DPR confirms Nigeria now imports diesel and gas from Niger Republic

Kano Controller, Department of Petroleum Product (DPR), Alhaji Sayyadi Suleiman Abubakar has revealed that Nigerian Marketers now import AGO and Liquefied Petroleum Gas(LPG) from neighboring OPEC membercountry, Niger Republic.
Briefing reporters in his office on the activities of his department, Alhaji Sayyadi Suleiman Abubakar explained that the two products are in the exclusive list of deregulated items, adding that “it could be acquired from anywhere and sold in the Nigerian market.
Alhaji Abubakar said that such importation does not attract any financial commitment from the federal Government, maintaining that the DPR does not regulate their market prices unlike the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).
The Controller who responded to a question on whether the Department has the power to regulate prices said, “yes, Nigeria now imports AGO, that is Diesel, and LPG, otherwise known as Gas from Niger Republic, and I want to state clearly that this venture does not attract any financial commitment from the federal Government”.
Alhaji Abubakar further revealed that the Department has sealed no fewer than 10 service stations and destroyed two illegal fuel dumps within and around Kano, in the last couple of weeks, for selling products above the official pump price stated that the “affected companies were appropriately sanctioned.”
 DailyPost

Segun Odegbami: Counting on Mikel to be a Messi

There is simply no getting away from the issue of Lionel Messi these days. In April I described Barcelona as the greatest team in history and Lionel Messi as the greatest player.
The reactions were fast and furious: my assertion was premature. Messi had not won the World Cup with his country’s national team like Maradona and Pele. Messi had not played enough games or scored enough goals like Pele and Gerd Muller. The critics were obviously looking more at the statistics than what Messi was doing with the ball.
Now, it is obvious I was prophetic.
Eight months later, the world is looking beyond the statistics. At 25, with years still left in his feet and goals in his boots, Messi has already re-written football history. At the last count he has scored, arguably, more goals in one football season than anyone else in history. He achieved this feat in less matches than the man who is generally believed (in the absence of acceptable universal data) to hold the record, Gerd Muller.
When Messi is eventually crowned the world’s best player again this year, he will be setting another record as the first person in history to be crowned the world’s best four times. Hopefully he still has time on his side to add to that number before he quits the game.
Lionel Messi, week after week, is doing to football what Picasso did to art, what Albert Enstein did to science, and what Mandela is doing to humanity!
Thoughts of him bring up the second thing on my mind – Afcon 2013.
What has Lionel Messi got to do with Africa’s greatest football show? The answer is Mikel Obi, the Nigerian defensive midfield player making his mark quietly in the colours of Chelsea and the Super Eagles of Nigeria.
Seven years ago Messi and Mikel, both 18 years old at the time, competed on the same stage for who would be the best young player in the world. That epic ‘battle’ was fought at the 2005 World Youth Championship in Holland.
Messi and Mikel both captained their national under-20 teams to the championship. Argentina and Nigeria met at the finals in an encounter that provided a sneak preview of the future. On the night, Argentina won with two moments of magic provided by Lionel Messi.
He conjured the two penalty kicks that separated the two teams. They were moments of brilliance and sheer magic in the dying minutes of a hard-fought match that saw both players struggle to dominate the midfield.
Messi’s goals provided the slim edge over Mikel, who had conducted Nigeria’s midfield with the elegance, composure, confidence and efficiency of a maestro. So good were both players that, at the end of the championship, Messi was crowned king and Mikel was named second best player.
Since then both players have charted different paths, only meeting again this past season in the semifinal of the European Club Championships, where Mikel and Chelsea had the upper hand over Messi and Barcelona in terms of the final result.
Messi will not be at Afcon 2013. Mikel will be.
There is increasing expectation and mounting pressure by Nigerians for the Super Eagles to win Afcon 2013.
That’s where Mikel comes in. Nigerians are counting on him playing at his best again these days, to use his vast experience and leadership to lead Nigeria’s onslaught.
The man is getting used to winning championships. There is something about Mikel that is special and confounding.
He brings all of that to the Super Eagles. With his quiet mien and conservative but consistent performances, Mikel Obi could just be the joker up the sleeve with which Nigeria can win the African championship. He is on my mind.
DailyPost

Late Co-Pilot’s Widow Kept Under Close Watch By Family

It is not an easy burden to bear the news of the loss of a loved one especially when you look forward to a lifetime with them – it is simply unbearable and that is why Eniola, wife of Lt. Adeyemi Sowole, the co-pilot of the Navy helicopter that crashed in Bayelsa State on Saturday, is being closely monitored by members of her family.

