Federal Government faults claim by oil marketers

The Federal Government has faulted the N200 billion claim by oil marketers as outstanding payment on subsidy.

Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, faulted the claims on Sunday in Abuja while briefing newsmen.

“As you know, we paid N156 billion recently to the marketers; N100 billion being the principle payment we owed them and N56 billion being interest rate and some remaining exchange rate differentials.”

“Prior to that, we paid them N31 billion as exchange rate differentials. At the time we paid that amount last week, what we had outstanding is N98 billion,” she said.

The minister said that government relies on the weekly data released by Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) to certify what was due to the marketers.

“Since we made the announcement last week, the outstanding payment has now risen from N98 billion to N131 billion. And they (marketers) are now making a demand of N200 billion and I asked them; what is the balance for?”

The Minister said the marketers were making demands for huge sums in exchange and interest rate differentials.

She added that the government had made it known to them that what they were requesting was huge especially the exchange rate differentials.

Enugu State Governor Served Impeachment Notice; Speaker removed

Lawmakers in Enugu State House of Assembly on Monday morning served the Governor, Sullivan Chime, impeachment notice

They accused the Governor of high handedness and corrupt enrichment.

Reports from Enugu say that the Governor had asked the state assembly to approve the funds for a secretariat project, but he was turned down by the state assembly.

The lawmakers refused because according to them, it is less than a month to hand over to a new administration; so why would the Governor be asking for 11 billion naira within this short while.

The unapproved 11billion naira allegedly led to the power play between members of the House of Assembly and the State Government.

The Governor then allegedly induced some members of the assembly with some money to impeach the House Speaker, Eugene Odoh.

Fifteen lawmakers sat on Monday morning and suspended some members who they believe are loyal to the Governor, and then collected signatories of 15 people before serving the Governor impeachment notice.

DPP backs Buhari on probe of NNPC, others over Missing $20bn

The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) has thrown its weight behind the president-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, to fight corruption in all sectors, especially within the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC).

 

Buhari earlier this week vowed to probe the alleged missing $20billion from the NNPC.

The Acting National Chairman of DPP, Garshon Benson, who read the resolution, told newsmen, “The most important thing in the mind of the president-elect is to eradicate corruption and to deal with security because we do not want to be living in fear. We are supposed to be sleeping with our eyes closed."

"We know that Buhari will tackle corruption at all level. We support him to probe the NNPC, among others. Buhari we know can fight corruption. I commend President Goodluck Jonathan; it is only in his regime that NNPC account is becoming a public topic."

Oil Marketers in Nigeria Vow to Continue Strike

On Thursday, there was a positive response from the Federal Government that N156 billion will be paid to pay oil marketers as arrears of their subsidy claims. 

However, according to PREMIUM TIMES the marketers are yet to receive any money and vow the strike would continue until the money is received. 

The Executive Secretary, Depot & Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA), Odufemi Adewole lamented:

 

''The money government said it was paying to marketers has not yet hit our accounts. So, there is little we can do about the situation. The money the Minister of Finance promised to pay us last February did not get into our hands till about four or five weeks later. If all members are not getting the money today, it means we have to wait till Monday. But, the truth is that nobody is going to call off the strike till the money is paid,” he said.

Noting that the the government is actual owing oil marketers a total of N256 billion, Adewole asked, “Who is going to pay that (remaining) N100 billion for subsidy?"

Norway makes an apology for Selling Military Wares to Nigerian Insurgents

Norwegian Defense Chief, Haakon Bruun-Hansen, at a military inquiry yesterday apologized for doing a poor job of selling several surplus vessels in 2012 and 2013, as they've wound up in the possession of Nigerian warlords. 

According to NewsinEnglish.no, Bruun-Hansen admitted that military officials did not carry out a thorough check of the company, CAS Global, that bought six missile torpedo boats (MTBs) and the support vessel KMN Horten three years ago.

“The fact that the vessels have landed in Nigeria under Nigerian flag reflects a breakdown in our systems, and I apologize for that,” Bruun-Hansen said.

Although he wasn't the defense chief at the time, Hansen took responsibility for the sales which became a scandal under his tenure. 

The so-called “Nigerian boats” scandal emerged after a series of reports in newspaperDagbladet, and several members of the parliamentary committee noted on Thursday that a simple internet search would have revealed that CAS Global only had a postbox address. Defense department officials nonetheless received the Nigerians who represented CAS Global and wanted to inspect the vessels that were up for sale.

Norwegian regulations prohibit the sales or export of material or services to private buyers who may arm the vessels and offer them for use in areas of conflict, and those regulations were violated.

On Ebonyi State University's 4th-6th Convocation.

There was a comprehensible atmosphere of celebration at Ebonyi State University as it held a combined convocation ceremony covering three years. But this weeklong event was not just about refreshment and cheers. It was an occasion to come to terms with its challenges as well as celebrate its hard-won achievements.

At a pre-event briefing, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Francis Idike reeled out those achievements and challenges.

He said the school expelled a total of 131 students for various offenses ranging from exam malpractice to cultism between 2011 and 2014. The institution also suspended 459.

“Also sixty-one staff of the University were dismissed for misconduct, fifteen of them demoted, twenty-five had their appointments terminated while forty-two were warned,” he said.

He said a total of 7,956 students of the institution who graduated from 2011 to 2014 will be convoked during the 4th-6th convocation ceremony.

Prof. Idike revealed that eight persons will receive Diploma certificates while 7,316 will get Bachelors Degree. Also 122 graduates will bag PGD and 341 will receive Ph.D certificates.

The Vice Chancellor said the school has been receiving a monthly subvention of N245m since April 2011 from the State Government. “But this one single line subvention is hardly enough to carry our current salary bill of over N354m apart from overhead and running costs of the University. The University is in dire need of additional funding from within and outside”, he added.

Michael Moore: Disarm all Cops; we'll survive

On April 30, Michael Moore tweeted his “demand” that police be disarmed and “every African-American currently incarcerated for…non-violent offenses be released from prison today.”

In the first tweet, sent at 3:16 a.m., Moore wrote: “Imprison u, shoot u, sever your spine, crush your larynx, send u to war, keep u poor, call u a thug, not let u vote. But u can sing for us.”

In the second tweet, sent at 4:03 a.m, he wrote, “Here’s my demand: I want every African-American currently incarcerated for drug ‘crimes’ or non-violent offenses released from prison today.”

In the final tweet, sent at 5:05 a.m, Moore added, “Next demand: Disarm the police. We have a 1/4 billion 2nd amendment guns in our homes 4 protection. We’ll survive till the right cops are hired.”