cordoned off by<br />
soldiers," said Hammadi Yakubu, a resident.<br />
Another resident, Bunu Zarabe, said he saw<br />
an ambulance speeding out of the area with<br />
a military van behind it.<br />
Residents in the neighbourhood have<br />
begun fleeing the area, out of fears of a<br />
military raid in response to the blasts.<br />
Soldiers have, in the past, been accused of<br />
rampaging though neighbourhoods after<br />
such explosions, killing residents, burning<br />
homes and claiming locals cooperated with<br />
the Boko Haram sect.<br />
Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, has been<br />
hit by series of attacks blamed on Boko<br />
Haram, an Islamist sect which claimed<br />
responsibility for the bombing of the United<br />
Nations headquarters in Abuja that killed at<br />
least 24 people.<br />
Earlier this month, the military in Borno<br />
State said criminals were hiding "under the<br />
pretence of Boko Haram to commit crimes"<br />
in the state, and set a deadline of October<br />
31 for residents to turn in all illegal<br />
weapons and explosives in their<br />
possession.<br />
"Those who refuse to surrender their arms<br />
would face consequences after the<br />
expiration of the deadline," the Military's<br />
statement read.<br />
Police and Military officials could not be<br />
reached for comments on the new<br />
explosion.Chima Martinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17679897632309694705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440537643284713379.post-38300858741408390912011-10-31T22:41:00.001-07:002011-10-31T22:41:33.727-07:00Keshi cold to interim coach offerThe Technical Committee of the Nigeria<br />
Football Federation may,. today,<br />
announce Stephen Keshi as Samson<br />
Siasia’s successor.<br />
This is coming after officials of the<br />
federation held discussions with Keshi.<br />
But there are issues that they may<br />
resolve before he would accept the job<br />
wholeheartedly.<br />
The federation plans to appoint him as a<br />
caretaker coach. The appointment<br />
would, therefore, be on interim basis.<br />
Keshi, we gathered, is cold to the offer<br />
although he has, in principle, accepted to<br />
train the Eagles.<br />
However, the offer coming at a time<br />
Togo and Rwanda were also after him,<br />
Keshi is said not to be comfortable with<br />
an interim job.<br />
“It will not make for his absolute<br />
concentration on his job,” his agent said,<br />
adding “it is not about Keshi as a person,<br />
it is about the job.<br />
He needs to settle down immediately to<br />
map out a four year programme or<br />
thereabout and plan how to implement<br />
them in stages. Appointing him interim<br />
coach will not be good for him and will<br />
also not be good for Nigeria. He needs<br />
confidence to build a strong team.”<br />
But a member of the Technical<br />
Committee and one other Executive<br />
Committee member all explained that the<br />
interim appointment had to be made to<br />
avoid the bureaucratic way of<br />
appointing coaches. They assured that<br />
on acceptance of the job, Keshi would<br />
not stay long before he will be<br />
confirmed the substantive coach.Chima Martinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17679897632309694705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440537643284713379.post-13259603751757116612011-10-31T22:35:00.000-07:002011-10-31T22:35:29.108-07:00Bayelsa: PDP NWC decides Sylva’s fate this week ...As Appeal panel submits report to PDP leadershipABUJA – THE national leadership of the<br />
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP yesterday<br />
received the report of the Appeal<br />
Screening Committee which arbitrated<br />
alleged petitions raised against the<br />
embattled Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr.<br />
Timipire Sylva.<br />
Following the receipt of the panel report,<br />
members of the National Working<br />
Committee, NWC went into a marathon<br />
meeting where the report was<br />
reportedly compared with that earlier<br />
submitted by the Screening Committee. A<br />
definitive statement on the fate of the<br />
Governor and his leading challenger, Mr.<br />
Timi Alaibe, the erstwhile Managing<br />
Director of the Niger Delta Development<br />
Commission, NDDC is coming out this<br />
week Nigeria Naira News learnt.<br />
At the NWC meeting presided over by<br />
the Acting National Chairman of the PDP,<br />
Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje at the<br />
party’s campaign office, Legacy house,<br />
Abuja the party officials were said to<br />
have deliberated on the Appeal Panel<br />
report that reportedly raised issues with<br />
the appropriateness of Governor Sylva<br />
representing the party in the<br />
forthcoming polls.<br />
Nigeria Naira News gathered yesterday that the<br />
Appeal panel questioned the manner the<br />
screening committee overlooked certain<br />
issues that were raised against<br />
Governor Sylva bothering on security,<br />
financial impropriety, among others.<br />
According to a source present at the<br />
meeting, the NWC is now faced with the<br />
challenge of either ratifying or rejecting<br />
the report of the Appeal panel led by<br />
Mrs. Abiodun Olujimi, the former<br />
Governor of Ekiti State.<br />
It will be recalled that the screening<br />
panel had in Port Harcourt screened<br />
Governor Sylva, Alaibe, Ex-Director-<br />
General, Nigeria Television Authority,<br />
NTA, Mr. Ben Murray-Bruce, Henry<br />
Dickson, Boloubo Orufa and Francis<br />
Doukpola.<br />
At the end of the exercise, Governor<br />
Sylva, Ben Murray-Bruce, Dickson,<br />
Boloubo Orufa were cleared; while<br />
Alaibe and the Permanent Secretary,<br />
Ministry of Water Resouces, Ambassador<br />
Godknows Igali failed to scale the<br />
screening.<br />
Following the clearance, Governor Sylva,<br />
Alaibe, Bruce were, however, summoned<br />
to face the Appeal Panel following issues<br />
that were raised before the panel that<br />
were reportedly overlooked by the<br />
Brigadier-General Idi Adamu led<br />
screening panel.<br />
Efforts made to get the PDP National<br />
Publicity Secretary, Professor Rufai<br />
Ahmed Alkali to comment on the<br />
outcome of the meeting proved<br />
abortive as his phone was put off.<br />
Governor Sylva yesterday, nevertheless<br />
debunked reports that he has been<br />
screened out of the Bayelsa PDP<br />
governorship primaries by the Olujimi<br />
committee.<br />
In a statement made available to<br />
journalists yesterday by his Chief Press<br />
Secretary, Doife Ola, Sylva who noted<br />
that his camp read with horror a report<br />
that he has been screened out by PDP<br />
for the 2012 Bayelsa State gubernatorial<br />
election, said, “the report claims the<br />
Gubernatorial Screening Appeal<br />
Committee of the PDP headed by former<br />
Ekiti State Deputy Governor, Mrs.<br />
Abiodun Olujimi, considered Sylva<br />
ineligible to fly the party’s flag “for<br />
operating foreign accounts.<br />
“Whatever the quality of the sources,<br />
this report is completely false. It is low<br />
quality fiction. It is a cheap lie sponsored<br />
by those who are afraid to meet<br />
Governor Sylva in the political field of<br />
contest, and their paid and unpaid<br />
agents, working collectively or severally.<br />
“But then, we are not surprised as it<br />
follows a familiar pattern of a structured<br />
campaign of serial untruths about<br />
Governor Sylva, a fact we alerted the<br />
world about last weekend.<br />
“For the avoidance of doubt, there is no<br />
basis whatsoever for the PDP to exclude<br />
Governor Sylva from the 2012 Bayelsa<br />
governorship race. He is the man to<br />
beat. Ownership and operation of a<br />
foreign account by a serving public<br />
officer is a criminal offence. No<br />
competent court of law has indicted<br />
Governor Sylva for operating a foreign<br />
account. He has no such charge pending<br />
anywhere in the world. God forbid!<br />
“The PDP Gubernatorial Screening<br />
Committee for Bayelsa last Friday issued<br />
Governor Sylva a clearance certificate to<br />
participate in the party primaries slated<br />
for 19 November. That clearance<br />
certificate remains valid.<br />
“It is true that the governor was at the<br />
national headquarters of the PDP Sunday<br />
afternoon at the instance of the<br />
Gubernatorial Screening Appeal<br />
Committee. But as Sylva himself<br />
confidently told reporters after meeting<br />
with the committee, ‘the deliberations<br />
were fruitful”.<br />
The governor however appealed to his<br />
supporters to continue to remain calm,<br />
peaceful and law-abiding, just as he<br />
expressed optimism that in the<br />
prevailing circumstance the will of the<br />
Bayelsa people shall ultimately prevail.Chima Martinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17679897632309694705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440537643284713379.post-91464830620947293192011-10-31T22:29:00.001-07:002011-10-31T22:29:24.165-07:00Realities facing headlong deregulationIt is no longer news that the Federal<br />
Government has developed cold feet<br />
over going ahead with the planned<br />
removal of petroleum subsidy, which<br />
will herald the full commencement of<br />
deregulation of the downstream<br />
petroleum sector.<br />
Government’s indecision follows<br />
mounting criticisms against the plan,<br />
which many believe would increase the<br />
hardship of the common man. This is<br />
because if allowed to run, the price of<br />
petrol would be as high as N140/ per<br />
litre, while kerosene, the fuel for the<br />
common man will be as high as N155/L,<br />
according to the latest market data on<br />
the Petroleum Products Pricing<br />
Regulatory Agency, PPPRA’s website.<br />
Both petrol and kerosene are currently<br />
enjoying subsidy, which put their retail<br />
prices at N65/L and N50/L respectively.<br />
By removing subsidy, government said<br />
it would be saving about N1.3 trillion per<br />
annum, which it plans to use to shore up<br />
