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he Acting Governor
of Delta State , Sam Obi, on Wednesday presented a budget proposal of
₦240.58 billion for the 2011 fiscal year to the State House of
Assembly.Presenting the budget titled ‘Budget of Consolidation and
Empowerment’ in Asaba, Mr Obi said the government will spend ₦117.85
billion as capital expenditure as against ₦122.73 billion for recurrent
expenditure.He explained that the 2011 budget showed a decrease of
₦91.27billion when compared with the 2010 approved budget of ₦331.86
billion.

He revealed that the decrease is as a result of the militant
activities in the Niger Delta and the declining derivation revenue
allocation to the state.He also explained that the budget is the last
budget of the present administration and that in view of the
transition, emphasis will be on the completion of ongoing projects.

He said, ‘‘we
intend in the coming year to continue to maintain a close watch on our
budget and fiscal management processes accordingly. ‘‘We will also
improve on our existing structures and explore more efficient ways of
doing government business. We shall ensure that these measures will
lead ultimately to greater fiscal discipline and prudence,” the acting
governor said.

He noted that the economic and environmental sectors are naturally
the growth-driving segments of the economy, adding that the budget
proposal will focus on economic growth of the state.These include
agriculture, manufacturing, energy, commerce and cooperatives, tourism,
finance, transport, water resources, urban and regional planning,
housing and sewage.

The Consumer
Protection Council is making plans to stop the Nigerian Electricity
Regulatory Commission and the Power Holding Company of Nigeria from
arbitrary billing of Nigerian consumers of electricity over services
not enjoyed. Its Director General, Ifeyinwa Umenyi, told journalists on
Wednesday in Abuja.

She said a survey
conducted by the council shows that it has become a tradition with the
PHCN to always bill consumers of electricity on what they referred to
as maintenance charges, as far as the consumers are connected to the
PHCN national grid.

“This maintenance
fee is irrespective of whether such consumers use electricity or not.
It also observed that neither the NERC nor the PHCN carries out any
such routine maintenance on the consumers’ meters,” she said. “Nigerian
consumers should be treated with all sense of respect, without which
services and products will not, in the first place be found in the
market place.” She said discussions are ongoing with the NERC over the
issues, as survey carried out revealed that consumers repeatedly keep
making the same complaints over the ill treatment meted on them by
officials of the PHCN.

“The meters are
collected and the consumers made to pay again, the same amount to
obtain new ones. That is where and when they are available,” she said.
“What the PHCN or NERC refers to as maintenance fees will be
eliminated, as there is no basis for such fee since no routine
maintenance is being carried by the agencies.”

No provision for charges

But a senior
official of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, who pleaded anonymity
in a telephone chat, explained that the charge was necessary because
the technology is new and is still being tested.

Asked whether the
company has provision for a refund when meters are not maintained, he
simply said, “there is no provision for that.” Mrs Umenyi however
hinted that the enforcement functions of the council will be restricted
until the National Assembly decides to pass the council’s amendment
bill currently before it into law. She said there are hopes over the
passage of the bill in the nearest future, as it has already scaled
through second reading at the upper chambers of the National Assembly.

“By then, we will be able to carry out enforcement function at optimal level,” she said.

“I am sure it will soon commence. I have taken the pains to speak on
the bill with some law makers. I have met and they have seen reason for
quick passage of the bill.”

The prime minister
of Cote d’Ivoire presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara urged the
international community to consider using force to oust incumbent
Laurent Gbagbo saying it was the “only solution”.

Gbagbo has refused
to quit following a November 28 election that African countries and
western powers say he lost to Ouattara, in a dispute that the United
Nations says has already killed 50 people and threatens to restart a
civil war.

Speaking on French television network I-Tele, Guillaume Soro said Gbagbo had raised the military stakes leaving few options.

“Mr Gbgabo has got
the tanks out … 200 people have fallen under the bullets of Liberian
and Angolan mercenaries … the security situation is very worrying,”
Soro said.

“It is obvious the
only solution to the crisis is the use of force.” Gbagbo has shown no
sign of caving in to the pressure and late on Tuesday invited an
international committee to re-examine the results of the vote, a move
that a Ouattara spokesman dismissed as a delaying tactic.

