Nigeria Content Online

Aspirants who
emerged from political parties’ primary elections held after the 15
January deadline issued by the Independent National Electoral
Commission will not be eligible to contest in the 2011 general
elections, Atahiru Jega, chairman of the commission, has said.

Mr. Jega said this
on Wednesday while appearing before the Senate over hiccups in the
ongoing voters’ registration project. He said that the timetable issued
by INEC is an equivalent of a law, as provided by the 2010 Electoral
Act.

“The provision of
the Act clearly says that INEC should provide guidelines for political
parties’ primaries and convention and the guidelines for the election,”
Mr. Jega said.

He added that the decision to stick with the timetable is meant to bring sanity and discipline to the system.

“The timetable is
very clear; every primary ends on the 15th of January. All nominations
should be submitted by the 31st of January. If we wake up and somebody
says he is going to do primary again long after 15th of January, we are
obligated to draw his attention to the provision that the date for
primary has closed. That is what we have done, and I do not see how we
can be seen to break any law or acted contrary to the provision of the
law,” he further said.

The INEC chair said
his commission has consulted with many lawyers on the issue and are
confident they took the right decision. His verdict, although
astounding to some senators who are hoping to be re-elected in a rerun
of their primary election, clarifies contrary moves by some political
parties to hold primary election long after the 15 January deadline.

Ten finger prints

Mr. Jega also
defended the decision of the commission to capture ten fingerprints in
the ongoing voter registration, saying it was the safest way to avoid
multiple registrations during the project.

He added that the
commission took the decision considering that in 2006, some politicians
used palm kernel nuts to thumb print voter registration documents.

“The more fingers
you use, the less the possibility of multiple registrations. It reduces
the possibility of multiple registrations to 1 to 5 million if you use
ten fingers. We are so confident because it will reduce the problem of
credibility in our electoral system,” he explained.

He argued that only
one in five million multiple registrations could beat the system and
that the software even has the ability to distinguish indents of the
fingers from other indented objects like the palm kernel nuts.

He added that the software can also identify still images captured from photographs.

The Federal
government has said it is now ready to begin an assessment of the
budget performance for the 2010 fiscal year and has ordered all
Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA) to without delay supply it
with their performances for the year, 2010.

The Minister of
Information and Communication, Labaran Maku disclosed this yesterday
while briefing State House correspondents shortly after the weekly
Federal Executive Council meeting, which was presided over by President
Goodluck Jonathan and attended by Vice President Namadi Sambo and most
ministers.

He also said the
order became necessary to enable the federal government to concentrate
on the assessment of the performance of the 2010 budget, as well as the
formulation of new policies for 2011.

“The Federal
Executive Council (FEC) at its meeting presided over by Mr Jonathan
today took far reaching decisions. Today marks the end of contract
awards under the 2010 budget, so as from the next FEC meeting we will
no longer award contracts. All the MDAs have been mandated to submit
their 2010 performance to enable us concentrate of policy formulations”
he stated.

Performance appraisal

Mr Maku also said
the performance assessment is to enable government re-appraise its
priorities and concentrate on those areas that lacked adequate
attention under the 2010 budget.

“Every MDAs have
been asked to prepare a progress report on all contracts so far
awarded, so that Nigerians can see the state of the contracts and the
progress made in all the various sectors into which we have committed a
lot of resources” he said.

He added that “from
subsequent meetings, you are now going to hear the reports of all the
contracts. It is not just enough to award contracts, we also want to
know what has been achieved and the level of the performance of the
2010 budget” he said.

Project completion orders

The minister
further said as part of the President’s commitments to improving
agriculture in the northern part of the country, he has ordered the
completion of all ongoing dam projects in the area, including the
abandoned Ganye dam in Adamawa State and the Kontagora dam in Niger
State.

He said the FEC
during its meeting gave approval for the award of contracts for the
completion of the Hadeija Valley Irrigation project in Jigawa State
which was first awarded in 2001 but was abandoned by the previous
government at the cost of N5.908 billion.

According to Mr
Maku, the project was abandoned at 80 percent completion stage, when
the contractor requested for an upward review of the contract sum to
N10, 333, 167, 334.42, representing an augmentation of
N4,424,923,799.38.

He also noted that on completion, the project will provide irrigation in 2 stages covering a total of 12,500 hectares.