other sectors of the economy, such as<br />
infrastructure provisions particularly for<br />
effective downstream operations.As<br />
shown in the table above, between<br />
2006 and 2011, the Federal Government<br />
of Nigeria has spent in excess of N3.56<br />
trillion, a huge burden that has weighed<br />
heavily on its finances in view of<br />
numerous needs.<br />
Apart from being a huge resource drain,<br />
the subsidy regime is open to<br />
corruption, with the Minister of<br />
Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-<br />
Madueke, admitting that checking<br />
marketers’ sharp practices had become<br />
intractable.<br />
According to her, rather than the masses<br />
benefiting from the system as originally<br />
intended, “the majority of the subsidies<br />
were actually going to the middle line<br />
operators.”<br />
Against this backdrop she added, “It has<br />
become pertinent that we find other<br />
ways to utilize vast resources that are<br />
being channelled into subsidy, which are<br />
not reaching the masses.”<br />
Going forward, she said government<br />
would set up an advisory body or a<br />
think tank, “who would monitor and<br />
advise,” as government would not<br />
handle the implementation of these<br />
benefits.<br />
How prepared are stakeholders for<br />
deregulation?<br />
As the arguments go back and forth on<br />
the wisdom of the subsidy removal,<br />
many believe that the downstream<br />
sector is not fully prepared,<br />
infrastructure-wise for deregulation.<br />
For instance, what are the states of the<br />
refineries, can the Nigerian National<br />
Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, the<br />
operators of the four refineries cope<br />
with the fuel needs of Nigerians?<br />
If not, can the Federal Government cope<br />
with continuous products importation<br />
and the attendant capital flight and<br />
attendant offshore jobs creation<br />
associated with it?<br />
In terms of infrastructures are<br />
petroleum marketers – majors or<br />
independents or depot operators fully<br />
prepared for the challenges of<br />
deregulation in terms of depot and<br />
storage facilities, jetties and a host of<br />
others?<br />
Are the regulatory authorities – the<br />
Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR<br />
and the PPPRA fully equipped to enforce<br />
market discipline, and check sharp<br />
practices, so that consumers do not<br />
suffer unduly on account of operators’<br />
recklessness?<br />
These unanswered questions make<br />
market analysts believe that<br />
government is putting the cart before<br />
the horse, as these issues should have<br />
been dispensed with before announcing<br />
the intent to deregulate.<br />
Current demand/supply reality<br />
Local Refining – the existing four<br />
refineries have combined capacity of<br />
445,000 barrels per day, bpd. Over the<br />
past five years the refineries only<br />
contributed between 4% and 20% to<br />
the national PMS/petrol consumption,<br />
according to PPPR calculations.<br />
Products Importation – the tempo of<br />
importation activities have increased<br />
due to lack of local refining capacity and<br />
the guaranteed cost recovery for<br />
importers through the Subsidy Scheme,<br />
PSF.<br />
National Consumption – there has been a<br />
noticeable increase in the national<br />
consumption of petroleum products.<br />
PMS national daily consumption for<br />
example currently stands at 35 million<br />
litres from the initially observed 30<br />
million litres, and Kerosene 8million litres<br />
up from 6 million litres in previous years<br />
respectively.<br />
NNPC embarks on refineries<br />
rehabilitation<br />
The NNPC enjoys monopoly on refining<br />
in Nigeria, as it is the operator of the<br />
nation’s existing refineries. However, in<br />
view of current realities, the corporation<br />
is not deriving maximum benefits from<br />
its monopoly status, as it should because<br />
of the very poor state of the refineries.<br />
NNPC’s Group Executive Director,<br />
Refining and Petrochemicals, Mr. Phil<br />
Chukwu, in a no-holds-barred interview<br />
with Sweetcrude, is the first to admit<br />
that NNPC cannot cope and compete<br />
effectively under the current state of the<br />
refineries.<br />
He said, “The question has been asked<br />
that can we survive deregulation. And<br />
the answer is that the way we are<br />
today, no! For us to survive we must<br />
look at how can we make the refineries<br />
efficient.”<br />
Chukwu disclosed that the search for<br />
efficiency plunged the NNPC into a<br />
rehabilitation programme that will<br />
revamp, maintain and prepare the<br />
refineries for possible future capacity<br />
expansion.<br />
The rehabilitation programme is<br />
expected to last for a couple of years,<br />
because according him, it goes beyond<br />
mere turn round maintenance, TAM, a<br />
routine structure that the refineries<br />
have not enjoyed for decades.<br />
He explained, “Although we have<br />
invested, we’ve done some turn around<br />
maintenance, but you find that these are<br />
usually very far in between.<br />
Instead of doing them in three year<br />
cycles, we wait till sometimes 10 years<br />
and more. So, many things have<br />
happened and what we are trying to do<br />
today is to look at the problems from<br />
different angles. We look at the plant<br />
itself, the different ones I have<br />
mentioned, we also look at the supply<br />
chain because crude comes from the<br />
fields and tank farms into the refineries.<br />
They go through pipelines and all that<br />
and when the petroleum products are<br />
produced, they also go through<br />
pipelines into depots, tank farms or<br />
hauled by road to where they are<br />
needed. These are all areas we must look<br />
at.<br />
“Then the third bit of the problem is the<br />
people. How have we been operating<br />
these refineries, do we have the<br />
necessary skills to achieve the objectives<br />
of these refineries. So we look at the<br />
plants, we look at the supply chain and<br />
then we look at the people. So, in our<br />
rehabilitation efforts, we are going to<br />
address these three key elements.<br />
“For us to survive, we must move away<br />
from our current production levels of<br />
60% and the fact that some of the units<br />
downstream are not functioning very<br />
effectively, so we must fix them. In<br />
fixing them, it is not a one-day thing, it<br />
is something that must be planned<br />
properly – gathering data, doing<br />
feasibility studies, scoping, doing the<br />
design and all and at the end of the day<br />
you are guaranteed the time when you<br />
finish and you are also guaranteed your<br />
costs. But if you don’t do it very well,<br />
you are bound to mid-way start to go<br />
here and there, trying to solve problems<br />
that should have been solved before<br />
you started.”<br />
Regulators perspectives<br />
Downstream regulators in the DPR were<br />
weary to comment on the planned<br />
deregulation when contacted severally<br />
by Sweetcrude, but its PPPRA<br />
counterpart had a whole lot of<br />
arguments in favour of deregulation.<br />
According to the PPPRA, “Deregulation<br />
and price liberalisation of the<br />
downstream oil sector constitutes the<br />
basis for medium to long term reforms<br />
within the downstream petroleum<br />
sector.”<br />
This, it noted, will to introduce<br />
competition, enhance efficiency, and<br />
improve products supply, just as<br />
appropriate and liberalised pricing<br />
framework will help reduce<br />
inefficiencies in sourcing, refining,<br />
marketing, supply and distribution of<br />
petroleum products.<br />
It further argued that “the elimination or<br />
reduction of unsustainable subsidy<br />
burden on government and allow<br />
deployment of resources to fund critical<br />
infrastructure and vital social sector<br />
spending is critical to revamping the<br />
sector.”<br />
It also said that a deregulated sector will<br />
facilitate the operation and management<br />
of pipelines and storage facilities under<br />
the Open Access, Common Carrier<br />
regime.<br />
Notwithstanding its numerous<br />
advantages, the PPPRA was quick to<br />
note that “Deregulation/liberalisation<br />
must be accompanied by infrastructural<br />
development, institutional and<br />
regulatory reforms,” to encourage<br />
prospective investors.<br />
Some of the areas begging for<br />
infrastructure upgrade in the<br />
downstream the PPPRA enumerated<br />
include, adequate import reception<br />
facility, which it said will reduce the<br />
demurrage exposure experienced in<br />
products handling.<br />
• Investment in storage facility and<br />
network of pipelines as we move<br />
through the creation of a National<br />
Strategic Fuel Reserves, NSFR<br />
• The existing pipelines need to be<br />
refurbished and adequately maintained.<br />
• There is no pipeline network in the<br />
North West region. Could be an<br />
opportunity for investment<br />
• Also, developing surveillance system<br />
of the pipeline network in view of the<br />
incessant pipeline vandalism.<br />
Marketers also keep mum<br />
None of the representatives of the<br />
various marketing groups were willing<br />
to speak on their level of preparedness<br />
for deregulation and challenges ahead.<br />
The Major Marketers Association of<br />
Nigeria, MOMAN; Independent Petroleum<br />
Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN;<br />
Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers<br />
Association, DPPMA; and the Jetty and<br />
Petroleum Tanker Farm Operators of<br />
Nigeria, JEPTFON, all had nothing to say.<br />
But under the condition of anonymity, a<br />
DAPPMA member insisted that<br />
deregulation is the only way forward,<br />
adding that the only issue at stake is,<br />
“the sincerity of government to pull it<br />
through because we have been on the<br />
process for over 10 years now.”<br />
He noted that the only reason why<br />
