SPEECHES will be made. Workers will march, security permitting. Everything else about May 1, Labour Day, is uncertain; a reflection of the hard times and abundant disinterest of the authorities in the well-being of the people.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of workers gather at various venues across Nigeria, make fiery speeches about the dearth of jobs; sing about solidarity, the shrinking welfare of the employed and the importance of labour. They listen to placating speeches from governments – they go home, waiting for next year’s speech.
Things are getting worse. Government policies, poor security situation, and the ubiquitous challenges from electricity supply have combined to lower Nigeria’s attraction to investors. The rise on unemployment, rated as high as 50 per cent according to some statistics, is the evidence of the impact of policies that emphasise the welfare of politicians and top government officials, over the development of the infrastructure that would enhance job creation.
Many who marched at last year’s rallies are currently jobless. The statistics are worse for youth unemployment with thousands of university graduates without jobs. More join the queue with every graduation ceremony.
Four years ago, President Goodluck Jonathan won workers’ hearts when he signed the minimum wage law. The labour disputes the law spawned, with authorities refusing to pay, are among tensions around labour.
Hardly is there a part of the country without a strike over workers’ welfare. The attitude these days is to ignore the strike, whether it is by lecturers or doctors. If you expect to hear what governments have done since last year to increase employment opportunities, all you would get are phantom figures that are improvements on ones rehashed over the years.
Where are the 11 million jobs Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, promised in 2011? His calculation was that each of the country’s 11 million medium and small-scale industries would create at least one job in 2012 to make up 11 million jobs.
The World Bank loans he promised and his prophecy of improved electricity, without which the capacities of these industries are doomed, did not materialise. Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, also talks about job creation in vacuous terms. Maybe she would not forget to add that her re-based economy has created millions of jobs.
Labour Day, instead of a review of the progress made since last year, would be another round of promises, and lamentations.
Strikes, agitations for better working conditions, the millions of the unemployed roaming the streets, and the links that security agencies make between unemployment and rising unrest are good reasons for government to create jobs beyond words.
Promises have run their full course. They now sound hollow.
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Wednesday 30 April 2014
Zik, Ndi-Igbo and their southern neighbours: Charting a new political direction for Nigeria
Yesterday we published why southern Nigeria ethnic nationalities are disunited, the 1951 Western Regional election and its aftermath and the horsetrading that gave Chief Awolowo’s AG majority over Dr Azikiwe’s NCNC. Today, we take you deeper into the discourse on how Awolowo got the upper hand in the battle for the soul of Western Region. Read on…
The arrowhead of these fringe groups which tilted the balance in Awolowo’s favour by teaming up with the Action Group (AG) was of course five members of the six elected parliamentarians from the Ibadan Peoples Party (IPP) led by Adisa Akinloye; the sixth member, Adegoke Adelabu, Deputy President of the IPP, joined forces with the NCNC to form the NCNC-Mabolaje Grand Alliance.
A great mobiliser, Chief Obafemi Awolowo (right) with one of his die-hard supporters, Mr Ayo Opadokun (left)
A great mobiliser, Chief Obafemi Awolowo (right) with one of his die-hard supporters, Mr Ayo Opadokun (left)
Given that the IPP and some other fringe groups and individuals were earlier allied to the NCNC and later changed sides, including one or two Yoruba NCNC members who subsequently colluded with the Action Group to frustrate Zik from moving to the central legislature, the said cross-carpeting saga has been somewhat over-stretched to create the impression that majority of Western NCNC members abandoned Zik on the floor of the Western House of Assembly and crossed over to Awolowo’s side.
This impression has of course deepened inter-ethnic misunderstanding between the Igbo and the Yoruba which had almost gotten to a flash point when tribal animosities were first aroused by the advent of tribal politics about 1947/8.
The Ikejiani testimony
But there is something that needs to be clarified at this point. Dr Okechukwu Ikejiani who observed proceedings at the Western House of Assembly from the stands on the fateful day when the House commenced business wrote thus about what he saw and what transpired a day before the opening of Parliament:
I lived at Ibadan at the time. The rumour was rife that the AG was buying some of the NCNC members. I, as well as some members of the NCNC, told Zik about the rumour. He dismissed the idea and said that he would not be part of the use of corrupt means to win the election for the party. One of the prominent NCNC members from Ibadan who won the election on NCNC platform was Chief Adisa Akinloye. It was the general feeling of members of the NCNC Central Working Committee that we should, that night, visit Chief Akinloye who lived in Oke Ado. Among those who went to Chief Akinloye’s house were Chief Festus Okotie Eboh, Chief T O S Benson, Kola Balogun and others. Upon arrival, Chief Akinloye and his wife welcomed us and we were served drinks.
Soon after, the matter of the rumour that some members of the NCNC would cross carpet to the AG the next day was brought up. Chief Akinloye vehemently denied that he would cross carpet to the AG. We finally left, satisfied that he had told us the truth. The next day we all went to witness the opening of the Western House of Assembly.
Openingceremony
Immediately after the initial opening ceremony and after members of the House of Assembly had taken their seats with the parties [to] which they belonged, the first person to cross over to the AG side was Chief Arthur Prest. Others, including Chief Augustus Adisa Akinloye, followed him. The carpet crossing resulted in an increase in the number of seats won by the AG to 42 and reduced the NCNC seats from 43 to 23. The Mabolaje Grand Alliance of Adegoke Adelabu and J M Johnson refused to be bribed and did not cross over.—Okechukwu Ikejiani, The Unrepentant Nationalist (2007) pp. 198-199.
Actually the final figures showed that the Action Group had 45 seats while the NCNC had 30-35 seats. (Richard L. Sklar, Nigerian Political Parties (1963) p. 35)
Of course it might look okay, based on Ikejiani’s testimony, to regard the five IPP members who crossed over to the AG as defectors from the NCNC because of Akinloye’s alleged assurances of support for the NCNC a night before the fateful “crossover episode”. But I do not think that so much weight should be attached to that so-called reassurance, given other available testimonies. According to Sklar, two of the elected candidates of IPP, “Mr S. O. Lanlehin and Mr A. M. A. Akinloye, President of the Ibadan People’s Party, participated in early organisational meetings of the Action Group. (Minutes of the 7th Meeting of the Action Group, November 12, 1950;
ActionGroup
Minutes of the 10th Meeting of the Action Group, March 31, and April 1, 1951.) Akinloye’s association with the Action Group appears to have preceded that with the Ibadan People’s Party, since it was reported that he would inaugurate the I.P.P. on June 16, 1951, following his nomination by the Action Group.
Other Ibadan personalities who were reported as sympathetic to the Action Group but ‘noticeably inactive,’ included Rev. Alayande, S. A. Akinfewa, Mr Lanlehin, and E. C. B. Omole. Daily Times, June 16, 1951.” (Sklar, op. cit. p. 295) Chief Akinloye was to become the Minister of Agriculture in the emergent AG government of the Western Region; an offer that may have been made to him before the inaugural opening of the Western House of Assembly and the so-called carpet crossing episode.
It was possible that Akinloye warmly welcomed the last minute NCNC delegation that visited a night before the D-day in the hope that the NCNC would make him and his group a better offer for coalition or alliance; an offer that never came, hence his apparent volte face.
Actually, circumstantial evidence points to a possible earlier commitment of the IPP to the NCNC. Ibadan people immediately embraced Adegoke Adelabu for not crossing over to the AG. In subsequent elections, Ibadan people voted for the NCNC-Mabolaje Grand Alliance. This indicates that the IPP won the 1951 elections in Ibadan probably because it had identified with the NCNC, which the Ibadan people that never wanted anything to do with Awolowo, rallied to.
Now let us look at the actions of men like Chief Arthur Prest. In April, 1948, Chief Arthur Prest, an Urhobo who claimed to be Itsekiri, emerged as a Legal Adviser of the NCNC National Executive Committee. In 1950, at the height of the anti-Azikiwe, anti-Igbo campaign by the Awolowo group and consequent inter-tribal exchanges between the
Igbo and the Yoruba, Chief Arthur Prest, President of the Warri National Union, an affiliate member of the NCNC, joined hands with Chief Anthony Enahoro (a former editor of the Lagos Daily Comet, owned by Azikiwe, who was disillusioned over issues surrounding his imprisonment for six months for his role in the uprising of the Zikist Movement of October 27, 1948) to inaugurate a Mid-West Party, which evolved into the Mid-West section of the Action Group.
Owo Conference
At Action Group’s Owo Conference of April 28-29, 1951, Chief Arthur Prest was elected a Vice-President of the Action Group. Therefore that he and his likes sat with NCNC members on the fateful day the Western House commenced business did not mean that he was an NCNC member at that point in time. He and others like him had defected, ‘crossed carpet’, a long time before the fateful day.
They imbibed the anti-Azikiwe plot much earlier. His leading the other so-called NCNC members in “crossing carpet to the AG”, as claimed by Dr Ikejiani must have been part of the plot, a prearranged move for needed dramatic effect and possibly to pull over the undecided through the bandwagon effect. And the bandwagon effect actually worked. The undecided or the confused joined Chief Prest and the others in crossing over to the AG. In Obafemi Awolowo’s own words: Some independents who were not sure of the truth sat on the fence . . . During the meeting three members of the NCNC crossed to the Action Group, one of whom crossed back to the NCNC . . . {Address by Obafemi Awolowo (Mimeographed) See also Daily Service, January 8, 1952}
So, Awolowo’s statement is a confirmation that some bonafide NCNC legislators crossed carpet to join the AG on the fateful day. But given Ikejiani’s claim that twenty NCNC members crossed carpet on the floor of the Western House of Assembly to join the AG at the said occasion, what may be in dispute is the actual number.
