PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN FINALLY DECLARES FOR SECOND TERM.

The much awaited declaration of interest by President Goodluck Jonathan to seek for a second term in office has been finally laid to rest this afternoon as the president told leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP at the Presidential Villa, Abuja that he would procure nomination form of the party before the deadline.

The President has set up a presidential declaration committee charged with the duty of drawing up a formal programme for his declaration.

The  Presidential Declaration Committee is headed by Dr. Haliru Bello, a former Minister of Defence. The declaration will hold between November 7 and 15.

Below is the full list of the Members of the Presidential Declaration Committee

Bello Halliru Mohammed (Chairman) from Kebbi,
Ken Namani (Deputy Chairman), Enugu,
Anyim Pius Anyim (Secretary), Ebonyi,
Rufa’i Ahmed Alkali (member), Gombe, J
ulius Imagwe – SSA – Youth – (member), Edo,
Baraka Sani (SSA -NSAP) – Kano,(member).
Governors
Liyel Imoke, Cross River (South South),
Theodore Orji, Abia (South East),
Olusegun Mimiko, Ondo (South West),
Mua’zu Babangida Aliyu Niger (North Central),
Ibrahim Shema, Katsina (North West)
Ibrahim Dankwambo, Gombe (North East).
The representatives of the National Assembly
Hosea Agbola, (Oyo),
Ahmed Makarfi (Kaduna),
Bitrus Kaze (Plateau)
Salmas Badru (Ogun).
Representatives of the Federal Executive Council
Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dieziani Allison-Madueke (Bayelsa), Minister of Police Affairs, Abduljelili Adesiyan (Osun),
Minister of Women Affairs, Hajiya Zainab Maina (Adamawa),
Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Bala Mohammed (Bauchi).
Representatives of the PDP
Deputy National Chairman, Uche Secondus (Rivers),
Benue State Chapter Chairman, Emmanuel Egbo, (Benue)
National Women Leader, Kema Chikwe (Imo)
North West Zonal Chairman, Ibrahim Kazaure (Jigawa).
Other party members
Stella Omu (Delta),
Walid Jibirn (BOT Secretary, (Nasarawa),
Ibrahim Bunu (Borno),
Jolly Nyame (Taraba),
Aneitie Okon (Akwa Ibom),
Peter Obi (Anambra),
Remi Adiuku Bakare (Lagos),
A. B. Mamman (PDP National Youth Leader) – FCT.
Others appointed at Presidential discretion
Halima Alfa (Kogi), Nigeria Ambassador to Netherland,
Nimota Nihinlola Akanbi (Kwara),
FCT ALGON Chairman, Micah Yohanna Jiba (FCT)
Sam Ikon (Akwa Ibom).
A Summary of members representing the zones include, south south (6), south east (5), south west (5), FCT (1), North West (5), North East (6) and North Central (6).

Credit Dailypost, BayelsaHouseAbuja

Why Buhari may not defeat Jonathan – by Abimbola Adelakun

Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, recently dismissed insinuations he would be a running mate to the All Progressives Congress presidential aspirant, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.). Since the recrudescence of Buhari’s campaign, Fashola’s rejection is proof that some folk in the APC still have their feet on the grounds of reality after all.

Buhari has been running for presidency since 2003 and though his feet are not yet tired, there is something tiresome about his recurring candidacy. For one, a lot of intellectual energy is usually expended analysing him and the many baggage he represents. In the process, core issues that should be tackled at election time get suspended.

It is perhaps a testimony to Buhari’s political capital that he can overshadow the terrain and send tremors into the camp of the incumbent candidate and his party. His entrance into the 2011 race gave that election the vivacity it badly needed. This time, however, if the APC fields Buhari against President Goodluck Jonathan, the odds may not be in their favour. The APC cannot present itself as a party with an ideology of change and still field a 72-year-old man who will want to run two terms that will expire when he is 81.

