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Forum / Naijapals Base (Metro life) / Re: Anthony Enahoro dies at 87 |
on: 16-12-2010 08:54 AM
| thank GOD atlast one of the enemy of nigeria progress is gone they should be dieing one after the other,,,,,,,,,, obj watch out
this your comment is so sadistic. any way, R.I.P. Papa | | | | |
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Forum / Naijapals Base (Metro life) / DDC machines stolen at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos |
on: 9-12-2010 09:40 AM
| The porous nature of the nation’s airports has again been laid bare as some of the Direct Data Capture machines for the registration of voters for the 2011 elections were allegedly stolen at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.
Sources at the airport, who made this known to our correspondent on Wednesday, did not give the number of units that was stolen. But they said the incident took place on Monday night at the Cargo Terminal of MMIA.
They also claimed that the machines were awaiting clearance by Independent National Electoral Commission agent when the theft took place.
The Spokesman for the Airport Command of the Nigerian Police Force, Mr. Benedict Ifeanyi, confirmed the incident.
He said the police and other security agencies had commenced an investigation into the matter.
The Nigerian Aviation Handling Company, the ground handling firm which offloaded the cargo, was yet to make official report on the incident as at 10pm on Wednesday.
He said, “As at now, I can’t tell you the quantity that was stolen, neither will I be able to tell you who was and who was not on duty and not on duty when the incident happened.
“We can’t tell now whose fault it is whether it was the Nigeria Customs Service or the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria or the airline or the ground handling firm. All that will be determined when NAHCO makes an official report.”
Our correspondent gathered that the Nigerian Customs Service Area Comptroller, Military Airport Commandant and the Director of the State Security Service were at the Cargo Terminal on Wednesday to examine the remaining machines at the ramp.
An indigenous Information Technology company, Zinox Technologies Limited, had brought in 14,000 units of the DDC machines from China and Dubai, on Sunday.
The quantity is part of the 80,000 units of the electronic equipment the company was given contract to supply by INEC.
Two other companies— Haier Electrical Appliances Corporation of China and Avante of United States— also won contracts to supply 30,000 and 22,000 units respectively .
Efforts by our correspondent to get the clearing agent, identified as Services Solutions Limited, to comment on the alleged theft of the machines were not successful.
An official at the Cargo Terminal of the MMIA, who pleaded anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter, also confirmed that some of the DDC machines had been stolen.
He said, “Three shipments have arrived so far. The first one arrived earlier. The second one arrived on Sunday evening while the third one came in at about 5:10am on Monday morning.
“We arrived office on Tuesday morning and discovered that some parts of the last two shipments had been removed.”
It was gathered that the equipment were offloaded by NAHCO Plc and that Skyway Aviation Handling Company Limited was to warehouse them pending their clearance.
The NAHCO spokesperson , Ms Bekky IJyuse, who also confirmed the incident , said that although the company (NAHCO) offloaded the DDC machines, the agent decided to give it to SAHCOL to warehouse.
She said it was the responsibility of SAHCOL to liaise with the NCS on what happened to the cargo after they were cleared.
SAHCOL’s spokesman, Mr. Basil Agboarumi, however, said that the company (SAHCOL) did not take possession of the two shipments that were tampered with.
According to him, the first set of DDC machines that came in were still safe in the warehouse of the company.
He added, “Whatever happened, happened at the ramp.The first shipment that came in was brought into our warehouse, and nothing happened to it.
“But the other two shipments which were said to have been poached from the ramp ‘happened’ at the ramp, which is not our jurisdiction. That is the jurisdiction of FAAN. We don’t know anything about that.”
It was gathered that Customs officials at the airport said that their Area Comptroller had to give clearance before sensitive goods like the DDC machines could be cleared.
The NCS spokesman at the MMIA, Mr. Saturday Odum, said that the Customs was always interested in any goods coming into the country.
“The goods in questions are at the tarmac, and if anything had happened to them, they happened at the ramp,” he said.
Airline and ground handling officials at the terminal, however, said the problem was caused by the porous nature of security at the airport in general.
One of them said, “There is no control at the ramp there. Anything can happen. It is like the case of a market square. People steal things here any how. It is because this one has to do with election materials that it raising dust.”