There is another fact to be derived from Dr Ikejiani’s testimony. The NCNC did not take the business of lobbying the elected legislators or independents for support seriously. It was only a night to the opening of Parliament, weeks after the elections, that some NCNC members visited Chief Adisa Akinloye, leader of the third largest party in the contest, a party the NCNC was hoping would be its junior partner in government. The NCNC did not enter into any concrete agreement with this party. No assurances were established.
No concessions were made to the IPP even till the last day as to what its place would be if it helped the NCNC form government. If the NCNC could not or did not bother to lobby or talk with the IPP, which had six elected members, then one can safely assume that it did not reach out to the undecided independents scattered all over the Western Region.
On the other hand, Awolowo took the business of getting majority of these legislators to his side seriously. There is nothing a politician, in fact any individual, likes more than to be consulted. A mere visit from Awolowo could be enough to sway an elected parliamentarian to his side. And Awolowo exploited these nuances of practical politics to the fullest.
On the other hand, going by Ikejiani’s testimony, Azikiwe dismissed reports about what Awo was doing and declined to get involved. He probably felt that the NCNC’s stronger ideological position or tactics of militant nationalism with regard to the anti-colonial struggle was enough to see his party through; that it was enough to attract the elected independents to his party without any further discussion or assurances. And so like Julius Caesar he adopted a lackadaisical attitude to this important game of practical politics and left too much to chance. Like Caesar he forgot that “security gives way to conspiracy” and that “It is the bright day that brings forth the adder; And that craves wary walking”. It is also possible that Zik had at this time become war-weary and a bit lethargic. Or perhaps he was assailed by sheer pessimism.
Sheerpessimism
But he did snap out of it later. When in 1952/53 Zik had to battle the ‘sit tight’ ministers in the Eastern Region, he displayed remarkable spirit and acumen, and was able to show that he was equally adept at the practical end of political mobilisation in the way he fought, against all odds, to mobilise the Assemblymen against the ‘sit tight’ ministers and the British Lieutenant Governor of Eastern Nigeria.
Indeed, Zik’s attitude in the immediate aftermath of the Western elections was even worse than that of Caesar; for the Roman conspirators hid their intentions until the last moment, but in Zik’s case his opponents did trumpet their intentions even from atop Olumo Rock for years.
Zik fought them vigorously at the theoretical level; at the level of newspaper campaign and doctrinal exposition. But when it came to the real thing; the practical politics of door to door canvassing, he left the field and allowed his opponents to operate unchallenged.
Had Zik and his Yoruba lieutenants engaged their opponents adequately at this level, they would have discovered that the mere notion that the great Zik visited, to say nothing about the words his sharp tongue could have uttered, could have changed minds and given victory to their party. Indeed, if Zik had for instance offered Chief Adisa Akinloye the premiership or the position of Head of Government Business of Western Nigeria, the NCNC would have beaten the Action Group.
Ministerialpost
It would have garnered the majority to form Government in Western Nigeria and the AG would subsequently have fizzled out. But then such is the ‘if’ of life. Personal assurances from Azikiwe could have defused the lie that he had the ambition of becoming the Head of Government Business or Premier of Western Nigeria. How many people read the Daily Times of November 23, 1951, where Zik declared his disinterest in such a ministerial post? Even his close friend,
Dr Okechukwu Ikejiani had no idea that Zik had no ambition of becoming a Head of Government either in the regions or at the centre at that point in time.
That all he wanted was to frustrate governance or the institution of government under the Macpherson Constitution of 1951 and hence force its replacement with a new constitution that would grant independence. If Ikejiani knew about this plan, he couldn’t have added his opinion that with the “cross carpeting” in the Western House in 1952, “It was obvious that the dream of the NCNC that Zik would become Leader of Government Business in the Western Region was a forlorn hope.” And if Ikejiani did not know, how many, even within the NCNC, would have known?
This is not to say, by the way, that there was anything wrong if Zik had aspired as a Nigerian resident in Lagos to head the Government of Western Nigeria. He certainly had the right to so aspire. But he was the leader of a national party.
Therefore his place was at the centre, in the national legislature and not in any of the regional Assemblies. This was why he aspired to go to the Central Legislature. He found himself in the Western House of Assembly because the British had mischievously made Lagos part of the Western Region and constituted the Western House of Assembly into an Electoral
College to elect two out of the five elected legislators from Lagos that would represent Lagos in the central or national legislature, in spite of protestations from the NCNC and, remarkably, from H O Davies of the Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM), all of whom rightly argued that a nation’s capital territory should not be subsumed into a region.
But then the British colonialists did not want Zik in the central legislature, knowing how much he could upset their apple cart if he got there. So they actually hoped and desired that he would be trapped in the Western House of Assembly and prevented from getting into the national legislature if the Action Group achieved parliamentary majority in the House. And this was exactly what happened in the end.
The commitment of the western NCNC
All in all, we must never overlook the fact that majority of members of the Western NCNC, including stalwart parliamentarians like TOS Benson, H P Adebola etc, stayed with Zik, to say nothing about the firebrand, Adegoke Adelabu, who, in his own words followed ‘ideology’ without any prompting or lobbying from the NCNC, and did everything to promote Nigerian nationalism in the Western Region and to place it above tribe. (At the seamy NCNC Annual Convention of October 28-30, 1957, in Aba, Adelabu “exclaimed that he would have been welcomed into the camp of the Action Group or the Northern Peoples’ Congress as an ally, but that he rejected both tribalism and religion as the basis of party affiliation. I followed Zik because of ideology; let that ideology live on.” (Sklar, op. cit. p. 199)
Party affiliation
And that these and others like them continued to carry the NCNC banner long after the 1952 saga and Zik’s eventual departure from the Western House of Assembly in 1952/3.
They fought vigorously to stem the tide of ethnicism from Nigerian politics and were able to defeat the Action Group (23 parliamentary seats to 18) in the Federal elections of 1954 in the Western Region as well as hold unto NCNC’s superiority in Lagos politics for another decade. Indeed, the NCNC victory in the 1954 Federal elections in the Western Region, coming so soon after the fateful ‘cross-carpeting’ episode of 1952, forced Awolowo to steer clear of a snap election to test the popularity of his government despite all the ensuing criticism that AG’s victory and access to power in Western Nigeria in 1952 was fraudulently contrived and unpopular with the masses; and that it was indeed facilitated by the British ploy of imposing the system of indirect election which they knew and hoped would enthrone intrigue in that election.
Furthermore, the role of principled men like H O Davies must always be put in perspective. Hezekiah Oladipo Davies was a stalwart of the Nigerian Youth Movement. According to Richard Sklar, Davies was also a prominent member of the Egbe
Omo Oduduwa; at the inaugural conference of June 1948 he was chosen as co-legal adviser (with Bode Thomas) and he was largely responsible for the successful promotion of the Egbe Endowment Fund for ‘Oduduwan scholars’. But he opposed the Egbe philosophy of regionalism and its utilization for political purposes. In this regard he clashed with Obafemi Awolowo, who had been a follower and admirer of
Davies in the Youth Movement. . . . Davies withdrew from the Nigerian Youth Movement early in 1951 before its incorporation into the Action Group. On May
1, 1951, the community of Effon-Alaye, Ekiti, conferred on him the title of Otun, and three days later he inaugurated a political party, Nigerian People’s Congress.
Davies and Azikiwe then negotiated an agreement to cooperate in bringing about an early reform of the Constitution, but the entente between their two parties lapsed when the Nigerian People’s Congress refused to affiliate formally with the NCNC. (Daily
Times, May, 2, 5, and 9, and August 8, 1951) Subsequently Davies became Legal Adviser of the NCNC {– Richard L Sklar, Nigerian Political Parties (1963)
Apparently, H O Davies was not an insider; he apparently did not know the real purpose for which the Egbe Omo Oduduwa was created. Hence he allowed his enormous talent and personality to be used in entrenching the organisation.
And he must have been embittered by this development! As a matter of fact, Chief Awolowo had to grapple with the problem of reining in men like Chief H O Davies and pacifying the other Yoruba leaders who refused to accept him, for the rest of his life. (See, APPENDICES: Chief Ayo Opadokun, ‘Reminisces on Efforts to Unite Yoruba Nation’)
Anyway, since the vast majority of Yoruba voters continued to vote NCNC even in the aftermath of the ‘carpet-crossing’ incidence in the Western House of Assembly, how can we turn around to lump them together with the few individuals who sold out, succumbed to whatever Awolowo offered, or embraced Action Group’s philosophy of tribal solidarity and exclusivity? Indeed, these generalisations do not take cognizance of the fact that the Western NCNC stood solidly behind Zik to the bitter end.
New twist in Enugu’s unending power game
The accolade given Senator Ike Ekweremadu, the deputy president of the Senate and the highest elected political office holder from Enugu State by communities in his constituency causes a stir. Why?
By Tony Edike
It was another power game in Enugu State on Saturday, April 19, 2014 when eight autonomous communities of Oduma Kingdom in Aninri local government area of the state rolled out their drums to honour the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu.