That is why pairing Buhari with Fashola appealed to the merchandisers of the idea. They are being pragmatic. Each time Buhari gets on his messianic horse and rides onto the political arena, he comes with the same unevolved message of ridding Nigeria of corruption and rescuing our wretched souls from our collective national misery.

Even the most ardent Buharist is careful to not ascribe to him either lofty visions of nation building or revolutionary economic ideas and ideals; Buhari lacks this ethos and such message will likely be doomed before it even leaves the idea factory. But there is one solution to this yawning absence: to pair him with a younger, vibrant, intelligent and charismatic leader.

The idea is, while Buhari purportedly solves the corruption problem, his deputy will do the harder -and perhaps more cerebral- job of rebuilding Nigeria’s crumbling institutions. It is for this reason he has run with colourful running mates in the past – Chuba Okadigbo in 2003; Edwin Ume-Ezeoke in 2007 and Pastor Tunde Bakare in 2011. They are all selected on the basis of region, religion and perhaps an even more important consideration – they can implement developmental policies.

In fact, even Buhari so premises his persona over the social liberatory ideas he should be seen espousing that his latest presidential declaration speech was shorn of inspiration; it barely sparked zeal in anyone who wants a change from the miasma Nigeria is stuck due to centuries of ignorant leadership.

Although one can argue that Nigeria’s problems barely change, and therefore the language with which we tackle them cannot but remain the same. Yet, by sticking to the same recycled stuff, it shows that Buhari has not acquired a complex understanding of how to deal with Nigeria’s issues. The static and repetitive nature of his ideas is just as frightening as Jonathan’s cluelessness. If anything will ever be achieved while he is in office, it would have to be left to his deputy who would also give Buhari’s campaign the missing phrenic colour.

Yet, those who tout this idea always seem to miss one point: they over-romanticise the relationship between a president and the vice-president and how it will play out. In a democracy, the office of the VP is not of that much consequence and is easily subjected to humiliation by an insecure principal who does not want to be supplanted.

It was President Harry Truman that once said, “Look at all the vice-presidents in history. Where are they? They were about as useful as a cow’s fifth teat.”

Nigeria’s recent history shows how tenuous this relationship can be in the examples of Olusegun Obasanjo and Abubakar Atiku; Governor Rasheed Ladoja and Adebayo-Alao-Akala; Governor Bola Tinubu and Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele and so on. The instances where we hardly hear of rancour between the principal executive and deputy are those where the former has managed to keep a tight rein on the latter, depriving him or her of funds or relevance that can boost his or her public profile. Why would anyone imagine Buhari – assuming he manages to hook a good VP candidate – not clamp down on any assertiveness such a person tries to display?

As things stand, Nigeria needs a strong and viable candidate, one with creative imagination and a vision. Buhari does not come across as the person who can fit this profile. It is not enough that he is said to have a panacea for corruption – assuming he can actually achieve that under a lopsided democratic system– he should also advance a development agenda. He should display an ability to espouse ideas that resonate far more meaningfully than what currently obtains.

Unlike what his advisers think, corruption is not Nigeria’s sole problem even if it appears that way and Buhari’s Spartanism is not a guarantee of either innovation or foresight. If you subtract corruption from the present government, it will still not achieve a bounce.

In the few months before election, is there any possibility that Buhari will have a better run this time and probably defeat President Jonathan? It is doubtful. Even though many Nigerians are probably weary of Jonathan’s government by now, they are still practical enough to understand that another four years of Jonathan’s government will not kill them. It might bring Nigeria to her knees but at the same time, it is a pain that can be endured.

Buhari’s candidature may end up producing a boomerang effect that will likely favour Jonathan. Those who have previously planned to fold their arms on Election Day will be motivated into voting Jonathan, warts and all, just to keep Buhari far from Aso Rock. He has not demonstrated that he represents real change and there is real danger in giving up the familiar cluelessness of Jonathan for an untried one.

