Tanker drivers shut down Oshodi-Apapa expressway

APAPA /OSHODI expressway has literally been shutdown since Friday with yesterday being the most agonizing for motorists. The shutdown was caused by tankers and trailers that seized the major economic artery of the country. All law enforcement agencies pleaded helplessness yesterday with the policemen disappearing from the roads completely leaving trapped motorists at the mercy of thieves.

The situation was compounded by the on-going slow paced construction work on the road by Julius Berger.  The problem was justified by the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, yesterday.  They said that the blockade was caused partly by a directive  from the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, who reportedly gave a 48-hour deadline  to Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, PPMC, and oil marketers to clear the long queues at filling stations and end the lingering fuel shortages.

To meet the deadline, PPMC, said it will inject additional 110 million litres of petrol into the market this week.

Niger to build 1,000 housing units this year

Niger State government has concluded arrangement to construct additional 1000 housing units in the state before the end of the year, with Suleja and Minna getting 500 housing units each. Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu said the idea is to reduce housing deficit confronting the two towns in the state.  The governor made this known when he hosted the management of an indigenous firm that will handle the project.

He directed the ministry of lands to make available the necessary documents to the construction firm so as to commence work immediately on the sites. Aliyu admonished the company to ensure that it keeps to the terms of the agreement, adding that government will not hesitate to revoke the contract if found to be in breach of the agreement.

He noted that the administration had gone into partnership with many companies to provide cheap and decent houses for the people because of its belief that if people were made to live in decent environment they will give their best to the service of the state and the nation.

Federal Govt secures $1bn FDI to boost agriculture

The Federal Government has secured $1 billion Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to provide agriculture infrastructures in Staple Crop Processing Zones (SCPZ) across the country, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has said.

Adesina spoke with reporters at the weekend in Abuja.

He said: “The development of the SCPZ has received strong support from international organisations, especially the World Bank, the Department for International Development (DFID), the African Development Bank (ADB), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

“The development partners have committed $2 billion towards the agricultural transformation agenda, including the development of the Staple Crop Processing Zones.”

UNIDO put the cost for the development of infrastructure in six SCZP at $1.1billion.

It revealed that $181.4m would be needed for providing infrastructure in Badeggi, Niger State around rice value chain.

The minister said when Staple Crop Processing Zones are fully operational they would generate additional revenue of N1.4 trillion to government coffers and create 200,000 jobs.

Adesina said: “The SCPZs will reduce the cost of doing business for agro-processors to ensure their competitiveness and to create ready markets for Nigerian farmers, thereby reducing post-harvest losses.”

To revive the economy in rural areas, according to the minister, the SCPZ would be complemented with the establishment of Agro-Industrial Towns (AIT), which would develop social infrastructure in the rural areas, including affordable housing for young commercial farmers

Bayelsa State sues EFCC over unremitted N1.4b Alamieyesiegha loot

The Bayelsa State Government has sued the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the commission’s alleged refusal remit back to it, funds recovered from its convicted ex-Governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha.

In a suit now before Justice Ademola Adeniyi of the Federal High Court, Abuja, the state claimed that N1.4billion and another 1.3 million USD were recovered from Alamieyesiegha on his conviction by the Federal High Court, in Lagos.

In a writ of summons issued against EFCC and its Chairman, Mr Ibrahim Lamorde, the state urged the court to among others, declare as corrupt acts, the refusal of the commission to remit back to it, the recovered funds.

It also urged the court  to declare that the decision by the EFCC to continue “trading with the funds by way of funds placement/fixed deposits is an act of corruption and an economic crime contrary to sections 6 and 7 of the EFCC (Establishment) Act, 2004.

In the suit initiated by its lawyer, Anthony Agbonlahor, the state also asked the court to issue an order to direct the commission to immediately pay the money with the interest which had accrued on them.

Bayelsa asked the court to declare that Lamorde who took part in the investigation and prosecution of Alamieyesiegha should not have allowed the looted funds recovered from the former governor to be traded with.

It urged the court to hold that Lamorde was not qualified to continue in office as chairman of EFCC having violated his oath of office.

The state also asked the court to order EFCC to pay 21 per cent interest on the N1.4 Billion and the $1.3 million from November 1st, 2013 until judgment was delivered by the court.

It further prayed the court to, “direct EFCC to pay to it $400,000.00 being the amount forfeited by its former governor and which funds had since been repatriated by the United States Government to the EFCC.”

