FG, others share N6.3tr in 10 months

The three tiers of government shared N6.3 trillion as statutory allocations from January to October this year. However, revenue from crude oil into the federation account fell by 3.3 percent to N5.7 trillion during this period, reflecting the impact of the falling price of crude oil.Data published by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) reveal that revenue from crude oil into the nation’s federation account dropped by 3.3 percent to N5.797 trillion in the first ten months of the year, from N5.997 trillion in the corresponding period of 2013.From N1.834 trillion in the first quarter of 2013, oil revenue fell to N1.808 trillion in the first quarter of 2014.In the second quarter oil revenue dropped to N1.795 trillion, and again to N1.723 trillion.Since June, crude oil prices have been on the downward trend. According to the CBN, average price of Nigeria crude oil fell from $114 per barrel in June to $59.97 per barrel as at December 24th.According to Dr. Bright Okogu, Director-General, Budget Office, the decline in crude oil price is one of the challenges of implementing the 2014 Budget.In an analysis of the 2015 proposed budget, he said that releases for 2014 recurrent budget are on track, while N610 billion has been released for capital expenditure. He said for the implementation of SURE-P Budget, “Of the N268.37 billion provisioned for SURE-P, N208.3 billion (or 77.6 percent of the SURE-P budget) has been utilized in various job creation initiatives and infrastructure projects.“This level of implementation is coming amidst various challenges to the 2014 Budget revenue, including: fall in average oil production of 2.2mbpd against 2.38mbpd budgeted; oil price falling from about $114pb in June now to about $60pb; and Under-remittance of internally generated revenue by some MDAs”Statutory allocations fall by 4.5%Analysis of statutory allocations to the three tiers of government as published by the Central Bank of Nigeria in its monthly and quarterly reports reveal that total allocations from January to October fell by 4.5per cent or N296 billion from N6.626 trillion in the corresponding period of 2013.In the first quarter, statutory allocations fell to N1.827 trillion from N2 trillion in the first quarter of 2013.Allocation to the Federal government rose to N912 billion from N908 billion, while allocation to the 36 states fell to N669.57 billion from N734.07 billion. Allocation to the 774 local governments fell to N374.79 billion from N401.68 billion.From N2.11 trillion in the second quarter of 2013, allocations to the three tiers of government fell N1.926 trillion in the second quarter of 2014. Allocations to the federal government in the second quarter of 2014 fell to N864.2 billion from N885.5 billion in 2013. For states and local governments, allocation fell to N692.08 billion and N388.13 billion respectively, from N773.01 billion and N422.62 billionIn the third quarter, allocations to the federal government fell to N924.68 billion from N686.86 billion in the corresponding quarter of 2013. Allocation to states and local government however rose to N694.39 billion and N398.09 billion from N686.86 billion and N394.12 billion respectively in third quarter of 2013.FG’s deficit rises 21%Further analysis reveals that the budget deficit of the federal government rose by 21 percent in the first ten months of 2014. Recall that the 2014 appropriation bill of the federal government projected revenue of N3.73 trillion and expenditure of N4.96 trillion, implying deficit of N1.23 trillion.Statutory allocation data show that total federal government revenue from January to October dropped to N2.979 trillion, from N3.064 trillion in the corresponding period of 2013. The revenue for the ten months however represents 79.8 percent of the total revenue projected for the year, less that 83.3 percent or N3.1 trillion expected for the ten months period. Federal government expenditure also dropped from N3.817 trillion to N3.6 trillion. Consequently, total deficit rose to N753 billion from N620 billion in the 2013 period.Experts fault budget 2015 assumptionsMeanwhile a group of experts have faulted the crude oil price and exchange rate assumptions of the budget 2015 proposals of the federal government.The proposed 2014 Budget of the federal government is based on a crude oil price benchmark of $65 per barrel (initially $78) and exchange rate of N165 to the dollar.Experts at the Center for Social Justice however averred that, “the benchmark price of crude oil and the exchange rate projection seem to be based on inaccurate data and information and will lead to lack of predictability in the budget”.It its preliminary views on the 2015 Federal Budget, the Center stated, “Insisting on a benchmark price of$65pb at a time crude oil is trading below $60pb is an exercise in futility which seeks to lay the foundation for budget failure.It is also a ready-made excuse for the budget not to achieve its objectives. A budget must be realistic and its revenue framework based on accruable revenue sources. Planning with facts and statistics which the planner knows to be wrong is a waste of time.For the government to merely hope without any empirical basis that the price of oil will rebound in 2015, asthe basis for fixing a benchmark higher than the actual price raises issues about the credibility of the budget. The benchmark should have been lower than current prices and if the price eventually goes up, savings can accrue to the Excess Crude Account.“Insisting on an exchange rate of N165 to 1USD at a time when the currency is facing severe pressure and the Central Bank has fixed a band of – + 5percent around the N168 to 1USD corridor appears overtly optimistic.Why not use N168 to 1USD or the interbank rate of N167.5 to 1USD. With the sell-off of stocks by foreign investors, increased frivolous spending for the 2015 campaigns and obvious liquidity challenges, the naira may likely depreciate further. Undue optimism in the face of daunting challenges pointing in the opposite direction is not the way for credible planning.”

Marketing in 2014: Season of elections, failures and controversies

The 2014 fiscal year in the Integrated Marketing Communications, IMC, industry recoded significant success with election and re-election of new helmsmen in different sectoral bodies, with negative reports recorded in two sectors of the industry namely the advertising and manufacturing sectors.NIMN:The National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria, NIMN, witnessed the re-election of its incumbent President, Mr. Ganiyu Koledoye, to stir the affairs of the institute for the next two years. While the Manchester Business School Alumni of the NIMN branch was launched in Nigeria.The Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria , AAAN, at its 41st Annual General Meeting had a smooth transmission by newly elected President for the association in the person of Mr. Kelechi Nwosu, to run the affairs of the association for two years.This year also, the Association was chosen to participate and put down their position on paper at the just ended national conference, which accordingly is a boost to the industry, as the government now recognizes their contribution to the growth of the polity.APCON:On the other hand, the negative report recorded in the concluding year rested on the controversial appointment of a Chairman for the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria, APCON, by the federal government of one Mr. Ngozi Emioma,whose appointment attracted reactions and protests from different sectoral bodies, spearheaded by the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria, AAAN, which till date, the issue has not been resolved, with the purported appointed Chairman purported to be operating from Abuja, leaving the known operating office in Lagos without impact on the industry.The other was the removal of the Managing Director of Guinness Nigeria, Seni Adetu as a result of the dwindling performance of its products in the market, against competing brands, particularly from the Nigerian Breweries Plc.NIPR:In the concluding year, election of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, NIPR, produced Dr. Rotimi Oladele as the president of the institute, who on assumption promised the construction of the institute’s head office allocated to it at Yaba.ADVAN:The Advertisers Association of Nigeria, ADVAN unveiled the take off and construction of its N50 million secretariat and the institution of brand Journalists awards for those the cover the marketing communications industry.LASAA:Lagos Signage and Advertisement Agency orchestrated the first advertising exhibition to galvanize and expose the creative work of the Nigerian advertising industry, while reducing levies on advert rates to attract individuals and corporate organizations.OAAN:Outdoor Advertising Agency of Nigeria rejuvenated its rested annual posters awards.Pay-Tv sector:The pay-TV sector with the major players Multichoice and NTA-StarTimes grappled with the challenges associated with switching-over from analogue to digital come June 2015, as both operators say they are ready for the switchover as directed by the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation, NBC.FMCGs:In 2014, the brands market witnessed some new product entrants from Fast Moving Consumer Goods, FMCGs with repackaging of some existing products. Promotions to increase he market of various companies took the front burner particularly during yuletide period.

Lagos accuses Jonathan of running govt without any legacy

Lagos State Government yesterday said President Goodluck Jonathan and his vice; Namadi Sambo has ruled the country for four years without any legacy to show, even as it accused Sambo of lacking in facts on the economic viability of the state.The state government made the statement while reacting to the claim by the Sambo that many residents have been fleeing the state because of the high taxes imposed on them by the state government.The Vice President had made the claim on Wednesday, December 24th, during a reconciliation meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP governorship aspirants in Lagos.Reacting on behalf of the State Government, the Special Adviser to the State Governor on Information and Strategy, Mr. Lateef Raji, lamented that under the present administration, Nigerians have not “feel the presence of (Federal) government even in the remotest part of the country.”According to him, “History will not forgive them (President Goodluck Jonathan and his Vice, Namadi Sambo) for running a full course of four-year Presidency without any legacy. If they lack the capacity to contend with other complex challenges confronting the nation, they do not have to be geniuses to plant a block of classroom or a paediatric ward in each of Nigeria’s public primary schools or general hospitals in the remaining five months of their tenure to at least appease yet impressionable children.”He added “Now that he (Sambo) is back in Abuja, he can share his Lagos experience with his principal and impress on him without delay that the little sunshine left out there is still sufficient to hang fabrics out to dry.“The lesson for the Federal Government in all of these is that if the Presidency can summon the will power to rein in its members and ensure that oil receipts and accruals from other revenue heads are properly accounted for and remitted to the Federation Accounts, Nigeria would be better and the citizens would be happy.“If the Federal Government had avoided situations where individuals present claims in billions of hard-earned money spent on hotel accommodation, air travels and all other such excesses in diversion of public funds, the Nigerian economy will not be in the sorry state it is today and we would all have been better for it,” he addedRaji described the Vice President as a junior partner in Nigeria’s uninspiring Presidency, saying “Rather than join the gabby gang in Abuja, simple greetings and a few compliments will do instead of making non-residential claims that are lacking in facts.“If it is anything to do with Lagos the State Government will readily avail him of accurate data that could assist him to make informed deductions.“The Lagos State Government had for long realized that the state, with its enormous social and economic potentials, cannot continue to depend on the allocation from the Federation Accounts if it must deliver on the popular expectations. Measures were then introduced to drive efficiency in the tax assessment and collection regimes by effectively plugging loopholes and leakages in the system. The result was the leap in the accruable to the coffers of the State Government.“With this enhanced revenue profile, the government embarked on ambitious infrastructure upgrades to meet the critical areas of need like never experienced before. At any given time, not less than two hundred roads, not leaving out those of the Federal Government, are being executed.“The Lagos State Government is not just “doing it” on the tube and the press; the testimonials abound all over the state for the people to see, feel and put to use.“Without doubt, Sambo himself would have, during this visit, marvelled at the new look of Lagos even if he moved around all of his time in the city flying a helicopter.“The ordinary people even keyed into the tax system voluntarily bringing down the cost of tax administration and enforcement.“Nigerians would have been better secured and the people would feel the presence of government even in the remotest part of the country.

