Fuel scarcity returns in Abuja

  by Lanre Adewole

PUMPS in filing stations in Abuja metropolis and the outskirts are drying up again, signalling another round of fuel scarcity, especially the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol.

The tell-tale sign of such scarcity; long queues are surfacing again in the negligible number of filing station with the PMS product.

Even the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)-powered filing stations remained deserted as of Thursday.

The scarcity became noticeable last Monday, with many filing stations completely deserted due to non-availability of PMS.

By Wednesday, the queues were already bulging at the few filing stations where petrol was being dispensed, with the situation reaching a near-crisis situation on Tuesday.
Nigerian Tribune

IG rejects state police, Agbakoba backs regionalism

 by John Alechenu and Oluwole Josiah

Inspector-General of Police, Alhaji Abubakar Mohammed
| credits:

The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, has opposed the establishment of state police, saying that Nigeria is not ripe for it.

He said this at the opening of the public hearing on the Review of the 1999 Constitution held by the Senate Committee on Constitution Review, in Abuja on Thursday.

Stakeholders also differed on the creation of more states and a return to regional structures in line with the existing six geopolitical zones.

Representing the IG at the hearing, Chief Superintendent of Police, Mr. David Akpour, said the only problem of the police was that of funding, arguing that if the force was well-funded, it would be alive to its responsibilities.

He said, “It is not in the interest of the country to establish state police. Nigeria is politically immature for state police. As God cannot satisfy everyone, so the police cannot satisfy all.”

However when asked if he knew any country that operates a unitary system of government with a centralised police, Akpour could not mention any.

He however said that Nigeria was remarkably different from other countries operating state police.

While making his presentation before the committee, former Nigerian Bar Association President, Olisa Agbakoba, canvassed devolution of powers to regions created along the “six natural ethnic geopolitical framework.”

According to him, a unicameral national legislature is ideal in the proposed structure which will be responsible for dealing with national issues, while the regions would have their legislature to tackle matters affecting them.

He argued that the implications would be that the devolution of power would affect the judiciary, where the regions would have their judicial authority and autonomy.

He said, “For Nigeria to get it right, we have to agree that centralising judicial and legislative powers just cannot work. We have so much centralisation of power in one central government at Abuja, we can only get things right by massive devolution of power.”

Senator Saidu Dansadau, in his presentation, rejected the call for the creation of more states, arguing that the creation of states in the past had not translated into any meaningful economic development.

While addressing the hearing, Chairman of the committee, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, warned that the committee would not succumb to blackmail or any attempt by a few to hijack the process of the review of the Constitution.

He said, “We will ensure that tackles of ideas are traded in the open with decorum and that superior arguments prevail so that Nigerians would readily take the total credit or blame for the outcome of this exercise.

“However, I must reiterate that we will not be intimidated by any form of subtle or outright threats or blackmail. While we will endeavour to always guide the debate, providing valuable and correct information that would assist Nigerians make the right decisions of their own freewill on all the issues at stake.

“We will not take issue with anyone or group that may want to deliberately distract or inflame the whole process. We will not fear to legislate for the good of our country, just as we will never legislate in fear. Nigeria is bigger than every one individual.”

While declaring the public hearing open, the President of the Senate, David Mark, said the Senate would resist any attempt to truncate the process.

He said, “Let me assure you also that whatever view you espouse here shall ultimately count. In this most solemn of tasks, the National Assembly neither harbours any presumptions, hidden agenda, preconceptions, nor an intention to foist a fait accompli.

“It is the ultimate synthesis of the desires of the people of Nigeria, analysed and carefully considered in the context of modern realities, that will prevail. What the Senate will certainly resist is any attempt by a vocal minority to tyrannically hijack the process and impose its views on the majority.”

