Examination Failures: Students Speak Up

Though there was a slight improvement from previous years in the last final year public examinations, the performance is still below average. With only 30.9% of students obtaining five credits and above, including Mathematics and English in the West African Examination Council (WAEC) examinations and 31.6% in the National Examinations Council (NECO), students are desperate to change the tide.
However, the students stress out that though accusing fingers have been pointed at them as being responsible for the high mass failure rate, other more serious anomalies need to be corrected.
Naij

Benue people lament the closure of Dangote Gboko Plant, call for FG intervention

By David Abellegah

The Benue State Government has called on the Federal Government to intervene in the temporary closure of the Gboko plant of Dangote Cement, saying the closure has caused serious financial loss and untold hardship in the few weeks of its closure.
The Chairman of Gboko Local Government of Benue State, Mr. Nahan Zinda, in a statement said the closure has cost the local government and the people of Benue State over N15 million.
He said, “Since the company was closed, cement price has gone up. Our people have been jobless and suffering. It may also lead to anti-social behaviours. Our women who are doing petty businesses outside the gate are also complaining bitterly.”
Zinda pleaded with the Federal Government to move fast and work out modalities to reopen the factory as soon as possible.
Speaking on the same development, the Chairman of the Quarry Community, Mr. Donald Tser, lamenting the closure said, the closure has made the local government a ghost town as all commercial activities have been halted.

He said, “We are afraid that our children may resort to anti-social behaviour and this is dangerous for Nigeria. We are calling on the government to hasten the process of re-opening the plant.”
Mrs Grace John, who spoke on behalf of women traders in Gboko,also said all activities in the local government have been crumbled, she called on the federal government to intervene and facilitate the immediate reopening of the company.
BusinessNews

Electricity generation capacity to hit 10,000MW by December

By David Abellegah

Minister of State for Power, Mrs. Zainab Kuchi

The Federal Government through the Minister of State for Power, Mrs. Zainab Kuchi has promised that it would achieve 10,000 Megawatts of electricity generation by December 2013.
Kuchi while presenting a report before the Presidential Action Committee on Power in Abuja said the government was going to hit 10,000 Megawatts by December, adding that presently power generation stood at 6,442MW but by the end of this year, things would turn around in the power sector.
It could be recalled that former president Olusegun Obasanjo promised to hit the 10,000MW capacity target, but today the present administration has lifted it up to 6,442MW, the generated capacity was much less when the present administration came into power.
Factors like inadequate gas, evacuation capacity, and breakdown in facilities are among the impediments of power generation capacity in the country.

The Minister said, the government was prepared to diversify its energy sources to reach the rural dwellers in order to stimulate development, job creation, and investment in the sector this year.
“The ministry will also focus on developing new policy initiatives to address post privatisation challenges,” she said.
Adding, Kuchi said the federal government has brought on board transaction advisers to mediate for the development of small and medium hydro power projects, which he said a hydro power plant would be ready this year; worth 40MW.
She disclosed that a wind farm with a generation capacity of 10MW, located in Katsina was ready and will be commissioned soon.
In addition, now that the transmission companies are ready, all arrangements have been completed to source money from the African Development Bank (ADB) to finance transmission in the country, she said.
She said power transmission in the country has already achieved the completion of 21km of 132KV of transmission line, 330KV transmission line, and 600MVA 330/132/33KV substation capacity.
BusinessNews

