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A new development
initiative between national and international donor agencies and
development groups in the Niger Delta region was launched at the
weekend.

Foundation for
Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND) was launched in Abuja
to provide the platform for the advancement of the new development
strategy by Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) to help redress some of the
challenges oil and gas companies operating in the region have been
facing.

Chevron
Corporation, which recently established the Niger Delta Partnership
Initiative (NDPI) Foundation, a new five year $50 million programme to
help explore fresh socio-economic opportunities in the region, said the
initiative will work with other donor agencies in public and private
sectors to administer economic development activities for commercial
agriculture and small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) development.

Other activities,
according to its Project Director, Dennis Flemming, include capacity
building to strengthen local government agencies and civil society
organizations; peace building activities to foster stability and
reconciliation in the region; analysis and advocacy programmes to
identify socio-economic needs of the people of the region.

Mr Flemming said
the organisation will implement its programmes throughout the nine oil
producing states of the region through a careful analysis and
negotiation process to identify viable projects and the most suitable
locations for them.

A new benchmark

Managing Director
of Chevron, Andrew Fawthrop, described the initiative as, “a new
benchmark in Chevron’s approach to help deliver better social and
economic outcomes in the places where we operate”, adding that the
approach to work with other development partners will offer an
opportunity to “develop dynamic new solutions for the development
challenges faced by the Niger Delta region.

Though it is
expected to operate from two main locations – Abuja and Warri – the
initial development partners will include Ministry of Niger Delta
Affairs, German technical Corporation (GTZ), United States Agency for
International Development (USAID), United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP), World Bank, United Nation’s Global Fund and the Delta State
government.

Minister of Niger
Delta Affairs, Goodsday Orubebe, said the initiative, which is designed
to help transform the socio-economic fortunes and welfare of the people
of the Niger Delta region, was in line with what the government is
putting together in collaboration with some international development
agencies to establish the Niger Delta Trust Fund (NDTF) to help tackle
the development challenges of the region.

A former vice
president and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirant,
Atiku Abubakar has again raised the alarm over the state of the
nation’s economy, and warned that unless something drastic was done, it
might collapse. Mr Abubakar, in a statement sent to media houses
yesterday by his campaign outfit, said the gloomy picture of the
nation’s economy painted by foremost rating agency, Fitch Ratings, is a
matter for urgent intervention, not politicking. But in a swift
reaction, the Goodluck/Sambo Campaign Organisation dismissed Mr
Abubakar’s warning, insisting that the economy is doing well.

Mr Abubakar said
the Fitch Ratings report of October 22, which lowered Nigeria’s
investment grade by three notches to BB-minus should be a wakeup call
to all those unaware of the true status of the nation’s economy.
“Citing the depletion of its windfall oil savings and heightened
political uncertainty ahead of elections next year,” Mr Abubakar said
it is fast becoming very urgent for the federal government to pay
serious attention to the economy.” He also recalled his earlier alert
last week following Standard & Poor’s B-plus rating. Mr. Abubakar
said, “rather than taking me seriously on the concerns I expressed, my
advice only fetched me rebuke and insults from the Jonathan Campaign
Organization.”

Lessons from history

He recounted that
it was the same defiant attitude the defunct National Party of Nigeria
(NPN)-led federal government had towards repeated calls by the then
opposition leader, late Obafemi Awolowo. According to him, “they
ignored the warnings of the late sage and when they realised it, it was
too late to save anything. That was the point at which they declared
the economic emergency that gave rise to the ‘hated austerity measures’
of that era.” Mr Abubakar, however, commended the National Assembly for
its exemplary courage in faulting the handling of the economy and poor
implementation of the current budget ahead of the latest negative
report on the economy. He said that no serious government could afford
to ignore these danger signals from international credit rating
agencies as this would amount to nonchalance. He argued that the
management of the nation’s economy, the lifeline for the sustenance of
its democracy should not be sacrificed for political expediency. “Fitch
in its latest rating of our economy said continued withdrawals from the
nation’s excess crude account, into which Nigeria saves crude oil
earnings above a benchmark price, and lower foreign exchange reserves
were a threat to economic stability,” the aspirants said, alluding to
the agency’s warning that “the depletion of the excess crude account
and continued gradual fall in international reserves at a time of high
oil prices and record high oil production is a major concern.”

