Petroleum minister is insensitive to workers plight –union

Written by Hamisu Muhammad

inShare

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), has accused Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, as insensitive to plights of workers in the oil and gas industry.

Speaking during the opening ceremony of the 3rd Triennial Delegates Conference of PENGASSAN branch in the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company Limited (PPMC) in Abeokuta, Ogun State Wednesday, the association President, Comrade Babatunde Ogun, said the minister does not care about workers in the sector.

He stated that PENGASSAN will support the PPMC branch’s decision to withdraw the services of members if government fails to find killers of some of its members at Arepo, Ogun state.

Ogun said, “The minister that has the oversight over the oil and gas industry does not care about the workers. Since the minister assumed duties, she has never met with the workers. Every entreaties and efforts to meet with the minister and tell her our challenges and problems failed because the minister is not ready to listen.

Daily Trust

I’m on revenge mission, says suspect who drugs, robs women

By IFEANYI  OKOLI

Whereas, the thick cloud generated  by  the gruesome murder in a  Lagos hotel of one Miss Cythia Osokogwu by her BB friends is yet to settle, a man who suffered  similar fate in the hands of a female friend but didn’t die is on revenge mission.
He even recruited a friend and together, they have been all over town drugging and robbing ladies  who falls into their snare  in retaliation.  But like what happened to Cynthia’s killers, the Police in Lagos have arrested the suspects and are  telling the story of their lives.

The suspect, Samson Igwe

Police sources disclosed to Crime Guard that the suspects were trailed by crack detectives to a popular hotel in Oregun.  The sources hinted that the syndicate operated in  Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Abuja before they were finally rounded up. It was said that several innocent women had fallen victims to the suspects who confessed to have robbed them of  expensive jewelries, handsets and cash running into millions of Naira.
In an interview with Crime Guard, one of the suspects who  gave his name as Igwe, said  he had no apology for what he was doing, adding that a lady he picked in Lagos in 2010 when he came back from South Africa rubbed him after he sucked her boobs and slept off.
He claimed to have stayed in South Africa for 10 years during which he made so much money; but lamented that  he got to Nigeria only to be duped by a lady. It was after that horrible experience that Igwe vowed  to take his pound of flesh from women.
According to him,  he would go out at night and  pretend to be a rich man who has plenty  of money to spend, look for  well dressed  women, who have  expensive jewelries on, phones and then asked them out.  At the hotels,   he would drug their drinks, raped them and robbed them afterwords.
This he said has been on for the past two years until they were recently arrested. He further stated that they have been shuttling Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja.   In one of their trips to Port Harcourt, he claimed that  they made so much money from the girls they caught, but was defrauded by his own boys,adding that he managed to come back to Lagos.
When Crime Guard spoke with the suspects, Igwe the Orlu, Imo State born business man  blamed his action on his ordeal in the hands of the first girl he met when he returned to the country.
According to him,  “I am a native of Orlu in Imo State, but I traveled to South Africa in  year  2000, and I lived for 10  years before I returned home. I came back with $30,000 and I lodged at the Airport Hotel in Ikeja. On the night,  I went to Metro Park Night club and picked a woman. I took her to my hotel room and when  we got there I had a friend who came to pay me a visit in my room and while we  were discussing,  the woman discovered that I just returned from South Africa and I had some money.
“When the friend left and we were about to make love,  I asked her to take her bath  but she refused and said we will do  that after sex but while I was romancing her, I  sucked her breasts before I went into her.  But shortly afterwords, I started feeling very dizzy and immediately fell asleep;  I did not wake up until 6.00am. When I woke up,  I  discovered  that she was gone; quickly,  I  checked my bag to see if my properties were still intact but  I  was shocked  that the $30,000  I  brought back home and all my Jewelries were gone.
“I immediately ran to the security guard to inquire if they saw her and they admitted  seeing her  on short, and  when they asked where she was going, she told them that she was going to get toothpaste and soap.   I rushed back to my room and I check    the wardrobe   where  she kept her cloth and I discovered that her bag and a pair of  trouser were still there.
“After waiting for a long time and she didn’t return; I realised that I had been robbed by a prostitute.  There and then,  I decided to take my pound of flesh from women.  I can not count the numerous   women I had done  this to.  But now,  I  have realized that what I was doing was a transferred aggression; which is not good.”
Vanguard

The National Pledge… Should it be re-written?

