There is corruption in House of Reps – Jibrin
The ousted Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, Abdulmumin Jibrin, says the allegation by former President Olusegun Obasanjo that the National Assembly is populated by corrupt elements could not be dismissed.
He said there was what he called institutional corruption in the House of Representatives.
However, Jubrin, who accused the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, and three other principal officers of the House of padding the 2016 budget to the tune of over N400bn, said he had never taken part in any corrupt practice since 2011 that he had been in the National Assembly. Punch
Fear of ROPC attack: Ijaws flee Lagos, Ogun states
IJAWS resident in Lagos and Ogun states started relocating from the two states, weekend, to the South-South for fear of attack following the expiration of the ultimatum issued to Ijaws in the states by the Reformed Odua Peoples Congress, ROPC. Also, many indigenes of Kaiama in Kolokuma Local Government Area, Bayelsa State, country home of Ijaw hero, late Major Adaka Boro, have deserted the community over fears that the military may attack the community, following the threat by a militant group, Adaka Boro Avengers, ABA, to declare a Republic of Niger Delta today. Vanguard
Government can no longer finance airports, says minister
It is no longer wise for government to bear the burden of managing airports, said Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika.
According to the Minister, dwindling revenue, high rate of foreign exchange and demands of global best practices, make the need for Public Private Partnership inevitable.
Interacting with reporters in Abuja, yesterday, Sirika said the truth is: government cannot continue to support and finance airports because it has limited resources.
He called on entrepreneurs with knowledge in airports’ management to come forward and bid for the Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt facilities. Guardian
How FG spent $340m, N27bn in search of oil in the North
AFTER 3 decades of elusive search for hydrocarbons in the Lake Chad Basin where the Federal Government spent about $340 million and additional N27 billion, in seismic expedition, Nigeria looks set to continue its crude oil exploration in the North East region.
But petroleum engineers, investment experts and geologists have warned the Buhari administration could yet burn its fingers in the long run as the geography of the zone may not guarantee a commercial find.
It was on the basis of this sentiment that the recent marching order handed down to the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to resume oil search in the Chad Basin after 30 years of futile efforts is eliciting reactions from stakeholders in the oil and gas sector.
They have argued that the quest for hydrocarbons in the Chad Basin, which is adjacent to Niger Republic, Cameroon and Chad, would seriously be hampered by economies of scale projections, insecurity and the unwillingness of oil companies to drill outside the Niger Delta with already proven reserves. This may also have been responsible for their inability to invest in the North East after 30 years of exploration. The Sun
FG PLANS MAJOR REFORMS IN POLICE, IMMIGRATION, PRISONS
THE Federal Government is set to introduce major reforms and restructuring of the internal affairs services to ensure operational efficiency and address emerging security issues, sources close to the administration said at the weekend.
Information at the disposal of the Nigerian Tribune indicated that the government had already set up teams of experts which had reviewed activities of key internal affairs services, including the police; immigration service; Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Nigeria Prisons Service and the Fire Service.
Sources, however, said one critical aspect of the operations of the internal affairs agencies, as identified by the experts, was the absence of “career pattern” in services like the police, immigrations, NSCDC and Prisons service.
Sources close to the administration told the Nigerian Tribune that the team of experts, which had been working for some time now, had recommended immediate and long term steps that would see the services out of the woods. Tribune
Mergers, acquisitions likely in banking sector – Rewane, Utomi, others
A natural consolidation in form of mergers and acquisitions is likely in the Nigerian banking sector, economic and financial experts have predicted.
They said with the myriads of challenges facing the nation’s economy, some banks were likely to experience some challenges that could only be resolved by mergers and acquisitions.
The Chief Executive Officer, Financial Derivatives Limited, Mr. Bismarck Rewane, said the economic storm gathering over the country might lead to a shake-out in the banking sector. Punch
NAICOM goes tough on corporate governance defaulters
For chief executives and non-executive directors of insurance companies, the fear of breaching the industry’s Code of Corporate Governance is the beginning of wisdom.
As at last March, over 200 non-executive directors who breached the code were said to have been booted out in the wake of the enforcement of the code by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).
The Nation learnt that over 70 per cent of the directors of insurance firms who fail to comply with the regulator’s April 30 directive to quit after nine years on the board risk being forced out in the exercise, which experts say promises a new dawn for the risk-bearing industry.
To enthrone a regime of corporate discipline and sanity in the insurance industry, the industry regulator, NAICOM commenced the enforcement of the Code of Corporate Governance as stipulated in Section 5.04 (vii) of the 2009 Corporate Governance Code of the Commission. The Nation
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