Makinde faults Soyinka on Same-Sex Act

By Sam Eyoboka, Olayinka Latona & David Oso
PRELATE of Methodist Church Nigeria, His Eminence, Ola Makinde, yesterday, joined issues with Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, describing the latter’s criticism of the Anti-Gay Bill passed by the Senate as unfortunate and regrettable.
In a statement by the church’s Media and Public Relations Officer, Rev. Oladapo Daramola, the Prelate said the comments credited to the Ogun State-born professor was an attempt to psychologically bully the lawmakers into taking an unpopular decision and to give approval to an unreligious and non-cultural act.
Makinde said such attempt would be sternly resisted by those who believed in sanity and the sanctity of marriage as established by God.

Alleged sex scandal: Chime sues

BY TONY EDIKE
ENUGU—Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State has slammed a N2.7 billion libel suit against the publication of a story, alleging that the younger sister of his wife had delivered a baby for him.
The governor in suit filed at the High Court Registry Enugu is asking for a declaration that by printing and publication of the article,the defendant was liable to the plaintiff for libel.
He is also seeking general damages in the sum of N1 billion and another N1 billion as exemplary/aggravated damages for libel.

Fuel Subsidy Parley With Jonathan: Labour adamant, insists on subsidy

*Removal ‘ll be injurious to Nigerians — Labour
BY OKEY NDIRIBE, DANIEL IDONOR & VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG
ABUJA – The meeting between the nation’s labour movement and President Goodluck Jonathan over the Government’s proposed removal of fuel subsidy  ended in a deadlock yesterday in Abuja, as labour maintained that the removal will be injurious to the citizens and the country.
The Federal Government delegation at the meeting led by President Goodluck Jonathan had claimed that the actual cost of petrol supply is N139 per litre and admitted that all Nigerians benefit from fuel subsidy but claimed that the rich benefit more.  He also claimed that the current N65 per litre price is so cheap that it encourages smuggling of PMS across the country’s borders.

Okene robbery: Banks now close by 1p.m

Following the Tuesday robbery incident at the Okene branches of of Guaranty Trust Bank, United Bank for Africa and Intercontinental Bank, commercial banks in the area have adjusted their time of operation from 9:30 a.m to 1.00 p.m.
A notice pasted at the entrance and inside the banking hall of GTBank attributed the adjustment to the Tuesday robbery incident and said that the new operating hours would be in place until further directive from security agencies.
Our correspondent observed that tight security measures had been introduced at UBA, Intercontinental and other banks in the city as customers were seen being subjected to a thorough screening before being allowed in.

Akwa Ibom explores maritime potential

The State Government is set to build the Ibom Industrial City around the Ibaka Seaport

Article | December 20, 2011 - 9:50am | By Patrick Imoh



Governor Godswill Akpabio

Governor Godswill Akpabio is set to unlock the maritime potential of Akwa Ibom State to accelerate the country’s economic development.
As part of the plans, the Akwa Ibom State Government will construct a railroad linking Uyo with Port Harcourt.
Speaking at the Nigerian Ports Consultative Council Maritime (NPCC) Summit in Uyo, Akpabio said it was important to link all states, economic zones and mining areas with railways for easy movement of goods and people.
He added that it was essential to update the railway system in the country and go for faster and more modern trains.

USAID, others pledge $82m lifeline to fight malaria

BY KENNETH EHIGIATOR
LAGOS – The United States Agency for International Development, USAID, and other multi-national collaborators have pledged $82 million towards the fight against scourge of malaria in the country.
U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Terrence McCulley, who said this at the launch of Malaria Action Projects for States, MAPS, added that his government was committed to partnering with African countries to build capacity in stamping out malaria.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il dies at 69

SEOUL (AFP) – North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has died aged 69 of a heart attack, state media announced Monday, plunging the nuclear-armed, famine-ridden and deeply isolated nation into a second dynastic succession.
North Korea urged people to rally behind Kim’s youngest son Jong-Un, describing him as “great successor” to the leader who presided over the deaths of hundreds of thousands from hunger but still built an atomic arms arsenal.

The Removal Of Oil Subsidy: A Challenge To A Nation

 December 15, 2011 - 16:11

 Senator Babafemi Ojudu

Being text of a speech delivered in Akure on 13th of December to mark the week of Nigerian Union of Journalists, Ondo State Council.
Mr. Chairman, distinguished members of the Nigerian Union of Journalists and members of the public here present, it gives me pleasure to be here in your midst in Akure. This city once served as the political capital of our beloved old Ondo State and I have fond memories of it. Moreover, Akure has a prominent place in my earliest beginnings as a working citizen. It was here that I got my first job at Toyin Bookshop as a sixteen-year-old fresh out of secondary school. Although I was a bookseller for only a week, I left for a clerical job in the Ministry of Education also here in Akure. Since I am addressing fellow journalists, permit me to add that it is also in this city that I did one of the most investigative reporting of my career. The story, for those of you who may have been practicing then, was titled, “The Scandals of An Era”. It was about a wasteful project of Navy Captain Olabode George, military governor at the time of the then Ondo State. His regime is remembered today for the tasteless fountains built in markets and open squares without running water. The wheels of justice, they say, move slowly. More than two decades after this exposé, the central character in that Era of Scandal was convicted and jailed for thefts in another theatre of scandals, the Nigeria Ports Authority. But I digress.

Security takes N921bn, biggest share of N4.749tn

Wed12142011

Last update10:43:46 PM GMT

 

Wednesday, 14 December 2011 00:05

Written by  Oluwole Josiah, Abuja

 

President Goodluck Jonathan

SECURITY took the highest share of the N4.749tn budget estimates presented to the National Assembly on Tuesday by President Goodluck Jonathan.  Jonathan classified security under “critical sectors” and proposed to spend N921.91bn to secure the country next year.

The bane of Nigeria’s economic growth, the power sector, gets N161.42bn; Works gets N180.8bn; Education (excluding Universal Basic Education Commission, Petroleum Technology Development Trust Fund & Education Trust Fund), N400.15bn; Health, N282.77bn; and Agriculture and Rural Development, N78.98 billion.

Senate unmasks fuel subsidy beneficiaries

At a hearing yesterday, the Senate announced the names of those benefiting from oil subsidies

 The names of companies that shared N1.4 trillion petroleum subsidy funds were made public Friday with Wale Tinubu’s Oando and Sayyu Dantata’s MRS Oil topping the list of beneficiaries.
The Senate's joint committee probing the management of petroleum subsidy funds disclosed at an investigative hearing that over 100 companies including construction companies participated in the sharing of N1.426 trillion between January and August 2011, a figure that contradicts that of the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency, which it put at N1.348 trillion.