“I ask the U.N. Security Council, European Union and ECOWAS to consider the use of force,” Soro said.

Ouattara had
rejected also on Wednesday the incumbent leader’s offer of an
international investigation into a disputed election as a political
“game”.

Laurent Gbagbo on
Tuesday invited an international committee to re-examine the results of
the presidential election of Nov. 28 to prevent a bitter power struggle
with his rival from escalating into civil war.

Gbagbo said the
committee could be headed by the African Union and also involve the
West African organisation ECOWAS, the United Nations, the United
States, the European Union, Russia and China, all of whom have
recognised Ouattara as winner.

“We’ve finished with these games,” Patrick Achi, a spokesman for Ouattara’s rival government told Reuters by phone.

International divorce

France, Germany and
Britain advised against travel to the country on Wednesday and urged
their citizens there to leave, a day after Nigeria said it evacuated
diplomatic staff from the country following an attack on its embassy.

France asked its
citizens to leave Cote d’Ivoire and the World Bank froze funding to the
West African state on Wednesday, as a violent power struggle deepened
between incumbent Laurent Gbagbo and his rival presidential claimant
Alassane Ouattara.

World Bank head
Robert Zoellick said funds for Cote d’Ivoire had been cut off, in a
move to squeeze Gbagbo financially. According to the World Bank
website, the global lender has aid commitments to Cote d’Ivoire of $842
million as of January 2010.

“They have already been frozen,” Zoellick said in Paris after a meeting with President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The European Union
and the United States have imposed sanctions on Gbagbo and members of
his inner circle in an attempt to force him to step down, and African
countries have offered him a soft landing in exile.

But Gbagbo has
shown no sign of caving in to the pressure and late on Tuesday invited
an international committee to re-examine the results of the vote, a
move that a Ouattara spokesman dismissed as a delaying tactic.

Earlier Kader
Coulibaly’s younger brother vanished when gunmen raided his sleepy
suburb in Cote d’Ivoire’s main city last week, and like hundreds of
supporters of presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara, he fears the
worst.

“It was about 6 or
7 in the evening on Saturday. He was out in a local bar near our house
when two pickup trucks of military men drove through the neighbourhood
shooting. There was panic,” he said.

Gbagbo’s camp denies that abductions or killings are taking place and accuses Ouattara’s of trying to soil their name.

A lawyer standing
for more than 60 militants arrested last month said on Wednesday that
the gang leader and two of his followers were removed from prison by
the secret service last week.

Nigeria’s armed
forces on November 20 arrested ‘Obese’, whose real name is Tamunotonye
Kuna, and more than 60 of his followers who were believed to be behind
the kidnapping of 19 oil and construction workers in the Niger Delta.

Ken Atsuete, legal
council to the arrested militants, said a judge ordered that the
militants be remanded in Port Harcourt Federal Prison on November 29
but last week, officers from Nigeria’s State Security Service (SSS)
took Obese and two of his senior followers to another location. “From
November 29 until December 16, nothing whatsoever happened to these
boys, only for the SSS officers to come to the Port Harcourt Prison on
December 16 to take Obese and his second and third in command away to
an unknown and undisclosed location,” Mr. Atsuete said.

“The whereabouts of
Obese and his second and third in command is unknown while the
remaining 62 have been remanded in the Port Harcourt prison.” The SSS
were not available for comment.

Obese, a former
commander in Nigeria’s main militant group, the Movement for the
Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), was one of those who signed up
for an amnesty brokered last year by late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

Militant groups in
the Niger Delta have said kidnapping and attacks on oil pipelines are
part of a fight for a fairer share of the oil wealth generated in their
backyard.

But the line
between militancy and crime is blurred as gang leaders have grown rich
on the spoils of kidnapping for ransom and the theft of industrial
quantities of oil.

Reuters

The Jigawa State Commissioner for Information, Youth,
Sport and Culture, Aminu Muhammed, yesterday resigned his appointment
to contest for the state House of Assembly.

The resignation letter, dated 20/12/2010 and
addressed to the state governor, Sule Lamido was submitted to the
governor yesterday (Tuesday) for his approval.