Corporate Contempt Continues

CORPORATE Nigeria, a group that impetuously springs to life for a presidential election, contributed over N21 billion at President Goodluck Jonathan’s recent fund raising. In the 2003 and 2007 elections, Corporate Nigeria raised billions of Naira for Olusegun Obasanjo and Umaru Musa Yar’dua. In October 2010, it raised money for Jonathan before he became a candidate! According to Section 221 of the Constitution, “No association, other than a political party, shall canvass for votes for any candidate at any election or contribute to the funds of any political party or to the election expenses of any candidate at an election.” Corporate Nigeria is not a political party. Could donors at the event be Peoples Democratic Party members, in which case their action could qualify them as acting for a political party? It is unlikely. The secrecy on identity of donors says so.Even registered companies donated. The donations violated the Constitution and clearly show the tenuous convictions of our leaders. While these openly violate the law, others are raising funds secretly.Section 91 (9) of the Electoral Act states, “No individual or other entity shall donate more than one million naira (N1, 000,000) to any candidate.” How do we confirm what each individual gave? How do the organisers explain companies’ contributions, contrary to Section 38 (2) of the Companies and Allied Matters Act? Section 91 (10) of the Electoral Act further provides, “A candidate who knowingly acts in contravention of this section commits an offence and on conviction shall be liable – (a) in case of presidential election to a maximum fine of N1, 000,000 or imprisonment of 12 months or both.” Section 91 (11) states, “Any individual who knowingly acts in contravention of subsection (9) shall on conviction be liable to a maximum fine of N500, 000 or 9 months imprisonment or both.”Section 91 (2) pegs the expenditure of a presidential candidate’s expenditure in an election at N1 billion.Brazen abuses of immunity protect beneficiaries who in turn shield their benefactors from the law. Fears exist that financiers of a candidate’s election would exert pressure on him, if elected, to act to please them rather than the electorate. The implications are vast.Improprieties associated with contributions to political causes inadvertently became public during the pre-2007 election tiff between President Obasanjo and Vice President Abubakar Atiku. Both accused the other of unauthorised expenditures from the remnant of their campaign funds, a confirmation that the Independent National Electoral Commission does not monitor political parties’ finances.Examples are important to rescue our country from the uncertainties the imperious conducts of those in high offices portend. Leaders must provide sterling examples of faithful adherence to the law.

Random musings on Jonathan, Buhari, Nigeria and 2015

LUCKILY for the Ijaw man who had no shoes but managed by a combination of hard work, a studious mind, the cunningness of a boa constrictor – many thanks to his adept study of zoology – and of course, alarge dose of divine intervention which many ignorantly like to pass off as good luck, he is today, arguably, the most powerful man in the black world.No doubt, he has his negatives (but then, who does not have, especially in the murky world of politics where men will sell anybody or anything to taste the crazy aphrodisiac-power). However, over the years, hehas managed to keep Nigeria together in spite of hydra-headed monster, dubbed Boko Haram, which continues to ravage most of the North-East and is inching to the west of the north.It appears the creators of the monster, or those who fertilized its growth, can no longer dismount the monster, and have found a ready fall guy in the federal government in the hazy world of blame-storming. In ferocious anger, the monster appears to be turning on some of its own, even as it continues to bring old Kanem Bornu empire to its knees. The evil that men planted in human blood and needless sacrifices is nowon a backfire with its litany of uncovered, and at other times, careless collateral damages.In this knotty situation enters General Muhammadu Buhari, himself a target of the daring monster from theNorth-East. It does not matter that the retired and somewhat aging and tired General has the Kanem-Bornu blood flowing in his veins, just as he has the Ba Haushe (Hausa) blood, and the pre-dominant Fulaniblood, according to him. In Boko Haram’s medievalist-idiotic war, apologies to Governor Shettima, anyone who breathes a word or threat against it, even if he is an emir in far-away Kano, he must be dealt with.Jonathan and BuhariIt does not matter to the “mad men” from the east if anyone was previously a sympathiser; once he spoke against them, he must be mowed down. Buhari has been a target; Emir Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has been one, yet some warped and wicked thinkers still do not see the wisdom in keeping President Jonathan awayfrom Borno State. With these mad men who could turn on anyone, bomb anyone, even former friends, kidnap women and children, and have no respect for even their own respected and venerated persons and institutions; some still think the President should travel that way. Well, as commander-in-chief, he is free todo so as long his Defence Minister, security and service chiefs as well as head of the Jamatul Nasril Islam (JNI) agree to be on the same flight and convoy with him. And on the day he goes, none of these men must fall conveniently sick or travel elsewhere for other official duties. To make the pack an interesting one, he should invite Buhari and Sanusi along.When Mr. President returns from such a trip, he should consider dressing up like Abubakar Shekau for political effect and to win the votes of the terrorists, because these days, that seems to be the vogue. The handlers of Buhari don’t seem to find anything wrong in altering his identity by dressing him up in Niger Delta attire since the man desperately wants to be in Aso Rock Villa. He looked comical in the Delta attire, though in suit he looked a little better, even though unfamiliar. In the 11years he has been seeking the highest political office, this writer cannot remember seeing Buhari in anything other than his Babanriga, but the handlers of Buhari, including that one who used to think the man was unelectable, but now needs him and his blind and unthinking followers to begin his journey back to Abuja through Kaduna, have to be more ingenious to sell him to his fellow countrymen.They must also come up with an ingenious way of distancing from his new “Oga at the top” from Lagos, because anytime they are seen side by side, it looks like a ravenous wolf and hawkish lamb are having a tango. For a man like Buhari to be seen as the puppet of the Lagos chief is nothing but an unmitigated political disaster.Asiwaju Bola Tinubu was right when he suggested that it amounted to an insult to think the General was his lackey, but he did not help matters when he let it be leaked that he was interested in being number two to Buhari.That singular act showed Nigerians for seven days that the Katsina-born patron of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) couldn’t make up his mind on a simple matter of who his number two man should be. Many suddenly began to remember that the General had never been a man of his own. They recalled that in the heady days of his administration three decades ago, he could do nothing without Tunde Idiagbon; and when Idiagbon travelled out of the country, he lost power to his ambitious subordinates.Also, many began to recall that all the mess that was spattered on him after his days at the Petroleum Task Force (PTF) was simply because he could not rein in his boys who fed fat on him. Such a man, without a mind of his own, can surely not be today’s alternative to Jonathan. Many who are thinking that the naturally arrogant Fulani man kowtowing to conquer are simply mistaken, because some of those he isstooping to just conquer are not as stupid as he thinks. They know that if he gets to Aso Rock Villa, he will not only alienate them, he will send them on exile. Even Tinubu, who needed the number two slot to protect himself, will now work hard against him, Osinbajo or no Osinbajo.Some of the General’s former buddies in and outside the Army have heard him say he has forgiven but not forgotten those who did him in three decades ago; and knowing soldiers as we do in Nigeria; knowing Fulani men as we do in the north; and knowing Muslims as we do, an eye must either go for an eye or for the two eyes, including all the teeth. Moral: they don’t believe he has forgiven any bit.*Mr. Adakole, political analyst, wrote from Abuja.

Coup bid foiled in Gambia

Gambian soldiers launched a foiled coup bid in the capital Banjul overnight while President Yahya Jammeh was abroad, military and diplomatic sources said Tuesday.“The presidential palace was attacked very early this morning, at around 3:00 am (0300 GMT), by armed individuals of whom some came from the presidential guard,” a Gambian diplomat said.Army sources and residents of the city confirmed the report and said the attackers had been driven back. Soldiers had prevented some civilians from going to work in the morning, an AFP journalist said.“They wanted to overthrow the regime,” a military source in the small west African country told AFP, while a Western diplomat said a coup attempt has “apparently been foiled” by loyal troops.Jammeh has ruled over the largely rural country of some 1.8 million people since 1994, when he seized power in a military coup himself, to be elected into office two years later.Gambian officials said the president was on a private visit to Dubai, but foreign diplomats said Jammeh was in France.

Jonathan pays N6.2m tax in 3 years

Abuja- President Goodluck Jonathan made tax payments of N6, 264,221.75 to the Federal Inland Revenue Service, (FIRS), out of a total of N43, 230, 871.44 as president between 2011 and 2013.President Goodluck JonathanDetails of the president’s tax payment also showed that the president did not earn any other income besides his fixed income as president of the country in that period. There were no indications of income from stocks or other businesses that the president could have had.Despite earning a regular service of N14, 410, 290.48 in each of the three years, the president tax liabilities however increased in 2012 and 2013 to N2, 510, 775. 77 up from the N1, 242, 670.21 paid in 2011.The returns were displayed at the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, at Area 10, Abuja.The income tax clearance certificate from the Federal Inland Revenue Service with Ref no- Abj/MDA/PAYE/09690150 and dated July 2, 2014 were part of the president’s submission as presidential candidateof the People’s Democratic Party, PDP.The document tagged with: “To whom it may concern,” indicated that the president’s source of income was ‘employment’.The clearance which was stamped and received in the Legal Services Department of INEC on December 18, 2014, reads- “This is to certify that Dr. Jonathan Ebele Goodluck (Presidency), has paid income tax assessment for the past three years.CCB clears SamboMeanwhile, the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB has cleared Vice president, Namadi Sambo to contest the 2015 election.The letter of clearance was issued by the Chairman of CCB, Mr. Sam Saba, to Sambo for the 2011 general elections.It reads- “This is to certify that Arc. Namadi Sambo, the Vice president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has never breached any of the code of conduct for public officers as contained in 5thschedule to (sic) the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, (1999), and he has been declaring his assets as and when due. He is, therefore, clereared to contest the 2011 Presidential election”.Sambo collects PVCMeanwhile, Sambo, yesterday collected his Permanent Voter’s card, PVC at the INEC’s Distribution Centre, located at the Kaduna North, Local Government Secretariat, Magajin Gari, Kaduna, Kaduna State.He was accompanied by Governor Mukhtar Yero of Kaduna and received by the Kaduna State, INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Alh, Aliru Aliyu Tambuwal.The Vice President while praying for the peaceful conduct of the general election pledged that the administration was determined to deliver free and fair elections.