The public hearing continues on Friday(today) to allow more presentations on the areas for amendments.
Punch

Motorists stranded for 13 hours on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway

by Olayinka Olukoya

HUNDREDS of motorists travelling on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway were stranded for almost 13 hours between late Wednesday and Thursday following a protest by tanker drivers who blocked the highway.
The protesters were said to have blocked the highway at the Ogere end of the expressway at about 11.00 p.m. on Wednesday.

The incident, Nigerian Tribune gathered, started when some policemen were alleged to have shot at the tyres of a tanker with registration number JIGAWA XC 405 DUT which was said to have loaded petroleum product.

Confirming the development, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Muyiwa Adejobi, said that a policeman in transit attached to a VIP shot at the tyres of the tanker loaded with fuel.

The PPRO said: “We understand that a policeman attached to a VIP shot at tyres of a fuel tanker. As I speak to you, I can tell you authoritatively that the policeman is not from the Ogun State command.

“In their usual manner, other drivers blocked the road in solidarity. The police, led by the command’s Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Abdulkadir, swung into  action immediately.

“We engaged them in negotiations and they have agreed to take their tankers off the road.”

Both ends of the expressway were blocked.

Meanwhile, the Ibadan-Lagos axis of the road has been opened  as the drivers are already removing their tankers.

The Ogun State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Mr Ayobami Omiyale, had instructed motorists on both axes to make use of  alternative routes.

He said that motorists travelling from Abeokuta to Lagos should make use of the Sango Ota route while those going to Ibadan, Lagos, Sagamu, Ore and Benin should to ply Ikorodu road.

Some of the passengers said they had spent many hours in the gridlock and called on the Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency, address the issue of tanker drivers blocking the highway.

It will be recalled that similar incident happened in 2010 on the same highway.
Nigerian Tribune

Short-changing Nigerians through Online Flight Booking

Laptop


Hundreds of Nigerians are denied flight seats every week by Aero Contractors, which devised a novel system of airlifting passengers one hour before its advertised take-off time, Chinedu Eze reports

One of Nigeria’s major carriers, Aero Contractors, has been leaving its numerous passengers behind.
These are passengers who are due to travel, who have met all the conditions to travel and who arrive at the departure hall as scheduled. Most of the passengers, who are left behind, according to THISDAY checks, are those who booked their flights online, checked in online and printed their boarding passes.
What Aero does is that when you check in online, you get your boarding pass that will give you your seat number, the time of the flight and the time you will arrive at the boarding gate. But one hour before the advertised time in the boarding pass the flight would leave.

Notable Findings
THISDAY investigations and this reporter’s personal experience disclosed that a day before the flight date, Aero will send SMS message to some of the passengers that booked online and leave others. Those who get the message will arrive for boarding at the new time, while those who depend on the time on their boarding pass will miss the flight, because they will arrive at the time stated on their boarding pass.
The objective is that many people will book their flight online, pay for the flight and check in online but the capacity of the aircraft will not take in all those that booked online, so the airline uses such a strategy to drop some passengers after it has collected their fares.
Since 2009 when Aero Contractors, one of the most successful Nigerian airlines, discovered that it was in financial straits it introduced some marketing strategies to boost its finances. The airline introduced online booking and described itself as low cost, although its on-the-desk ticket purchase fare is always the highest among domestic airlines.
In June 2009 it introduced online check in and in a press statement released at the time the airline said, “Aero Contractors, Nigeria’s oldest aviation Company has launched online check in on all its domestic routes thereby allowing customers to head straight to the boarding gate, avoiding the stress of check-in desks.
“The destinations include Abuja, Lagos, Benin, Warri, Port Harcourt, Calabar, Enugu and Owerri. Customers can check in online on www.flyearo.com  seven days to four hours ahead of scheduled time of their flights,” the airline added.

