Nigeria Content Online

The selection of a
new Deji of Akure became more complicated yesterday when one of the
royal families jostling for the seat, Faturoti, sent five new names to
the Ojijigogun ruling house.

Previously, the
ruling house had short listed nine candidates for the vacant stool:
seven from the Adesida royal family and one each from Arosoye and
Faturoti royal families.

The Faturoti family
said in letters to the Ondo State governor, Olusegun Mimiko and the
Chairman of Akure South Local Government, Tayo Oluwatuyi, that the
candidate it sent earlier didn’t have the full approval of the three
groups in the family.

According to the
letter signed by the head of the family, Adepoju Adegoroye, the family
finally decided that six candidates should represent it on the basis of
two persons from each lineage. The six candidates presented to the
royal family for screening include: Adewale Adegoroye, Olusola
Adegoroye, Aderemi Adegoroye and Ademola Adegoroye, Akinlade Adegoroye,
and Idowu Adegoroye.

NEXT learnt that a
leader of the Faturoti royal family, had single-handedly presented the
name of a candidate to the ruling house without due consultation with
other families.

His action was said to have incensed other members who accused him of compromising the family’s chances.

Not capable

Mr Adegoroye, in
the letter to the state governor, claimed that the action of his
relative was not in the best interest of the entire family which it had
potrayed as lacking capable candidates to fill the vacant stool of Deji
of Akure.

“As the head of the
Adegoroye/Faturoti family of the Ojijigogun ruling house, I was out of
the country when the issue of selection of candidates came up. My
Deputy acted in my capacity when I was away,” the letter reads.

“But, when I came back, I was amazed to hear that the family could
only boast of one candidate as large and as saturated with elites (as
we are). This is not only unfair to the whole family, but posterity
will not forgive us and our descendants will spit on our graves if we
fold our arms while the kingmakers are being hoodwinked to believe that
Adegoroye is virtually non-existent”.

The Edo State government has placed a ban on the defacing of public structures, buildings,

walls, pavements, and signboards, with posters – including political campaign posters.

The state ministry of environment and public utilities, which issued the warning yesterday, said violators will be sanctioned.

A senior official of the ministry said
government is against people “puting posters in public places,
especially where we have worked on, like the King’s Square area.” Some
weeks ago, the ministry had removed all posters from the newly upgraded
square, including campaign posters of senior party officials. The state
government has recently embarked on a campaign to improve the living
environment in the city and the commissioner for environment and public
utilities, Clem Agba, has won the praise of residents of Benin City in
his efforts to give the town a facelift.

To create awareness to that effect, a
press briefing was organised by the ministry and special announcements
were also sent round the various local media houses while a bill was
sponsored to the state house of assembly.

Posters everywhere

Until recently,
posters of churches, product advertisements and political campaigns
have taken over every available space in the city. Hardly any public or
private property was spared, making the city look dirty and unkempt.

Amadasun Osadolor,
whose house was until recently defaced by several posters, said he was
delighted that the government has at last placed a ban on what he
called “the dirty and criminal activities of some people, especially
politicians and church pastors.” Mr. Osadolor said his only concerned
was with government’s ability to keep enforcing the law.

“It remains to be
seen if the government will be able to enforce the law. But I will
personally be very happy if they can enforce the law. It has been long
over due,” he said.

The United States
Ambassador to Nigeria, Renee Sanders, on Thursday, commended the
efforts of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) towards
ensuring air safety in the country.

Speaking to
journalists in a joint conference in Lagos, Mrs Sanders lauded the
federal government on the successfulcompletion of the United States
Federal Aviation Authority assistance program in readiness for
International Aviation Safety Assessment audit which is also a step
necessary for acquiring the coveted Category One Status. The ambassador
said that though there is still more to be done by way of improving
certain elements of the aviation sector, it is important to celebrate
the tremendous progress and success the government has made with making
Nigerian air travel the safest it has ever been. “Although Nigeria has
not obtained Category I Status yet, the progress to date continues to
put Nigeria on the right path,” she said.

