Foreign Refineries To Stop Buying Nigeria’s Crude Oil Due To NDA Attacks

NIGER Delta Avengers, NDA, yesterday, scuttled the hope of early resolution of the current spate of bombings in the Niger Delta, as it did not only reject the window created for dialogue by the Federal Government, but also blew up another Chevron Nigeria Limited, CNL, crude oil pipeline in Delta State.

This came on a day indications emerged that Nigeria’s crude oil export may drop further in the days ahead, as major refineries across the globe have concluded plans to stop purchase of crude oil from Nigeria due to rising uncertainties about the country meeting up with deliveries.

The latest attack came as a bombshell to the governors of oil producing states, who met, Tuesday, in Abuja with the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, service chiefs and other functionaries on how to end pipeline attacks in the troubled region.

Government had announced a two-week ceasefire on Monday to build confidence in the militants for negotiation.

Militants blow up another Chevron pipeline in Delta

But in a tweet that blatantly negated government’s goodwill, the militant group said yesterday: “This is to inform the general public that we are not negotiating with any committee. If Federal Government is discussing with any group, they’re doing that on their own.

“At 1:00 a.m today (yesterday), the Niger Delta Avengers blew up Well RMP 20 belonging to Chevron, located 20 metres from Dibi flow station in Warri North Local Government Area.”

A source familiar with the location told Vanguard, at about 5.45 a.m., that the affected crude oil pipeline is between Opia and Dagbolo villages in Warri North

Confirming the latest attack, a security source said: “Yes, there was an attack this (yesterday) morning by militants on a Chevron facility.

“The pipeline had earlier been attacked by militants using the same modus operandi, which is with the use of dynamite.

The attack was carried out at about 1:00 a.m.” According to the Chevron staff, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the company will draft a team of technicians to the spot to assess the extent of damage.

A community source, who spoke to Vanguard shortly after a joint team of CNL, soldiers and private security outfit visited the bombed site, said if the plan of the militants had succeeded, the entire Dibi flow station, which had several crude oil and gas components, would have been set ablaze.

At last Tuesday’s meeting in Abuja, the governors allegedly made a compelling case for the Federal Government to cease military operations in the area, which was heating up the polity, and asked it to find a middle ground with the militants, among other things.

Foreign refineries to stop buying Nigeria’s crude oil

The restive situation in the region may lead to a further drop in crude oil export as major refineries across the globe have concluded plans to stop the purchase of the commodity from Nigeria due to rising uncertainties about the country meeting up with deliveries.

This is arising from the fact that a number of oil companies in Nigeria had declared force majeure of crude oil export, while a few others had been forced to suspend or cut production as a result of the bombing of oil facilities across the Niger Delta.

According to data obtained from Reuters, four of Nigeria’s oil grades, including the largest stream, Qua Iboe, have been under force majeure over the last one month.

Force majeure is a legal clause that allows companies to cancel or delay deliveries due to unforeseen circumstances. The report stated that despite the fact that ExxonMobil, which declared force majeure on Qua Iboe in May due to an accident, lifted the declaration last week, the unpredictability is too much for some buyers.

The report further stated that refineries on the United States’ east coast were beginning to turn away from Nigerian crude oil, noting that these same refineries had been on a buying spree for Nigerian crude in recent months that averaged 240,000 barrels per day (bpd) in April and May. As a result, the report said differentials to dated Brent for Qua Iboe, Bonny Light and other grades were under downward pressure, adding that there were several unsold cargoes for June loading.

Accordin to the report, the reduced demand means Nigeria is not benefiting as much as others from a rebound in Brent crude prices at current rate of over $51, which is partly driven by its own oil outages, stating that the reluctance of the refineries to buy Nigeria’s crude oil was limiting the prices Nigeria could get for its oil, even as there was less of it.

Specifically, the report stated that India’s HPCL was forced last month to cancel a vessel it chartered to carry two million barrels of West African crude due to the Qua Iboe force majeure, while India’s state-run Indian Oil Corporation Limited, a major buyer of Nigerian grades over the past year, had stated in its recent tenders that it would not take grades under force majeure, with Qua Iboe remaining off the list of the company.

