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A board reshuffle
occurred, yesterday, at First Bank, Nigeria’s largest bank, following
the exit of three top executive officers.

In a statement
signed by Steve Omanufeme, the spokesperson for the bank, Oladele
Oyelola (Chief Financial Officer), Bola Adesola (Executive Director,
Lagos), and Abdu Abubakar (Executive Director, Banking Operations and
Services) voluntarily resigned from the bank.

“We are very proud
of the achievements that each of these individuals has made, and of
their significant contributions towards strengthening and sustaining
First Bank’s leadership position,” Bisi Onasanya, the bank’s group
managing director, said in the statement added.

“Today we can boast
of a balance sheet that is more than 25 per cent larger than our next
competitor, profits that exceed all of our peers, and an enviable
position as the largest bank in Sub-Saharan Africa (ex-South Africa),
in no small way due to the invaluable contributions made by each of the
outgoing Executive Directors. They will be missed greatly by the First
Bank family and we wish them the very best in their future endeavours,”
Mr. Onasanya said.

Interim heads have been named to replace the departing officials pending the appointment of substantial ones.

There were no clues
as at last night on why the executives resigned as senior officers of
the bank did not hear about the resignations until the release was made
public. Officials of the bank’s communications unit could not be
contacted.

Muhammed Abdullahi, the head of corporate affairs of the Central Bank of Nigeria, said he was not aware of the development.

“Whether the bank
has been notified officially, I cannot say. I will find out from the
people that should know and I will get back to you.”

The Central Bank as regulator is supposed to be informed of such a
development because it must give its nod before replacements can be
appointed.

In fulfilment of
the last critical step in the constitution amendment process, the state
Houses of Assemblies may today, hand in their resolutions on the
amended clauses.

There is hope that
the presentation will go ahead and that there won’t be a repeat of the
scenes that occurred last week when the presentation had to be aborted.
On that occasion, the leader of the group of speakers, Istifanus Gbana,
said some of the states were yet to conclude work on the amendments.

Report now ready

“We have been
assured by the speakers that this time around, it (the presentation)
will take place,” the Senate President, David Mark told his colleagues
on Thursday while inviting them to the venue of the presentation. The
National Assembly, on June 15 forwarded the first amended constitution
to the State Houses of Assembly containing about 87 amendments to the
1999 constitution.

The resolution of
the state assemblies on the constitution, will determine the shape and
tone of the new document. The current constitution stipulates that a
clause in it can only be amended with the consent of two-third majority
of the state assemblies.

Watered down constitution

Glimpses of the
returned constitution indicate that most of the major amendments to it,
especially those directly affecting the electoral reform program have
been watered down by the state assemblies. Sources at the National
Assembly, however, said the states have rejected clauses introducing
Independent candidates into the constitution. The introduction of
independent candidates followed the recommendation of the Justice
Mohammed Uwais led electoral reform committee. The state assemblies
also rejected the raise in the educational qualification of candidates
seeking political offices. The national lawmakers had raised the
minimum educational qualification of political office seekers from the
current school certificate level, to ordinary National Diploma
certificate or an experience in federal law making.

“The most
controversial of the rejected clauses,” the source said “is Section 121
which placed the state assemblies on the first line charge of the state
governments.”

Placing the state assemblies on the first line charge of the state
government, makes the state assemblies financially independent of the
state executive. According to the source, this particular clause
threatened the political authority of the state governors and they
pressured the state assemblies to reject it while passing a similar
clause granting the federal legislature financial independence from the
federal government.

Africa’s
porous borders mean it will be difficult to prevent attacks elsewhere
in the region like Sunday’s twin bombings in Kampala that killed 73
people, U.S. ambassador to Uganda Jerry Lanier said on Wednesday.

The deadly
explosions in Uganda were claimed by the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab
group. If confirmed, it would be the first time the Somali rebels had
carried out a long-standing threat to attack their enemies in other
countries.

“Suicide bombers
are very difficult to stop in any country and we know that African
borders tend to be more porous than other countries,” Lanier told
Reuters.

“The Ugandans, I’m
sure, were taking measures they thought were adequate, but it is just
very difficult to prevent these kinds of attacks,” he said.

Lanier said it was
‘entirely possible’ that other countries in the region threatened by al
Shabaab, such as Burundi, Ethiopia and Kenya, could face similar
attacks.

“It has awakened
the region to the threat. Because of the multiple threats we’ve all
heard in the past … this gives some reality to that threat,” he said.

The ambassador said
Washington was prepared to step up its support for Uganda in the wake
of the attacks, adding that more FBI agents would arrive on Wednesday
and Thursday to join the three already helping the investigation.

“We will see what (Uganda’s) needs are and go from that,” he said, citing financial and logistical support as likely.