Personal Experience
On September 20, 2012, this reporter booked a return ticket online from Lagos to Calabar and paid for it on September 21. The flight schedule was from Lagos to Calabar October 5 and from Calabar to Lagos October 7. On October 4 he checked in online, obtained his boarding pass which stated the time of the flight as 15:00, which is 3:00 pm Nigerian time and the flight number which was AJ 171.
Part of the information contained in the boarding pass includes, “Please note that you have already checked in. You must be present at the boarding gate in the departure lounge not later than 40 minutes before departure. The time shown on the flight coupon (boarding pass) is the departure time of the aircraft.”
With everything in place this reporter arrived at the domestic terminal by 1.55 pm and was making his way to the departure lounge when out of curiosity he stopped at the Aero check-in counter to ask whether the flight to Calabar, AJ 171 has started boarding. The Aero official looked at his watch and said that the flight had taken off.
This reporter noted that the plane was supposed to take off by 3:00 pm. However the official insisted that it had taken off and asked THISDAY to meet the checking desk supervisor. The official directed him to go up to departure that the flight might still be boarding.
He literally flew through the escalator to the security screening where he removed his shoes and after passing through screening doubled the stairs to the boarding gate to see the flight being towed to the taxiway of the runway by a push back truck. That was exactly one hour before the advertised time of the flight.
The Aero attendant at the boarding gate was unperturbed. From all indications what happened was not unusual. She told this reporter to go back to the check in counter to reschedule the flight.

Customers’ Reactions
At the counter the check in counter supervisor told THISDAY and about 12 others who were kept away from the flight that he would reschedule the flight to Saturday, October 6, but many of them did not want to listen to him. They were angry for being short changed; for being deceived; and for being exploited.
One of them, a young man lurched forward with rage towards the supervisor who quickly retreated behind the check in counter and began to explain that he could reschedule the flights. But the supervisor was being accused by the passengers that he sold those seats to passengers who bought tickets later on the cash desk and paid more for them.
The supervisor denied the allegation and brought out a paper to show one of the passengers, to convince him that his own seat was empty because he did not board the flight, but he did not have his way. Four angry passengers rushed him and he retreated back again behind the counter.
The passengers left behind were so angry. They said they were not interested in scheduling their flights and they were not interested in collecting back their money because they were apparently shortchanged.
One of the passengers told this reporter that he found out that after people bought tickets online and later check in online and obtain their boarding pass, Aero would resell the tickets at high fares to those who arrived few hours before the flight take off time and who were willing to pay the exorbitant fares over the counter.
So Aero would not send SMS to those who had obtained their tickets online but whose tickets had been resold by the airline. And that explains why the airline takes off one hour before the time it advertised on the boarding pass obtained online. But when this allegation was thrown at the supervisor he denied it.
One of the passengers, a young man showed THISDAY the drugs he came to Lagos from Calabar to buy for his mother who was critically ill and who needed the drugs urgently for her recuperation. He did not know what to do. He was almost in tears, calling his people in Calabar intermittently and explaining that Aero had disappointed him; that he would not be able to arrive in Calabar that Friday.
This reporter, who rebooked the flight for October 6, later found alternative means to Calabar and on his way he received SMS rescheduling the October 6 flight by one hour behind the initially advertised time.
With the assistance of the Aero Media Consultant, this writer was able to get the airport manager of Aero in Calabar who he contacted for the return ticket from Calabar to Lagos on October 7. The airport manager told him that the flight which was scheduled for 16:45 (4:45 Nigerian time) had been rescheduled to 15:45; that is one hour ahead.
THISDAY gathered that this is the way Nigerians are on daily basis shortchanged by Aero and every day at the Lagos domestic terminal passengers are always fighting with Aero officials, but the airline callously generates operational revenue from the hapless passengers and others.

Airline Response
In an interview few months ago, the Managing Director of Aero Contractors, Captain Akin George, told THISDAY when accused that his airline shortchange passengers through online booking that there was nothing like that; that the airline was highly reputed so it could not do such thing.
“We pride ourselves on being sincere and truthful to the Nigerian public. By and large if you look at the amount of complaints that we have in relation to people who are travelling by checking online, it is less than .3 per cent. But the fact is that it is those that it affects that will come and make the noise, but those that benefit from it and travel have no need to come and say anything. On daily basis we have about 6,000 passengers a day,” George explained.

