New national airline is a terrible idea.

 Punch Editorial.

IN response to the crisis in Nigeria’s aviation sector, the Federal Government is, as usual, preparing to compound the problem. The announcement by President Goodluck Jonathan that a new national airline will soon be set up featuring “substantial public ownership” is a wrong move that is doomed to fail. The policy is better consigned to the scrap heap. What the industry requires are massive private investment and an enabling environment that will attract local and foreign investors.

Some promoters of the dubious N985 billion project envisage that it will generate about 19, 500 jobs from direct and supportive industries. The proposed national flag carrier, the sponsors state, will commence flight operations with 48 airplanes and will introduce an aeronautic industrial section 12 months after it commences operations. To be christened “Nigeria Airlines,” the proposed carrier, the group claims, will be funded with loans from the Federal Government but will not be managed by civil servants under the civil service structure, but by professionals.

It is understandable that the government is concerned over the sorry state of aviation here, especially the absence of a world-class airline. From a once robust and growing domestic sector that boasted a national carrier, that, at its peak, had 32 aircraft. Today, 10 private airlines are active and only three are cleared for international flights. This is not good enough for a country of 167 million people that established its first national carrier in 1958, two years before flag independence. While some other African countries have grown their globally competitive national carriers, Nigeria Airways, after decades of distress, was liquidated in 2004. Nigeria’s place in the global aviation industry is nothing to write home about.

There is surely an urgent need to create at least one international airline brand like the Ethiopian Airlines that is billed as one of the few successful carriers in sub-Saharan Africa, plying 62 international and 16 domestic routes and is one of the fastest growing airlines in the world. According to a recent document released by the Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah, about N300 billion is remitted abroad annually by our domestic aviation sector while only N15 billion is realised by our domestic airlines, aeronautical authorities and associated domestic service providers.

Among policymakers and other stakeholders, it also rankles that our airlines are not able to fully benefit from the Bilateral Air Services Agreements that Nigeria enters into with other countries that provide landing and take-off slots in each other’s busiest airports to be used by airlines designated as national carriers. Recent aircraft safety and noise pollution standards imposed by North American and European countries effectively limit or shut out our under-capitalised Nigerian carriers that still ply international routes from some of the world’s most lucrative commercial air transport routes.

Every bit of the proposal rings hollow. Oduah, Jonathan and those veterans afflicted with nostalgia for the halcyon days of Nigeria Airways are getting it wrong in pushing for another state-owned or state-promoted carrier. Nigeria’s corporate history is strewn with the rotting carcasses of state-owned firms straddling every major sector of the economy. Textile firms, banks, insurance companies, transport firms, newspapers and even monopolies such as the Nigerian Telecommunications Plc, Power Holding Company of Nigeria and our four dilapidated refineries have also failed or are failing. Nigerian governments’ performance in running commercial ventures has set world records in corruption, inefficiency and waste.

There are many other good reasons to be concerned about the retrograde step. Nothing typifies this than the horrendous experience of the taxpayer in the hands of the defunct Nigeria Airways. From the early 1980s, the airline became a byword for corruption and incompetence. The airline failed, according to former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, who eventually liquidated it, due to excessive corruption by successive boards. “I discovered that the board was corrupt…The board will form a company in Jersey Island, USA, and give repair contract to that company…that was how they embezzled funds and ran it down.” The mismanagement led to debts of over $60m by the time it was shut down with just a single, debt-inducing aircraft left in a once vibrant fleet of over 30. The whole project looks like a grand design by some corrupt officials to defraud the government.

The proven inability of our government to run or even part-own an airline is obvious. Successive technical agreements with KLM, the Dutch national carrier, and Britain’s Virgin Atlantic have come to grief. An incensed Richard Branson, flamboyant Chairman of Virgin, labelled Nigerian officials “dream killers” in reference to the collapse of his vision to invest about $600 million in the Nigerian venture.

We must return to basics. The government should quickly drop the bad idea of establishing a national carrier. It won’t work. We have neither the discipline of the Ethiopians nor the vision of the Kenyans whose acclaimed privatisation of Kenya Airways has made it one of more successful African carriers. We should rather address the problems of our ailing airlines that include limited access to funds, high indebtedness, high operational cost, poor regulatory framework and poor management. The government should streamline and improve the administration of funds already made available for airlines by the Central Bank of Nigeria and a federal funding support programme. The inefficient and corrupt airline regulatory and airspace management agencies should be overhauled and made to be professionally run with zero-tolerance for graft. The government should provide support for the building of private aircraft hangar to reduce the cost of taking an aircraft abroad for basic routine repairs.