There are other reasons to be afraid of a Buhari presidency: his plebian following. Those who oppose Buhari for his perceived fundamentalism forget that Buhari is no religious nut; he is a religion himself. His followers are largely those that believe in him with unexamined devotion. Anybody with such authority over people’s minds should not be tried with the absolutism of power the Nigerian brand of democracy endows on a political leader. Those who oppose Buhari are very aware of this and that is another reason to keep him far from Aso Rock Villa come 2015.

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The views contained in this article are the Author’s and do not reflect the Editorial policy of Sayelba Times

Jonathan’s wife resigns as perm sec over rift with Dickson

Mrs. Patience Jonathan

Wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, Dame Patience Jonathan, has resigned her appointment as Permanent Secretary in the Bayelsa State Civil Service.

The 57-year-old Patience was said to have left the service voluntarily.

Dame Patience Jonathan was one of the appointed 17 permanent secretaries in the state civil service in July 2012.

The appointment had caused outrage in the state at the time with some Bayelsans expressing misgivings about it and the extent to which the civil service was politicised.

Though Ministry of Education sources said Patience disengaged from service voluntarily, there is speculation that she resigned because of alleged rift between her and Governor Seriake Dickson.

The alleged frosty relationship between the duo was said to have been triggered by her unwillingness to support Dickson’s second term bid.

Instead, it was learnt that the First Lady had preference for the Special Assistant to the President on Domestic Matters, Mr. Waripamowei Dudafa.

It was gathered that Patience resigned to enable her to have the moral justification to fight with the governor for the soul of Bayelsa State.

At the state’s Ministry of Education on Thursday, fear pervaded the entire place as many civil servants were afraid to comment on the issue.

But our correspondent learnt from reliable sources that the ministry had computed her terminal benefits already.

For those who agreed to speak only on condition of anonymity, they said, “The whole thing is political. It appears Madam Peace is not happy with the governor. With her resignation, the battle-line has been drawn.

“I feel the President’s wife resigned to enable her to have the moral right to slug it out with Dickson ahead of the governorship poll in the state. Let no one deceive you, the whole thing is politics. After all, she is 57 and the retirement age is 60.”

When contacted, Chief Salo Adikumo, who resigned during the week as Commissioner for Education, said he was no longer the commissioner.

“I resigned recently as commissioner to enable me to pursue my political ambition. Please direct all your questions to the Ministry,” he said.

However, a high ranking official of the ministry said it was true the First Lady had resigned.

The official, who did not want her name in print for fear of victimisation, dismissed political undercurrents in her resignation.

He said, “I can say Dame Patience Jonathan has voluntarily retired. But whether there is political undertone in her resignation, I cannot say.

“I think the First Lady felt that her continued stay as Permanent Secretary will be depriving others.

“Already, in accordance with the civil service rules, we have prepared all her entitlements. Whatever is due her will be given to her. She will also be receiving her pension.”

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The ‘Russian Mafia’ defeat Sporting and five things we learned from the Champions League this week

It rained goals on matchday three in the Champions League. In Group A, Atletico Madrid exercised their dominance over Malmo while Juventus were again beneath the required standard, losing to Olympiakos in Greece.

In Group B, Real Madrid demolished Liverpool but Basel slipped up at Ludogorets to leave the runners-up spot up for grabs. Leverkusen sunk Zenit in Group C, 2-0, while the only scoreless game in the round came between Monaco and Benfica.

Arsenal’s late, late show ensured three points at Anderlecht in Group D, with Dortmund again in cruise control over Galatasaray in Istanbul as Jurgen Klopp’s men maintained their 100 per cent record. Pep Guardiola masterminded a master class as Bayern laid down a marker in Group E, winning 7-1 on the road at Roma. Manchester City slipped up again, though, this time in the cold of Moscow, as they drew 2-2 with CSKA.

Barcelona were supreme in Group F in a 3-1 win over Ajax but Paris St-Germain were made to work for their 1-0 victory in Cyprus against Apoel. Chelsea seized control of Group G with a 6-0 thumping of Maribor while the game of the week was arguably Schalke’s dramatic 4-3 come-from-behind win over 10-man Sporting.