Public Outcry
Many Nigerians have reported similar issues about Aero Contractors. Last December after it cancelled its flight on December 22, 2011, on December 23 the airline wanted to abandon the passengers it cancelled their flight the previous day and wanted to airlift those scheduled to fly on that day.
Some of the passengers became violent and started destroying things at the check in counter. It was then that the supervisor called on the management and it provided another aircraft. The two aircraft boarded passengers at the same time after the airline was coerced to carry out its obligation.

NCAA Angle
When the Dana Air flight 0992 crashed on June 3, 2012 many commentators and industry operators alleged that the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) contributed to the tragic incident because it had allegedly compromised in its regulatory role. Although NCAA vehemently denied the allegation but not everyone was convinced.
The regulatory body has always been accused of over-protecting the airlines at the expense of the passengers and that explains why Aero continues to short-change people every day and it has not been stopped by NCAA.
NCAA cannot pretend not to know what has been going on because from various complaints from passengers, the regulatory body was aware of the antics of Aero Contractors but there has been no indication that NCAA had intervened on behalf of the customers.
Earlier this year the issue of over booking passengers by Aero and devising ways to deceive the passengers came up when THISDAY interviewed the Director General of NCAA, Dr Harold Demuren.
He explained, “Our consumer protection has been trying to see how to battle this. I cannot tell you how many times we had summoned Aero Contractors. We don’t say this on television. There is something we call no show and over booking. If you buy a ticket and you later change your mind we cancel you as no show. In that case there are no penalties.
“So because of that airlines are allowed to overbook. This is because when they sell tickets to the passengers it is expected that five per cent will not show up. So when they have capacity for about 100 people they sell 105 tickets because they know that five per cent will not show up. This has never gone wrong. It always worked.
“Sometimes they push it to 10 per cent. The danger of this to the airline is this: if all of them should show up, now you must compensate those ones you did not pick for the flight. That is the way airlines all over the world do. Aero has taken advantage of that and it is very wrong,” Demuren added.

Matters Arising
Before the latest antic, what Aero was doing was to close check in counters sometimes one hour or earlier before the flight time and when a customer comes after that the officials would tell that person that they had closed the counter for that destination.
So an official of Aero who wanted to be pleasant would advise a passenger to come in as early as three hours before the flight if he wanted to board the flight. By adopting the latest strategy perhaps that system was not effective enough because frustrated passengers get angrier when you tell them to pay for no show when they arrived at the airport more than one hour before the flight time in domestic services.
An insider familiar with low cost ticket sales online said that in other parts of the world the airline would on each flight advertise a number of seats which it would sell online at cheap fares and once that number of seats have been booked, the system would indicate that seats were no more available.

In that way the airline would sell the number of seats both online and across the counter to the number of passengers that would fill the aircraft, also recognising, as Demuren observed, the five per cent extra sales in case of no show.
ThisDay

Shekarau Asks Nigerians to Dump PDP in 2015

 Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau

Onyebuchi Ezigbo 

The Presidential Candidate of the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) during the 2011 presidential elections, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, has been chosen to lead the party’s opposition party merger talks

While accepting the task, Shekarau asked Nigerian electorate not to cast their votes again for the People’s Democratic Party in the 2015 general elections.

The former Governor said dumping PDP has become necessary because the party has failed more than three consecutive times to provide good governance to the people.

“The PDP has not solved any serious national problem in its thirteen years of ruling the country. PDP has failed the country and as such should quit the stage,” he said.

While inaugurating the merger committee, the ANPP National Chairman, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu charged the committee to enter into merger/alliance discussions with other opposition political parties as well as organisations and civil society groups as a way of preparing for better performance in future elections. He said the committee has six months deadline to submit a final report to the national leadership of the party.