deregulation has suddenly become a big<br />
issue is because “government is cash-<br />
strapped, and because of increasing<br />
pressure from state governments for<br />
increase in allocation in the light of the<br />
new minimum wage, government is<br />
trying to save from every possible<br />
way.”<br />
He argued that his members have<br />
invested heavily in storage facilities and<br />
were waiting to get on with the process<br />
and begin to reap the dividends from<br />
their investments.<br />
But most marketers of the petroleum<br />
products marketers had borrowed from<br />
the banks at very high interest rates to<br />
finance their projects and may not start<br />
making profits anytime soon. With the<br />
clamp down on administrative<br />
recklessness by the Central Bank of<br />
Nigeria, CBN, banks are under pressure<br />
to recover their loans.<br />
Moreover, with the acquisition and<br />
takeover of some of the distressed<br />
banks by new management and some<br />
with international affiliations, the fear of<br />
these downstream facilities being placed<br />
under receivership has heightened.<br />
In the face of these challenges,<br />
government may well continue the<br />
burden of subsidy longer than expected,<br />
except it takes the drastic step of full<br />
blown deregulation after certain<br />
structures have been put in place.Chima Martinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17679897632309694705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440537643284713379.post-26714181972583527392011-10-31T22:25:00.001-07:002011-10-31T22:25:47.298-07:00We’ve been selling products below costwith subsidies – Phil ChukwuMr. Phil Chukwu, the group executive<br />
director in charge of refining and<br />
petrochemicals at the Nigerian National<br />
Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, is a<br />
focused and driven man. Before his<br />
current posting at the corporation, he<br />
had occupied other portfolios including<br />
that of group general manager, NAPIMS,<br />
group executive director, exploration<br />
and production, among others.<br />
In this interview with Hector<br />
Igbikiowubo and Clara Nwachukwu of<br />
Sweetcrude, he speaks passionately<br />
about how the refineries fell into<br />
disrepair, plans to rehabilitate them and<br />
restore production to 90 per cent<br />
installed capacity. He talks about the<br />
need to position the refineries to<br />
operate in a deregulated environment,<br />
among other issues.<br />
Excerpts:<br />
Can you give us an update on the state<br />
of the four refineries – the two in Port<br />
Harcourt, and the ones in Warri and<br />
Kaduna?<br />
Let me first of all say that we see the<br />
refineries as three refineries because<br />
Port Harcourt has two refineries in one –<br />
so we talk about the 210,000 barrel<br />
refineries in Port Harcourt.<br />
In Kaduna, we have a refinery and a<br />
petrochemical plant attached to it.<br />
Actually, in Kaduna there are two plants<br />
– the fuels plant which uses Escravos<br />
Crude, and there is the Lubes plant,<br />
which uses imported heavier crude.<br />
Also, there is the LAB, which uses some<br />
of the products from these refineries to<br />
produce linear alkaline benzene, which is<br />
a raw material for detergents. From this<br />
also, we produce base oil from the Lubes<br />
plant for lubes, wax for candles etc. So in<br />
Kaduna, you may be talking about three<br />
separate plants – the fuels, the lubes and<br />
the LAB. Then the tin and drum is for<br />
packaging.<br />
In Warri, you have the refinery, and<br />
then the petrochemicals – the PP or clean<br />
plant as it is called and the carbon black<br />
plant as well, so you also have about<br />
three of them.<br />
Phil Chukwu<br />
You can now see how complex these<br />
refineries are and for us to have the full<br />
benefits of these investments, we must<br />
have all of these units work.<br />
Unfortunately, over time, the refineries<br />
have not been operating optimally, they<br />
are not doing well, and we are doing<br />
very poorly.<br />
I believe, if I may say that even though<br />
we can do about 60 percent, that is the<br />
inlets or DCUs- Crude Dispensing Units, if<br />
they can take about 60 percent of the<br />
name plate capacity, even though we<br />
can do that, the other units also have<br />
issues because they are not producing<br />
optimally. Therefore, you find that the<br />
yield slate we have is not being<br />
achieved in the refineries. This is<br />
because of many years of not investing<br />
in these refineries.<br />
Although we have invested, we’ve done<br />
some turn around maintenance, but you<br />
find that these are usually very far in<br />
between. Instead of doing them in three<br />
year cycles, we wait till sometimes 10<br />
years and more. So, many things have<br />
happened and what we are trying to do<br />
today is to look at the problems from<br />
different angles. We look at the plant<br />
itself, the different ones I have<br />
mentioned, we also look at the supply<br />
chain because crude comes from the<br />
fields and tank farms into the refineries.<br />
They go through pipelines and all that<br />
and when the petroleum products are<br />
produced, they also go through<br />
pipelines into depots, tank farms or<br />
hauled by road to where they are<br />
needed. These are all areas we must look<br />
at.<br />
Then the third bit of the problem is the<br />
people. How have we been operating<br />
these refineries, do we have the<br />
necessary skills to achieve the objectives<br />
of these refineries. So we look at the<br />
plants, we look at the supply chain and<br />
then we look at the people. So, in our<br />
rehabilitation efforts, we are going to<br />
address these three key elements.<br />
And how far have you gone with<br />
tackling any of these problems?<br />
The programmes have started, we call it<br />
refineries rehabilitation programme. For<br />
instance, the Port Harcourt initially<br />
started with a turn-around programme,<br />
and they’ve gone as far as placing<br />
orders for long lead items, and we have<br />
also visited some of the contractors<br />
because what we are doing is that those<br />
who built the refineries will be the ones<br />
to do the jobs for us. We have<br />
understanding with Technimont that<br />
was proposed by JGC.<br />
JGC is unable to come for several<br />
reasons – there is a Japanese<br />
Government’s advisory that Japanese<br />
companies should not come to the Niger<br />
Delta. So that is an issue, and we’ve<br />
visited them in Japan trying to make<br />
them understand, and the Ministry of<br />
External affairs is assisting us in this<br />
respect. So we are trying to convince<br />
them so that the Japanese Government<br />
can change their advisory from a high<br />
alert level, to maybe a moderate one so<br />
that these people can come. But the<br />
situation today is that they are unable to<br />
come. But they said they will work with<br />
Technimont, who has been partnering<br />
with them all around the world. So<br />
Technimont will be there to work, with<br />
JGC in the background.<br />
For Kaduna, Kaduna was built by<br />
Chyoda, and Chyoda is going to come<br />
and they have agreed to come, even<br />
though they are Japanese as well, but<br />
they are not going to the Niger Delta,<br />
which is where they have an advisory.<br />
Chyoda have agreed to come, we were<br />
in Japan and we met with them and we<br />
are working at how we can come to an<br />
agreement for them to come.<br />
For Warri, we have Saipem, which is the<br />
successor of Snamprogetti, who built the<br />
refinery. Snamprogetti has been<br />
acquired by Saipem, so it’s a unit of<br />
Saipem; they are ready because they are<br />
on ground in Nigeria so we don’t have a<br />
problem with them.<br />
So all three<br />
contractors<br />
have been<br />
identified, we<br />
are also<br />
engaging<br />
NETCO, working<br />
with Technip,<br />
an<br />
internationally<br />
renowned<br />
company with<br />
a lot of experience in refinery work and<br />
they will act as consultants to NNPC.<br />
NETCO and Technip have formed a<br />
consortium, but NETCO is leading and<br />
they will now act as consultants to us.<br />
We have started going round the<br />
refineries to gather data, do the<br />
inspection and auditing, gather all the<br />
data, scope the work, schedule it and do<br />
the cost estimates, prepare all the<br />
documentations for negotiations with<br />
the afore mentioned contractors.<br />
So we’ve gone along this route and we<br />
are currently engaging with NETCO and<br />
their partners to ensure that we wrap<br />
up agreements with them. But before<br />
then, they have already started work<br />
and their proposal is with us and we are<br />
in the process of negotiating with them.<br />
Going back to Port Harcourt and JGC, in<br />
the event the advisory is not vacated,<br />
what happens, or do you have an<br />
alternative arrangement in place?<br />
Let me assure you that Technimont is a<br />
very competent company, they’ve<br />
worked for us in that refinery and they<br />
partner with JGC all across the world, so<br />
they don’t have an issue. Actually, it was<br />
JGC that suggested we work with them<br />
and we believe that they have all the<br />
competences required. They even<br />
worked on the Eleme Petrochemical<br />
Company.<br />
We also know that the Port Harcourt<br />
Refinery over the years has been<br />
bedeviled by electricity supply issues, is<br />
there any plan to tackle that problem<br />
head on?<br />
Yes, we have two initiatives – one is to<br />
refurbish the existing electricity supply<br />
system, which is the steam turbine. The<br />
problem we have there is because of the<br />
water quality producing steam to drive<br />
the turbines. So we are fixing that. But<br />
the main plant, which removes all the<br />
minerals from the water, we have a<br />
contract in the process and once that is<br />