Council also
approved the award of contract for the establishment of E-Passport
Public Key Directory (PKD) which will make it easier to verify personal
data information contained in the current E-Passport both locally and
internationally, in the sum of N229.125Million.

According to the
Minister of Interior Emmanuel Iheanacho who expanded on the contract
“Other benefits of the PKD include provision of fast and secured means
of validating e-passport; easy detection of compromised or forged
documents, making it easy for citizens to travel internationally, and
allowing states to improve security at international borders”.

Earlier, the
Minister of Finance, Olusegun Aganga, also briefed journalists on the
successful launch of the 500 Million US Dollars Debut Eurobond
Offering, which he said will serve as a benchmark for private
borrowers; including banks, oil and gas companies as well as
manufacturers.

The bond, he said, will also act as a catalyst in stimulating and
accelerating the country’s growth by bridging the gap between the
Nigerian corporate and global investor community.

Officials of the
Labour Ministry will this year spend more than three times on domestic
and international travel than what obtained in 2010, according to the
ministry’s budget plan which proposes a massive slash on funds meant
for employment programmes.

In the estimate
which awaits National Assembly’s approval, a bulk of annual job
programmes such as skills acquisition, agricultural and entrepreneurial
training will this year receive N775.9 million, a far cry from last
year’s N5.2 billion.

Yet, funds
earmarked for international and domestic travel of officials, mostly
the Minister and the Permanent Secretary, draws the highest raise in
years, climbing from N207.5 million to N622.5 million.

The two travel
subheads featured prominently in a presentation made before the House
of Representatives yesterday, and were listed first and second in a
list of 17 “critical vote and requirements” for 2011.

Each trip within Africa is estimated at N20 million while distances beyond will cost N40 million each, the ministry stated.

In a prepared
analysis, the Minister, Emeka Worgu, told the lawmakers that many of
the international trips will be for “mandatory meetings” of labour
organisations, in which Nigeria is executive member.

“In view of the
several official trips required of the Honorable Minister and Permanent
Secretary to various events, coupled with the official travels engaged
in by other ministry staff for verification exercise, monitoring and
manpower audit, substantial fund allocation is requested,” he said on
Wednesday.

But the budget
details, allocations and their listing will highlight the Labour
Ministry’s priority as unemployment rate stays high amid ceaseless
industrial unrest.

In all, the
Ministry’s estimate is to drop from N12.3 billion for last year, to
N9.15 billion. With an administrative and personnel cost of N3.287
billion and N4.9 billion respectively, the bulk of the budget slash is
on the capital. Most part of the capital proposal, although with a
perennial poor implementation record, resides with the National
Directorate of Employment.

The funds, past
budgets say, are usually directed at vocational skills for school
leavers, entrepreneurial training for small owners, agricultural
training for rural employment, creation of job centres, and a few
office procurement.

In this year’s
proposal, allocation to the Directorate’s capital is N500 million,
against last year’s N4.67 billion. Also, more funds are directed at
recurrent cost, underpinning a traditional practice which the
executive, and even the legislature have recently pledged to reverse.

The House
committee on labour, headed by Ado Audu, which received the proposals,
said more meetings will be scheduled to properly sort out the contents
of the Ministry’s budget estimates.

President Goodluck Jonathan has approved the appointment of Zakari Ibrahim as coordinator for Anti-Terrorism.

This is coming
twenty-three days after the initial promise was made to appoint an
anti-terrorism boss, following the spate of bombings across the country
which included the twin bomb blasts in Jos, Plateau State, and the
December 31st bombing of the Mogadishu Barracks (Abacha Barracks) in
Abuja.

The special adviser
to the president, Ima Niboro, on the 3rd of January, while briefing
journalists after an emergency meeting of the Security Council chaired
by the president, had said, “Mr. President in the next one week is to
appoint a special adviser on terrorism.”

The council had
also decided to introduce Close Circuit Televisions (CCTVs) in public
and private places for access control, in a bid to strengthen security
networks across the country.

A statement by the
presidential spokesman, which was made available to journalists, also
stated that the president has also appointed Kingsley K. Kuku as
Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, to fill in the
gap created by Timi Alaibe who resigned to pursue his political
ambition.

The statement also
said the wife of Odumegwu Ojukwu, former flagbearer of the All
Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Bianca Ojukwu, has been appointed as
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Diaspora Affairs.

