Royal Rumble in Niger Delta

GOVERNOR AMAECHI BLASTS MINISTER ORUBEBE

Ordinarily, I would not respond to the ludicrous, thoughtless and bizarre rantings of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs Godsday Orubebe against Rivers State Governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, but it has become imperative for me to do this and show clearly that the Minister’s game is just to divert attention from his ineptitude and abysmal failure.

Contrary to his madcap vituperations, Governor Amaechi has tremendous respect for the office of the President of Nigeria and President Goodluck Jonathan. The office of the President of Nigeria is a big institution that deserves utmost respect and it would be grossly irresponsible for anyone to disrespect Mr. President, which unfortunately Minister Orubebe is doing by dragging the President’s name into his inability to deliver on the East –West Road. Minister Orubebe seems to suffer from a severe form of selective amnesia as he conveniently forgets that the same Amaechi he(Orubebe) now contemptuously, disgraciously and insolently disparages and flippantly accuses of not respecting Mr. President, led Rivers people to overwhelming vote for and gave President Jonathan the highest votes by any State in the country at the last Presidential elections. Minister Orubebe should please tell us, what respect, regard and show of love is bigger than that?

Minister Orubebe’s imprudent and reckless attacks on the person of Governor Amaechi is a dubious but obvious attempt by the minister to divert attention from his abysmal failure to deliver on the East- West road. This callous attempt to drag the President’s name into it is what is most disrespectful and irresponsible.

I challenge Minister Orubebe to show the world projects he started and completed in the Niger-Delta as Minister of Niger-Delta affairs. I challenge Minister Orubebe to show the world one project he started and completed in Rivers State with the huge resources allocated to his ministry.Or is Rivers State not part of the Niger-Delta, Minister Orubebe?In the same vein, I challenge Minister Orubebe to come to Rivers State at anytime of his choice and since he has become too blind to see Governor Amaechi’s monumental developmental strides and projects in the State, I will be most delighted to show him the kilometres upon kilometres of brand new roads and bridges, the world-class new hospitals and health Centres scattered all over the State, the exquisite primary and secondary schools that has become the model for many, the robust urban renewal programme, and many more developmental projects of the Amaechi administration.I will advise him to make sure he brings the press along as well; so when he suffers from his selective amnesia again, the media will be quick to remind him that they saw the projects with him.

What an irony, for an appointed minister who has failed woefully, who has been unable to complete one single road, to cast aspersions on an elected governor who is judiciously using the resources of his people to better their lives and develop their State. What a shame! This is indeed most ridiculous and laughable.It’s no longer in doubt that Minister Orubebe does not like Rivers State. Minister Orubebe should please face the simple task of completing one road, just one road, the East- West road, as this dubious diversionary attempt to attack Governor Amaechi will not complete the road that is most dear to the hearts and lives of Niger-Deltans.

DAVID IYOFOR

Chief Press Secretary To The Rivers State Governor

Notorious BIG Autopsy 15 years after
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SHOLA O'NEIL'S BLOG: Boko Haram: Jonathan is weak - OBJ

SHOLA O'NEIL'S BLOG: Boko Haram: Jonathan is weak - OBJ: Ex-President defends Odi invasion Akinyemi advocates conference It was meant to be a lecture in honour of a distinguished pastor ...

Boko Haram: Jonathan is weak - OBJ

Ex-President defends Odi invasion
Akinyemi advocates conference

It was meant to be a lecture in honour of a distinguished pastor celebrating his 40th anniversary on the pulpit. But the forum turned out to be more; it became a podium for a blistering criticism of the Jonathan administration.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo lashed out at the Dr. Goodluck Jonathan administration for what he called its slow handling of the Boko Haram insurgency.
He also accused the administration and that of his successor, the late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua, of being soft on corruption.
Boko Haram’s gunmen have killed thousands of people in the North, especially in Borno and Yobe states – the epicentre of their activities.
Many schools have been burnt down. Many churches have been attacked by suicide bombers as the sect intensifies its violent activities.
Obasanjo, who was instrumental to the enthronement of the late Yar’Adua and Jonathan, said the sect’s activities would have been nipped in the bud had drastic steps been taken at the initial stage of Boko Haram’s insurgency – as he did in 1999 when he deployed troops in Odi community, Bayelsa State.
He spoke in Warri as the moderator of a public lecture by former External Affairs Minister Prof Bolaji Akinyemi in honour of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) President Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, who is marking his 40th anniversary as a pastor.
The former president accused his successors of allowing the Boko Haram scourge to become a national security problem.
He said: “My fear is that when you have a sore and you don’t attend to it early enough, it festers and becomes very bad. Don’t leave a problem that can be bad unattended.”
Reflecting on the crisis at Odi, Obasanjo said:
“I attended to a problem that I saw; I sent soldiers. They were killed, 19 of them (were) decapitated. If I had allowed that to continue, I would not have the authority to send security anywhere again. I attended to it.
“If you say you do not want a strong leader, who can have all the characteristics of a leader, including the fear of God, then, you have a weak leader and the rest of the problem is yours,” he added.
In his reaction to comments on rising corruption by public office holders in Akinyemi’s paper, Obasanjo blamed the weakened anti-corruption fight on his successor.
“At one time, they said the fear of (Mallam Nuhu) Ribadu, former Chairman of the Economic and Economic Crimes Commission (EFCC), is the beginning of wisdom. Then, what happened to Ribadu? And there was no longer any wisdom,” he added.
He hinted that the faltering fight against corruption had made it impossible to recover an outstanding $1billion from the cash stolen by the late General Sani Abacha and his family.
Obasanjo and Akinyemi expressed divergent views on the convocation of a national conference as the way forward for the nation’s unity and peace.
The professor of International Relations and Diplomacy suggested the convocation of a national conference to allow all interest groups the opportunity to express their views on national issues.
He said: “The Nigerian elite, political, economic and religious, must get together and fashion out a grand consensus. Let me make it clear that I am not advocating a consensus to loot the national treasury – that is already taking place.
“For us to have a consensus, we should have a national conference to air our views and grievances. At the end of the day, we should be able to agree (on the way forward).”
But Obasanjo faulted the call, saying: “We have been on this conference forever.”
“We can never get all Nigerians to a room and say let’s have a conference; we will still get representatives and when you finish, there will still be those who will not be satisfied. I may not be satisfied, and if I am not satisfied, should I not be able to vent my feeling and say I am not satisfied? If I can vent my feelings and say I am not satisfied, then I am now satisfied.”
The two eminent Nigerians also disagreed on the application of Federal Character, which Akinyemi said, “dispenses with experience and emphasises the turn-by-turn syndrome, irrespective of experience or qualification”.
He lamented that choices of vice-chancellors, bishops, judges and others are now subject to federal character, adding: “Just last week, there was an episode, disgraceful by all account, that took place within the judiciary. “
But Obasanjo said: “There is nothing intrinsically wrong in federal character, if we have decided that we really want to weave this country together.
“The problem is how it is applied because if you are looking for Federal character with merit, you will get it anywhere in Nigeria.”
There was however a consensus on leadership. Both men expressed the need for a strong leadership that will build the Nigeria dreamt of by the founding fathers.