concluded, they will award contract for<br />
the placement of a mini plant, which<br />
produces the water, which goes to the<br />
boiler and from the boiler, you have<br />
steam that drives the turbine. So, this<br />
system is being worked on.<br />
The second system is where you have a<br />
reliable power generation system just<br />
like you have in Warri, to have a gas<br />
fired generator. In that case what we<br />
are doing is, we are talking to two<br />
companies and as soon as we conclude,<br />
in fact, the papers are going to be<br />
considered in GEC, if the GEC meeting<br />
holds today, we will look at what has<br />
been proposed, select the best one and<br />
begin to work with them to install a<br />
turbo generator inside the compound in<br />
Port Harcourt. That will be an alternative<br />
to the existing system.<br />
This doesn’t sound too salutary an<br />
alternative considering the issues we<br />
have with gas, so how will it play out?<br />
We don’t have that many issues with<br />
gas because there is already a gas<br />
pipeline that comes into the Port<br />
Harcourt refinery. The volume of gas<br />
required is something like for 30<br />
Megawatts power generation, so it<br />
won’t require that large volume of gas.<br />
Already there is a pipeline taking gas<br />
across that area and all we need is to<br />
key into the refinery.<br />
The interventions or programmes you<br />
have mentioned so far appear to be<br />
moving at snail speed, which is usually<br />
the case with executing policies in<br />
Nigeria?<br />
The snail speed you’re talking about, let<br />
me tell you that in engineering projects<br />
you don’t just jump into it, you must<br />
plan properly else, you’ll have problems<br />
in implementation and that is what you<br />
must avoid. If you want it to happen<br />
today, it’s not going to happen. When<br />
our consultants finish their work, then<br />
you’ll know the proper time schedule.<br />
We are looking at three elements in the<br />
implementation. The first one is to<br />
revamp the refineries the way they are<br />
today in the immediate short term. We<br />
look at the refineries, there are things<br />
that need to be replaced, some cleaning<br />
up and all that and we’ll do that. The<br />
next stage is the upgrade; you’ll agree<br />
with me that in the time we are talking<br />
about 25-30 years that these refineries<br />
have been there, technology has<br />
changed, and if technology has moved<br />
on, you need to also adapt to new<br />
technologies. So we the upgrade<br />
segment, after the initial revamping, you<br />
have the upgrade and if subsequently<br />
you want to expand these refineries,<br />
you can go ahead and refine them.<br />
These are some of the things that we<br />
hope to do.<br />
The first bit is to revamp the refineries,<br />
clean them up, change the parts that are<br />
rusty to make it more efficient, but it<br />
remains the way it is. Then you go to<br />
the upgrade side, this will increase the<br />
efficiency because we are introducing<br />
the latest technology in refining, then<br />
the final stage is if we want to expand<br />
the refineries. But we are not talking<br />
about that now. These are the things we<br />
plan to do and our schedule will address<br />
the first part – revamping, and then<br />
address the second one, and we take<br />
them in stages like that.<br />
In order to address this concern, can we<br />
look at the time line, how soon do you<br />
expect a feedback from your<br />
consultants?<br />
Let’s not look at my consultants because<br />
what we have or the directive we have<br />
from thee management – the minister<br />
and government is that we will do the<br />
Port Harcourt 1 for one year, the other<br />
one we will do for two years. The Port<br />
Harcourt 1 like I told you, we’ve already<br />
ordered for the long lead items. I<br />
personally went to Japan to speak to<br />
some of those who manufacture these<br />
components, so went to their offices<br />
one by one. We spoke with them and<br />
got agreement with them on when they<br />
can bring them in. the actual bit of<br />
during the time when they will actually<br />
do the work on ground will be say<br />
during a two month or three month<br />
period. What you have is from now to<br />
probably August-September will be for<br />
the manufacture of spares and<br />
equipment that we need and once they<br />
arrive, the actual work of installation<br />
and integration will commence<br />
immediately.<br />
We have been given one year and we<br />
are trying to work within one year, but<br />
the revamping bit, if we now need to<br />
move ahead, then that is another<br />
segment of the work. Our objective at<br />
the end of the day is to achieve about<br />
90 percent of the name plate capacity<br />
for Port Harcourt and all other ones.<br />
Today, Warri is the best that we have.<br />
But you see, one of the problems we<br />
have in Port Harcourt is that it is the new<br />
Port Harcourt that we will address<br />
during this phase. The old Port Harcourt<br />
is really in totally bad shape and that<br />
one will be included in a longer term<br />
work and this will come in with the<br />
upgrade because you have to really go<br />
into it and do detail work in order to<br />
upgrade it to a standard where it can<br />
produce on the basis of the name plate<br />
capacity.<br />
For the purposes of clarity, the 90%<br />
you’re looking at is for Port Harcourt 2,<br />
the 150,000 barrels?<br />
Yes, the 150,000 of the new Port<br />
Harcourt. The old one has not been<br />
functioning for a very long time,<br />
therefore a lot more work needs to be<br />
done there. Port Harcourt is doing 66%<br />
as at yesterday. But you have to<br />
understand also that the FCC – Fluid<br />
Catalytic Cracking unit has not been<br />
working because of power issue. So<br />
once the power issue is solved, in fact,<br />
they are trying to bring back the FCC<br />
today.<br />
A little more clarity, if you say the<br />
refinery is doing about 66%, yet the FCC<br />
is not working, how is that?<br />
The explanation is that the CDU that is<br />
the unit that brings in crude and when<br />
refineries report their performance that<br />
is what they report. The other units will<br />
take input from the CDUs and other units<br />
to function; the FCC gets it raw materials<br />
from the VDU and then processes it. So<br />
what the FCC does is to increase the<br />
volume of PMS that you are producing.<br />
But in reporting the 90% I am talking<br />
about, is from the CDU, what the refinery<br />
can take in at any particular time. So<br />
now it is now our responsibility to<br />
ensure that these other units function<br />
optimally so that whatever is passed<br />
into them is also processed.<br />
In real terms, the refineries supposedly<br />
get 450 000, barrels per day, what<br />
volume of this are you able to process?<br />
I’ve given you an average for all the<br />
refineries, if you talk about an average<br />
of 60%, it will be 60% of 450,000. But<br />
this fluctuates because it is not that at<br />
any particular point in time you have<br />
just that same volume, it could be<br />
higher, it depends on how the refineries<br />
are functioning. But the issue with the<br />
refineries in terms of the restrictions of<br />
the crude you pass into it, is not because<br />
the refineries are not functioning all the<br />
time. There are other issues. There are<br />
the issues of bringing in the crude,<br />
sometimes, you are processing and the<br />
crude line is broken. You process what<br />
you have and if you finish processing<br />
that, you have to wait.<br />
In sum, when you are looking at the<br />
average, you are doing lower than what<br />
you expected to do, and that is what the<br />
issue is. A lot of problems associated<br />
with the refineries come with the<br />
availability of crude.<br />
Let us look at another level of the<br />
problem, the limited authority in terms<br />
of approval limits the managements of<br />
the refineries enjoy are rather small, has<br />
this been addressed?<br />
That has been addressed. The federal<br />
Government has changed the level of<br />
financial authority for most of the<br />
ministries, departments and agencies<br />
and we have adopted that. Today, the<br />
approval limit at the refinery is<br />
substantially more than what it used to<br />
be in the past. So I don’t see that as a<br />
problem.<br />
Given your explanations, it appears the<br />
turn-around maintenance will take<br />
longer than anticipated?<br />
What we are doing is rehabilitation not<br />
turn around. Rehabilitation is more of<br />
TAM + because you have to do a lot<br />
more. TAM is a routine thing, but this<br />
time around, we are not talking about<br />
the routine because when we should<br />
have done Port Harcourt, we are talking<br />
about several years back. Now we are<br />
trying to do it and in addition to that, we<br />
are talking about all the others like<br />
power system, the de-bottlenecking of<br />
the FCC.<br />
When the Port Harcourt refinery was<br />
built, it was originally designed at<br />
100,000 p/d, then I think there was a<br />
plan to build another refinery in Calabar,<br />
but that one failed, so government<br />
decided they should increase the Port<br />
Harcourt to 150,000 barrels. But in<br />
increasing it to 150, 000, the FCC unit<br />
was not increased. Recall also that the<br />
old Port Harcourt refinery was just a<br />
topping refinery but it didn’t have FCC, it<br />
had to also use the existing one. So you<br />
have to de-bottleneck it this time<br />
around. You have to increase its<br />
capacity or you add another unit that<br />
will handle it to increase the volume that<br />
it has to take. So the work on ground is<br />
beyond turn around maintenance.<br />
Given these scenarios, from a layman’s<br />
point of view is it not just better to build<br />
new modular refineries?<br />
No, I don’t agree. Having a modular<br />
refinery will be very small and I don’t<br />