ADEYEMI & ENIOLA AT THEIR WEDDING LAST YEAR APRIL

According to a family member, Eniola is devastated, which is why her parents and her husband’s family are not leaving her present state to chances.
Eniola and Adeyemi who got married in April 2011, have an 11-month-old daughter, Teniola who has been placed under the care of her maternal grandmother.
“She (Eniola) is actually doing better today (Wednesday). But she’s been taken to hospital a number of times. Right now, we are just trying our best to give her support and be with her,” said Mrs. Funke Kalejaye, the co-pilot’s sister.
Meanwhile, the Iyana Ipaja Lagos home of the Sowoles has turned into a mecca of sorts as sympathizers continue to troop in to offer the family their condolence and pray for the repose of the late pilot.
InformationNigeria

Christians Will Be Protected Under My Administration – Kaduna Gov

Kaduna State Governor  Mukhtar Yero on Thursday reiterated his commitment towards administering the state without any form of discrimination.

PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN (L) WITH GOV.MUKHTAR YERO OF KADUNA STATE EXCHANGING PLEASANTRIES AT THE BURIAL OF
LATE GOV. PATRICK YAKOWA IN KAGOMA KADUNA ON THURSDAY

Yero made the declaration  at the funeral of his former boss, Governor Patrick Yakowa, who died in Saturday’s helicopter crash in Bayelsa State,  in Fadan Kagoma, Jema’a Local Government.
He said, “It is pertinent for me to declare in unequivocal terms that I will be governor for all and sundry irrespective of religion, ethnicity or geo-political consideration.
“Let me in particular, assure the Christian community in the state that my government will do everything to protect their rights and privileges as guaranteed by the constitution.”
Yero also assured the completion of projects initiated by his predecessor when he said, “I wish to reiterate my commitment to complete all projects initiated by my predecessor across the state.
“They were all conceived after very careful consideration and in order to keep alive his aspiration of improving the quality of lives of the citizenry.”
Yero said his office would remain open for constructive criticism and initiatives on strategies to move the state affairs forward.
He said despite the security challenges bedeviling the state, his predecessor were able to achieve so much in terms of projects.
He added, “While we mourn the painful loss, we should strive to keep alive his aspiration of uniting the people of the state into a formidable force of development.
“This is the only way we can remember him” he noted.
InformationNigeria

Irabor, Kanu to run Nigeria league

The changes in the Nigeria Premier League continues today (Friday) the Nigeria Football Federation releases the names of those appointed on an interim basis run the league until a new board is constituted. The NFF board was scheduled to meet on Thursday night to fine-tune the list and the draft terms of office before the names are made public on Friday.

The PUNCH learnt that a former member of the House of Representatives Mr. Nduka Irabor has been confirmed to serve as the chairman of the interim committee. Some other members of the committee include former Super Eagles captain and two-time African Footballer of the Year, Nwankwo Kanu. Former secretary general of the NPL Salisu Abubakar; former member of the NPL Shehu Dikko and Modele Sarafa-Yusuf are other members of the 10-man committee. Current acting Executive Secretary General Tunji Babalola will continue in his position.

It will be Kanu’s first foray into football administration but Irabor would be returning to the scene after overseeing the election that was meant to give Ibrahim Galadima a second term in office in 2005.

“The names have been carefully selected since the former board was confirmed sacked in Port Harcourt last week. Some names have come up and did not really fit in for the level of responsibility required and so were dropped. The NFF board will take a final look at this list which is believed to have general agreement of the members,” a senior football official in Abuja told our correspondent.

The committee is expected to run the league until the end of 2013. During this period, the members are to “reform and reposition” the league for proper growth in terms of administration, commercial viability and general reorganisation. They are also mandated to take final decision on the sponsorship of the league especially as it concerns the title sponsorship and broadcast rights. The league is running into its third season without any title sponsor after controversy and legal tussles truncated the bid carried out for the title sponsorship.

The league failed to kick off on December 1 as previously announced due to the crisis that engulfed the board. It is now billed to start in January just ahead of the club continental matches and the Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.

TalkofNaija

PDP To Stop Imposition Of Candidates

It might be easier believing a Leopard will change its spot than for the ruling Peoples Democartic Party, PDP, to keep to its latest vow in a list of endless unfulfilled ones – that it will no longer impose candidates at all levels of the party’s primaries or elections.

PDP NATIONAL CHAIRMAN: ALH. BAMANGA TUKUR

The party’s leadership made this decision known at the end of a retreat in Akwa Ibom where the top brass took time off to deliberate on how to develop the operational machinary of the party.
The national chairman of the party, Mr Bamanga Tukur assured members of the party that imposition of candidates would soon become a thing of the past.
InformationNigeria

Ayo Olukotun : What does President Jonathan read?

 “The reading habits of politicians matter because in what they choose to read will be found what they think and what they will do”

 – Yarn Martell (Canadian novelist)

 

As the opening quote sourced from award-winning Canadian novelist Yarn Martell suggests, what politicians, presidents especially, read or fail to read are of profound importance to gauging the quality of their minds, worldview, imaginative depth and what decisions they are likely to take. In 2011, candidate Goodluck Jonathan appeared to grasp the importance of the reading culture of leaders when he launched “a bring back the book” campaign featuring a carnival and presentation of his book entitled “My friends and I.” The book was reviewed by the Special Adviser to the President on Media, Dr. Reuben Abati.