LEVI UGOCHUKWU

“I pledge to Nigeria my country,
To be faithful, loyal and honest…”
The above lines constitute the most important part of the pledge which we recite regularly to remind ourselves the enormous duties we owe to our fatherland. In fact, it forms the fulcrum on which the entire contents revolve.

I would  have loved to stand aloof, watching in isolation the unfolding  and perhaps unending absurd National developments which are threatening the survival and stability  of our cherished nascent democracy, but the more I try, the more I am caught up in a  whirling vortex of emotion to scribble down a few lines in other to draw the attention of my compatriots to the words of the national pledge yearning and yelling for implementation.
I remember in nostalgia a song that ushers us into the classrooms from the assembly ground during the primary and secondary school days “On my honour as a scholar, I will do my best” and the chorus says “Do your best now” The time is always right to do right because the foundation of a better tomorrow is laid today just as the foundations of corruption was laid many years ago in this country.

I remember in nostalgia a song that ushers us into the classrooms from the assembly ground during the primary and secondary school days “On my honour as a scholar, I will do my best” and the chorus says “Do your best now” The time is always right to do right because the foundation of a better tomorrow is laid today just as the foundations of corruption was laid many years ago in this country.

I am not writing to condemn anybody but for  those that make up the government at all levels irrespective of position and those that make up the populace irrespective of status to know and understand that the recitation of the national pledge should not be restricted within the confines of ceremonial functions but ought to be stretched to a practicable application in all ramifications so that we can collectively stem the tide of corruption prevalent in all the sectors of the economy.

Therefore, permit me to state unequivocally without mincing words but with absolute humility and allegiance to my fatherland that the national pledge be re-written to suit the prevailing mood of the Nation or be accorded the requisite respect as a National identity by working in absolute conformity with it’s dictations and principles.

I implore you to pause for a while, recite the national pledge from beginning to the end, analyze and bring out the salient words, then look around and see if the activities of the leaders and the led are portrayed in those words. Your guess will be as good as mine because conscience is an open wound which only the truth can heal.

To say that this country has an effective and  efficient economic system with reference to her comparative advantage over the neighboring countries in the west African sub-region is an over statement.

Over the years,  there has been steady growth in  population rate, a situation which ought to be taken care of by the provision of adequate lucrative means that will ensure even distribution of wealth, instead  the implementation of harsh policies which deter economic development becomes the order of the day extending the margin between the bourgeoisie and the proletariats.

The wound inflicted in the hearts of Nigerians as a result of the January 1, 2012 fuel subsidy removal by the federal government is still gushing out blood but instead of ensuring healing, it has been reopened with the introduction of  5,000 naira note into the nation’s money market which will obviously cause inflation as well as erode the value of naira before the international money markets.

Nigeria is by far the most populated of Africa’s countries, with more than one-seventh of the continent’s population, blessed with both human and natural resources but inefficiency in it’s management as well as administrative instability have been her greatest  undoing since independence and yet we recite the national pledge, oblivious of it’s  demands from us.

It behooves the entire citizenry irrespective of class to subject fully to  the dictates of these lines in review. There are three words assuring us of a stable, comfortable and reliable nation state if fully incorporated in  the scheme of things. “faithfulness, loyalty, honesty”. These words can transform Nigeria into a country where the  state controlled socialism and bridled capitalism will be a thing of the past, where the needs of the poor take priority over the desires of the rich, the right of the workers  over the maximization of profits, the preservation of the environment over uncontrolled industrial expansion.

, and production to meet social needs takes precedence over production for frivolities, where the principles of constitutionalism, rule of law, checks and balances, respect for fundamental human rights and civil liberties are in place, where ethnicity and tribalism do not determine who gets what, where, how, when and why, where there is even allocation of seats irrespective of religious affiliations, where justice, equity and fair play become the by-products of every government’s policy and programme.

It is indeed distressing to find  out that the distribution of income and wealth in Nigeria is so inequitable that it violates the minimum standard of distributive justice.

Therefore government at all levels as the sole custodian of national honour and glory should strive to maintain faithfulness in governance, uphold public opinion as a way of demonstrating loyalty to the electorates from whom they received mandate and support, enshrine honesty as not only paramount in individual characters but integral in the performance of governmental functions.