see a company like NNPC going to have<br />
smaller refineries. But if we refurbish<br />
this one, we will do that at a cost that<br />
what you will spend here cannot even<br />
build one refinery. Do you know how<br />
much it will cost you today to build a<br />
refinery of this capacity? You’re talking<br />
about a combined 445,000 bpd refinery;<br />
it’s going to be a huge cost if you decide<br />
to build new ones. Why don’t you spend<br />
a fraction of the money you would have<br />
used to build this one up, do the<br />
technology upgrade. We have experts<br />
who have looked at them and can do it.<br />
We are also looking at the market, the<br />
market in Nigeria today is different from<br />
the market in Nigeria when some of<br />
these refineries were built. Therefore,<br />
the question is, when experts look at it,<br />
am not saying that is what will be done,<br />
but we can reconfigure the refineries to<br />
produce more of the products desired in<br />
this market than products that probably<br />
we can’t handle.<br />
Let’s take Kaduna for example, when it<br />
was designed, it was designed to<br />
produce asphalt, but how do we<br />
evacuate it, have we been able to<br />
successfully evacuate it. Yes, asphalt is<br />
needed in the country but since we<br />
have not been producing, have we not<br />
been using asphalt in the country?<br />
These are some of the things we have to<br />
look at, we have to look at the market,<br />
what does the market want? And we<br />
must be able to address the issue. These<br />
are some of the issues we are carrying<br />
out studies on and we hope at the right<br />
time we should be able to say we can do<br />
this to the refineries or leave them the<br />
way they are. But some of the will need<br />
twitching here and there, and I gave the<br />
example of the Port Harcourt Refinery.<br />
I also want note the situation in Warri,<br />
where there is a PC- Petrochemical plant,<br />
it has not worked for over 12 years and<br />
we hope that during this exercise we<br />
will be able to bring it back to life<br />
because it is also going to be a money<br />
earner for us.<br />
This brings us to a grave concern out<br />
there, which is part of what has brought<br />
the refineries to where they are today<br />
with regard to the frequent policy shifts<br />
in government and management. Won’t<br />
you say the NNPC will be better off<br />
partnering with the private sector for<br />
greater efficiency and less interference<br />
from government?<br />
Let me first of all say that the policies<br />
regarding refineries in Nigeria have<br />
been very consistent in the sense that<br />
there is hardly any government in<br />
Nigeria that does not desire optimum<br />
utilization of the capacity of the<br />
refineries, it has always been the same.<br />
They want the refineries to run well,<br />
they want them produce at optimum<br />
levels.<br />
Once this is done you may say that in<br />
implementation, there is scarcity of<br />
funds because there are competing<br />
needs in this country so if the funds are<br />
not there and the money is not invested<br />
at that time, we have this kind of<br />
problems occurring. So talking about<br />
policies, the policies have been very<br />
consistent.<br />
Secondly, am here today, am pursuing a<br />
policy of rehabilitating the refineries to<br />
make sure that the refineries are<br />
working at least 90% of their capacities,<br />
it is not just me but something being<br />
driven by the management of the NNPC<br />
and the government – the minister up to<br />
the president. They desire it and want<br />
this to happen. Why? From a selfish<br />
point of view, if we don’t do it, then we<br />
will b out of business tomorrow. If there<br />
is deregulation tomorrow and we are<br />
not able to do it we will be out of<br />
business, if we continue to produce at a<br />
higher cost, as an efficient organization,<br />
we should be able to sell below my<br />
costs; if I do that there will be no market<br />
for me. In the long run, I won’t even be<br />
able to refurbish my refineries, so these<br />
are some of the things that happened<br />
because the business structure was<br />
really such that we’ve been selling below<br />
costs with subsidies and all that, it<br />
distorts the market and we are unable to<br />
run a refinery in a business manner. And<br />
that is what deregulation will probably<br />
introduce and if we don’t do well, we’ll<br />
just phase out. So it is very important<br />
that we fix these refineries, from the<br />
NNPC’s point of view and bring it to the<br />
level where we are very competitive.<br />
Then when you are talking about joint<br />
ventures, I believe it is beyond me, it is<br />
government’s decision on what they<br />
want to do because they own the assets.<br />
If they decide tomorrow that they want<br />
to do it then they will.<br />
Would you then say the NNPC and the<br />
refineries are prepared for<br />
deregulation?<br />
That is what this programme is all about,<br />
it is geared towards making the<br />
refineries efficient and if the refineries<br />
are efficient they will be able to compete<br />
effectively in a deregulated<br />
environment. For us to be competitive<br />
and bring our refining costs to a level<br />
comparable to refineries across the<br />
world, then we should be able fix tem,<br />
once this is done, the products prices<br />
will be competitive as well.<br />
You raised a critical point about costs of<br />
your output; it’s contentious out there,<br />
because there are arguments that since<br />
the crude oil is here, the refineries here,<br />
the cost of producing a litre of petrol is<br />
relatively cheaper?<br />
Let me explain that the way it is today,<br />
PPMC buys the crude from government<br />
at the international market price. It is<br />
PPMC that sends this crude to the<br />
refineries, the refineries process it for<br />
the PPMC, which takes its products and<br />
sends it to the market. For the refineries,<br />
what they earn is the processing fees<br />
from PPMC. That is the structure on<br />
ground today.<br />
But we are looking at a structure where<br />
the refineries can buy their own crude,<br />
process and sell. This is happening in<br />
other places. I went to France to see<br />
how they are organized. They have<br />
what they call refining and marketing.<br />
They process their crude and sell the<br />
products. We are not running that today<br />
and we are looking at it. This is what<br />
was proposed in the PIB, where the<br />
refineries will buy their own crude,<br />
process it and sell to off-takers and that<br />
is an option we are looking at.<br />
So you find that PPMC also has a lot of<br />
issues, lines are vandalized, they lose a<br />
lot of the crude before it gets to the<br />
refineries and same thing when the<br />
products are produced before it gets to<br />
the end users. They carry the burden of<br />
these losses. If they eliminate these<br />
vandalism and all, the costs will be lower.<br />
I don’t know if this is still part of the PIB,<br />
it was proposed that the refineries will<br />
have a structure where they will become<br />
refining and marketing companies and<br />
take over most of the functions of the<br />
PPMC and a new company will be<br />
established to manage the pipelines<br />
such that when you use the pipeline,<br />
you pay a fee for it and it will be open<br />
for all users.<br />
So why were all these not done before<br />
full deregulation?<br />
The question has been asked that can<br />
we survive deregulation. And the<br />
answer is that the way we are today, no.<br />
For us to survive we must look at how<br />
can we make the refineries efficient. If<br />
you look at manufacturing in Nigeria, it<br />
is done at a very high cost, no matter<br />
which sector you are looking at –m with<br />
having to provide their own power and<br />
other facilities and the refineries are not<br />
an exception.<br />
Earlier on we were talking about how to<br />
give power the Port Harcourt refinery,<br />
you can’t rely on PHCN for power you<br />
have to build your own power plant and<br />
when you do this and buy gas and<br />
other inputs your costs will be higher<br />
than the ordinary power supplied by<br />
PHCN.<br />
So for us to survive, we must move<br />
away from our current production levels<br />
of 60% and the fact that some of the<br />
units downstream are not functioning<br />
very effectively, so we must fix them. In<br />
fixing them, it is not a one-day thing, it<br />
is something that must be planned<br />
properly – gathering data, doing<br />
feasibility studies, scoping, doing the<br />
design and all and at the end of the day<br />
you are guaranteed the time when you<br />
finish and you are also guaranteed your<br />
costs.<br />
But if you don’t do it very well, you are<br />
bound to mid-way start to go here and<br />
there, trying to solve problems that<br />
should have been solved before you<br />
started. This is what we are doing today,<br />
engaging those who must work with us<br />
and ensure that this thing works, those<br />
who have done it before. By the initial<br />
studies carried out, by March next year,<br />
we must begin to see changes for Port<br />
Harcourt. For the other refineries for the<br />
ones the items that we need to order,<br />
we have placed the orders so that by<br />
the time the ground work begins we<br />
have prepared everybody. We need also<br />
to address the skills of the workers, such<br />
that in upgrading the plants we are also<br />
upgrading the skills of the people.<br />
To this end we are planning to establish<br />
a refining school where people both old<br />
and new will be trained and gradually<br />
over the years they will be going back<br />
for retraining. It’s going to be hands on,<br />
to sharpen their skills, and improve<br />
health safety and environment<br />
knowledge so that they won’t burn<br />
down the refineries accidentally. Those<br />