A date is yet fixed for the hearing of the case.

The state resorted to the court action following the EFCC’s refusal to honour an earlier request for the funds as contained in a demand letter From the state’s agent, George Uboh of a firm, the Panic Alert Security System.

George Uboh said subsequent to his letter of December 19, 2013 he met with EFCC officials and the commission asked him for a short time to comply.

He said the commission failed to remit the money, following which the state instructed that court action.

Presidential Victimization Of Sanusi And The Treasonable Theft Of $20 Billion Dollars

Whether President Goodluck Jonathan decides to victimize, sack or prosecute Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Nigeria’s sacked Central Bank Chief, the truth is that a $20 billion dollar theft has been exposed and the sheer size of the theft is treasonable, especially with 80 million people living below $10 dollars daily.

$20 billion dollars have been stolen, hoarded, hidden and unremitted by some officials of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) with the connivance of some elements within the presidency. I have made case in the earlier piece released just before Sanusi’s suspension titled
‘Jonathjan, Sanusi, NNPC and the missing ( Stolen) $20 billion Dollars ‘ that “those who connived to withhold the $20 billion dollars include Christians from the Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, White Garment and Pentecostal folds. They also include Muslims from Shia sect, Sunni sect, NASFAT, Boko Haram sect and all groups calling on God or Allah to protect them from the wicked ranting of impoverished unfortunate countrymen about to challenge their divine $ 20 billion dollar breakthrough”

All these attempts to tag a N163 billion naira, ( $1 billion dollar) accusations of wasteful and unauthorized spending
on Sansui’s head is an attempt to sweep the issue of the stolen billions into the carpet. To cover up a treasonable theft of $20 billion dollars, a kite of reckless use of $ 1 billion dollars was flown about. In 2012 when Hon Farouk Lawan Committee of the lower parliament exposed the theft of $10 billion dollars (N1.7 trillion naira) of petroleum products paid for without being supplied to the Nigerian people, the agents and friends of government pursued Lawan with corruption until they trapped him with bribery of $1 million dollars, and that was how a theft of $ 10 Billion dollars was forgotten.

The House of Representatives have confirmed that Nigeria loses $5 billion dollars to oil theft annually. According to the Chairman of the House ad-hoc Committee on Crude Oil Theft, Bashir Adamu, “The level of oil theft is alarming and of grave concern to stakeholders”.. “Illegal bunkering has caused Nigeria to lose an estimated $5 billion (N780 billion) yearly, amounting to $400 billion since Nigeria’s independence. “Statistics show that a total of 350,000 barrels per day was lost to illegal bunkering in 2012, representing an increase of 45 per cent over the figure of 2011, and 67 per cent over that of 2010, while the trend for 2013 is even more alarming”.

In Jonathan’s tenure since 2010, it amounts to $20 billion dollars in 4 years. Sanusi’s revelations shows that $20 billion dollars was stolen in eighteen months, it follows that in four years $56 billion dollars would ultimately have missed.
Therefore, from this oil business, Nigeria has lost approximately $20 billion dollars to oil theft, $20 billion dollars to subsidy theft of 2011, $20 billion dollars missing funds and probably another $20 billion dollars missing from the previous 18 months not yet exposed. Add the recently exposed $ 7billion dollars fraud in the NNPC Swiss oil deal and the $1 billion dollar Malabu Oil Deal and you get $88 billion dollars stolen in four years. Therefore, when Nigerians stop asking questions on what happened to $88 billion dollars and become interested in how Sanusi allegedly mismanaged $1 billlion dollars, then an Indian charm is working on everybody.

Months ago a document allegedly from the Nigerian Customs indicted the Coordinating Minister of Finance, Okonjo Iwuala of granting waivers to the tune of 1.4 trillion naira ( $9 billion Dollars ) between 2011 and 2013 to companies allegedly owned by friends and cronies of government., The Comptroller General of Nigerian Customs, Mr Dikko. Inde Speaking when he appeared before the Joint Senate Committees on Finance and Appropriation said that about N 866 billion was lost to waivers within a 9-month period, including N263.8 billion granted on importation of petroleum products. This is $ 4 billion dollars in nine months alone. Jonathan is yet to issue a query to Mrs Okonjo Iweala on the issue. When the Senate was cross examining her, she admitted granting waiver of over N170 Billion naira. Her bosom friend and Nigeria’s oil minister Dieziani Madueke has more financial infractions than every other government official and no frown has yet come from the government. Therefore, the speed at which Sanusi was thrown away is just an act of victimization for exposing a 20 billion dollar sleaze.

