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Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole has restated
the readiness of the state to partner with the private sector on power
generation to enable it become the energy capital of the nation. Mr Oshiomhole
hopes that his state will generate twenty five percent of the nation’s power
needs by the year 2020.

The Governor, who disclosed this in Benin City
during the state’s power sector round table meeting at the weekend, maintained
that the long-term challenge of fighting and defeating poverty cannot be
realised without reliable power supply.

Mr Oshiomhole said Edo State is strategically
located with comparative advantages and is ready and willing to make available
up to a thousand hectares of land to investors in the power sector.

While assuring that the state will collaborate
with the private sector by providing conducive political environment, adequate
security and well trained human capital, the governor said, “We have the will
to do what has to be done.

“It is time to focus more aggressively on power
supply by working with the private sector so that we can become the energy
capital of Nigeria. At least two billion dollars of investment can be attracted
to this sector,” the governor noted.

Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on
Energy, Barth Nnaji commended the Edo State government’s initiative on power
generation saying that, “Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has recognised that reliable
power supply will catalyse the businesses which will create jobs.” In his
words, “you are not fighting this battle alone because the federal government
is determined to provide reliable power supply across the nation with the
investment of ten billion dollars per year in the power sector.”

Private-public
collaboration

According to him, the public sector cannot embark
on this project all alone, that is why it is important for private investors to
be involved and a Presidential Action Committee has been set up to identify
problems and seek ways to resolve them.

While noting that Edo State Government has become
the vanguard for the rehabilitation of the power sector, Mr Nnaji assured that
the federal government will give investors the necessary guarantees required.

The Head, Economic and Strategy Team of Edo State
Government, Godwin Obaseki said the first Round Table which is aimed at
discussing how to make the state the energy capital of the nation is just the
beginning.

Members of a Libyan army unit told Benghazi residents on Sunday
they had defected and “liberated” Libya’s second city from troops supporting
veteran leader, Muammar Gaddafi, two residents said.

Habib al-Obaidi, who heads the intensive care unit at the main
Al-Jalae hospital, and lawyer Mohamed al-Mana, told Reuters members of the
‘Thunderbolt’ squad had arrived at the hospital with soldiers wounded in
clashes with Gaddafi’s personal guard.

“They are now saying that they have overpowered the Praetorian
Guard and that they have joined the people’s revolt,” al-Mana said by
telephone. It was not possible to independently verify the report.

Obaidi said the bodies of 50 people killed on Sunday had arrived
at the hospital in the late afternoon. Most had died from bullet wounds.

Sunday’s bloodshed follows the deaths of scores of protesters on
Saturday in one of the most violent days since protests began sweeping through
the Arab world two months ago.

Residents said tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of protesters
had taken to the streets of the city to bury scores of dead killed in the last
24 hours. A witness said security forces opened fire on them.

The United States said it was “gravely concerned” by what it
called credible reports hundreds of people had been injured or killed.

“Libyan officials have stated their commitment to protecting and
safeguarding the right of peaceful protest. We call upon the Libyan government
to uphold that commitment and hold accountable any security officer who does
not act in accordance with that commitment,” said State Department spokesman,
Philip Crowley.

Protesters, inspired by uprisings in neighbouring Tunisia and
Egypt, are demanding an end to the 41-year rule of strongman Gaddafi. His
security forces have responded with a violent crackdown. Communications are
tightly controlled, and Benghazi is not accessible to international
journalists.

Human Rights Watch said 84 people were killed in the city on
Saturday, bringing the death toll in four days of clashes mainly in the east of
the country to 173 before Sunday’s violence.

“A massacre took place here last night,” one resident, who did
not want to be named, told Reuters by telephone on Sunday.

A leading tribal figure who requested anonymity said security
forces, mainly confined to a compound, had been venturing out of their barracks
and shooting protesters in the street in “cat and mouse chases.” Clashes were
taking place on a road leading to a cemetery where thousands had gone to bury
the dead.