Conferment of chieftaincy title on Ike Ekweremadu by Oduma Kingdom
Conferment of chieftaincy title on Ike Ekweremadu by Oduma Kingdom
The communities had arranged a civic reception and conferment of chieftaincy title on Ekweremadu in appreciation of his role in facilitating the construction of the N12 billion Nenwe-Oduma-Uburu road. Work on the project which was flagged off in November 2012 has made the people of the region normally cut off during the rainy season to heave a huge sigh of relief.
However, once the plans to celebrate the breakthrough came out, political rivals of Ekweremadu, allegedly within the state government, went to work apparently to frustrate what they saw as another cap to the feathers of the highest elected political office holder from the state.
Even more embarrassing for Governor Sullivan Chime was the fact that the community appreciating Ekweremadu is geographically next to the governor’s own Mpu community.
For many associates of the governor the honour for Ekweremadu was out of context with Chime’s plans to displace the incumbent deputy president of the Senate as senator representing the Enugu West Senatorial District.
Chieftaincy titles
Days before the set day for the ceremony, the state government vide a letter dated April 7, 2014 with reference number MCM/CM/98/T/203 and addressed to all recognised traditional rulers in the state stopped traditional rulers in the state from conferring chieftaincy titles on individuals from that date till December, 2014.
The letter signed by Ibe Nnamani on behalf of the Commissioner, Ministry of Chieftaincy Matters, Pastor Emeka Abugu read thus: “I am directed to inform you that Enugu State Government has suspended the conferment of Chieftaincy titles on individuals with effect from Monday, 7th April 2014 and ends 31st December 2014 by Traditional rulers or group of Traditional rulers in Enugu State.
“If there is however any reason for which any Traditional ruler will confer any title on anybody, a written permission should be obtained from the Hon. Commissioner for Chieftaincy Matters.
“Please ensure strict adherence to this directive as appropriate sanctions, in line with traditional rulers law will be meted on defaulters. Please accept the assurance of our warm and best regards.” Though the letter was sent to all traditional rulers in the state, many believed that it was targeted at the honour planned for Ekweremadu and three others.
Organising committee
A member of the organising committee, Chief Johnson Orji had said in the midst of the controversy that the community would go ahead with its plan to honour the selected personalities, whom he said had long been notified and have mobilized their friends and well-wishers for the ceremony.
As learnt, the government had planned to dethrone any traditional ruler found at the event but unknown to the government the eight monarchs had decided to stay away but members of their cabinets (cabinet chiefs) were fully present at the ceremony which was well attended by thousands of people from Oduma communities and well-wishers from within and outside the state.
Apart from Ekweremadu, who was conferred with the traditional title of Dike Eji Eje Mba 1 of Oduma (a worthy ambassador) others honoured were the member representing Udi – Ezeagu federal constituency and Chairman House Committee on Works, Hon Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi, the Minister of Works, Arch Mike Onolememen and the group Managing Director of SETRACO Nigeria Limited, Engr. Fayez Khalaf.
The people of the community including Prof Richard Uwakwe, who served as chairman of the occasion, the National President Oduma Unity Forum, Chief Ezekiel Chukwu and Mrs. Felicia Aka, a woman leader; who spoke on behalf of the community at the event, described Senator Ekweremadu as a liberator of the people sent by God.
Speaking at the occasion, Senator Ekweremadu expressed gratitude to God for making the event possible despite efforts made by some people to frustrate it. While announcing a donation of N6.3 million for the completion of St. Anthony’s Catholic Parish Oduma, venue of the event, Ekweremadu said he would continue to collaborate with other representatives of Enugu state at the National Assembly, including Hon Ozomgbachi to attract dividends of democracy to the people.
“I have not come to receive a chieftaincy title, no; I have come to celebrate with the people of Oduma because God has eventually heard their cries. You see this road? This Egyptian you are seeing today, you’ll see them no more; your problem is over. By this time next year, there will be asphalt the whole length and breadth of Oduma,” he said.
The chairman of the occasion, Prof. Uwakwe said the people of Oduma were limited by human language in expression of their gratitude to Senator Ekweremadu for attracting the road project currently being handled by SETRACO Nig Ltd, through the assistance of Hon Ozongbachi and the Federal Ministry of Works. Prof Uwakwe said the ceremony was divine as it came at the time the entire world was celebrating the death of Jesus Christ.
Uwakwe, a university don, said Ekweremadu has resurrected Oduma community from the dearth of infrastructure especially roads which had constituted great impediment to the development of the area. He said he was aware of the challenges the DSP encountered in attracting the road project, stressing that “even the dead will be shaking in their graves because of what is happening here today just like the living are celebrating this great and historic achievement.”
The event was attended by Sen Hope Uzodimma, Sen Gilbert Nnaji, the Deputy Governor of Ebonyi State, Engr Dave Umahi, members of House of Representatives Linus Okorie, Toby Okechukwu, and Offor Chukwuegbo among others.
Prior to the conferment of the chieftaincy titles on the personalities, tension actually heightened among the people of the community as the natives feared that the state government might deploy security operatives to disrupt the event having given an order suspending conferment of chieftaincy titles in the state.
Sources said that the state police command had in compliance with the government’s order deployed its operatives in the morning of April 19 to stop the event but a superior order reportedly came from the Force Headquarters directing the command to provide adequate security and ensure that there was no breakdown of law and order during the event at Oduma. This led to the flooding of the venue with several policemen while the event progressed peacefully.
The controversy that preceded the reception only succeeded in attracting more people to the venue as supporters of Ekweremadu and Ozomgbachi in the divided political camps of Peoples Democratic Party in the state trooped to the venue in solidarity. However, supporters of Governor Chime and officials of the party stayed away.
Defending the award, Orji said:“The entire Oduma community made up of several villages has been planning this reception for Senator Ekweremadu since last year for making it possible in our lifetime what we never imagined could be possible. Many administrations in the state from military to the present democratic regime had come with promises during campaign, but always reneged on the promises after election.
Difficult topography
This is due majorly to the very difficult topography of the Nenwe and Oduma once described by Governor Sullivan Chime as an impossible terrain, but this has been made possible by our son, Chief Ekweremadu,” Chief Orji had told reporters in Enugu before the event.
Apparently to avoid being sanctioned as threatened by the government, the traditional rulers from the eight autonomous communities in Oduma were absent but the entire community agreed to honour the personalities.
Hence, leaders of the eight chiefdoms in Oduma came together under the aegis of Oduma Unity Forum and conferred the titles on them using the traditional Igbo regalia which were procured by the royal fathers.
But as Ekweremadu and his large entourage were driving from his Mpu base through the road which has been asphalted from Mpu up to Ohafia Ndumeze Kingdom, Oduma, the traditional ruler of the community, Igwe Onyioha Nwanjoku came out with some members of his cabinet to the gate of his palace to welcome the Deputy Senate President. The royal father blessed Ekweremadu, whispered to him and shortly after the convoy continued to the reception venue near Oduma market square.
But while the community and the chieftaincy awardees were still celebrating the honour bestowed on them, the Enugu State Government came up with another statement last Friday, a week after the event, declaring that “none of the traditional rulers from the eight communities that constitute Oduma or from any other part of Enugu State conferred any chieftaincy title on either Senator Ekweremadu and/or others on the said April 19, 2014,” a statement issued by the state commissioner for Chieftaincy Matters, Pastor Abugu deposed.
The government frowned at the chieftaincy titles conferred on Ekweremadu by those other than traditional rulers in Oduma, saying Section 19 of the Traditional Rulers Law, Cap 151 of the Revised Laws of Enugu State, 2004, prescribed two years jail for anybody who falsely ‘’holds himself out, portrays or allows himself to be portrayed or addresses other persons; or himself as a recognized chief of any town or community.”
ELECTRICITY: Consumers won’t pay after 15 days of power cut – FG
ABUJA— The Federal Government, yesterday, said with effect from today, electricity consumers that had no power supply for 15 days in a month are no longer required to pay the monthly N750 fixed charge to their respective Distribution Companies, Discos.
The Chairman, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi, who issued the directive at a briefing in Abuja, said it became necessary after the commission carried out investigations into complaints from consumers over continued payment of fixed charge even when service is not delivered.
Amadi said: “While the commission has determined that the fixed charge remains an essential component of the bill, it has, however, reviewed the continued retention of the fixed charge component in the tariff and payment of fixed charge in the light of consumer complaints, particularly with regard to continued payment of fixed charge even when the energy is not delivered to the consumer.
The order
“On considerations of these complaints by the consumers, and considering the role of NERC in Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry, NESI, the commission, as provided under Section 32d, and Section 32f of the EPSR Act 2005, hereby order that effective May 1, 2014, where any customer of a distribution licensee has not received electricity supply for a period of 15 days in a month, such a customer shall not be required to pay fixed charge.”
Amadi, however, warned that the order stands provided the disruption is not due to nonpayment of electricity bill or other actions of the consumer such as tampering with electricity infrastructure, vandalism or unrelated to the fault of the distribution company.
He stated that there have been several complaints from consumers over the fairness or legality of the monthly fixed charges which prompted the commission to embark on independent investigation that led to the order.
“There have been a lot of comments from consumers about the fixed charge and the concern is whether it is fair and legal,” he said.
FG’s assurance
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has reassured electricity consumers of improved power supply, following ongoing rehabilitation work on Kainji and Jebba power plants.
Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Nebo, who gave the assurance in his presentation to the Energy Committee of the ongoing national conference, in Abuja, said more power will be made available to Nigerians from the two facilities before the end of the year.
Nebo said the two plants, which have not undergone maintenance for decades, are now being serviced for optimum performance.
He also appealed to delega-tes to make recommendations that will lead to legislation for sufficient and sustainable power supply.
We must control our resources – Alamieyeseigha
ABUJA — FORMER Governor of Bayelsa State and a delegate at the National Conference, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, has berated those calling for the reduction of the 13 per cent derivation to five per cent, declaring that he would not give up fighting for resource control until the Niger Delta region begins to controls its resources.
He said: “I put on the toga of resource control and I will never waver until we control our resources and determine what we want to do with it and pay appropriate tax to the central government. I, for one, do see peace in this country.
Our environment is destroyed. There is a new trend now that Nigerians do not know; it is the prevalence of cancer among our women. People are dying. The effects of oil exploration are so much and heavy on our people. ”
They are sharing money; they are not thinking of what we are going through back there. Oil is a wasting asset. If we destroy our land then we cannot even feed ourselves.”
Asked what must be put in place to address the raging cases of oil theft in Nigeria, Alamieyeseigha, a member of Committee on Public Finance and Revenue, who urged the government to write to foreign embassies that are engaged in oil exploration in the country, however, said that the Air Force rather than Navy should take total control of monitoring and checking oil bunkering.
His words: “The way forward to me is very simple. We have identified the problem; it is because of the value change. Nigerian oil outside is very lucrative when refined.
“There is also the banking system. When you make money, it is through the banks that you get the money back into the country, so they are also involved.
”The people that are in the industry have the technical know-how to get this crude oil from very high pressure pipes. The boys in the creek do not have the connections to bring ships from abroad, so in effect, we have buyers. If we don’t have buyers then the market would be saturated and it will not be profitable.
”So, how do we stop buyers of our crude oil that is so unique in the international market? You have to be very courageous and be ready to pay any price because they will try to bring your government down because it is huge amount of money they are making.
“So if you have the courage, the first step you should take is to inform the cartel through their embassies because ships are registered in their country and their destinations are also known. The type of business they do is also known, the routes they ply are also known.
“So what are they coming to do in our exclusive economic zone, especially in the Niger Delta?”
The former governor, who also accused the expatriates of being responsible for the proliferation of weapons in the country, especially from Ukraine, said: “They are the ones bringing weapons into the country, especially ships from places like Ukraine. They take the crude oil and pay in weapons.
“We know all these and the information is available. So, the Federal Government should write the embassies operating in Nigeria, saying, ‘Look, this is our problem; inform your home government not to release their ships for these nefarious activities.’
“Give them time, they have been doing it for so many years, give them time say three months, after three months if we see any of your ships in unauthorised areas, we are going to destroy it.”
“By the time you destroy three or four vessels, no country would allow its vessel to come and operate.
“So there will be no buyer and once there is no buyer, the collaborators among us would look for another job because the industry has been made unattractive.
“It is a simple way of discouraging bunkering.”
Chelsea knocked out by Atletico
Jose Mourinho's side went ahead in the tie when Fernando Torres put Chelsea in front with a goal against his former club nine minutes before half-time.
But Chelsea allowed Atletico back into the match just before the interval, as Adrian Lopez scrambled home.
Capital connection
Atletico Madrid v Real Madrid will be the first final of a European cup competition to feature teams from the same city
The 40 years separating Atletico's two appearances in the European Cup final (1974 & 2014) exceeds the 38-year wait by Inter Milan (1972 & 2010)
It will be the 17th time that two teams from the same country meet in a European final
There has been one previous all-Spanish final in the Champions League when Real Madrid beat Valencia 3-0 in 1999-2000
Source: Infostrada Sports
With Atletico ahead on the away goals rule following a goalless first leg, Chelsea needed to score to reach the Lisbon final but it was the Spaniards who struck again, Diego Costa putting them in front from the penalty spot before the excellent Arda Turan added a third with 18 minutes remaining.
At the final whistle, the visitors danced in front of their fans as John Terry stood in the centre circle and shed tears. It is the first time Atletico have reached a European Cup final since 1972 - and their meeting with Real will be the first time two clubs from the same city have ever contested the final.
For Mourinho and Chelsea, this had been an opportunity to exorcise the spirits of semi-finals past, not create more. To "ghost" goals, penalty shootouts, high-profile rows with Norwegian referees, add this painful defeat.
Mourinho had reached this stage of the competition in each of the past five seasons, but in that time has only managed to reach the final in 2010, when he won it with Inter Milan.
The script appeared to have been written for the Portuguese to return to Lisbon to face Real Madrid, the club he left amid accusations of failure.
Atletico had other ideas and a fairytale of their own to write. Central to their victory was the performance of their goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, on loan from Chelsea. During a frantic second half, he denied Terry and David Luiz just as it seemed Chelsea might find a way back into the tie.
There had been early warning signs for Chelsea, even though for much of the opening 40 minutes they had looked in total control.
Koke's fourth-minute cross drifted onto Mark Schwarzer's crossbar, but in the early moments it was Chelsea who threatened.
Torres led the line with purpose from the outset, playing with the kind of vim and vigour that he had in making his name in the red and white of Atletico. Willian curled a free-kick over the bar, before Luiz produced an acrobatic overhead kick that went wide.
Image of Robbie Savage Robbie Savage BBC football pundit
"The transformation from the moment Atletico scored the first goal was unbelievable. In the second half, Chelsea looked a different team. They lacked confidence and belief and seemed to be out on their feet."
Atletico came into the game on the back of a ninth successive La Liga win, with a sixth successive clean sheet. It took a former idol to break that streak as Torres fired Chelsea in front after 36 minutes following fine work by Willian and Cesar Azpilicueta wide on the right. Torres raised his hands as if to apologise to the travelling supporters who once idolised him.
But within eight minutes Atletico were back in the tie, as Chelsea switched off with half-time approaching. Tiago floated a ball to the far post, where an unmarked Juanfran pulled it back across for Lopez to stroke into an empty net. It was the classic sucker-punch.
Worse was still to come for Chelsea. Substitute Samuel Eto'o collided with Costa in front of the referee. The Spain international stepped up and buried the spot kick to silence Stamford Bridge.
With Chelsea needing to push for a goal of their own, wide open spaces began to appear for Atletico and they took full advantage.
This was a counter-attack as decisive and devastating as the ones perfected by their city neighbours at Bayern Munich on Tuesday. Koke's cross from wide on the right found Turan charging at the back post. His initial header was tipped onto the bar but the Turk followed up to ram home the rebound and put the result beyond doubt.
Mourinho turned to his staff, knowing the game was up.
Ukraine unrest: Kiev 'helpless' to quell parts of east
Mr Turchynov said the goal was now to prevent the unrest spreading.
Activists have seized scores of government buildings and taken hostages including international monitors.
Mr Turchynov also said Ukraine was on "full combat alert", amid fears Russian troops could invade.
"I would like to say frankly that at the moment the security structures are unable to swiftly take the situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions back under control," he said during a meeting with regional governors.
He admitted security personnel "tasked with the protection of citizens" were "helpless".
"More than that, some of these units either aid or co-operate with terrorist groups," he said.
Mr Turchynov added: "Our task is to stop the spread of the terrorist threat first of all in the Kharkiv and Odessa regions."
'Recession' warning
The acting president said that the tens of thousands of Russian troops stationed just over the border meant that "the threat of Russia starting a war against mainland Ukraine is real".
Russia, which annexed the Crimea region from Ukraine last month, has said it has no plans to invade the east.
President Vladimir Putin has insisted there are "neither Russian instructors, nor special units nor troops" inside Ukraine.
However, Moscow has also warned that its soldiers are ready to act if Russian interests are threatened.
Wow! Super Eagles Stars,Mikel And Moses Included In Chelsea’s Summer Mass Clear-Out
Mikel has made 26 league appearances for Chelsea this season but has found first-team opportunities increasingly restricted following the arrival to the club, in January of Serbian midfielder, Nemanja Matic.
Moses was hurled off to Liverpool on a season-long loan deal last summer but has hardly featured for Brendan Rodgers’ high flyers with Raheem Sterling and Phillipe Coutinho in audacious form.
Authoritative British newspaper, The Standard, reports that Chelsea are planning a mass clear-out of more than 10 players in the summer, with Mikel, Moses, Fernando Torres and Ashley Cole all set to leave.
Mourinho admitted after Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Crystal Palace that changes had to be made in order to improve the squad for next season.
Anxious to adapt to Uefa’s Financial Fair Play rules, the club want to bring down their wage bill, which means they are prepared to sell some of the 28 players currently loaned out including Moses.
Mikel has found himself frozen out since Matic joined for £21 million in January and Chelsea hope he can command a large fee because he has three years left on his contract.
Chelsea are also confident they can make a significant profit on their loan players and Moses, who cost € 11.5 million in 2012, is not part of the Chelsea coach’s plans, so a permanent move will be sought for the Nigerian.
Mourinho left little to the imagination when he dropped the strongest possible hint yet of the expected traffic at the club at the end of the season.
“We want to improve the team and the players and make some surgical movements in the transfer window.