Indonesia’s Pertamina, another frequent buyer, the report added, had also chosen not to buy Nigerian grades in its recent tenders, favouring Congolese Coco, Angolan Girassol and Saharan Blend from Algeria instead.

The report quoted oil traders as saying that Pertamina had shifted its preferences since the violence and uncertainty escalated, while Senior Vice President of the company, Daniel Purba, said the company was monitoring Nigeria, but noted that the situation was still currently not affecting crude purchasing.

Commenting on the development, one oil trader on the US east coast said: “When you plan your crude run months in advance and commit buying cargo, you need to be comfortable that the cargo will be there when you go to lift.” Similarly, Elizabeth Donnelley, Assistant Head of the Africa Programme at Chatham House, said: “The nature of the recently re-emerged militancy in the Niger Delta suggests it is here to stay for the foreseeable future.”

Also speaking, Olivier Jakob, Managing Director of PetroMatrix in Switzerland, said “not everybody wants to be caught up in that, so they will avoid it. The refineries will walk away from it.”

In a similar development, senior economist at Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp, Takayuki Nogami, lamented, yesterday, that the recent fall in the Japanese oil market was a result of supply disruptions in Nigeria and Canada, following the Niger Delta militant activities. Nogami, in a statement, pointed out that the Japanese economy was on the double at the first quarter and was slow on consumer spending and weak exports which it experienced lately.

According to the statement, a downturn in the US crude inventories was noticed as the company expressed concern over attacks on Nigeria’s oil industry. Stakeholders ask militants to dialogue However, Niger Delta activist, Ann Kio Briggs; Ijaw community leader and Chief Favour Izuokumor advised the militant group to embrace dialogue.

Militants should embrace dialogue , Ann Kio Briggs, who hailed the two-week ceasefire in a chat with Vanguard before Avengers discarded government’s olive branch, said: “Definitely, it is good news in the sense that in the search for some individuals, they have gone into some communities, including their return to Gbaramatu, despite claims that they had earlier pulled out.

“Therefore, if truly the Federal Government is sincere in what it has said and if the military would obey the Federal Government, because that is another thing, then, of course, it is welcome news. “If you look at the whole bulk of the Niger Delta, the people have suffered tremendously and you cannot deny the fact that there are a lot of issues on ground about the injustice that the people of the region have suffered and this injustice must be addressed. “

The only way to address them is to make sure that the injustices are corrected and to do this, the issues of fiscal federalism, ownership and the people being able to develop themselves must be addressed. “If I was the government, the discussion should not be only with the Niger Delta, but should also take this opportunity to reach out to the Middle Belt and other regions who are agitating.” Buhari has shown commitment —Izuokumor Activist and Ijaw community leader, Chief Favour Izuokumor, who also hailed the ceasefire, said it was a bold commitment by President Buhari and urged the militants to take advantage of the window to dialogue. Advising government not to politicize the talks, he stressed the need to invest in the intelligence arm of the nation’s security network to overcome current security challenges facing Nigeria, particularly the resurgence of militancy in the Niger Delta. Izuokumor, spokesperson of Ogbe-ljoh/Warri Kingdom, said: “As the Niger Delta Avengers has failed to toe the line of negotiation, the Federal Government is expected to, without delay, begin to match words with actions by calling all stakeholders and regional leaders to a roundtable to dialogue on some pertinent issues as they affect the Niger Delta people.”

Omare denies sponsoring Avengers

Meanwhile, a former Commissioner for Environment in Delta State, Chief Frank Omare, has denied online report which fingered him of sponsoring the Avengers and communal crisis between his community, Ogbe-Ijoh and Aladja. In a petition to the police, the former commissioner, said: “I wish to state clearly and in unequivocal terms that I do not know any member of Niger Delta Avengers. I am also not one of the sponsors of the Niger Delta Avengers, as I have no reason to do so. “I also did not hold any meeting with members of the Niger Delta Avengers or anybody whatsoever at Ogulaha or any other community on how to attack and wipe out Aladja. “In the past seven years that I have been in the Delta State government, I have used my position to promote peace and harmonious relationship between Ogbe-Ijoh and Aladja. ‘’Former Governors James Ibori, Emmanuel Uduaghan and the present governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, can testify to this fact.”