When our correspondent contacted the General Manager, Public Affairs, FAAN, Mr, Akin Olukunle, over the theft, he said he would get back. As at the time 10.30pm he was yet to do so. | | | | |
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Forum / Naijapals Base (Metro life) / Sanusi to Senators: I will resign first but I am correct |
on: 3-12-2010 08:56 PM
| | Despite brutal questioning by a Senate select committee, Central Bank governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, yesterday stood by his comments that the National Assembly’s budget for overhead is 25.4% of the nation’s total.
Mr Sanusi withstood strong attempts to browbeat him into admitting that the figures were at least lower than that, or that he was misquoted by the media.
The public hearing convened by the Senate followed newspaper publications quoting the Central Bank governor as saying that the nation spends one-quarter of its funds on running the National Assembly, and a subsequent publication quoting the finance minster as saying he would cut the budgetary allocation to the assembly.
Mr Sanusi had at a lecture delivered at the eighth convocation of the Igbinedion University , Okada, Edo State, said 25% of the nation’s resources are spent on the lawmakers. This annoyed the Senators who ordered him to appear before them and defend his statement.
The Central Bank governor appeared on Wednesday before the Senate committee alongside the finance minister, Olusegun Aganga. However, unlike the finance minister who quickly dissociated himself from the statement that he intended cutting allocation to the assembly, Mr. Sanusi admitted saying that 25.4% of the nation’s overhead cost is spent on the National Assembly...
He held his grounds, backing his statements with records from other national dailies which quoted him correctly, and with statistics from the budget office.
Mr. Aganga who later assumed the role of an umpire told the Senators that the CBN governor’s figures were correct although they may appear wrong in another context.
The minister argued that overhead cost figures which include Service Wide Votes (money spent on maintenance of government facilities), are as legitimate those which do not include the votes.
Rage
Evidently angry, Iyiola Omisore (PDP Osun State) who led the Senate panel alleged that the CBN governor had chosen to deliberately incite Nigerians against the Assembly. He asked Mr. Aganga to state categorically whether Mr. Sanusi’s statement was right or wrong. The minister again said the statement depends on context or the way one chooses to use statistics.
Members of the Senate panel made up of four different committees could not hold back their rage against the unyielding CBN governor and frequently compared him to the more amenable finance minister, trying to coax him into some form of apology.
The Senators made no effort to hide their bias and blatantly refused to give any room to the Central Bank governor, to defend his figures and the context in which they were used.
Mr. Omisore pointedly told the harassed CBN governor at one point that the committee was not prepared to listen to him and that he must direct his responses through the finance minister. Mr Sanusi, however, occasionally barged in to make the point that his figures were right and that he got them from the director of budget’s office.
No apology
He said he would only apologise if the figures from the budget office were wrong. He insisted that, “Total Federal Government Overhead is over N500 billion and the Overhead of the National Assembly is N136.2 billion. This is exactly 25.1 per cent of total government overhead. I am quoting from the figure I got from the Budget Office. If you like, you can invite the Director-General of the Budget Office.’’ When told by Mr. Omisore, who is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, that the figure was wrong following a clarification by the Minister of Finance, Mr. Sanusi replied: “I don’t know where the minister got his figures.” To the calls on him to apologise, he said, “By my nature, if I do not believe that I am wrong, I do not apologise.” He urged the Senators to examine the context under which he made his statement which was actually in a lecture about factors that fuel inflationary trends.
Staking his job
After hours of fruitless attempts to get the CBN governor to admit wrongdoing and apologise to the Senators, the lawmakers seemed to deviate from the matter and begin to question the character of the governor and the annual budget of the CBN.
“We really need to be sure that the CBN governor has the character to stay in that office,” Heineken Lokpobiri (PDP Bayelsa State) said.
Other Senators took turns to tongue lash the CBN governor. They accused him of speaking too much and asked him questions like “do you enjoy your job? Do you feel like quitting?’’ And if he thinks democracy is too expensive.
“My name is Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, (my name is) not Central Bank Governor. I enjoy my job but if you want me to quit, I will honourably quit,” Mr Sanusi replied before a cheering crowd of spectators.
The unwavering Central Bank governor told the Senators that the survival of democracy is dependent on allowing people the freedom to speak. He added that he had always been involved in the fight for democracy way back to the time of June 12 and that even if the military takes over now, he will still fight them off.
The issue remained unresolved as both sides disagreed with each other’s figures. However, Mr. Omisore gave the CBN governor a stern warning not to use such figures in comments about the National Assembly anymore.
Mr. Sanusi is also expected to appear before the entire House of Representatives today to defend his statement.