“Normally at the end of the season, players that are not playing a lot or who are not happy and prefer a change, that is also part of the market,” he said at his post-match press conference after Chelsea lost 0-1 to Crystal Palace at the weekend.
Swansea Targets Nigeria’s Ike Uche
The Swans are on the hunt for new signings upfront after finding themselves reliant on the goals of last summer’s major purchase Wilfried Bony this season, with Spanish forward Michu also a big miss through injury for much of the campaign.
With the Welsh side now confirmed as safe from relegation for this season with back-to-back wins in the Premier League, manager Garry Monk is already thought to be identifying possible transfer targets to strengthen his squad for next season.
Uche has seemingly caught the eye with some strong performances in La Liga this season, and Swansea have been known for bringing in talent from the Spanish top flight before.
The Nigerian international, 30, has scored 12 goals for Villarreal this season, despite not always being a regular starter, and he looks like a player who could be well suited to the physical demands of the Premier League.
However, Uche has spent the vast majority of his career so far playing in Spain, having also represented Recreativo, Getafe and Zaragoza before moving to Villarreal in 2011.
Omotola, Aliko Dangote, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at the 2014 TIME 100 Gala – Photos
And of course, Omotola Jalade Ekeinde looked stunning in a red dress by Iconic Invanity.
Vice President Sambo’s younger brother dies in ghastly car crash
Yusuf, a retired pilot died in a ghastly motor accident on his way to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, on Sunday morning.
Confirming his death, senior special assistant to the Vice President on Media, Alhaji Umar Sani noted in a statement that the deceased “has since been buried at the Apo cemetery, Abuja according to Islamic rites in the presence of former military President Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar and several other dignitaries and sympathizers.
“Until his death the deceased was a qualified pilot who worked with the former Nigerian Airways and the Presidential Air Fleet before retiring to be on his own. Late Capt. Sambo was born in 1956, and died at the age of 58.
He is survived by his wife, three daughters and 10 brothers and sisters.
Meanwhile President Goodluck Jonathan who was the first to visit the Aguda House residence of Vice President Sambo to condole with him, expressed shock over the incident.
The President received the news of Smabo’s younger brother’s death on his way back to Abuja from his home state, Bayelsa.
Accompanied by his wife, Dame Patience Jonathan and several other top government functionaries to the VP’s residence, Jonathan who prayed God to give the family the fortitude to bear the loss described the car accident as an “extremely sad event.”
He said the late Capt Sambo was also his own younger brother, adding that such people were needed at a time when he and the Vice President were busy attending to national issues.
The President also condoled the government and people of Kaduna State over the loss.
In his response, Vice President Sambo who also returned from an official trip to Tanzania, thanked the President for the visit, even as he described his late brother as one of the most experienced pilot in the country who was very hard-working.
He said he and his entourage were about to leave Tanzania when he got the sad news.
It was gathered that as soon as the Vice President’s plane landed at the Abuja airport, he proceeded immediately to the National Mosque for the prayers, after which he moved straight to the cemetery for the burial.
Present at the VP’s residence were Kaduna State governor Mukhtar Ramallan Yero; Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar; FCT minister, Bala Mohammed and Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro.
Others included business mogul, Arthur Eze, NSCDC boss, Ade Abolurin, Minister of Defence, Aliyu Gusau, former Minister of Defence, Haliru Bello Mohammed, National Security Adviser ( NSA), Col Sambo Dasuki, Head of Service, Goni Bukar Aji, Minister of Special Duties, Kabiru Turaki and many others.
[REVEALED] Abducted Schoolgirls Allegedly Moved Abroad
A Chibok youth leader, Dr Pogu Bitrus, who stated this during an interview with the Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), said his assertion was based on a report that indicates the girls were divided into groups to make it impossible for security agencies tracking them to rescue all the students from one place.
He said, “We have a report that the sect might have divided the girls into different groups and separated them to make it impossible to get all the girls in one place.
“Since the girls were abducted from GGSS Chibok by the Boko Haram, we heard that the girls were separated. Some were detained in Sambisa Forest, some detained around Gwoza, Marte and Monguno axis.
“For almost two weeks the security forces left us in confusion regarding their glaring inability to rescue the schoolgirls and no information from the security that will calm the frustrated parents”.
The youth leader also berated the government for not doing everything possible to rescue the final-year students of GGSS Chibok, adding that even if the government is doing anything possible to rescue the girls, it is being kept under wraps.
According to him: “The search for the missing girls was then left in the hands of their hapless parents who rented 150 commercial motorcyclists, got some volunteers with cutlasses and bows and arrows and went into the forest determined to rescue their wards or die trying.
“In the end, even they were forced to abandon the search when a warning came from the terrorists that if they didn’t stop, they and their children would be killed”, he said.
When contacted, the spokesperson of the state JTF, Col. Muhammad Dole, said he was not authorized to comment on the matter and referred further inquiries to the Director of Defence Information, Maj-Gen Chris Olukolade.
The military had earlier said that it was satisfied with the pace of its operations against Boko Haram extremists to rescue the abducted schoolgirls in Borno State.
“The morale of the soldiers is high and we are expecting to see more successes from the troops,” Olukolade said.
We seek Nigerians’ understanding – Military
The Defence Headquarters yesterday called for understanding on the abducted girls as efforts are being made to secure their freedom.
According to the spokesman of the military, Major General Chris Olukolade, every information received is under consideration.
When LEADERSHIP contacted Olukolade over the movement of the girls, he said: “The concern and anxiety from all quarters is quite understandable. Please be assured that much as the forces may not disclose details of action being taken to secure the freedom of the girls, every information received on the subject is duly analysed and acted upon as necessary.
“No information is being ignored in the concerted efforts to ensure the safety and freedom of the abducted girls.
“Though I may not be able to disclose details of action being taken to secure the freedom of the girls, I can assure you that every information received on the subject is duly analysed and acted upon as necessary.”
Mothers Of The Abducted School Girls Protest At National Assembly
The women under the aegies of Kibaku Development Association and led by senior female police officers converged at the Eagle Square Abuja, all dressed in black, from where they marched peacefully to the National Assembly, wailing and pleading for help from the govt. Senators Barnabas Gemade and Helen Esuene received the protesters and said the senate is considering raising a motion as regards the kidnapped girls for the house to deliberate on.
Nigerians Should Thank The Military For Their Fight Against Boko Haram – Oritsejafor
Boko Haram has caused the death of over several thousands of innocent citizens since 2009, and in 2014 alone about a 1000 people have lost their lives.
Ayo Oritsejafor said: “I believe that the military are doing their best; they are trying; I will not join those who condemn them; if they were not there, what would we have done? “We (Nigerians) should be grateful to them (military); we should not demoralise them; we should encourage them; yes, there is hope for improvement but they have done well,” he said.
The clergy called the sect bunch of cowards and their way of achieving their results was detestable.
He said: “We must understand that these insurgents are cowards of the highest order; they are just people who pretend to be religious people but going by their antecedents, they are not.
“My pronouncement on them is that when they die their bodies should be given to pigs because they do not deserve more than that. “If you are serious about war, you do not go to innocent people, innocent drivers, and innocent travellers and bomb them, this is an act of cowardice,” he said.
Do you agree with him?
Kill public official who steals above N1m – TUC
The Trade Union Congress has recommended death penalty for public officials who embezzle beyond N1m in order to reduce corruption in the country.
The President of the TUC, Bobboi Kaigama, said this during the fourth lecture series of the Faculty of Environmental Design and Management, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, on Tuesday.
While speaking on the theme, ‘Corruption and challenges in nation-building’, Kaigama noted that Nigeria needed to go tougher in its war against corruption.
He said that leaders had no reason not to declare their assets.
He said, “If the governments and legislators are truly sincere about the fight against corruption in the country, they must go tougher. Any public official, whether at the state or federal level, should be executed. Killing them after confirmation of any embezzlement allegation of more than N1m will lead us to the right path.
“I sincerely recommend an active process of legislation that would support that. It would also serve the nation well to have a law which not only provides for every public office holder to declare his assets on assuming office, but also stipulate that he must repeat the exercise each subsequent year that he is in office and not later than one month after vacating the office. Such declaration should be in at least three newspapers and not just to the Code of Conduct Bureau.”
The TUC boss also advocated that corrupt leaders should be banned from occupying public offices.
He lamented that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission as well as the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission were not strengthened.
Vice-Chancellor of OAU, Prof. Bamitale Omole, said the war against corruption required a collective effort, saying, “countries all over the world have different times along their developmental journeys stared this behemoth squarely and fought it (not to talk to it) with their might collectively.”
The President of the TUC, Bobboi Kaigama, said this during the fourth lecture series of the Faculty of Environmental Design and Management, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, on Tuesday.
While speaking on the theme, ‘Corruption and challenges in nation-building’, Kaigama noted that Nigeria needed to go tougher in its war against corruption.
He said that leaders had no reason not to declare their assets.
He said, “If the governments and legislators are truly sincere about the fight against corruption in the country, they must go tougher. Any public official, whether at the state or federal level, should be executed. Killing them after confirmation of any embezzlement allegation of more than N1m will lead us to the right path.
“I sincerely recommend an active process of legislation that would support that. It would also serve the nation well to have a law which not only provides for every public office holder to declare his assets on assuming office, but also stipulate that he must repeat the exercise each subsequent year that he is in office and not later than one month after vacating the office. Such declaration should be in at least three newspapers and not just to the Code of Conduct Bureau.”