Bodies, debris found as AirAsia plane believed found in sea

The hunt for a missing AirAsia passenger plane appeared over Tuesday as wreckage and dozens of bodieswere spotted at sea off Indonesia, prompting raw scenes of emotion from sobbing relatives of the 162 people aboard.The Airbus A320-200 disappeared en route from Indonesia’s second largest city Surabaya to Singapore during a storm early Sunday.All indications now are that it crashed in the Java Sea southwest of the island of Borneo, with debris and dozens of bodies retrieved so far.An air force plane saw a “shadow” on the seabed believed to be of the missing Flight QZ8501, National Search and Rescue Agency chief Bambang Soelistyo told a news conference in Jakarta.Relatives of the 162 missing hugged each other and burst into tears in Surabaya as they watched footage of one body floating in the sea on a television feed of Soelistyo’s press conference.An Indonesian warship had recovered more than 40 bodies from the sea “and the number is growing”, navy spokesman Manahan Simorangkir told AFP shortly afterwards.Members of the Indonesian air force show items retrieved from the Java sea during search and rescue operations for the missing AirAsia flight QZ8501, in Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan on December 30, 2014. The hunt for a missing AirAsia passenger plane appeared over on December 30 as wreckage and dozens of bodies were spotted at sea off Indonesia, prompting raw scenes of emotion from sobbing relatives of the 162 people aboard. AFP PHOTO / Bay ISMOYO– ‘I cannot bring him back to life’ –AirAsia’s flamboyant chief executive, Tony Fernandes, expressed his grief over the first fatal incident to hit the region’s biggest budget airline.“My heart is filled with sadness for all the families involved in QZ 8501,” Fernandes said on Twitter, adding that he was rushing to Surabaya.Initial news of the debris dimmed the faint hopes of relatives of those missing.“If that news is true, what can I do? I cannot bring him back to life,” said Dwijanto, 60, whose son was on the plane along with five colleagues.“My heart will be totally crushed if it’s true. I will lose a son,” he said.Search chief Soelistyo said all efforts were now being concentrated on the location where the “shadow” and debris had been found, around 160 kilometres (100 miles) southwest of the town of Pangkalan Bun in Central Kalimantan on Borneo island.The town has the nearest airstrip and is not far from the plane’s last known position.President Joko Widodo was expected in Pangkalan Bun shortly and then head to Surabaya to meet the relatives, officials said.Indonesian officials had already been preparing relatives for the worst, with Soelistyo saying Monday it was likely the plane was at “the bottom of the sea”, based on its estimated position.The aircraft lost contact early on Sunday about 40 minutes after takeoff, after the crew requested a changeof flight plan due to stormy weather, in the third crisis for a Malaysian carrier this year.In his last communication, the pilot said he wanted to avoid a menacing storm system, before all contact was lost.Before take-off the pilot had asked for permission to fly at a higher level to avoid the storm but his request was not approved due to heavy traffic on the popular route, according to AirNav, Indonesia’s flight navigation service.In his final communication, the pilot asked to alter his course and repeated his original request to ascend to avoid the bad weather.“The pilot requested to air traffic controllers to deviate to the left side due to bad weather, which was immediately approved,” AirNav safety director Wisnu Darjono told AFP.“After a few seconds the pilot requested to ascend from 32,000 to 38,000 feet but could not be immediatelyapproved as some planes were flying above it at that time,” he said.That was the last communication with the flight.“Two to three minutes later when the controller was going to give a clearance to a level of 34,000, the planedid not give any response,” Darjono said.– International response –Indonesia’s neighbours had responded swiftly with offers of help.Australia, Singapore and Malaysia sent maritime surveillance aircraft and warships to assist in the search,joining Indonesian planes, ships and scores of fishing boats scouring the waters for signs of the ill-fated aircraft.The operation had drawn comparisons with the ongoing search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 off Australia, but Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot said it did not appear to be a great mystery, with bad weather the likely cause this time.

AirAsia: Three bodies retrieved, says Indonesia search chief

Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency chief said Tuesday that just three bodies had been recovered so far in the search for the AirAsia plane which crashed in the Java Sea, after another official said 40 had been found.“Today we evacuated three bodies and they are now in the warship Bung Tomo,” Bambang Soelistyo told anews conference in Jakarta, adding that they were two females and one male.Navy spokesman Manahan Simorangkir told AFP earlier that according to naval radio a warship had recovered more than 40 bodies from the sea. But he later said that report was a miscommunication by his staff.The Airbus A320-200 carrying 162 people crashed Sunday en route from Indonesia’s second largest city Surabaya to Singapore, with wreckage recovered near its last known location.

US strike in Somalia targets Al-Shabaab

The United States conducted an airstrike Monday in Somalia against Al-Shabaab, said Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby, Pentagon press secretary.The strike, which took place in the area of Saakow, was targeting a senior leader of the Islamist militant group.“At this time, we do not assess there to be any civilian or bystander casualties. We are assessing the results of the operation and will provide additional information, when appropriate, as details become available,” Kirby said in a statement.The strike was carried out by an unmanned aircraft, and was an operation of the U.S. Defense Department, according to a U.S. defense official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.On Saturday, Somalia government forces captured a top Al-Shabaab commander, said two of the country’s military officials.Zakariya Ismail Ahmed Hersi, Al-Shabaab’s intelligence chief, was captured in a house near the town of El Wak, Somali military commander Isack Hussein Mursal told state-run radio.He was a close associate of former Al-Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike near Barawe city in September.The capture came after militants with the group, which is linked to al Qaeda, attacked a large African Union base in Mogadishu last week, killing three Ugandan soldiers and a civilian.Al-Shabaab has said that attack was revenge for the U.S. airstrike that killed Godane. The State Department had offered a $7 million reward for information on Godane’s location.

Glasgow Ebola patient transferred to London for specialist treatment

An NHS worker who has been diagnosed with Ebola after returning to Glasgow from Sierra Leone is on the way to specialist facilities in London.The woman, who had been working in Sierra Leone with Save the Children, has been in isolation in hospital in Glasgow since Monday morning and is currently in a stable condition.She flew back to the UK via Casablanca and London Heathrow, arriving at Glasgow Airport at around 11.30pm on Sunday on a British Airways flight.She was admitted to hospital early Monday morning after feeling feverish and was placed into isolation in the Brownlee Unit for Infectious Diseases at Gartnavel Hospital at 7.50am.On Tuesday, she was transferred from Glasgow Airport on a military-style plane in a quarantine tent surrounded by a group of health workers in full protection suits, bound for the Royal Free Hospital in north London.A statement on the hospital’s website said: “The Royal Free London can confirm that it is expecting to receive a patient who has tested positive for Ebola. The patient will be treated in the high level isolation unit (HLIU).”Health officials are tracing the 71 other people who were on the British Airways flight from London to Glasgow with the woman.It is thought to be the first time that a case of Ebola has been diagnosed on UK soil.Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the risk to the general public is “extremely low to the point of negligible”.Apart from the other passengers on the flight and hospital staff the patient is thought to have had contact with only one other person in Scotland, who is being contacted.Ms Sturgeon said: “Given the early stage of the diagnosis, the patient was displaying no symptoms of the kind that would lead to onward transmission and put other people at risk before she reported as being unwell.“Passengers on both the flight from Casablanca to Heathrow and Heathrow to Glasgow are being traced and contacted. They will be given the appropriate advice and reassurance.“Scotland has been preparing for this possibility from the beginning of the outbreak in west Africa and I am confident that we are well prepared.“We have the robust procedures in place to identify cases rapidly. Our health service also has the expertise and facilities to ensure that confirmed Ebola cases such as this are contained and isolated, effectively minimising any potential spread of the disease.”The woman had been working with Save the Children at the Ebola Treatment Centre at Kerry Town, Sierra Leone,Michael von Bertele, Save the Children humanitarian director, said: “Our thoughts are with the individual, their family and colleagues at this difficult time. We wish them a speedy recovery.“Save the Children is working closely with the UK Government, Scottish Government and Public Health England to look into the circumstances surrounding the case.”Health Protection Scotland is making contact with passengers who were on the flight to Glasgow.The healthcare worker left Sierra Leone on Sunday and was a passenger on flight AT596 from Freetownto Casablanca, flight AT0800 from Casablanca to London, and transferred at Heathrow to flight BA1478for onward travel to Glasgow.The risk of infection to other passengers on the flights is considered extremely low but, as a precaution, passengers and crew on the flights will be contacted.The Scottish Government has set up a telephone helpline for anyone on the BA1478 flight which left Heathrow at 9pm on Sunday bound for Glasgow. The number is 08000 858531.According to protocol for Ebola treatment in the UK she had to be transferred as soon as possible and when she arrives at the Royal Free Hospital the patient will be treated in the high-level isolation unit.

Zamfara proposes N92.8bn for 2015 budget

The Zamfara State Government has proposed a budget of over N92.8 billion for the 2015 fiscal year as against the over N114.8 billion budgeted for the out going 2014.The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the budget proposal was presented to the state House of Assembly on Monday in Gusau in a special session presided over by the Speaker, Alhaji Sunusi Rikiji.Presenting the proposal, Gov. Abdulaziz Yari said the decrease of about 19 per cent in the 2015 proposed budget was due to the current economic challenges facing the country.Yari said the estimates, tagged a budget of consolidation, would focus more on completion of ongoing projects by the current administration and would also give more emphasis on health, water resources and social sectors.The governor said that N50 billion and N42.8 billion were for recurrent and capital expenditures respectively.Yari restated the state government’s commitment to continue to execute the projects that would providethe needed social infrastructure to the people of the state.He extolled the existing cordial relationship between the state government and the legislative arm of government.He also commended the state lawmakers for the support, cooperation, and understanding given to the executive and judicial arms of government.Responding, the Speaker, Alhaji Sunusi Rikiji, promised speedy passage of the budget, to sustain the laudable programmes and policies of the state government.