Rounding things out in Group H, Porto beat struggling Athletic Bilbao 2-1, while special praise must be reserved for Shakhtar Donetsk, who, thanks to five Luiz Adriano goals, beat BATE 7-0.

Here is the story of matchday three …

Let the richest team win

Tuesday night brought 40 goals in eight matches, which was a Champions League record. While Sporting’s valiant attempt to claim a point with 10 men against Schalke was laudable and CSKA Moscow impressed in clawing back a 2-0 deficit against Manchester City, the rest of the games delivered in an overt manner an indictment on the current state of affairs in the competition.

The richest teams win. A 0-7 home defeat by Shakhtar Donetsk on BATE and Chelsea’s 6-0 win over Maribor were one-sided and anti-competitive. Bayern Munich’s 7-1 dismissal of Roma was illustrative of the gigantic strides by which the German giants remain ahead of their competitors.

The Champions League is, therefore, a battle of resources. Those teams with the most money and the highest concentration of big players on their wage bills will win. The current status quo is for the best teams in Spain, England and Germany, as well as Italy and France, to consolidate the wealth gap between themselves and the have-nots. Financial Fair Play and the banning of third-party ownership are also designed with that in mind – to ensure the upstarts don’t go rocking the boat by trying to compete.

While fans of the team dishing out the beatings might purr at their performances, for the rest of the continent, games like that only serve to illustrate the dearth of competition at the top level in the European game. It is alarming and damaging to the Champions League’s credibility.

The group stages, by and large, are a complete dawdle for the big teams where they introduce new young players and save the legs of their stars. There is no true measure of the Champions League’s competitiveness until the very late stages of the knockouts. The order is very much preserved where the biggest teams from the biggest leagues have things all their own way until the herd is trimmed.

Enjoy the goals but question the competitiveness.

Shakhtar and Luiz Adriano shine in adversity

This week, the Donbass Arena, Shakhtar Donetsk’s home ground, was heavily damaged by an explosion nearby. On the same day, the club were delivering humanitarian aid to those affected by the troubles in the beleaguered region.

Against this bleak backdrop, the Ukrainian champions are attempting to conduct a domestic campaign as well as a Champions League run.

It is a destabilising season by any team’s standards. Shakhtar are playing their ‘home’ matches 1,200 km away from their Donbass Arena base in Lviv due to the ongoing unrest in Ukraine.

On the pitch, they are not letting the trouble on the home front affect their output, at least not in the Champions League. While there have been two recent defeats domestically, including earlier this month against arch-rivals Dynamo Kyiv, this week brought their best result in Champions League history.

Mircea Lucescu’s side won 7-0 away to BATE, with Luiz Adriano scoring five goals. Fellow Brazilians Alex Teixeira and Douglas Costa, who also opted to stay with the club despite offers to leave Ukraine this summer, were on the scoresheet, too.

“We had problems with the squad at the beginning of the season as some very important players for the club didn’t want to return to Ukraine.” Lucescu said last month. “But now they are here, they see that it’s safe to be with the club and we play and train in the safe places.”

Shakhtar are now well-placed to take a knockout berth in Group H ahead of Athletic Bilbao and BATE, with Porto currently topping the table.

Late Schalke show leaves Sporting spitting

Sporting were fuming following their side’s 4-3 defeat away at Schalke. Jonathan Silva, the Argentine full-back, was deemed to have played the ball with his hand inside the area deep into injury time. This permitted Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting to slot the winner past Rui Patricio, who had earlier committed a calamitous error.

That 10-man Sporting had also fought back from 3-1 down to level at 3-3 following Mauricio’s red card made the blow even harder to take.

“What happened is not normal. It is a tremendous injustice. I don’t feel like saying anything else about it,” coach Marco Silva told the press afterwards.

Former director of Sporting’s General Assembly, Eduardo Barroso, told Portuguese radio on Tuesday night that the result was the work of “Russian mafia”, while fans took to social networks to criticise Uefa.

