AKWATIN LABARAI

A former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Farida Waziri, has described President Muhammadu Buhari as a man of destiny who must be supported by all Nigerians irrespective of their religious, ethnic and political affiliations. Mrs. Waziri, who is the founder and principal partner of Brookfield Chambers, a firm of legal practitioners based in Abuja, stated this on Saturday in Uga-Mbagwa, Oshongo Local Government Area of Benue State while fielding questions from journalists after the commissioning of her community’s worship centre. “My response to your question will be that, I believe in President Buhari because he is believable and he has remained constant like the morning star since I know him and beyond that. I’m sure that he is a man of destiny, a resolute, sincere and committed leader who says what he means and does what he preaches. “In the history of Nigeria, he is today the only leader who has contested the presidential election for four consecut...

The President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, has said that the Senate adjourned plenary to July 21, after just returning from another break, to give the Senate Ad-Hoc Committees on Legislative Agenda and Review of the Senate’s Finances time to conclude their work and submit their reports. Mr. Saraki had inaugurated the two committees on Thursday after the adjournment. In a statement on Friday, Mr. Saraki said the two committees were given one week to submit their reports. The Senate President assured that the senate will reconvene at any time before the adjourned date to consider any matter of urgent national importance or to attend to any national assignment requiring its attention. “The Senate’s Ad-hoc Committee on Financial review is the first time the Senate is setting up a body to review its own salaries, allowances, and the overhead cost of running the Senate with a view to realigning them to reflect the present economic situation in the country,” the statement said. The N...

APC/NASS Crises: Observation On The Major Players Watching the APC caucus of distinguished Senators and Honorable Members of House of Representatives was a shame to behold on Thursday June 26, 2015. It was a shame that the ruling party couldn't put their act in order. More painful is that the incompetence of the ruling party is having effect on the Nigeria State. Here are some observations... 1. SP Saraki and Speaker Dogara Are Naïve, Arrogantly and Ignorant The positions of Senate and House Leaders and their deputies, and the Chief Whips and their deputies are not appointive offices. It has never been heard in any parliament that the presiding officer determines who occupies these principal offices. For the record, the Majority leader is supposed to be a core party loyalist. He is the primary link between his party and members of the party in the parliament, the majority leader schedules business on the floor by calling bills from the calendar and keeps members of his party a...

Nigeria’s economy may grind to a halt in coming weeks unless the Central Bank (CBN) moves to relax rules that have curbed Foreign Currency (FX) trading and liquidity in Africa’s largest economy. Banks have been unable to open letters of credit for their clients, resulting in an increasing backlog of unmet dollar demand by Nigerian firms, even as supply of dollars into the interbank market falls. “Manufacturers are unable to fund FX for raw materials and banks are scrambling for dollars overseas as credit lines dry up. Things are at a standstill,” Stephen Onasanya, Group Managing Director and CEO of First Bank Plc, Nigeria’s largest lender by assets, said at a Bloomberg conference at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday in Lagos. “The CBN cannot support the naira at these levels,” Onasanya said. Nigeria’s Central Bank recently banned importers from using the interbank foreign-exchange market for some goods and enforced trading restrictions to stabilise the naira that weak...

Manufacturers of goods and services in the country spend as much as N3.5 trn annually to generate alternative power for their production operations due to the collapse of public electricity supply, the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, said on Thursday. The president of NLC, Ayuba Wabba, said providing alternative power for their operations has made the cost of production in Nigeria the highest in the whole world. Mr. Wabba was speaking at the business luncheon for Managing Directors/Chief Executive Officers of public and private companies hosted by the Ikeja branch of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) in Lagos. “If the country must survive, as we desire, government must confront this sector with all seriousness,” he said. “The entire system must be overhauled and rejuvenated in the interest of the economy and the people. “It is scandalous that in a country of over 160 million people, less than 3, 000 megawatts (MW) of electricity is supplied to the public.” The country, t...

Lamido Names Streets After ‘G7-Governors’ Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa state has named some streets after “G7 Governors” in Dutse on Saturday. The G7 governors are governors that were courted by Nigeria’s main opposition party, All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2013 ahead of the general elections in 2015. The G7 Governors are Babangida Aliyu of Niger, Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara, Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto, Murtala Nyako of Adamawa (now impeached), Sule Lamido of Jigawa, Musa Kwankwaso of Kano and Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers. It would be recalled that five of the governors defected to APC from the Peoples Democratic Party while Aliyu and Lamido pulled out of the switch at the last minute. Inaugurating the streets on Saturday, Governor Aliyu of Niger expressed delight at the move and praise Lamido for naming the streets after the “G7 Governors”. He commended Lamido for his vision and the history he has etched. http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2015/05/09/gov-lamido-names-streets-after-g7-...

Why We Published Ayo Fayose’ S ‘ Death’ Advert On Buhari – The Sun On January 19, Nigerians woke up to a shocking newspaper advert. Splashed across the front pages of two national dailies, The Sun and The Punch, were texts and images suggesting that Muhammadu Buhari, then presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress will die in office if elected president. Although Mr. Buhari, 72, went ahead to win the election, the advert, sponsored by Ayo Fayose, the controversial governor of Ekiti State, is widely regarded as one of the lowest moments in the run-up to the recently concluded general election. Hate speeches and campaigns were a major feature of the 2015 election, but the morbid advert sparked outrage across Nigeria with many individuals and groups condemning the governor’s action. Even the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, Presidential Campaign Organisation distanced itself from the governor stating that the advert did not represent the campaign or Mr. Jonathan’s posi...

FG Orders Verification Of Workers’ Certificates The Federal Government has directed that a verification and revalidation exercise be carried out on all credentials and records of all staff in the Federal Civil Service. The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mr. Danladi Kifasi, gave the directive to officials managing the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System in a circular signed by the Permanent Secretary (Special Duties) in the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Amina Shamaki. Kifasi said, , “The exercise will encompass verification and revalidation of crucial documents of all federal staff in the core Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government and their outstations in the affected states in collaboration with other IPPIS stakeholders.” He stated that the exercise being the second phase would run through Monday, May 11 and May 22, 2015 at the headquarters of federal MDAs in the FCT and between May 18 and 2...

Don’t Abandon My Administration’s Ongoing Projects, Jonathan Urges Buhari ABUJA- AHEAD of the formal handing over to the President- Elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, retd, May 29, President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday urged the incoming Administration not to abandon the on going projects especially the Light Rail project in the nation’s capital city, Abuja. President Jonathan admitted yesterday that the Federal Government was owing Julius Berger and other Construction firms presently working on the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua way (Airport Road), Kubwa Outer Northern Expressway (ONEX) and the Abuja light Rail respectively, promising that he would pay the outstanding bills before he leaves office.  PRESIDENT-ELECT RETIRED MAJ.-GEN. MUHAMMADU BUHARI (L) IN A HANDSHAKE WITH PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN DURING HIS OFFICIAL VISIT TO THE PRESIDENTIAL VILLA IN ABUJA ON FRIDAY (24/4/15).WITH THEM IS THE FORMER CHIEF OF ARMY STAFF,RETIRED LT.-GEN. ABDUHRAMAN DAMBAZAU. Speaking yesterday when he ...