Political logjam

But the spokesman
of the Jonathan/Sambo Campaign Organisation, Sully Abu, said that he
(Abubakar) is merely whipping up hysteria on the matter through
selective evidence that can in no way represent the whole picture.
“Former vice President Atiku Abubakar has kept on his drumbeat of doom
and gloom on the state of the economy. We will however not join any
polemical war by those who insist on whipping up hysteria on this or on
any other issue through use of selective evidence that can in no way
present the whole picture,” Mr Abu said. “We want to reiterate that the
fundamentals of the nation’s economy remain promising on the short term
and the long term. Fitch or not, the economy remains on the path of
strong growth.”

The Conference of
Nigeria Political Parties, yesterday, asked the Independent National
Electoral Commission to immediately award the final contract for the
procurement of Direct Data Capture machines and accessories for the
forthcoming voters registration.

The group, however,
commended the electoral body for collaborating with the Bureau for
Public Procurement to appraise the companies bidding for the supply of
the machines in order to guarantee appropriate pricing and quality.

In a release by its
spokesperson, Osita Okechukwu, in Abuja, the CNPP argued that its
shocking that neither the basic award of the contract for procurement
of the equipment was yet to be concluded nor had the training of staff
for the voters registration, initially scheduled for next month before
INEC sought for postponement, commenced.

“CNPP frowns at a
sordid scenario where the National Voters Registration exercise which
could have commenced November 1st a few days time but for the extension
of time; neither the basic award of the contract for the procurement of
the equipment is yet to be concluded nor the training of the staff has
commenced,” it said.

The group said the
electoral body’s collaboration with the procurement bureau to appraise
the 12 companies bidding for the supply of the machines would guarantee
appropriate pricing, quality, value for money and maintenance.

It commended the
commission INEC for selecting an indigenous company – Zinox Technology
– to lead the two other companies which would procure the equipment,
adding as an indigenous company, the company would empower mostly
Nigerians with technological know-how since maintenance would be better
guaranteed and retention of profit would be higher.

“We salute INEC, when we understand that Zinox presented the best
bid both in terms of pricing and proving record of procuring the same
machines at short notice in the midst of confusion for INEC in 2006. As
an indigenous company with offices across the federation we can easily
hold Zinox responsible for any default,” the CNPP said.

A Presidential
candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Sarah Jibril, has criticised
the move by some northern elders to present a consensus northern
candidate to contest against President Jonathan in next year’s
elections.

Ms Jibril in an
interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Bauchi
said that she will not step down for any consensus candidate
“considering the ugly track records of most of the aspirants”.

“Zoning is real but
I wonder why some PDP top shots are running away from it. I also wonder
why fellow Christians who are aware of the zoning formula are calling
on President Goodluck Jonathan, who was a party to the arrangement, to
contest for the 2011 polls. I still wonder why Obasanjo, Abeh, Nwodo
and a host of them who signed the pact and which Obasanjo was a
beneficiary are trying to abort the tenet of the party,’’ Ms. Jibril
asked.

Speaking at the
17th Annual Convention of the Women Wing of the Christian Association
of Nigeria (CAN) in Bauchi, she urged Nigerians to shun money politics,
saying they should elect only credible candidates.

According to her,
it is time for women to take over the mantle of leadership of the
country as obtained in Liberia. She also alleged that the men had
wasted the 50 years of the country’s independence without anything
tangible to show for it.

“How long will we
continue to bring in people who have continuously ruined Nigeria and
turned our country into bankruptcy? How can we continue to sit behind
and allow other selected few to choose leaders for us,’’ Ms. Jibril
said.

She promised to rescue the country from the “claws’’ of unpatriotic and evil leaders.

“No nonsense will be tolerated this time around, if I am given the mandate to serve as president’.

“The so-called
politicians in the country are characterized by deceits and I urge the
electorate to shun them, especially the money bags who will like to
come to power at all cost.”

NAN

The membership
registration exercise of the Action Congress of Nigeria (CAN) in Oyo
State, at the weekend suffered a slight setback as hoodlums believed to
be loyal to a governorship aspirant within the party attempted to
hijack the registration materials.

Although no one died in the ensuing scuffle, many party members suffered injuries.

