Ezekwesili to Jonathan, Yar' Adua: How did you spend $45Billion?

Former Vice President (Africa), World Bank, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, has said the Umaru Yar’Adua and President Goodluck Jonathan administrations need to tell Nigerians how they spent the $45bn left in the foreign reserves account and $22bn in the Excess Crude Account by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo administration. Ezekwesili, said at the convocation lecture of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, on Thursday, that Nigerians had lost dignity because of ravaging poverty arising from poor choices of the elite, corruption and lack of investment in education. Noting that the country had enjoyed five cycles of oil boom, she decried the failure to convert oil income to renewable assets through training of human capital, development of other sectors and investment in foreign assets as other resource-rich countries did with their oil income. Ezekwesili, who was a former Minister of Solid Minerals and Education under Obasanjo and a founding director of Transparency International, said, “The present cycle of boom of the 2010s is, however, much more vexing than the other four that happened in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. “This is because we are still caught up in it and it is more egregious than the other periods in revealing that we learned absolutely nothing from the previous massive failures.” The former minister lamented the “squandering of the significant sum of $45bn in the foreign reserves account and another $22bn in the Excess Crude Account being direct savings from increased earnings from oil that the Obasanjo administration handed over to the successor government in 2007.” She said, “Six years after the administration I served handed over such humongous national wealth to another one, most Nigerians, especially the poor, continue to suffer the effects of failing public health and education systems as well as decrepit infrastructure and battered institutions. “One cannot but ask what exactly does symbolise with this level of brazen misappropriation of public resources? Where did all that money go? “Where is the accountability for the use of both these resources and the additional several hundred dollars realised from oil sale by the two administrations that have governed our nation in the last five years? How were these resources applied, or more appropriately misapplied? Tragic choices.” Ezekwesili asked the graduating students of UNN and other young people to become the turning point generation of young and educated Nigerians willing to make the right choices by serving or having a say in political affairs of the country. She said sorting out the “Nigerian political mess” was critical as there was a strong correlation between politics and economic development. According to her, university graduates account for 4.3 per cent of Nigeria’s youthful population in 2012, a slight increase from the three per cent when she graduated in 1985. “This compares unfavourably with opportunity for university education in other countries put at 37.5 per cent in Chile; 33.7 per cent for Singapore; 28.2 per cent for Malaysia; and 16.5 per cent for Brazil,” she said.

Ex-C.I.A. Officer Given 30-Month Sentence for Leaking Classified Information

The first Central Intelligence Agency officer to face prison for disclosing classified information was sentenced on Friday to 30 months in prison by a judge at the federal courthouse here.

The judge, Leonie M. Brinkema, said that in approving the sentence, she would respect the terms of a plea agreement between the former C.I.A. agent, John C. Kiriakou, and prosecutors, but “I think 30 months is way too light.” The judge said “this is not a case of a whistle-blower.” She went on to describe the damage that Mr. Kiriakou had created for the intelligence agency and an agent whose cover was disclosed by Mr. Kiriakou.

Kano State Govt deploys security in city ahead of protest by commercial motorcyclists.

For fear of breakdown of law and order,the Kano State Government has deployed security officials to the city ahead of the planned protest by commercial motorcyclists popularly known as ‘Achaba Riders’ after Friday prayers.

The Achaba Riders are protesting against the temporary ban on motorcycles for commercial purposes in Kano.

The state government announced the ban on Tuesday following an attack on the Emir of Kano on Saturday by bandits riding on motorcycles.

The government said it imposed the ban to enable it register an estimated one million motorcycles riding the city’s roads.

But the residents, and Achaba Riders alike, are aggrieved over this decision, as they say it is their source of livelihood and a veritable means of transportation in the city.

They say they will descend heavily on the streets to protest the ban.

On Friday, however, the city woke to a large number of assault weapon wielding security officers. They had mounted several checkpoints within the city.

October 1st Bombing: Henry Okah's accomplice gets life imprisonment.

In what would be described as leaning on a precedent case, one of the accomplices of the former leader of the militant Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Henry Okah, has been handed a life imprisonment sentence by a Nigerian court.

was on Friday sentenced to life imprisonment by a Federal High Court that sat in Abuja, this is coming four days after Henry Okah, who was also accused of masterminding the October 1, 2010 bomb blasts in Abuja was was found guilty by a South African court. Ebiware was arrested by operatives of the State Security Service on the 2nd of October at a hotel in Abuja. While delivering his ruling, Justice Gabriel Kolawole who had listened to the testimony of the witnesses as well as seen the exhibits, denounced Ebiware’s attitude and his failure to disclose to the agents of the Nigerian Government that acts of terrorism were being planned. The judge drew from Section 40 (B) of the Criminal Code Act, which says anybody that becomes an accessory to treason or becomes aware of the commission of treason and fails to give evidence to the President, a State Governor or a law enforcement officer in order to prevent the commission of the crime, is liable to treason and sentenced to life imprisonment. Justice Kolawole said “I concluded that the accused person is adjudged guilty as charged, being aware early in September 2010, that Henry Okah was planning a bomb attack but did not give such information to any of the persons or authority listed in Section 40 (B) of the Criminal Code Act. ” Henry Okah who was accused of being the mastermind of the blasts was found guilty by a South African court on 13 counts of acts of terrorism and prosecutors say he could be facing a life sentence.