Progress made

Mrs Sanders
congratulated the nation’s civil aviation regulatory agency for its
inaugural issuance of an Air Operator Certification (AOC) to Arik Air,
the country’s largest commercial carrier, adding that the United States
was pleased by the progress so far achieved.

Explaining that
additional air carrier options would expand the breath of Nigeria’s
aviation market, Mrs. Sanders disclosed that the development would
offer prices and services not offered currently. “This competition will
create incentives for both the carriers and the consumers,” she said.

Harold Demuren, director general of NCAA, said that he was grateful
for the support given by the Mrs Sanders-led team to the aviation
industry and to Nigerians. He, however, said that the government is
working towards eradicating any form of terrorism in Nigeria, an called
for continued support from the United States. “We mean business on
this,” he said. “The federal government has ordered for ten body
scanners, our people have been trained. We have put in additional
measures which makes secondary screening mandatory for our airlines. We
are able to sign MOU for the Air Marshals and we can look at your (Mrs.
Sanders) tenure in Nigeria as a major success and a big plus for
Nigeria’s aviation.”

President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, officially
unveiled the clock to commence the 50 day countdown to Nigeria’s 50th
Independence Day celebration on October 1st.

In his address, at the event jointly organised by
DAAR Communications and Integrated Management Resource at the Banquet
Hall of the presidential villa, Mr. Jonathan directed that the
countdown clocks be placed in strategic places across the country ahead
of October 1, where Nigeria intends to reenact the same event of
lowering of the Union Jack and the raising of the Nigerian flag 50
years ago.

“This event is to officially begin the countdown to
the 50th year anniversary which will be celebrated on October 1, 2010.
I have directed that the counting down clocks be placed at strategic
places as a constant reminder of our jubilee independence anniversary,”
he said.

“I dare say that current challenges notwithstanding,
Nigeria has a glorious past worthy of celebration that should arose in
us all the good things about Nigeria.

“We must rededicate ourselves to those patriotic
ideas and creative potentials in us all. It is worthy of note that the
event to celebrate our 50th independence anniversary is purely private
sector initiative sponsored by Integrated Management Resources in
partnership with DAAR Communications PLC, those organizations deserve
our special commendation for the patriotic vision.”

Mr. Jonathan also stressed that Nigeria has reasons
to celebrate the past 50 years adding that the world views Nigeria as a
great country not in terms of its population but what it has been able
to do in the past 50 years.

“If we have not made any impact globally this past 50
years we would have been written off long ago. We have our challenges
we know that very clearly which is why this time around we are
committed to move this country forward but we have every reason to
celebrate the past 50 years” he added.

Media attention

The Chief Executive Officer, Integrated Management
Resource, Oluwafemi Victor Walsh, said his belief in the Nigerian dream
fostered his organisation to partner with DAAR Communications to put up
the event.

“We believe in the Nigerian Vision and we believe in
Mr. President. We believe Mr. President became President by divine
intervention and that is why we are supporting this Nigeria at 50
project at our own small level,” he said.

Mr. Walsh further regretted that the tradition where
kids used to match to celebrate the nation’s independence has been
abandoned adding, “Nigerians now see it as a day to rest at home but
this celebration gives us all the opportunity to immortalize and lay
foundation for the next 50 years. If we cannot celebrate our past then
let us celebrate our future”.

The company is putting together a project that will
put Nigeria in the Guinness Book of World Records. It plans to unveil
the 65, 000kg World’s largest cake at the National Stadium on 1st
October 2010, aimed at rebranding Nigeria on the day.

“We enjoy the greatest global media attention since 1960,” he said.

Goodluck
Jonathan has urged Muslims to use the season of Ramadan for deep
reflection and spiritual rejuvenation towards greater service to God
and the nation.

Mr Jonathan, in a
message to Muslims in the country and around the world to herald the
month-long Ramadan fast, noted that fasting is a profound religious
experience that brings people closer to God. He thus enjoined Muslims
to use the season to re-evaluate their service to God and mankind.