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/06/foreign-refineries-stop-buying-nigerias-crude-oil-militants-rebuff-dialogue/

NNPC Lost N19.43bn In April

Okechukwu Nnodim, Abuja

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation lost N19.43bn in the month of April, as the country’s crude oil production dropped from 59.27 million barrels recorded in February to 57.43 million barrels in March.

In its latest financial and operations report released on Wednesday, the NNPC also revealed that over 1,500 megawatts of electricity were lost as a result of the destruction of oil and gas facilities, adding that the capacity utilisation of the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company plummeted from 25.65 per cent in March to 6.36 per cent in April.

The report stated, “The NNPC’s monthly financial and operations report indicate an operational loss of 19.43bn in April 2016 as against 18.89bn in the month of March 2016. The deficit increased by 2.83 per cent in the month of April 2016 due to slight decline in revenue generation, which is attributed to the decrease in petroleum product sales by 7.11 per cent.

“The NPDC’s crude sale for the month is still hampered by Forcados pipeline vandalism, which continued to deny the NPDC of monthly crude oil revenue of about 20.0bn.”

The oil firm stated that global crude oil spot prices increased by $3.41 per barrel in April to a monthly average of $40.75 per barrel, up from $37.34 in March and down from $57.54 in April 2015.

This, it said, represented an increase of 9.13 per cent from March 2016 and -29.18 per cent from April 2015, adding that the increase in the crude oil spot prices by $3.41 per barrel in April this year to a monthly average of $40.75 per barrel was the highest monthly average so far this year.

It stated, “Nigerian crude oil production for the month of March 2016 stood at 57.43 million barrels, which is 3.1 per cent lower than February 2016 production, and so far, the lowest recorded in the 12-month review period. Recent upsurge in vandalism has negatively impacted on the Nigerian crude oil production output, losing its African top crude oil producer to Angola.

“About 380,000barrels per day remained shut-in due to vandalism of the 48-inch subsea export line on 15th of February, 2016. Hence, all March cargoes were deferred until the repair is completed. Also, the nation has lost over 1,500MW of power supply to the damage as gas supply from Forcados, which is Nigeria’s major artery, accounts for 40 to 50 per cent of gas production. Incessant pipeline vandalism poses the greatest threat to the industry.”

The NNPC, however, noted that its leadership was already diligently addressing the corporation’s key business and operational challenges.

“For the first time, the NNPC was able to get the buy-in of the upstream companies operating in Nigeria to enhance domestic supply of refined petroleum products by indicating readiness to make available additional funding to support import of products,” it said.

http://www.punchng.com/nnpc-lost-n19-43bn-april-report/

The N-power Teacher Corps Programme: Must Know Fact

This writeup is coming against the background of what I've seen online, especially on Nairaland forum, concerning the commencement of the N-Power Teacher Corps programme of the Federal Government of Nigeria. From my findings, I realised that many youths are not happy about this development while others are blatantly indifferent or simply unrepentant addicts to bad news from the Federal Government. I can agree, at least for the sake of my writeup, that some, if not most, of the pained youths do not understand the full implication(s) of this programme due to the bad reading habits of our youths who would rather prefer to read headlines than cultivate the habit of thorough reading and research. Even those who have fully read and assimilated the import of this programme are hypocritical to themselves because of political blindness. Before I venture further, I would like to state some of the basic facts about the N-Power Teacher Corps programme for the benefit of those who have not heard about it or have deliberately refused to read about it.

