CULLED FROM DAILY INDEPENDENT

Monday, 7th April, 2014

By Chukwudi Nweje – Assistant Features Editor

Two weeks after President Goodluck Jonathan officially inaugurated the 2014 National Conference it appears the only serious business the 492 delegates have executed is resolving the voting consensus required to adopt a resolution.  When the Secretary to the Federal Government, Anyim Pius Anyim, released the report of the Senator Femi Okurounmu-led Presidential Advisory Committee (PAC) in January, he had noted that: “Decisions at the National Conference shall be by consensus; but where it is not achievable; it shall be by 75% majority…” The delegates have after stormy debates resolved that 75% majority, which represents three-quarters majority votes may be difficult to attain and have brought down the required votes to 70%. The other serious thing they have dwelt on is debating the President’s inaugural speech that is if there was any need to do that.

Two weeks and counting now, these two subjects, the delegates have rather spent hours arguing over frivolities.  If they are not arguing over sitting arrangements as if occupying the front row would make an argument more convincing or transform a bench-warmer or sleeper delegate into a vibrant debater, they are fighting over allowances for the chain of personal aides some of them brought along.   Now, the delegates are fighting over the feeding arrangement by the leadership of the confab. While some of them expressed disappointment about the poor quality of food, others said they wanted the food to be monetised to enable them to source for food outside the conference venue. A delegate from the South South, Mr. J.I Ebinum, had moved a motion to stop the secretariat from the provision of lunch for the delegates, arguing that the caterer handling the feeding services had failed to make enough food available despite complaints to that effect. When the Chairman of the conference, Justice Idris Kutigi, put the matter to vote, the delegates rejected the motion and trooped out to the restaurant to eat. Continue reading “National Confab and the difficulties ahead”

Culled from www.informationng.com

Posted by: daniel on April 4, 2014

Delegates at the on-going National Conference have been taken to the cleaners for complaining about the feeding arrangement provided by the leadership of the conference.

A group, the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) described the delegates’ action as selfish, saying rather than focus on burning national issues that brought about the conference in the first place, they were busy dwelling on trivial issues.

Information Nigeria reports that some of the delegates on Thursday expressed disappointment about the poor quality of food, saying they wanted the food to be monetised to enable them to provide for their own feeding outside the conference venue.

The executive chairman of CACOL, Mr. Debo Adeniran, in a statement on Friday, stated that many of the delegates have forgotten the reason for the conference. Continue reading “Confab: Delegates Rejection Of Food Sign Of Selfishness, Says CACOL”

Culled form Daily Newswacth

Thursday, April 03, 2014

By: WALE AKINOLA April 3, 2014 in Politics Leave a comment

Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) has berated the Department of State Security (DSS) for alleged killing of 21 people  suspected to be members of the Boko Haram insurgents last Sunday.

Executive Chairman of CACOL, Debo Adeniran, in statement on Tuesday, condemned the SSS for the mass killing of the suspects and called for quick investigation into the incident.

Adeniran explained that it baffles every right-thinking Nigerian why it was difficult for the men of the SSS to subdue only the one that disarmed their man. “If the gun seized by the suspect contained 90 rounds of ammunitions, why shooting for a prolonged time? Continue reading “Killing of 21 Boko Haram suspects by SSS extra-judicial – Adeniran”

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Posted in: Man in the News

By Chukwudi Nweje

Assistant Features Editor

Allegations had been rife that the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Allison Madueke had never travelled on a commercial aircraft since she was appointed to that office in April 2010. Rather, it is said that she has reportedly been going on chartered private jets at the expenses of tax payers. In fact, they say she has about two or three of them and the average cost per trip of the chartered private jets is put at about $300,000. Recently, a motion endorsed by the House indicated that Alison-Madueke allegedly spent N10b to run the jet for her personal trips within the country and abroad. It had also been said that it costs about $500,000 per month to maintain the jets. Some pertinent questions analysts have been asking since these information started trickling out many months ago included how does she pay for the services of these jets? Is there a budgetary provision? Who approved it? As a minister of the Federal Republic, is she entitled to a private jet funded by public resources?

It is in the light of this that the decision of the House of Representatives to probe the estimated N3.120b the Minister allegedly spent on the maintenance of these private jets is a welcome development. The decision followed a motion by Babatunde Adejare, (APC) Lagos State, who informed the House that maintaining the jet alone, gulped N3.120b in the last two years and that the minister reportedly spent N130m monthly to keep the jets. Continue reading “Allison Madueke and the N3.120b private jets”

President Goodluck Jonathan

The Coalition against Corrupt Leaders has decried President Goodluck Jonathan’s recent statement that corruption in the country has been blown out of proportion.

President Goodluck Jonathan, at a meeting with the Nigerian community in Windhoek, Namibia on Thursday, had said corruption in Nigeria had been exaggerated and the trend had negatively affected the image of the country.

The President also noted that his administration would not condone the menace, but that using the proverbial big stick would not be a solution to end corruption. Continue reading “Corruption not overstated, CACOL tells Jonathan”

Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke

Some civil society groups have called for the suspension of the Minister for Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and her Petroleum Resources counterpart, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, pending the time accounts of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation are audited.

One of the groups said it was filing its second petition to President Goodluck Jonathan to press home its demand that the ministers should stay out of office pending the time the NNPC audit lasted. Continue reading “$20bn: Groups ask Jonathan to suspend Okonjo-Iweala, Diezani”

Culled from The Guardian Mobile

Friday 21st March, 2014
AS delegates to the National Conference prepare to resume for serious business on Monday, the Secretariat has completed the draft of the rules for the modus operandi and course of action.

The Assistant Secretary, Media and Communications, James Akpandem, in a statement Thursday in Abuja said the “draft Rules of Procedure for the National Conference to delegates will enable them prepare for the debate, ratification and subsequent adoption on Monday, March 24, 2014 when the plenary resumes.”

Akpandem, who did not make clear what is contained in the rules, said it is expected that the delegates will adopt it and “when adopted, the provisions will form the official rules of proceedings for the Conference.”

The statement also noted that a copy of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was also made available to delegates on Thursday as indicated during the inaugural sitting by the Chairman of Conference, Justice Idris Kutigi. Continue reading “Confab procedure rules drafted, for adoption Monday • Group condemns delegates’ demand for extra allowance”