President Jonathan spent N3.3 billion on 20 trips abroad in 2012

Billions of naira of taxpayers’ money have been expended on the foreign trips of President Goodluck Jonathan despite his January promise to cut down on such trips.
This newspaper’s findings show that the President and his entourage have spent not less than N3.354bn on foreign trips since 2010.
Our correspondent learnt that in the first 11 months of 2012, the President had travelled out of the country at least 20 times, including his trip to Sierra Leone in October and the D8 Summit he attended in Pakistan in November.
In September alone, Jonathan travelled out of the country four times. He travelled to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for a two-day visit on September 1 for the burial of late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
Nine days later, he went to Malawi and Botswana in a cumulative three-day visit for enhancement of bilateral relationships. The President ended the month of September with another trip to New York, United States for the United Nations General Assembly
From February, 2010 when he became the Acting President to December 2010, Jonathan spent N970.891m on foreign travels.
Although the 2011 budget was silent on the expenses for the President foreign travels, investigations showed that about N1.7bn was spent on foreign trips.
According to the 2011 budget, N1.145bn was budgeted for Vice-President Namadi Sambo’s foreign trips.
In 2012, N N684.74m was budgeted for Jonathan’s foreign travels and he had travelled out of the country 19 times.
Although the 2013 budget recently submitted to the National Assembly by Jonathan suggested that N2.6bn would be spent on his foreign trips next year, investigations have shown that much more than the quoted figure will be spent and is being spent judging by the expenses the country incurs during such trips.
The expenses incur include and are not limited to airfares for members of the President’s delegation who will travel on commercial flights, cost of procuring travel visas for them, estacodes for members of the delegation, fuelling of the presidential jets as well as other logistics.
Only the President and his very top aides fly on the presidential jets.
Industry source told one of our correspondents that airfare to and fro any European countries in the Economy category could vary from N110,000 to N150,000 per person depending on the timing and the destinations.
She added that for the Business class, the fare ranged from N600, 000 to N700,000 per person depending on the category of the Business Class (there are three categories), the timing and destination.
Prevailing exchange rate at the time of purchase is also said to be a factor.
The source added that corporate purchase like Aso Rock would do, could also attract discounts.
The President was said to have jetted out to different destinations in Africa, Europe, Asia, North America and South America during his Presidency.
Jonathan, in 2011 alone, visited several countries including United States, France, Uganda, Australia, Ghana, Chad, Equatorial Guinea and Ethiopia among others.
The size of his entourage varies depending on the country he is visiting and the purpose of such visit.
While top aides and officials of the Presidential Villa are regular faces on such trips, ministries relevant to the purpose of his overseas trips also send delegations.
Lately, the President had also resolved to always go on foreign trips with two members of the National Assembly (one from each chamber) who serve on the committee related to his purpose of visit.
State governors are also on the entourage.
For example, an online news site, Saharareporters, had in June reported that Jonathan travelled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the United Nations’ Earth Summit with 116 government officials.
Although the Presidency faulted the number, it did not offer the exact number despite a request made by the news site.
The breakdown of the delegation was given as 25 personal aides, 18 aides of Mrs. Patience Jonathan, two members of the National Assembly, five ministers, two state governors, and 63 officials from the Ministries of Environment, Foreign Affairs, National Planning and Petroleum Resources.
When the President visited Brussels for the World Customs Conference in the same month, the same medium reported that he went with about 57 people, including 26 aides, three ministers, eight members of the National Assembly, and 20 other government officials.
The same month, Patience Jonathan was in Maryland, United States, to attend a UNESCO First Lady’s “Youth Infusion” Summit and was reportedly accompanied by 36 people: 18 aides, four wives of state governors, and 14 friends and associates.
Investigation showed that in September 2012, Jonathan jetted out of the country four times. He visited Ethiopia Malawi, Botswana and New York, United States for the UN General Assembly.
He had reportedly visited Trinidad and Tobago earlier with a 70-member delegation.
Jonathan had said in a national broadcast in January, “I have directed that overseas travels by all political office-holders, including the President, should be reduced to the barest minimum. The size of delegations on foreign trips will also be drastically reduced; only trips that are absolutely necessary will be approved.”
 DailyPost

