All Blog Posts Topics 'politics' (624)

Posted by: Our Reporter on May 20, 2013

Jonathan should ignore IMF’s call to remove fuel subsidy and instead focus on local refining of crude

IT was all so predictable – the International Monetary Fund, IMF’s call for President Goodluck Jonathan to fully remove fuel subsidy, to ensure a so-called fiscal adjustment. On May 9, Williams Scott Rogers, IMF’s senior resident representative/mission chief in Nigeria, told the media Nigeria…

Last week, rumours were rife that President Goodluck Jonathan would declare a state of emergency in either a part or the whole of the Northeast. But presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati, responded that no decision had been reached on the matter, even though media reports strongly suggested the decision had all but been reached and was only awaiting the president’s proclamation. Dr Abati was careful not to dismiss the speculations in their entirety. Finally, yesterday, the president…

A great human rights crusader was staging an event. Apparently he wanted 2TG to be around, which of course is welcome. He marketed us with the prospects of our sharing high table with some of the famous and mighty men of today. He reeled out their charming names and even more, intimidating status. Immediately, we knew we were never to attend.

As a point of policy 2TG keeps sanitary distance with the famous, the rich and the mighty. Fact is one can get his health severely damaged…

By Hakeem Baba Ahmad

“It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.” - Gore Vidal.

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan says 2013 will be the year of his greatest impact. Most Nigerians will hope so. Leaders of the opposition and skeptics who hope he will disappoint again will pay for their hostility with higher costs for diesel for their generators, higher costs to protect and secure life and limbs, and uncertainties over whether a President who performs badly…

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) recently wielded the big stick by de-registering 28 political parties in the country. The Commission had, in a statement by its Secretary, Abdullahi Kaugama, explained that it de-registered the parties “in exercise of the powers conferred on it by the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).”

While the scrapping of 28 political parties is still generating controversy, the Commission has again…

THE termination of the N89.53billion design, build, operate and transfer (DBOT) contract, awarded Bi-Courtney Consortium, a Nigerian firm on May 26, 2009, has resonated well among the longsuffering travellers daily exposed to the avoidable death trap the important artery has become.

But the termination of the contract, and its re-award to the pair of Julius Berger and Reynolds Construction Company (RCC), does not automatically solve the problem. The challenge facing both the Federal…

TUNJI AJIBADE | credits: File copy

It might as well be. But this index is not from Transparency International. The figures are similar though, and they are familiar, to Nigerians, that is. 131st. It was what Nigeria ranked lately in a survey about the ease of doing business. International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank…

Most readers of The Nation newspaper probably missed a short letter to the editor written by Mr Ehimare Godfrey from Benin City and published on Page 20 of this newspaper’s October 31 edition. In it, the writer complained that since his representative, the excitable and bombastic Hon Patrick Obahiagbon, left the House of Representatives, neither the Oredo Federal Constituency, which he used to represent, nor the entire National Assembly had come up to scratch in excitement and boisterousness…

They” in this piece refers to all the cynics, the pestle-wielding critics, the unrelenting, self-appointed activists, the idle and idling, twittering, collective children of anger, the distracted crowd of Facebook addicts, the BBM-pinging soap opera gossips of Nigeria, who seem to be in competition among themselves to pull down President Goodluck Jonathan. This army of sponsored and self-appointed anarchists is so diverse; many of them don’t even know why or how they should attack…

Dr. Babatunde Adejare

House of  Representatives member Dr. Babatunde Adejare (Agege Constituency) spoke with reporters in Lagos on national issues. Deputy Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU was there.

Could you…

It must be a reflection of their unease about the direction Nigeria is heading that former heads of state, Gen Olusegun Obasanjo and Gen Ibrahim Babangida, have publicly and jointly warned of the consequences of allowing the country to slip into anarchy. Obasanjo was head of state from 1976 to 1979, and then president from 1999 to 2007, while Babangida ruled between1985 and 1993. They were probably referring to the Boko Haram insurgency that has rendered large sections of the North…

Ever since trials in the fuel subsidy scandal started, some affected parties have been battling furiously to contain the fallout. The affair has been particularly embarrassing for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The sons of the its former chairman, Ahmadu Ali, and the incumbent, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, are among 20 individuals who have been arraigned.

In the face of public anger over the identity of those on trial, Tukur and others have sought to distance themselves from the…

http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/pellissier201207262

A report on water-stressed areas of the world where there might be armed conflict in the future.

Two troubled zones are in Africa. One is control of the Nile, the other is management of the Volta River.

Oil was a primary cause of military action in the 20th century, water is forecast as a flashpoint resource in the 21st…

Written by Anayo Ezugwu Sunday, 22 July 2012

Mohammed Morsi, Egyptian new president’s order restoring the country’s dissolved parliament, sets the stage for confrontation between him and the Supreme Council of the military

Egypt’s political crisis has moved from fist fight to a rather more calculated mind game. Mohammed Morsi, Egyptian president, has gone contrary to the rulings of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces of Egypt by reconvening the parliament which was…

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 and Sebastine Obasi

Saturday, 02 June 2012

Contending groups in the larger Ojukwu family make claims and counter claims over ownership of properties and the paternity of a member allegedly born out of wedlock

He walked into Newswatch office that May 14, betraying no sign of anxiety. But it was soon clear, once the interview began, that the man was much eager to dispute or refute some of views contained in a recent interview granted Newswatch…

Written by Mike Akpan   Saturday, 02 June 2012

To Buhari and those who think like him, it would be unthinkable for Jonathan to continue as president beyond 2015

Once again, the political tension in Nigeria was unnecessarily raised by a few notches in the last two weeks following what President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, regarded as a “provocative” statement from General Muhammadu Buhari, former military head of…

The fact of the matter remains. After my writing the open email to the Governor of Akwa Abasi Ibom State that revealed the problems we see such as intellectual theft in the ranks of the Commissioners and government officials . There has been a secret and concerted effort to have me (secretly)ejected from all forums in which I communicate my views from AkwaIbomglobal to Ibom-Chronicle.

I speak with great risk to the safety of my family in Akwa Ibom State and even there is speculation…

Renowned poet and former Private Secretary to Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Mr Odia Ofeimu, shared his views on the polity with KUNLE ODEREMI and SAHEED SALAWUat the recent 25th rememberance of the sage. Excerpts:

What does this 25th remembrance event mean to you?

It is 25 years after Chief Obafemi Awlowo’s passing, and for many people, it is like remembering how much Nigeria has lost and how much we are unable to gain from all…

In this piece,
KUNLE ODEREMI
analyses the controversy triggered by the views of a former Head of State, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, on the state of the nation.

General Muhammadu Buhari sparingly grants press interviews. It is not a culture or principle he lately acquired. The virtue has been part of him since his first coming as a military head of state in 1983. But his interactions with his supporters on two occasions lately in his capacity as the de…