NDE empowers 1,427 in Zamfara

The Zamfara Co-ordinator of National Directorate of Employment, Alhaji Muhammad Alhassan, said that the directorate, under its various programmes, assisted 1,427 people in 2014.Alhassan told the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday in Gusau that NDE, funded by the Federal Government, was meant to provide employment to the unemployed youths nationwide.According to him, the Zamfara office of the directorate empowered and employed 1,427 youths under its various programmes, including Graduate Coaching Scheme, Graduate Attachment Scheme and National Open Apprenticeship Scheme.The co-ordinator said under the schemes, all the beneficiaries were empowered from January till date.“In order to reduce the tension of unemployment in the state, the beneficiaries were employed under our various programs in which we pay them monthly stipends depending on the programme one is absorbed.“Some receive N10,000 while others received N2,000 as their stipends and in some cases, we also pay the trainers of our graduates a monthly stipend of 10,000 too.”He commended the effort of the NDE Director-General, Alhaji Abubakar Muhammad, for ensuring that the programmes were implemented in all the 36 states of the federation.The co-ordinator called on the beneficiaries to use the training and the money they were provided to develop themselves so that by 2015 others could also benefit from the programmes.

Two Abia communities end 11-year-old strife

An 11-year-old communal strife involving Umudike and Umudike-Ukwu communities in Abia State has been resolved, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.NAN recalls that the protracted crisis followed the carving out of Umudike-Ukwu in 2003 by former ex-Governor Orji Kalu.The inter-community crisis, which was characterised by litigations, was brought to an end on the evening of December 29, with the formal admission of the maiden traditional ruler of the new Umudike-Ukwu, Eze Ben Oriaku, into the Ikwuano Council of Traditional Rulers.The ceremony, which took place at the palace of the traditional ruler, was attended by all the traditional rulers in Ikwuano Local Government Area, including that of Umudike, Eze Onyekwe Anyaegbu.In his speech, the Chairman of the council, Eze Godwin Chionye, urged the traditional rulers of the two-sister communities to bury the hatchet and collaborate to move their communities forward.While describing the affected communities as one, Chionye admonished them to initiate actions and measures that would promote peace, unity, understanding and cooperation between them.Other traditional rulers, who took turns to advise the communities, included the immediate past chairman of the council, Eze Joseph Obaji, who said that the creation of autonomous communities was meant to bring development to rural communities.They urged the two communities to see themselves an entity, bury the 11-year-old dispute and work harmoniously to achieve rapid development in their area.Responding, Oriaku said that he had already initiated peace moves with the Umudike community by visiting his colleague (Anyaegbu), who he referred to as his “father and business associate.”“I have always respected Eze Anyaegbu, who I regard as my father, we are not quarreling and we cannot quarrel and many people do not know that we are business associates.“Umudike Kingdom remains one, the carving out of Umudike-Ukwu, notwithstanding,” he said.He assured the people that he would work hand-in-glove with members of his cabinet to bring rapid transformation to the area.In an interview with NAN after the event, Oriaku explained that trouble started in 2003, when former Governor Kalu carved out Umudike-Ukwu from Umudike Community.He explained that the creation of the new autonomous community was challenged in an Umuahia High Court and the Appeal Court, Owerri, respectively, by Umudike, but expressed joy that the two judgments were in favour of Umudike-Ukwu.On his part, Eze Anyaegbu also told NAN that he would cooperate with Oriaku for the development of their communities, pointing out that they were still one entity under Umudike ancient Kingdom.Highlights of the ceremony included the presentation of the new President-General and Secretary-General of Umudike-Ukwu, Chief Philip Ukaonu and Onyemauchechi Ukoh, respectively.

[UPDATE] AirAsia plane wreckage discovered, two bodies found

Debris from missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501 was found Tuesday, and two bodies were found nearby, authorities say.“AirAsia Indonesia regrets to inform that The National Search and Rescue Agency Republic of Indonesiatoday confirmed that the debris found earlier today is indeed from QZ8501, the flight that had lost contact with air traffic control on the morning of 28th,” the airline said in a statement.“We are sorry to be here today under these tragic circumstances,” said airline head Sunu Widyatmoko. “We would like to extend our sincere sympathies to the family and friends of those on board QZ8501. Our sympathies also go out to the families of our dear colleagues.”Two bodies have been sighted, Indonesian navy official Manahan Simorangkir told CNN on Tuesday. The body of a woman was recovered, but large waves have prevented crews from getting to the second body, Simorangkir said.The bodies were not immediately identified.Hospitals in the Indonesian city of Surabaya are being prepared to help house and identify bodies being recovered off the coast of Borneo.Bambang Sulistyo, head of Indonesia’s search and rescue agency, said the discovery came when a crew on a military aircraft spotted the shadow of an object that looked like a plane in the water.Further searching found floating objects believed to be the bodies of passengers, and then what appeared to be an emergency exit of the plane.Officials sent other search teams racing to the area.The debris was found in the Karimata Strait, about 110 nautical miles southwest from the Indonesian city Pangkalan Bun, AirAsia said.The news dealt a heartbreaking blow to relatives of passengers who had been waiting anxiously for information at the airport in Surabaya, the Indonesian city where the flight began its journey Sunday with 162 people on board.The plane was carrying 155 passengers and seven crew members. The overwhelming majority of those on board were Indonesians. There were also citizens of Britain, France, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea.There were scenes of anguish as families watched a live news conference about the discovery of the debris and saw video of a helicopter lowering a diver to what appeared to be a floating body.Some people fainted, and stretchers were taken into the room.Family members burst into tears, dabbing their eyes as officials passed out tissues. Some sat with their eyes full of tears, hands covering their mouths, or heads buried in their hands. Others had phones jammed against their ears.

FCT consumers decry increase in electricity tariff

Some electricity consumers in the Federal Capital Territory on Tuesday decried the recent upward review of electricity tariff by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.NERC on December 23 approved a review of the Multi Year Tariff Order regime, with a takeoff date of January 1, 2015.The commission’s Chairman, Dr Sam Amad, said the review was expected to improve service delivery as distribution companies would implement their investment plans for metering and strengthened networks.He explained that the adjustment in methodology was not expected to result in increased tariff on residential customers on R1 and R2, who would form majority of electricity consumers in the next six months.The consumers on the other hand, told the News Agency of Nigeria that there was no basis for the increase.According to them, the power situation had not improved since the unbundling of the sector.A civil servant, Mrs Carol Sule, said that she was not comfortable with the increase in electricity tariff as power supply had not been commensurate with the bills paid by consumers.“Definitely, no consumer will be comfortable with the increase more so that electricity supply has not improved.“The increase in the tariff is not the problem, but has electricity supply improved, when 90 per cent of businesses in the country are running on generators,” she said.She noted that the power situation had deteriorated even with the purported privitisation of the sector for efficient delivery.“Electricity supply in Nigeria has been steadily creeping and crawling; Nigerian consumers pay so muchfor the units of electricity they do not consume.”Sule said she now paid N12,000 as against N3,000 four years back on electricity consumed in her two-bedroom apartment.A civil servant, Mr Anthony Umonye, queried the rationale behind the review since electricity supply had yet to improve.“The review of electricity tariff is inline with the power sector act but is it really commensurate with service delivery,” he said.According to Umonye, consumers will willingly pay the new rates if service delivery will improve with theincrease in tariff.An energy consultant, Mr Sam Chukwu, said that the regulator must ensure that distribution companies provide the necessary infrastructure in place before the upward review of electricity tariff.“There is no stability in the supply of electricity; the regulator must mandate distribution companies to ensure that the needed infrastructure are in place to supply constant electricity,” he said.Chukwu said that the provision of infrastructure by distribution companies was a condition precedent for the review of electricity tariff in the country.

Super Eagles resume training for January tour

Nigeria’s senior national Team B will on Tuesday resume training camp in Abuja for their two international friendly matches against Cote d’Ivoire and Sudan despite their non-participation at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea.Nigeria failed to qualify for Afcon 2015 a year after winning their third title in South Africa following a third place finish in the qualifying series behind Congo and Bafana Bafana.The Super Eagles will be led by assistant coach Daniel Amokachi to confront 1992 African champions Cote d’Ivoire on January 11, and take on Falcons of Sudan, eight days later.The players had an earlier planned resumption date for Sunday, December 28 shifted to Tuesday, December 30 following the withdrawal of Mali before Sudan agreed to face the Super Eagles.The players have been instructed to arrive at their usual abode at Bolton White Apartment, Zone 7, Abuja with their international passports and four passport photographs by the Nigeria Football Federation.In a related development, the NFF General Secretary, Musa Amadu has warned the invitees against lateness to camp and explained the friendly games of Abu Dhabi were planned to start up the building of a new Super Eagles squad from the home front and as well expose the domestic lads.“All the players are expected in camp latest by Tuesday. Lateness will not be condoned as any player who does will face the penalty. We accepted the friendly games in UAE to expose the home based players despite the country failed to qualify for the 2015 African Cup of Nations,” Musa Amadu told Radio Nigeria.“We have no time to waste as we think we need to begin to build a national team from the domestic league. Same time, we are working round the clock to make sure that the Super Eagles will have opponents for all the FIFA windows available in year 2015 and we are happy that the two games with the Ivorians and the Malians .“The two games against Ivory Coast and Sudan will be good for the home based Super Eagles. As you all know, Cote d’Ivoire are serious contenders and will be fielding their strongest team against Nigeria inthe friendly, that will be a competitive test for the players,” he said.Gombe United goalkeeper Chigozie Agbim will captain the 23 players invited which includes Mfon Udoh,Emem Eduok, Azubuike Egwuekwe, Kwambe Solomon, Umar Zango, Rabiu Ali, Kingsley Sokari, Gbolahan Salami and Gambo Muhammed.Invited squad:Goalkeepers: Chigozie Agbim (Gombe United); Daniel Akpeyi (Warri Wolves); Theophilus Afelokhai (Kano Pillars)Defenders: Solomon Kwambe (Sunshine Stars); Idris Aloma (El-Kanemi FC); Chimma Akas (Sharks FC);Nelson Ogbonna (Heartland FC); Azubuike Egwuekwe (Warri Wolves); Erhun Obanor (Bendel Insurance);Bright Esieme (Enyimba FC); Umar Zango (Kano Pillars)Midfielders: Ammel Angel Wilfred (Kogi United); Joseph Nathaniel (Sharks FC); Charles Henlong (Giwa FC); Stanley Dimgba (Warri Wolves); Rabiu Ali (Kano Pillars); Chinedu Udeaga (Enugu Rangers); Emem Eduok (Dolphins FC); Kingsley Sokari (Enyimba FC)Forwards: Mfon Udoh (Enyimba FC); Gbolahan Salami (Warri Wolves); Osaguona Christian (Enugu Rangers); Gambo Muhammad (Kano Pillars); Christian Obiozor (Enugu Rangers)