The TUC boss also advocated that corrupt leaders should be banned from occupying public offices.
He lamented that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission as well as the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission were not strengthened.
Vice-Chancellor of OAU, Prof. Bamitale Omole, said the war against corruption required a collective effort, saying, “countries all over the world have different times along their developmental journeys stared this behemoth squarely and fought it (not to talk to it) with their might collectively.”
Govs’ removal: Falana tells Jonathan to ignore Clark
Falana said in a statement on Tuesday that the call was diversionary and the act of removing elected governors or suspending democratic institutions during emergency rule in a state was illegal.
Falana said such call should be taken seriously because it came from a personality like Clark “who wields enormous influence around the presidency”.
He therefore urged the President to shun such advice by “people with vested political agenda to resort to undemocratic tactics associated with military dictators”.
He said, “As Nigeria has successfully replaced autocracy with democracy all actions of the government have to be conducted in strict compliance with the tenets of the rule of law.
“In view of the clear provision of the Constitution on the vexed issue of a state of emergency I am compelled to urge the President to ignore the illegal and unconstitutional call for the removal of the governors of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.”
Clark had been quoted to have said that, “There is nothing like partial declaration of a state of emergency in the 1999 Constitution; what section 305 (c) of the Constitution contemplates is the recourse to ‘extraordinary measures to restore peace’ and security where there is a breakdown of public order and public safety.
“This in effect means that all democratic institution should be suspended to permit the military exercise full control until peace and order returns”.
But Falana said that nothing in section 305 of the constitution referred to by Clark empowered the President to suspend democratic institutions in a state under emergency rule.
Falana said, “With profound respect to the elder statesman, Section 305 of the Constitution which empowers the President to declare a state of emergency in any part of the country does not make any provision, expressly or impliedly, for the removal of elected democratic structures.
“In other words, the power of the President, to take ‘extraordinary measures to restore peace and security’ under a state of emergency does not include the removal of elected public officers or the dissolution of democratic structures.
“In any case, state governors cannot be held vicariously liable for the inability of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to stem the rising wave of insurgency in the country.”
He pointed out that the Ijaw leader was unable to point to any law or decided court case to justify his stand in enjoining “President Jonathan to follow the bad example of President Obasanjo”.
Falana said the suspension of the then Governor of Plateau State and the Acting Governor of Ekiti State for six months by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo during his tenure as President was “in utter violation of the Constitution”.
He added, “That was an era of executive recklessness, which has been consigned to the dustbin of history.
“Assuming without conceding that President Obasanjo was right is Chief Clark suggesting, by any stretch of imagination, that if the Federation is waging a war against another country leading to the imposition of emergency rule in the entire land the President should vacate office for a retired General to take over and run the country like a Sole Administrator?”
Committee wants President, govs stripped of immunity
The Chairman of the Committee and a former Minister of Information, Prof. Jerry Gana, told journalists on Tuesday that the committee was concerned about the abuse of office by public office holders and the corruption that goes with it.
He said the committee was of the opinion that a message should be sent to Nigerians and office holders that no one was above the law.
Gana said, “Our recommendation is still subject to the approval of the plenary. We took decision on the immunity clause and it was a clear consensus in the interest of zero tolerance for corruption, to promote good governance, to promote transparency and discipline.
“The fact that we don’t want people going around that the leaders are above the law, we decided that the immunity clause should be removed from our constitution.
“This is not yet the decision of the conference though, but this is what we are presenting to the plenary.
“I must say that the entire members of the committee went along with the decision, we had no reason to divide the committee because it was a consensus.”
Also, the Committee on Power Devolution in the National Conference on Tuesday failed to reach any agreement on whether item 39, which is the mines, mineral resources, revenue and geological surveys should be on the Exclusive List or on the Concurrent List.
Also, the delegates failed to reach an agreement or consensus on revenue sharing and resource control.
These issues had preoccupied their deliberations since Monday.
Journalists were sent out after the lunch break to enable the members to discuss without any interference, but after four hours of intensive deliberations and lobbying, the delegates failed to reach an agreement.
Jonathan sacks Gulak as political adviser
President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday terminated the appointment of his Special Adviser on Political Matters, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, announced this in a three-paragraph statement made available to journalists.
Abati said the President thanked Gulak for his services to the present administration and wished him success in his future endeavours.
He, however, did not give reason for the sacking.
He said a replacement for Gulak would be announced in due course.
Abati wrote, “President Jonathan has terminated the appointment of his Special Adviser (Political), Alhaji Ahmed A. Gulak, with immediate effect.
“President Jonathan thanks Alhaji Gulak for his services to the present administration and wishes him success in his future endeavours.
“A replacement for Alhaji Gulak will be announced in due course.”
Gulak was sighted in the Presidential Villa, Abuja, shortly before the announcement was made.
A Presidency source told our correspondent that the politics of 2015 might have consumed the former presidential aide.
One of the President’s loyalists, Governor Godswill Akpabio, was said to have recently complained to Jonathan of some activities of Gulak, which he felt strongly about.
The Peoples Democratic Party in the state had also issued a statement accusing Gulak of unduly interfering in the politics of the state.
Akpabio was said to have accused the former presidential aide of associating with his political enemies under the presence of working for the President’s yet-to-be declared re-election bid.
He was said to have complained that Gulak incorporated his former Deputy, Nsima Ekere, and former Secretary to the State Government, Umana Umana, into the Goodluck Suppport Group.
He was accused of inaugurating the South-South zonal office of the GSG in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, without the knowledge of the governor.
In a communique signed by the Akwa Ibom State Peoples Democratic Party chairman, Mr. Paul Ekpo, the party accused Gulak of breaching existing and relevant protocols during his visit to the state.
“Gulak came to Akwa Ibom State and inaugurated a sectional and an unknown support group in favour of President Goodluck Jonathan, without calling on the state’s party leadership.
“Let Gulak sort out PDP problems in Adamawa State, deliver Adamawa State to the President before rushing to safe territories, like the South-South Nigeria, where Jonathan requires no campaign,” the statement said in part.
Tuesday 29 April 2014
Ukraine crisis: Pro-Russia activists take Luhansk offices
They seized the regional government's headquarters and prosecutor's office before opening fire with automatic weapons at the main police station.
Interim President Olexander Turchynov criticised local police for their "inaction" and "criminal treachery".
The US accused Russia of seeking to "change the security landscape" of Eastern and Central Europe.
In a speech at the Atlantic Council in Washington, Secretary of State John Kerry told the Kremlin to "leave Ukraine in peace" and warned: "Nato territory is inviolable we will defend every single inch of it."
In other developments on Tuesday:
A conference in London heard allegations that Ukraine's ousted President Viktor Yanukovych and his associates may have stolen assets worth tens of billions of dollars
Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov told BBC Russian that voting in next month's presidential election may not be able to take place in all regions because of the unrest
'No control'
Moscow has said it has no intention of invading eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russia activists have seized government buildings in more than a dozen towns and cities.
Until now, only the local office of the State Security Service (SBU) in Luhansk, a city of 465,000 people less than 30km (20 miles) from the Russian border, had been targeted.
But on Tuesday afternoon, hundreds of people shouting "Russia, Russia" gathered outside the headquarters of the regional government to demand a referendum on greater autonomy.
Real Madrid reach the Champions League final with a 4-0 demolition of holders Bayern Munich to win 5-0 on aggregate
Sergio Ramos scored two headers from set-pieces before Cristiano Ronaldo rounded off a counter-attack to all but end the game as a contest.
Ronaldo added a late free-kick for his record 16th goal of the European campaign to seal a 5-0 aggregate win.
Real will face either Chelsea or Atletico Madrid in the final in Lisbon.
The defeat was a humiliation for Bayern, who last year thrashed Barcelona 7-0 on aggregate in the semi-finals before overcoming fellow Germans Borussia Dortmund to lift the trophy for the fifth time.
And the result will increase the pressure on manager Pep Guardiola amid the growing feeling that, despite winning the Bundesliga in record time, he has not delivered the progress his employers were expecting.
The future of the former Barca coach will be of little concern to Real, who now have the chance to add to their record haul of nine European Cups, 12 years after Zinedine Zidane's volley delivered their last triumph at Hampden Park.
With Zidane now watching from the Real bench as a member of Carlo Ancelotti's coaching staff, the Spaniards started the game with verve and purpose and were swiftly on the way to their first ever victory over Bayern in Munich at the 10th attempt.
Gareth Bale had already gone close with a long-range effort after Manuel Neuer's weak punch when a Luka Modric corner from the right located the unmarked Ramos, who powered a header past the Germany goalkeeper.
Shortly afterwards, Real doubled their lead via a near-identical goal as Angel Di Maria's free-kick was flicked on by Pepe, and Ramos was once again on hand to head in.
With Bayern's usually fervent fans stunned into silence, Real added a third on the break. Benzema's hooked pass sent Bale racing clear and the Welshman squared for Ronaldo to slot in his 48th goal of the season.
The only low for Real in an otherwise perfect first period was Xabi Alonso's yellow card for a foul on Bastian Schweinsteiger, which will rule him out of the final on 24 May.
With Bayern needing a near-impossible five goals, the second half was predictably flat.