Successfully transforming the aviation sector and having world-class carriers will come only through reforms in regulation, slaying the dragon of corruption and privatising the airports as European countries have done.

Constitution: Six geopolitical zones divide North, South

 by MIKE ODIEGWU, OZIOMA UBABUKOH, LEKE BAIYEWU and ALLWELL OKPI.

A map showing the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria
| credits: nigeriamasterweb.com

Moves by the National Assembly to further amend the 1999 Constitution has  again  brought to the fore the sharp division and mutual distrust between the North and South, as both have taken opposing views on the entrenchment of the six geopolitical zones in the constitution.

The North said it represented 60 per cent of the country’s population, and therefore, would resist efforts to equate it with the South, which it claimed represented just 40 per cent of Nigeria.

It added that any attempt to deny the majority its position on the matter would lead to anarchy.

The Convener of Concerned Northern Politicians, Academics, Professionals and Businessmen, Dr. Juniad Mohammed, said these in an exclusive interview with one of our correspondents on Friday.

The Northern Governors Forum had similarly opposed the inclusion of geopolitical zones in the constitution, just as Arewa Consultative Forum scoffed at the suggestion.

Mohammed said, “When some people insist that 60 per cent of the population must be made equal with the remaining 40 per cent, I don’t understand it. In the last census in 2006, the North-West was 37 million, while Ohaneze’s South-East was 15 million. How do you equate the two of them?

“Democracy is a game of numbers. Any attempt to deny the majority would result in anarchy. From the records of the census that have been conducted in this country, it is obvious that the North constitutes at least 60 per cent of Nigeria’s population.

“They’ve been trying to do this since and now they want do it through the back door by putting it into the constitution. I say it will never happen. Geopolitical zones will never be accepted in the constitution no matter what it takes. North and South are not equal and we can never be equal,” he said.

The President-General, Chief Ralph Uwechue, however, said the current concept of six geopolitical zones was ethnically based, with three zones accorded to the larger ethnic groups while the three other zones were derived from smaller ethnic units.

He explained that this made for political balance and stability.

He said, “The simple lesson from this structural arrangement is that the ethnic units are recognised and accepted as the veritable building blocks in the ongoing construction work and nation-building process in Nigeria.

“We are now saying that the six geopolitical zones of today should inherit the same powers and responsibility the three zones had at that time.

“What it means is that these six zones will become the federating units of Nigeria and any other arrangement each region wants to make will be entirely left for the zones.”

“This is the best thing that can happen to this country right now.

“Our position is that we should have six regions coinciding with the current six geopolitical zones and having the same powers and responsibility as were given to the regions at independence.

“The difference is that instead of three regions at independence, we now have six regions.”

According to the Ohaneze chairman, the northern governor’s refusal to allow the inclusion of the zones in the constitution was a way of perpetuating the autocratic military distortion of the master plan, (political arrangement) which produced Nigeria in 1960.

He further said, “The terms they are kicking against are the terms of having Nigeria as a country, and these terms were arrived at after negotiations between political parties at the time.”

Similarly, the National Publicity Secretary, Afenifere Renewal Movement, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, said the geopolitical zones should be maintained, while power is decentralised.

He said, “In my opinion, the zones should stay. They should be strengthened to function as federating units in the new structure for Nigeria. They should be autonomous and manage the resources within their territories.”

Groups in the South-South angrily told SUNDAY PUNCH in separate interviews that the North was in the “habit of discouraging moves aimed at giving everyone in the country a sense of belonging.”

Such was the position of the Secretary of the Bayelsa State Elders’ Forum, Chief Thompson Okorotie.

He said, “If they are truly interested in the unity and indivisibility of this country, they would not be opposing any move to give a sense of belonging to all the sections of this country.

Okorotie, a former political adviser in the state the governor, therefore described the North’s stance as divisive,

“When they hold this kind of position, one begins to wonder what their agenda for Nigeria is,” he added.

He noted that the reason for the creation of the existing geopolitical zones was to promote unity by ensuring that all sections and ethnic groups were represented in all issues affecting the country.

On its part, the Ijaw National Congress said the North was promoting “disunity and selfishness” by rejecting the inclusion of geopolitical zones.

Its National President, Mr. Joshua Benameisigha, said the group even wanted 10 zones for the country.