“Let us seize this
period of Ramadan to rededicate ourselves to the service of God and
country. Beyond abstaining from food and drink, we must resolve to make
the greater sacrifice of eschewing vices that slow down the progress of
our beloved country,” he said.

President Jonathan
also asked Muslims to reflect on and strengthen their relationship with
the Almighty Allah and all men and women of goodwill the world over
during the fast.

“The great Prophet
of Islam, Muhammad (PBUH), described Ramadan fasting as a shield
against vices. Thus, we must use this year’s Ramadan as a shield from
worldly allure and sundry temptations,” he said.

Mr Jonathan also
urged all Nigerians to advance the frontiers of love and responsibility
to one another, saying “we must seek avenues to advance the cause of
peace and good neighbourliness no matter where we find ourselves”.

The President extended best wishes to all Muslims and prayed for Allah’s blessings during the month of Ramadan.

Nigerian Muslims today joined their compatriots around the world to
commence the annual month of denial and piety. Fasting is one of the
five pillars of Islam. The others are belief in the Oneness of God and
the finality of the prophethood of Muhammad; the five daily prayers;
Concern for and almsgiving to the needy; and pilgrimage to Makkah for
those who are able.

he
capital market regulator, the Security and Exchange Commission, said
yesterday that about 260 persons and organizations are to face charges
over the crisis in Nigeria’s capital market, a week after the head of
the Stock Exchange, Ndidi Okereke-Onyuike, was fired.

Director General of
the SEC, Arunma Oteh, announced Tuesday while meeting with the House of
Representatives members, that the commission has names of individuals
and groups who will be brought before the Investment and Securities
Tribunal, for various financial offences.

“We have also been
working very hard on some of the complaints that ordinary investors
have shared with us as to some of the things that happen in our
market,” she told the House committee on Capital Market, headed by Umar
Jibril. “As a result of that, we are going to take about 260
individuals and entities to the Investment and Securities Tribunal for
different types of allegations of share price manipulation and insider
dealings.” The Former Director General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange,
Okereke-Onyuike and the former president of the Exchange, Aliko
Dangote, were removed from office last week by the commission, at the
climax of squabbles between the both parties. They had accused each
other of administrative and financial mismanagement.

In a major move,
the commission ordered independent investigations into the allegations,
and appointed an interim administrator for the Exchange, in a process
that has also helped emphasize its regulatory capacity, which has been
missing in years.

The House committee
summoned Mrs Oteh, Mrs Okereke-Onyuike and Mr Dangote yesterday in the
aftermath of the sackings, holding hours of meetings behind closed
doors with Ms Oteh after the others failed to appear. They are to now
appear today.

Mr Jibril said the
invitation was based on worries over media report on the removal,
saying the lawmakers needed to act to guard against unwarranted effects
of such actions on the nation’s economy.

Fragile capital market

Ms Oteh, however,
said the commission intervened to save the fragile capital market that
has already been hit by allegations of various malpractices, including
insider trading and share prices manipulation.

“Like you know, our
call and mandate is to protect public interest and to protect the
investor, particularly what I will consider the voiceless masses of
people,” she said.

She acknowledged
the widespread allegations of increasing insider dealings, share price
manipulations, of weakness in enforcement of excessive risk taking in
the market environment, saying that informed the plan to possibly bring
charges against those listed.

The irregularities,
she said, have arisen as a result of poor regulation, which also partly
was responsible for the huge crash of stock from N12 trillion to N5.5
trillion in 2008.

“We’ve seen concern as to whether regulators had really been playing
their roles. As a result, since the crash, the SEC has spoken on trying
to enhance its own capacity to regulate the market has tried to focus
on addressing the issues that led to the crash, some of which relates
to the global financial crisis, some which relates to market integrity
issues in our market,” she told the lawmakers before the closed session
meeting.</

Goodluck Jonathan has cautioned the Senate over alterations to the anti-money laundering bill and anti-terror bills currently before it.The president, in a letter dated August 6, 2010, and addressed to the Senate Presi-dent, David Mark, asked the him to note that every provi-sion in “the draft bill present-ed to the National Assembly consistent and in compliance with global instruments which Nigeria has signed and rati-fied.” The Senate had, in pre-vious legislations on the draft bill, amended some sections of the draft bill, saying it was either harsh or complex.“International standards require all member-states to model their domestic legisla-tion in consonance with global best practices,” Mr Jonathan said.