The reason? Schalke’s tie-up with Champions League sponsor Gazprom. The Russian energy giant is the chief sponsor of both Schalke and the tournament itself, while the appointment of a Russian official for the game, Sergey Karasev, has left all connected with Sporting crying travesty.

The nature of the penalty kick was contentious to say the least. The ball struck Silva square in the face from a Klaas-Jan Huntelaar header and there did not seem to be any suggestion at first that a penalty would be given. On advice from the fifth official behind the goal, however, Karasev acted.

Uefa did not respond when this writer asked whether or not there was a conflict of interest in having teams sponsored by Gazprom in a tournament also sponsored by the same company. Nor did it respond to the question of whether or not it is worried about accusations stemming from the relationship.

The governing body’s close links with the company were put under scrutiny last year when an anti-Gazprom banner was unfurled at the Basel-Schalke group stage match at St Jakob Park. This season, the relationship, ratified for three seasons in 2012, is again back in the spotlight.

Meanwhile, Sporting are left with one point from three games and look certain to be eliminated as Schalke and Chelsea, incidentally also sponsored by Gazprom, take control of Group G.

Olympiakos keep on rolling

Michel remains on the bench but this is a very different Olympiakos team to that which emerged from the group stages of the Champions League last season before being eliminated by a brilliant Robin van Persie hat-trick at Old Trafford.

Gone are talents like Joel Campbell and Hernan Perez, who were on loan last term, as well as established Greece internationals Andreas Samaris, Kostas Manolas and Jose Holebas – all key players sold for good money.

There were eight new faces in the team which beat Atletico Madrid on matchday one, including a brand new back four, and there were seven in the side which downed Italian champions Juventus on the third matchday in Piraeus. Happily for Olympiakos, goalkeeper Roberto is still in the ranks and again proved his worth on Wednesday.

While Kostas Mitroglou has returned to a club he knows well, fresh faces like Ibrahim Afellay and Pajtim Kasami have come in and impressed.

There have been teething problems in the Greek Superleague – Olympiakos fans are not, after all, accustomed to dropping four points in their first five matches – but results in the Champions League have been characteristically defiant. Their 1-0 success over Juve made it five consecutive home wins in the competition.

The Malmo reverse will have to be marked down as a shock but Michel has constructed a pair of victories over last year’s finalists, Atletico, as well as Juve. With the Italians as bad as ever in recent times in this season’s competition, that win might not look impressive, but those vital three points will count for a lot once the knockout places are decided.

Olympiakos are turning the tables on the favoured sides.

All but over for pathetic Galatasaray

It is a tough Champions League group, admittedly, but it is the nature of their two defeats which should have the alarm bells ringing for Galatasaray. A 4-1 defeat against Arsenal at the Emirates and a 4-0 loss at home against Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday mean that Gala are staring down the barrel after three matchdays. It would take a spectacular collapse from either Arsenal or Dortmund to facilitate the Turks going through now.

And with the Turk Telekom Arena proving to be no match for the raucous atmosphere at their old ground, the Ali Sami Yen, Galatasaray can no longer count even on the fervent support of their fans. With good reason.

“We must improve but our primary target is the Turkish league,” coach Cesare Prandelli told Smartspor after the Dortmund game. “The Galatasaray board brought me here for the league title, for the fourth star. Now we must focus on the championship.”

Just as well, because their Champions League form is absolutely hopeless. Gala have won two of their last 11 matches at this level and none of their last five. Furthermore, they only managed to claim an automatic place in this season’s competition because arch-rivals Fenerbahce, who won the league, are suspended from European competition.

The club is in complete turmoil from top to bottom. An indifferent start to the Turkish Super Lig season for the Lions – one win from three as well as a Super Cup defeat to Fener – combined with awful Champions League form, meant that Cesare Prandelli was fighting to save his job after only a couple of months in charge. The 2-1 weekend win over Fener in the Istanbul derby courtesy of two Wesley Sneijder wonder goals was widely seen to be the result that saved him.