Search area widened for missing AirAsia plane

The search for missing AirAsia flight QZ8501 has expanded beyond the plane’s flight path, three days after the jet presumably crashed, Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency chief has said.Henry Bambang Soelistyo said on Tuesday that the search area had widened beyond the islands of Sumatra and Borneo in the Java sea, as 30 ships, 15 aircraft and seven helicopters stepped up efforts to find the Airbus A320-200, carrying 162 people.Authorities were searching near Pangkalan Bun on the western part of Borneo island and the smaller islands of Bangka and Belitung early on Tuesday.The focus of the search had previously been in the Java Sea, where there had been no confirmed signs of wreckage“Until now, we have not yet found any signal or indication of the plane’s whereabouts,” Soelistyo said.The US said in a statement that the USS Sampson, a guided missile destroyer which was already in the Western Pacific, will arrive in the area later in the day to join the search.“We stand ready to assist in any way possible,” Pentagon spokesman Mark Wright said.Flight QZ8501 went missing after air traffic controllers lost contact with the aircraft about 45 minutes after it left Juanda international airport at Surabaya in East Java at 5.20am on Sunday (22:20 GMT Saturday).Shortly before disappearing, AirAsia said the pilot of the plane had asked permission from air traffic control to change course and climb above bad weather in an area noted for severe thunderstorms.The plane’s disappearance comes at a sensitive time for Jakarta’s aviation authorities, as they strive to improve the country’s safety reputation to match its status as one of the airline industry’s fastest growing markets.It also appears to be a third air disaster involving a Malaysian-affiliated carrier in less than a year, further denting confidence in that country’s aviation industry and spooking air travellers across the region.Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 went missing on March 8 on a trip from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew and has not been found.On July 17, the same airline’s Flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.