Pastor, others arrested for drugs trafficking in Osun State

The law has finally caught up with a pastor and a 27 year-old man for the patronage of Indian hemp. The two men were arrested by National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Osun State for the possession of 181 bags of cannabis sativa popularly known as Indian hemp.
Anthonia Edeh, the sector commander of the Agency, told newsmen in Oshogbo about the unfortunate arrest.
According to her, the 45-year-old pastor, and his accomplice were arrested at Ikire in Irewole Local Government Area of the state on Dec. 5, with the illicit weed weighing 1,838.4 kilogramme.
Men of the command swooped into action based on the information received from patriotic Nigerians and arrested the two suspects in a three bedroom apartment, where the bags of Indian hemp were stocked,” she said.
Edeh also revealed that although three other suspects including a woman escaped arrest, the agency were able to seize the bags filled with cannabis seeds, which they had wanted to keep for the next planting season.
Efforts are ongoing to nab the fleeing culprits, though the pastor is claiming being innocent of the crime, saying that he was only a co-tenant of the other suspect.
The agency has no constitutional power to exonerate him, only the court has the power and the two men will be arraigned soon,” she said.
Meanwhile, another 68.8 kilogramme of Indian hemp, was recovered by Edeh and her men. The contraband goods were stocked inside a Volkswagen Vento car marked AW 652 AKR, on Dec. 2, along Ilobu Road in Osogbo.
Narrating how it was discovered, Edeh said the owner of the car was on the road side waiting for his suspected buyer, but took to his heels when he saw the men of NDLEA approaching him.
While reassuring the commitment of the agency to put a stop to the rampant cultivation, trafficking and peddling of hard drugs across the state, Edeh urged the public to be conscious of their environment and report any activities of drug peddlers or traffickers to the security operatives.
She also cautioned commercial drivers to be at alert and know the kind of goods they carry,“now that we are at the peak of harvesting period”, she advised.
DailyPost

2015: Presidency Has Secret Campaign Structure – S’West PDP Officials

| OLAOLU OLADIPO

Members of the South West caucus of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are grumbling over their alleged marginalisation by the Federal Government.
They have also alleged that President Goodluck Jonathan operates an alternative campaign structure to actualise his purported 2015 re-election bid.
Officials of the party in the zone, who spoke to LEADERSHIP Sunday in Lagos on condition of anonymity, lamented that the federal government had not done enough to mitigate the sense of loss of the party in the area to the rival Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
Party sources in the South west claimed that Jonathan had gone ahead to erect new campaign structures in the zone as a way of securing victory for him, should former President OlusegunObasanjo make real his decision to dump him ahead of the 2015 election.
Some leaders of the PDP in Lagos State said the Presidency through its proxies had been funding an amorphous caucus within the party to achieve the aim. They could not immediately confirm if such structure also exists in other states in the zone.
The caucus composed mainly of party members, who though based in Lagos, are from the South South and the South East geo-political zones of the country.  The members are expected to form the nucleus of his campaign in 2015.
“We are aware of the existence of a South South caucus within the PDP but what I can say is that they are party members who have been given the right and privilege of assemblage by the constitution,” a party official said.
Leadership