“We are in support of 10 zones. We want to be in our own zone because currently we are Balkanized all over the country.

“The northern groups are living in the past because to have a fiscal federalism, all the zones must be included in the constitution.”

Also, a Niger Delta activist, Chief Nengi James, said for all sections of the country to become one entity, the geopolitical zones must be recognised in the constitution.

He said, “This time around, we are ready for them; if they don’t want it, let them go and form a country of their own. We have suffered enough in their hands but we are not ready to suffer any more.”

Meanwhile, in a 14-page memorandum submitted to the National Assembly which was made available to SUNDAY PUNCH, Ohanaeze stated that Nigeria made more progress in national development in the early years of its independence when it practiced true federalism of four regions with more extensive powers devolved from the center to the regions.

The memo read, “To return to true federalism, we need a major restructuring of our current architecture of governance. We would need six federating units, instead of our present 36 units, which not only sustain an over-dominant center, but also compel the country to spend not less than 74% of its revenue on the cost of administration.

“If the existing 36 states must be retained in some form, they could be made cost-effective development zones with minimal administrative structures within the six federating units.”

Uwechue, Eze Ilomuanya, Prof. Joe Irukwu, Justice Ezebuilo Ozobu, Chief Nduka Eya, and Chief Gari-Enwo Igariwey signed the document.

However, a Second Republic Governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, said it was unnecessary to include geopolitical zones in the constitution.

Rather, he opted for the old regional system, which existed in the First Republic.

He said, There are more important issues in the country at this moment. It would be a waste of time and resources to drag the issues, because at the end of the day it will not work out.”

The six zonal structure was adopted in 1995 constitutional conference, following former vice-president, Alex Ekwueme’s proposal.

ABUJA LAND GRAB: FHA MD ERECTS HOUSING ESTATE FOR IST LADY PATIENCE JONATHAN.

 By 247ureports.
The prevalence of land grab criminality within the ranks of the leaderships in the Nigeria democratic setup appears on a steady increase. Information recently made available to 247ureports.com through sources close to the activities with the Federal Housing Authority [FHA] headquarters in Abuja indicate that the Managing Director of the FHA, Mr Tever. Gemade may have offered the 1st lady of Nigeria, Patience Jonathan a housing estate as a bribe – in exchange for his continued stay as the FHA Managing Director.
According to the information received, the housing estate is located in Gwarimpa and shares a fence with Foreign Affairs State Quarters. The housing estate which is presently unoccupied is estimated to number four rolls of huge building blocks – with each of the rolls containing eight 4-bedroom flats. Each flat is equipped with luxurious amenities typical apartments found in high priced neighbourhoods such as Maitama and Asokoro districts.
What appears criminal about the housing estate transfer to the 1st lady is in the manner the files and records at the FHA office. Available information indicates that no records exist of the property or the transfer of the same estate to the 1st Lady. According to an inside source at the FHA, there are no records of the property or the sale of the land – or records of the former owner of the landed property.
The source revealed that the file containing the records of the said land area was retrieved by the FHA Managing Director, Tever Gemade. And the file has since been hidden away from the sight of the workers at the agency. Presently, a loud silence hovers over the missing records.
According to inside sources, the reason for the donation of the estate is to protect his job and also his dirty deals. According to the source; “whatever, the First lady cannot get for you or secure for you, no one else can do it for you. This is because when she said something she means it, and if it involves money, she will not collect the money until the deed is done and if the deed is not done you get back what you gave to her. However, there has been no anything that the First lady is committed to that didn’t yield fruitful result.”
So it is not surprising that the FHA Boss donated that estate to the First Lady to secure his Job, as is now glaring that his job is on the line due to his insatiable crave for wealth and money.
Police sources at the FCT Command has this to say;  “This  man we don’t know whether he knows what his office is all about, there is hardly a day that we don’t receive petition and complaints against him from individuals and organisations whom he had collected land or confiscated their lands or even revoke their plots. We don’t know when he became AGIS or Development Control that issues land titles and have the power to revoke it. He and his organisation are just like any other persons or organization in Nigeria which also goes to the FCDA to request for land allocation. Every time you see him running to us here, saying please help me my enemies want to kill me, which enemies, it is those people he has defrauded and collected their land. Infact we have lot of complaints and petitions against him here. We are even tired of him.”
Inquiry by 247ureports.com further reveals that the mechanisation against the political activities of 2015 may be the principal reason for the illegal gift to the 1st Lady. The FHA MD is reported to be gearing for a political run in 2015 for the gubernatorial elections in Benue State. The gift is supposedly to help smoothes his ability to obtain the support of the presidency towards getting a ticket from Peoples Democratic Party [PDP].
Meanwhile, the President of the federal republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebelemi Jonathan is said to be considering new personnel for some of the Departments and Agencies that had proved politically problematic. Our source states that the FHA MD has been concerned about his continued stay at the realm of affairs at the FHA. Other sources disclose that the MD has begun a massive campaign of lobbying against his removal from the top seat.
It is unsure what will become of the top seat at the FHA but it appears certain the presidency is concerned over the mounting allegations against the FHA MD of financial irresponsibility and crimes.