To many persons, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi represents many things-

To majority of Christians in Nigeria, he is a religious fundamentalist who wanted to impose Islamic Banking on the nation.

To some Churches, he is the villain who ordered he freezing of the accounts on accounts of terrorism

To some indigenes of Southern parts of Nigeria, he is a suspected Boko Haram sponsor

To the Kano Citizens, he is the Best successor to the throne of the Emirship of Kano

To International investors, he restored confidence in the Nigerian economy.

To stock brokers, he maintained stability in the stock exchange market.

To business men, he controlled inflation and brought it to all time low in many years

To corrupt bankers, he is the demon who is worse than the EFCC, seeking to retrieve money that is not his father’s

To PDP politicians, he is the Lucifer who wants to stop the accumulation of funds to prosecute the 2015 presidential elections.

To financially aware depositors, he is the champion who ensured that every fund they deposited in any bank in Nigeria is always available on demand even at huge cost to national treasury.

To me, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi is an Islamic Zealot who has a few baggages which has to be tamed and lots of assets which can be of immense help to Nigeria. In a write up I released two years ago titled ‘Sanusi, Ohanaeze and the Timidity of Igbo Public Servants’, I asked Ohanaeze to stop complaining about what Sanusi did for the North, rather they should encourage their Igbo counterpart to do same for their people. It was the most senior Igbo Public Servant in Nigeria that stopped Azubuko Udah from replacing Hafsat Ringim as Inspector General of Police due to Assemblies of God Church local politics.

During the period when CBN froze bank accounts of churches, some Christian Bishops and leaders under the aegis of CAN and PFN approached me to do something about Sanusi’s rascality especially over their frozen funds. They believed that as an activist in their midst, there is something I could do that will yield result quicker than the court processes being planned by the National Leadership of Christian Association of Nigeria led by Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor. Therefore, when I released the report on how CBN froze the accounts of churches, CBN under Sanusi spent tens of millions of naira denying the facts on every national daily, radio and television stations. Eventually the churches accounts were opened within twenty four hours from the time the report was released and their harassment by EFCC ceased till today. This however does not mean that Sanusi is all about mischief.

Sansui’s greatest achievement is ensuring that the man on the street has access to his money in the bank, anytime he wants it.

Sanusi also ensured that that the era of thieving bankers doing business with depositor’s money at the expense of genuine business men came to an end.

Sanusi drew people’s attention to monumental corruption among South South Governors at the expense of their people. If Sanusi were to be an Igbo man, he would probably have committed billions towards building or pressurized President Jonathan start and finish the construction of a second Niger Bridge. I wish Sanusi were Igbo, he would have dragged our boot licking politicians to the mud, and attracted infrastructural patronage to the South East.

Sanusi is being victimized for exposing another treasonable theft of $20 billion dollars belonging to all Nigerians and people should demand the recovery of the stolen funds because over 80 million Nigerians living below poverty lines need it.

Obinna Akukwe

Boko Haram: Chief of Army Staff relocates to N'East

Chief of Army Staff, General Kenneth Minimah
Chief of Army Staff, General Kenneth Minimah
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen, Kenneth Minimah, has relocated to the North-East to personally supervise the war against Boko Haram insurgents in the zone.

Our correspondents gathered that the decision of the COAS to join his colleagues in the other services in the zone was largely responsible for the recent successes recorded by the military.

There had been a public outcry over the increased rate of the massacre of innocent civilians, including schoolchildren, by Boko Haram terrorists in the North-East.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Defence and the Army, George Sekibo, confirmed the development to The PUNCH on Sunday

Sekibo explained that Minimah’s relocation was in compliance with the committee’s resolution directing him to move to the zone to personally coordinate military operations there.

When asked what action the committee would have taken if the COAS had not heeded the February 26 directive, the committee chairman replied, “What action do you want again? The Chief of Army Staff has already relocated.”

A source said that Minimah was collaborating with the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Olusola Amosu, whose men provide air support for the Special Forces drawn from the Army, the Nigerian Navy, and others.

The Senate committee had in a two-page statement, explained that it came up with the decision that the COAS should move to the North-East after a two-hour brainstorming session with him on the way forward out of the Boko Haram menace.