The police have arrested four men suspected to be behind the act.

The incident
happened at Oyo North and Oyo Central Senatorial Districts where the
hoodlums, wielding machetes and other dangerous weapons, stormed the
venue of the registration and attempted to snatch and make away with
the registration materials being distributed by the officials ahead of
the commencement of the exercise.

The incident led to the suspension of the registration of members in Afijio and other parts of Oke-Ogun area of the state.

One of the
governorship aspirants, Abiola Ajimobi said he and members of his group
boycotted the exercise because of the attempt by some people to hijack
the materials.

Minor skirmishes

The leader of the
party in the state and a former governor, Lam Adesina said the exercise
was successful, and the party will give another opportunity to the
group that boycotted it to participate. He said that only the
electorate will chose all political office holders in the next election.

Similar situation
played out at Ward 9 of the Ibadan South local government of the state,
where about 25 cutlass-wielding hoodlums reportedly swooped on the
registering members to cart away the materials, but the people
confronted their attackers.

Despite the success
of the exercise in many parts of the state, the hitches in some part
have created bad-blood among the contestants, who are, however,
unanimous in the belief that nothing will be allowed to affect the
fortune of the party in 2011.

Femi Lanlehin,
Kazeem Adedeji, Wale Oyemakinde, Soji Akanbi and other aspirants
explained that such “minor skirmishes” can not be ruled out in a place
where nine aspirants are vying for a single seat.

Mr. Adesina assured
members that the culture of internal democracy currently imbibed by the
party will give them victory over the ruling Peoples Democratic Party
in the state in the next election.

The joy of the
families of the Ondo State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Tola
Wewe knew no bounds yesterday as the octogenarian mother of the
commissioner, Pege Wewe and her grand-daughter, Rachael Lawrence, were
freed from suspected militants.

The freedom came about nine days after the duo were abducted at Sabomi area of Ese-Odo Local government area of the state.

NEXT gathered that the women, who were ferried out of Ese-Odo Local government, regained their freedom in Sapele, Delta State.

The rescue of the
women was made possible when the people of Sapele community noticed the
movement of strange faces in their community.

The community
raised alarm and reported the case to the police in Sapele division who
responded to the distress call and rescued the woman and her grand
daughter although the kidnappers escaped from the scene. Police in the
Sapele Police division later handed the victims to the men of the Ondo
State Police Command in Akure.

Spokesperson of the Ondo State Police Command, Adeniran Aremu, said the old woman was released in good condition .

Mr Aremu, who noted
that the command had earlier arrested two suspects in connection with
the kidnapping, said “the police was still investigating the case. We
will make sure that we get to the root of the matter, the woman is in
good condition of health when she was freed.”

Hunger strike

Around 2 pm in the
afternoon, the woman and her son moved to the governor’s office where
they were welcomed by the state Governor, Olusegun Mimiko. They also
visited the office of the State Security Service situated at Alagabaka
to official report their release. A source however claimed that an
undisclosed sum was paid to the kidnappers who had earlier demanded for
N50 million. But Mr. Wewe said no ransom was paid to the abductors,
thanking security agencies and the state government for their role in
ensuring his mother was released.

“I am grateful to
the Almighty God that my mother and the girl have been released. I
thank the state government and the security agencies for their
concern”, he said.

Sources say that 81-year-old Mrs. Wewe was on hunger strike throughout the period she was with her abductors.

Barack Obama
isn’t just presiding this week over what many of his supporters
consider a civil rights milestone, he’s fighting it.

Last month, a
judge overturned ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ the U.S. military’s policy
forcing gay and lesbian personnel to keep their sexuality secret or
face dismissal.

As a result, the Pentagon told recruiters that for the first time they can accept openly gay and lesbian applicants.

Mr Obama pledged to help end to ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and you might expect him to welcome the judgment.

But the White
House says it’s up to Congress to repeal the law, not the president or
the courts. Congress isn’t rushing to do it.

The judge’s ruling
broke the logjam but the Obama administration is appealing, hoping a
higher court will reverse the ruling and let Congress act.

The battle raged in the courts this week and the administration convinced other judges to temporarily restore the policy.

But it makes for a strange predicament for Obama: fighting a policy
he supports, that was pushed forward by a judge, without the help the
president promised.