Arjen Robben curled wide from the edge of the area, Franck Ribery drew a rare save from Iker Casillas with a low drive and substitute Mario Gotze could not keep his shot below the bar after turning sharply in the box.
And Bayern suffered a final ignominy in the 89th minute when Ronaldo curled a 20-yard free-kick under a jumping wall to kick-start the Real celebrations.
The victory sets up a mouth-watering final either way, with Real poised to face either former boss Jose Mourinho should Chelsea make it through, or city rivals Atletico.
That tie is delicately poised at 0-0 going into Wednesday night's second leg at Stamford Bridge.
Nigeria needs 51,000 engineers to boost power sector reform, says Institute
Abuja – The National Power Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN) has said that country requires 51,000 engineers to fast-track the power sector reform.
Currently, the sector has an estimated 200 young engineers, craftsmen and fitters out of the required 51,000 engineers.
Ths Director-General of the Institute, Mr Reuben Okeke, gave the figure on Monday in Abuja at the induction 220 beneficiaries of Subsidy Reinvestment Empowerment Programme (SURE-P).
Okeke said that the nation’s power sector had suffered dearth of young and qualified electrical engineers due to employment embargo since 1998.
He said that government had offered to train the 220 beneficiaries free, pay them stipend and sponsor them for post-graduate courses.
Mr Peter Esele, representing the SURE-P Chairman, Gen. Martin Luther Agwai,
said that eight vocational training centres had been selected nationwide to fast-track the young engineers training programme.
Esele stated that the training would also engage young Nigerians in agriculture, information technology, construction, creative arts, shipping and marine, oil, gas, hospitality and automobile.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, Dr Godknows Igali, who represented the Minister, Prof Chinedu Nebo, commended the Federal Government for unbundling the nation’s power sector.
Igali called on Nigerians to remain patient and supportive of the giant stride being taken to achieve the great feat in record time.
Chief Emeka Wogu, the Minister of Labour and Productivity, while inducting the trainees for their one-year scholarship programme, said the graduates would form the hub of the nation’s certified and skilled manpower in business drive.
He congratulated the trainees for their selection to transform the unbundled power sector.
Wogu also lauded the Federal Government for taking up the challenge of building the skill development of a future Nigeria.
The graduate trainees of the one-year Technical Vocational Education Training Project (TVET) was in collaboration with the Ministry of Power and NAPTIN. (NAN)
Russia accuses US of ‘Iron Curtain’ policies in Ukraine showdown
(AFP) – Moscow on Tuesday accused Washington of bringing back “Iron Curtain” policies in the fierce showdown over Ukraine, while the West revealed its new sanctions included measures against Russia’s military chief.
The furious escalation in language from Russia underlined the Cold War echoes of the crisis as the United States and Europe set in motion sanctions to hammer powerful Russian figures and firms close to President Vladimir Putin.
The increasing geopolitical tensions were doing nothing to ease the situation on the ground in east Ukraine, where sporadic violence was unabated and negotiations to free seven OSCE inspectors held by rebels continued.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov tore into the United States for leading the sanctions charge on Monday, especially for its decision to curb hi-tech exports to Russia that could have military uses.
“All of that is a blow to our high-tech enterprises and industries,” Ryabkov said in an interview with online newspaper Gazeta.ru.
“This is a revival of a system created in 1949 when Western countries essentially lowered an ‘Iron Curtain’, cutting off supplies of high-tech goods to the USSR and other countries.”
The European Union, meanwhile, revealed that General Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff of Russia’s armed forces and the country’s deputy defence minister, was one of 15 Russians and Ukrainians targeted by an asset freeze and travel ban in bloc’s latest blacklist.
Russia’s foreign ministry responded by saying the European bloc was “doing Washington’s bidding with new unfriendly gestures towards Russia”.
The White House on Monday slapped sanctions on seven Russian officials and 17 companies close to Putin, while Canada added nine names and two banks and Japan said it was denying visas to 23 targeted Russians.
An outraged Kremlin has vowed “painful” retaliation against Washington for the measures.
But for all the fury, there was no sign the sanctions were having any immediate effect on getting Russia to use its influence to defuse the crisis in Ukraine.
On Monday, a mayor in east Ukraine’s biggest city of Kharkiv, Gennady Kernes, was shot in the back by an unknown gunman, leaving him in a critical condition.
Kernes, who is Jewish, was flown Tuesday to Israel for medical treatment, his spokesman said.
Fourteen people were also seriously hurt on Monday when pro-Moscow militants wielding bricks, bats and knives attacked their march for Ukrainian unity in the city of Donetsk.
Kalashnikov-toting militants the same day seized the town hall of Kostyantynivka — the latest of more than a dozen towns held by the pro-Russian rebels.
- Russia vows no invasion -
Russia, which has massed tens of thousands of troops on the border with Ukraine, has repeatedly said it has no plans to invade the ex-Soviet republic.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu repeated that assurance in a telephone conversation with his US counterpart Chuck Hagel, the Pentagon said.
Shoigu again denied US accusations that covert Russian forces were already deployed in Ukraine to sow unrest, and urged Washington to tone down its rhetoric on the crisis.
Hagel in turn called for an end to Russia’s “destabilising influence inside Ukraine and warned that continued aggression would further isolate Russia and result in more diplomatic and economic pressure”.
The US defence secretary also asked for Moscow’s help in securing the release of the seven OSCE inspectors held by pro-Russian militants in Slavyansk.
An AFP journalist in Slavyansk said early Tuesday there was still no sign of the captive inspectors leaving the occupied town hall, where they were being kept under armed guard.
The OSCE has been negotiating for several days to free the seven Europeans, who were seized on Friday along with a Swede, who was released on Sunday because he suffers from diabetes.
The local rebel leader has given the OSCE a list of pro-Russian militants detained by Ukrainian authorities who he wants freed in a prisoner swap.
Kiev’s soldiers are surrounding the flashpoint town in a bid to prevent reinforcements reaching militants there.
FG links Boko Haram to 2015 elections
LAGOS—The Federal Government, yesterday, linked the Boko Haram insurgency to the 2015 presidential election, saying that this was because people fought for power each time elections were around the corner.
Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala made this known in an interview conducted in her car with Reuters in Abuja as she headed to the airport en route New York on Sunday.
“There is no war… there is an insurgency. We are not in a Colombia situation,” she added, rejecting comparisons with Colombia which has, for decades, battled a major left-wing insurgency that often affected large swathes of its national territory.
Democracy in raw form
“We tend to notice that when the electoral cycle comes in, all these things heat up. What we are going through now is democracy in raw form, because people are fighting for power and they will use anything to get there … and to win the election,” Okonjo-Iweala said.
A woman in Purdah casting her votes during the Gubernatorial and State Assembly Elections in Minna, Niger State. Photo by Abayomi Adeshida
A woman in Purdah casting her votes during the Gubernatorial and State Assembly Elections in Minna, Niger State. Photo by Abayomi Adeshida
She said Boko Haram, which has raided schools, churches, government offices and security posts in their bid to carve out an Islamist enclave, mostly affected around five percent of the nation’s territory, the North East states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.
But she acknowledged Boko Haram had shown it could strike further south. A bombing at a bus station this month killed at least 75 people in Nyanya, on the outskirts of Abuja, which is hosting a World Economic Forum on Africa next week.
The minister however, said that the Federal Government was working on strategic plans to end the Boko Haram insurgency.
According to her, the plans include recruitment of more people into the Armed Forces, increased spending to tackle the sect’s threat and a Marshall Plan for the northeast aimed at lifting the area out of poverty and underdevelopment.
She further said Boko Haram was receiving “cross-border” backing from supporters in Cameroon, Niger and Chad, pointing out that there were plans to cut off its financiers from other militant Islamic groups in the Sahel.
“We need to look at the source of this financing,” she said, stressing that President Goodluck Jonathan was working to obtain regional cooperation to remove Boko Haram’s support from Jihadi groups in the Sahel.
She said that although the impact of the five-year Boko Haram insurgency had cut half a percentage point off Nigeria’s GDP last year, it could be contained.
According to the minister, Nigeria had earlier halted insurgencies like attacks on oil facilities by Niger Delta militants in the past decade, noting that Boko Haram did not pose the same threat as the Biafran War that split the country from 1967-1970.
Abducted school girls
A mass abduction of teenage schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State, by suspected Boko Haram gunmen this month has outraged Nigerians and raised fears that the insurrection, coupled with persistent inter-communal violence in the Middle Belt, could strain Nigeria’s unity.
However, the Minister said: “We recognize that this is an inclusion problem … the fact that the human development indicators in that part of the country are among the lowest,” and hoped that politicians would heed President Goodluck Jonathan’s appeal for unity.
“Everybody has now come together and said this is ridiculous, crazy, unacceptable, for our children to go to school and be sleeping in their beds at night and for some people to come and abduct them,” Okonjo-Iweala said, referring to the schoolgirls’ abduction in which hundreds are still missing. Nigeria as a nation will overcome this,” she added, even as she stressed that the government was working to obtain backing from donors for the programme.
Boko Haram’s attacks have stopped farmers from growing crops. Several thousand people were killed in the insurgency last year and at that rate it could hurt Nigeria’s GDP in 2014, which is estimated to grow by nearly seven per cent.
“We think we can absorb it, but of course, if like last year, it continues, then we have to make an estimate of the impact,” Okonjo-Iweala said.