“The situation is very tense and scattered fires have erupted in
revolutionary committee headquarters and other buildings,” he said.

“Dozens of martyrs”

Piecemeal accounts suggested the streets of Benghazi, about 1000
kilometres (600 miles) east of the capital Tripoli, were largely controlled by
anti-government protesters, under periodic attack from security forces who
fired from their high-walled compound.

A resident said some 100,000 protesters had headed on Sunday for
the cemetery “to bury dozens of martyrs” killed on Saturday.

Another witness told Reuters thousands of people had performed
ritual prayers in front of 60 bodies laid out in the city. Women and children
were among a crowd of hundreds of thousands that had come out onto the
Mediterranean seafront and the area surrounding the port, he said.

“The protesters are here until the regime falls,” he said.

The Libyan government has not released any casualty figures. A
text message sent to mobile phone subscribers on Sunday said protesters in the
east were trying to break the region away from central rule.

“The deaths in Benghazi and Al Bayda (a nearby town), on both
sides, were the result of attacks on weapons stores to use in terrorising
people and killing innocents,” it said. “All Libyan sons, we have to all stand
up to stop the cycle of separation and sedition and destruction of our beloved
Libya.”

A senior Libyan security source said a group believed to be
criminals had launched an attack on the Benghazi municipal building, blew it
up, seized rifles, and fired randomly in order to create an opportunity to
escape.

The government has disrupted the Internet, used by protesters to
organise.

Al Jazeera, the Arabic television station whose coverage has
played a big role in protests throughout the Middle East and North Africa, said
its satellite transmissions across the region had been jammed. The Lebanese
telecoms minister said the jamming appeared to come from Libya.

“Stop the massacre now”

The crackdown prompted about 50 Libyan Muslim religious leaders
to issue an appeal, sent to Reuters, for the security forces, as Muslims, to
stop the killing.

“We appeal to every Muslim, within the regime or assisting it in
any way, to recognise that the killing of innocent human beings is forbidden by
our Creator and by His beloved Prophet of Compassion (peace be upon him) … Do
NOT kill your brothers and sisters. STOP the massacre NOW!” the appeal said.

Libya is a major energy producer with significant investment
from Britain’s BP Plc, Exxon of the United States, and Italy’s ENI among
others.

British foreign secretary, William Hague, urged Libya to begin
dialogue with anti-government protesters and implement reforms, in a phone call
to a son of Gaddafi on Sunday.

In Brussels, the Hungarian EU presidency said Libya had told the
European Union it would stop cooperation with the bloc in stemming illegal
migration to Europe if the EU encourages pro-democracy protests in the country.

Gaddafi’s fate may hinge on whether the unrest remains confined
largely to the eastern Cyrenaica region around Benghazi, where his support has
traditionally been weaker than in other parts of the country.

The Presidency has refuted claims that President Goodluck
Jonathan appointed more aides than his predecessor, stating that he only hired
a few hands to fill vacant offices.

NEXT had exclusively reported that the President has an army of
133 aides who get paid about N780 million every year. NEXT also revealed that
Mr. Jonathan, after being sworn in, last year May, following the death of Umaru
Musa Yar’Adua, not only retained almost all the special aides appointed by his
late boss, but appointed 57 new ones. “In the nine months that he has been
president, Mr. Jonathan has appointed a chief of staff, a deputy chief of
staff, nine special advisers, 23 senior special assistants, 21 special
assistants and two personal assistants” the report read.

The presidential spokesman, Ima Niboro, who explained that the
list contained some misinterpretation, said contrary to what was reported, the
president has only appointed a few hands to fill in the spaces created either
by the exit of his predecessor or the personal exit of the aides.

He also said Mr. Jonathan created a few new portfolio which
includes; the office of the Special Adviser on Power, Special Adviser on Anti-
Terrorism and the office of the Special Assistant to the President on Diaspora
Affairs.