“It is, therefore, impor-tant that the two bills, when passed into law, should meet basic global standards, failing which Nigeria will continue to be adjudged as a non-cooperat-ing jurisdiction.” The president also expressed concern over the failure of the National Assembly to pass both the Anti-Terrorism and Anti-Money Laundering (Amend-ment) bills despite that the deadline for the domestication of the bills has since elapsed, in June.“I wish to draw your kind attention to the fact that the commitment to FATF that the two bills would be passed into law on or before June 30, 2010, was not met.“I understand the two bills are still being worked on by relevant committees in both9Houses, which have raised certain concerns for reduced provisions of the bills, these, perhaps, may have been respon-sible for reduced momentum in the process.Too much work The president, also in his letter, asked the Senate to use the opportunity of their recon-vention on Tuesday to expedite action on the bills. “Kindly consider the quick passage of the Anti-Terrorism and the Anti-Money Launder-ing (Prohibition) Amendment bills, which were presented to the Senate of the Federal Republic in 2009, to enable Nigeria fulfil its commitment to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the inter-national community,” the president said. “You may also wish to be informed that global financial watchdog is sched-uled to meet again with the Presidential inter ministerial/Agency committee in Septem-ber 2010 to review the progress made by Nigeria. It would be a huge plus for the country if the country has a positive report regarding the two pending bills,” he added.

However, the senators could not discuss the bills after endorsing the new minsters and supplementary budget for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday, Tuesday.Mr Jonathan had, earlier in a letter dated April 29, 2010, to David Mark, called for an immediate consideration and passage of the anti-terrorism and anti-money laundering bills considering threats by FATF to blacklist Nigeria.

The number of women in the federal cabinet will
increase by two today as Goodluck Jonathan swears in two females and a
man as the final members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

Salamatu Hussaini Suleiman, a lawyer from Kebbi
State; Yabawa Lawan Wabi, an accountant from Borno State and Kenneth
Gbagi, a lawyer from Delta State, are the three ministers that will
round up the cabinet. The trio were confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday
after they passed through a minor screening in a plenary at the
National Assembly. Their confirmation brought the number of current
ministers serving in the government to 42, the maximum allowable by the
constitution.

Both Mrs Suleiman and Mrs Wabi are from the All
Nigeria People’s Party. Presidential aides confirmed they will be
administered with their oaths of office during the weekly Federal
Executive Council meeting which holds on Wednesdays.

BRIEF BIOS

Mrs Suleiman

A former minister of women affairs in the Yar’Adua
administration and a law graduate of Ahmadu Bello University, she
attended the London School of Economics and Political Science where she
gained a master’s degree in law. Her first job as a lawyer was with the
Ministry of Justice in the old Sokoto State. She then worked at
Continental Merchant Bank, Lagos, for seven years and worked for a
short time at NAL Merchant Bank before moving to Aluminum Smelter
Company, where she was company secretary/legal adviser. After that, she
worked at the Securities and Exchange Commission before being appointed
minister.

Mr Gbagi

A lawyer and former chairman of the Board of the
Legal Aid Council of Nigeria (LACN), he is a former PDP gubernatorial
candidate in Delta State. He is an outspoken Urhobo leader and
businessman. He is also a founding member of the party, and was
involved in an open feud with James Ibori, the former governor of Delta
State and fugitive from the EFCC.

Mrs Wabi

A graduate of the National Institute of Policy and
Strategic Studies, she was until now a Permanent Secretary at the
Ministry for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Maiduguri, Borno
State.</

Goodluck Jonathan yesterday gave the go-ahead for the
construction of a new National SuperGrid that will address most of the
country’s current power transmission problems.