Lanier said the
attacks may have been designed to scare off those countries in the
region that have at times promised to increase their role in Somalia
and join Uganda and Burundi in providing troops on the ground.

“It is perhaps what
al Shabaab were seeking, to intimidate countries that might otherwise
be a part of AMISOM (the African Union force in Somalia), who might
want to participate with Uganda in the struggle against al Shabaab.”
The troubled Horn of Africa nation has been brought to its knees by the
three-year insurgency, as Islamist rebels have battled the U.N.-backed
Somali government, which is supported by the 8,100-strong African Union
force.

Last week, the
regional bloc IGAD promised to send an extra 2,000 peacekeepers to help
resist the insurgency in Somalia, where at least 21,000 people have
died in the fighting and some 1.5 million have been driven from their
homes.

Al Shabaab enforces its own strict interpretation of Islam, routinely banning sport, music and dancing.

Reuters

The rebuttals have
been swift and insistent. Barely 24 hours after the Minister of State
for Finance, Remi Babalola, announced that the country’s oil behemoth,
the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), is “insolvent”,
senior government officials have been falling over one another to
disown him.

Minister of
Information, Dora Akunyili, and NNPC spokesperson, Levi Ajuonuma, on
Wednesday, both rose in shrill defence of the corporation’s finances.

“We cannot be
classified as insolvent when we have a healthy cash flow and we can pay
for our crude and product importation obligations,” Ajuonuma said.

Akunyili, on her
own part, said: “NNPC, from the auditor’s account, is a growing
concern, and does not have solvency issue as a corporation. Therefore,
categorically, NNPC is not insolvent.”

It wasn’t the first
time Mr. Babalola would be expressing concerns about the solvency of
the corporation. In January, he told journalists that the NNPC was
owing the Federal Government N450 billion, which it was unable to pay
because “they do not have the cash flow to pay the debt. There is no
doubt in my mind about that.”

The billion-naira
question now is this: who is to be believed? Mr. Babalola, who, six
months after saying he had no doubts about the precarious financial
position of the NNPC, is insisting that nothing has changed (that in
fact, things have grown worse), or Mrs. Akunyili (on behalf of the
Federal Government) and the NNPC, who are telling us that Mr. Babalola
has no idea what he is saying.

If the NNPC’s
reputation – an undisputed status as the headquarters of Nigeria’s
‘rent-seeking’ industry – is anything to go by, whatever its officials
say must be taken with a pinch of salt. Don Etiebet, former minister of
petroleum under the late General Sani Abacha, confessed late last year
that in his position as supervising authority of the NNPC, he found it
impossible to reconcile the corporation’s accounts.

It hardly helps
that the corporation is perennially in a state of flux; a serial victim
of ruthless ‘cleansing’ sprees by successive governments, all in the
name of ‘reform’ – which tragically continues to remain elusive. In the
last year and half alone, the corporation has had three CEOs. Only a
little over a year ago, late President Yar’Adua ordered the sack of six
executive directors.

With this state of
affairs in the NNPC, it appears that Mr. Babalola’s submission would be
much closer to the truth than the strident rebuttal by the government
and the corporation. It is hard to imagine why a serving government
minister would consistently raise the alarm about a government agency’s
finances – especially one that his position compels him to have
dealings with all the time – without being deeply convinced of the
veracity of his position. Crying wolf in this case would not merely be
mischief, it would be madness.

On the other hand,
the NNPC and the Federal Government have every reason in the world to
be economical with the truth. One only need to turn to Greece to see
the severely negative implication of national insolvency on a country’s
credit rating, and its future economic prospects.

For a country like
Nigeria, which depends on oil for 80 percent of its earnings, it is
easy to see why foreign governments, financial institutions, and
potential investors would equate the national oil company’s insolvency
with national insolvency. Fear of such a scenario would be enough to
compel any government to angrily dismiss any speculation that its
cash-cow is broke.

From the foregoing,
it appears that it would be best to conclude that the NNPC remains
broke until proven otherwise. The burden of proof is solidly on the
corporation; Nigerians would need far more than an angry denial as
evidence that all is well.

The Deputy Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Usman Nafada, on Wednesday, accused the officials of
the Federal Ministry of Works of colluding with road contractors to do
poor jobs, saying it is the major reason why roads fail in the country.
Mr Nafada spoke in Abuja at a public hearing on a bill sponsored by a
suspended member of the House, Austin Nwachukwu (PDP, Imo) alongside 10
others for unruly behaviour on the floor and accusing the leadership of
corruption.

The bill is titled, “A bill for an Act
to Construct, Build and Maintain Roads and Erosion Projects for Five
Years before Handing Over and Other Matters connected therewith.” Mr
Nafada, who represented the Speaker, Dimeji Bankole at the hearing,
said the ministry officials do not carry out proper on contractors
executing government’s job and in most cases compromise standard for
pecuniary gains.

