2014-01-09 21:35 Lagos – Locals have condemned plans by the government to reintroduce toll gates on federal roads.

On Wednesday, Minister of Works, Mike Onolememen announced yesterday that government has concluded plans to reintroduce tolling at the facilities that were constructed through private sector funding.

Onolememen said his ministry had earlier organised a conference aimed at “preparing the minds of Nigerians for tolls.”

Reacting to the development, some citizens who spoke to our correspondent alleged the re introduction of tolling on roads was just a ploy by officials to line their pockets.

Kazeem Ibrahim, a Lagos resident said government had not satisfactorily justified the reintroduction of the polls.

“I seriously condemn the idea. We all know what happened with the former tolls gates that were later dismantled by the Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo administration. Monies were just collected without being used for construction of roads. I do not know why government now feels it is now convenient to reintroduce toll gates again. Since Obasanjo dismantled the old toll gates and now, nothing has changed. Corruption has in fact doubled and I don’t see how bringing back these gates will improve our roads,” he said. Continue reading “Analysts slam tolls re-introduction”

Posted by: Olakunle Abimbola in Columnists, Olakunle Abimbola 11 hours ago
THE NATION
Tuesday, December 17, 2013

The Senegalese, Mariama Ba (1929-1981), wrote So Long A Letter, a semi-autobiographical novella, that chronicled the plight of the African woman, under the combined pressure of African and Islamic cultures.

The male chauvinists that dominate both worlds would scoff at the late Madame Ba’s “ranting” against the marital status quo, so violently skewed against the woman in both cultures. But her 1980 classic has provided gender rights activists, determied to right these age-old wrongs, an evocative literary tool. Continue reading “So long a letter”

Culled from Daily Independent

Saturday, December 14, 2013

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*God has vindicated me –Ex-NPA chairman    *Lagos PDP hails judgement     *Verdict will encourage corruption–Afenifere, Aturu

By Ajibola Abayomi and  Temidayo Akinsuyi, (Lagos)  Joe Nwankwo (Abuja Assistant Editor, Abuja

Chief Bode George

The Supreme Court on Friday set aside the conviction of  former board chairman of Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Bode George and others who were convicted and sentenced to prison by a Lagos High Court over the splitting of on contracts and fraud on the grounds that the acts for which they were convicted was not a criminal offence as at the time of their conviction.

It would be recalled that a Lagos High Court had in 2009 convicted George and others on a 68 count charge bordering on splitting of contracts and intention to defraud.

All the accused persons pleaded not guilty to the charge. George and others have since served out their jail term.

The appellants, after serving their jail term had approached the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division to challenge the decision of the Lagos High Court that convicted them.

The appellate court on January 21, 2011 in its judgement on the appeal affirmed the decision of the lower court.

However, not satisfied, the appellants approached the apex court to challenge the decision.

Reading the lead judgement, Justice John Afolabi Fabiyi held that one of the offence for which the applicants were convicted Tender Splitting has not been made an offence by an Act of the National Assembly and even its disobedience is nowhere penalised in written law. Continue reading “Supreme Court upturns Bode George’s conviction”

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Culled from Daily Independent

Thursday, December 12, 2013

By Chukwudi Nweje  –   Assistant Features Editor

Lamido Sanusi again?  That must be the question on many lips. In late 2010, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor caused ripples when he said that about 25% of the annual budget was spent on the National Assembly. He was then delivering a lecture entitled, ‘The Future of Nigeria’s Economy’, at the 8th convocation ceremony of the Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State where he lamented that the Nigerian economy may not meet its Financial Sector Strategy (FSS) 20:2020 target of being one of the 20 largest economies by 2020.

Sanusi is in the news again, tackling the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on corruption. In a letter to President Goodluck Jonathan dated September 25, 2013, he accused the NNPC of not remitting revenue from crude oil sales totalling $49.8bn (about N8trillion) representing about 76 per cent of the total crude oil revenues from January 2012 to July 2013, thus contravening extant laws. The letter reads in part: “Our analysis of the value of crude oil export proceeds based on the documentation received from pre-shipment inspectors’ shows that between January 2012 and July 2013, NNPC lifted 594,024,107 barrels of crude valued at $65,332,350,514.57. Out of this amount, NNPC repatriated only $15,528,410,098.77, representing 24 per cent of the value. This means the NNPC is yet to account for, and repatriate to the Federation Account, an amount in excess of $49.804bn of the value of oil lifted in the same period,” Continue reading “Furry over $49.8b oil revenue!”

Culled from Daily Independent

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By Hadiza Muktar and Fatimatu Muktar, Lagos

The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) has told the Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, to blame the legislators for the pervasive corruption in the country.

Tambuwal, on Monday, had said that the body language of President Goodluck Jonathan did not indicate that he has the political will to stem corruption in the country.

The Speaker also decried Jonathan’s penchant for setting up committees to probe corruption allegations and what he termed “the culture of undue secrecy surrounding the operation of government.” Continue reading “Legislature, not just executive to blame for corruption – CACOL”

The Supreme Court judgment which reversed the conviction of the former Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, Chief Olabode George, on Friday, has been trailed by reactions from the members of the public, including lawyers and activists.

A lawyer and human rights activist, Fred Agbaje, who praised the Supreme Court for its swift hearing of the case, said the court had done its job as “a final arbiter of justice in the country.”

Agbaje added that he was rather interested in the legality of the judgment than its political implications.

He said, “I’m not carried away by the political implications of the judgment but simply interested in the legality and the constitutional issue arising from the judgment, which is to the effect that contract splitting may simply be a civil matter but it is unknown in the realms of criminal jurisprudence. You can’t fault that.

“You can only punish somebody for an offence that is known to law, and not otherwise. If the Lagos High Court has punished George for contract splitting and the Appeal Court agreed with it and the Supreme Court has dispassionately as the final arbiter looked at it, that is the end of the matter.” Continue reading “Reactions trail Bode George’s acquittal”

• Written by  Our Reporters
• Friday, 13 December 2013

BARELY 24 hours after the media release of a pungent letter to President Goodluck Jonathan, former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, joined Jonathan for breakfast in Nairobi, Kenya, on Thursday.

Jonathan was in the country as guest of President Uhuru Kenyatta, where he joined other African leaders at the 50th Independence anniversary celebration of the East African country.
Obasanjo’s visit to Jonathan in his Intercontinental Hotel, Nairobi, where they had a private breakfast together, came as a surprise, as his letter, first published in the media on Wednesday, had elicited response from the presidency.

Obasanjo left Jonathan after the breakfast, but it was not clear whether they discussed the letter or the issues contained therein.

In the letter, which was first published on Premium Times, an online medium, on Wednesday, Obasanjo had raised numerous allegation against the president, who he accused of working towards another term in office, even when he had undertaken to run for one term. Continue reading “Jonathan, Obasanjo in kenya breakfast meeting •Atiku, Jubril Aminu, Sagay, Kashamu, others react to letter”