Why Tukur Can’t Give PDP Internal Democracy – Richards

STANLEY NKWOCHA

Reputed for his candour in public issues discourse and analysis, Daniel Richards, a social reforms advocate, politician and businessman discusses a wide range of issues with STANLEY NKWOCHA in this interview. He frowns at the nation’s stunted democracy and concludes that it is time the nation began a national dialogue.
You have chosen to operate politically without any platform. Why?
I have taken it upon myself to practice a personal idea-based politics, because I have not seen any political party in Nigeria that is driven by ideas or formed by people of courage. What I do is try to find out people with potentials to take us to the next level and support them. Politics in Nigeria is like a personal or communal enterprise; if you join one party today and it doesn’t favour you, then you keep moving from one political party to another.
I have a friend who is currently in his ninth party since 1999; from the APGA, ANPP, CPC and the rest. If this kind of person is elected into an executive office, where will his loyalty be? How can he make an impact on society? He started in the morning in PDP and by afternoon, he was in the ANPP, in the evening he was already in the DPP. If you support this fellow in the morning, how do you form a partnership with him, if by evening he is already in another party?
Therefore for me, Nigeria is at a crossroads; that is why I do things on my own. For instance, two weeks ago, I came from my village in Gombi Local Government Area of Adamawa state where I took it upon myself to feed a secondary school. Government schools don’t have meals anymore and students hardly stay in school so I used my money to feed them.
Unfortunately, in Adamawa state where I come from, government has refused to pay WAEC fees; so, all the investment I have made have gone to the students who came to me and complained that they have finished WAEC but can’t get their results. The problem is that the nominal fees that government usually pays, our own state government has not paid.
As for the WAEC fees, it is paid by the government; WAEC only issues the candidates their number and certificates. In my state, this money has not been paid, but they will write the exams, alright. The only thing is that WAEC will withhold the results, until the money has been paid.
The parents are running helter-skelter, trying to see if they can pay it themselves. In the case of the school I told you, I have gotten their names and will pay the fees for them. That done, I can go to WAEC and request the release of their results.
When you say dividends of democracy, it has nothing to do with roads, electricity and all that – it is about the full participation of people like me and you. If participation is impossible, forget roads, electricity and the rest.
Like I was saying Nigeria is becoming really dysfunctional and unless we take up arms in protest, we are not likely to make it. If you see what is happening in the country today, I don’t think it can happen anywhere else.
By saying that unless we take up arms in protest, are you advocating for a violent revolution?
A disabled person is not a useless person; it is just that God wants him so to learn some lessons in life. Our disability as a nation is based on how this country was founded; this disability should have helped us like the case of the Paralympics games to London.
You are aware that it was people with physical disabilities that brought medals. What I am saying in essence is that, we can use our disability as our source of strength; if we come out of our disability, it will help us as to where we can go.  But we need to talk.
Now that the process of reviewing the constitution has gone as far as the Zonal levels, what areas would you want to be addressed?
What I don’t even understand is why  they should even take it to the zones? This is a Nigerian issue, why must it be zoned; why can’t we have a general idea of sitting together? How do we trust the people in the South-South zone now that their man is in power?
How can I trust someone in Kogi or someone up there in the north, who thinks his interests supersede any other person’s? Why don’t we have a national discourse where we can sit and agree on something? Why should an important issue like Constitution review be zoned again? Why don’t we agree in Abuja, Lagos or wherever so that we have a Constitution that is nationally addressed?
By sending these parliamentarians to the zones, seriously, what are we expecting? Most of them got there without the votes of the electorate, so whose interest are they going to serve?

But the National Assembly is composed of the peoples’ representatives, is it not so?
First and foremost, let us understand one thing. If you refer to the National Assembly as representatives of the people, we must understand one thing namely that 94 percent of all of them got their mandates through the courts; either at the Tribunals, Appeal Court or Supreme Court. Who are they then representing? If any member got his mandate either from the Tribunal, Appeal Court or Supreme Court, is he representing me? How can we come together when some want more states; are we then going to give everybody what they want?
The way this country has been designed, we will never break up; a country where you write free cheques, Jonathan will collect his own and share to others, the governors will also collect theirs and share. So, this fear of break up will not happen because nobody will collect free cheque and go. Therefore the idea that we will split doesn’t even exist because nobody will want to leave this free cheque; if this were possible, it would have been long ago.
We went through the civil war and several other crises but the only thing keeping us together is this monthly cheque. So, we can use this opportunity to agree and discuss this matter. From 1999 till date all the four presidential elections were decided by the Supreme Court. We have seven voters in the Supreme Court who decide presidential elections in Nigeria.
Are there lessons we could learn from the recently held US elections?
I don’t think we can learn any lessons from the US election because we are running a completely different system. This idea of America has been doing it for over 200 years does not count. If you are going on a journey, there must be a starting point. In this country, we don’t even have a starting point. If you look at the PDP, for instance, you can’t call it a political party because of the way it was formed. Even where we are now, you know that the PDP has been saying they will rule Nigeria for sixty years.
So, it is predetermined elections that we have been having which means the PDP will continue to win elections time and time again. If you want to make comparisms, there is no way the Democratic Party in the US can claim to rule America for two or three terms because they know they will get their mandate from the people. But PDP knows that their mandate will come from the Supreme Court; that is why they can continue to rule for the next sixty years.
You are known to be linked to candidates of different political parties. Why is this so?
Like I said earlier I identify with people that have ideas; people that can deliver in the midst of this confusion-whether in CPC, APGA or ACN. For instance, I supported ACN now in Adamawa State and already they have told me that I am doing Yoruba politics. The fact of the matter is that the PDP as a ruling party says they will continue to rule for sixty years and they know exactly what they are talking about.
You have been following trends within the ruling PDP; the current National chairman, Bamanga Tukur, has initiated a process of reconciliation and promised to entrench internal democracy. Is this feasible?
But you know the way Bamanga emerged. A situation whereby people were already discounted; when they said the PDP had zoned the National Chairmanship to the North East zone; what happened? All of us stupidly went to Bauchi, our zonal capital; conducted an election and Bamanga got two votes.
What manner of democracy are we talking about; the same Bamanga is now preaching internal democracy-the process that he did not follow?
Leadership