- The programme is a product of N-Power, an initiative of the Federal Government, including various MDAs, agencies and ministries, which is aimed at curbing unemployment in the country by developing programmes to engage youths in entrepreneurship, skill development, handiwork and teaching, among others.
- Applications are to start Sunday, June 12th, 2016 while the programme itself shall commence August 2016
- The Teacher Corps is for HND and B.sc/B.A/B.Ed graduates
- The Teacher Corps programme shall engage 500,000 unemployed graduates and deploy them to schools to teach
- The programme is similar to the known National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) programme and recruits must have completed the NYSC programme
- The Teacher Corps is a VOLUNTARY service to the nation. IT IS NOT AN OFFER OF EMPLOYMENT FROM THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT but only an avenue to develop a skillset and relevant experience as the youth applies for and gets better offers. The pay is ONLY AN INCENTIVE to encourage the corps members.
- The Teacher Corps recruitment is not AUTOMATIC! Prospective corps members shall fill an application, PASS AN APTITUDE TEST and other RELEVANT TESTS and show dedication to developing useful skillsets in the programme. The applicant must also show willingness to get a job in the course of the programme.
- The Teacher Corps programme is meant for ONLY those within the age brackets of 18-35 years. No more, no less!
- Teachers will be posted in accordance with the laid down procedures of the group.
- Technicalities such as reports/clearance will be in place to avoid "ghost-workers"!
- The Teacher Corps recruits will work for ONLY TWO YEARS and whether or not they have a job, they have to leave so that others can participate.
- Recruits must demonstrate reading, writing and teaching skills
- Recruits have the burden on them to prove that they are currently unemployed whichever way they want
- It is important to note that prospective corps members will be competing with millions of other Nigerians for this programme and so, they have to get their acts right if they want it
- You MUST be COMPUTER LITERATE and ICT SAVVY before you can apply because reports are digitized in this programme
- At the end of the programme, corps members will be presented with the National Skills Certificate
- Monthly pay is pegged at N23000 which is commendable for a VOLUNTARY SERVICE TO THE NATION. While the pay may seem small given the cost of things in the country today, it should be noted that NO ONE is FORCED to JOIN!!! If you want to participate, it is because you are truly unemployed and want to develop the relevant skills that will better your chances of employment.
- Apart from teaching, N-Power is also into other health, agricultural, technological, ICT, animation, post-production, hardware/software development & repair and other voluntary programmes.

So those are the facts that all Nigerian youths should know about this programme. The basic misconception that it is an employment must be done away with because IT IS NOT!!! It is more like an extended NYSC programme which is highly commendable given the swarming amount of unemployed youths in the country today. This is government's way of keeping the unemployed youths busy and paid as they search for better jobs and develop their skillsets. Those that are qualified may apply to Federal Government or State Government Teaching Board if they have a flair for teaching upon completion of programme and I am sure that they will be considered with their discharge National Skills Certificate.
The pay is not mandatory but the Federal Government chose to add it in other to encourage youths and I think it is commendable. That money is enough for the average and prudent youth to feed and transport himself/herself every month. Even financially prudent youths can save from that amount and others can manage to send something home to their poor parents and siblings. This is done with NYSC allowance talkless of this. Let us learn to appreciate the little we have. A few governments in Africa can do what the Federal Government is doing for us now. Let us take the initiative and show that we are truly the Giant of Africa!
Most of us allow politics, tribalism and sheer pettiness to becloud our ability to be positive about our own collective future as a nation. Things are not the best now in Nigeria but they will surely get better. Whether in this government or the next, Nigeria will be great if only we realise that we are our own problems and nothing else. Nigerians are reminiscent of the proverbial man who burns his hut to anger to village head. How silly!!! Youths should also shun hypocrisy by engaging in situations where they attack government's initiatives openly and apply for them "nicodemusly" like in the case of the recent NPF recruitment.

State Of The Parties: Graveyard Peace In Apc

BY both comparative advantage and con­ventional party politics, the ruling All Pro­gressives Congress (APC) is supposed to be the most buoyant of all political parties in Nigeria. One, by virtue of its control of power at the centre, APC stands at a more vantage position than other parties in terms of access to resources. Again, it controls ma­jority of elected representatives at the local, state and national levels, including having 23 state governors in its fold. Also, as people like to put their money where their mouth is, political patronage in form of corporate gifts and donations in exchange for contracts has always been a good source of funding for a ruling party.