She added that investors are looking more closely at Nigeria since a GDP rebasing last month made it the continent’s largest economy ahead of South Africa did not appear to be turned off by the security challenges.
“Nobody who is making an investment has so far said they will not make one, that we know of,” she said.
FG has failed us — Chibok parents, elders
Parents and elders of Chibok community in Borno State whose 191 abducted schoolgirls are still being held in the dreaded Sambisa forest said, yesterday, that the Federal Government has failed them over the government’s inability to rescue the girls more than two weeks after they were abducted.
Leader of Chibok Elders Forum (CHEF) Dr. Pogu Bitrus, who spoke with newsmen, yesterday, in Maiduguri, said that 43 girls managed to escape from their captors, while over 100 others were still being held in the forest by the insurgents.
Bitrus said: “We are not aware of any serious effort by the Federal Government to secure the release of the girls. We heard that the military moved troops to the forests some days ago but we don’t know what they are doing. All we know is that 234 of our daughters are in captivity. The Federal Government is supposed to provide security and welfare of its citizens but it has failed us in that respect since it has failed to rescue our children.
“We started having hope when the President hosted the expanded Security Council meeting where they said they were all committed to seeing that the girls were released but up till today (yesterday) nothing has happened. We are still waiting and we have surrendered everything to God but the government should know that it has the primary responsibility to its citizens to secure the release of the girls and return them to their parents.”
He continued: “Government has not provided succour to the parents. It is very disappointing when I read in the papers that America is trying to assist. What is wrong with Nigeria? We have a lot of unanswered questions and as parents we are still waiting for what government will do for its citizens. It is getting to two weeks now when these poor girls were kidnapped from their school.
APC hails suspension of PDP rally in Adamawa
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has hailed the reported suspension of the PDP rally scheduled for Adamawa State today, in line with the prevailing mood of the nation, especially the abduction of school children in Borno State.
In a statement issued in Lagos, yesterday, by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party called the suspension the very right decision to take under the circumstance.
It said the suspension of the rally has shown that President Goodluck Jonathan is beginning to hearken to the voices of his compatriots on important national issues.
“As we said in a statement we issued on April 24, it smacks of insensitivity, inhumanity and indecency for our President and other leaders to be engaged in any celebratory venture when we do not yet know the fate of the school girls who were abducted from their school and taken to an unknown destination.
‘’We also said the President should not repeat the same mistake he made by flying to Kano to dance at a political rally even as the smoke was yet to clear from the scene of the Nyanya bus park bombing. We are delighted that good sense has prevailed this time,’’ APC said.
Strike: ASUP, COEASU and civil society groups embark on street protest today
BY LAIDE AKINBOADE
ABUJA — ACADEMIC Staff Union of Polytechnics, ASUP, Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union, COEASU, and the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, are set to embark on a street protest today to pile pressures on Federal Government to respect the agreement reached with both unions.
Addressing the press in Abuja, ASUP President, Dr. Chibuzor Asomugha, and his COEASU counterpart, Ahmed Lawal, said the unions could no longer tolerate government’s inability to address the remaining two of the four critical points it promised to speedily tackle to ensure early call off of the industrial action.
Dr. Asomugha recalled that during an earlier meeting with government, the unions were assured that four outstanding issues, including the appointment of the governing councils, release of the white paper on the visitation panels, implementation of CONTISS 15, and the setting up of the NEEDS Committee, would be addressed within two weeks.
He said government was only able to address two issues, including the inauguration of the governing council and the needs assessment committees.
“It is worrisome to note that the issue of outstanding is still pending and as it is, the strike will not be suspended until the government pays attention to this ,” Asomugha said.
He lamented that the unions were not offered any window of opportunity for dialogue, neither carried along by the supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike, since December 18, 2013
ABUJA — ACADEMIC Staff Union of Polytechnics, ASUP, Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union, COEASU, and the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, are set to embark on a street protest today to pile pressures on Federal Government to respect the agreement reached with both unions.
Addressing the press in Abuja, ASUP President, Dr. Chibuzor Asomugha, and his COEASU counterpart, Ahmed Lawal, said the unions could no longer tolerate government’s inability to address the remaining two of the four critical points it promised to speedily tackle to ensure early call off of the industrial action.
Dr. Asomugha recalled that during an earlier meeting with government, the unions were assured that four outstanding issues, including the appointment of the governing councils, release of the white paper on the visitation panels, implementation of CONTISS 15, and the setting up of the NEEDS Committee, would be addressed within two weeks.
He said government was only able to address two issues, including the inauguration of the governing council and the needs assessment committees.
“It is worrisome to note that the issue of outstanding is still pending and as it is, the strike will not be suspended until the government pays attention to this ,” Asomugha said.
He lamented that the unions were not offered any window of opportunity for dialogue, neither carried along by the supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike, since December 18, 2013
80 % contractors tender forged documents- Engr. Ezeh
By Emma Ujah, Abuja Bureau Chief
80 per cent of contractors who do business with the federal government tender forged documents, the Director -General, D-G, of the Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, Engr .Emeka Ezeh disclosed this in Abuja, yesterday.
He was addressing a forum of contractors, consultants and service providers of federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs.
The DG who frowned at the ignoble practice disclosed that as many as 156 such companies were currently being prosecuted. The worst culprits were local contractors.
His words, “a lot of contractors, especially 80 per cent of the local ones are notorious for submitting fake documents when biding for contracts.
“We see all manner of fake documents such as false Tax Clearance Certificate, PenCom Certificate of Compliance, false claim of personnel, false audited account and use of fake addresses and submission of fake bank statements.
“Currently, there are 156 companies being prosecuted because of this. There is not enough space in our prisons, to accommodate all these fraudulent activities by contractors, so this has to change.”
Engr. Ezeh said the unscrupulous contractors were depriving the nation of value-for-money service.
He told the contractors that although his office would encourage local contractors to bid for public jobs, he would not do business with any fraudulent companies.
The Nigerian public, according to the BPP boss deserved the best of services and therefore urged honest contractors to come forward and participate in bidding processes, especially as the federal government was determined to ensure an effective implementation of the 2014 federal budget.
He disclosed that the federal government has established a database with which his office could easily appraise submissions and fight against corruption in contract processes and that there was no going back in the procurement reforms of the present administration.
“We started the registration of all contractors, consultants and service providers in the country as part of BPP’s drive to reform the public procurement system for better monitoring and oversight of public procurement processes in the country.
`
“As at April 24, 2014, 1,495 companies have started the registration process. Out of that number, only 158 have completed their registration.
“By mid- June this year, any company that is not completely registered on our database cannot do business with any government MDA,” he said.
In his remarks, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim told the contractors that the Jonathan administration was determined to make transparency the hallmark of public procurement at the federal level.
His words, “recently, we have been witnessing controversial transactions by government agencies with contractors that do not follow due process.
“Government cannot accept a situation where public procurement become a source of frequent embarrassment.
“Apart from having a negative effect on the nation’s image, the situation also erode the confidence of the citizens on the government.
“May I therefore state that government will not hesitate to invoke all sanctions in the provisions of public procurement act of 2007 against any public officer, contractor, or consultants who contravene any provisions of the law.”
80 per cent of contractors who do business with the federal government tender forged documents, the Director -General, D-G, of the Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, Engr .Emeka Ezeh disclosed this in Abuja, yesterday.
He was addressing a forum of contractors, consultants and service providers of federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs.
The DG who frowned at the ignoble practice disclosed that as many as 156 such companies were currently being prosecuted. The worst culprits were local contractors.
His words, “a lot of contractors, especially 80 per cent of the local ones are notorious for submitting fake documents when biding for contracts.
“We see all manner of fake documents such as false Tax Clearance Certificate, PenCom Certificate of Compliance, false claim of personnel, false audited account and use of fake addresses and submission of fake bank statements.
“Currently, there are 156 companies being prosecuted because of this. There is not enough space in our prisons, to accommodate all these fraudulent activities by contractors, so this has to change.”
Engr. Ezeh said the unscrupulous contractors were depriving the nation of value-for-money service.
He told the contractors that although his office would encourage local contractors to bid for public jobs, he would not do business with any fraudulent companies.
The Nigerian public, according to the BPP boss deserved the best of services and therefore urged honest contractors to come forward and participate in bidding processes, especially as the federal government was determined to ensure an effective implementation of the 2014 federal budget.
He disclosed that the federal government has established a database with which his office could easily appraise submissions and fight against corruption in contract processes and that there was no going back in the procurement reforms of the present administration.
“We started the registration of all contractors, consultants and service providers in the country as part of BPP’s drive to reform the public procurement system for better monitoring and oversight of public procurement processes in the country.
`
“As at April 24, 2014, 1,495 companies have started the registration process. Out of that number, only 158 have completed their registration.
“By mid- June this year, any company that is not completely registered on our database cannot do business with any government MDA,” he said.
In his remarks, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim told the contractors that the Jonathan administration was determined to make transparency the hallmark of public procurement at the federal level.
His words, “recently, we have been witnessing controversial transactions by government agencies with contractors that do not follow due process.
“Government cannot accept a situation where public procurement become a source of frequent embarrassment.
“Apart from having a negative effect on the nation’s image, the situation also erode the confidence of the citizens on the government.
“May I therefore state that government will not hesitate to invoke all sanctions in the provisions of public procurement act of 2007 against any public officer, contractor, or consultants who contravene any provisions of the law.”
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