It is only when these are achieved that the relevance of the national pledge when recited will be significantly revealed before the glaring eyes of all and sundry.
National Daily

Onaiyekan, Sultan nominated for 2012 Nobel Peace Prize

by Bosede Olusola-Obasa

At a time when the activities of the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram, are threatening the peace of the country, two of Nigeria’s notable religious leaders have been nominated for the award of the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize.

They are the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, John Onaiyekan, and the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammed Sa’ad Abubakar III, representing Christianity and Islam respectively.

The Agence France Presse reported on Thursday that the International Peace Research Institute said that Prof. Gene Sharp of the United States, a theorist on non-violent struggle, and the Echo of Moscow radio station were the main contenders for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

The IPRI noted that Onaiyekan and the Sultan may have made the list alongside the former US President Bill Clinton, for their efforts at campaigning against the misuse of religion.

Paradoxically, the unfortunate events of the past few years have consistently signalled an erosion of peace in Nigeria, with a few aggrieved citizens predicting a likely disintegration of its corporate nationhood.

There have also been widespread threats to the possibility of continued tolerance between adherents of the two main religions.

Muslim and Christian leaders have had to query the purported religious intentions of the Boko Haram, which has brought Nigeria under siege through the bombing of Christian places of worship, shooting, killing and wanton destruction of property.

The socio-political posture of the country has constantly been battered as unconfirmed reports had pointed an accusing fingers at some bigwigs as sponsors and backers of the Islamic sect.

President Goodluck Jonathan once raised the alarm that members of the sect had found their way into his cabinet.

An elder statesman and renowned writer, Prof. Chinua Achebe, was once nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature, being one of the awards by the Nobel Foundation.

In 1986, the Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to Prof. Wole Soyinka, making him the first African to clinch the award, which was in recognition of his wide cultural perspective and literary proficiency.

The Head of the IPRI, Kristian Berg Harpviken, had described the Peace award as, “The most talked-about of the Nobel Prize awards, which appears to be a wide open race this year with no clear frontrunner.”

Harpviken, who follows the work of the Peace Prize committee closely, publishes his own list of possible winners every year.

He hinted that a total of 231 nominees have been shortlisted, and although the prize committee never discloses the nominees’ names, Bill Clinton, Helmut Kohl, the EU and WikiLeaks suspect, Bradley Manning, are known to be on the list.

“The list includes Gene Sharp, an American political theorist and expert on non-violent revolution; Russian rights group, Memorial, and its founder Svetlana Gannushkina; and independent Russian media outlet Echo of Moscow; Myanmar President Thein Sein; and the radio’s Chief Editor, Aleksei Venediktov.

Afghan human rights activist, ex-minister and burka opponent Sima Samar is also seen as a possible winner.

“The Nobel Foundation has slashed the prize sum because of the economic crisis to 8.0m Swedish kronor ($1.2m, €930,940) per award, down from the 10m kronor awarded since 2001,” he wrote.

The Peace Prize winner will be announced next Friday, although the Medicine Prize will open the award season on Monday.

In the course of the week, the Physics Prize, the Nobel Chemistry Prize and the Literature Prize will hold respectively. But the Economics Prize, which is said to have been won by the Americans over the years, will be the last prize to be announced on Oct. 15.

“This year, the juries are going to great lengths to keep the laureates’ names under wraps in the run-up to the announcements, which start on Monday, and run daily until they wind up a week later with the Economics Prize.

“While it is usually difficult to predict who will be recognised for pioneering research in the scientific fields – Medicine, Physics, Chemistry and Economics – the public can play the guessing game when it comes to the Peace and Literature prizes.

“The Swedish Academy, which awards the Nobel Literature prize, is known for its cloak-and-dagger methods to prevent any leaks about its choice, resorting to codenames for authors and fake book covers when reading in public. In line with tradition, and unlike the other prizes, the date of the Literature prize announcement is revealed only a couple of days before,” AFP reported.

Boko Haram gained international prominence in 2009 when its founder, Mohammed Yusuf, was summarily executed by policemen after soldiers had captured him.

The sect has been waging a destructive war against the Nigerian state since then.

Boko Haram stepped up its attacks against security formations and citizens in the run-up to the 2011 general elections.

It also scored with attacks on the Nigeria Police Force Headquarters in Abuja, before attacking the United Nations Headquarters in Abuja on Aug. 26, 2011.

Onaiyekan and the Sultan have however been campaigning against the activities of the sect and stressing the need for peace between the adherents of the two major religions in the country.