already there today, we need to give<br />
them top up training, because when<br />
people have been in a place for too long<br />
there are certain behaviors they acquire<br />
which are not right. You need to correct<br />
that and you can only do that through<br />
training and retraining. These are what<br />
we are doing.<br />
I also mentioned the supply chain as the<br />
third element, if we don’t get the crude,<br />
say you pass in 445.000 bpd to the<br />
refineries and you lose 20% of this then<br />
you are not efficient. So there are<br />
integrity and security issues. Integrity in<br />
the sense that are these facilities solid<br />
and in good shape or because of old age<br />
have lost their strength and therefore<br />
can be burst anywhere and lose the<br />
products passed through them.<br />
The other is security, are we able to<br />
secure the pipelines and whose<br />
responsibilities are they? These ought to<br />
be addressed and once this is done you<br />
can be sure that when you pass in crude<br />
and get 99.9% into the refineries, your<br />
costs will be much, much lower. Same<br />
thing if you’re sure that you don’t lose<br />
your products, so the costs we are<br />
talking about today will be reduced. All<br />
these are parts of the costs that we<br />
incur in product losses along the<br />
pipelines.<br />
What about local content input in all of<br />
these?<br />
While talking about the refineries I<br />
mentioned all the contractors for the<br />
various refineries, I believe Nigerian<br />
content is also important. What we are<br />
doing is that because these companies<br />
built the refineries we decided that we<br />
invite them back for the big project.<br />
They know what it takes, they have the<br />
designs. In fact, when I went to Japan I<br />
met people who had fabricated some of<br />
the components for Port Harcourt and<br />
immediately they remembered and<br />
brought out drawing for Port Harcourt<br />
and gave to me. So that is the advantage<br />
of taking these people.<br />
So for the Nigerian content, we are<br />
producing a list of local contractors who<br />
are competent and who have been<br />
working in these refineries and we are<br />
going to ask them to sub-contract to<br />
these international companies where<br />
they have competence. This is one thing<br />
we are consciously doing to promote<br />
local content.Chima Martinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17679897632309694705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440537643284713379.post-60130550459024300062011-10-31T22:13:00.001-07:002011-10-31T22:13:17.814-07:00Chima Martinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17679897632309694705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440537643284713379.post-16987923177167374962011-10-31T00:28:00.000-07:002011-10-31T00:28:23.593-07:00Day of warHow LASU students dared Fashola, varsitymanagement over tuition fee hike…Vow to press on until government shelvesthe 725% incrementRecently, students of Lagos State University<br />
(LASU), Ojo, erupted like an active volcano.<br />
The students rose in protest against the new<br />
fees regime introduced by the Lagos State<br />
Government. However, at the World<br />
Teachers’ Day celebration on October 5 in<br />
Lagos, the Lagos State Commissioner for<br />
Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye, told<br />
newsmen that the state government would<br />
engage the Students Union in a dialogue over<br />
the approved fee hike.<br />
Now, the big question is: Was that done<br />
before the bubble burst on Thursday, October<br />
20, when the students of LASU took to the<br />
streets, barricading the Mile/Badagry<br />
Expressway, Iba Road and Old Ojo Road to<br />
protest the increment put in the region of<br />
over 725 per cent?<br />
The new tuition regime as recommended by<br />
the visitation panel and approved by the state<br />
government is as follows: College of Medicine,<br />
N348,750; Faculties of Arts and Education,<br />
N193,750; Faculty of Social and<br />
Management Sciences, N223,750; Law<br />
programmes, N248, 750; Faculty of<br />
Communication/ Transport, N238,750;<br />
Faculty of Science, N258,750 Faculty of<br />
Engineering, N298,750.<br />
Following the rejection of the increment by<br />
students, the university authorities summoned<br />
the union executives led by Akeem Durojaiye<br />
to a meeting with the Acting Vice Chancellor,<br />
Professor Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, and other<br />
principal officers of LASU. The students<br />
official position to the fee hike was made<br />
known at a briefing held at the Lagos State<br />
University College of Medicine, were they told<br />
the state government and the institution<br />
management in strong words of their stand<br />
and from there, it was obvious that the battle<br />
line had been drawn.<br />
Now another question is: Did the state<br />
government and LASU management<br />
underrate the students after the exchange of<br />
words over the fee hike? If they did, the<br />
protest of Thursday, October 20, certainly<br />
could not have caught LASU authorities<br />
unawares because by Wednesday evening, a<br />
day before the protest, the students had<br />
resolved to boycott the General Studies<br />
examination scheduled for the next day for<br />
100 and 300 level students and embark on a<br />
peaceful protest against the fee increment.<br />
By 8.00am on Thursday, the students led by<br />
their union leader, Durojaiye, had mobilised<br />
for the “daddy of all protests” despite the<br />
General Studies (GNS) exam slated for same<br />
day. But in a statement, the university<br />
authorities had warned to deal with any<br />
student found disturbing the peace of the<br />
institution, vowing to hand over such student<br />
(s) to the police. Expectedly, the statement<br />
did not move the students, who promptly shut<br />
down the university and took over the Mile/<br />
Badagry Expressway and adjoining roads.<br />
The arrival of policemen from Ojo Police<br />
post, including the area commander, did not<br />
stop the students from carrying out their<br />
protest against the fee hike as the security<br />
men, it was gathered, stood at a distance,<br />
watching the angry students barricade the<br />
Badagry Expressway with seized trailers,<br />
buses, and disused tyres, thus preventing<br />
traffic flow on the three major roads as well<br />
as locking the main entrance gate to the<br />
university.<br />
The students also disrupted the ongoing<br />
General Studies (GNS) examination, which<br />
involved 100 and 300 level students, switched<br />
off generating sets being used by some<br />
faculties, ordered banks operating on the<br />
campus to close for business and sent<br />
construction workers working on some<br />
projects on campus packing. The acting VC,<br />
Professor Olatunji-Bello, Registrar, Mr. L.O.<br />
Animashaun and the Bursar stayed away<br />
from the campus based on security advice.<br />
The statement from the university<br />
management only fuelled the protest as the<br />
students union president, Durojaiye,<br />
instructed the students to charge towards the<br />
administrative block. After their efforts to<br />
get into the building proved futile, they then<br />
put off the generating set and instructed the<br />
construction workers to cease work. They<br />
dared the management to sanction any<br />
student or hand over any of them to the<br />
police.<br />
The protest, which caught commuters<br />
unawares, disrupted traffic flow and<br />
commercial activities for over nine hours,<br />
leading to gridlock, stretching from LASU<br />
gate to under bridge bus-stop for those<br />
heading to Oshodi, Mile 2, Costain, while<br />
traffic flow from the Badagry end stretched<br />
from Alaba Rago up to Ijanikin area. Many<br />
commuters trekked for long distances.<br />
The angry students’ chanted anti-Fashola,<br />
Bola Tinubu and Action Congress of Nigeria<br />
(ACN) songs with some, carrying placards,<br />
describing the tuition fees increment as<br />
outrageous. They then questioned the<br />
rationale behind paying N18, 000 to state<br />
workers whose wards attend LASU and how<br />
they would get the money to pay the new fees.<br />
The protesting students ordered motorists and<br />
commercial motorcyclists (okada) to reverse,<br />
chanting “Ole to Fashola, Ole to LASU<br />
management”, Others carried large placards<br />
with the inscription “No change, no fee<br />
increment, no local government elections.”<br />
Some of the students used the opportunity to<br />
play football on the expressway, ludo game,<br />
Whot and nursery rhymes while others<br />
danced to music, using their mobile phones.<br />
Like a scene from the war front, the students<br />
watched out for any Lagos State Government<br />
vehicle. They seized one belonging to a local<br />
government in the state. However, no vehicle<br />
or school property was destroyed throughout<br />
the protest session. Some of the students took<br />
time to educate passers-by on the reason for<br />
the demonstration.<br />
Some passers-by, who paid attention to the<br />
students’ explanation on the fee increment,<br />
decried the amount involved and wondered<br />
how parents, earning less than N80, 000 per<br />
month, who have fresh students in the school<br />
can cope with the new fee increment. On<br />
account of the students’ explanation, many<br />
of the passers-bye tactically gave their support<br />
to the protest and for first time, they did not<br />
condemn the action of the LASU students.<br />
Durojaiye, told Daily Sun amidst chants of<br />
solidarity songs by his colleagues, that the<br />
protest would continue until the Lagos State<br />
Government rescinded its decision on the fee<br />
increment. He noted that some parents were<br />
civil servants, who earned N18, 000 as<br />
minimum wage, which “the state government<br />
cannot even afford to pay the workers, how<br />
can they increase the fees by 725 per cent?”<br />