Old names

Mr. Niboro went on to explain that most of the names on the
list were old names and have been there since the administration of former
President Olusegun Obasanjo . “Majority of all the names on the list are old
names, most of them have been there since Obasanjo’s time, some of them were
with him as Vice President, and I and some other aides who were with him as
Vice President, vacated our offices from the VP’s side to join him, when he
became president”.

On why he did not respond to questions and calls from the
reporter about the issue, Mr. Niboro said the inquiries did not come through
the right channel.

“I ignored those inquiries because they did not come through the state house
correspondent,” he said. “Such questions should be channeled right, so that I
can keep track of who I am talking to”.

Officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) registered a total of 67,764,327 million Nigerians during the just concluded
national voter registration exercise, the final list released has shown.

The electoral body is presently undertaking a review exercise to
ensure that there are no missing data or duplication of registration. Barring
any major changes after the review, the figure represents the number of
Nigerians expected to cast their votes during April polls across the country.
According to the data, states with the highest number of prospective voters
include two of Nigeria’s most populated states, Lagos and Kano. Lagos leads the
pack with a total of 6.2 million registered voters.

It is followed by Kano which has 5.1 million; Kaduna, with 3.5
million; Katsina, with 2.9million; Borno, with 2.7 million; Oyo, with
2.5million; Rivers, with 2.4million and Sokoto, with a total of 2million
registered voters.

These figures, released pending the removal of any duplicated
registration, were obtained from the INEC voters’ return register exclusively
obtained by NEXT.

It shows that Bayelsa is the state with the lowest number of voters,
with a total of 472, 389 registered prospective voters; followed by Niger
state, with 721,478; Ekiti, with 750,753 and the Federal Capital Territory with
886, 323.

The figure shows that the fight for votes is likely to be fierce
in high populated northwest and southwest states. Of the populous states, PDP
is in power in Kaduna, Oyo, Katsina, Sokoto and Rivers States respectively. The
All Nigeria Peoples Party is the ruling party in Borno and Kano States while
the Action Congress of Nigeria rules Lagos. The recently established Congress
of Progressive Change is however likely to create upset in some states in the
northwest.

The registration exercise, which started on the 15th – 29th of
January 2011 was characterised by numerous hitches which might have been the
cause of the low figures recorded in some parts of the country.

Release date is March

In places such as the FCT, some centres witnessed massive
turnout of prospective voters who were eager to register, some out of the
responsibility of carrying out their civic duties while others out of fear that
they might be asked for the voters’ cards at their places of work. But poor
performance of equipment and other logistical challenges made it impossible for
many to register.

Chastened, INEC asked the National Assembly for a one week
extension, which was granted. But this was not enough to register the throng of
people who queued for days and nights to register, for fear of being
disenfranchised.

The electoral body also announced a two-day extension of the
registration process, which was to only apply to areas that had recorded some
form of crises since the beginning of the exercise.

The voters’ registration return list, which was compiled on the February 16,
is to be released on March 2. A breakdown of the data shows that more Nigerians
were registered between the fourth and eleventh days of the exercise, when over
4 million people registered daily. It later tapered off towards the last days,
when the number of registered voters were just in the hundreds of thousands.

Could the United States government run out of money, stop paying its creditors worldwide, and just shut down?

“The strength of
the American dollar as a world currency is grounded on the
unconditional guarantee by the United States to pay its debts,” said
Democratic Senator, Dick Durbin.

“A default on that
commitment, a near default, a threat of default, no matter how short,
would be a first in the history of the United States,” he added.

From Tokyo to
Toronto, governments of all sizes are facing tough budget choices. The
U.S. is no exception and this week, President Obama proposed a
multi-trillion-dollar budget that lawmakers will probably fight over
for months.

The problem is
that Washington faces a bigger budget decision much sooner. Like many
other countries, the U.S. spends more than it collects as taxes and it
makes up the difference by borrowing.