Urgent need for action

“We need to do something on the state
of our roads,” he said. “I don’t want to blame the construction
companies, there are people supervising them. For a certificate of no
objection to be raised, there is someone either in the ministry or
FERMA that would have said the project was satisfactory. Fraudulent
practices by these officials cause roads to fail.” The deputy speaker
regretted that Nigeria spends more money on road than other African
countries but still has more bad roads than those countries.

“The problem of Nigeria is corruption,”
he said. “Neighbouring countries spend less than half of what Nigeria
pay per kilometre for road construction, yet they get better roads
produced for them at the end of the day. Roads in better clime are
constructed to last for at least 30 years but roads in Nigeria hardy
last two years before collapse. Some are even washed away before they
are commissioned. This is not good enough but those saddled with the
task of monitoring the stages of the construction up to finishing are
in most cases part of the problem.”

He did not spare the foreign
construction companies operating in Nigeria either. Mr Nafada accused
accusing them of building substandard roads for Nigerians. “Foreign
companies operating in Nigeria, you know the condition of roads in your
country,” he said. “It is criminal for you to come here and build
sub-standard roads that will not stand the test of time.” However, Mr
Nafada applauded the efforts of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency
(FERMA), stating that the agency has been trying to improve the quality
of the roads they construct.

The works minister, Sanusi Daggash blamed the state of the roads
across the country on untimely and late releases of funds. He noted
that the level of deficits incurred by government on road construction
is high. He called for the establishment of a contingency fund to be
domiciled in the Ministry of Works to deal with emergency maintenance
works that are no budgeted for. The minister added that the operations
of FERMA could be enhanced if the agency is given a free hand in
choosing the roads to be maintained just as he demanded that the agency
should be put on first line charge. Olumuyiwa Ajibola, who stood in for
the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) blamed the state of the roads
in the country on inadequate time for planning and design, imperfect
system of contract award, lack of quality supervision, inadequate
funding and contract administration and inappropriate usage of roads
all contribute to putting the roads in a deplorable condition.

In
its ongoing effort to end kidnapping menace in the country, the Nigeria
Police Force (NPF) has arrested over 400 kidnappers and rescued many
victims from the clutches of criminals, the Force Public Relations
Officer (FPRO), Emmanuel Ojukwu, said in Abuja, on Wednesday.

In a statement, Mr.
Ojukwu, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, said the Inspector-General
of Police (IGP), Ogbonna Onovo, has described the payment of ransom to
secure the release of kidnap victims as an encouragement of the vice.

The statement cited
Mr. Onovo’s displeasure with payment of ransom to the kidnappers,
saying that the IGP has warned that the police would take “serious
action against persons who encourage the vice” by ensuring such payment.

It, however, urged
that cases of abduction should be reported promptly to the police,
saying that useful information has helped the police and “the Nigeria
Police Force (NPF) has over 400 kidnappers in its custody and had
rescued many victims from the clutches of criminals,” the statement
added.

Also at its
secretariat yesterday, the Lagos State Council of Nigeria Union of
Journalists (NUJ), has maintained that it was optimistic that the four
kidnapped journalists and driver would soon regain their freedom.

“Government should, however, rise up to tackle the problem of kidnapping,” said Deji Elumoye, the council’s vice-chairman.

No freedom yet

Speaking while
receiving the delegations on solidarity visits from the state
government and the Council of Lagos State Indigenes, Mr. Elumoye said
that the national secretariat of the NUJ had temporarily relocated to
Umuahia to address the problem. He also narrated how the union’s
national president, Garba Mohammed, had received a call at 9 a.m. today
from the kidnappers and was allowed to speak with the chairman of the
state council, Wahab Oba.

“They are taking good care of us, but nothing is as good as having our freedom”, the vice chairman quoted Mr. Oba as saying.

According to the
Lagos State delegation, which was led by the commissioner for
information, Opeyemi Bamidele, “there is no reason for anyone, either
for physical gains or to heighten the tension in the country, to allow
himself or herself to be driven into doing the obnoxious crime.”

According to him,
the state government is working with the federal government and other
security agencies to ensure the safe return of the NUJ leaders.

“Kidnapping for
ransom, trying to endanger lives and property in any manner, is not
capable of providing employment or putting money into the pockets of
people”, Mr. Bamidele said.

The commissioner, on behalf of the state governor, Babatunde Fashola, expressed the state government’s solidarity with the NUJ.

The convener of the
Council of Lagos State Indigenes, Sumbo Onitiri, also expressed shock
at the incident and advised the National Assembly to hasten the passage
of the Freedom of Information (FOI) and anti-terrorism bills.

He described the
incident as a “national menace” and suggested the passage of other
bills that could improve the welfare of Nigerians.

