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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.

The
police in Bayelsa have confirmed the attack by gunmen on the palace of
the Amanyanabo of Nembe Kingdom, King Edmound Daukoru, Mingi XII.

Onuoha Udeka, the
Commissioner of Police, Bayelsa State, in Yenagoa on Tuesday said the
incident occurred last week at Nembe in Nembe Local Government Area and
that “the police was on top of the situation,” but that no one was
arrested.

The house of the former Minister of Petroleum was destroyed by the armed youth who stormed the town in speed boats.

Meanwhile, the
Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta has intensified “the
stop-and-search operation” on the streets of Yenagoa, to beef up
security. The spokesman for the JTF, Timothy Antigha, a lieutenant
colonel, had earlier said the patrol was to augment the activities of
other security agencies.

The spate of cult
and political attacks and killings in Bayelsa State has, however, been
on the increase, with 12 persons suspected to have been killed in the
last one week.

Mr Daukoru retired as an Executive Director in the Nigeria National
Petroleum Commission and was appointed Presidential Adviser on
Petroleum Matters, and later Minister of Petroleum Resources under
former Olusegun Obasanjo administration.

Some
presidential aides are allegedly responsible for the delay by the
Presidency in appointing a substantive head for the Bureau for Public
Enterprises (BPE).

NEXT learnt in
Abuja that a memo from the Bureau demanding President Goodluck
Jonathan’s intervention following the expiration of the tenure of the
acting Director-General, is mired in political intrigues weaved between
the office of Chief of Staff to the President, Mike Oghaidome, and
Principal Secretary to the President, Hassan Tukur.

Mr Oghaidome is
allegedly pushing for the confirmation of Bolanle Onaguruwa, the acting
Director-General, while Mr. Tukur is reportedly linked with the lobby
for the appointment of one Mr Njida.

Mrs Onagoruwa was
named last March in the wake of the ouster of Christopher Anyanwu, the
former Director General, over his role in the mismanagement of the sale
of the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL). But shortly after
Onagoruwa’s name was announced, it emerged that she was due for
retirement on 18 June.

On June 19, an
internal memo signed by Ignatius Ayewoh, the Head, Human Resources,
reportedly conveyed approval from the Presidency for the extension of
Mrs Onagoruwa’s tenure for another one month, though officials of the
Bureau raised issues of improper channeling of the directive.

To these officials,
considering that Mrs Onagoruwa’s is a civil servant, such directives
for the extension of her tenure should have emanated from the Office of
the Secretary of the Government of the Federation (SGF).

“The directive from
the Presidency would have been proper only if the acting director
general were to be confirmed the substantive director general of the
bureau, since that office is for political appointees,” an official
said.

Handled casually

A senior presidency
official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, yesterday expressed
dismay that the appointment of a substantive head for an important
agency as the BPE is being handled casually.

“It goes to show
government’s lack of seriousness in handling the affairs of most of its
agencies, whether BPE, or several others without substantive management
committees or governing boards. The delay is frustrating the smooth
operation of the agency. It is affecting everything.

“Even the acting
Director-General cannot be dedicated and committed, because her interim
status does not allow her to focus her attention and energy on doing
the job. She would not take decisions, because of the fear that they
may be considered illegal, considering that she is staying on borrowed
time, as her tenure has since lapsed,” the official said.

“If the new appointee would not be selected from among the qualified
BPE directors, government should ensure that the prospective candidate
is thoroughly screened to determine his credibility, competence and
character. We do not want politicians who would not have the capacity
to sustain the reforms in the agency.” Several calls and text messages
to Ima Niboro, the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Media,
for official response on the issue were not responded to.

A former Oyo State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice
could not hold back tears on Monday while declaring his intention to contest
the governorship elections next year in the state.

Adebayo Shittu alleged that the politics of “godfatherism” has
denied the state good governance and vibrant representation in all elective
offices, and in the process, struggled for about 10 minutes to fight back tears
streaming down his face.

Mr Shittu recalled how a Peoples Democratic Party leader
allegedly denied him the ticket to contest for the Federal House of
Representatives in 2007, adding that the ticket was given to a candidate who
lacks the wherewithal to contribute in any form to the law-making process in
the chambers. “When one of our leaders then was settling for somebody else, who
I knew would not be able to utter a word in the House of Representatives, I
told him that the boy was not capable. But he said he was not expected to do
any job there, just to be there and earn his pay.

“The boy went there for four years and he did not utter a word.
Even now, the current representative of my constituency has been there for
three years and has not uttered a word,” he said.

Buhari, the attraction

Mr Shittu, one of the aides of a former governor, Rasidi Ladoja,
said he was contesting the governorship election on the platform of the
Congress for Progressive Change. He said he dumped the PDP for a new party
because of the high moral standard of Mohamadu Buhari, its national leader.
According to him, the PDP is in “perpetual crisis.”

“For people who desire change for the better, for those who are
restless to contribute to the development of Oyo State, for people who believe
in the providence of God, for people who believe that PDP is not necessarily
designed to continue to rule Nigeria forever, you must have the courage to veer
out and chart a new and certain course which is the destiny of Oyo State,” he
said. Mr Shittu, who has being in politics for over three decades, said the
state needs to be rescued from its current sorry situation, saying only a
progressive minded fellow like him could do that.

He said his areas of focus are: qualitative and functional education;
comprehensive health and medical care reform; integrated infrastructural
transformation; full employment for all; integrated agriculture, and rural
development and industrial transformation. He stated that the state has more
than enough resources to achieve the vision, adding that the bulk of the money
accruing to Oyo were being mismanaged.