But unlike their
counterparts in most other countries, U.S. lawmakers keep a legal limit
on total debt. Right now, it’s roughly $14.3 trillion and Washington
will probably need more money within weeks.

Some Republicans say they’ll vote against raising the limit because they are so determined to cut government spending.

“I think the most
irresponsible thing that we can do as a Congress, the least grown-up
thing we can do, is just to vote to raise that debt ceiling and
continue business as usual, amounting these massive deficits and debt
that we have been running up,” said Republican Senator, Pat Toomey.

The impact could
be enormous, leaving the U.S. treasury without money for paychecks,
pensions or payments to other governments worldwide; it could undermine
faith in the most important currency in the world.

As that enormous
decision approaches, some prominent Republicans are backing away from
the threat and looking for ways to negotiate a new, higher limit.

In fact, President
Obama’s Democrats are more likely to mention the debt limit these days,
losing no opportunity to remind voters about what Republicans have been
considering.

Some Republicans
may still be considering it. Until we get close to a vote on the limit
in the new Republican-controlled House of Representatives, we can’t be
sure. Washington could still really shut itself down. Or come close.

Jonathan Mann presents Political Mann on CNN International each
Friday at 18:30 (CAT), Saturday at 3pm and 9pm (CAT), and Sunday at
10am (CAT).

The dispute between Keke Owners and Riders Association of
Nigeria (KORAN) and Autobahn Techniques Limited has reached a melodramatic
level as members of KORAN, at the weekend sought clarification as to the
ownership of the trademark name ‘Keke NAPEP.’ The association asked the
National Coordinator of National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP), Magnus
Kpakol to clarify whether there is an official authority that ‘KEKE NAPEP,’ as
a trade mark, should be registered as a property of Autobahn.

The association noted that when the tricyle idea was conceived
by government, two companies; Bhojwani Brothers and Autobahn Techniques Ltd
were shortlisted, noting that Autobahn was however given the job because of the
higher quality of tricycle it imports against the Bajaj model by Bhojwani.
Their grouse is that NAPEP is an acronym for the National Poverty Eradication
Programme, which is a creation of the Federal Government and should not be
identified with a private establishment.

KORAN said that the relationship between the federal government
and Autobahn was that of employer/contractor relationship and therefore
ownership of the project “Keke NAPEP” should not be treated as a personal
property. In a petition signed by KORAN’s National President, Bashir Akinola
and its Secretary, Esther Ogunbanjo, -the association held that ‘Keke’ is a
generic name adopted all over the country for tricycles, irrespective of the
supplier and asked the national co-ordinator of NAPEP to clarify the confusion
about the ownership of name.

Many-layered fight

Autobahn was contracted by the federal government to develop and
implement the ‘keke NAPEP’ project in 2000. Since the contract was initiated ,
the company has been involved in a law suit over the trademark’s name.

Last year, NAPEP dragged Autobahn before the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) for allegedly failing to supply all the tricycles as
contracted by the federal government But prior to this, a report by NEXT has it
that Autobahn had accused Mr. Kpakol of deliberately delaying the payment of
the contract fee by twice issuing the contractor dud cheques.

The presidential candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party
(ANPP), Ibrahim Shekarau will finally flag off his presidential campaign in
Abuja on Thursday February 24.

A source in the party told NEXT yesterday that the party
leadership agreed to the date after a meeting with Mr Shekarau, who is also the
governor of Kano State.

The party also resolved to start its state campaign tour in
Ebonyi State after the Abuja rally. The commencement of the presidential
campaign has been a source of concern for the party leadership following the
inability of Mr Shekarau to nominate those to be part of the party’s campaign
organisation.

At the meeting of the national working committee of the party
last Wednesday, Mr Shekarau was as he was said to be preparing for his
daughter’s wedding.

Some top party members have expressed concern that it was yet to
kick off the campaign even though the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which it
seeks to replace during the polls had concluded its zonal campaign and is now
touring the 36 states.

A member of the NWC was mandated by the national chairman of the
party, to raise a memo on the issue and send to the committee for
consideration.