Insecurity: Police Arrest Five Newspaper Vendors In Maiduguri

The Police in Maiduguri , the Borno state capital has yesterday clampdown on some sensitive areas considered to be flash points where Newspaper vendors and other people including disabled youths beg for alms around Bolori roundabout and opposite the official residence of the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Abdullahi Yuguda.
Our Correspondent gathered that during the said operation, five vendors Babagana Modu, Aliyu Uba, Musa Mushe, Sadiq Bukar including their Chairman Musa Ali were arrested and detained.
Investigation revealed that the Police Boss have on several occasions warned the vendors to vacate the area, but all warning failed on the deaf ears of the vendors who were alleged to be harbouring criminals amongst them to perpetrate evil and snatching vehicles.
Reacting to the arrest, the Chairman Yerwa Newspaper Distributors/Vendors Association, Borno state chapter, Mallam Bunu Umara in an interview with Journalists described the arrest of his members as unlawful and against human rights.
Mallam Umara said, if youth who have no jobs resort to the sales of newspapers in order to earn their living will be arrested on the streets for no just cause, then there is no justification whatsoever, that the whole members of the Association will from Saturday embarked on protest/strike, until its arrested members are released unconditionally.
Confirming the incident in a telephone interview, the Police Commissioner, Mr. Yuguda Abdullahi said, “yes I ordered for their arrest because of the calibre of suspected criminals they associated with at some strategic points in Maiduguri. I have warned them for more than three times, but to no avail, and some of them (vendors) that we arrested have case to answer”. He stated.
Yuguda said, “intelligence report at its disposal revealed that, there were reported cases of shooting of important personalities, snatching of vehicles and other sorts of criminal activities going on in some of the places where vendors and other criminals who mingled together and disguised as destitute to beg for alms are being committed, and that all warnings for them to vacate such places proves abortive, so we have no excuse than to do our job for human safety”.
The CP therefore said, anyone who feels the arrests of the vendors was unlawful should come to his office for a way forward.
Naij

Fraudster Stole £32,000 From Charity, Spent Money On Viagra And "Extreme Dating"

 A fraudster has been jailed for four years after stealing nearly £32,000 from the charity he worked for and spending the money on Viagra and "extreme dating". David Field also spent the brain injury charity's funds on buying flowers for his wife and a hotel rendezvous with a mystery woman. He was put in charge of the finances at a regional branch of Headway after lying about his qualifications and covering up two previous fraud convictions.
During four months at the charity's offices in Credenhill, Herefordshire he managed to swindle £31,713 thanks to his privileged position, Hereford Crown Court heard this week. Field, 56, used Headway's debit card to withdraw £15,000 in cash and spend £16,713 on the internet between August 2010 and January 2011. His online shopping included shipments of erectile dysfunction drug Viagra, which he had shipped to the charity's offices. He also spent £150 on a subscription to a so-called "extreme dating" website - thought to be dating between those who share a love of outdoor sports - and bought his then wife £100 worth of flowers. Field paid for a woman known only as 'Rachel' to go on holiday, and used the charity's money to pay for a meeting with her at a Travelodge hotel in Hereford. While he told colleagues she was providing the charity with IT services, judge Daniel Pearce-Higgins said "the relationship was clearly more than that". In addition, Field used Headway's cash to pay off gambling, council tax and credit card debts.
The scam came to light when a lawyer working for one of Field's previous employers got in touch with Headway to warn them about his fraud convictions. When confronted by staff at the centre, Field admitted being jailed for 12 months in 1992, and again for three years in 1999.
Jailed: Field had previously served two separate prison sentences for fraud in the 1990s
He tried to shrug off the sentences, telling colleagues he had been jailed on a "technicality" - but charity bosses became suspicious and called the police. During police interviews Field claimed he had been "stitched up", but on the first day of his trial last November he changed his plea to guilty. On Monday, he was sentenced to four years in prison. The court heard that the charity paid Field a £13,000 salary, meaning he had cost Headway £45,000 in total - and because he has since declared bankruptcy, the charity will be unable to reclaim the money.
Speaking after the sentencing, a spokesman for the charity criticised Field's "brutal betrayal". "There is no winner in this situation.This was a callous and calculating act, a brutal betrayal of trust and that is why we welcome the tough sentence. Fraud is often described as a victimless crime but the human impact is certainly very real - the charity has been left on the brink. The money taken will never be recouped - that is £45,000 we will never see again." Headway works to rehabilitate people with brain injuries, and offers support to their carers and families.
Naij