Ennobling as that campaign was, it left out the crucial question of the reading culture of Jonathan himself, an issue that has received fresh salience in the light of some of his enigmatic pronouncements on the fuel subsidy riots, on alleged media partisanship, on Boko Haram as well as the quality of his media appearances.

Let us embed this narrative in the global mainstream in order to avoid provincialism, to tease out edifying comparative lessons and throw the issues in bolder relief. Come quickly with me, therefore, to the desk of the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, who is described in a recently published magazine as a “voracious reader who speed reads his way through several tomes a week.” Cameron, by his own verified admission, went through a frenetic reading phase in which he devoured all the novels of the English novelist, playwright and critic, Graham Greene, who majored in thrillers that connote high-wire diplomatic intrigue.

We are assured by the manager of Cameron’s favourite bookstore in Westminster that the politician just before his annual holidays makes large purchases of books spanning the areas of political philosophy and contemporary fiction among others. Let us quickly cross the Atlantic and peruse the United States President Barack Obama as he wades through a diverse menu of books ranging from Shakespeare’s tragedies through books on Abraham Lincoln’s leadership to classic modern novels. Of course, it is well known that United States presidents maintain an official reading list of books, by which they not only improve their minds but rejuvenate a flagging national reading culture by force of personal example.

Zeroing back on Nigeria, it is pertinent to recall that an earlier generation of Nigerian politicians such as Sir Ahmadu Bello, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Anthony Enahoro, among others, read and wrote avidly. At the 2012 Annual Obafemi Awolowo memorial, Toyin Falola, distinguished history professor at the University of Texas, posited correctly that Awolowo read and wrote more books on Nigerian politics than most professors of political science. The reader may be surprised to learn also that Nigeria’s former head of state, Olusegun Obasanjo, used to be a lover of books, at least in his first term as military president of Nigeria.

 The late Dr. Stanley Macebuh, one of the finest intellects to have passed through the Nigerian media scene, reported in his then weekly column at the Daily Times that he caught Obasanjo regaling himself with a book of some intellectual depth in the course of a trip to China, in which Macebuh travelled on the same plane with Obasanjo. No wonder, the retired general gave a better account of himself in the late 1970s than in his later incarnations as civilian president. Evidence? He avoided self-succession and set a democratic precedent at a time when sit-tight rulers mushroomed on the continent. Two, he was at the time an economic nationalist who stood up to the Western economic doctrines based on the so-called free market but which the western powers do not practise in their own countries. Who knows, had Obasanjo kept up the intellectual stamina of those years manifested in his love for books, he might have avoided the delusions of the third term project and the pitfalls of rightwing economic nostrums, which are especially hard on the poor.

That is a matter for another day, however. The focus of this enquiry is Jonathan and what he reads or fails to read. If Jonathan were to make public his reading list today, he would not need another “bring back the book” campaign to both convince a sceptical nation of his “mental magnitude,” to borrow a favourite expression of Awolowo and to rekindle the appetite for books in an increasingly Philistine generation. That kind of public testimonial on the part of Jonathan will also pull the rug from under the feet of some of his hardline critics like Prof. Ayittey, a world-acclaimed Ghanaian scholar who after watching one of Jonathan’s media chats dismissed him as “a joke.”

In the same connection, another group sought to initiate the process under the FOI Act whereby Jonathan will be compelled to reveal his IQ scores. The group of activists based their doubtful crusade on the premise that some of the utterances of Jonathan did not portray him as someone intellectually capable or intelligent. All of these criticisms it must be admitted sound somewhat ironic considering that Jonathan holds a doctorate and was expected to bring to governance a certain intellectual gravitas if not profundity of thought.

This writer does not think that Jonathan is the witless fool that caricatures of him have advertised. Nonetheless, a nation trapped in a siege of kidnappers and roving criminal gangs; caught in a protracted drift and inertia of massive proportions is surely waiting for the surefooted touch of a leader who will minister to its troubled soul. What Jonathan has going for him is a certain unpretentiousness and the easy going camaraderie of a politician who did not seek power but in a sense had it thrust upon him. But clearly more than pleasantness and a certain modesty deriving from an appreciation of one’s limitations are called for in a nation like ours stranded in a modern-day version of the forest of ghosts depicted in Yoruba fables. Jonathan has made many promises to the nation to turn things round but it will take incurable optimism to argue that things are not getting worse and in some respects like the soaring levels of squandermania and corruption getting out of hand.

To properly understand why the nation continues to travel downhill, we must put the searchlight on the president’s reading culture, his grasp of issues and understanding of what the times demand; in order to map out possible remedial steps in the area of improving or even modifying his appreciation of burning national issues. Though he belongs to a generation of politicians not famous for their love of books or the company of intellectuals, it is still possible in some respects to amend the situation. And what better way to begin than for him to make public his list of favourite books and other reading material?

- Olukotun is a professor of Political Science and Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences and Entrepreneurial Studies at Lead City University, Ibadan.
YNaija