June 2012 Blog Posts (33)

Three reports yesterday indicate that Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala's credibility might just recover from recent setbacks suffered from the fallout at the removal of fuel subsidy and the escalating debt profile of the country under her watch.

The first report is that the committee headed by the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Access Bank Plc, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, which was set up by the Federal Ministry of…

Providing a clear definition for corporate social responsibility (CSR) is gradually becoming a subject for argument as corporations deem most government’s policies on CSR to be a form of shirking their responsibility while the government on the other hand sees companies – especially multinational corporations as not doing enough for the environment where their businesses operate.  The debate on CSR…

PDP Chieftain Approves N20M for Scholarship Scheme

By Nwaorgu Faustinus

Following the 3^rd Edition of the…

By MUTUMA MATHIU mmathiu@ke.nationmedia.com  Posted Thursday, June 21 2012 at 20:10

East Africa is caught in a deadly resource paradox, the resolution of which will either result in great development or the reduction of our homeland into a wasteland of war, death and oil.

There was a lot of (unhealthy?) excitement recently in energy circles over gas finds in the general East African region, mainly in Mozambique and Tanzania.

AFP, the French wire service, claimed…

Written by Endurance Akoro Wednesday, 20 June 2012

Those who patronise street food vendors say good things about the taste of what they eat but medical experts also insist that there is a lot of risk in eating in such places

Daniel Eneh, 26, and a staff of an insurance company is an early riser. He has to be at work early everyday and this means waking and leaving for work before dawn in order to beat the usual heavy traffic on the Third Mainland bridge.

Because of this,…

Written by Dike Onwuamaeze Wednesday, 20 June 2012

Securities and Exchange Commission’s board sends Arunma Oteh, director-general, on compulsory leave to enable it investigate allegations on the management of funds meant for the celebration of 50 years, anniversary of capital market in Nigeria

Arunma Oteh is on a forced leave she is not likely to come back to resume her responsibilities as the director-general of the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC. She was sent on…

Written by Tobs Agbaegbu

Wednesday, 20 June 2012

The probe into the oil subsidy scandal by the House of Representatives ad hoc committee gives birth to another scandal allegedly involving Farouk Lawan, its chairman

T he last may not have been heard about the raging $3 million bribery scandal allegedly involving Farouk Lawan, chairman of the House of Representatives ad hoc committee which probed the 2009-2010 fuel subsidy regime in Nigeria and Boniface Emenalo, secretary…

Written by Anthony Akaeze Wednesday, 20 June 2012

The present bribe allegation against Farouk Lawan puts a question mark on his erstwhile ranking as a man of integrity

It is his fourth time in the House of Representatives. He first came in 1999 and since then had remained not just a regular face in the house but an influential member also. In fact, Farouk Lawan, the lawmaker representing Bagwai/Shanono Federal Constituency was, to many people, the symbol of the crusade for…

“A good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.” (Prov. 13 vs. 22)

Parents struggle and save to send their children to the best schools, to put them in a favourable position to compete with their mates. Most parents spend all they earn and own to give their children the very best of training and some end up not having enough left over to complete their own personal buildings or to even…

Without wasting words on the present challenges that Nigeria is faced with, it gives a strange feeling of hope to do the exercise of imagining Nigeria in a much stronger position politically and economically. The position that South Africa presently occupies is an enviable one; largely due to colonization which lingered much longer than most others lasted. The presence of Africans of other races and with multiple citizenship has also greatly helped the position of South…

Those cases that were investigated to the point where it became obvious that the quest was leading nowhere and the records and evidence are put away until a future date. That is what obtains in civilized societies but in a corrupt society, presidential order could be received from above and all investigations in a case and packed and filed away at best or destroyed.  Advancements in technology, new leads on the investigations or amendments of certain laws that hitherto prevented further…

It is not one of those issues that we can sweep under the carpet like several others in the past. An African adage says “when a big problem causes a man to fall, smaller problems will gladly jump on the man.”

Many people want us to move beyond the present scandal that the fuel subsidy probe has evolved into so to speak. We want to move forward but we can only make as much progress if we keep coming up against more stuff that has been swept under the carpet.

A lot of…

Samsung Electronics and Spinlet hosted a collaborated launch party for the Samsung Galaxy Pocket today as part of the high profile, on-going Industry Nite series that attracted music and entertainment execs at the Lagos Oriental Hotel.

The mobile music download and streaming application company, Spinlet, partnered with Samsung Electronics to launch the brand’s new Samsung Galaxy Pocket S5300 in Nigeria. The Galaxy Pocket come with a preinstalled Spinlet application…

Lagos, Nigeria, 4 June  2012 – MasterCard Worldwide has emphasised its support of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Cash-less Nigeria initiative, with Omokehinde Ojomuyide, Country Manager, West Africa, MasterCard Worldwide lauding the project as one that will set the standard for economies across Africa and globally.

“The decision to change the way that Nigerian citizens conduct their payments behaviour is a brave one, and the CBN is blazing the trail ahead…

It is quite interesting to see the new crop of actors that the Nigerian movie industry is producing and the caliber of personality involved in the production of new quality movies. When members of the legislature chose to take the oil subsidy probe to the television for live broadcast, little did they know that movies most often come in parts. The probe itself was the first part of the movie.

For one of the highest profile Nigerians to accuse members of the legislature to be thieves…

Associations take different forms but the bottom-line is that association accedes to the fact that one is recognized as belonging to a body. Reasons for association also vary. Associations however must be operating within the boundaries of the law within the community it is operating in for it to be considered legitimate.

Regulatory bodies are instituted by the government to ensure that members of associations operate within certain codes, rules and regulations. These bodies are meant…

The outcry of aviation experts over the government’s 9-man technical panel led by Group Captain John Obakpolor to investigate the 03/06/12 plane crash at Iju-Ishaga is not at all out of place.

Reasons given for their protests include the fact that Obakpolor is considered not to be competent enough to investigate the crash; Mr. Obi Ogbolu who was once a pilot and air traffic controller acknowledged the fact that Obakpolor is in the aviation…

Written by Sebastine Obasi

Saturday, 02 June 2012

Debe Odumegwu-Ojukwu, first son of the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, spoke to Sebastine Obasi, senior staff writer, Newswatch, on sundry issues surrounding the misunderstanding in the larger Odumegwu-Ojukwu family. Excerpts

Newswatch: It was alleged that the late Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, never introduced you to the larger Ojukwu family as his son. Instead, he told them that Emeka junior should be regarded as his…

Written by Administrator Saturday, 02 June 2012

Nigerians may have to wait longer than expected for a new era of stable power supply promised by the Goodluck Jonathan government

The power supply situation which improved before and after the April 2011 election and continued till early this year has nosedived leaving Nigerians floundering. And Nigerians are wondering about the cause of the roadblock to the power roadmap, which was launched with fanfare in 2010, to facilitate…

Written by Chris Ajaero Saturday, 02 June 2012

Boko Haram’s war on the nation renders government helpless and unable to guarantee safety of lives and property in some parts, of the country

When President Goodlock Jonathan was sworn into office on May 29, 2011, he made a firm promise that in line with his administration’s Transformation Agenda, he would endeavour to address challenges of security, law and order confronting the nation. He also promised to create a conducive…