But this may not necessarily be so for the APC with its change mantra. Unlike the op­position Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which had enormous resources to flaunt around while it held sway at the centre, APC is as much financially distressed as other parties in the country, Sunday Sun has reli­ably learnt.

According to a close source to the nation­al secretariat who spoke with Sunday Sun on condition of anonymity, APC is not in any way immune from the current financial hardship facing the Nigerian economy con­trary to the general impression in the public. Due to the present economic recession, he said, the party is having a difficult time man­aging its affairs both at the state and national levels. President Muhammadu Buhari’s seeming obsession with anti-corruption war is said to be partly responsible for the finan­cial crisis the leadership has had to grapple with since the new administration came into power on May 29 last year.

By conventional practice in Nigeria’s evolving multi-party democracy, huge sums of money is needed by parties to provide offices, equipment, staffing, campaign for political offices, congresses, conventions as well as litigation fees, among other electoral processes. This makes it imperative for po­litical parties to go out of their way to source for funds through such means as members’ subscription, subventions, donations, gifts and grants by individuals as authorized by law.

However, the disposition of the Buhari-led administration to sleazy source of fund­ing is said to have put the APC in a big dilemma. Sunday Sun gathered that some of the party’s stalwarts recently provoked President Buhari’s icy distemper when they approached him for approval of an ar­rangement that would mandate contractors to give their widow’s might to the national secretariat of the party to augment its al­ready depleted treasury. “I must be honest with you; all is not well within the APC. Even as a ruling party, we find it difficult to maintain the necessary structure that can sustain our presence at all levels. Ordinarily, we are not supposed to be starving for fund since we control majority of elected repre­sentatives at local, state and national levels. But as you know, these are hard times for the state governors. Many of them cannot pay salaries of workers. They owe backlog of salaries. So, the subventions that are ex­pected to come from the states as a source of funding to sustain the party’s structure are not forthcoming. And regrettably, President Buhari’s hard line position on corruption is not helping matters. Not too long ago, some concerned stakeholders approached the president to find an alternative source of funding. The idea was to encourage contrac­tors to pay some certain percentage of their profit to the national secretariat of the party. But President Buhari was so livid with anger that he sent them out of his office. That is why there is peace of the graveyard in the party now. Nobody is ready to rock the boat again,” he told Sunday Sun.

Lack of adequate resources for effective mobilization is said to be accountable for the woeful performance of APC in the recent rerun elections in some states. Before the rerun elections, many people had expected that the party would make a good showing in Cross River, Bayelsa and Rivers states. But many of its candidates lost out to their PDP counterparts.

There are palpable fears that the trend may mar the future of the APC, if the issue of funding is not appropriately addressed in time. “You know in an electoral contest, preparation for another election starts almost immediately soon as one ends. Compared to other climes, electoral contest is still a very expensive venture in our present democra­cy. And that is why some of us are worried that something urgent needs to be done to overcome the financial limitation facing the party before we go into another major elec­tion,” the source added.

Already, Edo and Ondo state governor­ship elections have been scheduled by the Independent National Electoral Commis­sion (INEC) to hold in September and No­vember this year respectively. These two elections are critical and strategic for both the APC and PDP. For the PDP, which has been grandstanding, boasting that it would reclaim power at the centre in 2019, the poll is certainly going to be a litmus test for the strength of its supporters in the two states. In the same way, the APC would need to prove that it is still a popular party to beat in 2019 and beyond.

President Buhari is wary of what could be the implication of pursuing party financing in the way of the immediate past administra­tion of the PDP on his anti-corruption cru­sade. While the PDP held sway at the centre, the constitution of the party allowed elected and appointed public officers at all levels such as ministers, commissioners, special advisers, ambassadors, and board chairmen at federal level, among others, to contribute five percent of their basic annual salary to fund the party.