they queried.<br />
The students’ union president said the protest<br />
was to send a signal to Governor Fashola and<br />
the university management that they were<br />
prepared to resist the fee increment, pointing<br />
out that the state government had not invited<br />
his union for any discussion on the issue. He<br />
expressed the union’s disappointment with the<br />
ACN for supporting the commercialisation of<br />
education in the state.<br />
In a swift reaction, the National Association<br />
of Nigerian Students (NANS) explained that<br />
following the refusal of government to reverse<br />
the proposed anti-masses tuition fees, the<br />
students staged the first phase of the seven-<br />
phase campaign against LASU school fees<br />
increment just to express their<br />
disappointment with the action of the<br />
Governor Fashola-led administration.<br />
The Vice President, External Affairs of<br />
NANS, Adeyemi Azeez, in a statement gave<br />
the Governor Fashola administration 72<br />
hours ultimatum to reverse the 725 per cent<br />
increment in tuition fees, warning that if the<br />
government failed, the students would proceed<br />
to the second phase of the protest, which<br />
would be a national one, “as the leadership of<br />
NANS will be at the war front of the<br />
struggle.”<br />
Both Durojaiye and Azeez denied that LASU<br />
students’ union officials met with Fashola<br />
same day at ACN campaign rally at Mile 2<br />
nor were aware of any proposed meeting with<br />
the former governor, Senator Bola Tinubu,<br />
over the issue. He equally expressed<br />
disappointment with the party, which<br />
promised free education at all levels during its<br />
campaigns.<br />
The protest against fee hike also got the<br />
support of Education Rights Campaign<br />
(ERC), which described the increment as<br />
another attempt by the state government to<br />
commercialise education out of the reach of<br />
children of the poor and the working masses.<br />
“It is saddening that this is coming from a<br />
major opposition party, the ACN, which lays<br />
claim to late Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s<br />
philosophy of free education.”<br />
The group, in a statement signed by its<br />
National Co-ordinator, Hassan Taiwo, noted<br />
that presently, LASU had overcrowded<br />
classrooms, inadequate lecture halls, water-<br />
logged environment (as a result of poor<br />
drainage system), ill-equipped libraries and<br />
laboratories, inadequate teaching and non-<br />
teaching staff, lack of transportation<br />
facilities, poor sporting facilities, poor ICT<br />
services, among others.<br />
According to ERC, the proposed fee<br />
increment was not new. It added that it had<br />
always been the case with every second term of<br />
ACN governors, who ruled the state. It noted:<br />
“In 2004, the immediate past governor,<br />
Tinubu hiked the school fees from N250 to<br />
N25, 000. This new increment is coming on<br />
the heels of the re-election of Governor<br />
Fashola.”<br />
It expressed concern over the excuse given by<br />
the state government that it couldn’t fund<br />
free and qualitative education at all levels,<br />
describing the action as insincere and<br />
unacceptable. It pointed out that Lagos State<br />
generated the highest internally generated<br />
revenue in the country, yet the government<br />
complains it cannot fund university<br />
education.<br />
“We call on the students’ union of LASU to<br />
resist this increment with mass actions and<br />
lecture boycott. Only a mass-based action can<br />
force the state government to rescind its<br />
decision. We also appeal to staff unions to<br />
equally condemn the fee increment and give<br />
support to students’ resistance.”<br />
On Thursday, October 27, the students<br />
stormed the governor’s office and State<br />
House of Assembly to protest the fee hike and<br />
also honour the invitation of the lawmakers,<br />
who waded into impasse between the students,<br />
university management and the state<br />
government.<br />
At the State secretariat Alausa, due to security<br />
report about their coming, the two gates were<br />
locked and were manned by armed policemen.<br />
At the floor of the assembly, Durojaiye<br />
reiterated the students opposition to the<br />
increment in fees while the Acting VC, Prof.<br />
Olatunji-Bello, read her presentation in which<br />
she explained that she informed the students<br />
about the fee hike based on the government<br />
directive.<br />
After the special hearing, the students laid<br />
ambush for the VC, who sensed they would be<br />
waiting for her outside, thus stayed inside<br />
until they left the compound.<br />
Tension is mounting on campus over the fee<br />
hike as the students are battle-ready to<br />
confront Governor Fashola and the<br />
university management over the hike but the<br />
outcome of the assembly mediation on the<br />
impasse may determine the next phase of<br />
their action.Chima Martinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17679897632309694705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440537643284713379.post-85635254071498991072011-10-31T00:24:00.000-07:002011-10-31T00:24:28.080-07:00Aminu backs fuel subsidy removalABUJA—Former Minister of Petroleum<br />
Resources, Senator Jibril Aminu, weekend,<br />
threw his weight behind President<br />
Goodluck Jonathan’s move to remove the<br />
contentious fuel subsidy.<br />
He said only Nigeria’s neighbours enjoyed<br />
the over N1 trillion being spent annually<br />
by the government in executing the policy.<br />
Prof. Aminu, also a former Minister of<br />
Education, said the country could not<br />
sustain the huge expenditure for too long<br />
as very few Nigerians enjoyed the subsidy<br />
while the masses of neighbouring countries<br />
fed fat on the policy.<br />
He said: “I am not going to mince words,<br />
honestly speaking, the subsidy is too<br />
much. Subsidy is just being used to convey<br />
these petroleum products to our<br />
neighbouring countries.<br />
“How much is it costing the country?<br />
When I was the Petroleum Minister, it<br />
used to cost about N100 million to convey<br />
the subsidy, not even the subsidy itself,<br />
but to deliver it.<br />
”When you look at it, it is not something<br />
that we can sustain and I believe that<br />
NNPC has a responsibility to bring the<br />
figures out now and let Nigerians know<br />
what we are losing by way of this subsidy,”<br />
he said.<br />
The former minister noted that<br />
government position over the years had<br />
been misunderstood because of the method<br />
used in conveying it to the public.<br />
Advising the federal government to create<br />
means of cushioning the effect of the<br />
fuel subsidy removal, Prof. Aminu urged<br />
officials of the Nigeria National<br />
Petroleum Corporation to educate the<br />
public on the actual amount federal<br />
government spent annually on fuel<br />
subsidy.<br />
“The British have a saying that it is not<br />
what you do but how you do it . It is not<br />
what you say but how you say it. I am<br />
convinced that with the way things are<br />
going now in this country, we cannot<br />
continue with this oil subsidy indefinitely.<br />
“It is impossible considering the amount<br />
we are spending. Look at the figures. We<br />
all must have done some science while in<br />
school,” he said.<br />
He noted that the money spent on fuel<br />
subsidy this could have been used to develop<br />
the educational system, roads, agriculture<br />
etc now going to one sector only, stressing<br />
that if the energy was used 100 percent<br />
for the benefit of Nigerians, that would<br />
have been okay.<br />
He advocated a gradual removal of the<br />
subsidy, and noted that for Nigerians to<br />
accept government’s position, which will<br />
benefit the country in the long run, the<br />
government could develop a policy to<br />
gradually remove the subsidy<br />
Prof. Aminu, however, emphasised the<br />
need for government to raise the<br />
sensitivity and awareness of the people to<br />
the problem, noting that “ the people also<br />
must see that we are living by what we<br />
preach.<br />
“Before I am misunderstood as a man who<br />
does not have sympathy for the common<br />
man, I believe that in the Abacha days,<br />
they found some answers to this problem<br />
by withdrawing the subsidy, taking the<br />
money saved and using it on things;<br />
developmental activities which people could<br />
see.<br />
“That was the difference that Petroleum<br />
Trust Fund, PTF, made. They were<br />
making roads, building hospitals, buying<br />
drugs; things that states and local<br />
governments should do were being done by<br />
the PTF. So in my opinion, there are ways<br />
we can remove the subsidy and not make<br />
people feel bad about it.<br />
“Another thing with PTF was that it was<br />
in a military era and there was no need to<br />
consult states but now, there need to be<br />
some agreement among the states, local<br />
and the federal governments. If the idea<br />
is just to increase the pump price, then<br />
risk some kind of resistance from the<br />
people.”Chima Martinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17679897632309694705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440537643284713379.post-81896546166977650042011-10-31T00:18:00.001-07:002011-10-31T00:18:24.180-07:00Row over judgment as 2 lay claim to SarkinstoolA Kano High Court presided over by Justice<br />
Mohammed Sidi Matu has declined an<br />
application for a stay of execution in respect<br />
of its own judgment setting aside the removal<br />
of Alhaji Aminu Babba Dan Agundi as the<br />
Sarkin Dawaki Maituta and the district head<br />
of Gabasawa by the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado<br />
Bayero.<br />
In its ruling in Kano Justice Mohammed<br />
Sidimatu held that, there is nothing more to<br />
add or to remove from the judgement he<br />
delivered on July 14, 2011, more so as the<br />