It was learnt that Ogbonnaya Onu, the national chairman of the
party will present Mr Shekarau and his running mate, John Odigie-Oyegun at the
flagging off ceremony to be attended by party members from all the states and
the federal capital territory.

Looking to the South West

Spokesman of the ANPP, Emma Eneukwu could not be reached for
comment. However, Mr Odigie-Oyegun confirmed the commencement of the
presidential campaign in a telephone interview with NEXT yesterday.

Mr Odigie-Oyegun, a former Edo State governor did not disclose
who will lead the party’s presidential campaign committee, neither did he name
those in the committee.

A source had said last week that the director general of the
campaign organisation may be picked from the South west geo-political zone of
the country since Mr Onu is from the South East and Mr Odigie-Oyegun, from the
South-South geo-political zones.

It was gathered that Bolaji Khaleel from Kwara State who headed the Mr
Shekarau’s Campaign Orgnisation ahead of the primaries, will be replaced since
he is now the ANPP gubernatorial candidate in Kwara State.

The restriction order by authorities of the Murtala Muhammed
International Airport (MMIA), Lagos banning non-travellers from gaining
entrance into the terminal has drawn the ire of general public who accuse the
airport authority of shortchanging their relatives.

Some of the travellers spoken to by NEXT admitted that the
directive is aimed at safeguarding and protecting lives and properties at the
country’s premier airport over the weekend, but others maintained that the
development was not justifiable, as they argued that one should not be denied
the chance to say “a warm goodbye” to his or her loved one embarking on a
journey.

“It is important to keep this place safe, but denying us the
privilege of keeping our brother’s company while he waits for his flight, in
name of security, is unacceptable. They (Aviation Security personnel) said we
cannot go beyond this point and that only the traveller can go inside,” said
Ronke Thomas, a non-traveller, who together with two other family members were
barred from entering the departure lounge by FAAN’s Aviation Security officer
stationed at the terminal gate.

Explaining that her brother, who was to leave for London that
evening, will have to wait for about 30 minutes before boarding, Ms. Thomas
frowned at the new security measures, as she called on authorities to review
the directive.

“Not everyone, whether travelling or not who comes to the
airport should be treated as miscreants, and I don’t think the same is done in
civilized countries. They should be able to differentiate between those who see-off
their relatives and those who constitute nuisance here,” she said.

Late last month, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA),
in conjunction with the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), MMIA
Command of the Nigerian Police Force, and other law enforcement agencies at the
airport, after a meeting held at the headquarters of the civil aviation
regulatory agency decided to limit the number of persons allowed into the
terminal. The development, however, came after rumours of possible explosion at
the international wing of the Lagos airport, following series of bomb scare and
explosions recorded across the country. “I’m not worried about it,” said
another non-traveller barred from entering the terminal, who simply gave his
name as Anayo. “The security guy there said it’s a practice aimed at ensuring
safety and checking the number of unidentifiable persons who parade the airport
occasionally.” Mr. Anayo said that the development should be encouraged, adding
that those who have no business at the airport should not be allowed entry.

“I brought my aunt here, and after he (security) stopped me from
entering, I had no choice but to take my leave,” he said. “Though not everyone
will like this, the truth is that those who are not travelling should not congest
the small space and air meant for travellers and workers in that terminal
building.”

Screening continues

Commenting on the development, Akin Olukunle, General Manager,
Public Affairs for the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria said that the
process will continue till there is enough reason for a halt.

“The screening is going to be a continuous process until there
is need for us to end it, and as soon as this becomes necessary, we will make it
public to the general masses through the appropriate channel,” he said.

“We are going to maintain the standard as far as safety and security of
lives and properties is concerned and people who are not travelling should stay
outside the terminal whenever they get to the airport.” Meanwhile, officers
from the airport police command stationed road blocks few kilometers away from
the international terminal, as they check private and commercial vehicles
heading for the airport.