Onu said the last past thirteen years of PDP-led administration has been marked by impunity in governance and abuse of office.

He said corruption and indolence have reached very disturbing levels as pension funds, subsidy payments have been grossly abused.

“For the past thirteen years, the price of crude oil in the international market has remained high. For a very long period, one barrel of crude oil sold for more than a hundred dollars. We cannot easily forget that about fourteen years ago, by 1998/1999, when Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar served as military Head of State, one barrel of crude oil fetched as low as nine dollars and even less,” he added.

“Our national treasury has received, in the past thirteen years, more money than it had in the forty years before then. Yet the level of poverty has continued to increase and worsen. By government statistics, two out of every three Nigerians are poor. What a shame, “ he said.

Onu lamented that the high level of insecurity in the country is such that no one anymore even mentions armed robbery attacks either on our roads or in our homes.

He charged the Shekarau-led committee take a general look at the party and recommend ways to make it more attractive, particularly on ways to getting party leaders to show more interest in the affairs of the party, including how to best fund it’s operations.

He also mandated the committee to identify party leaders and key political actors across the country with a view to getting them to join us.

ThisDay

Tambuwal: House Determined to Fight Corruption, Bad Leadership

 National Assembly Complex

Onwuka Nzeshi 

Speaker of the House of Representatives,  Hon. Aminu  Tambuwal,  Thursday affirmed that  the House will not relent in its efforts  at tackling  corruption and  bad leadership in the country.

Tambuwal made  the pledge  when South-east leaders under the auspices of South-east Peoples Assembly paid him a  courtesy visit at the National Assembly.

The delegation which was led by Chief Mbazulike Amaechi  included  Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Dr. Walter Ofonagoro, Prof. Anya O. Anya, Senator Sylvanus Ngele, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Comrade Peace Obiajulu, and a host of others.

Tambuwal received the delegation alongside the Deputy Speaker, Hon.  Emeka Ihedioha. The leadership of the House later held a  closed door session with the visitors.

Mbazulike commended the  leadership of the House  for the effective manner they championed the battle against corruption in the oil sector and urged  them to remain consistent.

In his remarks at the opening session,  Tambuwal challenged political office holders to be fair and equitable in the  discharge of  their  responsibilities.
He also enjoined  them to re-examine themselves and their activities with a view to ensuring that the  benefits of democracy get to all Nigerians.

Tambuwal  disclosed  that the House was being driven by the zeal to  ensure  that the  dividends of democracy  trickle down to the citizenry.
ThisDay

Presidency: Tambuwal’s Speech at Budget Presentation Dictatorial, Authoritative

Aminu Tambuwal

Chuks Okocha and Onwuka Nzeshi 

The Presidency Thursday criticised the speech read by the Speaker of House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, during the presentation of 2013 budget by President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday, describing it as dictatorial, over authoritative and mere grandstanding.

In a swift reaction, the Speaker said his remarks and that of the Senate President, David Mark, were in conformity with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

On his part, Senate President, said Okupe was ill informed.
The Presidency said the decision not to frivolously release funds to ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), was in pursuit of due process adding that the era of releasing funds to be squandered was over. “The era of father Christmas in the release of funds without due process has gone,” it said.

Addressing journalists in Abuja, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, said the decision of the National Assembly to insist that the 2013 Appropriation Bill would be based on $80 per barrel instead of the $75 benchmark was ‘’dictatorial and over authoritative in over ruling the President.’’

Okupe who compared the 2013 budget benchmark of other countries with that of Nigeria, said the aim of pegging the 2013 Budget at $75 per barrel was meant to avert the danger of crash in the global price of crude oil. He gave the instance of 2008 when the budget benchmark of $147 crashed to $38 as one of the reasons the Federal Government opted to exercise caution.