Apart from that, individuals and corporate organizations also made handsome contri­butions to the party during major elections. For instance, a group of business people under the aegis of Corporate Nigeria con­tributed over N2 billion to the campaign funds of President Olusegun Obasanjo in contravention of Section 38 Subsections 2 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act which prohibits corporate bodies from mak­ing contributions to political parties. The Act specifically in Section 38 says: “A company shall not have or exercise power either di­rectly or indirectly to make a donation or gift of any of its property or funds to a political party or political association, or for any po­litical purpose and if any company, in breach of this subsection makes any donation or gift of its property to a political party or politi­cal association or for any political purpose; the officers in default and any member who voted for the breach shall be jointly and sev­erally liable to refund to the company the sum or value of the donation or gift and in addition , the company and every such of­ficer or member shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine equal to the amount or value of the donation or gift.”

Sources told Sunday Sun that President Buhari is strongly against such a sleazy source of funding, making reference to an episode that played out in his first military regime in 1984 when the civilian governor of the defunct Bendel State, Ambrose Alli, was jailed for 100 years for donating the sum of N983, 000 meant for a road project to his Party by the military tribunal set up to try corrupt public officials.

Ahead of Edo and Ondo election, Sunday Sun learnt, some concerned stakeholders have been holding nocturnal meeting to find a way out of the quagmire to avoid a dis­graceful outing. In the same way, they are also said to be making frantic effort to curtail the looming implosion that may likely arise from the crisis of confidence among the various cleavages that coagulated to form the APC.

http://sunnewsonline.com/state-of-the-parties-graveyard-peace-in-apc/

Recovered Loot: Why FG Did Not Name Looters —presidency

•Interim forfeiture: N126 billion; $9 billion; £2 billion

By Emmanuel Aziken & Levinus Nwabughiogu

The Federal Government said, yesterday, it had made cash recoveries totaling N78,325,354,631.82; $185,119,584.61; £3,508,355.46 and €11, 250, from looters of public treasury, from May 29, 2015 to May 25, 2016.

The disclosure was in fulfillment of President Muhammadu Buhari’s promise to make public the details of the cash recoveries on his first anniversary in office. The President had said, in his broadcast to the nation on the first anniversary, that the details would be provided by the Federal Ministry of Information. Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in a statement, also disclosed that Recoveries Under Interim Forfeiture (cash and assets) during the period totaled N126,563,481,095.43; $9,090,243,920.15; £2,484,447.55.

According to the statement, said to have been based on the interim report on the financial and assets recoveries made by the various government agencies from May 29, 2015 to May 25, 2016, the Funds Awaiting Return From Foreign Jurisdictions totaled 321,316,726.1 Dollars; 6,900,000 Pounds Sterling and 11,826.11 Euros (Eleven thousand, eight hundred and twenty six Euros, 11 cents).

It showed that Non-Cash Recoveries (Farmlands, Plots of Land, Uncompleted Buildings, Completed Buildings, Vehicles and Maritime Vessels) during the period total 239.

Meanwhile, Sunday Vanguard has been made to understand that the reason why names of looters were not disclosed was because of the need to avoid the potential of truncating the cooperation that was already being enjoyed in the drive to recover looted funds – in the first instance – from some of those from whom funds are being recovered, just as the government did not want to jeopardize the willingness of others to return funds in their possession.

The following, the statement said, is the breakdown of the recovered cash and assets:


In a related development, the Presidency, last night, defended its decision not to release the names of those who returned the funds. It cited the fact that while some of those who returned money were not in any way guilty of any offence, publishing the names could deter those contemplating returning ill-gotten funds in their custody.

A top Presidency source, who spoke to Sunday Vanguard , anonymously, said the administration was happy to have recovered as much as $9 billion without going to court as he said that a number of people still willing to return could be dissuaded by the publication of the names.

“This thing is ongoing and one of the reasons why we did not release the names was that without going to court we were able to retrieve all that amount of money. If you release names, other people who want to do voluntary returns will not do so. What we need is the money and not the names”, he stated.

“Secondly, many of those who returned the money are not necessarily guilty. For instance, if my party gave me money to go and campaign in an election, how am I to know that that money was from an illicit source?

“For instance if money is given to a newspaper for publication, you cannot criminalise the newspaper because it did not know where the money came from. If the newspaper returns the money would it be fair to publicise the name of the newspaper.