Bakassi: Refugee father uses daughter as collateral for N600,000 loan

Apart from hunger and ill health ravaging the camps of displaced Bakassi indigenes,TEMITAYO FAMUTIMIuncovers the story of a 12-year-old girl whose refugee father has pushed into servitudeIn the dusty village of Akwa Ikot Eyo Edem, Akpabuyo Local Government Area of Cross River State, Edet Okon sat down in front of St. Mark Primary School.Sitting cross-legged on the concrete floor on one of the blocks of classrooms he now calls his home, the40-year-old father of three leaned forward to exchange pleasantries with this correspondent.Okon’s immediate family members and 963 other households had fled their ancestral homes in Efut Obot Ikot in the ceded Bakassi Peninsula in March 2013.In the beginningThey escaped the alleged sacking of their villages and fishing posts by Cameroonian gendermanes in which some Bakassi indigenes reportedly lost their lives, while scores sustained varying degrees of life-threatening injuries.The onslaught followed the Federal Government’s handing over of the ceded Bakassi Peninsular to Cameroon in 2007, in compliance with a 2002 International Court of Justice judgment.After having travelled by boat and foot over several kilometers to safety, they took shelter in two of the three blocks of classrooms at St. Mark Primary School, and another classroom block at Community Secondary School in the same Akwa Ikot Eyo Edem community.Okon, like his fellow displaced Bakassi indigenes, left behind all his property and means of livelihood, majorly fishing nets and boats, as they ran for dear life.The Cross River State Government took responsibility for their feeding since they relocated from Bakassi. But since September 2014, relief materials, including food stuffs, have not been provided for the hundreds of displaced indigenes camped in the two schools.The camps had literally been turned into a melting pot for hungry and largely sick refugees, many of who now live on handouts from churches and local farmers in the community.His daughter now a collateralOkon, who joined our correspondent on a tour of the overcrowded refugee camps, appeared less bothered about the life of squalor they now lead.The fisherman lost his first daughter, Blessing, to the cold hands of death in September 2013, after battling with blood cancer for five months.But Okon’s agony did not end with Blessing’s death. Indeed, he now lives in the pool of the anguish of a man who has to practically sell his child into slavery. To raise funds for the series of medical tests, drugs, feeding and hospital bills incurred by Blessing, he opted to secure loans from someone to save her dying daughter.With no property to guarantee the loan, Okon gave up his second daughter, Mary, as collateral to securethe sum of N600, 000 given to him in installments.Our correspondent gathered that the creditor is a civil servant based in Calabar.“I was desperate to save Blessing from dying. Her situation had become critical at that time. That was the only thing I could do to salvage the situation. I am heartbroken,” Okon said, as his voice faded off, breaking down in tears.As tears rolled down his cheeks, he recalled the day he ‘sold’ her daughter into servitude.“I don’t know what came over me. It was sheer desperation I gave out my daughter so that the man would accept to give us the money,” Okon added, fighting back regrets of what many are likely to regardas condemnable.UfotOur correspondent reached out to the intermediary, Daniel Ufot. He helped Okon to negotiate the N600, 000 loan from the creditor. On getting to the residence of the 59-year-old Ufot, who lives some five kilometres away from the camp, our correspondent found Mary in hisresidence.Ufot explained that some plain-cloth security operatives keeping watch on the camp had asked him to bring Mary from Calabar to meet with his father who he had not seen in 19 months.“I do not know Okon from Adam. But since I’m an expert in money lending, I offered to help him after having learnt of his predicament on how he had been battling to save the life of his daughter.“But unfortunately, he could not provide any form of collateral to secure the loan. But the creditor, in his magnanimity, agreed to have her daughter as collateral since she was the only valuable ‘thing’ he could offer,” Ufot said.In a chat with this correspondent, Mary, who was a junior secondary school 2 pupil before they left Bakassi in March, 2013, has since dropped out of school following their displacement from the oil rich peninsular. She shared horrible tales of inhuman treatment in the hands of her father’s creditor.Every morning, Mary hawks bottle water on the streets of Calabar, where, incidentally, Mary Slessor stopped the killing of twins. Observers may also spot the irony in the name of the legendary missionary and the enslaved Mary Okon. She added that on any day she failed to exhaust the sales of her wares, her new guardians descended heavily on her, beating her mercilessly in the process.“The man my father is owing has three female children and some other relatives are also putting up with us in the house. They normally give me a revenue target of N1, 000 daily.“And sometimes when the market is bad and I don’t finish selling the water, they beat me up. They treat me very badly. I eat only once in a day and that is in the morning.“I wash all their clothes, including the ladies’ pants, and do other house chores, too. And if I hesitate on washing their pants, they get infuriated and throw objects at me at will. I will not feel happy if I go back there,” she narrated.Yet, Ufot insisted that he only brought Mary to meet with his father as a respite since he had not set his eyes on her for about 19 months.“There are no signs that they would be repaying the loan. I only obeyed the instruction of the security men. She will be on her way back to the creditor’s place in Calabar,” Ufot said.When contacted, the Refugee Camp Leader, Etim Ene, confirmed to our correspondent on the telephone on Monday that Mary has indeed returned to the creditor in Calabar.Ene said, “Mary has been taken to the creditor’s house in Calabar South. He was taken away by the guarantor, on December 2.”Efforts by our correspondent to trace the address of the creditor, whose name is given as Asuquo Etim, said to be residing on Atimbo Road, Calabar South Local Government Area, was abortive. The creditor is said to be an employee of the Cross River State Urban Development Agency.Ufot had earlier refused to allow Mary to travel with our correspondent to her master’s residence for fear of the unknown.Mary’s mother was away in the farm during a visit byThe Punch.Nursing mother feeds on garriThe expectation of a baby often brings excitement and joy. But for displaced Bakassi indigenes camped in dilapidated and overcrowded classrooms in Akwa Ikot Eyo Edem village, the birth of a newborn baby cause them anxiety and sorrow.Nkese with her baby, BrightThirty five-year-old Nkese Peter gave birth to her fifth child, Bright, onSeptember 27 in the camp. On sensing the economic burden the new-born baby would have on the finances of the poor family, Nkese’s husband, Simon, a Bakassi fisherman before their displacement, tried to make ends meet by taking to small scale farming.But bad yields, occasioned by his inexperience with the agricultural activity, had made him record successive losses. Compounding their woes is the alleged failure of the Cross River State Government to provide the camps with food and other relief materials for three months running.To keep body and soul together, Nkese, a nursing mother, now survives on garri daily. Yet, medical experts are of the opinion that a staple food like garri would do little in boosting the production of milk, anewborn is expected to feed on.“Feeding is my major challenge. I’m facing hunger. I eat once in a day and that is garri, which I drink once in a day. The simple question I want to ask the authorities is: When are they coming to see us and resettle us? We are really suffering. We need assistance; we are not finding it easy staying here,” the distraught mother of five said in an emotion-laden voice.Like mother, like sonFollowing a request by our correspondent, the only resident nurse in the camp, Patricia Asuquo, agreed to examine Nkese and Bright.“They are both anaemic,” the medical official declared, as she pulled their lower eyelids down one after the other.Facing two months old Bright, whose body was covered with rashes, Asuquo explained that the poor nutrition of her mother was telling greatly on his feeding and resistance to “little illnesses and body reactions.”“The baby is not sucking any nutrients from the mother. The mother is malnourished herself, so what dowe expect from the child?” Asuquo lamented.The medical official who is in the employ of the state government explained that the poor nutrition of thedisplaced persons, coupled with the poor sanitary and unhealthy condition of the camp, was dealing a devastating blow to their health.Health centre without drugsYet, the health centre which the nurse solely oversees had run out of drugs as of December 1 when our correspondent visited there. The only drugs she dispensed were Paracetamol and Vitamin C to patients suffering various ailments such as pneumonia, typhoid and malaria fever.“There is no drug, there is no food. My job was easier when there were drugs. Many of their children have rashes and poxes but there are no anti-biotics to treat them. The situation is that bad.“I think they need to experience a better life than this. Many of those suffering ailments simply lie down helplessly,” she added as she took our correspondent on an inspection of the health centre.While expressing concern over the condition under which they live, the nurse lamented that attending to over 3,000 displaced persons in the two camps was overwhelming.One of her major challenges, she added, was the fact that she had not had a break since 2013 when she was posted to oversee the provision of primary health care to them.“I’m overwhelmed. That is my challenge. As a health staffer, I am supposed to run shifts and have someoff days. But since I resume here in 2013, I work from morning till evening and at times I spend the nightin the stuffy health centre. No offs, no shifts, no leave, no inconvenient allowances. The way they abandoned them, they have also abandoned me,” Asuquo said.A 69-year-old widow, Bassey Eyo, lamenting the untoward hardship she had been going through since she returned from the ceded Bakassi peninsular, asked if it was fair for them to be on the receiving end of “utter neglect.”“I have enough firewood to cook but there are no foodstuffs. How long would I continue to sleep on empty stomach?” she asked, bursting into tears.Leader of the Bakassi returnees in the camp, Mr. Etim Ene, said the aged in the camp now “look haggardoccasioned by hunger and want.”According to him, the young returnees desperate to eke out a living are now being recruited by politicians as thugs.“It is running into months now since food was distributed to us in this camp. Many of us have become sick due to poor nutrition. The sick ones among us go to the various churches for feeding and healing.“It is saddening that the state government has totally abandoned the people of Bakassi. No help from the agencies. The hunger is much especially among the elderly ones.”But the authorities are always quick to boast having resettled and rehabilitated many Bakassi returnees while also claiming to have equipped them with skills capable of making them self-reliant.‘We are also hungry’However, hundreds of returnees at the Obutong and Ikot Efiom resettlement centres, Bakassi Local Government Area, disagreed with the authorities during a visit by our correspondent.The returnees in the two resettlement centres were the first set of displaced indigenes that left the cededterritories in October 2009.Inside the refugee campThey moved into the mini-flats in the resettlement centres built by the Cross River State Government in January 2010.In spite of what many would describe as a kind gesture from the government, the “resettled” returnees described themselves as “political orphans.”General Coordinator of the two centres, Prince Aston Joseph, said, “I hate to hear that we have been resettled. They provided over 2,800 households with 343 mini-flats and they call that resettlement.“Bakassi people are fishermen and we marry more than one wife and give birth to a large number of children. They allocated us empty houses with no facilities. The only property given to each household is a single bed.“Can you imagine how a family with between eight to 15 children will share a bed? When we moved in here in 2010, they only fed us for three months and since then, they abandoned us.“No food, no rehabilitation, no resettlement. Their talk of empowerment is untrue. They only brought forms for skill acquisition and we filled and returned to them but we haven’t heard from them ever since.None of the skill acquisition programmes has been implemented here.”Death by starvationLamenting the toll of hunger on the Bakassi indigenes, secretary of the returnee association in the two resettlement centres, Linus Asuquo-Essien, said one of them died of starvation in September.The deceased, 38-year-old Edet Archibong, was said to have been complaining of starvation for weeks and had been living on food donations from his co-returnees.“We complained to the Bakassi Local Government officials and the state government about the state of affairs with Archibong but they did not respond. People were tired of fending for him so he was left alone.“At a point he took ill and his condition deteriorated in August. Those people who used to support him thought he had Ebola and everyone distanced themselves from him. The government officials refused tocome and we lost him in the process.“We requested that the government people should arrange for his burial, but they refused to heed our call. We had to procure gloves and we did the interment ourselves,” Asuquo-Essien explained at the site where Archibong’s remains were interred.But the Cross River State Government said it remained committed to providing the displaced Bakassi indigenes with “mass care” and prioritising their “basic needs”.Officials at the Governor’s Office, however, noted that it was true that the displaced Bakassi people housed in schools-turned camps in Akpabuyo Local Government Area had stopped receiving food and other relief materials since September.‘No food for Bakassi refugees anymore’Director General State Emergency Management Agency in the Cross River Governor’s Office, Vincent Aqua, blamed the development on the resolve of the state government to replace the distribution of foodand relief materials with “conditional cash transfer of N5,000” to each household.“We decided to replace it (foodstuffs and relief materials) with conditional cash transfer. It is easier and it helps them more as they can determine what they want to do with the money they are given.“The Cross River State Ministry of Social Welfare is where the conditional cash transfer is domiciled andthey are working out the modalities and any moment from now they would start getting it,” Aqua said.He argued that he was aware the Bakassi returnees’ health would have been deteriorating due to starvation. “They could have a drop in their health status in very recent times. But their health condition is not too bad,” he added.According to the SEMA DG, the Bakassi returnees in Obutong and Ikot Efiom resettlement centres have been resettled and would no longer enjoy the distribution of relief materials.“We can no longer give food to people at the resettlement centre. They have been given accommodationand equipped with skills and empowerment tools. You cannot begin to carry out rehabilitation for people who have been resettled by the government,” he said.Waiting for the UNWhile thousands of Bakassi indigenes have since relocated from the ceded territories and returned to Nigeria to pick up the pieces of their lives after their displacement, hopes of reintegration have continued to elude them.Sadly, as thousands of them look forward to being economically empowered and become financially self-reliant, there are no accurate statistics of the number of displaced indigenes who have yet to be resettled.Aqua acknowledged that there was “no clear cut programme” that has been put forward for the resettlement of thousands of Bakassi refugees who have yet to be catered for.“We have not compiled their statistics. When there is a programme we will begin to compile data to fit into the plan,” he added.Noting that Cross River State had been carrying out “humanitarian disaster management” which runs into millions of naira, the SEMA DG lamented that the Federal Government had done little to alleviate thesuffering of the Bakassi indigenes.He explained that the state government was now looking up to the United Nations to help resettle the thousands of displaced indigenes with a view to giving them a new life.“There is an indication that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is interested in the resettlement of the Bakassi people.“We hope that by next year (2015) they (UNHCR) will begin to discuss with us about resettlement. We also hope that by next year the Federal Government would move towards their proper resettlement,” Aqua stated.FG’s reactionWhen contacted on the efforts by the Federal Government to permanently resettle the Bakassi refugees, Director of Press and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of the Interior, Alhaji Ade Yusuf, said, “I don’t have any information about that. If I find out, I will get back to you.”But the National Emergency Management Agency explained that it was not aware that Bakassi returnees in housed in refugee camps and resettlement centres were starving.NEMA South South Zonal Coordinator, Mr. Ben Oghena, told our correspondent that the Federal Government through the agency had over the years distributed “quantum of relief materials” to the returnees.“The Cross River State government has not told us that they have been overwhelmed. They should tell us. Then we can see how we can support what the state government is doing,” Oghena stated.Noting that NEMA had not been treating the plight of the refugees with levity, the NEMA boss observed that the agency in collaboration with relevant government agencies were looking at “permanent solutions” to the problems of the Bakassi people.“It’s (Bakassi returnees displacement) taking too long and it’s the state (Cross River) and their local government can tell us what the plan is. The land where they will be resettled must be provided by them because it is not the Federal Government that will do that,” he added.In 1994, the Republic of Cameroon led by its President Paul Biya, brought a case before the International Court of Justice to rule on the sovereignty of the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsular.Before then, there had been decades of border skirmishes and palpable tension between Nigeria and Cameroon which almost degenerated into a war in 1980.After eight years of legal tussle at The Hague, Netherlands, the ICJ in its judgment dated October 10, 2002, ruled that “sovereignty over the Bakassi Peninsula lies with Cameroon.”The caveat, which followed the ICJ verdict, was that the judgment was “final, without appeal and binding for the parties (Nigeria and Cameroon).”On August 14, 2008, Nigeria formally handed over the oil rich peninsular to Cameroon, withdrawing troops from the hitherto disputed region whose population are predominantly Nigerians of the Annang, Efut, Efik and Ibibio ethnic stocks.