While comparing the budget with other countries, he said the 2013 Algerian budget was benchmarked at $37, Qatar, $57, Venezuela, $50, Saudi Arabia, $50, Angola, $77, Kuwait, $66, insisting that pegging Nigeria’s budget bill at $75 was based on actual market realities.

Okupe further said the 2013 budget was based “on extra conservatism and undue recklessness of consuming all federally collected revenues.”Therefore, the President’s aide accused the speaker of “merely playing to the gallery.”

Okupe said “the projection of the budget on $75 was to address the increasing question of budget deficit,” arguing that there would be no bottleneck in the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) in the release of capital votes, insisting that “it is aimed to check contract inflation and over invoicing and therefore national revenue should not be squandered on the altar of speedily release of funds. The process of releasing funds to MDAS will not be abridged.”

Okupe who said it was not true that capital votes had not been released as at when due, explained that so far, over 53 per cent of the 2012 budget, which he said represented about N711.6 billion, had been released, considering the fact that the budget was passed in April this year.

Okupe said Jonathan expected federal lawmakers to do extensive legislative work on the Appropriation Bill and explained that the President ought to be commended and not condemned for presenting the budget on time. He further said it was the handiwork of a qualified Economic Management Team, whose efforts he said required a global commendation adding that the move had attracted investors’ confidence on Nigerian economy.

On alleged non-implementation of the National Assembly resolution, Okupe said “though, the resolutions of the National assembly are advice without the force of law, it contains weighty issues,” it will not be fair for the National Assembly to single out the Director General of the BPE for dismissal, saying she was not there when most of the transactions complained of, took place.

In statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Kola Ologbondiyan, Mark said it was wrong for Okupe to attack the legislature when he and President Jonathan were on the same page in the task of ensuring the actualisation of the transformation agenda of the administration.

He added that it was strange that Okupe would attempt to create unnecessary disaffection between the legislature and the executive.

“It is common knowledge that budgets are estimates of revenues and expenditures of the Federation for the next financial year. Section 81 of the1999 Constitution (as amended) is very explicit. The position of the Senate which was expressed by the President of the Senate is that in line with constitutional provisions, the legislature has a right of appropriation.

“Okupe as a public affairs manager has a responsibility to make friends and create a harmonious working relationship between the executive and other arms of government. His job is not to make enemies and create unfavorable atmosphere for Mr. President.

“We take exception to such unwarranted attack on the Office of the President of the Senate and we urge Dr. Okupe to know his limits.”

Tambuwal in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Malam Imam Imam, said all statements by the two leaders were backed by facts and figures from field studies by the legislators and expert advice.

“It is apparent that Okupe is dabbling into areas where he is totally ignorant about.

“The uncouth manner in which he replied elected representatives showed his apparent lack of respect to the legislature as an institution. The entire remarks he made gave him out as an overzealous official doing a hatchet job in order to be relevant in the scheme of things.

“The Speaker and the House of Representatives will always stand by the tenets of good governance and true representation at all times,” the statement stated.

Also, the Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Media and Publicity, Hon. Victor  Ogene, said the executive arm of government was  chasing 

shadows rather than substance

He stated Tambuwal  was  not on a popularity contest with any official in the executive arm of government.

In apparent response to the characterisation of Tambuwal as a  dictator, Ogene said that Tambuwal had always acted in consonance with the wishes of his colleagues and the aspirations of the Nigerian people.

“Tambuwal  embodies the wishes and aspiration of the Nigerian People, and expresses, at every point, only the position of the 360- member House of Representatives.

“For a time-worm political jobber like Dr. Okupe, whose antecedents in government is all too familiar, to attempt, therefore, to seek relevance by taking ill – considered  pot-shots at the House only bespeak the tragedy which has befallen governance, whereby shadows are chased, instead of substance.

“For Okupe to seek to denounce this position simply because some other oil producing nations have lower benchmark of $75 proposed by the Executive clearly shows how the Nigerian economy is run, in a do – as – I – do fashion.

ThisDay