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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012
News Review
London Olympics, subsidy trials and im Jos floods kill 38
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HE heavens opened up on crisis-ridden Jos on Monday leaving no fewer than 38 people, including seven children of the same father, dead. A 90-year old woman was also among the dead. Sixty-eight others were declared missing and 200 houses swept away by the floods in Rikkos Tundun, Gangare and Angwar Rogo parts of the city. The disaster was blamed on the construction of houses on waterways and blocking of drainage.
Why we’re against Jonathan, by Reps HE House of Representatives has dismissed suggestions that its threat to launch impeachment proceedings against President Goodluck Jonathan was motivated purely by selfish interests. Spokesman for the House, Mr. Zakari Mohammed said in Abuja that the Reps are acting only in the best interest of the generality of Nigerians. He said while “all revenue-generating agencies have surpassed their annual target by mid this year’ this positive development has not reflected in the implementation of the budget for the benefit of the people.
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Fuel subsidy fraud: EFCC lists 20 firms, arraigns Ali’s Tukur’ sons
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WENTY firms and individuals are to be prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in connection with an alleged N13.403billion oil subsidy fraud, the agency announced on Tuesday. They are accused of claiming to have imported about 237million litres of petroleum products which the EFCC could not trace. Listed for prosecution are seven companies and 13 individuals, including an official of the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA),Fakuade Babafemi and a director in the accounting firm of Akintola Williams Deliote, Ezekiel Olaleye Ejidele.
Impeachment threat:100 per cent budget execution not possible, says Okonjo-Iweala
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INANCE Minister Ngonzi Okonjo-Iweala declared on Wednesday that nowhere in the world does government budget record 100 per cent implementation as is now being demanded of the Federal Government by the House of Representatives. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala told reporters at the end of the weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in Abuja that the September deadline given by the Reps for government to implement this year’s budget 100 per cent is untenable. But she explained that performance level reached 56 per cent as at last week and there is room for improvement.
Committee wants N382b recovered from 21 firms
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HE Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede Presidential Committee on Verification and Reconciliation of Fuel Subsidy payment submitted its report on Tuesday and asked that N382billion be recovered from 21 firms indicted by it for allegedly making fraudulent claims. The N382billion is part of the contentious N422billion identified by the Technical Committee also chaired by Aig-Imoukhuede
OLYMPICS BEGINS
Spectacular show heralds games
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HE queen and James Bond gave the London Olympics a royal entrance like no other on Friday in an opening ceremony that rolled to the rock of the Beatles, the Stones and The Who. And the creative genius of Danny Boyle spliced it all together. Brilliant. Cheeky, too. Highlight of the Oscar-winning director’s $42 million show was pure movie magic, using trickery to make it seem that Britain’s beloved 86-year-old Queen Elizabeth II had parachuted into the stadium with the nation’s most famous spy. A short film showed Daniel Craig as 007 driving to Buckingham Palace in a black London cab and, pursued by the royal corgis, meeting the queen, who played herself. “Good evening, Mr Bond,” she said. They were shown flying in a helicopter over London landmarks and a waving statue of Winston Churchill - the queen in a salmon-colored dress, Bond dashing as ever in a black tuxedo - before leaping into the inky night over Olympic Park.
BATTLE FOR ALEPPO
A man carries wounded fiveyear-old Mohammed Amumrej, who was injured by shelling in Aleppo, Syria and later died, as fighting for control of the country’s second largest city intensifies. Photo: AFP
Ibori forfeits $3m assets to US, N2.2b to Fed Govt
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ONVICTED ex-Governor of Delta State, James Ibori, has forfeited $3million worth of assets to the American government and N2.2billion cash to the Federal Government. The forfeiture is in compliance with a restraining order to register and enforce two orders from UK courts. Forfeited to US are a mansion in Houston, Texas and two Merrill Lynch brokerage accounts while the cash forfeited to the Federal Government is a $15million allegedly offered as bribe by Ibori to former EFCC Chairman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu through an undisclosed source.
LAND TUSSLE
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HE Nigerian Army, on Thursday, in Abuja, donated vehicle-stoppers to churches and mosques as part of measures to protect places of worship against terrorist attacks. Major-General Bitus Kwaji, Army Chief of Civil Military Affairs, while handing over the devices to some leaders of churches and mosques, said that the gesture was part of the army’s corporate social responsibility. Kwaji explained that the vehiclestopper was a unique device that
ARTEFACTS
Turai Yar’Adua versus US returns Nok statues Dame Jonathan T
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HE Federal Government last week informed an Abuja High Court of its willingness to settle the legal tussle be tween incumbent First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan and her predecessor, Turai Yar’Adua over a prime plot of land situated at Cadastral Zone in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. Documents before the court showed that the disputed land was duly allocated to Turai’s non-governmental organisation-Women and Youth Empowerment Foundation (WAYE) by the minister for the FCT with the right of occupancy duly issued to it. Shortly after these transactions, the minister for the FCT, without reasons, issued a notice of revocation of the said property which it allocated to the plaintiff for the purpose of building public institution (training/vocational centre). The said letter of revocation was backdated with effect from October 27, 2011. Immediately after the revocation letter was issued, the FCT Minister, Bala Muhammed swiftly re-allocated the plot to another organisation, African First Ladies Peace Centre, to which the current first lady sponsors.
H E United States has returned 11 cultural artifacts to Nigeria. Authorities said French customs officials tipped off the U.S. in April 2010 about a s h i p m e n t headed to New York’s Kennedy Airport. The 10 Nok statues and a carved tusk were seized from a Manhattan gallery owner, and an investigation determined they were bona fide antiquities. The artifacts are to be displayed in Nigeria’s national museum. Nok statues are about 2,000 to 2,500 years old, among the oldest sculptures in West Africa. They were first unearthed in 1943 at a tin mine near the village of Nok in Plateau State. Homeland Security investigators say two Nok statues and a carved ivory tusk were previously seized at Chicago O’Hare International Airport.