Obasanjo’s book, a distortion of history – Osoba

The three-part autobiography of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, My Watch, has continued to evoke anger and criticisms as the book was described by a former Governor of Ogun State, Olusegun Osoba, as a distortion of history.Osoba, who promised to write his own book to set the record straight, said Obasanjo lied blatantly whenhe said that the third term agenda was foisted on him in 2007.The former governor spoke in Lagos on Monday at the public presentation of a book, titled, “Watching the Watcher: A book of remembrance of the Obasanjo years,” where he was the chairman of the occasion.The book, which is a rejoinder to Obasanjo’s book, was authored by the Publicity Secretary of the Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin.Osoba said though he had not read Obasanjo’s book, he was appalled by the aspect of the book where Obasanjo said he did not initiate the relationship between the disbanded Alliance for Democracy and thePeoples Democratic Party.He said he recalled how Obasanjo approached the AD governors “virtually on his knees, begging us to come and rescue him and support his second term agenda.”He said that contrary to Obasanjo’s claim that his vice, Atiku Abubakar, was at the forefront of the relationship with Afenifere, Obasanjo was always flying down at the shortest notice from Abuja to meet with the late leader of the Afenifere, Abraham Adesanya, who always chose the venue of their meetings.Osoba said, “I haven’t read the book but I am of the profession of the watchdog. And when you have somebody watching the watcher, who thought he could be all-in-all in Nigeria… That was why I was interested in coming to honour Yinka. The watcher wrote something important in his book, which Wole Soyinka has given his own verdict about.“I am going to give my own verdict in my own book. An aspect of it was the mention of 2003, where Gen.Obasanjo denied the relationship between the AD and the PDP. He said it was the idea of the Vice President, the Turaki of Adamawa, Atiku Abubakar. I think the story is far from the fact. Well, we are age mate. So, I can say that it is far from the truth.”Also speaking at the occasion, a chieftain of the Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, described Obasanjo as a man who did not deserve to be listened to.Adebanjo said he was shocked that Obasanjo could muster the courage to accuse others of corruption.He said, “A man who says he is clean…, the Yorubas have a saying that if you want to know who you are, speak to the people around you. Your wife says you are bad, your son says you are of no use, your daughter says you are a miscreant, and you still say you have done well… You know the type of people they are.”According to Adebanjo, Obasanjo’s biggest undoing was his not giving credit to the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo in his book.“Here is a man. Those who had been fighting for the independence of this country, he has no good word for them. All his predecessors – the late Nnamdi Azikwe, the late Sardauna of Sokoto, Awolowo and all. And even the greatest opponent of Awolowo would declare that he was a man who made Nigeria great.“You all remember (the late Chief Emeka) Ojukwu after the death of Chief Awolowo, even with all the controversies that they had, Ojukwu had to remark after Awolowo’s death that he was the greatest and the best President that Nigeria never had. Nobody has contradicted that statement. But to Obasanjo, Nigeria never existed before he came into office, Nigeria cannot exist until he is in office. He has only one adviser: Olusegun Okikiola Aremu Obasanjo, that is his adviser,” Adebanjo said.Adebanjo said he was surprised when he (Obasanjo) said somebody had unclean hands.He said he recalled that Obasanjo doubled as the Minister of Petroleum Resources throughout his eight years in office as the President and allegedly perpetrated a lot of untoward actions.He said, “I also don’t know whether the author remembered the interview that Danjuma gave some time ago that if you audit the account of the NNPC, you would not hesitate to send Obasanjo back to Yola prison. I didn’t say so, but Danjuma said so. And you know how credible that man is. He (Obasanjo) has not refuted the statement.”Describing Obasanjo as a manipulator, Adebanjo said the former President ensured that the PDP constitution was altered so that he could become the chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees after leaving office.Adebanjo said Nigerians should be grateful to Odumakin for taking on the responsibility of setting the record straight for the sake of posterity.The author, Odumakin, said he picked Osoba as the chairman of the book’s public presentation becausehe rescued him when Obasanjo ordered his detention at the State Criminal Investigations Department, Panti, in 2005.The reviewer of the book, Prof. G.G. Dara, from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, described the book as “a provocative and polemical book of memoirs and reflections by Yinka Odumakin about Gen, Olusegun Obasanjo.”He added that the author intended to challenge “the exaggerated claims of heroic grandeur and accomplishments made by the former President.”Dara said, “He (Odumakin) hopes that the book will add to the collective memory card of Nigerians, so that they would not suffer the disease of amnesia, which encourages unworthy public men and women to act with impunity.”

US strike in Somalia targets Al-Shabaab

The United States conducted an airstrike Monday in Somalia against Al-Shabaab, said Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby, Pentagon press secretary.The strike, which took place in the area of Saakow, was targeting a senior leader of the Islamist militant group.“At this time, we do not assess there to be any civilian or bystander casualties. We are assessing the results of the operation and will provide additional information, when appropriate, as details become available,” Kirby said in a statement.The strike was carried out by an unmanned aircraft, and was an operation of the U.S. Defense Department, according to a U.S. defense official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.On Saturday, Somalia government forces captured a top Al-Shabaab commander, said two of the country’s military officials.Zakariya Ismail Ahmed Hersi, Al-Shabaab’s intelligence chief, was captured in a house near the town of El Wak, Somali military commander Isack Hussein Mursal told state-run radio.He was a close associate of former Al-Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike near Barawe city in September.The capture came after militants with the group, which is linked to al Qaeda, attacked a large African Union base in Mogadishu last week, killing three Ugandan soldiers and a civilian.Al-Shabaab has said that attack was revenge for the U.S. airstrike that killed Godane. The State Department had offered a $7 million reward for information on Godane’s location.

Obasanjo, Buhari planning interim govt —FG

The Minister of Police Affairs, Jelili Adesiyan, on Monday, said a plot by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) to form an interim government has been uncovered.The minister said this in Lagos at the launch of a book titled, ‘Watch the Watcher,’ written by an activist, Yinka Odumakin, in reaction to Obasanjo’s controversial book, ‘My Watch’.Adesiyan said he had already directed the Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba; and the Department of State Service to arrest anybody that made inflammatory statements ahead of the 2015 elections.He said, “Many of those in the APC are disgruntled PDP members who are no longer relevant and because they could not have their way, they have started to heat up the polity. They have said they will form a parallel government if they lose.“I have already told the IG and the DSS to arrest anybody making such mutinous and inflammatory statements.”Adesiyan said his suspicion was fuelled by a threat by the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, that the APC would form a parallel government if the 2015 general elections were rigged.He added, “Obasanjo is already planning to install an interim government with Buhari. But we will vote and we will work with whoever wins the election.”Adesiyan, who was detained in 2003 for the murder of the Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige, said the former President was vindictive and was fighting Jonathan because he (Jonathan) had refused to be used by him.The minister, who was later freed over Ige’s murder, said Obasanjo picked Jonathan as the late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s running mate because he felt he could control him but his plans backfired.The minister said, “He picked a President that was sick and while we were campaigning for the President, he (Yar’Adua) was always in Germany receiving treatment. While many were lobbying for the VP slot, Obasanjo picked a gentleman, Goodluck Jonathan, who had no strong political base so that he could control him.“Unfortunately for Obasanjo, God had a better plan and Jonathan refused to be used. Obasanjo, being the man that he is, has now teamed up with Bola Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar to snatch power but Tinubu will outsmart him because we Osun people are smart. Ask Tinubu, he is my brother, from my state. He is from Iragbiji while I am from Ode-Omu.”The Director of Communications, Buhari Campaign Organisations, Dele Alake, said it was silly for anyone to say that Buhari was plotting the emergence of an interim government when Buhari was also participating in the presidential election.He said, “It must have dawned on Nigerians that the PDP don’t have any answer to the multifarious problems plaguing Nigeria and that is why they have resorted to mudslinging and character assassination.“If Buhari was planning an interim government, why would he be running for President in the first place?I think sanity has taken leave from them.“Buhari remains the only viable solution to the quagmire that Nigeria has fallen into and it will take a disciplined person like Buhari to straighten things out.”When contacted, a source close to Obasanjo, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it was only the ex-president that could react to the allegation.The source told our correspondent on the telephone, “It is only Baba that can react to the matter.”