Oyewole Olugbenga Leke has also been appointed Senior Special Assistant to the President on Maritime Services.

The statement added that “The appointments take immediate effect”.

Tension is building
up in the House of Representatives as some members who lost in their
bid to return to the lower legislative chamber are allegedly plotting
to impeach the Speaker, Dimeji Bankole.

The members, most
of who belong to the majority People’s Democratic Party (PDP) are
alleging that the Speaker worked in tandem with President Goodluck
Jonathan to truncate the gentleman agreement reportedly reached to give
them automatic tickets.

Over 80 percent of
the 360 members of the lower legislative chamber could not pick the
ticket of their parties to return. Among them is the deputy speaker,
Usman Nafada who hurriedly withdrew from the governorship race of Gombe
State.

It was gathered
yesterday that the moves against the Speaker informed the hurried
adjournment of the House for two weeks on Tuesday, the same day it
reconvened from the Christmas/New Year break though the Speaker said it
was aimed at allowing members to participate fully in the anticipated
extension of voter registration.

The aggrieved members, it was learnt were disappointed when Mr Bankole suspended the plenary and called for adjournment.

Our source said
that ahead of Tuesday’s resumption of the House, about 75 of the
lawmakers met on Monday night in a hotel in the Central Business
District to fine tune their plot. They had earlier met in the Apo
Legislators Quarters’ residence of one of them.

No threat to leadership

But Kayode Odunaro,
the special adviser on Communication to Mr Bankole said he is not aware
of the impeachment. He said, “I am not aware of any impeachment plot
against the Speaker or the leadership. Everybody, including the Speaker
went and contested the primaries and they either won or lost. So, even
the Speaker had to struggle for his own ticket before he won. Assuming
such a plot exists against Mr Bankole and the leadership, will such a
move make them get the ticket back?”, Mr Odunaro said in an interview
last night.

It was, however,
gathered that the members moving against Mr Bankole are very angry that
despite the assurance given to them by Mr Jonathan, they lost to their
challengers during the primaries.

It was further
gathered that an influential member from the South-South geo-political
zone is leading the aggrieved lawmakers in the plot.

The member, who
belonged to the Integrity Group, a coalition of groups of members that
influenced Mr Bankole’s emergence as Speaker in 2007, also championed
the introduction of a bill to include all federal lawmakers as members
of the National Executive Committees (NEC) of their parties.

“We had a 60-40
agreement although it was not written. We had an understanding and they
(president, governors and leadership of both chambers) agreed that we
should support the president in return for automatic tickets. But they
turned around to witch-hunt us,” one of the lawmakers, who does not
want his name mentioned, told journalists yesterday.

“As you can see,
only about two percent of us from South-South were given tickets and
little over 25 percent in the South East. Although, it is a bit better
for our colleagues in the north, may be about 50 percent got the
tickets. This is unfair.” However, it was learnt that though the plot
to oust Mr Bankole and the leadership is thickening, the target of the
lawmakers is Mr Jonathan himself.

According to our
source, they also want to rattle the president by initiating
investigation into some key agencies and probably commence impeachment
plans against him as soon as Mr Bankole is out of the way.

One of the
strategies is to frustrate the passage of 2011 Budget until they get a
commitment from the leadership of their parties, in this case the PDP.

Another strategy is
that the aggrieved lawmakers will institute suits in courts against the
leadership over the alleged N2.3 billion vehicle scam and the alleged
misappropriation of N9 billion House capital votes, which led to the
suspension of some members last year.

The
Speaker, Bauchi State House of Assembly, Abubakar Faggo (PDP) has been
impeached and Haliru Jika (ACN) representing Ganjuwa Constituency has
been elected as the new speaker. The impeachment followed a motion
under notice of public importance moved by Aminu Tukur (ACN)
representing the Lere/Bula constituency, who urged the House to impeach
Mr. Faggo over alleged “poor leadership”.

“Since the
inception of Faggo (Shira Constituency) as the speaker of the House,
there has been no progress and he has retarded the activities of the
House, therefore, there was need for us to remove him as speaker,” said
Mr. Tukur.

Seconding the
motion, Baba Gaide (PDP) who also urged the House to impeach Mr. Faggo
because the activities of the House had continued to move at a “snail
pace” over the inactivity of the speaker. The House, presided over by
the Deputy Speaker, Saleh Dumba, (PDP) representing Dass constituency,
adopted the motion in which 20 members out of the 31 members of the
House signed the impeachment notice while two of the members including
Mr. Faggo were absent.