Punch

Finally, Cynthia Osokogu Buried in Hometown

Miss Cynthia Osokogu     

By Victor Efeizomor and Akinwale Akintunde

It was an emotion-laden moment Friday at the country home of the Osokogus in Boji-Boji Owa (Ika North East Local Government Area of Delta State) when late Miss Cynthia Osokogu was buried.

Cynthia, 25, who was a post-graduate student at the Nasarawa State University and daughter of a retired Major-General, was allegedly killed by her facebook friends after she was drugged and raped at a hotel in Festac Town in Lagos, last July.

Also Friday, Magistrate Olalekan Aka-Bashorun of Yaba Magistrate’s Court expressed dissatisfaction with the slow-pace of the trial of alleged killers of Cynthia and urged the prosecutors to fast track the proceedings.

As early as 8:30am, a crowd comprising family members, friends, and community leaders started streaming into the compound of the Osokogus awaiting the arrival of Cynthia’s body.

Her remains arrived at about 2.25pm and were received by her father, Major General Frank Osokogu. Cynthia’s mother, Joy was not present during the burial.

Thereafter, Reverend Father Leonard Biachi conducted a brief funeral mass, after which she was laid to rest. Tears flowed freely when the gravediggers began to hurl sand into the grave.

Her father, while fielding questions from journalist shortly after the burial said the exit of Cynthia had created a vacuum in the family that will be difficult to fill, adding that the family is optimistic of getting justice "now that the cases is in court."

He expressed appreciation to local and international media for the wide coverage and prominence that followed the murder of Cynthia, adding that it had helped to reawaken his confidence in the role of the press in the society.

It has been a long, painful wait for the Osokogus to put a closure on the matter. Initial plan to bury their late daughter on September 7 was stalled by the non-release of the corpse by the police in Lagos.

At the hearing of the murder case in Lagos yesterday, the Magistrate said there had been very little or no progress since the suspected killers were arrested and arraigned.

"Let us make progress in this matter. By now I expected the office of the Director of Public Prosecution to be present in court," said Magistrate Aka-Bashorun.

The defence counsels had earlier also complained that the prosecution appeared to be delaying the proceedings.

While urging the court to compel the prosecutors to show cause why the defendants should not be released on bail having spent more than 30 days in custody, the defence counsels submitted that the Criminal Justice Law of Lagos State empowers the court to summon the DPP to tell the court why the suspects should still be in prison custody.

Responding, the prosecutors, led by Superintendent Chukwu Agwu told the court they were doing all they could to facilitate speedy hearing of the matter.

According to him, the case file had been transferred to the office of the DPP and that he was merely waiting for the DPP advice.

Meanwhile, the prosecutors have consolidated the three charges pending before the court.

The charges were read to the defendants but their pleas were not taken.

Magistrate Aka-Bashorun while adjourning the matter to November 5, for mention, also ordered that all the defendants be remanded in prison custody.

In the new charge, the suspects, Okwumo Nwabufo 33; Ezike Olisaeloka 23; Orji Osita 32, Maduakor Chukwunonso 25 and Gideon Okechukwu are now facing a nine-count charge of felony, conspiracy, robbery and murder of Cynthia Osokogu.

According to the charge sheet, the suspects killed the deceased by administering ‘Rohypnol Flunitrapezam’, on her and also binding, torturing and strangling her.

ThisDay

Delta Flood: Power Plant Submerged As Monarch, 5 Others Die

By SaharaReporters, New York

At least five people, including two children and a traditional ruler, have died as a result of continued massive flooding that has ravaged parts of Delta State in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta. In addition, the floods have submerged a multi-billion naira Okpai Independent Power Plant (IPP). Large parts of Ndokwa East local government area are also under water.

The still rising flood has affected parts of Asaba, the state capital, as well as such communities as Ovrode, Ofagbe, Okpe- Isoko, Lagos Iyede, Igeh, Ikpide Irri, Ivrogno, Onogboko, Itebioge, Iyede-Ame, and Azagba. Other flooded areas include Otoka-Ekegbresi, Egbeme, Okrama-Oyede, WarriIrri, IwrieOgbokor, Ekpe, Asafo, Umeh, Aviara, Uzere, Asaba-Ase, Aboh,Kwale, and Ashaka. Isoko South and North and Ndokwa East local government areas are the most devastated.