“If you listen to the mob you will just end up in the ditch. The practical thing is that we want more money to come in. And we don’t even know what are the terms of the agreement by which anybody returned money.



“So, for those who are saying that we ought to release the names, they got it completely wrong; it would be counterproductive. In fact, some people could go to court suing us for defamation and libel and then the whole essence would be lost and all people would be talking would be about the court cases. That is not what Nigeria needs now. What Nigeria needs now is to be focused and “we believe we have taken the right step in letting Nigerians know how much has been recovered, $9 billion without going to court”.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/06/recovered-loot-n78billion-185million-3million/

Why It Is Hard To Believe 3.4 Trillion Naira Was Truely Recovered

If 3.4 trillion naira has been recovered these things shouldnt happen;

1. Sharp decline in monthly federal allocation to states. Most states are walking very tight ropes. Unable to pay salaries. I am presently owed 5 months salary. Last month only a meagre 281 billion naira was shared. Throughout the last regime, it never fell below 340 billion

2. Rising spate of unemployment. Most federal and state parastatals confess they are truely under staffed but cannot employ due to lack of funds. Blaming lack of funds for inability to function is the new norm

3. Businesses are daily being crippled as the economy suffers from lack of sufficient activity in the small and medium scale sectors; drivers of the economy. Without cash for capital, this segment of the economy goes weak.

4. Desperate moves to obtain loans from the world bank and China. This should clearly be uncalled for

5. Hundreds of projects have been halted and hardly any commisioned in the last one year. All the contractors allude that the government is falling short of the terms of the contract.

6. Move to increase taxes on all levels without commensurate improvement on the execution government's social responsibility to its citizens

Feel free to add yours. Just facts, no abuse

Buhari must realise that freezing the whole system and trying to control everything will make him ultimately fail.

Saving up cash or funds is the crudest means of wealth creation. If that is Buhari's plan or idea its a shame! Of what use is 3.4 Trillion if Industrialisation is at a halt, capital projects stalled, standard of living on the decline, Salaries and lawful entitlements of citizens unpaid.

Abdulsalami Ignored Mko’s Health Till He Died — Abiola’s Son

Bayo Akinloye

Jamiu Abiola, a son of late Chief MKO Abiola and his late wife, Kudirat, on Saturday said the late former military Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd.), allegedly refused to release his father from incarceration when his health was failing.

He also said some Nigerians would have made a hero out of Abdulsalami’s predecessor, the late Gen. Sani Abacha, who incarcerated Abiola till his (Abacha’s) death, if he was alive today.

Abiola’s son said this during the 20th anniversary of Kudirat’s death, organised by the Kudirat Initiative for Democracy and the Campaign for Democracy.

Jamiu also described the assassination of his father and mother as a turning point in Nigeria’s history, adding Abiola had won the June 12, 1993, presidential election but the country’s military dictator, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (retd.), annulled the election rated as the most credible in the political history of the country.

Kudirat was assassinated on June 4, 1996, by suspected state officials under the Abacha regime, while her husband died in incarceration on July 7, 1998, in a controversial circumstance under the Abdulsamali regime.

Speaking at the remembrance ceremony on Saturday, the younger Abiola noted that people who worked against the enthronement of democracy during the post-June 12 struggle had become ‘heroes’ in the country.

These people, he said, included “somebody like the former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, who refused to release the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Abiola) or saw to it that the president died in detention.”

He added, “A day before he (Abiola) died, he complained that he had malaria for more than a month and the government did not attend to him. The president (Abdulsalami) knew he was very sick but he did not do anything (to salvage the situation). At the end of the day, the country’s president-elect – my father – died.”

According to Jamiu, it is hypocritical on the part of any Nigerian government to see Abdulsalami as a hero and an adviser to the Federal Government.

Among those present at the anniversary were a leader of National Democratic Coalition, Admiral Kanu Ndubuisi (retd.); President, Women Arise, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin; Abdulmumini Abiola and Mrs. Dupe Akin-Ajayi.

http://www.punchng.com/abdulsalami-ignored-mkos-health-till-died-abiolas-son/