The Deputy Majority
Leader, Auwal Jatau, was also removed and was also replaced by Ibrahim
Bappa (PDP). He was removed over what the members described as
“loyalist of Faggo and an impediment to the House”.

The new speaker was sworn in by the deputy clerk designate, Muhammed Tulu.

Mr. Jika, the new
speaker, told journalists in an interview after being sworn in that he
was happy with the mature manner in which the lawmakers had handled the
impeachment saga.

Mr. Jika, who is
occupying the number three position in the state for the second time
under Mr. Yuguda’s administration, assured that he would reposition the
House to ensure that all the activities of the House take a vibrant
dimension within the few months left for the tenure of the legislators
to expire.

No political motive

Aminu Tukur, the
mover of the motion, said, after the session, that the legislators had
failed to legislate laws that could be beneficial to the people of the
state due to a lack of sittings. He said that it was constitutional for
the lawmakers to exercise their right whenever the need arises.

He said: “Without
malice, it was under Faggo that the House has failed many times to
convene, sit down and take any decision towards the development of the
state. Out of the five former speakers we had in the state, Faggo is
the worst we ever had, therefore, we have decided to impeach him.”

He however denied
the allegations from some quarters that the Secretary to the Government
of the Federation, (SFG), Ahmed Yayale and the FCT Minister Bala
Muhammed had masterminded the impeachment of Mr. Faggo. He also denied
the allegations that the impeachment of Mr. Faggo was to lay the ground
for the impeachment of the state governor, Isa Yuguda.

Commenting on his
removal, Mr. Faggo, who spoke in a telephone interview, said that he
was still the speaker, describing the move of the legislators as
illegal. He said that the 20 members out of the 31 members that sat on
his impeachment lacked the two-thirds majority required by the
constitution.

Mr. Faggo, who refused to disclose the location he was speaking
from, stated: “I am still the incumbent speaker of the House as the
actions by my colleagues were unconstitutional, considering the fact
that they have even failed to serve me with a notice of impeachment.”

One hundred and
eighty-eight megawatts have now been added to the power generation in
the country, through the Olorunsogo power plant, which brings power
generation in the country to a total of 3,800mw with an estimated
4,000mw expected by the end of March this year. This is among the first
three projects in the National Independent Power Projects to be
completed to this stage. Besides the Olorunsogo plant in Osun state,
the generating plants in Aloaji in Abia state and Sapele in Delta state
are also being test run.

This was disclosed
by the Minister of State for Power, Nuhu Wya while briefing alongside
the minister of information and communication Labaran Maku, after the
second federal executive council meeting of the year, who also said the
power plant has been test run and connected to the power grid.

Mr. Wya who
enthusiastically spoke on the successful completion of the test run of
the Olorunsogo plant, said this was to show that government was serious
about delivering on its promise as some people had not believed that
the NIPP projects would even see the light of day, adding that the
Aloaji and Sapele plants are also being test run in preparation for the
commissioning in the first quarter of this year.

He however said
more generation would be made via the Olorunsogo plant as it had the
capacity to generate much more than it is currently generating.

“We are on top of
the situation in the power sector… with this we can assure Nigerians
of significant improvement in power supply from now on,” Mr. Wya told
journalists.

Other matters

Mr. Maku also
briefed journalists on the issues discussed during the closed door FEC
meeting, noting that council had primarily focused on memos tendered by
the Federal Capital Territory minister, Bala Mohammed, which included
the construction of 3 solid waste transfer stations for the FCT worth
N2.9billion. According to the information minister, Council approved
this contract because of the impact it would have on the city of Abuja
and its environs.

“Council approved the award of this contract for the construction of
three solid waste transfer stations at Mpape, Apo and Kubwa areas of
the city, in favour of Messrs Goodness International Resources Ltd. in
the sum of N2,957,572,096.35 with 12 months completion period,” Mr.
Maku said.

The International
Criminal Court (ICC) says it will publish its findings on possible
crimes against humanity in Nigeria in the “next six months.” The
court’s prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, who spoke to reporters in New
York on Tuesday, said ICC had received “many communications” on Nigeria.