It also directed the Army to re-strategise on possible new ways of curbing Boko Haram excesses in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states by mobilising all available military resources for the purpose.

The statement read in part, “The Senate Committee on Defence and Army condemned the atrocity being unleashed by Boko Haram elements on innocent citizens and in particular the massacre of students of the Federal Government College, Buni Yadi in Yobe State.

“The committee has by this, issued a directive that the Chief of Army Staff take the following actions (a), Re-strategise on possible new ways of curbing these excesses, (b) mobilise all available military resources and face the insurgents, relocate his office to Maiduguri for urgent actions to curtail the repeated attacks by the insurgents on innocent Nigerians.”

Minimah has also embarked on a major overhaul of the army hierarchy in the North- East to better position it to crush the insurgents.

Investigations revealed that Minimah had replaced the Commander of the 7th Infantry Division, Maj.-Gen. Junaid Bindawa, with Maj.-Gen A. Mohammed.

A military source described Mohammed, nicknamed ‘bandit,’ as one of the most effective Major-Generals in the army.

Curiously, when the list of postings and appointments were released by the new Army Chief on February 12, 2014, the Director, Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Olajide Laleye, was silent on the change in the leadership of the 7th Infantry Division.

Laleye had said that Bindawa was retained as the GOC, 7 Div. which was created on August 19, 2013 to take over the prosecution of the campaign against the terrorists in the North-East.

It was further gathered that Mohammed took over from Bindawa a fortnight ago.

Our source said, “The GOC has been replaced by Maj.-Gen. Mohammed. He has since taken over. The man is very rugged that is why he is called the ‘bandit.’

“He was very rugged as a young officer; in fact one of the most rugged military officers. He is very fearless.”

Our correspondents learnt that Minimah also redeployed the Commander of the 21 Brigade, Maiduguri, Brig. Gen. Yusuf, and replaced him with Brig. Gen Ogundele.

Yusuf was said to have handed over to Ogundele in Maiduguri on Saturday.

It was learnt that the redeployment exercise also affected some officers who occupied the positions of Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff to the former Brigade Commander.

Since the 7th Infantry Division was established six months ago, it has had three GOCs.

The first GOC, Maj.-Gen. Obadiah Ethan, handed over to Bindawa on December 28, 2013.

The Director, Army Public Relations confirmed the leadership change in the 7 Division in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents on Sunday.

“It is true that a new GOC has been appointed to head the 7th Div. He resumed about two weeks ago; it is not true that the Nigerian Army hid it from the public. It is not a secret because you cannot hide him,” he said.

However, Laleye said that he was not aware of the redeployment of the Commander of the 21 Brigade as he had been out of the office since Friday.

When our correspondent contacted the Director of Defence Information, Maj. Gen Chris Olukolade, he said that he “was not disposed to discussing the location of the Chief of Army Staff.”

The Spaniard was thrilled to see his side record their second win of the season against the Giallorossi on Sunday despite his starting XI being forced into some late changes

Napoli coach Rafael Benitez hailed his side for adapting to changes to claim a 1-0 win over Roma on Sunday.

Jose Callejon's 81st-minute header was all the hosts needed at the San Paolo to move to within three points of second-placed Roma in Serie A.

Having lost Valon Behrami and Jorginho to pre-match ailments, Benitez praised his side for still having the character to claim three points.

"We've seen many games that Napoli played well and didn't win, so to beat a strong side like Roma I think we ought to be happy," Benitez told Sky Sport Italia.

"I think we are the only team this season who have beaten Roma twice. That must mean we are doing something right.

"We lost Valon Behrami and Jorginho this morning, so we had to change things around, which made the win even more pleasing.

"We've had quality throughout the year and without certain players today we still had intensity, scoring opportunities and kept a clean sheet."

Faouzi Ghoulam picked out Callejon at the back post and the attacker found the top corner with his header, which went in off the post for the game's only goal.

Benitez was unhappy with how often his team turned over possession, but was pleased his side took their chance.

"Of course we had a few problems on the counter-attack, but that was because we lost the ball, so we have to work on that," he said.

"Our idea is to attack and we went forward from the start, trying to get the victory.

"I think both teams had their chances and it could've gone either way, but we took our opportunity and won the game."

Benitez also defended midfielder Marek Hamsik as the Slovakian continues to struggle on his return from injury.

"At the start of the season he did very well, but he was out for two months and is really struggling to regain full fitness," the Spaniard said.

"We know he has the quality and will get there eventually."