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Forum / Naijapals Base (Metro life) / Hoodlums rape 5 secondary school students in Owerri |
on: 3-12-2010 08:26 PM
| | Dare devil hoodlums numbering about 10, reportedly broke into the premises of Owerri Girls Secondary School last Sunday and raped five senior secondary school students.
Confirming the ugly incident to newsmen in Owerri, the Principal, Senior Section, Mrs. Pat Uche Obasi, said the hoodlums stormed the SS3 dormitory between 1:00am and 2:00am but escaped when men of Imo State Police Command intervened.
Lamenting that the hoodlums succeeded in molesting five girls, the principal also recalled that the bandits equally escaped through the hole they created in the school fence.
"These boys came from the back of the school premises. They came through a hole they created in the fence, armed with cutlasses, rods and what looked like a gun and went into SS3 dormitory. They succeeded in molesting about five students in the process," the principal said.
The Divisional Police Officer, DPO, at the New Owerri Police Division, Mr. Okezie Okoroafor, confirmed the incident and explained that when he got a distress call from the former principal of the school, he quickly mobilized his men and intervened.
He said his men were able to rescue the school security officers, whose hands were tied to their legs by the rampaging rapists and assured the students and their parents that security had been beefed up in the school.
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Forum / Relationships & Romance / Man Marries Dog |
on: 3-12-2010 08:21 PM
| | Joseph Guiso bends down to kiss his new 'bride' in a wedding ceremony with a difference - one of the parties has four legs and a tail.
An Australian man staged a 'marriage' to his beloved his yellow labrador in an outdoor ceremony and promptly sealed the union with a kiss.
Joseph Guiso and Honey were 'joined in matrimony' at Toowoomba's Laurel Bank Park - and the real surprise is that 30 friends and family members turned up to witness the event.
'You’re my best friend and you make every part of my day better,' Mr Guiso read in his vows.
A self-described 'religious guy,' he said he could no longer stand the guilt of living with the canine cutie out of wedlock.
But, 'it's not segxwal,' he assured the wedding guests.
Honey, dressed for her big day in a white cape, was adopted by her husband five years ago when she was just a puppy.
The pair decided on the wedding during a walk through Laurel Bank Park one afternoon.
Spying another wedding taking place, Mr Guiso had an idea.
'I said "that could be us",' he told The Toowoomba Chronicle.
'She didn’t say anything so I took that as a yes.'
According to his MySpace page, Mr Guiso a 20-year-old student majoring in education. who describes himself as straight, single and Catholic...
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Forum / Naijapals Base (Metro life) / Fayemi reduces UNAD fees |
on: 2-12-2010 09:07 AM
| | In response to the cry of anguish by outraged parents and students of the University of Ado-Ekiti (UNAD), Ekiti State governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has ordered an immediate reduction in fees payable in the university and other tertiary institutions owned by the state.
Fayemi said the gesture was in fulfillment of the promise he made shortly after being sworn in to relieve parents and students of the burden of exorbitant school fees imposed by the erswhile government led by Mr Segun Oni.
It will be recalled that students of the state-owned university protested the fee hike by pelting Oni with stones and other missiles on August 23 when he visited the campus alongside Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Oluseyi Petinrin, who came to deliver this year’s distinguished lecture of the institution.
The UNAD campus was thrown into jubilation shortly after the announcement was made on radio with the students expressing gratitude to the Fayemi-led administration for restoring their hope of having access to tertiary education.
According to a statement signed by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr Ganiyu Owolabi, which was made available to journalists on Wednesday, Fayemi ordered that no student of UNAD should be charged more than N50,000.
“In fulfillment of the promise of the governor of Ekiti State, His Excellency Dr Kayode Fayemi, to relieve parents and students of tertiary institutions in the state the burden of exorbitant school fees, he has approved that henceforth, no student of UNAD should be charged more than N50,000.
“This development is the agreement of Mr Governor with the management of the university on the need to review its tuition fees downward.
“Following this development, the management of the University of Ado-Ekiti is enjoined to adhere to this directive, as non-compliance would be viewed as a violation of the directive of the state government,” Owolabe said.
The students of the university, in a release signed by the President of the UNAD Students Union Government, Mr Kehinde Okunnuga, appreciated the concern of the governor over the sufferings they had been passing through since the payment commenced, saying this reduction would go down well in the history of governance in the state.
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