He took the decision after receiving projections of
an increase of power to 6939 MW by April 2011 and 14019 MW by December
2013, submitted by the Presidential Task Force on Power.

The president’s spokesperson, Ima Niboro, said the
new 700 KV SuperGrid, which will be completed in four years at a
projected cost of $3.5billion, is expected fulfil Nigeria’s need to
transmit increasing amounts of power across vast distances which the
existing 330/132KV grid cannot meet.

“In granting approval for the SuperGrid at the weekly
meeting of the Presidential Action Committee on Power which he chairs,
Mr Jonathan directed that it should be funded as a federal asset, with
additional financing from private investors and international finance
and development agencies,” Mr Niboro said.

The SuperGrid, which will run along the same route as
the existing 330/132KV grid, will also address Nigeria’s future energy
challenges, including transition to more sustainable energy sources,
reduction of power loss per transmitted megawatt and improving power
voltage profiles across the country.

“The huge advantage of the 700 KV SuperGrid over the
existing 330/132 KV grid is that it will significantly reduce the huge
amount of power currently lost in transmission,” Mr Niboro said.

New roadmap

Mr Niboro’s statement further explained that without
the SuperGrid, the quantum of power lost in transmission will continue
to increase, as more power progressively becomes available for
evacuation from new and rehabilitated generating stations. Periodic
systemic failures will also become more frequent.

“According to current projections by the Presidential
Task Force on Power, Nigeria’s available generation capacity will rise
to 6939 MW by April next year and 14019 MW by December 2013,” he said.

In another development, Mr Jonathan will on Thursday,
August 26, 2010, present a new roadmap for the reformation of Nigeria’s
power sector to the private sector, at an event organised by the
Nigerian Economic Study Group in Lagos.

He is also expected to seize the opportunity of the event to
acquaint members of the private sector with fresh investment
opportunities inherent in the power sector reform programme and invite
greater private sector support for the programme.</

The
National Economic Council (NEC) has blamed banks in the country for the
inability of the Federal Government to disburse the N200 billion
agricultural credit loans for small and medium scale farmers in the
country.

The N200 billion
loan facility was approved in 2009 by the late Umaru Yar’Adua to help
small and medium scale farmers improve agricultural production and
guarantee food security in the country.

In his address to
journalists after the monthly NEC meeting at the Presidential Villa,
Abuja, Rotimi Amaechi, the governor of Rivers State, who was joined by
the governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako, and the Special Adviser
to the President on Millenium Developemnt goals, Amina Zubair, said out
of the N200 billion, only N70 billion has so far been disbursed.

Mr Amaechi said,
despite efforts made by the states to access the agricultural credit
facilities, the banks holding the funds have made it impossible for the
farmers to get the loan.

“N70 billion has
been disbursed, remaining N130 billion. A lot of the problems are
emanating from the banks, as most states that are being given their
ISPO are not able to access it for one reason or the other and that is
why a committee has been set up to look at what the problems are and
how to find a solution to ensure that forthwith we are moving forward
to achieve the objective of food security,” he said.

Easy disbursement

The committee will
be chaired by the Central Bank governor, Lamido Sanusi, with six state
governors, ministers of finance and agriculture as members and they
have also been mandated to work out the modalities for the easy
disbursement of the credit facility to the respective beneficiaries.

Mr Nyako said the
council also discussed the issue of who is entitled to hold official
and diplomatic passports, and directed the minister of foreign affairs
to conduct proper research to determine this.

“We also had a
presentation on the issue of the passport public officers will hold and
the category of persons that could hold them, the diplomatic status and
the official passport. After the presentation, we felt there was a need
for further studies. So we asked the minister to go back and do proper
research and work with the minister for foreign affairs and do a fresh
joint presentation at the next meeting,” he said.

He also disclosed that governors have been challenged to sell the
vision 2020 programme to all Nigerians and the international community,
with a view to educating them properly on the programme.