FHA MD Erects Housing Estate For 1st Lady Patience Jonathan [Pictures].

The Estate Erected for the 1st Lady, Patience Jonathan in Gwarimpa, Abuja

247ureports.com had previously reported that the Federal Housing Agency Managing Director, Tever Gemade had illegally erected an estate for the 1st Lady, Patience Jonathan in exchange for political favors from the 1st Lady.
Following our report, the FHA MD was reported to have begun cover up campaign to avoid further inquiries by other quarters. In this effort, the MD made a dash to instruct his staff to erect a signpost showing the FHA logo – indicating ownership of the building. See below.

The other half of the building/estate showing the new signpost.

Prof. Soludo considers Anambra 2014 Guber under ACN

  By 247ureports.

Prof Charles Chukwuma Soludo, Former CBN Governor

The dance party against the upcoming Anambra gubernatorial elections of 2014 may have begun behind closed doors away from the viewing eyes of the public. This is as information available to 247ureports.com through sources knowledgeable of the activities around the former Central Bank of Nigeria [CBN] Governor, Prof Charles Chukwuma Soludo indicate that the former CBN Governor may have reached an understanding with the Action Congress of Nigeria [ACN] in Anambra State against the gubernatorial exercise of 2014.
According to the information received, the former CBN Governor is presently engaged in closed door deliberations with stakeholders and associates over the modalities of re-joining the gubernatorial race. The former CBN who was quoted as having suspended his campaign – following the failed outing in 2010 – when he lost to the incumbent governor, Mr. Peter Obi during the 2010 gubernatorial elections – is said to have initiated the process of reactivating his political structure in Anambra State. Prof Charles Soludo had contested for the Anambra gubernatorial election in 2010 under the People Democratic Party [PDP] banner.
In talking to a source close to the former CBN Governor, he disclosed that while no decision has been made outwardly concerning the possibility of contesting in 2014, there appear an increased influx of political personnel trooping in and out of the former governor’s residence – and meetings with various grassroots bodies based out of the three senatorial zones of Anambra State.
Interestingly, the said meetings, according to the source, appeared cloaked in an anomaly. The overwhelming presence and numbers of chieftains of the ACN at the said meetings seemed suspiciously out of the ordinary. The source explained that more ACN stalwarts were present at the meetinsg than PDP members.
Cursory inquiry conducted by friends of 247ureports.com discovered that the former CBN governor may have indeed abandoned the PDP for the ACN. The information was confirmed from participants and/or players within the Soludo political structure in Anambra State who were tapped to help delivere victory against Prof Dorothy Nkem Akunyili to the then senatorial candidate for the central senatorial district in 2011 – in the person of Dr. Chris Nwabueze Ngige.  According to the information gathered, the Soludo camp had reached an understanding with the Ngige camp during the campaign exercise – and a gentlemanly agreement was reached between the two camps. For starters, the Soludo camp was to facilitate what it would require to deliver victory for Dr. Chris Nwabueze Ngige while in return Ngige is to step-down on his gubernatorial ambition/aspiration. Ngige is to ensure Soludo receives an automatic gubernatorial ticket for the ACN come 2014. Ngige is also to lend political support during the campaign.
As our source explained, a clear examination of the political landscape in Anambra shows that the former CBN governor may already be locked-in politically. In the words of the source, “the PDP is too crowded. Andy Uba is already gearing up for the ticket” and “the All Progressive Grand Alliance [APGA] is descending to taters as we speak”. The only lucrative banner to fly against 2014 gubernatorial race would be ACN.
But in talking to the former CBN governor regarding his possibly run for the top seat in Anambra State, he did not deny it nor did he confirm – rather he asked for an advice on the matter. On the ACN aspect, he laughed it off without offering a reply. Also, in talking to Senator Chris Ngige concerning his possible re-entry into the gubernatorial race, he responded that he needed more time to concentrate on his Senatorial duties before launching into another project. Specifically, the Senator stated that he needed to achieve some milestones before he will decide to embark on another campaign. But close associates to Ngige tell 247ureports.com that he has made up his mind not to contest.
It can be recalled that the former CBN governor had failed the outing under the PDP banner owing roles played by his in-law and former federal minister of information and communication, Prof Dorothy Akunyili. The former information minister who had contested for a senatorial seat in the Anambra central district – was said to have pleaded with the then Acting President Jonathan not to allow the former CBN governor win the gubernatorial election in Anambra State . She made it clear to the then Acting President that Prof Soludo was interested in contesting for Presidential elections against him [Jonathan]. She was able to convince the then President into subverting the Anambra State gubernatorial elections – of which Governor Obi won with only 97,000 votes.
Prof Soludo is believed to still be eyeing the presidential seat.