He said: “We have
received communication on different issues and we will want to clarify
the different situations before providing a provincial report,
providing more clarity on what we are doing and what Nigeria can do.

“We are trying to
be predictable, because national authorities have the primacy on
investigations.” The UN Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria
(NAN) reports that Mr Ocampo declined to get into details on the
communications received from Nigeria.

However, in
December, the ICC prosecutor was reported as saying that the Court was
looking into the potential crimes against humanity in the killings that
took place in Jos, in January 2010 in which over 300 people died.

“In Nigeria we are
watching these incidents with many communications. There are many
incidents that are reportedly under jurisdiction. What we are planning
to do is to prepare a report, that you will see in the next six months,
explaining what we are watching,” he said.

He described the Nigerian government, as “very cooperative” with the court.

The chairman of the
Osun State Contract Review Committee has assured all contractors,
consultants, and architects handling various projects being executed
with the controversial N18.3 billion loan that his team will be fair
and factual without witch-hunting anyone.

Adelana Odutola, an
engineer, heads the team comprising Adegboyega Oyetola, the Chief of
Staff to the state governor, and other top civil servants that toured
six stadiums to assess the level of work done on all the sites.

Some of the sites
visited by the team are the ones awarded by the past Oyinlola
administration in Iwo, Ile-Ife,Ede, Ilesa, Ikirun and Osogbo.

The tour also
extended their visit to the Living Spring Free Trade Zone in Ede where
the committee was briefed on the state of work by government officials
who had been supervising the project.The team leader informed the
contractors on each site that the governor had been inundated with
petitions by Osun state citizens who queried the rationale behind the
construction of the six stadia when there is no sports festival coming
up in the state.

As tax payers, Mr
Aregbesola could not disregard their concerns and had to do something
professionally wise because of posterity. Letters were served to all
the contactors to stop work on the projects so that the committee could
assess the level of work done on site.Crucial in the decision making
process of the committee, he stressed is the determination of the long
term usefulness of the six stadiums to the economic development and
employment generation strategies of the state.

Honest advice

At each town,
Odutola sought the advice of the contractors who unanimously submitted
that two or three stadiums were enough for the state.Though each of
them pleaded that their project be sustained and funded, when the
committee chairman asked them not to talk like contractors but as
citizens, there was an unanimity of opinion that the projects were
much.He promised that the committee will consider all the concerns
raised by the contractors. Contractor must sympathize with the
situation of the people of Osun state. ‘‘We are being factual and point
blank. Loans have been taken to finance these projects. What has been
given to contractors cannot finish these projects,the loans have to be
repaid. We know you want to save your jobs but you should look at
everything and the long term effect it will have on the people”.

An Ibadan
Magistrate Court sentenced two men on Tuesday to one year imprisonment
for breaking into the house of late Bola Ige, carting away valuables
worth about N20 million.

The convicts, Felix
Nwagwu, 30, and Olajide Olumo, 36, were found guilty of three count
charge of conspiracy to steal, entering with intention of stealing, and
stealing of properties of the Ige household.

While delivering
her judgment in Ibadan yesterday, the magistrate, Sofiat Oyediran, said
the evidence before the court proved beyond reasonable doubt that the
two men really committed the offence, and found them guilty as charged.

She sentenced each
them to one year on each of the count without option of fine and
ordered that the sentence run concurrently with hard labour.

Former staff

Mr Nwagwu was a
guard at the Solemnia Court, the Old Bodija Ibadan residence of late Mr
Ige, while Mr Oluwo was said to be a guard at the house of late
Minister of Justice’s architect son, Muyiwa Ige.

The two were arraigned on May 28, 2008 when a police inspector, Sunday Ogunremi, brought them for prosecution.

The two had
consistently stolen valuables from Mr Ige’s house for about six months,
between October 2007 and May 4, 2008, before they were caught.

Few of the items
stolen and recovered from them were used as evidence against them.
Reacting to the judgment yesterday, Mr Ige’s son expressed gratitude to
the court for committing the young men to prison over the act.

“After three years
of trial, it appears that there is a semblance of justice. At least, in
the sentencing of the accused persons, the judgment will serve as a
deterrent.

“I appreciate the magistrate for a well researched judgment. That
will send a message to criminals that crime does not pay. Though we had
hoped for a harsher judgment, the fact that the accused persons have
been convicted and sent to prison will teach them lessons,” he said.