In the letter, the former commissioner said he
relinquished his position in order to “heed the call and yearning of my
people to uphold their desire for me to contest the state Assembly
under our great party, People’s Democratic Party (PDP).”

Mr Muhammed said his resignation was in accordance
with the Nigerian constitution, and wrote that “in consonance with the
party’s constitution, that stipulates resignation of office by any
political office appointee, I hereby resign my appointment as the
Honourable Commissioner of Information, Youth, Sport and Culture effect
from Friday 24th December 2010. My decision is accompanied with lots of
nostalgia to leave the service at this crucial period when the
government needs me most. But I’m however compelled to answer this
clarion call of my people”.

The former commissioner expressed gratitude to Mr Lamido for giving him the opportunity to serve in his cabinet.

“I also pledge my absolute loyalty and support to you, your cause and the government for as long as I live,” he said.

The former state official, who wanted to represent Gumel Local
Government has already appeared before the PDP screening committee
which commenced its work yesterday.</

The Atiku Abubakar
Campaign Orgnaisation (ACO) has challenged the leadership of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to constitute a panel to screen its
presidential aspirants. Mr Abubakar and Sarah Jubril are the two
opponents of President Goodluck Jonathan for the presidential ticket of
the party.

The Director
General of ACO, Ben Obi also expressed worry over the status of the
Electoral Act 2010 after the dumping of the controversial clause which
sought to make the senators and representatives members of the National
Executive Committee (NEC) of their parties.

Mr Obi, who
addressed a press conference in Abuja yesterday,said it is shameful
that ,22 days to the PDP presidential primary election, the party has
not yet constituted a panel to screen its presidential aspirants .

“We urge the party
to constitute this committee quickly so that party members and the
generality of Nigerians will know the candidate that will represent
them” he said. “We also plead with the party to extend an invitation to
the various presidential campaign organisations on the issues raised
above and consider their suggestions.”

The campaign head
commended the stakeholders that worked against the clause in electoral
act , he advised Nigerians to be vigilant to ensure that the deleted
materials do not re-surface in the final version of the act.

He however
recognised the humble stance of the lawmakers as they yielded to the
wise counsel of Nigerians, he further urged them to finalise and
publish the 2010 Electoral act so that it can be in effect for the
forthcoming elections.

He alleged that the
opponents of Mr Abubakar are still wallowing in the habit of smear
campaign, fear-mongering, slander, character assassination and mischief.

“We are not perturbed in the least by sponsored petitions and
oracular predictions,we are also not bothered that the NTA and a few
other electronic media organs have been turned to personal property of
incumbent power authorities and that seditious materials daily drench
the airwaves, with the NBC turning a blind eye.”

Adeniyi Olajide,
the Action Congress of Nigeria’s candidate in the by-election conducted
on Wednesday into Moba Constituency 1 in Moba Local Government Area of
Ekiti State has been declared the winner of the election.

Mr Olajide
contested against the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Gboye
Afilaka in an election which to an extent suffered apathy by voters.

The election
suffered a low turn out of voters, contrary to the expectations of
politicians in the area, and also considering the level of high
political status that had joined the party’s political train for the
coveted seat of the state house of assembly.

The seat became
vacant following the death of the former Deputy Speaker of the State
House of Assembly, Saliu Adeoti of Action Congress of Nigeria on Oct.
27.

The vacant
Legislative seat which was contested by the majorly ACN, PDP and the
Labour Party (LP), the leading three parties in the state commenced at
about 8.30 in the morning was held in five wards of the constituency
comprising 49 polling units.

The security
operatives however ensured a heavy presence by a team jointly
co-coordinated by the state Commissioner of Police, Olayinka Balogun
and the state Director of the State Security Service (SSS), though some
reports of ballot snatching were also reported.

The state chairman
of People’s Democratic Party, Bola Olu-Ojo said in an interview that
the election was rigged and should not be honoured by the INEC,

“you can see for
yourself and I am sure that some of you still have it on the tape. If
INEC should go ahead with this, then we have started seeing what will
happen in 2011.

Monitoring the
election, a member of PDP and the Minister of State, Caleb Olubolade
and the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Isiyaku Maigoro,
confirmed few hitches but claimed that there were efforts to rectify
them.