Banks Now Reject Dollar Bills Printed Before 2006

Nigerians who have had cause to make foreign transactions with banks in the country have been going through very tough times with the banks, as the financial institutions now refuse to accept dollar bills printed earlier than 2006.
Leadership investigations revealed that Nigerians who had cause to make foreign trips or needed to make transactions abroad in recent times were disappointed when their dollar bills were rejected by the banks. Virtually all the banks operating in the country refuse to accept United States Dollar bills printed before 2006.
Also hard-hit are Nigerian importers in the informal sector who depend largely on the parallel markets for their dollar supply but pay for their goods abroad through bank transfers from their domiciliary accounts to the accounts of their suppliers abroad.
One of such importers, a dealer in building materials in the Dei-Dei International Market, Abuja, Mr Anthony Miracle, told Leadership that the dollar bills he presented to a ranking bank in the country was rejected even when he was very certain that they were original.
Asked where he sourced his forex from, he said it was from the parallel market.
“The bank rejected the dollar that I presented to them to pay for my goods abroad. They didn’t even explain to me what was wrong with it. They just said that the machine did not accept it,” Miracle said. “It was the Mallam that I bought the dollar from that told me it was rejected because of the date it was printed and not because it was fake.”
According to him, the black market dealer showed him that the dollar was printed in 2000, and that is why it was rejected.
Another bank customer, Adejala Thomas, whose brother lives abroad, also narrated his own experience: “My brother in US gave his friend some hundred dollar bills to give to me. When I took the money to change I could not change them because the bureau de change rejected the money. The man now explained that they would not accept dollars made before 2006 because banks don’t accept it from them.”
Nsima Aniekan, a bank customer who wanted to travel abroad also told Leadership that she suffered the same fate. “My bank said they rejected the bills because they were made in 1996,” she said.

The United States Embassy in Nigeria, while confirming the report, however, said it affects dollar bills printed before 2004 and not 2006.

Spokesperson of the embassy Deborah Maclean confirmed to Leadership that it’s banks and other businesses abroad that were electing to accept only the most recently produced US currency.
“We have heard of banks and other businesses abroad electing to accept only the most recently produced U.S. currency, in this case the 2004 series notes which feature greater anti-counterfeiting measures. Banks and other businesses have the right to decide which currency to accept or not accept. We note, however, that the U.S. government recognizes notes produced prior to 2004 as legal U.S. tender.”
When Leadership visited one of the banks to confirm the reports, the officials insisted that they were not rejecting the dollar bills based on the year they were printed, adding that they only accept bills that pass through their scanning machine.
An officer in Diamond Bank who refused to have his name in print said: “We are not the ones rejecting the money, it is the machines. When they bring the dollars we have to scan them through our machine; if they pass through we accept it, if not we won’t accept.” Asked whether he noted that only dollars printed before 2006 were rejected, he simply said, “I don’t know.”
However, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said it is not behind this move by banks to reject dollar bills printed before 2006. CBN director of banking supervision Tokunbo Martins said there was no circular from the apex bank to that effect, an indication that the banks were acting on their own.
Naij

CPC Blasts Obasanjo Over Comments On Boko Haram

The Congress for Progressive Change has blamed former president Olusegun Obasanjo over his comment on the Boko Haram sect.
The National Publicity Secretary of CPC, Rotimi Fashakin, while reacting to the controversy generated by the ex-president’s comments on the Islamic sect, said Obasanjo disappointed Nigerians by choosing wrong people to succeed him.
Related Article: Talk with Boko Haram, Obasanjo tells Jonathan
He said, “As Nigerians, we need to ask ourselves the leadership content of Gen. Obasanjo’s attributes that keep defying the law of succession as a fundamental imperative in Leadership. A good leader is measured by the quality of his successor!
“In 1979, Gen. Obasanjo handed over power under disputable circumstances, to a civilian regime that proved to be a case study in administrative ineptitude. Little wonder, in about four years of its life, the corrective military regime that toppled it, listed a litany of woes besetting the nation under the perfunctory watch of the regime.
“In like manner, Gen. Obasanjo handed over power, in 2007, to a sickly president that brought the socio-political milieu of the nation to a sickly state! The regime so born has now given birth to an irredeemably sick offspring. It is the Nigerian state that is worse off because her political and economic health is in shambolic state.
“This brings us to some pertinent questions:
• is it a deliberate personal policy by Gen. Obasanjo not to ensure a credible successor to himself?
• would this suggest that there is a desire in him for the people to always make his regime a reference point vis-à-
vis the succeeding regimes?
• Would this not suggest a selfish desire not to care if Nigeria’s dream is imperilled so long there is a noxious
messianic imagery of himself?
• Is Gen. Obasanjo not the architect of the travails of the Nigerian State since 1979?
Naij