Jonathan Urges Nigerians To Put Aside Religious Differences, Embrace Unity

President Goodluck Jonathan has urged Nigerians to put aside all religious differences and strive to build one great and united nation.
Jonathan made the appeal at the 7^th edition of ``The Experience’’, a gospel musical show held at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), Lagos on Friday night.    
``There’s nothing we cannot accomplish as a nation as long as we can put aside our religious differences. The road ahead demands great sacrifices but there is no shortcut to greatness,” he said.
He said though 2012 had been a very challenging year for the country, it was a testament to the indomitable spirit of the people they could still gather to thank God.
The president, who spoke via a recorded video message projected to a big screen at the venue, said: ``This is an evidence that the Nigeria we dream of can be achieved.’’
He thanked Nigerians for praying for the country and said: ``As long as there are committed Nigerians praying for our leaders, there shall be success.’’
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the programme which had more than 500,000 people in attendance was organised by Pastor Paul Adefarasin of the House on the Rock Church.
Gospel artists that featured included Don Moen, Chevelle Franklyn, Deitrick Haddon, Israel Houghton, Fred Hammond, John Francis and Micah Stampley.
There were also performances by Sammie Okposo, Mike Aremu, Timi Dakolo, South Africa’s Soweto Spiritual Singers, Chosen Treasure, the choir of House on the Rocks and Michelle Williams who rendered the Nigerian anthem.
The event also featured great men of God who led the congregation in prayers for the country.
Among the ministers of the gospel were former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, who registered his joy at being at this year’s event.
He congratulated the convener, Adefarasin, on a very successful event.
Gowon lamented the present situation in some parts of northern Nigeria.
 “What is happening in the north bleeds my heart. I thought after the bloodshed we’ve had over the years, we will not have any more but sadly we are still having it.
“Prayers are better than guns and weapons,” he said, as he led the congregation in prayers.
Rev. Felix Meduonye of the Foursquare Gospel Church prayed for improved infrastructure and electricity in Nigeria.
Among dignitaries at the programme were the First Lady of Lagos State, Mrs Abimbola Fashola, Gov. Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State and his wife and Ayo Oritsejafor the president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).
Leadership

No end in sight to fuel scarcity – NUPENG

By UDEME CLEMENT
If the Federal Government does not take proactive steps to improve importation of petroleum products and boost the supply chain for products to be sufficient ahead of the yuletide, the lingering scarcity of  petrol across the country may worsen.
Sunday Business gathered that the scarcity of petrol, which hit Lagos and some neighbouring States few months ago has taken a new dimension, as cost of transportation and food items are skyrocketing following the persistent scarcity.
Notwithstanding the assurance given by the Minister of Petroleum, Mrs Diezani Alliso-Madueke, about the effort of Government to increase the supply of petroleum products to prevent scarcity during the festive period, a litre of fuel in some service outlets was, last week,  sold for about N150, as against the official pump price of N97.
Transport fares on many routes have shot up by over 20 per cent in Lagos , while the prices of consumable items in the market are increasing by the day. Many economic experts attributed the increase in the prices of goods and services to the multiplier effect of fuel shortage across the country.
When Sunday Business visited Ketu and Mile 12 markets in Lagos, it was observed that a bag of rice was sold for between N10, 000 and N10,500 instead of the initial price of N8,000; a tin of vegetable oil  for N1,900 instead of N1,500, a unit of six tubers of yam  for N1,800 and above depending on the sizes, instead of N1,200; a medium sized basket of tomato for N11,000 and above instead of N7,000.