An assistant
director (Information), Office of Lagos State deputy governor, and a
former president of the National Association of Women Journalists
(NAWOJ), Toro Oladapo, who accompanied the NUJ officials, consoled the
wives of the kidnapped men, assuring them that their husbands would
soon be released.

African
leaders must act urgently to boost agricultural production to avoid a
worsening of the food crisis already being experienced in some
countries, President Goodluck Jonathan has said .

Speaking during a
meeting with the Director-General of the Food and Agricultural
Organisation (FAO), Jacques Diouf, at the Presidential Villa yesterday,
Mr. Jonathan said that African governments need to evolve and implement
more measures to address the problems hindering increased food
production such as water scarcity and an aging farming population
system.

“Africa really
needs to do more. We must encourage commercial farming. The problem of
young people not wanting to farm is compounded by an aging farming
population and must also be addressed. We must start now to plan and
take action to confront these and other challenges in the area of food
production,” the President said.

He promised Mr.
Diouf that the Federal Government would continue to support and
cooperate with the FAO in its efforts to ensure food security in Africa
and other parts of the world, saying that the organisation’s efforts
under Mr. Diuof’s leadership were already having a beneficial impact on
Africa.

Mr. Diouf told the
President that Nigeria was making good progress in the area of food
production, but could do more to not only ensure its own food security,
but also contribute to other less endowed African countries.

He expressed hope
that under President Jonathan’s leadership, Nigeria will commit more
funds to boosting agricultural production and move much more rapidly
towards doubling its current levels of food production.

The
House of Representatives, yesterday, began hearings for a proposed law
that will scrap Nigeria’s current nuclear safety-centered legislation
and allow a national development of nuclear energy.

The law, if passed,
will equip the Nigeria Nuclear Regulatory Authority, which is currently
focused on the nuclear safety and radiation protection, with the
capacity to search for and develop a national capacity for nuclear
energy production as adopted by the federal government in 2005.

The government
reached the more technically and politically charged decision of
nuclear energy in January 2005, beginning the cultivation for the
acquisition of nuclear power plants for electricity generation.

Safety standards

The House of
Representatives chairman on petroleum resources, Bassey Out, whose
committee is saddled with the responsibility of fashioning the law,
said nine years after the starting of the NNRA, the Act setting it up
has turned up with openings that make it incapable to meet with
international standards for such development.

“It has been tested
and found not to satisfy and meet with international safety standards
for the radiation protection, nuclear safety, security and safeguards,”
he said.

The major challenge
of the present Act, according to the committee, is to fashion
adaptation to global rules on the proliferation and usage of nuclear
materials for peaceful purposes.

The law will also
accord the International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) the right and
obligation to ensure the safeguards are applied in accordance with the
terms of the legislation.

The
Nigerian Medical Association, yesterday, criticised the federal
government on the declining security in the country, blaming the
weekend’s abduction of journalists on an “insensitive” government, and
a “corrupt” police.

The NMA, through
its chairman, Idris Omede, condemned the government’s response to the
rampaging insecurity in some areas of the country, which is hallmarked
by incessant kidnappings, such as the four journalists abducted last
Sunday.

In a statement on
Tuesday, Mr. Omede said the shocking hostage taking, and other similar
cases, show a falling commitment on the part of government, to the
security of lives and properties, amid thickening attacks by criminals.

Living in perpetual fear

“We are bothered by
this way of insecurity and perpetual fears, consequent upon the
government and system in attention to materials, equipment, and
manpower on security matters,” he said.

The association
said the government and the police have failed to ensure safety of
Nigerians through a culture of lack of dedication and severe corruption
in the policing system.

“These smack of government insensitivity, poor neighbourhood or community policing, unseriousness and corruption in the system.”

The association
said the situation now calls for urgent action on the part of the
federal government and claimed that some of its members too have also
been kidnapped within the region in the past few months.

“A people and
productivity centered government should put a halt to this. Nigeria
government should live up to her responsibility, one of which is to
protect life and properties.”

The association
called for the prompt release of the abducted journalists, a day after
the Inspector General of Police announced an ultimatum to the abductors.

“NMA expresses concern that these act will continue to impact
negatively on conducive business environment for national development,”
it warned.

Former Cross River
State governor, Donald Duke, has described the ruling Peoples’
Democratic Party (PDP) as no longer qualified to be called a political
party.

Mr. Duke stated
this yesterday at a conference organised by the Save Nigeria Group
(SNG) and the Change Nigeria Project (CNP) at the Transcorp Hilton
Hotel, Abuja, while reacting to claims by a special assistant to the
PDP national chairman, Okwesilieze Nwodo, that the party has been
reformed.

“PDP held a lot of
hope for Nigerians. It started off as a great party. But today, it has
ceased to be a party. It is now a platform to win elections,” Mr. Duke
said.

The former governor, while calling for greater grassroots
participation in Nigerian politics, stated that “politics is too
important to be left to politicians.”