SaharaReporters learnt that the Okpai IPP was shut down, with the road leading to Okpai in impassable condition.

In Aboh community, the flooding led to the death of a local monarch and two children. Three other persons reportedly lost their lives at the relief camp in Ivrogbo, Isoko South council area. Survivors of the flood were then relocated to St. Michael’s College  in  Oleh, the headquarters of the local government area.

The flood wreaked havoc on farms, schools, courts, health centers, markets and electricity installations. People now use canoes as the only means of getting about in the flooded communities.

In an interview, Obi Emmanuel Obiechina, a leader of the Aika community in Ndokwa East local government area, said his residence was submerged by the flood. In addition, he stated that the lives of members of his community were shattered, with most of them refugees in various communities in Delta and Anambra States. Mr. Obiechina had taken refuge in a hotel in Asaba.

The traditional ruler said that he refused to send his people to camps for displaced people set up by the state government because those in the camps were being dehumanized. He blamed the excessive flooding on dereliction of duty by the government. “We have lived in that community for more than 500 years and we have not had this kind of disaster before. It’s the opening of the dams that have now brought this flooding on us. We are so devastated and everything that the Aika people have – land, crops, houses – have been washed away.”

He said the government had failed to address issues of dams and the dredging of the Niger and Benue rivers. He added that it was wrong to blame Cameroon for the crisis, adding that Nigerian officials had failed to do what was right all these years.

Mr. Obiechina accused the Federal Government of insensitivity to the plight of his people, adding that, whilst the entire Ndokwa East was under water, government officials were amassing wealth for themselves.

The ruler said some evacuees from his community were forced to live under harsh conditions. “Some of the little children find it difficult to cope because about 17 to 20 people have to squat in one small apartment,” he said, and then called on the government to take immediate measures to alleviate the suffering.

Speaking in the same vein, the National President of Ndokwa Youth Congress, Hessington Chimennma Okolo, said that the loss of human lives to the flooding was largely avoidable.

“It is unfortunate, really unfortunate that the entire local government is submerged under water and government at all levels are running helter skelter without any coherent plan on the ground to salvage the sad situation,” said Mr. Okolo, a lawyer.

He added: “To underscore the extent of this tragedy, the Agip-run IPP had to be closed down. This shows you what my people are going through.”

He disclosed that the traditional ruler of Adiai did not survive the flood.

“The most unfortunate of it all is that this is not a natural disaster per se but a man-made tragedy. There were warnings, yet the relevant authorities kept mute. This tragedy is mostly as a result of government negligence and irresponsibility. I hear there was a warning on radio and television but the question is – how many people in the villages along the River Niger really listen to radio and television? What the government should have done was to dispatch their emergency staff to the river areas to have a one-on-one with the communities. Instead they stayed in Abuja doing jingles on television and radio.”

Meanwhile, Ossai Ossai, the member representing Ndokwa/Ukuanni Federal Constituency in the House of Representative, has moved a motion in the House calling on the Nigerian Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to live up to its responsibility.

As at the time of filling this report most of these communities have not received any support from government authorities.

Meanwhile, a health official told SaharaReporters that there was a real prospect of an outbreak of disease among displaced residents who depend on the flood water as their only source of drinking water. “There could be a major health crisis in the area,” said the source, who asked for anonymity.
 

Nigeria oil production ends in 41 years - World Bank

Nigeria’s oil reserve will be depleted in 41 years, according to a World Bank Group’s twice-yearly analysis of the issues shaping Africa’s economic prospects called Africa’s pulse.

The report which was presented by the World Bank’s chief economist for Africa, Shantayanan Devarajan, on Thursday said Nigeria’s and Angola’s oil reserves will be depleted in 41 and 21 years respectively.


“Nigeria, the largest regional producer, can keep supplying at 2011 levels for another 41 years, while Angola, the second largest producer in the region, has about 21 years remaining at current production levels before its known reserves are depleted.

“Given the size of these reserves, it is likely that the dependence on oil resources in these countries are likely to continue in the near to medium term. Production in newly oil-rich countries such as Ghana and Uganda could also last for several years.”

According to the World bank’s chief economist, Mineral wealth in African countries including Nigeria don’t translate to prosperity because the money accruing from it doesn’t pass through the citizens, and the citizens don’t see the wealth as theirs.
 (Channel TV)