40 Nigerian deportees from Europe.

More than 40 Nigerians have again been repatriated from the UK and Spain, a senior embassy official said yesterday in London. Mr Lawal Isah, the Head of Immigration at the Nigerian High Commission in London, disclosed this yesterday. He said the deportees, who are due back in Nigeria on Friday, consist of 40 persons from the UK, with an uncertain number from Spain. Isah said that among those repatriated were people who had served jail terms in various prisons across the UK, and others arrested for illegal stay. He said the repatriation was a monthly exercise through a chartered return flight jointly organised by the High Commission and the UK Government. About 40 people were also deported in December, 2012. Reacting to the development, Abba Moro, the Minister of Interior said the Immigration service in Nigeria had been stopping those without proper documentation from travelling out of the country.

Renewed Plateau attack, 9 feared dead.

At least nine persons were feared dead on Wednesday night when gunmen attacked Wadata, a border community in Wase Local Government Area of Plateau State. A resident of the area, who craved anonymity, said in Wase on Thursday that the members of the community only woke up to discover the dead bodies of the victims. “We were taken by surprise this morning when we woke up to discover that some of our people were silently attacked and killed by unknown gunmen,” the resident said. “What frightened us the most is the quiet manner the attackers carried out their act. The attackers also did not take anything from the houses of the victims.” A security source said that Mohammed Zakari, Chairman, Wase Local Government, had visited the scene of the attack along with the Special Task Force, STF, Sector Commander in charge of Plateau South, Benjamin Olalo. Also on the chairman’s entourage was Naomi Isah, the Divisional Police Officer in Wase. When contacted, STF spokesman, Salisu Mustapha, confirmed the Wase attack, but said that he was yet to get details. “We got the report of the Wase attack, but details have not reached my office. “I have also learnt that the Sector Commander in charge of the area has gone to the scene along with the council chairman and other officials. As soon as I get the details, I will furnish you with them,” he said. The Police Public Relations Officer in Plateau State, Abraham Ayomanor, also confirmed the incident. “We are aware of the attack, but we have yet to get the full details and cannot be sure of the number of casualties,’’ he said. Meanwhile, following the ugly development in Wase, residents of the affected areas were said to be relocating from the troubled areas for safety of their lives and property; to avoid being victims of reprisal attacks from any quarters. Other parts of Plateau too Meanwhile, the STF has reported another attack at Aladura, a settlement in the Jos South Local Government. According to Mr. Mustapha, the incident happened around 9 p.m. on Wednesday when some persons attacked three people and inflicted machete cuts on them. The STF officer said that the attackers, suspected to be thieves, made away with a ram and N20, 000. “The victims have been admitted into a hospital in Jos, where they are receiving treatment,’’ he said. Mr. Mustapha said that three persons had been arrested in connection with the Aladura incident.

Sokoto as poorest State, NBS denies report.

In a surprise

reversal of its earlier publication, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has denied the report that it rated Sokoto State as the poorest state in Nigeria in the 2012 National Poverty Index. The Statistician-General of the Federation, Dr. Yemi Kale, stated this in a response letter signed on his behalf by Mrs. Yvonne Odu-Thomas, and addressed to the chambers of Dr. Alex Iziyon (SAN), the lawyer to the Sokoto State Government. In the letter entitled: ‘RE: Bogus, Fictitious, Baseless and Inciting Publication on Sokoto State as the Poorest State in Nigeria’, the Bureau dissociated itself from the report credited to it. “First to be noted is that, the Bureau conducts its National Poverty Index every five to six years. The last survey conducted was in the year 2009/10, whilst the previous one was conducted in the year 2003/04. It can be said therefore, based on this explanation given by the Bureau that the publications on poverty for 2012, so mentioned are out of context and false. “It is important to mention here that the Bureau uses and will continue to use global best practice in conducting all of its Surveys and that no such information as alleged by your client is on the Bureau’s website”, Mrs. Odu-Thomas stated. In another letter to the Special Adviser, Sokoto State Poverty Reduction Agency, the NBS said: “Its next assessment is scheduled for 2014/15. There has been no new survey or analysis on poverty by NBS since 2009/10, therefore all reports claiming NBS released poverty results for 2012 are false. “Accordingly, any statistics recorded without the authority of the NBS, as is the case with the one in question, is not to be regarded as official. The NBS surveys which cut across states are done in collaboration with state statistical offices and before any such survey is conducted you would be informed via the Governor’s Forum,” it added.