FG owes 70,000 workers three-month salaries

No fewer than 70,000 civil servants in 30 Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government have yet to receive their three months’ salaries.The Secretary-General of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, Mr. Alade Lawal, made thisknown   just as investigations byThe PUNCHrevealed that states like Osun, Oyo, Benue and Plateau areowing their workers between three and four months’ salaries.Prominent among the ministries listed by Lawal during an interview with one of our correspondents in Abuja on Monday are Education, Works, Labour and Productivity, Mines and Power.He said, “About eight MDAs have been owing workers their salaries from   October. The number rose to 11 in November and in December, hit 30, including departments and agencies.”Asked what was responsible for the increase in the number of MDAs indebted to their workers, Lawal said some government officials involved in salary payments were engaged in a game of deceit.He said, “They are telling us that some of the MDAs are involved in expenditure items different from salaries. They said they were spending on items not related to salaries. But that is not supposed to be the fault of the workers.“There should be synergy in government whereby they have to work in tandem with the Budget Office and Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation. They know what they are doing, they are muddling up the whole exercise and suffering workers unnecessarily.”He said the government had no tangible reason for not paying the workers, having promised to do so before December 24.“As of   December 22, they promised us that before Wednesday, December 24, these payments would bemade. But as I am talking to you now, affected workers have not been paid.“The Ministry of Works alone has about 26,000 workers. If you add them together, they can’t be less than 70,000 workers that are affected.“We have been liaising with our people. But you know, this is a festive period and it has affected some ofthe trade union actions we intended taking. The promise that they made last week which they also told the press that they would pay before Christmas, we thought they were serious about it. But latest developments indicate that they are   deceiving us.”The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had in a statement by her Special Adviser on Communication, Mr. Paul Nwabuikwu, on December 22 promised that the   salary arrears of civil servants in MDAs would be paid before Christmas.The PUNCHgathered on Monday that civil servants in states like Osun, Oyo, Benue, Plateau and Abia had a bleak Christmas as they are being owed between two and four-month salaries.In Osun State for instance, the Chairman of state chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Mr. Saka Adesiyan, told one of our correspondents in Osogbo that workers were being owed October, November and December salaries.The Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, Mr. Boye Abolarin, also confirmed that   secondary school teachers   were being owed October, November and December salaries.Abolarin said that workers were subjected to hardship while politicians were feeding fat especially during the Yuletide.Governor Rauf Aregbesola, however,   blamed the development on the dwindling monthly   allocations    to the state.Aregbesola, in a   statement made available to our correspondent by his media aide,   Semiu Okanlawon, said, “Either at the federal or at the state level, where is it that workers   are being paid as and when due?“We thought this situation will not last long. That was why we used our strategic reserve to augment salaries for one year. All our savings were spent on augmentation of salaries.”In Oyo, the state NLC   Chairman, Basiru Alli,   said   that the November and December salaries of some workers were being awaited.He said, “I will not say that government in the state is owing us, it is actually delaying payment of workers salaries. As of now, not all workers have been paid November salaries. Some are still waiting for theirs. We do not know when the December salary will come.”Asked what efforts the NLC was making to ensure all the workers got paid, Alli said that they were told by the government that   dwindling allocations from the Federal Government were responsible.“We hold consultations with the government from time to time and what we were told the last time was that it was not a deliberate attempt to delay the salaries but due to dwindling allocations, the state had to manage its resources.”But the Special Adviser to Governor Abiola Ajimobi on Media, Dr. Festus Adedayo, said that all workers had been paid November salaries.He said, “The state government is passionate about staff welfare. We are handicapped by the dwindling allocations from the Federal Government. We have a wage bill of N4.9bn but the allocation we have this month was N2.9bn. Last month, the state got N3.1bn from the Federal Government. We are   working hard to ensure workers are paid the December salaries.”The situation in Benue State is not better as the   government is also currently owing three months’ salaries.Before the Yuletide,   the government owed workers five months’ salaries but it paid two months’ salaries at different intervals.A civil servant, who pleaded anonymity toldThe PUNCHthat a day to Christmas, some of his colleaguesreceived alert for one month salary while on Monday, others received alert for their second salary payment.The civil servant   explained that they could not enjoy the Yuletide due to the debts they had incurred.He said, “What the state government paid to us was used to settle   debts .“Mind you, we from the mainstream civil service are not on any industrial action but the state is currently owing us three month-salaries. I can tell you that the situation is worse for lecturers as they have been on half salaries for five months.”Investigations byThe PUNCHin Abia State indicated that while civil servants in the   ministries   had received their November and December salaries, their counterparts in the parastatals were being owed some months .The Chairman, NLC   in the state,   Sylvanus Eye, said workers in the parastatals had not been paid November and December salaries.He added that teachers as well as council workers   were also being owed arrears of two months.The state   leadership of NLC had about three weeks ago picketed the office of the Accountant General   over the salary arrears of the parastatal workers   and for allegedly witholding check- off dues of the union.When contacted, the Accountant General,   Gabriel Onyendilefu, said that “the function of payment is dependent on available cash”.He explained that in the past five months, the state’s allocations from the federation accounts had been dwindling following the constant fall in the price of crude oil.In Kogi State, local governments’ workers complained that they only received half of their salaries for October and November.They alleged that they still had some backlogs of salaries that were not fully paid.A source, who pleaded anonymity, said the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs,Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq, had informed them that they would receive alert of their December payment on Tuesday(today).The NLC Chairman, Plateau State chapter, Mr. Jibrin Bancir, told one of our correspondents that the government was owing many workers four months arrears of salaries and   leave grants.The worst hit are local government workers who have not been paid for about seven months.Meanwhile, the NLC has directed its state chapters to furnish it with actual state of affairs in connection with the salary arrears.Noting that it was criminal for any government to owe workers their salaries, the NLC said it would take a firm decision in a couple of days on the issue.The General Secretary of the congress, Mr. Peter Ozo-Eson, stated this in a telephone interview with oneof our correspondents in Ilorin on Monday.He said, “We have not taken a firm decision on what to do until we get actual information on which state, what is owed, how many months and the actual amount from all the state councils. We hope that within a couple of days, these reports would have got to us and we would take a firm position on them.“We would rely on the reports that we get from our state chapters. We are asking our state to advise us on salary payments and if there are debts. Based on that we are going to collate take appropriate actions in relation to getting those salaries paid.“We condemn any state government that is owing arrears of salaries because the workers must be the first to be paid before they start spending on any other issue.”Ozo-Eson said it was worrisome that even the Federal Government was owing some categories of its workers for about three months.He lamented that some state chapters of the NLC did not give the national body a report on time that their members   were being owed.He stated that payment of workers’ salaries should be made a priority.The NLC secretary said,   “For us, it is criminal for any government not to pay workers’ salaries, accumulate them over months while the governors and other political office holders take their own salaries. Such is criminal. We are also aware that even the Federal Government is owing some categories of civil servants their salaries   for over three months.“This is extremely unacceptable. Whatever is the reason for that! In the case of the Federal Government, they try to explain it in terms of problems with migration to IPPIS system.We think whatever is the logic, those salaries and   arrears need to be paid immediately.“On state governments that are owing, unfortunately some of the NLC chapters   did not bring it to our notice early enough for us to know that salaries are owed. If you owe a worker salary for a month, you have no moral obligation to expect workers to come and render any service.“So to hear that there are states and large number of them that are owing workers for two or three months is completely unacceptable.”

My certificates are with military, Buhari tells INEC

A former Head of State and the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the 2015 general elections, Maj.Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has told the Independent National Electoral Commission that his academic qualifications and credentials are with the military.A visit by journalists to the headquarters of the commission on Monday in Abuja revealed that Buhari’s academic qualifications were not on display, unlike those of other Presidential candidates, including President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party.But in an affidavit, which he deposed to at a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, he explained that all his certificates were with the Secretary, Military Board.The affidavit dated November 24, 2014, was stamped and received by INEC on December 18 2014.“I am the above-named person and deponent to this affidavit therein. All my academic qualifications documents as filled in my presidential form, President APC/001/2015, are currently with the Secretary, Military Board as of the time of presenting this affidavit. The affidavit is made in good faith and for record purpose,” Buhari stated.The PUNCH had exclusively reported that Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo had also told INEC that his Bachelors and Masters’ degree certificates in Architecture from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, had been consumed by fire.Sambo, who is the Vice Presidential candidate of the PDP, had made the declaration in the documents he filed with INEC and displayed on the commission’s office in Abuja, even though the details of the fire that consumed the certificates were not given.Sambo’s papers were received and stamped by the INEC between December 10 and 18, 2014 and validated by two letters from the ABU, a copy of which was obtained by our correspondent.

Nigeria’s problems increasing –Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday admitted that Nigeria’s problems were increasing, instead of abating.Noting that the situation would have been worse if not for the prayers of Nigerians, Jonathan said he was optimistic that God would, in the same way he tackled the problems of the Israelites, do same for Nigeria.The President spoke   at the last Sunday of the year service by   the Christ Apostolic Church, Area 1, Durumi, Abuja.He said , “One of the reasons I go round churches, at least in Abuja, is to   thank my brothers and sisters for the prayers they have been having for the country, the government and me.“We are facing a lot of challenges now as a nation.   The challenges did not start today but somehow, instead of abating, the problems started increasing for one reason or the other.“But I am convinced that it would have been worse than this but for your prayers. With the prayers you continue to offer to God, God will see us through.“I always say that whenever I read the Bible, especially the Old Testament, particularly the journey of theIsraelites from Egypt to the promised land, the kind of challenges they faced; their confrontations, the wars up to the days of King David, they were always fighting. You may need to ask, why should children of God   continue to be fighting?“I believe what is happening to us is not even as serious as sometimes the passages we read in the Bible and God saw them through.”Jonathan promised that despite the challenges, his administration would continue to do its best to reposition the country.He said although the results might not be immediate, his government had introduced a lot of policies that would change the nation’s fortunes positively.According to him,   if the steady progress is sustained, Nigeria will be a better place in the next four or five years.He added, “The God we believe in will see us through. What I will request from you is to continue to pray for us.“For me and members of my team, in spite of the challenges, we will continue to do our best.“As a nation, we have not reached where we want to go, definitely not. But we are coming up with a number of policies.‘‘Those who are taking pain to look at what we are doing will agree with us that if we progress as a nation steadily in this manner, in the next four or five years, this country will be a better place.“Only a few days back, the Vice President was in Port Harcourt, Rivers State to flag off the Eastern railway. The Western one moving from Lagos to Kano has been running. We will start using the modern one from Kaduna to Abuja by the first quarter of next year and the one from Port Harcourt.“When we were small, there were railways. But I believe most of our children of about 30 years only see railway as cartoons on the television but now, they are seeing it.“We relied on agriculture before the oil boom or doom and all that died. We are reviving it and the whole world has appreciated that we are moving forward in agriculture.“When something is started, people do not see the benefits immediately. We know that as a nation, we have a lot of challenges in terms of getting jobs for our young ones and we have set up a lot of programmes that can bring job opportunities for our young men.“The result may not be obvious immediately but God willing, job opportunities will continue to increase and many more young people will be engaged.”Jonathan reiterated his position that his administration was working hard to ensure that the effects of the drop in oil price did not affect the nation’s economy adversely.He said since the nation survived a similar situation between 2008 and 2009 when oil price dropped to$40, it would survive the current oneHe said although there might be temporary inconveniences, the situation would not bring the economy down.Jonathan described 2015 as a tempting year for the country, saying elections year in third world countries is always a turbulent year with all kinds of predictions.Despite the charged atmosphere ahead of the elections however, he said God would see the country through.He urged the congregation to continue to pray for politicians for God to guide their utterances and actions.The President observed that if indeed aspirants to various public offices were interested in the well-being of the people, they would not kill or maim people to win elections.Jonathan said, “All that I will request of you is to continue to pray for   politicians for God to guide us in our utterances and what we do so that we will not sacrifice the lives of Nigerians because of our ambitions.“Nobody’s ambition is worth the blood of any Nigerian. Pray for God to give us that wisdom and mind tomake sure we conduct ourselves in a way that will not set the country ablaze because of our own personal ambitions.“There are so many good Nigerians that can hold the offices we are occupying or aspiring to occupy. It is by   God’s plan that we are here in positions of authority.“None of us should begin to think that he is the best person to occupy any public office. There are a thousands and one Nigerians that are more qualified than those   aspiring to occupy offices.“The development of Nigeria is what all of us want. If every aspirant has the mind to develop the people, then you do not need to kill or maim people to get there.“You do not need to kill the people you want to develop in order to get to the office you want except if you are aspiring for that office for a different reason.”Earlier in his welcome address, the President of CAC Worldwide, Pastor Abraham Akinosun, had said that God had promised to make Nigeria a great nation.Akinosun’s message was read by the Chairman of the church’s Federal Capital City Zonal Headquarters, Pastor Michael Olatunde.He regretted that despite God’s promises to the nation, the devil had also appointed some people to truncate Nigeria’s progress.He said such people and their activities were manifesting in various ways.The clergyman said the position of such people who had vowed to make the nation ungovernable was not strange.He recalled that Jesus Christ, Nehemiah and Ezekiel among other Biblical characters also faced stiff opposition from their people.He urged Jonathan not to be distracted but to remain focused on rebuilding the country.Jonathan was accompanied to the service by his mother, Eunice; his Chief of Staff,   Jones Arogbofa; his Chief Personal Physician, Dr. Fortune Fiberesima; and the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, among other top government officials.Special prayers were made for the President, the country and the success of the forthcoming elections during the service held under tight security.Gifts were also presented to the President by the church authorities.