judgement is a declarative judegment.<br />
He reminded the applicants that he has<br />
already become functus officio (Meaning<br />
that he has reached the final point of the<br />
case) while insisting that the proper place for<br />
the ventilation of any grievance(s) arising<br />
out of his July 14, 2011 judgment is the Court<br />
of Appeal.<br />
It could be recalled that the Emir of Kano and<br />
the Emirate Council, through their counsels,<br />
had sought for an order of a stay of<br />
execution of the said judgment pending the<br />
hearing and determination of their appeal,<br />
which is currently before the Court of Appeal<br />
in Kaduna.<br />
At the heart of the hearing is the<br />
determination of whether the current<br />
occupant of the throne of the Sarkin<br />
Dawakin Maituta and the district head of<br />
Gabasawa , Alhaji Bello Abubakar should<br />
vacate the position in the light of the July14<br />
judgement which declared that the removal of<br />
his predecessor was unconstitutional. During<br />
the hearing, counsel to the Emir of Kano,<br />
Ibrahim Waru had drawn the attention of<br />
the court to the effect that the title of the<br />
Sarkin Dawakin Maituta, currently occupied<br />
by the second defendant’s applicant, Alhaji<br />
Bello Abubakar is not a perishable item which<br />
would be damaged before the hearing and<br />
determination of the subsisting case at the<br />
Court of Appeal.<br />
Stating that Alhaji Bello Abubakar has been<br />
living in peace with his people in his domain<br />
since 2004 when he was appointed to the<br />
position, he stressed that the immediate<br />
execution of the judgement of July 14, 2011,<br />
without giving the Emir of Kano and the<br />
Emirate Council an opportunity to exercise<br />
their constitutional right of appeal would<br />
create a situation where there would be two<br />
kings in the same palace.<br />
He feared that such a situation might result<br />
in the breakdown of law and order, not only<br />
in Gabasawa district in the whole of the state.<br />
In his submission, the counsel representing<br />
the Alhaji Aminu Babba Dan Agundi , Kabiru<br />
Olawoye reminded the court that since it had<br />
set aside the removal of his client from office,<br />
the continued stay in office of his successor<br />
amounted to continuing an act of illegality.Chima Martinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17679897632309694705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440537643284713379.post-37175948935275371012011-10-31T00:16:00.000-07:002011-10-31T00:16:19.566-07:00Accident claims 5 in KanoA tragic accident has occurred in Kano State<br />
wiping out five occupants of a Mercedes<br />
Benz, who are probably members of the same<br />
family.<br />
The ill-fated vehicle, it was gathered, was<br />
driving to Kano from the Zaria end of the<br />
highway before it skipped off the track at<br />
Tamburawa Bridge , some 21 Kilometer to the<br />
state capital.<br />
The actual cause of the tragedy was not clear<br />
as at press time, but witnesses told the Daily<br />
Sun that the car unexpectedly ran into a deep<br />
pothole at the edge of the bridge as a result of<br />
which the driver lost control.<br />
Sympathizers, including some of local divers,<br />
immediately mobilized a rescue operation team<br />
but their efforts were insufficient to save the<br />
lives of the victims.<br />
It took the arrival of the officers of the Fire<br />
Service to bring out the mangled body of the<br />
deceased including that of the wife that was<br />
cut into two and an infant, whose head was<br />
severed.<br />
Sector Commander of the Federal Road<br />
Safety Corps in Kano State, Alhaji Hassan<br />
Kogari while confirming the incident blamed<br />
the state of the road for the accident.<br />
Alhaji Kogari regretted that the very dead<br />
spot, situated at the entrance of the bridge<br />
has led to similar tragic crashes that had<br />
killed no fewer than 34 lives in the past six<br />
months. He appealed to the Federal<br />
Government and the relevant authorities, to<br />
as a matter of urgency, commence the repairs<br />
of that particular portion of the high way in<br />
order to avert further loss of lives.Chima Martinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17679897632309694705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440537643284713379.post-389108339303785422011-10-31T00:13:00.001-07:002011-10-31T00:13:42.917-07:00Nigeria not ripe for State Police – OsayandeABUJA – Chairman, Police Service<br />
Commission, Mr. Parry Osayande, has<br />
said Nigeria is not yet politically developed<br />
to allow the decentralization of the<br />
Nigeria Police.<br />
Osayande, in a briefing to Senator Dahiru<br />
Kuta-led Committee on Federal Character<br />
and Inter-Governmental Affairs, also<br />
said past military regimes were responsible<br />
for the dearth of professionalism in the<br />
Police.<br />
He said interferences in the<br />
administration of the police coupled with<br />
poor funding, understaffing and collapse<br />
of police infrastructure during military<br />
regimes had left the Police in a very bad<br />
shape.<br />
He said: “Ideally, we should have state<br />
police, even local government police. But<br />
right now we are not politically mature.<br />
The police, as it today, constitute the tie<br />
that binds Nigeria together. You can<br />
imagine a situation, an itinerant criminal<br />
commits an offence in Lagos and he ran<br />
away to Benin and the government in<br />
Benin is not in the same party with the<br />
government in Lagos, they can even shield<br />
them.<br />
“But once we mature politically, you can<br />
decentralise the police. Right now, we are<br />
not politically mature for that.That is<br />
why we must continue; like we have one<br />
currency, one military then we should<br />
have one police.”<br />
He accused the military of infiltrating<br />
the Nigeria Police with unqualified<br />
personnel through fraudulent<br />
recruitments and promotions, but said the<br />
commission was already on salvage<br />
mission to restore professionalism in the<br />
Police.<br />
The Committee, which was on oversight<br />
tour of the Commission to ensure<br />
adherence to federal character principles<br />
in the recruitment and promotion of<br />
Police personnel directed that details of<br />
recruitment and promotion exercises be<br />
submitted to the Senate by today.<br />
He said: “We want details of the last<br />
recruitment by Monday, how many people<br />
have been recruited and promoted<br />
reflecting the states they come from? We<br />
need to know because we have received<br />
petitions that some states are lording it<br />
over others in terms of recruitment and<br />
promotions.”Chima Martinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17679897632309694705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3440537643284713379.post-6271130847189031422011-10-31T00:04:00.001-07:002011-10-31T00:04:35.593-07:00Why we picked Keshi - NFFIn spite of the spirited and repeated denials by<br />
the chairman of Technical Committee of the<br />
Nigeria Football Federation (NFF),<br />
Barrister Christopher Green, that the<br />
federation has not picked a new coach for the<br />
Super Eagles, members of the executive board<br />
have zeroed in on Stephen Keshi as the<br />
favoured candidate for the job.<br />
Disclosing this to Daily Sunsports, a member<br />
of the board, who does not want his name in<br />
print, said that what informed the board’s<br />
decision was the fact that since the Hawks of<br />
Togo’s former handler contested the position<br />
with sacked Siasia, it has decided against<br />
inviting fresh applications from other<br />
coaches.<br />
He further noted that though the board will<br />
ratify Keshi on Wednesday as Eagles head<br />
coach, there were strong indications that it<br />
would be on acting bases, revealing that the<br />
board was looking into the option of hiring a<br />
foreign coach for the Eagles.<br />
“Well, Keshi is the likely person to replace<br />
Siasia. His choice was based on the simple<br />
fact that he attended the interview with<br />
Siasia. We want to avoid inviting fresh<br />
applications from other coaches. We just<br />
want somebody to start working on acting<br />
capacity until we finally resolve on the<br />
possibility of hiring a foreign coach. For now,<br />
we have settled for Keshi,” our source noted.<br />
Asked why the board sacrificed Siasia despite<br />
divided opinions of Nigerians to his favour,<br />
the board member noted that his greatest<br />
undoing was his arrogance to the technical<br />
committee members and most especially the<br />
clause in his contract.<br />
Admitting that the board was harsh in<br />
inserting such draconian clause in Siasia's<br />
contract, he, however, blamed Siasia for not<br />
appealing for the removal of the clause,<br />
stressing that the desperation for the job<br />
could beclouded his meticulous and detailed<br />
scrutiny of the contract document.“The<br />
reports and recommendations of the<br />
technical committee were very unfavourable.<br />
They said that Siasia was very arrogant. He<br />
talks down on all members of the committee<br />
and that was why they were unanimous in<br />
recommending his sack.<br />
“He specifically gave example of an incident<br />
when the technical committee wanted him to<br />
remove injured Chibuzor Okonkwo since he<br />
has not being playing for Heartland FC, but<br />
he refused. During the match against Guinea,<br />
it was obvious Siasia was biased and<br />
sentimental in his selections. He fielded his<br />
boys,” he noted.<br />
On conditions that would have saved Siasia<br />
from sack, the board member said: “I can tell<br />
you the general feelings of most members was<br />
that if Siasia had resigned immediately after<br />
the match, he would have been retained, but<br />
his over confidence was his greatest undoing.”Chima Martinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17679897632309694705noreply@blogger.com0