courtesy www.thenationonlineng.net 

ANALYSIS-Nigeria's Okonjo-Iweala seeks reform without the godfathers - TrustLaw

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Ghanaians oppose contract for 'corrupt' Nigerian Company

New Housing Deal Stinks


A Nigerian businessman at the head of the repackaged $200 million housing project, a replacement for the ill-fated STX Korea initiative, is at the centre of a litany of corruption-related cases in a number of states in the northern and southern parts of the oil-rich country.

Snecou Group of Companies has been contracted by the Ghana Government to construct 4000 houses at the outrage cost of $200million, and a Parliamentary approval has been sought, even though the company has a dodgy background.

Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, E.T. Mensah laid the documents in Parliament last Friday.

A top-notch policy advocacy grouping, Imani Ghana, made the disclosure over the weekend in a statement raising objection to the deal, especially against the backdrop of the shadowy background of the chairman of the Snecou Group of Companies, Prince Nicholas Uwachukwu.

The Snecou chairman reportedly used four of his companies to loot $40 million belonging to the northern state of Nasarawa, Imani cautioned Ghanaians, especially the authorities.

Besides the shadowy integrity of the Nigerian group of companies, the unit cost of the houses, according to Imani, was exorbitant and therefore not in the economic interest of the country.

“Clearly, the average cost of a unit ($77,000) is exorbitant in this scheme of things. In cost terms, the deal is worse than the STX one,” Imani stated. The advocacy grouping pointed out that while it supported ventures which were in the interest of the nation, it stood for “the judicious use of public resources, and a greater commitment to due diligence on the part of public purse holders”.

While referring to the Order Paper already laid before the current session of Parliament, Imani pointed out that “it should not have advanced from committee level in the first place much less laid before the full House.”

According to Imani, the report of the Joint Committee on Finance and Works & Housing which referred to a Supplier’s Credit Agreement between the Government of Ghana and the corruption-enveloped Snecou Group of Companies, as well as details of the project, was the same instrument used to design the ill-fated STX deal.

By the terms of the deal, Imani explained, Snecou would raise $77.3 million for the construction of 1000 houses for the police and military as government settled the emanating debt.

Imani pointed out that “in October 2010, the Economic & Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of the Republic of Nigeria indicted the Chairman of Snecou, Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu, of using four of his companies to loot $40 million of public funds belonging to the State of Nasarawa. The 171-count charge (charge sheet – FHC/LF/CR/8/2010) preferred against Prince Ukachukwu in the Federal High Court in Lafia contains several references to Snecou. The EFCC accused Snecou and its Chairman of collecting huge sums of money from the state for various projects and failing to execute. In total, $80 million of embezzled funds were evidenced in the report.”

In another southern state of Bayelsa, the group of companies has been cited in a number of multi-million dollar abandoned projects. “Similar concerns have been raised about Snecou in connection with billions of Naira in construction contracts in Bayelsa state. In one case, Snecou won a contract to build a hospital valued at $120 million in the state. After huge payments had been made to the company, the project was finally abandoned,” Imani posited.

The advocacy grouping, in view of the foregone, counselled that the report, now before Parliament, be returned to the committee for the appropriate diligence to be conducted into the background and track record of Snecou and its chairman, Prince Ukachukwu.

Turning to a Buyer’s Credit Agreement between the Republic of Ghana and Italconstruct Limited, a local real estate company, for the supply of 4000 houses at a cost of $200 million, the terms of the offer did not improve on the one made by STX, according to Imani.

“At $50,000 base cost per unit, it is likely that the final price per unit will hit $60,000 or more. This is considerably above the ministry’s own threshold of $10,000 for affordable housing in Ghana.”

Imani pointed out that Italconstruct offered two-bedroom houses for sale on its website at just a little above $25,000 and therefore wondered why “the company should be quoting more than $50,000 per unit for a large-scale project whose capital costs are being fully underwritten by the state”.

DAILY GUIDE has been reliably informed that the affordable houses initiated by the Kufuor-administration had been sold out. An anonymous person told DAILY GUIDE that “when I went to the Works and Housing Ministry to make an enquiry, a notice was pasted to that effect.”