Jonathan’s Attack Dog, Doyin Okupe In Multi-Million Naira Contract Scam…Quizzed By EFCC, Moves To Kill Case.

Doyin Okupe

Had President Goodluck Jonathan run a security check on his newly appointed senior special assistant on public affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe, he would probably not have offered him a position in his government. Why? iReports-ng.com has just gathered that Okupe who has now been labelled as an attack dog in the public sphere is enmeshed in a multi-million naira contract fraud over which he has been under investigation by Nigeria’s anti-graft police, the EFCC.
Investigations by iReports-ng.com have so far revealed that Okupe has since his recent appointment been moving round and deploying presidential influence to stop the EFCC from going ahead with the case or pressing criminal charges against him. What is the crime Okupe has been so desperate to cover up in the last three weeks? A competent source in EFCC told iReports-ng.com that the presidential aide had peddled his influence during the administration of his former boss, President Olusegun Obasanjo to obtain a contract of about N300 million in Benue state during the regime of Senator George Akume, collected a mobilisation sum of about N200 million and abandoned the project since then.
It was further learnt that on the basis of this, the current governor of Benue state, Gabriel Suswam petitioned the EFCC last year. “After our initial diligent findings on the allegations contained in the petition, we were able to confirm that the man (Okupe ) actually collected the money and disappeared obviously as we were told to go and contest election in Ogun state. We eventually invited him for interrogation and his statements were obtained in our Lagos office last year after which he was granted administrative bail. So, he was still enjoying the bail with his case file already referred to our legal department for legal advice and possible charges when he was appointed an aide to the president”, a top EFCC official told iReports-ng.com in Abuja today.
On whether the anti-graft agency would still go ahead to press charges against Okupe, the source said, “I am not in a position to determine that, only the chairman can give the final directive on that.” It was also learnt that Governor Suswam who has been putting pressure on the EFCC to recover his state funds from Okupe and prosecute him for criminal diversion of state funds has since Okupe’s appointment gone soft on his push.
Efforts to get Okupe react to the scandal however proved abortive as he failed to pick calls made to his mobile telephone number on Saturday morning. It is yet to be seen whether the EFCC will also go silent on the case. Okupe has of late picked on critics of President Jonathan especially Nasir El-Rufai, former minister of the FCT and Pastor Tunde Bakare of Latter Rain Assembly, Lagos.
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Source – ireports-ng.com

Jonathan's Ambition Is Responsible For The Latest Bombings –Speaker .

“African leaders are not honest. If somebody who begged for a term is now seeking a second term, there is no honesty in that. It is not that the Peoples Democratic Party is popular.

“Nigerians are tired of the PDP, they are still in power because they are the one who organised elections in the country but I hope by next election we are going to have a more credible election that would automatically reduce the number of PDP governors in the states. The PDP cannot win more than 10 states if a credible election is conducted.”

Those were the words of the Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Dr. Adewale Omirin, while blaming the rising insecurity in the country on President Goodluck Jonathan’s alleged plan to seek a second term in 2015. He said it was wrong for Mr. President to have said his first term would end in 2015.

Olufamous.com

Dr. Omirin, who said this in an interview with journalists in Ado-Ekiti on Wednesday, also insisted that the National Security Adviser, Gen. Owoye Azazi (rtd.) could not be wrong in blaming the PDP for the crisis, considering the information at his disposal.