The man who hired Prandelli, Unal Aysal, has also dropped the bombshell that he will not be seeking re-election in the club’s presidential run-off this week. Given that Aysal was the man responsible for the big-money signings of Sneijder and Didier Drogba, as well as delivering two league titles through Fatih Terim, Prandelli and the club as a whole are on uncertain ground.

Up to this point there has been no pattern to Galatasaray’s play under Prandelli and he has tried out a number of different formations to little avail. Summer transfer targets like Lukas Podolski were missed, while Blerim Dzemaili and Goran Pandev are fulfilling their status as Serie A cast-offs.

Although they remain second in the league, Galatasaray have plenty of work on to ensure qualification for the same stage of next season’s competition.

Culled from GOAL

Bill to Place HND at Par with B.Sc Passes Second Reading in the Senate

With the second reading of a bill seeking to put Nigerian polytechnics at par with the universities on Wednesday, the Senate has intensified moves to address the age-long clamour to bridge the dichotomy between the two higher institutions.

Entitled “A Bill for an Act to Abolish and Prohibit Dichotomy and Discrimination Between First Degrees and the Higher National Diploma in the Same Profession/Field and Related Matters,” the bill was sponsored by Senator Ayo Akinyelure (Ondo Central) who is also the proprietor of All Over Polytechnic in Lagos.

Leading a debate on the bill, Akinyelure who said the framework was propelled by wage disparity and gross discrimination against HND holders in the public and private sectors, noted that the situation “is threatening to derail the nation’s core policy thrust of evolving a technologically and scientifically based, self-sufficient and self-reliant society in the nearest future. Hence, the need for Senate intervention at this juncture.”

He added: “Without mincing words, and as l speak, thousands of would-be polytechnic and technology students are contemplating or have decided to opt for university education because of perceived and real discrimination against HND graduates in relation to their counterparts who are university degree holders. If this contemplation occurs, there is bound to be a vacuum created in our labour market in this regard and dire consequences are bound to follow this trend.”

Akinyelure, who claimed that polytechnic education dwells mainly on the practical while that of the university is merely theoretical, added that the degree of discrimination against HND holders in the country is so appalling to such an extent that they are employed as gatemen while their fellow university graduates are employed with dignity into ranking offices.

The senator who also claimed that HND holders in the field of accountancy, engineering, among others, had been found to be better on the field than degree holders, added that both qualifications are not supposed to compete together but should rather complement each other.

Furthermore, he said initiating this bill had become compelling in view of the fruitless promises allegedly made by the federal government to rectify the disparity between the two institutions in the past adding that the bill aims at promoting “technological advancement instead of 90 per cent of qualified candidates pursuing university education which is more theoretical without adding the needed value to the system of technological advancement of our great nation.”

But a number of senators kicked against the bill, describing it as baseless as they argued that the clamour to raise the value of polytechnic education to that of the university amount to wanting HND holders to reap where they did not to sow.

The opposing senators who described the objectives of the bill as misplaced, argued that the polytechnic education is structurally different from that of the university.

According to them, these structural differences must first of all be addressed before any clamour could be relevant.

Therefore, they argued that not only are the entry requirements into the university more complex than that of the polytechnics, it is mere university graduates that teach in the polytechnics, saying the situation is different in the university where Ph.D is the central qualification to attain ranking in lecturing.

But the opposition notwithstanding, the bill scaled second reading and referred to the committee on education for further legislation.

THISDAY

Jonathan Reshuffles Cabinet as FEC Approves $21.459m for Aviation

President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday effected some minor changes in his cabinet following the resignation of seven ministers who left the cabinet to run for elective offices in their respective states.

Those who resigned were the Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike, who is running for the governorship position in Rivers State;  Health Minister, Onyebuchi Chukwu (Ebonyi), and Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro (Lagos).

Others were Minister of State for Niger Delta, Darius Ishaku (Taraba), Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Samuel Ortom (Benue), Labour Minister, Emeka Wogu (Abia), and Information Minister, Labaran Maku (Nasarawa).

The reshuffling of the cabinet was disclosed at a press briefing by Dr. Nurudeen Mohammed, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs 1, who now oversees the Information Ministry.