Although there was
a case of alleged snatching of a ballot box at Osan-Ekiti by some
alleged political thugs, the election was generally peaceful.

Ajayi Emmanuel, one
of the Presiding Officers, who spoke to News Agency of Nigeria, said
that the election at his unit was peaceful and commended the security
personnel for their efforts in checkmating political thugs.

Mr Maigoro also
expressed satisfaction with the conduct, stating that apart from
Osan-Ekiti where a ballot box was snatched, the election is generally
peaceful as at noon.

“Since it is still
on and we are still monitoring the exercise, I cannot conclude on the
conduct now until the completion of the exercise,” he said.

Mr Olubolade
however told the media that “our people should see the need to abide by
the presidential directive for a free and fair election. It is only a
free and fair election that can give Nigeria credibility in the comity
of nations.

“It is unfortunate
that some state government officials are using government vehicles to
perpetrate this dastardly act,” he said.

The minister
disclosed that the Commissioner of Police and the Director of SSS had
already visited the unit and started investigations.

However, the former
Governor of Ekiti State, Segun Oni and the People’s Democratic Party in
a press statement issued after the election faulted the by-election,
calling it a disgrace to INEC and Nigeria as a country.

“”From what has
happened today, this country is indeed in trouble. People who go about
sermonising on one-man, one-vote were the ones who invaded Moba with
thugs, snatched ballot boxes and unleashed terror on the people.

This shameful!

“If Jega is serious
about free and fair election in 2011, he ought to have used this
election in just 49 polling units to show Nigerians that. He should
have even supervised it directly so that he can learn from it but he
has allowed the whole thing to be messed up,” Mr Oni said.

Meanwhile, Mr Maigoro, has vowed to prosecute any of his workers who by any means breaks the law during the by-election.

The Federal
Government entered into deal with Julius Berger over the Halliburton
bribery scandal because the Nigerian law dealing with corporate
criminality is weak, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the
Federation, Mohammd Bello Adoke has said.

He also spoke of the need to ensure the early resolution of the matter in the greater national interest.

Mr Adoke, who
presented the ministerial score card of the Ministry in Abuja
yesterday, said the ministry and the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) recovered money and assets worth N191billion form
Cecilia Ibru and her associated companies in the year under review.

He said he found
it necessary to use the occasion to highlight the approach adopted by
the ministry in addressing the prosecution of certain high profile
economic crimes committed by some individuals and corporate entities
(local and foreign ) against the Nigerian state.

“I refer
particularly to the ongoing prosecution of some bank executives and
multinational corporations for economic crimes and corrupt practices,”
he said.

He also said the
ministry has commenced the prosecution of individuals and multinational
companies indicted in the Halliburton bribery scandals.

“As a result of
government’s resolve to prosecute those indicted, Julius Berger,
Siemens, Saipem, Technip, and Halliburton Inc. were charged to court.
To avert prosecution, these companies approached us with various
settlement options for consideration,” he said.

Easy way out

He said in
resolving these cases, the ministry took cognizance of the weakness of
Nigeria’s penal provisions dealing with corporate criminal liability
before adopting international best practices, by emphasising on
‘restitution’ that would ensure direct benefit to the Nigerian
Government as the ‘victim State’. Accordingly, a total sum of $170.8
million has been paid as penal fines to the Federal Government.

The minister said
he directed the commencement of the review of the country’s penal
provisions to properly address the reality of corporate criminality by
providing appropriate sanctions that would ensure deterrence in the
country.

Nigeria will be
richer with $255 million by the time all the monies the companies
agreed to pay are collected, he said, explaining that only $35 million
was realised from Halliburton alone and that three, out of the four
companies involved in the scandal have so far paid $95 million.

He said about $130
million of these monies are held in banks at Monaco and Geneva, adding
that government is doing everything to recover the money from the
indicted companies.

Mr Adoke threatened
that government will ensure that all those involved in the civil
disturbances in Jos and the Boko Haram crises in some states in the
North-East geopolitical zone will be prosecuted.

He said the ministry has obtained the files on the alleged extra
judicial killings involving some police officers during the Boko Haram
crises and has commenced consultation with Borno State Ministry of
Justice in order to ensure early prosecution.