Vehicles queuing for fuel at the central area of Abuja recently

It was also observed that some filling stations were not selling petrol because they had no supply of product. Some of the stations visited include MRS, Oando, NIPCO, Conoil, Total, Mobil and AP.
When contacted, the Western Zonal Chairman, National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Alhaji Tokunbo Korodo, said, “There is no solution to the lingering petrol scarcity unless the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) urgently repairs Arepo distribution pipelines vandalised recently by hoodlums, in order to boost fuel supply to Western axis of System 2B. The reality is that the people within the region where fuel is supplied through the Western axis of system 2B of NNPC will continue to experience scarcity until the Arepo pipelines are repaired.”
He went on, “At present, NNPC is supplying fuel with trucks, but, without these pipelines, there is no way the trucking of product can be effectively done to meet the increasing demand in the country. The damaged pipelines are the sources of product to Mosimi, the headquarters of system 2B in Shagamu while from Mosimi, the product is pumped to Ibadan , from there to Ilorin , and from Mosimi again to Ore and Lagos .
“Therefore, the continuous denial of the distribution network makes all the areas getting supply of petrol from the axis of system 2B to have shortage of fuel. Again, what NNPC is doing now is not helping the situation. What we are saying is that the scarcity will persist until the pipelines are fixed to ensure effective distribution of product.”
SundayVanguard

Nigeria’s five bankable actresses

•How they broke the glass ceiling
By Samuel Olatunji
Four elements contribute to the success of a movie at the box-office. They include good script, experienced director, professional publicist, and most importantly, the big name stars.
Of all the four, there is one a producer should never violate at the market place and that is the ‘star’ aspect of it. There could be a bad script, inexperienced director and not too good publicity for the movie but it is almost impossible to have Return On Investment (ROI) with un-bankable stars.
Wikipedia defines a bankable star to be an actor famous or charismatic enough to be “capable of guaranteeing box-office success simply by showing up in a movie”. It is common knowledge that a Will Smith will sell any movie no matter how bad as long as he has his face on the jacket.
In Nigeria, some movie stars have proven again and again that they can guarantee return on investment as long as their faces adorn the poster. They are Genevieve Nnaji, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, Omoni Oboli, Funke Akindele and Nse Ikpe-Etim. Or how else could one explain the success of box office hits like Mirror Boy, Ije, and Tango With Me all having Genevieve Nnaji starring in them? And what about Figurine and Anchor Baby which both starred Omoni Oboli as the lead actress?
Mirror Boy, Tango With Me, Last Flight to Abuja and Phone Swap all had sizeable negative reviews, yet they topped the box office, made huge profit and left many Hollywood movies far behind. Here, The Entertainer takes a look at Nollywood’s five bankable actresses, their earnings and what is possibly working for them.

Genevieve Nnaji
Topping the list of five is Genevieve Nnaji. Love or hate her, Genny as she is fondly called, has a way with cinema audiences that make them come back again and again for her movies.
So far, Genevieve’s starring in the movies has grossed over N83 million at the box office. Mirror Boy (described by the actress as her first major film and the first to put her at the box-office) made N18 million, while Ije netted N60 million turning out to be Nigeria’s highest grossing movie ever. But Genevieve had to share the money with Omotola, who also acted alongside her. If the sharing formula is 50-50, then Genevieve gets N30 million of the total gross.
Genevieve’s next movie, Tango with Me went on to make N35 million. So, putting all the figures together, Genny remains at the head of the pack. What seem to be working for Genevieve are her enduring power, popularity and social media connection. The actress has been there for over a decade and is still waxing stronger. Her wine seems to taste better with age.
Another plus for Genny is her popularity. Genevieve is hugely popular across Africa and most especially among the youths. Before now, she has been very active on the social media especially Twitter. She even had to put up a Facebook advert after reports emerged that some acts were ahead of her there.

Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde
Next on the list is Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde with box-office gross of N60 million. She made N24 million with Last Flight to Abuja, N6 million from Private Storm and her N30 million share in Ije bring her total earning to N60 million.
This year alone, no actress has made as much as N24 million from a single movie; Funke Akindele would have done so with The Return of Jenifa but the movie hit the box office in 2011.
Omotola, who was reported to have been paid N5 million by Tarila Thompson all in the bid to make his movie a blockbuster, has been described as the biggest box office actress of 2012. She recorded successes back to back but it remains to be seen if she can pull off the box office magic again with Amina and other movies coming in 2013.
Omotola has been an A-list actress even before Genevieve got her first big break and so what has been working for her is the wise investment in her brand. Her enduring presence and unceasing contact with her fans via the social media has made her popular even in an environment where a mother of four like her is not fashionable.

Funke Akindele
Surprisingly, the third person on the list is Funke Akindele, a young lady who rose to fame in I Need To Know, a TV series, and went on to earn a monstrous fame with Jenifa.
Funke is an unlikely candidate on this list. Now, how can one explain that she is third on a list parading heavy weights like Omoni Oboli, Nse Ikpe-Etim and Stephanie Okereke among others?
So far, Funke has made over N56 million, netting over N20 million in 2012 alone. In The Return of Jenifa, Funke netted N35 million. The movie ran till February 2012. Her movie, Married but Living Single made N9.9 million while Maami made N11 million. The actress is on her way to another cinema glory with a movie, A Wish. Let’s hope she will be able to wave the magical wand again and create a box-office success.
For Funke who recently got married, the plus factor for her is her huge popularity among the masses and elites. Her movie, Jenifa cuts across all social groups with the street parlance in it becoming the mode of communication in social gathering. And as an icing on the cake, Funke has moved upscale, she is now the toast of events organized by the rich and not so rich. Her box office credibility transcends the cinema as all DVDs parading her face turn into gold.

Omoni Oboli
Omoni Oboli, who is still largely unknown to those who don’t patronise the cinema and social media, is fourth on the list. She is a silent achiever. Before the trio of Genevieve, Omotola and Funke even dreamt of hitting the box office, Omoni Oboli already took the lead. Figurine, her first box office appearance made N13 million while her second effort, Anchor Baby made N18 million bringing her total earning to N31million.
Omoni’s strength is her exclusivity and knack for quality. It is a known fact that if the project is not big and ambitious, Omoni might not do it. The disadvantage of that is, despite her box office credibility, Omoni is still unknown in areas where there is no access to cinemas. Perhaps, that is the reason she tries to make up with the red carpet presence.
For now, the exclusivity is working for Omoni; perhaps her new movie, Broken and other works will introduce a new twist. One other thing that should not be forgotten is the unprecedented publicity of Anchor Baby in 2010. The film also had Omoni at the forefront of meeting and greeting of fans at the cinemas.

Nse Ikpe-Etim
The fifth slot belongs to Nse Ikpe-Etim. She seems to be the latest sensation in big budget movies. In Mr and Mrs, Nse was a delight, her performance was a reference point and it was a hook that kept drawing people to the cinema while the movie was there.
Mr and Mrs made N6 million while another of her film, Phone Swap made N20 million, making a total of N26 million.
Too early for Nse to cement her place, as she hasn’t done N15 million back-to-back but one thing the actress has made clear is that she has intention of doing that. The leading four acts should be afraid of Nse because her strength lies in her pure acting talent.
Nse is born to act, deemed to be unnecessarily assertive a times, but you can’t accuse her of not knowing her lines. And she pushes her movies with virgour, moving from one cinema to the other.
However, Nse should watch it as many have accused her of being too ‘self-conscious’, a term casually used for budding stars who have ‘over-hyped’ impression of themselves as this could alienate fans who make the box-office count.

Rita Dominic and Stephanie Okereke
Rita Dominic and Stephanie Okereke should readily make the list but they haven’t appeared at the cinemas more than once. Hopefully, Rita will break into the list with The Meeting, Lion of 76 and Street of Calabar while Stephanie already had N10 million under her belt with Through the Glass.
Of course, there are exceptions to the rules. A bankable star makes easier the job of a producer; the absence of one, however, is not a ready-made doom for a movie as Avatar and Slumdog Millionaire (both global box office hits) have shown. But if one would take a risk or err, it’s better to err on the part of caution.
TheSun