Defence Minister, Lt. Gen. Aliyu Gusau (rtd), according to Nurudeen, had been detailed to take over the functions of Obanikoro who also resigned as the minister of state in the same ministry to run for the Lagos State governorship position.

Professor Viola Onwuliri, who until yesterday was the Minister of State Foreign Affairs 1, was moved to the Ministry of Education as Minister of State to replace Wike.

Minister of State for Health, Dr. Khaliru Alhassan, was mandated to serve as substantive Minister of Health, the portfolio last held by Chukwu.

Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, would oversee the functions of the former minister of state in the same ministry.

The Minister of Special Duties and Inter-governmental Affairs,  Kabiru Turaki, would now oversee the Ministry of Labour vacated by Wogu, while the substantive Niger Delta Affairs Minister, Dr. Steven Oru, will combine the office of Ishaku, who resigned to contest for the Taraba State governorship election, with his own.

Substantive ministers in other ministries were also directed to take full charge of their ministries.

Also, Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the contract for the supply and installation of a full Jet-Flight Simulator (5000 Series B737) with complete accessories for the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) in Zaria to be located at the Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos.

Nurudeen said the contractual sum was inclusive of all taxes payable at the prevailing exchange rate at the time of payment with a completion period of 24 months.

The new Information Minister made the disclosure while briefing State House correspondents at the end of FEC meeting.

The FEC also approved the award of contract for the construction of the East West road, Section V (Oron to Calabar) phase 1 in Akwa Ibom/Cross River States.

According to Nurudeen, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs brought a memorandum to seek council’s ratification of President Goodluck Jonathan’s anticipatory approval for the award of contract for the construction of phase 1, section V of the East West road, beginning from Uyo/ Oron roundabout in Akwa Ibom State to Calabar/Odukpani road  in Calabar, Cross River State at the cost of N165,249,125,989.16, with a completion period of five years.

He said: “It also approved two contracts for the supervision of construction of Calabar-Oba-Nsan-Okoroba-Ajasor road (Section 1) in Cross River State and construction of road/drainage at Mbaise Ring Road intersecting Owerri-Umahia road in Imo State at the sum of N106, 407,242.51 with a completion period of 24 months.

“The second supervision of the construction of the Mbaise Ring Road intersecting Owerri-Umahia Road in Imo State was also awarded for the same amount.

“Consequent upon the memo presented by the Minister for Niger Delta Affairs, the FEC approved the Revised Estimated Total Cost (RETC) 2 for the East-West road project, Sections I and II (Sub-Sections II-I and II-II) in the sum of N23, 484,369,831.99 inclusive of all taxes in favour of Messers Sectraco Nigeria Limited with a completion period of seven months.

“This is just as the council also approved the sum of N131.9 million for the purchase of zonal office building for the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) in Owerri, the Imo state capital.

“The FEC equally approved the award of contract for the appointment of Transaction Adviser for the rehabilitation of Independence Building for National Trade and International Business Centre project in Lagos State in favour of Infrastructure Bank Plc, in the sum of N150,364, 000 with a completion period of 12 months.”

THISDAY

NWOKEDI NWORISARA WAS WARNED ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES OF HIS SCAM

New information reaching Sayelba Times indicate that Mr Nwokedi Nworisara, the chief architect of the Bayelsa State Cyber crime was warned about the consequences of his plot to defraud Bayelasns by creating a fake Facebook Account for Governor Henry Seriake Dickson to swindle Bayelsans with phantom job opportunities.

Some people who spoke with ST on the condition of anonymity informed us that Mr Nworisara was confronted and warned by some of his colleagues in the Bayelsa Social Media Committee to desist from his criminal impersonation of the Governor and the false employment offers.

However, having the full backing of his boss and friend, Mr John Idumange, who is the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor of Bayelsa State on Research and Social Media, Nworisara brushed off their protests and continued with his criminal enterprise.

One source said those who confronted Nworisara included Ebi Brisibe.

We shall bring you more details later.